Chapter 970: Ding Tian City (Thanks to Alliance Leader Sister Qingze for the Reward)

Outside Haotian City, the spirit boat soared into the sky.

The spirit boat was piloted by Xiao Xinghe, while Lu Ye sat cross-legged at the bow. In front of him, six tracking discs were lined up in a row. Each disc was wreathed in a reddish mist, and their pointers each indicated a direction.

Lin Yinxiu watched from the side, dumbfounded. "Captain," she asked, "where did you get so many tracking discs?"

Lu Ye had completed the previous two missions with the help of tracking discs, which Lin Yinxiu already found somewhat incredible. After all, these items were extremely rare, and for Lu Ye to use them to assist with missions seemed a bit of a waste of valuable resources.

This time was even more excessive; he actually used six tracking discs at once.

The combined reserves of all major and minor sects from both major factions in the entire Bing Province probably wouldn't amount to this many.

"Found them!" Lu Ye replied casually.

Items from the War Merit Pavilion could not have their origins revealed and were only for personal use. This rule had been explained to him by the two Golden and Silver Dragons the first time he entered.

Lin Yinxiu then asked innocently, "Where did you find them?" with an eager expression that suggested she wanted to go find some herself.

Lu Ye really didn't want to humor her. Buying these six tracking discs from the War Merit Pavilion had cost him a large amount of war merits, leaving him with only a little over twenty thousand now.

Fortunately, he had just advanced to the Fifth-Layer True Lake Realm, so he wouldn't need spirit talismans for cultivation in the short term, and his need for war merits wasn't great.

He closely monitored the changes in the pointers of the six tracking discs before him.

Two hours later, under Lu Ye's guidance, the spirit boat darted in one direction.

While the tracking discs helped locate people, the three-person team's apprehension process was considerably slower than anticipated. This was mainly because the targets were scattered across various locations in Bing Province, making the search quite time-consuming.

Even so, in just over ten days, they had apprehended seven out of eight targets. Only the last one, a man named Ling Zhou, remained.

These seven individuals were now under Lu Ye's supervision. The sect, however, didn't treat them harshly; in fact, there was no intention to restrict their freedom.

It could be said that the seven individuals were entirely free, except that they couldn't leave Lu Ye.

The cultivation levels of the seven weren't very high. They were also sensible and had been well-behaved since their capture. Most likely, they had accepted their fate.

They also knew that having committed misdeeds, they would inevitably be targeted by the Enforcement Hall. They could hide for a while, but not forever. The offenses they committed weren't too severe; now that they were captured, they would merely be sent to the penal prison to suffer some hardship, and then be assigned to a peaceful pass on the front lines to atone for their sins. As long as their luck wasn't exceptionally bad, survival wouldn't be an issue.

But if they foolishly resisted after being captured, that would be an additional crime, and the punishment they received would be even more severe.

Seven of the eight targets had already been apprehended. Only the last target remained, and as long as they could successfully complete this one, they could return and report their mission.

The reason the sect was willing to use tracking discs to complete these tasks, which were like "chicken ribs" (barely worth the effort) to other Enforcement Hall teams, was naturally not to lose money just for reputation.

Because only then would the small team have the opportunity to take on other missions and earn more war merits.

Currently, the team only had three members. One mission yielded tens of thousands of war merits, and when Xiao Xinghe and Lin Yinxiu divided them, their income was quite substantial.

However, the team would eventually reach its full capacity of eight members. At that point, even if Lu Ye continued to take no share, the war merits divided among the seven others would not be too significant.

Only by undertaking missions with more generous rewards could the team members grow more rapidly.

The pointer on the tracking disc was lightly shaking, indicating they were very close to the target's location.

Lu Ye took out a detailed map to examine it. He saw that on the map, ahead of them was a large city called Dingtian City.

Lu Ye frowned, vaguely recalling having seen the city's name somewhere before.

After a brief recollection, he remembered where he had heard the city's name.

It was in the mission logs of the Hunting Pavilion.

According to the records in the mission logs, Ling Zhou was a member of the Zhou family in Dingtian City, and the Zhou family itself was quite well-known throughout Bing Province.

This was because it was a Third-grade cultivation family with considerable heritage.

In the Nine Provinces and their two major factions, there were countless large and small forces. However, most of those that could reach the Third-grade were sects. While there were many cultivation families, their ranks were generally not high, because family-based cultivation methods had many unavoidable drawbacks. At the very least, they couldn't guarantee the quality of future generations' talents, making long-term inheritance difficult.

Sects were different; they widely opened their gates and accepted virtuous talents broadly. Each generation had disciples of unusual aptitude, making their inheritance much easier than that of cultivation families.

For the Zhou family to reach the Third-grade, their heritage was clearly exceptional. At the very least, they had one Divine Sea Realm cultivator presiding over them. As for how many Divine Sea cultivators there were, or what layers they were in, Lu Ye did not know, as this information was not recorded in the mission logs.

Compared to the previous seven targets, Ling Zhou's offense was not light. Three years ago, while brawling with others, his actions affected some mortals, resulting in dozens of deaths and injuries.

Such an evil deed, according to the jade slip (rules), deserved execution!

Cultivators' battles must not involve mortals. This was not merely a rule in Bing Province's jade slips, but also the law across the other Nine Great Provinces. Regardless of whether it was the Haotian Alliance or the Myriad Demon Ridge, all had to strictly adhere to this rule, and offenders were typically severely punished.

