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Nanyang City did not conscript soldiers; the Shen Family had more than a dozen Magisterial Sorcerers, coupled with hundreds of intermediate sorcerers of the fifth rank and above among the younger generations, as well as the spell formations accumulated by the Shen Family in Nanyang City for nearly a thousand years.

With just a few modifications, they could create a scenario where the lethality was not so apparent yet would successfully prevent the living dead from entering the city.

Although in terms of rescue, Nanyang’s performance was not even comparable to that of Nanming Prefecture, when it came to the stability of the city, it was second to none!

This also allowed the citizens of Nanyang City to gradually return to calm after the initial panic, to the extent that there would even be lantern festivals at night.

Looking at the state city, which resembled an era of peace and prosperity, Wang Ye couldn’t help but sigh in his heart. The Shen Family truly was formidable; there was a reason that during the most chaotic era of warlords, they had turned Jiangnan into a secluded paradise on earth.

Investigating the secrets of such a powerful family’s foundation excited Wang Ye immensely.

The Judicial Court was a place for investigating cases. Initially, his master had wanted to get him into the Ministry of Rites, but he was not keen on that, preferring the legacy of mysterious and suspenseful unsolved cases in the Judicial Court over the tedium of ritual education.

This Chen Qing did give him quite a surprise, having presented him with life-threatening cases on both their meetings.

After a banquet, Wang Ye briefly informed the people of the Shen Family about the situation outside and also mentioned matters regarding the rescue.

"I am already aware of the situation in Nanyang, and it matches our previous speculations. With the members of the Shen Family here, Nanyang City will undoubtedly be secure. However, there are over a hundred counties under Nanyang’s direct jurisdiction, with tens of millions of residents; they cannot be ignored.

The Imperial Court will continue to dispatch large troops into the territory of Nanyang to protect the inhabitants of the counties, and we request the Shen Family’s understanding for cooperation. "

"Naturally, naturally," Shen Yixin raised his cup and said, "This time Jiangnan has suffered such a calamity, and our Shen Family has been unable to shelter all of Jiangnan’s citizens, for which we truly feel ashamed.

If the Imperial Court has any needs that require our cooperation, just give the command, and our Shen Family will certainly do our utmost."

"With your word, Sixth Elder, I can rest assured," Wang Ye quickly responded with a toast of his own.

"Minister Wang, you are too kind. This time, it is all thanks to you that we were able to communicate with the Fifth Brother.

If we can rescue Nanyang, you will have done a great favor to the Shen Family.

In the future, if there is any way in which the Shen Family can be of assistance to Minister Wang, please do not hesitate to ask.

" The person speaking was a middle-aged man in white, seated in a wheelchair and looking much younger than Shen Yixin, but judging by his seat, his status was not low.

"It’s my duty, my duty," Wang Ye courteously responded, and then asked, "May I know who this elder is?"

"Oh, let me introduce you," Shen Yixin quickly said, "This is my third brother!"

The young man in white smiled and raised his glass in a toast, "I am Shen Yimiao, I have seen Minister Shaoting!"

"So it is Third Elder Shen, Third Elder is too modest!" Wang Ye stood up to return the gesture.

His mind quickly recalled the information Murong Yunji had provided him.

Third Elder Shen: The inheritor of the Mystic Water Technique, whose lineage is said to originate from the Western Sea Heiliu Country.

A contemporary of Second Elder Shen, he is a Grand Sorcerer, nearly three hundred years old, known for his fearsome military exploits that include cutting off riverflows with his Techniques and annihilating Nanyang’s naval forces of ten thousand with terror.

"If that’s the case, allow everyone to introduce themselves," said a towering figure who resembled a Warrior as he stood up with a grin. "I am Shen Yiyang; I have seen Minister Wang!"

"So, it’s Fourth Elder!" Wang Ye quickly responded once more.

