129: parliamentary remnants

With the title of "Dragon Guardian of the State", Li Dong found it much more convenient to conduct his affairs.

However, this token felt more like a hot potato most of the time.

"Has everything been arranged?" Li Dong stopped at an inconspicuous corner and asked in a calm voice towards the shadows.

A figure quietly emerged from the shadows, their voice kept extremely low: "Rest assured, sir. They are all trusted brothers from the Demon Suppression Guard, already dispersed everywhere, disguised as people from all walks of life, keeping a close watch."

"Hmm, tell them to be sharp and not to expose themselves." Li Dong nodded slightly. "The waters in the capital are even murkier than we imagined."

The covert agent acknowledged the order and silently vanished back into the darkness.

Li Dong raised his hand, and a trace of imperceptible spiritual energy drifted from his fingertips, merging into the night wind.

His Spiritual Domain had long since quietly spread out like an invisible spiderweb, sensing every trace of abnormal energy fluctuation in the city.

"These tails of evil energy are truly hidden deep." He muttered to himself, his brows slightly furrowed.

After a meticulous combing through, he discovered that those residual evil energies, like maggots on a bone, were faintly converging towards several desolate places in the Capital City Suburbs.

It was like all rivers flowing into the sea, or perhaps... rats returning to their nest.

"A new hideout? Interesting."

It seemed that those guys from the Shadow Council, after taking such a beating, not only didn't suffer enough damage to be completely crippled, but instead, like an unkillable cockroach, they were already starting to stir again.

The fragmented information he obtained from Wei Zheng and the Seventh Princess all pointed to one fact: the Shadow Council was not only gathering their remnants in secret but had even launched some kind of "recruitment plan," specifically absorbing those Cultivators who were polluted by evil energy and mentally unstable, as well as all sorts of monsters and demons who had long-standing grievances against the imperial Family.

"Is this... 'hoarding grain widely, delaying the claim to kingship'?" Li Dong found it somewhat amusing, but the smile did not reach his eyes.

These guys were truly persistent.

Just as he was pondering, another figure hurried out from another alley, and upon seeing Li Dong, quickly stepped forward.

"Sir, something happened over at Li Family Village in the outskirts!" The person who arrived was a new squad leader of the Demon Suppression Guard promoted by Li Dong, named Zhao San, who was quite capable.

"Speak."

"In the last few days, people have been disappearing one after another in Li Family Village and several nearby villages, all of them strong and healthy young adults. The authorities investigated and only said they were lost, but the villagers all say it's very eerie, as if their souls were hooked by something." Zhao San panted, his face showing a hint of fear.

"Young adults..." Li Dong's eyes narrowed slightly. "Another batch of 'prime vessels'? These guys have quite an appetite."

It seemed that the pieces he had laid out were already starting to take effect.

The next day, the Imperial Palace, the side hall of the Imperial Study.

Seventh Princess Li Qingxuan looked weary, with faint dark circles under her eyes, obviously having not slept well for several days.

"Mr. Mu Feng, you've finally come." Seeing Li Dong enter, she forced a smile and personally served him tea. "Please, sit."

"Your Highness, are things not going smoothly in the imperial court?" Li Dong took the tea and got straight to the point.

Li Qingxuan sighed and rubbed her brow. "It's more than just not smooth. Those old foxes are all incredibly slippery. The moment I mention thoroughly investigating officials who collude with the Shadow Council, they start wailing and crying for their parents. One suddenly becomes 'critically ill and bedridden,' while another submits a memorial to 'retire to their hometown.' It's as if, overnight, the court has gained a bunch of loyal ministers on the verge of death."

Her tone carried a hint of self-mockery and helplessness. "Some clues I found have been cut off because of this. Although the Emperor gave me the authority to act as I see fit, these people are deeply entrenched, and pulling one hair affects the whole body; it is truly difficult to handle."

"It seems the Shadow Council's Foundation in the court is even deeper than we expected," Li Dong said calmly.

"Indeed," the Seventh Princess smiled bitterly. "Sometimes I really wonder how many people in this palace are still clean."

"Your Highness need not worry too much; water that is too clear has no fish." Li Dong took a sip of tea. "Take it slow, there will come a day when the truth is revealed."

"That is all I can do." The Seventh Princess nodded, then remembered something else. "By the way, it seems Lord Wei Zheng has also encountered some trouble."

