Fantasy: Starting with a bowl, you can exchange it for endless cultivation.

"Yes, Brother Gu." Cheng Mengling left after receiving the order.

In the desolate state, on Gongsun Yuan's side.

Today, he asked Gu Chen, whom Chen Lei had requested, to investigate the case of his disciple being injured.

If they cannot find out, they should inform Shangguan Wuqing about Gu Chen's dismissal.

Now they have received a reply from Shangguan Wuqing:

"If you can find out, then do your best. If you can't find out, it's okay. Chen Lei wouldn't dare to dismiss Gu Chen from his position, so there's no need to worry."

He received a reply from Shangguan Wuqing.

Gongsun Yuan calmed down.

Since Master had said that even if they couldn't find out, Chen Lei wouldn't dare to dismiss his junior brother from his position.

Then he doesn't need to worry anymore.

They sent someone directly to inform Gu Chen about this.

The next day.

Gu Chen then received the news.

"Chen Lei wants me to take full control of this case, and if I don't find the murderer within a month, he'll dismiss me. He really has no shame," Gu Chen sneered.

Chen Lei had a well-thought-out plan.

It's impossible to find the killer.

After all, he was the murderer.

How can you investigate that? Does he have to investigate himself?

"My master has already decided not to let Chen Lei dismiss me for this matter. If he could dismiss me so hastily, then the appointment and removal of officials in the Night Watch would be too frivolous. He probably just wants to annoy me." Gu Chen thought to himself.

It's enough to just put on a show.

You can ignore the rest.

Focus on refining pills and making money, and strive to break through to the mid-stage of the Transformation Sea Realm as soon as possible.

Gu Chen summoned Liang Xiaoyun and Lin Fei and ordered, "The higher-ups have entrusted the investigation into the attack on He Teng and the leaders of the four top forces by an unknown powerful figure who robbed them of their treasure to our Nine Bays City Night Watch Division. They have given us the greatest authority, and they have provided us with all the powerful figures and intelligence support we need. We are to find the culprit within a month."

"Finding the murderer within a month? How is that possible!" Lin Fei couldn't help but exclaim.

This is a very tricky matter.

In the past two days, the Night Watch of the entire desolate state has been operating at full capacity, with the Night Watch in all cities working in conjunction with the Surveillance Bureau.

No clues were found.

Now that the higher-ups have assigned them such a big case and asked them to find the murderer within a month, it's simply impossible.

This matter is probably a deliberate attempt by higher authorities to target their Director Gu Chen.

It's clear that since the departure of the previous Chief of the Wilderness Guard, the new Chief of the Wilderness Guard has been increasingly suppressing Gu Chen and his group.

The two looked at Gu Chen, wondering what he planned to do.

"Just do your duty. We'll investigate with all our might. If we can't find anything, don't blame us." Gu Chen said calmly, "Go and investigate."

"Yes." The two left.

Gu Chen then began refining pills in the mansion.

As for investigating cases, just leave it to the people below.

He didn't need to go in person.

And Zhongzhou.

In a city outside Haoran Academy.

Mei Jingfei has once again come to the Louwailou stronghold in this city.

He issued the assassination mission here yesterday.

He wanted to get the assassins from Louwailou to help him kill Gu Chen and get information from Gu Chen about who betrayed him in their Haoran Academy.

The person in charge of Lou Wai Lou asked him to come back today, as they needed a valuation quote.

After Mei Jingfei arrived, he asked directly, "Has the price been offered for the mission I issued yesterday—to kill Gu Chen, the head of the Night Watch Division of Jiuwan City, Heiyan Prefecture, Yuehai County, Huangzhou?"

"They're out," the person in charge said.

He then produced a price list.

The document details Gu Chen's strength, background, and final offer.

Mission objective: Ancient Dust.

Realm: Early stage of True Essence Realm.

Combat strength rating: Late stage of True Essence Realm.

Background: A seventh-rank official of the Night Watch, the seventh disciple of Shangguan Wuqing, the decision-maker of the Night Watch, and a member of the Second Prince's faction.

Detailed profile: Age 20, ranked 501st on the Prodigy Ranking, with unparalleled talent. Latest achievements include defeating Duan Yanxin, the Hundred-Faced Flame Lord, and mastering the Night Watch Division's top-tier technique, the "Four Beasts Celestial Phenomenon Technique." His outstanding tracking and investigation abilities have attracted widespread attention.

Price quoted: Four million taels of silver.

After glancing through the list, Mei Jingfei was stunned when her gaze fell on the final price.

"You dare to offer four million taels of silver to kill a mere early True Yuan Realm cultivator? Are you out of your mind or do you think I'm stupid?!" Mei Jingfei roared at the person in charge of Lou Wai Lou. "That much silver is enough to hire an assassin to kill a fourth-grade expert."

"This price is based on his background and other factors," the person in charge said. "Sometimes, a high price isn't determined by his cultivation level. This Gu Chen is a seventh-rank official of the Divine Dynasty, and behind him is Shangguan Wuqing, a decision-maker in the Night Watch Department at the Earth Venerable Realm. If we kill him, the Night Watch Department will definitely trace it back to Lou Wai Lou. It's not worth it for too little money to deal with the subsequent troubles. The risk and reward are not proportional."

