134: Big Thunder

Bai Pu basically understood by now; someone must have used Long Yuan's villa to build a base for raising Black Armored Bears, extracting their bile for profit!

This is prohibited under the laws of the Great Ming. Looking at the twenty-plus bears here, there are two Tier 3 bears with Realms comparable to a Martial Master, five or six Tier 2 bears with Realms comparable to a Martial Artist, and the rest are all ranked bears. This situation is absolutely impermissible. One must know that Fengyang is only a small Tier 3 base, and the strongest people visibly here are only two Late-stage Martial Masters. If these Black Armored Bears suddenly ran into the bustling downtown area, wouldn't it cause complete chaos?

Wait, isn't Yuhua Terrace the most central location in all of Fengyang?

As soon as this thought occurred to Bai Pu, he couldn't help but gasp!

Good heavens, this is a major threat...

If this potential threat hadn't been discovered today, and it suddenly erupted one day, wouldn't his Yuhua Terrace suffer a terrible fate?

This matter, as investigated so far, was no longer something he could solve on his own; the authorities had to be involved, otherwise, if someone investigated it later, he would likely be implicated. Thinking of this, he immediately took out his phone and called County Magistrate Geng Yun to report the situation...

Upon hearing this, Geng Yun dared not delay and brought a team of dozens from the county office guard to inspect the place overnight. They arrived very quickly because the county office was actually quite close to Yuhua Terrace, separated by only a few streets.

When Geng Yun learned that this was Long Yuan's house, he couldn't help but feel a massive headache. He hadn't expected such a coincidence; this was enough to drive him crazy. Were those thieves so blind? They actually built a base in the home of the future "Crown Prince"...

In his view, Long Yuan would undoubtedly be a major figure in the imperial Family in the future. Even if he couldn't become the Crown Prince, he might become a powerful figure wielding the Xuanhuang Sword or other Heaven Rank imperial sword techniques. That was why he spared no expense in sending people to protect him every day, yet he never expected such a scandal to erupt today—truly unbelievable!

He immediately ordered a thorough investigation. Soon, more information arrived; the county office guard had found many ranked beasts being raised on several floors upstairs. The largest group of Xuan Beasts among them was the Plum Horned Deer, which, according to Tong Xueqin's judgment, was mainly for extracting deer blood and harvesting deer antler velvet.

Shockingly, among this group of Plum Horned Deer, there were also two Tier 3 ones and five or six Tier 2 ones, with strength comparable to that group of Black Armored Bears.

A quarter of an hour later, the captain of the county office guard, Lei Hao, hurried over to report: "My Lord, a group of Xuan Cattle is also being raised in the underground space! We found an exit to an underground passage, though we don't know where it leads..."

"Audacious thieves!!!" Geng Yun roared in anger. He looked completely exasperated, and he felt terrible!

If this major threat really erupted, he feared even he wouldn't be able to handle it, and perhaps even the Geng Family would be punished! He had come to Fengyang County to build up his political achievements; if the Family were implicated because of this, he feared the Clan Chief would not let him off lightly!

He immediately led everyone underground to inspect it and found that the place seemed to have been renovated. The underground space was quite spacious, and the Xuan Cattle being raised were Iron Hoof Cattle, but they looked a bit strange. Although their frames were massive, they were scrawny, with only their abdomens appearing exceptionally large!

Geng Yun looked at Tong Xueqin with an inquiring expression. Tong Xueqin's expression was somewhat poor; she seemed to have thought of something, but she still braced herself and said: "County Magistrate, these people must be trying to cultivate huge bezoars inside the Iron Hoof Cattle. This bezoar, you know, is also a quite precious medicinal ingredient..."

"So it was to obtain bezoars!" Everyone suddenly realized upon hearing this.

Looking at this group of Iron Hoof Cattle again, although they looked thin, they were massive, with sharp horns and hooves as hard as iron. It was possible that the combat power of this group of cattle was far greater than that of the Black Armored Bears and Plum Horned Deer combined!

Geng Yun's heart raced, and he hurriedly asked again: "Then why are they in such a dazed state? If they were to wake up, wouldn't it be very dangerous?"

Tong Xueqin pondered for a moment before saying: "It is very likely that these people fed these Xuan Beasts some kind of medicine, making it impossible for them to wake up..."

"Oh? Are the effects of those drugs long-term or short-term?"

"This... as far as I know, it should be short-term. Generally, they have to be fed once every few days. If they aren't fed for a week, they will wake up..." Tong Xueqin sighed. Her mind was in chaos; she already seriously suspected that this matter was related to their Tong Family.

"Good heavens!!!" Geng Yun and the others turned pale upon hearing this, thinking that they were in trouble. If this problem couldn't be solved, wouldn't these Xuan Beasts start causing trouble once they woke up?

Or was it...

Geng Yun looked at the group of Iron Hoof Cattle, a trace of ruthlessness appearing on his face. It seemed that the only way to completely eliminate future trouble was to slaughter them all while they were still dazed!

It was just a pity; such a good way to make money was highly attractive even to him. No wonder there were such daring people who dared to raise them on such a large scale...

"My Lord, those thieves might have just escaped; should we pursue them?" Lei Hao, who was on the side, reminded him.

Geng Yun snapped back to reality and shouted: "Pursue them throughout the entire city immediately! Do not let a single one escape!"

"Yes! My Lord!" Lei Hao responded and hurriedly took the county guards and the Xuan Practitioners of Yuhua Terrace to pursue them...

Geng Yun worried that the other side might have experts, as there were many Tier 3 Xuan Beasts here, so he dared not delay. He had Bai Shan stay behind to protect Long Yuan and the others, while he and Bai Pu followed behind Lei Hao and the others into the passage.

At this time, only Long Yuan, Bai Shan, and Tong Xueqin remained in the underground space of the villa. The other ordinary property staff were left outside. These people were miserable; because they were afraid they would leak the news, Bai Shan had issued a gag order on them and made them stay in place, not allowed to leave. This caused them immense inner torment. They had been frightened by that giant snake earlier, and now there were people illegally raising beasts in the villa. They were under such great pressure just to work a job; many of them were already unable to bear the burden, feeling weak and listless.

Since coming inside the villa, Tong Xueqin seemed like a different person. The joy and excitement she felt earlier at meeting her beloved had vanished, replaced by dark clouds; she was almost completely bewildered!

As a younger generation Alchemist of the Tong Family, how could she not see that these methods of raising beasts all came from the Tong Family? She had even helped out in the Family in Nanming, though those had only been ordinary wild beasts.

She was certain that even if this wasn't done by the Tong Family, it must be related to the Tong Family. Therefore, her mind was in a mess, and she was very confused. Because in the few months she had been in Fengyang, her third uncle, Tong Jingshan, had never told her about such a breeding base. However, this place was very close to her third uncle's house, so it might really be related to him!

If that were really the case, then it would be troublesome!

One had to know that Geng Yun and the others had already pursued them. Perhaps the passage Lei Hao mentioned led to her third uncle's house, which was also where she was currently living. So, no matter what, she had to notify her third uncle...

She thought for a moment and said to Bai Shan: "Manager Bai, I'm feeling a bit unwell right now. Could I go back or rest outside for a while?"

Bai Shan heard this and asked: "You aren't injured, are you?"

"No! It's just that I was so nervous earlier, and now I want to relax properly..."

"I see. Then go rest outside first; the smell here is indeed unpleasant!" Bai Shan said.

"Thank you, Manager Bai!" Tong Xueqin bowed and greeted Long Yuan before walking up...