Inside the Demon Suppression Division office, Wei Zheng was worrying over a pile of dossiers. Seeing Li Dong enter, he looked as if he had seen a savior.

"Mr. Mu Feng, you've come at just the right time." Wei Zheng handed a dossier to Li Dong. "We have been investigating a batch of illegally traded 'spiritual essence'. We had already found some clues, but for some reason, the trail suddenly went cold at a large trading firm. Behind that firm, it seems there are... figures from higher levels."

Wei Zheng's expression was somewhat grim. "I suspect someone is secretly tipping them off, or even directly intervening to wipe away the traces."

"'spiritual essence'?" Li Dong flipped through the dossier, thoughtful. This item was one of the core resources of the Shadow Council.

"Yes, and the quantity is not small," Wei Zheng added. "Moreover, according to the confessions of several peripheral personnel we captured, the Shadow Council seems to be using this 'spiritual essence', along with some evil Medicinal Pills, to win over dissatisfied Loose Cultivators and small Families. The promised benefits are enough to make them take risks."

"A stick and a carrot, coercion and inducement, both used simultaneously. That old fox Qiankun Zi really has a thorough grasp of manipulating human hearts." Li Dong put down the dossier.

The situation in the capital was even more complex than he had initially anticipated. The Shadow Council was like a huge web; even if one corner was torn, the rest continued to operate in the shadows, and was even constantly repairing and expanding.

In his travels around the capital these past few days, within the perception of his Spiritual Domain, besides those obvious gathering points of evil energy, he unexpectedly discovered that deep within the mansions of some seemingly reclusive and ancient Families with long Legacies, there also lingered faint yet pure fluctuations of 'spiritual essence'.

These Families, usually sanctimonious and claiming to be loyal to the sovereign and patriotic, unexpectedly were colluding with the Shadow Council behind the scenes.

"The depth of their infiltration is astonishing," Li Dong thought to himself.

Seeing Li Dong deep in thought and silent, Wei Zheng couldn't help but ask, "Sir, in your opinion, what should we do next? Should we concentrate our forces to first uproot a few of their known strongholds, or..."

"No rush." Li Dong waved his hand. "Acting now will only startle the snake. Since they dare to show their heads, they must have something to rely on. We still know too little about their core secrets."

He paused and looked at Wei Zheng. "Let those covert agents of yours continue to lurk, keep a close watch on those disappearance cases, and see if we can follow the vine to find the real location where they are hiding the 'prime vessels'. Also, don't give up easily on those clues related to the 'spiritual essence' trades; dig as deep as you can."

"I understand." Wei Zheng nodded solemnly.

Li Dong added, "As for those ancient Families... do not touch them for now. If we move against them, I fear the entire capital will tremble."

"Sir, you mean?"

"Cast a long line to catch a big fish." A faint, imperceptible arc curled at the corner of Li Dong's mouth. "Don't they like hiding in the shadows? Then let them hide a while longer. When they think they are safe, that's when we'll hit them hard."

Late at night, when everything was quiet, Li Dong returned alone to his temporary residence. He spread out the ancient map he had copied from the Imperial Observatory archives, which marked three locations of "Ancient Spirit Medicine Gardens".

While organizing the information he had obtained during the day, the fragmented pieces of information about the Shadow Council in his mind, along with certain rune marks from the residual evil energy of He Tianzheng, and the Forbidden Power of the "Vortex Trap Zone", vaguely linked together.

Suddenly, the Perfect Dao Body within him produced a faint resonance with one of the incomplete ancient runes that had been extracted from He Tianzheng's memory.

"Hmm?" Li Dong's heart stirred. This resonance was not an attraction of evil energy, but a kind of... response originating from an even older power.

"Could it be that some of the Shadow Council's actions are not just for making a comeback, but are also related to certain ancient ruins?" A thought flashed through his mind.

If that were true, then the schemes of Qiankun Zi and the others were likely even greater than he had imagined.

"It seems the matter of finding the 'Qian Yuan Cleansing Spirit Pill' must be accelerated." Li Dong looked at the marks on the map, his eyes gradually becoming sharp. "Whether it is to purify the Dragon vein or to deal with these guys who hide their heads and show their tails, increasing my strength is the only hard truth."

The night in the capital was still full of undercurrents. But Li Dong knew that the darkness before dawn was often the deepest. And he had already caught a whiff of an unusual scent.

"Just wait, very soon, I will let you know what a real 'surprise' is." He muttered to himself, his fingertips lightly tapping on the map.