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Just as Cai Jie was about to open his mouth to ask more questions, he was interrupted by the front door swinging open. Gao Yan and the Rong twins had arrived. Seeing the three of them sitting in the entry hall not only surprised Gao Yan but also caught the Rong twins off guard. It wasn’t often that Yan Xiaobao appeared so impatient, and seeing their puzzled expressions, Yan Xiaobao couldn’t help but offer them an awkward, sheepish smile.
"Gao Yan." He called out, "We need so information. Do you have ti to talk with us before dinner?" he asked. Gao Yan nodded, excused himself briefly, and led the three young people into Xu Biao’s forr office. However, the older man no longer used the room as he was now deeply focused on cultivation. He spent every waking mont of the day training, which Yan Xiaobao couldn’t help but find concerning. The way Xu Biao was overloading his Yang Energy without balancing it with enough Yin made it impossible for him to perfectly harmonize them. This imbalance ant he was unable to progress to the next level. Xu had made a ntal note to warn his old friend to be careful—such obsessive focus on training might ruin his long-term prospects.
"What’s so important that you waited for to return instead of eting at the Black Lion Society?" Gao Yan asked curiously, his gaze resting on Yan Xiaobao. He had already guessed that his white-haired friend would be the one to lead the conversation.
"The Crusaders," Yan Xiaobao said directly. "I need every piece of information you have on them. I want to know who they’ve visited, where they’re staying, what they’ve been doing in the city, and everything you know about how they were ford."
Hearing this, Gao Yan frowned. "You want information on the Crusaders?" he asked, clearly perplexed. "Why would you want to know about the Crusaders? What do you an by ’how they were ford’?" At his question, Yan Xiaobao and Cai Jie exchanged glances before Yan Xiaobao cleared his throat. "Could you share everything you know about the Crusaders with us? I an every last detail. How long have they been visiting the capital, how many of them currently reside here—everything," he asked earnestly. Gao Yan rubbed his chin in thought. "I should be able to find it for you," he said slowly. "But it’ll take so ti. We don’t have detailed information on the Crusaders. This is like asking for information on every rcenary in the city." He continued, "What we do know right now is that the Crusaders are tied to the Royal Family, and at least one trusted person in the Royal Family household is a Crusader." The more Gao Yan spoke, the wider the eyes of Cai Jie and Yan Xiaobao beca. No wonder Cai Jie had seen Crusaders in the city—there must be quite a few of them.
"I need all the information on the Crusaders, every single piece of it," Yan Xiaobao said insistently. Even after hearing what Gao Yan had just told him, he was still taken aback. Would he need to have a Crusader in his household as well in the future? He couldn’t let go of that thought, especially since he knew they weren’t just connected to the Royal Family but in so cases seed to be directly involved with him.
"There’s also another question," Yan Xiaobao asked sowhat out of breath. "Have you heard of the na An Hee?" Gao Yan frowned slowly as he turned his gaze toward Yan Xiaobao. It was clear he was scouring his mory for anything that might surface. But the longer he searched, the more frustrated he beca. Finally, after about ten minutes of contemplation, he opened his mouth. "An Hee?" he asked. "Are you certain that’s his na? Does he reside in the capital? I find that highly doubtful. If he did, I would know of him," he continued. From his tone, it was obvious he had never heard this na before. Even the twins exchanged puzzled looks, unable to recall anyone nad An Hee either.
Seeing that they knew nothing, Yan Xiaobao felt a twinge of disappointnt that quickly faded as he refrad his thoughts. After all, An Hee was hardly an ordinary figure. He was a peak-level expert in this world, far above the average cultivator. If his na were widely known, that would indeed be strange. Without missing a beat, Yan Xiaobao swiftly shifted the topic. "What about the Frozen General?" he asked, deliberately using his title rather than his given na, Zhong Hui.
The ntion of the Frozen General’s na made the Rong twins and Gao Yan suck in a sharp breath. They all looked shocked and guarded. "What do you need to know about him?" Gao Yan asked cautiously, seeming uncertain how to respond. "The Frozen General...he’s soone commoners invoke to scare others," Rong Xing muttered softly. "If a child doesn’t do what their parents tell them, they’ll say the Frozen General will co to take them away—and make them part of his Frozen Brigade."
Hearing this, Yan Xiaobao couldn’t help but chuckle—a reaction that felt strangely out of place in the otherwise serious atmosphere. Even Cai Jie seed taken aback; only Deng Wu let a faint smile escape onto his face. The two of them, Deng Wu and Yan Xiaobao, had t Zhong Hui in Shen Yun, and the man they encountered seed nothing like the one portrayed by these folk tales. The Frozen General wasn’t so boogeyman kidnapping disobedient children in the night. Yan Xiaobao’s impression of the Frozen General was that of a terrifyingly powerful cultivator, far beyond the level of ordinary citizens.
"I’ll need a few days to gather all the information on the Crusaders and to better understand what people think about the ’Frozen General,’" Gao Yan promised. After a brief pause, the older man added, "As for the na An Hee, though I’ve never heard of it before, I’ll ask around to see if I can uncover anything."
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