With the Inner Binding Seal’s concealnt ability reinforcing him, that terrifying feeling finally faded, but waves of dizziness washed over him, only easing up once he reached the Night Patrol headquarters.
Li Xin greeted ng Po, went upstairs, sat down, and took a deep breath.
This kind of clear glimpse wasn’t common; fortunately he had the Nine-Character Mantra. It ant Dragon Capital really was about to face sothing big. If there were no obvious clues, he’d have to think of so way—save as much as he could, however much that might be.
He actually knew a strong figure on the Life Master path—Old Fang, the cheap option—but that old fox never took risks. This matter was extrely serious; he still had to ask. At worst, let him na a price. As for money, he could scrape sothing together.
If it weren’t for wanting to keep control of the dice, the best choice right now would be to take his whole family and leave Dragon Capital. His first life was Justice, his second was Fairness, his third was most likely Freedom, and the opportunity lay here in Dragon Capital.
Enslaved Angels and Freedom—this killer was very likely the key to awakening his third life. So even if the opponent was brutal, he had no way out. He just needed to move carefully. Everyone in this damned place had their IQs cranked to the max; his own brain felt like it was constantly coming up short. Wasn’t there a single silly, naive villain to show up and feed him so experience?
As he was thinking that, a carrier pigeon appeared at the window. Its body was much larger than those crispy roast pigeons, feathers full and glossy, eyes bright as it tapped on the glass.
Li Xin opened the window and took down the note. The pigeon flapped its wings and flew off. Who would be sending him a letter? Could it be Qi Badao?
Li Xin opened the note, and when he saw the words on it, his pupils shrank: Multiple Singers of Song of Hell have arrived in Dragon Capital.
For a mont, the back of Li Xin’s head tingled again. One wave hadn’t settled before another rose. He could still barely maneuver around and deal with a single Enslaved Angel, but multiple Singers?
Baseline Five Lives, huh?
Thinking of that prophecy he’d just judged—that Dragon Capital was about to be destroyed—it seed like they were confirming each other.
He looked up at the sky; the pigeon was already gone. Who sent the ssage? And why to him?
Between Moon God’s Court and Song of Hell, who exactly wanted to destroy Dragon Capital?
His ho was here, along with countless ordinary people. For a mont Li Xin felt a bit dazed. If the dice suddenly rolled him a Nine Lives, and he had that sort of divine might like that old dog of the earth, wouldn’t that be great.
At the mont, the only people around him who could touch that level were Kathy and the Celestial Principle School.
Kathy definitely had to be inford, but there were many things she couldn’t help—she wasn’t soone who could make decisions. Could Song of Hell coming to Dragon Capital have anything to do with Moon God’s Court?
Sister Kathy wouldn’t tell him everything. Besides her, the only ones who could actually help were the Celestial Principle School. The two Three-star Grandmasters of the Celestial Principle School were here, an incalculable force. The Celestial Principle School and Song of Hell were absolutely mortal enemies; they might be able to help with this.
Co to think of it, he hadn’t checked in on Xueyin’s studies in quite a while.
As he was thinking, there was a knock at the door, and ng Po walked in.
"Sister ng, what’s up?"
"Captain, it’s like this. You’ve been acting captain for so ti now. Captain Long of the Fla Dragon squad asked soone to relay that the other captains stationed in the capital want to invite you to a al so everyone can get acquainted," ng Po said.
Li Xin nodded. He also wanted to et the other Night Patrol captains; with just Shadow Owl, Jiang Wu’s case was a bit too hard. "Are you familiar with these captains?"
ng Po smiled. "This old woman has dealt with all of them. The captain of Fla Dragon in the East District is Longji; his prestige is second only to Captain Jiang. The captain of White Dove is Hong Jiu—this woman has a real knack for cracking cases and a powerful intel network. The captain of Red Jiao in the West District is Li Chao, a ruthless character by nature. The captain of Wind Eagle is Qin Donglai; Captain Qin is righteous and really likes making friends. In the South District, the Cang Wolf captain is Wen Xingtai, the Fire Imp captain is Mo Zilu. In the North District, the captain of Black Spider is Zhu Yu—this woman is sothing else, the most senior in terms of experience and on very good terms with Captain Jiang. The Dark Falcon captain is Mao Feng."
"What kind of level are they, strength-wise?" Li Xin asked.
"Captain Jiang is definitely the strongest in combat among all the captains. Compared to the Hidden Power, the Night Patrol doesn’t primarily focus on frontal combat; each has their own specialty and excels at handling complex cases," ng Po said. "I don’t know if any of them possess a Divine Relic, but at minimum they’re at the Three Lives level, and the stronger ones might have reached Four Lives."
In truth, anyone who could beco a major captain wouldn’t be weak in combat—they’d all fought the Hidden Power for a long ti. It was just that, facing a top expert like Li Xin, ng Po didn’t want to oversell them.
These people were all no longer young, and if they could hold positions like this in Dragon Capital, their strength shouldn’t be too shabby. It was just unlikely any of them possessed a Divine Relic; they might have been implanted with worms or have an Original Embryo. Soone of Li Xin’s age sitting in this seat was one of a kind.
Most likely there’d be no such thing as a harmless banquet. He’d just arrived, Jiang Wu had died, and he’d taken this position—this was clearly ant to put him in his place.
"Alright, I get it. Let know once the ti and place are set," Li Xin said.
"Okay, I’ll reply to them like that," ng Po said.
"How’s Tanggao been lately? Any trouble?"
