After leaving the tower, Elder Chen and Wu Guang took the main city street, which extended from gate to gate. Walking south, they did not pay attention to the different store signs that hanging from almost every building located on this street.

While walking, the Elder explained that the ambush details have been kept secret from everyone except the attacked people, Head Enforcer Zhen, another Elder, and the Sect Head. The disciples and enforcers currently stationed in the city and tasked with monitoring the gates or questioning people were only aware that the Sect is searching for a group of cultivators responsible for actions against the sect. The Lord's Manor was notified that the Sect will question some of the guards and stand alongside the gate guards for some days, citing a similar reason of searching for a group of cultivators that tried to steal some resources of the sect.

After this explanation, they were almost in the center of the city. Their destination was located on the west side of the central square, facing south, protected by a twenty feet wall - the Lord's Manor. The place where they were going was the Official or Public manor. It was located almost after passing the Manor's gate. Built on a 10 feet elevation, made of precious woods, with a roof covered in golden tiles, four dragons could be seen at the corners of the roof, overlooking the city. To its sides were the different administration buildings, and behind was the proper manor where the Lord and his family lived.

They passed through the gate with no obstruction, and a guard captain after seeing the elder personally took them to a reception room located on the first floor of the Official manor, ushering the Elder inside, the captain stopped Wu Guang outside until a servant exited the room and nodded to the captain.

Inside the reception room, two people standing with hands clasped behind their backs were discussing something, when Elder Chen crossed the door, both of them stopped talking and turned to meet him. Exchanging some pleasantries, the three of them sat down at a table and a servant quickly served tea. When the servant left, Wu Guang entered the room, made a formal salute with clasped hands, and took place standing behind Elder Chen.

"Palace Master Chen, I was very surprised when your calling card and the letter requesting to privately meet Administrator Zhi and myself flew into my study. Surely such secrecy is not needed taking into account the relation my city and the sect share" Said a plump man dressed in expensive, gold-threaded silk robes. He had sparse brown hair and a goatee on his round face. His expression and tone were a bit insecure, and a slight panic could be seen in his small eyes.

"City Lord Wei, this matter is unpleasant for both the City and the Sect, so I decided that we need to discuss it amongst us without involving the official channels" Answered Elder Chen with a calm tone and expression.

After a signal of the City Lord, the other man, dressed in a simple white scholarly outfit opened his mouth to speak

"There have been no incidents that I am aware that could solicit such, so could Palace Master enlighten us what is this matter? " This white-bearded scholarly man was 74 years old and was the Head Administrator of the city, Zhi Kang. Different from the City Lord, he was calm, the only change that one could discern was some surprise in his eyes when he saw Wu Guang.

"I was intending to do so. As the City Lord was notified officially before, the Sect is searching for a group of cultivators that acted against the sect and supposedly would try to escape through Boundary City Hill" After receiving a nod from both people sitting across him, he continued without changing his tone

"But this was an excuse. To be frank, this group of cultivators never existed at all" Noting the panicked expression that blossomed on the Lord's face, he spoke in a gentler manner

"Don't worry Lord Wei, it was not aimed at you or your city. Mostly, it was to disguise our actions to external eyes. But today, after some information that the young friend behind me shared, I found that this matter is related to an issue that your city had in the past, and may still have"

"Speaking of this, who is this young friend? And what is this issue Palace Master continues to mention?" Quickly asked Lord Wei, his face relaxing after the first part, and tensing again at the latter part

Before Elder Chen could, Zhi Kang said

"Reporting to the City Lord, the young man behind the Palace Master is my nephew, Wu Guang. City Lord should remember me mentioning him before, he studied under me for two years and was sent to study under Shi Qiang last season. Some of his findings while studying past ledgers and budgets were shared and gained praise from a few officials during the last meeting"

"Oh, I faintly remember some of this. Palace Master, what was the information that brought you to us then? I doubt you could be interested in the city accounts" Politely nodding, the City Lord again incited Elder Chen to explain the reason for this matter.