Lu Ye carefully recalled the contents of Ling Zhou's mission log and confirmed one piece of information recorded within it.

The target's last appearance was a year ago, right in Dingtian City. Since then, the mission's information had not been updated.

This mission had been in the Hunting Pavilion for so long, it must have been forcefully assigned to other Enforcement Hall teams. But if Ling Zhou was indeed in Dingtian City, why couldn't those teams complete the mission?

Unlike previous targets, who hid in desolate mountains and wilderness—making it troublesome to find them without a clear direction, and whether they could be found depended entirely on luck—Ling Zhou's situation was different.

Lu Ye vaguely realized that this mission might not be so easy...

There was some invisible resistance lying ahead.

Without rushing to follow the traces, Lu Ye stopped eighty li away from Dingtian City.

Lu Ye stood at the bow, picked up his waist-worn guard token, activated it by infusing spirit energy into it, and waited quietly.

A stick of incense later, a figure, piloting a flying spirit artifact, flew swiftly from Dingtian City's direction. Seeing Lu Ye from afar, it circled closer and stopped ten zhang away from him. It cupped its hands and bowed, "Greetings, sir."

The newcomer wore a mask, so their face was unclear. Their cultivation was at the Fourth-Layer Cloud River Realm, and from their figure, it was a woman.

This was the local Nightingale.

"May I ask, sir, what official business brings you here?" the Nightingale asked. "Is there anything this humble subordinate can do for you?"

Lu Ye looked at her indifferently. "Capture Ling Zhou!" he stated. The Nightingale understood. "Please give your orders, sir," she replied.

Lu Ye did not rush to give her orders. Instead, he asked, "The last update to the mission information in the Hunting Pavilion was a year ago; was that reported by you?"

"Yes."

"Have you seen any trace of Ling Zhou in the past year?"

"Reporting to you, sir, I haven't seen him," she replied. "Ling Zhou knew he had committed an offense and most likely fled far away."

Lu Ye's eyes narrowed slightly. "Do you know where he fled to?"

"This humble subordinate does not know," she replied. "If he insisted on hiding, he would naturally not be discovered by others."

"What about the Zhou family?"

"The Zhou family is normal."

Lu Ye nodded slightly. There was no longer any need to ask further. He said, "Zhou Wang."

"Here," Zhou Wang replied resonantly, stepping forward.

"Watch them closely," Lu Ye commanded, his gaze fixed on the Nightingale before him. "If anyone makes any abnormal move, kill them without mercy! Including her!"

"Yes, sir!" Zhou Wang accepted the order.

The Nightingale was utterly stunned. "Sir?" she gasped.

"Third Senior Brother, come with me," Lu Ye said, ignoring the Nightingale. After speaking to Xiao Xinghe, he flew towards Dingtian City.

Xiao Xinghe said nothing and followed closely.

After the two had left, Zhou Wang then looked at the Nightingale in front of her and said with a look of disappointment, "After this matter is concluded, go to Haotian City yourself to confess your crime. You won't lose your life, but some punishment is unavoidable."

Although she was naive, and sometimes a bit silly, she was not foolish.

Although Lu Ye said nothing, she still vaguely perceived something.

Especially recently, having followed Lu Ye out to capture people, witnessing how every capture was spot on, she was utterly impressed by him. Since Lu Ye headed straight for Dingtian City, it meant he was certain Ling Zhou was there.

Yet the Nightingale claimed she hadn't seen Ling Zhou's tracks in the past year. This was clearly too unlikely.

Upon hearing this, the Nightingale sweated profusely, and her body swayed.

Dingtian City was a very large city. After all, it was the base of a Third-grade cultivation family, so its scale naturally couldn't be small. A large number of mortals lived within the city, and not just within the city, but also within a thousand-li radius centered on Dingtian City, all the territory was under the Zhou family's control.

Although there were many mortals in the city, there were still many cultivators flying to and fro.

These cultivators were not all members of the Zhou family. Although the Zhou family was the sole dominant power here, there were also many low-ranked cultivation families that relied on them and existed at their mercy.

Furthermore, there were also cultivators recruited by various families.

Most of these recruited cultivators were rogue cultivators, or individuals whose sects had been destroyed and had no home to return to. They relied on the Zhou family to seek cultivation resources.

Dingtian City did not have a large defensive formation, so Lu Ye and Lin Yinxiu naturally entered the city without worry.

The pointer on the tracking disc in his hand shook more and more noticeably. From this, he could confirm that Ling Zhou was definitely somewhere in the city.

"Senior Brother," Lin Yinxiu suddenly called out softly.

Lu Ye also put away his tracking disc at the same time and looked up ahead.

Ahead of them, a goat-bearded old man walked towards them with a smile. The spiritual energy fluctuations emanating from him revealed the powerful cultivation of a Fourth-Layer True Lake Realm.

The goat-bearded old man was clearly coming for the two of them. He directly blocked their path, cupped his hands slightly, and said, "Both fellow daoists look unfamiliar, as if you are not from Dingtian City. May I know your names?"

"Who are you?" Lu Ye asked, his eyes lowered slightly.

If he had previously only suspected the local Nightingale, then now he was absolutely certain.

The local Nightingale had already been bribed by the Zhou family.

Otherwise, how could their whereabouts have been exposed? The Nightingale must have sensed their arrival and immediately informed the Zhou family.

The person before them must also be from the Zhou family.