130: minor skin injury

"Boom—!"

Thunder roared, and a squad of soldiers suddenly appeared in the rainy night. Zhou Yan walked at the very front, and as the rain fell, it naturally avoided him.

"Come, gentlemen, please get moving. If we delay, the rain will only get heavier."

Following Zhou Yan's command, the soldiers quickly entered the main hall and placed special shackles on the officials.

This scene terrified many officials; even Qiao Wenbin, who had prepared himself mentally, was stunned.

"Lord Zhou, what is the meaning of this?"

"Zhou Yan, what are you trying to do! Are you insane!"

"Zhou Yan, you can't arrest me! I am Lord Qian's man! If you arrest me, Lord Qian will never let you off!"

By now, some people had vaguely guessed Zhou Yan's intention, but they never expected him to be so aggressive in arresting so many people.

Some tried to resist and curse, but when the soldiers pulled out short batons, the shadows of the clubs moved like wind, striking several times in an instant, and the hall quickly fell silent.

"Wait!"

Seeing his subordinates either shackled or beaten, Qiao Wenze finally couldn't sit still and stood up, shouting.

"Censor Zhou, what is the meaning of this? It's bad enough that you arrest people without cause, but now you haven't notified anyone in advance and are arresting so many people at once. Does Censor Zhou intend to overthrow Jiangzhou!"

Over ninety percent of those who came to participate in the meeting were subdued, Qiao Wenbin included.

Qiao Wenze truly could not stand by and do nothing. No matter how strong Zhou Yan's backing was, if he didn't provide a reasonable explanation, Qiao Wenze would not relent. This was simply lawless!

Considering that this old Prefect was one of the few clean people left among this group, Zhou Yan gave him some Face.

"Prefect Qiao, if you have questions, you may discuss them with me later. But for now, please do not obstruct the soldiers from performing their duties. The rain is so heavy; it wouldn't be good for them to keep getting soaked, right?"

Outside, the previously high-spirited officials were being escorted in the rain, drenched and looking miserable. Meanwhile, the soldiers stood ramrod straight, their military bearing impeccable.

"Take them away first."

At Zhou Yan's command, the soldiers escorted the people toward the Prefectural Yamen.

Qiao Wenze wanted to stop them, but Li Cheng's hand was already on his shoulder, whispering a few words into his ear.

Hearing the shocking news, Qiao Wenze's eyes widened, and he staggered back into his chair.

"H-how could this happen?"

Zhou Yan ignored him and led the team quickly toward the Prefectural Yamen to meet up with everyone.

Upon arriving at the Prefectural Yamen, they saw rows of troops already lined up neatly, escorting some low-ranking officials, stewards, and people dressed as servants behind them.

"Lord Zhou." Li Shan quickly stepped forward to greet him, his expression much more relaxed.

"Inspector Li, is everyone accounted for?"

"Reporting, my Lord, the teams that have returned so far are mostly complete. Only the team led by Fellow Daoist Wang has not returned yet, so the situation over there is still unclear."

"However, I have already dispatched most of the available soldiers to provide support, and I believe we will have results soon."

Seeing his confidence, a hint of ominous premonition flashed through Zhou Yan's mind.

He remembered that Wang Yao had gone to raid Qiao Wenbin's residence and the dwellings of his Retainers.

Having not returned after so long, coupled with Wang Yao's "Protagonist Template" Physique, could something have gone wrong?

Seeing Zhou Yan frown without speaking, Li Shan also became a little nervous.

However, Zhou Yan's frown quickly smoothed out.

There's no such thing as a Protagonist Template in this world; it's all coincidence. Even if there were, it should belong to a Child of Destiny like Long Tianxing, or me, the Transmigrator.

Dismissing this thought, he ordered that the arrested personnel be sorted and detained in the Prefectural Yamen Prison.

It was mealtime, and these "gentlemen" just happened to catch the Prison Food prepared by the Prefectural Yamen.

Seeing that everything was progressing in an orderly manner, Zhou Yan was quite satisfied.

"As expected, arresting people during a meeting is highly efficient."

