It was Xiang Wentian of the Jianghai Branch of the Fengdun Bureau!
Ying Chen recognized this old acquaintance.
As for the content of the text message, it was impossible to know with the password-locked screen. The only thing visible was half a sentence.
"The battle of Jiulong Mountain involves an old friend..."
So Ying Chen placed the phone in front of Bureau Chief Ming and flashed it. After the facial recognition unlocked, he finally saw the full content of the message.
"The battle of Jiulong Mountain involves an old friend. I ask my old brother to take care of him. There is no need to worry about this old friend's strength. The only concern is the reaction of the local forces in Xiangjiang after victory. Be sure to take precautions to avoid local forces resorting to desperate measures, or it will be too late!"
It was obvious that the old friend Xiang Wentian was referring to was Ying Chen.
The meaning in Xiang Wentian's words was not that he was worried about Ying Chen losing, but that he was worried about Li Fengcheng and his ilk resorting to some underhanded and sinister means after Ying Chen defeated Li Fengcheng.
At that point, it would be impossible to salvage the situation.
Li Fengcheng and his group might not be able to harm Ying Chen, but Ying Chen would definitely retaliate strongly afterwards, and it was not impossible that the entire Xiangjiang would be plunged into bloodshed!
Xiang Wentian, while seemingly asking Bureau Chief Ming to look after Ying Chen, was actually reminding Bureau Chief Ming to keep the local forces in Xiangjiang in check and prevent them from courting death!
If this message had been sent at any other time, Bureau Chief Ming might have scoffed at it.
He would have thought Xiang Wentian was exaggerating and overstating things.
But now, Bureau Chief Ming did not doubt the truth of Xiang Wentian's words at all!
Ying Chen had casually taken down the Xiangjiang Fengdun Branch. Wouldn't it be even easier to take down the lairs of wealthy businessmen like Li Fengcheng?
*Clack*, Ying Chen threw the phone back to Bureau Chief Ming.
Although he did not comment, he did not continue his attack.
Bureau Chief Ming instantly breathed a sigh of relief.
He had gambled correctly.
Just now, he had only seen half of the text message, not the whole thing.
He could only gamble, gambling that the "old friend" mentioned by Xiang Wentian was Ying Chen.
If he gambled right, his life would be saved;
If he gambled wrong, his life would be lost.
Fortunately, he had gambled correctly.
Although Ying Chen did not explicitly state it, he had clearly withdrawn his killing intent.
That bone-chilling killing intent was slowly receding from their bodies.
Their blood finally began to flow again, their hearts resumed beating, and the heavy feeling on their chests disappeared.
Bureau Chief Ming quickly took the opportunity to read the entire text message.
After reading it, he was shocked.
He cursed Xiang Wentian internally for not informing him earlier. If he had been informed earlier, he might have...
Well, there was no "might have."
Because the deceased Xiao Ya, relying on her master being an elder of the Fengdun Bureau, simply did not obey his orders.
She even repeatedly tried to replace him.
Even if he had known about this in advance and warned Xiao Ya not to provoke Ying Chen, she would probably have forced her way to warn Ying Chen in order to earn merits and rewards.
Besides, would Bureau Chief Ming really be kind enough to warn Xiao Ya?
It was more likely that after knowing about this, Bureau Chief Ming would have deliberately kept it from Xiao Ya and used Ying Chen's hand to eliminate Xiao Ya, this insubordinate subordinate who disrupted unity!
"Hmm, isn't the current situation developing in the direction I hoped for?"
"Xiao Ya is eliminated, and a thorn in my side from above is removed. It's all to my benefit."
"As for Ying Chen, why must I offend such a top-tier master?"
"I can completely pretend not to know about Xiao Ya's death and wait for the final outcome of the battle at Jiulong Mountain!"
"If he cannot defeat the expert invited by Li Fengcheng, then it's perfect to blame Xiao Ya's death on him, and pin all other crimes on him as well. After all, he will be dead by then, and the dead cannot speak."
"If he can defeat the expert invited by Li Fengcheng, then he will have successfully deterred the restless wealthy businessmen like Li Fengcheng, and in turn, he will have played a role in maintaining the order and stability of Xiangjiang."
"So no matter what, I don't lose!"
