Why do I have so many masters?

"Wuxin, this matter is more troublesome than you and I anticipated,"

Wuxin nodded, his expression ice-cold.

Wuxin raised his eyes to the bustling scene not a hundred meters away, clenched his fists, in stark contrast with the chaos here; yet this small anomaly had no impact on the city's revelry. He averted his gaze and stated succinctly,

"Split up and act, be extremely cautious."

"After an hour, meet at the Ministry of Punishment."

Tie Lin nodded, and Wuxin stepped onto the river surface, walking on water to avoid the district markets and headed straight towards the city gate. With each step, the ripples surged, causing the lotus lanterns with messages written on them to bob up and down.

The sky was full of stars, a silver band wrapped around Liangzhou City.

Amidst the lights, the noble son approached, moonlike.

This scene drew gasps from countless women watching the lanterns.

However, Wuxin's face was terrifyingly cold, and his movements, now shadowed intermittently by the walls of buildings due to the lighting, cast his features alternatively in light and dark. As he organized his thoughts one by one, each reflection deepened his frown.

At any rate, there must be a Gate Command at the city gate. As for the Yu Department officials at the government office, even if only one remained, Tie Lin would be able to apprehend him directly and look through the records.

In this case, at least three Mechanical Crossbows of Mo Family, complete with crossbow bolts, were involved. Such mechanical crossbows are, under the heavens, exclusively crafted by the Heavenly Works Department in Heaven Capital City of Great Qin. The Xiongnu Royal Court once sent skilled craftsmen into Qin to covertly learn and imitate, creating the Valiant Wolf Crossbow, which is inferior to the Heavenly Secrets Crossbow by more than a notch.

The true Heavenly Secrets Crossbow, at a distance of a hundred paces, could penetrate twenty layers of superior iron armor without losing momentum.

With its power, if ambushed, it could even severely injure a martial artist of the Fifth Rank.

Each of these mechanical crossbows is recorded in the archives of the Heavenly Works Department, with threefold records.

The craftsmen of Mo Family's works department, the chief supervisor of artisans, as well as the vice minister of the Heavenly Works Department all inspect each one. Being able to steal a mechanical crossbow, and not just one, was for someone familiar with the operating rules of Heaven Capital City like Wuxin, indeed a matter of grave concern.

Even in his estimation, since three had already been exposed, the enemy likely had at least three times that number, if not ten.

According to the Ministry of Punishment's compilation of cases over the past century, where even suicide squads possess the strength of the Sixth Rank, there was an almost eighty percent chance that delving into this case would involve martial artists with the combat prowess of a Grandmaster.

Wuxin exhaled a breath of turbid air.

His mindset remained tranquil, like a mountain of ice in the dead of winter. He lifted his hand and brushed over the Bi'an Golden Order at his waist, murmuring softly,

"Act as necessary..."

His right foot stepped onto the water surface, causing it to dip an inch before he leaped again, heading towards the nearby city gate.

As Wuxin left, Tie Lin watched, then withdrew his gaze, turned to the martial soldier beside him, and said in a deep voice, "Proceed as usual. If you spot anything suspicious, send an alert first, then quickly evacuate and ensure your safety. Also..."

He paused briefly, then continued,

"Additionally, pay attention to the first martial artist who leaves, named Feng An—likely a pseudonym. If he goes directly back to Xingde District, then leave it be. But if you detect any unusual behavior, record his actions and send it to the Ministry of Punishment with the carrier pigeon you carry."

The surrounding martial soldiers paused, uncertain as to what this command was for, having seen Wang Anfeng's form as he entered the water; the officer had plunged in to help immediately upon hearing the sound of the mechanisms.

They had thought the two were colleagues and friends.

But as Tie Lin was an officer from Heaven Capital City, although they hesitated, they still nodded in agreement.

Tie Lin took a deep breath, recalling the ferocity and murderous aura Wang Anfeng had shown when he had rushed at him in that room; his heart still trembled slightly. He had seen too many prisoners; that kind of aura could only belong to someone with an enormous blood debt.

This person was surely a fiend.

Though Wang Anfeng's later actions had altered his perception, they were not enough to dispel his suspicions.

Especially under the circumstances of the day, especially since Wang Anfeng had also disguised himself.

The greater the matter, the less one could afford to overlook a single detail.

Feng An, don't let me down.

Tie Lin murmured to himself, striding away.

While walking, the pain from a knife wound on his shoulder caused his facial muscles to twitch; he had received that resentful strike while deflecting hidden weapons for an elder, a blow that nearly reached the bone. Right now, there was no time to treat it.

Lifting his hand, he pressed hard on the wound, causing the blood to flow back and lessen the pain significantly. Tie Lin took several large strides and leapt onto the roof, with a knife in one hand and a thin sword at his waist, heading straight for the house of the Yu Department officials.

He needed to find the chief official of the Yu Department, to review the layout of all the real estate in the city, as well as the ownership and location of these properties—since he had to take someone far away, since he was the kind of fiend who would use murder to cut off clues, he would never want to reveal too many flaws.

As a famous hunter of vicious criminals, he was all too familiar with such people.

These individuals were incredibly brutal and cold, often so confident in their plans that they pursued perfection to an extreme degree; they would never employ the rough tactics of bandits who commit murder and temporarily reside in the victim's room.

But this pursuit of perfection often led them to their doom.

The more they sought flawlessness, the more likely they were to leave behind traces.

Tie Lin hit his own wound, grinning; like a lone wolf sensing the scent of blood, he vowed to return each of the painful wounds, and Feng An's crossbow injury, one by one.

It would truly be a great feat...

He murmured to himself.

Wang Anfeng walked quickly, not heading directly towards Xingde District, but instead, merged into the crowd. His right hand opened to reveal a piece of yellowed paper with several district markets drawn on it in charcoal. The frayed edges indicated it was recently torn off.

It had appeared in his palm when Wuxin had slapped his hand away moments earlier.

After identifying the route, Wang Anfeng clenched his hand, carefully saving the small piece of map and placing it in his chest close to the jade pendant. Then, with an expressionless face, he blended into the crowd, walking in a different direction.

PS: Today's update is here... you know what, even though I'm combining two parts into one because of the needs of the continuity of the story, when I combine them, it's still six thousand words, okay? If I split them into two chapters, each would have a whopping three thousand words (spits blood)

Like today, each chapter has more than three thousand four hundred words.