After sighing with emotion, he went to organize the list of arrested personnel and copy out their crimes based on the booklet.

The preliminary list of charges was enough to keep everyone in jail for several days. By the time the item mentioned by his cheap Senior Brother arrived, there would be plenty of time.

"Senior Brother, something bad has happened!"

Shi Suiyan ran over hurriedly.

"Ah? What's wrong with me?" Zhou Yan asked subconsciously.

"How could that be? Senior Brother, you are the most... ah, no, it's Wang Yao, something happened to Wang Yao!"

Hearing that something had happened to Wang Yao, Zhou Yan immediately rushed to the Prefectural Yamen's main hall with Shi Suiyan, where they saw Wang Yao lying on a stretcher, talking to Li Shan.

"Wang Yao, weren't you incapacitated?" Shi Suiyan asked in surprise upon seeing him.

She recalled seeing Wang Yao being carried back earlier, covered in blood and barely clinging to life.

Seeing Shi Suiyan and Zhou Yan arrive, Wang Yao raised his hand to greet them.

"Senior Sister, don't worry, I'm fine. It's just that all my bones were shattered and some internal organs were damaged. I just need to rest... *cough cough cough*!"

Wang Yao suddenly began coughing violently, making everyone nervous, but he raised a hand to signal that he was fine.

After several coughs, he finally stopped, and a piece of bone appeared in the hand covering his mouth.

"Sorry for worrying everyone. During the fight earlier, a piece of bone might have gotten lodged in my stomach. My stomach just finished regenerating and ejected it."

After speaking, he clenched his hand, incinerating the piece of bone into ashes.

"Alright, I'm fine now."

Wang Yao clapped the ash off his hands and got off the stretcher, but the direction of his right foot was clearly reversed.

Following everyone's gaze, he noticed the abnormality of his foot, shook his leg, and after a few soft clicks, his foot returned to normal.

Except for Zhou Yan, everyone present was dumbfounded.

This scene was indeed terrifying. If Zhou Yan hadn't seen Wang Yao's healthy health bar and reviewed his combat log, understanding his Heaven-Defying vitality, he would have been greatly astonished too.

After Zhou Yan dismissed the onlookers, he pulled Wang Yao into the room and questioned him about the events in detail.

From Wang Yao, Zhou Yan learned that Qiao Wenbin had been recruiting Retainers ever since he took office, including various Cultivators.

Cultivators who could be accepted as his Retainers were either powerful or possessed unique skills, and most were fiercely loyal to Qiao Wenbin.

Therefore, many still dared to resist when they saw the army coming to Qiao Residence to make arrests.

The army formed battle arrays, and relying on their formation and the blessing of the national destiny, they quickly suppressed most people. When they encountered troublesome opponents, Wang Yao personally stepped in to subdue them.

Everything was going smoothly until an unknown Strong Expert suddenly appeared and knocked Wang Yao down in just a few moves, leaving him barely alive.

The Leading Captain saw Wang Yao severely injured, and after assessing the gap in strength between the two sides and the consequences if Wang Yao went untreated, he had no choice but to give up arresting the Strong Expert and allowed him to take two people away.

When Wang Yao woke up and asked the Captain, he learned that the Strong Expert had taken two people.

One Young Man was unknown to anyone, but the other, a skinny old man, was Judge Chen of the Prefectural Yamen, known to everyone.

Learning this, a chill flashed through Zhou Yan's heart.

Could this be related to me again? Last time, the door-blocking operation made Old Wang fight a bloody battle, and this time, ordering the arrests made him suffer a setback. Could he really be the Protagonist?

"Never mind, as long as you are okay. It doesn't matter if Judge Chen is missing. We have arrested almost everyone we can for now, and we just need to wait for the timing of the verdict to mature. Judge Chen will be wanted by then, and he won't be able to run far."

"By then, it will no longer be our concern."

After confirming that Wang Yao was fine, Zhou Yan took him and Xiao Sheng to the prison, preparing to tour the Holy Land and settle the harvest from this operation.

They were unaware, however, of the incredible actions the three escapees would take next.