Elderly Martial Saint: Sixty Times the Cultivation Speed ​​at the Start

Yi Yang closed the register, his fingertips still resting on the cover, pondering in his heart.

Of the eight people, six were brought in by Zhang Debiao over three years. Their start dates were staggered, and they were recommended through different channels. Some were transferred from other counties, some were temporarily recruited, and some were simply brought in under the guise of "filling vacancies".

Although the remaining two were not directly recruited by Zhang Debiao, Zhang Debiao signed and sealed every transfer document that led them from ordinary prison guards to key positions.

Yi Yang flipped the roster back to the first page and looked at it again from the beginning, not to look for new clues, but to confirm something.

After confirming the list, he closed it and pressed it back into the hidden compartment.

These are not just a few scattered pieces, but rather hidden pieces that were planned in advance to be infiltrated by Zhang Debiao. Although Zhang Debiao is gone, the roots he planted are still alive. These roots lie dormant underground, waiting for a specific signal, when they will all break through the soil.

Looking across the entire Yunlin County, only one force possessed the patience, resources, and audacity to establish such a network of covert agents within the Sky Patrol Bureau's prison over three years.

The Zhang family in the inner city.

Yi Yang leaned back in his chair, his gaze drifting into a daze as he pondered what to do about the situation.

His first thought was to write a letter to Chen Wuyai, writing down all the anomalies he had discovered that day, along with the suspicious points on the roster, and submit it to the high-ranking officials of the Sky Patrol Bureau so that he could handle the matter and thus have nothing to do with himself.

This is the safest and most correct approach.

But Yi Yang suppressed the thought; it wasn't that he didn't want to report it, but that he couldn't.

His fingers slowly traced the edge of the table, his mind racing with deductions. The Zhang family, one of the three great families of the inner city, had been entrenched in Yunlin County for two or three hundred years. Their influence extended into government offices, businesses, and even the Imperial Observatory. Could such a behemoth be reported with just "eight prison guards acting strangely"?

Whether Chen Wuyai believes it or not is one thing, but even if he does believe it, would he dare to take action against the Zhang family without sufficient evidence?

dare not.

Because the Zhang family is not isolated, what will the Wang and Li families think if we touch the Zhang family? How will we explain our higher-ups in the Sui Ning Mansion? It's a matter of pulling one hair and affecting the whole body. No matter how decisive Chen Wuyai is, he won't break ties with the entire inner city's aristocratic families for the sake of eight suspects.

The most likely scenario is that after Chen Wuyai received the letter, he sent someone to secretly investigate and confirm it, but even the smallest secret investigation would eventually leak out.

The Zhang family has informants within the Sky Patrol Bureau, as evidenced by the fact that Zhang Debiao was able to remain imprisoned for the first three years. What will the Zhang family do once this news reaches the inner city?

Should we back down?

No, they will speed up.

It's clear that the Zhang family's plan wasn't just to rescue the Grand Deacon of the Nine Evil Cults; they don't have that kind of ability yet. So there must be a bigger goal lurking behind it. That grand plan, which might have been observing and waiting for the right opportunity, will be detonated prematurely because it's been triggered, and then even more people will die.

And the most crucial issue lies here, which is also the fundamental reason why Yi Yang decided not to take this action.

So how did he discover that these eight people were problematic?

With his cultivation level in the Inner Qi Realm, those lurkers used techniques to conceal their auras, which even experts at the fourth or fifth level of Qi and Blood Realm might not be able to see through. However, Yi Yang was able to see through them because he was in the Inner Qi Realm.

Chen Wuyai wasn't stupid. The first question that came to his mind after receiving the letter was definitely: "Yi Yang, how did you, an old man at the peak of the fourth level of Qi and Blood, discover a hidden agent at the fifth level of Qi and Blood?"

This question cannot be answered.

To say you were "observant"? They were suppressing their breath and changing their expressions, and you think your observation skills are that good? To say you were "lucky"? You ran into all eight of them, are you that lucky to think you could fool Chen Wuyai?

The only reasonable explanation is that Yi Yang's strength far exceeds that of a fourth-level Qi and Blood cultivator.

Once his trump card of being at the Inner Qi Realm is exposed, this "unremarkable old jailer" will cease to exist.

Instead, a new "sixty-year-old internal energy realm expert" has emerged in Yunlin County.

All eyes will be on him. The Zhang family will be watching him closely, the Wang family will be testing him, the Sanyuan Society will be pondering him, and even those with ulterior motives within the Sky Patrol Bureau will reassess his value.

At that point, let alone hiding, he wouldn't even be able to sleep peacefully. Therefore, Yi Yang rejected this path. It wasn't that he couldn't expose his strength, but that would involve either future benefits or risks that threatened him. Obviously, there were no benefits to this, so he refused.

Let's try another one.

Not reporting it? Pretending not to have noticed?

Not at all.

If these eight people cause a major disturbance, and Feng Haiyuan is kidnapped or silenced, Chen Wuyai's subsequent investigation might reveal that the new jailer, Yi Yang, was completely unaware of these loopholes—a double accusation of incompetence and dereliction of duty. At best, he'd be dismissed; at worst, he'd be prosecuted. That wouldn't align with his long-term plan to stay in the Sky Patrol Division, acquire resources, and steadily advance his career.

With both paths blocked, Yi Yang, who was deep in thought, stopped tapping his fingers on the table.

Then, a third option emerged in my mind.

Not too early, not too late, just right.

He doesn't need to report it now, nor does he need to keep it a secret. What he needs is to pinpoint a specific point in time.

Once these people make their move, once they start contacting Feng Haiyuan, and once their true intentions are revealed—is it to kidnap someone? To silence them? Or to deliver a message?

Sending a warning to Chen Wuyai half an hour in advance during the window between their action and their success would ensure that Chen Wuyai is aware of the Zhang family's plans.

Yi Yang stood up, walked to the table, took out an old inkstone from a hidden cabinet in the corner, poured a few drops of water, and slowly ground the ink.

The scent of ink permeated the duty room, mingling with the musty smell unique to prisons, creating a somewhat absurd scholarly atmosphere. The cut letter paper was laid out on the desk, and he picked up his brush, dipped it in ink, but did not write anything.

Because he had already thought about the contents of the letter, he would not write "eight prison guards were replaced", nor "five layers of hidden stakes in Qi and Blood", nor "pointing to the Zhang family".

The report states: "Recent inspections have revealed unusual behavior among some personnel in prison positions, raising suspicions of external infiltration. The specific details are still under verification, and this report is hereby submitted for record-keeping."

Vague, general, and watertight.

Credit? He didn't take credit; he merely "discovered something unusual." The detailed investigation was left to Chen Wuyai's own people. Responsibility? He wouldn't take it. The letter had been delivered; you received it but didn't have time to process it—that's your problem.

Yi Yang folded the letter he had written into a square grid, stuffed it into the deepest part of the hidden compartment on his desk, and weighed it down with a paperweight.

The ink isn't completely dry yet; perhaps everything will begin once it's fully dry.

He had half an inkstone left after grinding the ink, which he didn't throw away, but placed on the corner of the table.