Bureau Chief Ming quickly weighed the pros and cons in his mind.
Then, he put on a fawning smile: "Mr. Ying, Old Xiang and I are old friends. We've been on many missions together before. This time, it was a misunderstanding, like the Dragon King's temple being flooded by our own men. How about you let this matter pass out of respect for Old Xiang?"
"As for Xiao Ya, we have no idea where she went, let alone whether she's alive or dead. In the records of our Xiangjiang Fengdun Branch, she did not attend today's regular meeting, neglecting her duties and disregarding discipline. We will report this behavior truthfully."
With one sentence, Bureau Chief Ming sold out Xiao Ya.
Ying Chen looked at Bureau Chief Ming with a half-smile.
Originally, Ying Chen had intended to exterminate the entire Xiangjiang Fengdun Branch, leaving no loose ends.
After all, as long as no one was left alive, no one would know it was Ying Chen who did it.
Why else would they threaten Ying Chen to get out of Xiangjiang, or die in Xiangjiang?
Did they really think they could kill indiscriminately with the imperial sword?
However, since Xiang Wentian had pleaded for them, and this Bureau Chief Ming seemed like a smart person, Ying Chen decided to spare their lives.
"By the way, we also have some information here regarding Uncle He Chongxu."
"We found out that Li Fengcheng has invited Uncle He Chongxu this time—Daoist Yinlong. This Daoist Yinlong was dominating Xiangjiang many years ago. He has been cultivating in seclusion for years, and his Dao cultivation has improved significantly."
"Look at this..."
Seeing Ying Chen remain silent, Bureau Chief Ming quickly showed his goodwill again.
He showed Ying Chen a recently received piece of intelligence.
"This is a video accidentally captured. In the video, there is a thing that resembles a dragon but is not a dragon. Its body emits a faint light, as if thousands of eyes are gazing at the human world."
"The internet says this is a natural phenomenon. In fact, we compared it with our database and found that it is a profound Xuanmen art—Thousand-Eyed Reverse Scale!"
"This footage of Thousand-Eyed Reverse Scale was created by Daoist Yinlong! This means that Daoist Yinlong is at least at the eighth-rank minor completion of sorcery, otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to cultivate Thousand-Eyed Reverse Scale!"
"Mr. Ying, you must be very careful!"
Ying Chen glanced at the intelligence displayed by Bureau Chief Ming and then sneered.
"I thought it was some formidable technique. It can barely be compared to the inferior techniques in the seventy-two chapters of the local forces."
"And you call this a profound art?"
"Then the so-called profound arts of today are really worthless!"
Hearing Ying Chen's sneer, Bureau Chief Ming and the other Fengdun Bureau personnel exchanged bewildered glances.
Thousand-Eyed Reverse Scale was a genuine profound Xuanmen art, yet in Ying Chen's eyes, it only deserved the evaluation of "worthless"?
Wasn't Ying Chen being too arrogant!
"Mr. Ying, Daoist Yinlong is by no means as easy to deal with as you imagine..."
Bureau Chief Ming still wanted to persuade him, but he saw Ying Chen wave his hand.
"I don't care about this so-called Daoist Yinlong. I only care whether Li Fengcheng and the others will renege on their agreement after victory. So, afterwards, I will need your Fengdun Bureau's cooperation to immediately freeze the accounts of Li Fengcheng and others and restrict their exit. Can you do it?"
Bureau Chief Ming hesitated. In fact, doing such a thing against famous wealthy individuals like Li Fengcheng was overstepping boundaries and required approval from higher authorities.
But considering that the lives of everyone in their bureau were in Ying Chen's hands, Bureau Chief Ming gritted his teeth and said, "We can do it!"
Ying Chen nodded faintly. "Then your lives will temporarily remain on your necks. If you go back on your word, I will come to collect them at any time!"
With that, Ying Chen clenched his hand bare-handed.
The pistol at Bureau Chief Ming's waist had, at some unknown time, appeared in Ying Chen's hand and instantly turned into a ball of iron mud, flowing from between Ying Chen's fingers!
Seeing this, Bureau Chief Ming and the others turned pale with shock.
While trembling with fear, they suddenly felt that Ying Chen's words were not so arrogant after all. Ying Chen seemed to truly have the qualifications to disregard Daoist Yinlong.