[You and Yan Jinghong set off.]
[You arrived at the stall you had mentioned.]
[That's right, you certainly weren't just spouting nonsense to Yan Jinghong. In fact, you had only found out about this breakfast stall yesterday.]
[The reason was simple: when you left the Pleasant Dwelling Inn yesterday, your "Martial Uncle" had told you about it.]
[Furthermore, according to this "Little Martial Uncle," he came here almost every morning.]
[The facts proved that Xiao Heng hadn't lied to you.]
[When you arrived at the storefront steaming with boiling heat, sure enough, you saw two familiar figures.]
["Oh? Martial Nephew, you're here!"]
[Xiao Heng, who was chatting about who knows what with Li Taohong beside him, spotted you at a glance, his eyes lighting up.]
[This was normal. Your attire and Yan Jinghong's were quite unique and indeed eye-catching.]
[Facing Xiao Heng's greeting, you also smiled faintly: "Greetings, Martial Uncle and Martial Aunt! Is Grandmaster well today?"]
[Xiao Heng nodded hastily. "He's doing great, doing great!"]
[He struggled to swallow the osmanthus cake in his mouth before hurriedly continuing:]
["The old Grandmaster said he wants to teach you the immensity of heaven and earth. In a couple of days, he's planning to show you his true prowess, haha!"]
[You smiled faintly. Glancing at Yan Jinghong, who stood there as silent as a block of wood, you took the liberty of ordering the food and directly sat down at the same table as Li Taohong and Xiao Heng.]
["Martial Nephew, this young lady is…"]
[Xiao Heng asked subconsciously. Before you could speak, Li Taohong beside him chimed in:]
["This must be the Divine Detective Jinghong, currently ranked eleventh on the Human Ranking, right?"]
[Yan Jinghong's upper body instantly snapped straight. Or rather, the moment Xiao Heng uttered the words "Martial Nephew," she had already gone as stiff as a board.]
[Xiao Heng seemed to realize something and quickly nodded. "I see, so it's Divine Detective Yan. I am Xiao Heng, and this is my Senior Sister Li Taohong. We are disciples of the Medicine King Valley. Greetings, Divine Detective Yan."]
["G-greetings, Martial Uncle Xiao… greetings… Martial Aunt Li…"]
[Yan Jinghong's stammering appearance and her form of address made the two of them instantly recall those previous rumors.]
[Now it seemed this Divine Detective Yan and their own Martial Nephew truly had quite an extraordinary relationship.]
[However, it was quite obvious that the emotional intelligence of these two present wasn't very high. Therefore, Xiao Heng merely nodded and didn't pay it any more mind. Instead, he looked at you with eager anticipation:]
["Martial Nephew, do you have any free time today? Since we've run into each other, would you be willing to come over and give me and Senior Sister a few pointers?"]
[Faced with his question, you decided to…]
[You sighed and shook your head helplessly:] (Option 2)
["My apologies, Martial Uncle. Lord Cui from Jinling City arrived in Lin'an yesterday to investigate some matters regarding the Changle Palace. Lord Cui is reviewing the case files and asked me to head to the Six Doors for an interrogation…"]
[At these words, Xiao Heng and Li Taohong's brows instantly furrowed. However, almost at the same time, Yan Jinghong hurriedly shook her head again:]
["No, it's not an interrogation, just questioning, merely questioning…"]
[Xiao Heng and Li Taohong's gazes instantly locked onto Yan Jinghong. Although the two of them didn't have high emotional intelligence, at this moment, they could clearly detect the guilty conscience in Yan Jinghong's voice as she trailed off.]
[Immediately, the two of them furrowed their brows tightly, exchanged a glance, and looked back at you. You decided to…]
[You smiled faintly, acting as if you hadn't noticed them exchanging glances, and looked back at Yan Jinghong, laughing:] (Option 3)
["Yes, yes, yes, questioning, merely questioning."]
[The pastries were quickly served. Before long, an absent-minded Yan Jinghong finished eating with you, and then you both bade the other two farewell.]
[It was getting late. This time, you and Yan Jinghong finally headed toward the Six Doors Yamen in the center of Lin'an City.]
[This was your second time coming here, even though you had clearly never dreamed that your return visit would be under such circumstances and in such a posture.]
[Fortunately, you knew you had done everything you could and prepared as best you could!]
[Thinking of this, you looked at Yan Jinghong, whose face had once again grown tense, and spoke casually:]
["Alright, let's go."]
[After speaking, without waiting for Yan Jinghong to speak or move, you took the lead and arrived before the Yamen's plaque.]
[You pushed the doors open and entered!]
[...]
...
In front of the Yamen, seeing this scene unfold ahead of her, Yan Jinghong hastily followed after him.
However, at this very moment, Yan Jinghong would absolutely never have imagined just how massive a storm Chen Xuan's actions—the actions of the young man ahead—would stir up on this seemingly ordinary morning!
Rewinding time slightly to just a moment ago…
On the other side of Lin'an City, outside the Golden Dragon Trading Company, as Zhang Xuelan watched the two of them leave, her eyes were filled entirely with sheer panic.
That's right. Compared to that figure at this moment, Zhang Xuelan was actually even more panicked.
Although she hadn't had much contact with the Six Doors' methods, considering their interrogation capabilities combined with the strength of that Lord Cui…
Thinking of this, the panic in Zhang Xuelan's eyes could barely be concealed.
If that boy was subjected to that kind of interrogation, or worse, if they used soul-snatching secret arts to interrogate him by force, what if he spilled everything like beans pouring from a bamboo tube?
Everything else aside, she didn't have the slightest bit of interest in whatever the hell the Changle Palace was, but what about the Princess?
Once the Princess's matter was exposed, it would not only concern the Water Transport Sect's major event this time; in the future, if it fell into the eyes of the Imperial Court—especially if that grand eunuch, who had arrived for some unknown reason, blew the matter up to the heavens—then everything would be ruined!
No!
She couldn't just sit still and await her doom.
With a sweep of her yellow robes, Zhang Xuelan's figure transformed into a violent gale. Only this time, she didn't head toward the banks of the West Lake.
She knew that the person who truly called the shots in Lin'an City wouldn't usually go there.
She unleashed her movement method.
It had been a very long time since Zhang Xuelan had pushed her movement method to its absolute limit just for travel.
Fortunately, precisely because of this, in just a few moments, the noisy, bustling long streets of Lin'an were left far behind her, and Zhang Xuelan finally arrived at the most unique location within Lin'an City.
That's right. It was nowhere else but the very place Chen Xuan had been last night, the Water Transport Sect's stronghold in Lin'an:
Crouching Dragon Ward!