I gripped the Battle-Wave Blade tight, my knuckles white with the force of it. The spiritual energy vortex of the Suspended Gourd Grotto-Heaven gradually settled behind me, and the Bureau Chief on the jade bed snapped his eyes open. The Nascent Soul-stage pressure contained within those eyes swept through the entire grotto-heaven like a tidal wave. I could feel it clearly — the vile energy that Arthur Wen had been howling with just outside the Grotto-Heaven suddenly hitched, followed at once by a choked grunt of terror.

"Move!" The Bureau Chief's voice carried an authority that brooked no argument. A sweep of his robe sleeve, and I felt a gentle yet irresistible force lift me along with him through a rift in space. In an instant, we appeared in the main hall of the Xuanmen Bureau's headquarters.

The hall was already in chaos. Arthur Wen stood clutching his chest, the blood-jade thumb ring on his finger cracking apart piece by piece, his triangular eyes filled with disbelieving terror. Behind him, Gordon Jin — Vice Hall Master of the White Tiger Hall — along with several other senior figures of the Xuanmen, were held in place by some invisible force, their complexions cycling from red to white to green, sweat streaming down their temples in rivulets.

"Arthur Wen." The Bureau Chief's voice was not loud, yet it carried clearly into every corner of the hall. "Thirty years. You have held high office and spent every one of them framing the loyal, colluding hand-in-glove with Hundred Treasure Tower. Did you ever imagine this day would come?"

Before his words had finished, the Suspended Gourd flew out from within his sleeve and hung suspended at the center of the hall. A flash of golden light burst from its mouth, and the sealed letter and message-jade I had brought floated out and slowly unfurled within that golden radiance. The blood-ink diagram on the beast-hide seemed to come alive. The scene of Arthur Wen and Victor Jin meeting in secret at Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion, the annotations recording the White Tiger Hall's receipt of the forbidden elixirs, the map of the Black Tortoise Hall's underground channel used to transport Reeking-Scale Powder — one by one, they materialized before the eyes of all present.

"This — this is impossible!" Gordon Jin's legs buckled and he crumpled to the ground, his face the colour of ash. The Vermilion Bird Hall Master standing nearby went pale with horror, instinctively retreating half a step, her eyes evasive, unable to meet the Bureau Chief's gaze. The Vermilion Bird Hall appeared uninvolved on the surface, yet they had accepted no small number of "favours" from Hundred Treasure Tower — which was precisely why they had done nothing.

The Black Tortoise Hall Master stroked his beard, brow furrowed, feigning composure, though his fingertips trembled faintly within his sleeves. The Black Tortoise Hall had provided transport channels for Hundred Treasure Tower; their crimes were in truth no different from the White Tiger Hall's.

I stood at the Bureau Chief's side and could feel every gaze in the hall converge upon me. There was shock, there was bewilderment, and beneath it all, carefully concealed wariness.

Everett Li of the Azure Dragon Hall had appeared in the hall at some point without my noticing. He wore a cyan robe and held a folding fan, and when his eyes found mine a flicker of complicated emotion crossed them. He then stepped forward and bowed low. "This subordinate, Everett Li, pays respects to the Bureau Chief. It is fortunate the Bureau Chief has returned — otherwise the Xuanmen would have been plunged into an abyss beyond redemption."

The Bureau Chief's gaze passed over Everett Li, and he gave a slight nod. "That Vice Hall Master Li was able to 'detect the disturbance in time' is no small merit." His tone was measured, yet it stirred something in my chest. Had Everett Li truly detected it "in time"? Perhaps, in this contest of power, he had already scented which way the wind was turning long before — and deep within that hidden passage, had his spiritual sense truly noticed nothing amiss?

"Arthur Wen." The Bureau Chief spoke again, his voice dropping suddenly to ice. "Do you know your crimes?"

Arthur Wen snapped his head up, a flash of madness crossing his face. "What crime have I committed? This Xuanmen should by rights be controlled by the strong! Those hidebound fools of the Demon-Demon Demon Suppression Bureau stood in my way — naturally they had to be swept aside! Hundred Treasure Tower was nothing but a piece on my board. Where is the wrong in that?"

"The strong shall rule — how very grand!" The Bureau Chief let out a wrathful snort, and his Nascent Soul pressure surged. In an instant, every trace of the vile energy around Arthur Wen was ground to nothing. Arthur Wen let out a wretched cry as the meridians throughout his body snapped one by one, his cultivation plummeting all the way to the Foundation Establishment stage. He collapsed to the floor, every scrap of his Core Formation-stage grandeur utterly gone.

"Thirty years ago, in the case of the Spirit Child Sacrifice, you falsely accused the Demon-Demon Demon Suppression Bureau's Director Zhang Yuanshan of cultivating forbidden arts, causing the Division to be marginalized — that is the first crime. You secretly communicated with Hundred Treasure Tower and used the authority of the Xuanmen to shelter them, refining forbidden elixirs to bring harm to the common people — that is the second crime. You plotted against this Bureau and sought to seize sole dominion over the Xuanmen — that is the third crime. Three crimes to be punished together. What more have you to say?"

Arthur Wen's face was the grey of a corpse. He lay on the ground gasping, utterly without strength to refute a single word.

The Bureau Chief swept his gaze around the hall, eyes sharp as lightning. "White Tiger Hall Vice Hall Master Gordon Jin — for conspiring with Hundred Treasure Tower and abetting their evil deeds, all offices are hereby stripped at once. You are to be cast into the Xuanmen's prison, never to be reinstated!"

"We hear and obey!" Law-enforcement cultivators had already come forward and dragged the ashen-faced Gordon Jin away.

"Vermilion Bird Hall Master. Black Tortoise Hall Master." The Bureau Chief's gaze settled on the two of them. "You both were aware of Arthur Wen's conduct, yet for the sake of personal gain you stood by and watched — even colluding in the shadows. Given that you did not directly participate in the forbidden acts, punishment is suspended for now. But should there be a next time, no leniency shall be shown."

The two of them looked as though they had been spared from execution. They fell to their knees in gratitude at once, foreheads striking the cold jade floor with a crisp, clear sound.

"Azure Dragon Hall Vice Hall Master Everett Li." The Bureau Chief turned to Everett Li. "Though you have harboured factional loyalties, you were able to distinguish right from wrong at the critical moment. You are hereby placed in temporary command of the White Tiger Hall's judicial duties to purge the corrupt and wicked from within the Xuanmen. See that it is done without fail."

A gleam of sharp light flashed in Everett Li's eyes as he bowed deeply. "This subordinate will not betray the Bureau Chief's trust!"

I stood to one side and watched this upheaval, the greatest in thirty years, and my heart was overwhelmed with feeling. I thought of Old Zhang tapping his walking stick beneath the ancient locust tree, helpless and without recourse. I thought of Elder Kai staring out at the sea from Listening-to-Waves Residence, worn by the weight of years. The old brothers of the Demon-Demon Demon Suppression Bureau had at last lived to see this day — the day their unjust suffering was brought to light and their names cleared.

End of Chapter 64: The Bureau Chief's Return