Fourth Elder Shen: Shen Yiyang, an Earth Sorcerer. On the surface, he appears to be the most conventional amongst the common elements of earth, fire, water, and wind but is rumored to have inherited the Dragon Turtle Secret Art and bears the commanding aspect of a Dragon Son!

Next to Sixth Elder Shen, a strange person wrapped in bandages stood up, his voice hoarse and accompanied by a sinister laugh: "Shen Yifeng has seen Minister Shaoting!"

"Seventh Master Shen!" Wang Ye once again reciprocated.

Thousand Eyes Sorcerer Seventh Elder Shen was recorded in the Yin Yang Academy as one of the seventy-two Earthly Fiends: the practitioner of Evil Eye Sorcery, an egregiously dangerous art within the Spellcraft Realm!

"Shen Yiyuan, I have seen Minister Wang!"

The speaker was a chubby middle-aged man with kind brows and a friendly face, appearing quite amicable and congenial, like Shen Yixin, somewhat resembling a normal person.

"I have seen Eighth Master Shen!" Wang Ye quickly said, "My teacher has mentioned before that Eighth Master’s painting skills are unparalleled in the current age. He still treasures several of your original works."

"Oh? Haha, Lord Song is indeed too courteous.

" Eighth Master Shen laughed heartily, "However, I was unable to attend Lord Song’s funeral, which is truly regrettable.

When you return this time, come by my place and pick out a painting.

Your teacher has been thinking about my Spring Mountain Moon Painting for a long time now, so take it back to him on your return. "

"Thank you, Eighth Master!" Wang Ye’s face showed sincere gratitude!

Eighth Master Shen: The successor to the Extreme Flow Technique, with a technique reportedly devoid of any attributes, resembling a purely spiritual power akin to the Taoist concept of the ’circle’.

In the Yin Yang Academy, it had formed its own school of thought, with the master recognized for founding a new lineage.

If this incident in Jiangnan hadn’t occurred, the Imperial Court might have invited Eighth Master Shen to serve as the next head of the Yin Yang Academy at the start of the year.

Nobody followed after Eighth Master Shen; the remaining three newly anointed principal family heads did not attend this banquet. Wang Ye toasted carefully, discreetly observing everyone present.

According to Chen Qing’s speculations, these individuals before him were the original main candidates for this instance of Dragon Transformation!

After Old Ten, Old Eleven, and Old Twelve were all added later on.

"You’ve seen the person..."

Spiritual words reemerged in Wang Ye’s mind, his expression unchanged as he continued to chat merrily with everyone at the dining table. In his heart, he asked, "You just mentioned that we need to start from the death of the Eldest Master of the Shen Family, what’s that about?"

Second Elder Shen slightly pressed down on the cup of wine he was holding to mask a hint of implication in his eyes before the spiritual words sounded again.

"The twelve branches of the Shen Family were established over three hundred years ago for the first nine, while the last three were decided upon more recently. Old Jiu is an Insect Sorcerer, a practitioner of an ancient Southern Border secret technique lost to our Shen Family after experiments on tens of thousands of living people. Old Jiu’s identity is absolutely genuine because I, along with my fifth brother and the then alive eldest brother, were in charge of his delivery! "

"Delivery?" Wang Ye blinked.

"Yes, like Murong Yunji, Old Jiu is a half-demon hybrid... no, to put it more dramatically... Old Jiu is the offspring of our Old Ancestor Shen and a successfully experimented Gu human!"

"Gu human?" Wang Ye felt a wave of nausea rise in his heart. Isn’t a Gu human the same as an insect person? The Yin Yang Academy has records of such artificially created insect people; it is the most disgusting thing in the world to mate with such a creature and have children.

Old Ancestor Shen really had extreme tastes!

"That year, all of us received the command from the Old Ancestor to destroy the evidence, eliminating Gu insects that had leaked and people contaminated by Gu poison.

.." Second Elder Shen paused, then continued, "That thing is very similar to the living corpses that came out of the river nowadays. .."

When Wang Ye heard this, his heart skipped a beat. Could it be... that this incident was also related...