"Tanggao is doing just fine. I go visit him whenever I have so free ti, and his foster parents treat him very well too. He just doesn’t really like going to the Grace Class." ng Po gave a wry smile. "The kid only just regained his senses and can’t keep up with the learning pace. It’s this old woman’s incompetence—if I’d helped him build a foundation earlier, it would’ve been better."
"Sister ng, he only just recovered. If you rush it, you’ll only make it worse. It’s fine if he joins the Grace Class a bit later—build up his basics first. If he can’t keep up with the pace, he’ll get ostracized by the other kids, which will actually be bad for his growth," Li Xin said. Children’s social lives weren’t simple either; in Tanggao’s situation he’d probably get bullied, and his identity as a Night Patrol orphan wouldn’t help much.
ng Po was stunned for a mont, then suddenly slapped her forehead. "Look at , always in such a hurry. Mr. Lu said the sa thing, but I kept thinking I should let Tanggao blend into normal life as fast as possible. You’re right. Then, should I have him take a temporary leave from school?"
Recently this matter had been giving ng Po quite a headache. She didn’t want to give up the hard-won opportunity, but Tanggao was very unaccustod to life in the Grace Class and had told her several tis that he wanted to go back to the Night Patrol.
"Um, Captain Li, can I occasionally bring Tanggao back?"
Li Xin smiled. "Of course you can. But from a security standpoint, it’s better to wait until this case is wrapped up. Our opponent is Song of Hell—these people are inhuman."
"I know. I’ll definitely be careful."
"By the way, did you just see a pigeon fly off?"
"A pigeon? No. Soone’s invaded again?" The old face of ng Po changed. Lately she’d been feeling like a useless piece of trash—clearly she was on watch, yet these people ca and went as they pleased.
Li Xin waved his hand with a smile. "It’s fine. I just saw a pigeon fly by. Who likes using pigeons as ssengers, the White Dove Squad?"
"Carrier pigeons—spirit pigeons are workable, but among ssengers they’re on the lower end. Captain Hong Jiu’s White Dove Squad is called ’White Dove,’ but they actually don’t use them," ng Po said.
"Alright, I have to head to the Celestial Principle School in a bit. If sothing cos up, you can find there."
He wanted to check in on Xueyin’s studies—and it happened to be around alti.
Watching Li Xin’s retreating back, ng Po also felt a bit sentintal for a mont. This new captain was different from the ones before; she only hoped the captains of the other squads wouldn’t cause trouble.
Ever since Mordo and Philson had arrived in the Dragon Capital, aside from stirring up a bit of noise at the very beginning, they had been extrely low-key and calm.
Upon learning that Li Xin had co to the Celestial Principle School, both Mordo and Philson stopped their intensive cultivation and ca out to share a al with Li Xin—and Xueyin.
Xueyin blinked her big eyes as she watched Ah Xin wolfing down his food, while her own master and Dean Mordo sat there like two peaceful, happy old grandpas. Her substitute teacher, Scholar Zhuang Zhidong, was off to the side pouring tea and serving water like an apprentice, completely unlike his usual strict self.
"I’m stuffed, I’m stuffed... whew, your food is really good. You even have Hedan-style dishes." Li Xin leaned back in his chair and patted his stomach. He’d eaten a bit too happily and couldn’t help feeling a little nostalgic for those days in Hedan.
"We’d be delighted for Mr. Li to visit more often. We haven’t seen you much lately—we truly missed you," Mordo said with a smile.
"Dean Mordo, you’re sounding more and more like a Beijing person."
"When in Ro, do as the Romans do. Back when I was in Hedan, I already started studying Li Long a bit more."
"And what did you find?" Li Xin asked.
"Right now Li Long is in a very subtle yet very fragile state of balance," Mordo said.
Li Xin took a sip of tea. "I’d like to hear the details."
"Looking across the history of the Sixth Epoch, Governor Luthor can easily rank first. The Li Long Kingdom has many ethnic groups, and years of constant warfare created enormous internal tensions. He used a system of monarchic Council rule to balance all sides, bringing the various factions of Li Long together. Then he used Hex-Tech to boost national strength, allowing Li Long—long drained by war—to gradually grow more prosperous. While still not on par with other kingdoms, it at least allowed most of the people to survive, greatly reducing internal unrest," Mordo said.
"Except this balance is built on Luthor’s personal charisma and capabilities. While he was in power, Royal Authority, the great noble houses, and the Moon God’s Court all had to hold themselves in check. But now his influence has completely faded at the level of power. In recent years, the barely maintained balance has relied entirely on external pressure, yet clearly external threats can’t restrain the ambitions of schers," Philson said.
Grandmaster Philson’s expression wasn’t very good. Li Xin had already heard Xueyin ntion last ti that Grandmaster Philson’s cultivation had run into certain problems.
"There’s sothing rather interesting. The Ji Family Royal Family of the Beijing people is actually relatively weak within the chaos of the Li Long Kingdom; that’s why they ended up yielding power. But precisely because they yielded, they managed to board the big ship of Li Long’s unified developnt. Luthor unified the Kingdom in the na of the Li Long Royal Family, so the Royal Family’s prestige didn’t diminish—on the contrary, it kept increasing. The rise of prestige and the shrinking of power stand in contradiction," Mordo said.
Li Xin looked at the two Grandmasters. Clearly they’d put a lot of effort into gathering intelligence in the Dragon Capital.
"What are the two of you planning?" Li Xin asked. From a certain perspective, Mordo and Philson were both outsiders. Whether the Dragon Capital fell into chaos or not didn’t affect their interests, and you could even say that for Moncalleta it wouldn’t be a bad thing.
The Moncalleta Kingdom and Li Long were allied to a certain extent, but most likely they preferred a weak yet stable ally, not a Li Long growing stronger by the day.
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