"Three Hills territory, Wildlands, bypassing the city"

After a brief moment Lord Wei jumped from his chair, with the aura of a beginner soul cultivator spreading around him, he practically shouted

"What do you mean Palace Master?! This city is impossible to bypass, and even your sect could not do it. And we can protect ourselves, even against you"

"Calm yourself City Lord!" Zhi Kang interjected while hoping that the actions of Lord Wei will not offend the Pavillion Master. After the Lord retracted his aura, Zhi Kang turned to face Elder Chen again and continued

"I doubt Palace Master meant anything like the things you just said. If I am not mistaken, the information my nephew shared with you, was about the incidents with unmarked Wildlands merchandise appearing in the Three Hills territory or Coastal Hill City?"

"Indeed, and now I will explain what I meant about this being connected to the Sect matters" Calmly answered Elder Zhen, who remained unchanged during the City Lord outburst.

"I am sorry for my shameful behavior" Said Lord Wei with a sour expression, and after a bow, sat down again. Inwardly he was shaking, thinking that he had just almost challenged one of the Sect's most respected members. In reality, this was provoked not by the desire to protect the city, he was just scared that the Sect came for him, that they knew about his secret dealings, and with all that secrecy about some kind of matter, he exploded.

"A group of people attacked and killed some people related to our sect. They also did not hesitate to kill an internal disciple that was accompanying these mortals. This happened on the Boundary Road, and the attackers came from and left to the south"

"But..." Before the City Lord could say anything, Elder Chen raised his hand and continued without letting the former speak

"It was the City's direction, but they did not pass through the gates. Do you now understand what I meant with my previous words?"

"Could they have hidden in the Hills? Or disguised to pass through?" The Head Administrator raised the only two possible reasons for that, well, except the one that neither he nor the City Lord wanted to hear

"I scouted the road, and the attack was in the narrow zone, the one that extends directly from the gates. As for disguising, only two people were passing through the gate at the relevant time, and the group that I am talking about is at least fifteen men strong"

"So, you mean..." Without letting the City Lord finish his words, this time Zhi Kang spoke with a heavy expression on his face

"There is a way to bypass the City"

"City Lord, I asked for this meeting to discuss how we will search for this secret way. After all, it affects not only the Sect, but the City and the territory at large" Elder Chen glanced at the Lord

"But... how?" Lord Wei had a blank face, seemingly forgetting that he was Boundary Hill City Lord.

Seeing the state of the Lord, Zhi Kang took the reins in his hands and offered

"I think that the best way will be to keep this matter secret. Palace Master should look into the records of the city to search for any possible clues, and Lord can direct some of the Manor guards to search around any suspicious spots. Using the reason of helping the Sect in flushing out the robbers that you officially notified us before it will be easy to explain the reason of Palace Master approaching us, and the trips outside the walls"

"Let's do it like this then, please take us to the documents" Agreed Elder Chen.

"Yes, yes" Slightly recovering from his shock, Lord Wei also agreed.

Elder Zhen, Zhi Kang, and Wu Guang left the room and moved towards the documents repository of the Manor. It was located in one of the smaller buildings near the Public Manor.

Lord Wei after watching them leave slowly exhaled, and still in shock, muttered

"The unmarked merchandise is smuggled by Ziying and the city supply office, I get a nice cut from there. It's nothing extreme, and nothing used for cultivation was smuggled. So the Sect or other Lords never cared, and even if they found out, it's no big offense, just that I can't take money from the treasury openly with an old dog like Zhi Kang monitoring the budgets. I am sure that people were never smuggled, but I need to question that brother of mine. If the idiot helped the killers of people related to the Sect, not only him, but all his family including me would be tortured and killed by that demon Zhen Mang" After this, he quickly glanced around, left the Public Manor, circling it and walking towards the proper manor, where his family, including his brother, should be waiting for him to arrive and have dinner.