Listening to the explanation from the person in charge of Lou Wai Lou.

Mei Jingfei remained speechless.

He doesn't have that much money at all.

All his savings combined didn't even amount to 40,000 taels of silver.

The more than 5,000 taels he had on him were all confiscated by Gu Chen when he was captured, and were taken from him in prison.

The remaining tens of thousands of taels were his private savings hidden at home.

He pondered that if Lou Wai Lou's price was within 100,000 taels...

He can grit his teeth and scrape together the money.

Four million taels.

Even if you sold him, he wouldn't be worth that much money.

Suddenly, he realized that he didn't hate Gu Chen as much anymore.

"I'm not taking on this mission anymore," Mei Jingfei sneered.

"Please do as you please, sir," the manager of Lou Wai Lou said calmly, showing no anger.

They've seen this kind of situation many times: people choose to abandon a task when the price is too high.

It doesn't seem strange at all.

They are in business.

It's not a charity.

Although they claimed to have enough money to hire them to kill anyone they wanted within the Divine Dynasty.

But you need to have enough money.

To kill Gu Chen, a prodigy with a high official rank and a powerful background.

Lou Wai Lou devotes far more energy to dealing with the aftermath than to sending someone to kill Gu Chen.

To kill Gu Chen, they could easily send any sixth-rank expert.

Getting a sixth-rank expert to take action doesn't require much silver.

But what happens after Gu Chen is killed?

The Night Watch will be furious and will thoroughly investigate the murderer.

They traced him to the building outside the building.

If we destroy several of their strongholds, or even if Shangguan Wuqing takes action and slaughters some of their large strongholds, they will suffer a huge loss.

Without sufficiently large returns, it's not worthwhile for them to do anything.

Mei Jingfei left the Louwailou stronghold.

The more I thought about it on the way, the more frustrated I felt.

He still couldn't swallow his anger.

He was absolutely convinced that Gu Chen must have received a tip from someone from the Haoran Academy who had gone to dig for the treasure together, which was why he was able to accurately track his movements and take action against him.

He was truly unwilling to give up until he found this person.

But he was stumped about how to find this person.

Hiring an assassin to kill Gu Chen was too expensive; he couldn't afford it.

He went to kill Gu Chen himself.

He was no match for Gu Chen.

Let's ask his dad for help, forget it.

If his father knew, he would still be unrepentant and continue to target Gu Chen, wanting to go further and further down the wrong path.

I'd probably just beat him up, let alone help him get revenge.

It's good enough that they didn't kill him.

Have it.

Go find his mother; she'll definitely help.

Mei Jingfei left the city.

Heading towards Haoran Academy.

Actually, Mei Jingfei was overthinking things.

The disciples of Haoran Academy who accompanied him to the Xiling Mountains to dig for treasure this time.

No one betrayed him.

He was captured by Gu Chen entirely because he had acted too arrogantly, and Gu Chen had exchanged information for him using a copper bowl.

Unfortunately, he was unwilling to accept it.

Instead of admitting and correcting their mistakes, they choose to seek revenge.

In the end, they can only end up in a state of utter ruin.

Mei Jingfei went to Haoran Academy and sought out his mother, Jiang Ruyan.

"Mother, I have a favor to ask of you," Mei Jingfei said, leading her to a secluded corner.

"What's going on? Why are you being so secretive?" Jiang Ruyan asked, seeing Mei Jingfei's cautious demeanor.

"Mother, the fact that I was captured by Gu Chen, the chief of the Nine Bays City Night Watch, in Nine Bays City this time was not a coincidence. I believe that someone secretly reported me to the Nine Bays City Night Watch and deliberately went to arrest me." Mei Jingfei said to Jiang Ruyan with a cold glint in his eyes.

"Is someone deliberately trying to frame you?" Jiang Ruyan frowned.

"That's right." Mei Jingfei nodded. "Moreover, this person isn't an outsider; they might be one of the disciples from our Haoran Academy who went to participate in the treasure hunt!"

"Are you sure that this was something someone from Haoran Academy deliberately reported on you?" Jiang Ruyan's eyes flashed with a cold light.

If it's true, then her son has been betrayed by his own people this time.

This is no small matter.

They've joined forces with outsiders to secretly harm and suppress their own people.

If it weren't for her son's skill in bone shrinking and disguise.

They have probably lost face, and the reputation of Haoran Academy has also been affected.

If it comes to this, Haoran Academy will definitely expel her son from the academy to protect its reputation.

I never imagined that this whole thing would be caused by our own people.

Thinking of Jiang Ruyan, a surge of killing intent welled up within him.

Normally, if there are some internal conflicts among the disciples of the academy, she will let it go and will not interfere.

This time, they actually colluded with outsiders to frame her son, which she absolutely could not allow.

"I'm sure that because my actions in Jiuwan City were very secretive, if I hadn't been reported by my own people, the head of the Jiuwan City Night Watch would never have caught me so easily. When he arrested me, he arrived right on time, catching me red-handed, leaving me no way to escape." Mei Jingfei said through gritted teeth, "It must have been the other academy disciples who went to compete for the treasure who betrayed me."

"I understand, Mother. Don't worry, I'll take care of this for you and I'll definitely find the villain behind this," Jiang Ruyan said coldly.