"We, the direct descendents of the Shen Family, never lacked blood on our hands, but such large-scale killings of civilians were unprecedented.

However, as it was an order from the Old Ancestor, we eventually carried it out.

But that time... the eldest brother seemed to have discovered some secret. "

"A secret? What does Sixth Master mean?"

"To this day, we still don’t know what it was.

" Shen Yixin mused to himself. "All we remember is that the eldest brother took away a pregnant Gu human, an extremely beautiful woman who had been eroded by Gu insects to a grotesquely horrifying extent.

He told us that the body of this Gu human contained our ninth brother, the key to this dragon transformation, and ordered us to protect her at all costs! "

"And then?" Wang Ye asked eagerly when he heard the crucial part.

"After that, the eldest brother encountered trouble during that suppression incident!

" Shen Yixin’s voice lowered. "My fifth brother and I were occupied with the delivery of Old Jiu’s mother and were unaware of where the eldest brother had gone.

We only heard from Second Elder Shen and Old San that the eldest brother had gone to confront the Old Ancestor, angering the Old Ancestor into a thunderous rage.

That was followed by the leakage of techniques on that island.

It was said that if the Gu poison leaked, the entirety of Jiangnan would face disaster! "

"None of us knew what exactly happened, we only knew that the eldest brother swallowed the poison from the island using his own technique and then he died. The Old Ancestor disappeared after the incident!"

"Disappeared?" Wang Ye was startled. "Isn’t it said that Old Ancestor Shen appears in the West Sea from time to time?"

Rumor had it that Old Ancestor Shen had a gigantic body with the head of a human and the body of a snake, capable of encircling an entire island!

"That wasn’t the Old Ancestor..." Shen Yixin shook his head. "That was the eldest brother’s technique, called Xiushe, a technique of the previous generation’s successful dragon transformation.

Therefore, many who saw that gigantic snake believed it was Old Ancestor Shen, but only we, the main branch of the direct lineage, knew that it was the unconscious eldest brother.

After that island incident, the Old Ancestor had already blended into the next generation. "

"No consciousness?" Wang Ye frowned. "Then why would it suddenly appear in the West Sea and catch the attention of General Weichi Feihong, prompting him to investigate?"

"We don’t know..." Shen Yixin shook his head. "The Old Ancestor could control the eldest brother’s body, but as to why he sent his body to the West Sea, whether this mysterious fog and the terrifying poisonous insects within the fog are related to the Old Ancestor, we are still unclear!"

"I see..." Wang Ye nodded in realization. This was why Shen Yifeng considered Second Elder Shen reliable!

"After the incident, my fifth brother and I realized the Old Ancestor had mixed in among the younger generation and could disguise himself as any one of us. From that time on, we began to use our essence blood to establish tokens of trust. Within the jade pendant in your hand, there is both my and my fifth brother’s essence blood; either of us can activate the spiritual words lock at the core of the token with our own spiritual power. "

"Sixth Master and the Chief of Staff are quite cautious..." Wang Ye admired internally. Both had been vigilant and secretly prepared for so many years; no wonder Shen Yifeng said that only Second Elder Shen could be trusted—the bond was here.

So far, their testimonies seemed to be without issue.

"Then, whom does Second Elder Shen believe it might be?"

"If I knew, would I have waited until now?" Shen Yixin cursed inwardly. "I’ve said all I should say; if you have any information, don’t hide it—bring it out quickly!"

"I don’t have much information either. It all comes from Magistrate Chen Qing of Lyuzhou, and according to what Chen Qing said, to know whom Old Ancestor Shen is masquerading as, he needs enough information to deduce it."

"Chen Qing?" Shen Yixin frowned, the name wasn’t unfamiliar to his ears. What was the deal with this Magistrate of Lyuzhou?

"What information does he want?"

"He wants information on the techniques of the Shen Family’s new three branches and detailed records of the Shen Family’s first two dragon transformations!"

"This..."