There was a long silence before Lei Weiyuan finally responded back.
"The case can be placed under your docket but should the investigation go beyond your scope it will have to be taken over by the domain courts.
I'll file the case at the administration under you and an inner domain court judge called Hou Dehui. He has had a few run-ins with one of the founders of the Golden Bamboo Pavillion in his palace court days. His insight will prove invaluable also if the case jumps to the domain level it's better he handles it.
Even though the Golden Bamboo Pavillion is outwardly known to have five domain experts, we suspect it may be more than that they may have three more in their ranks. But even if they just have five domain rank experts there are two that stand out and are the prime reason for its growth today.
One of them is Liang Zian a gold-grade alchemist and the other is Lin Guiren who I suspect might be the father of the golden-haired man. He is a man of unquestionable strength and he has a special physique that helped him form a quasi-purple-grade core when he was in the core formation realm.
While the Golden Bamboo Pavillion was formed by five domain experts there is no doubt Liang Zian and Lin Guiren are at the helm of the thing," Lei Weiyuan slowly explained.
"It seems his background is more impressive than I thought," Yang Qing silently muttered. He would still pummel the golden-haired man again even if he knew his background beforehand but he couldn't help but frown at the potential headache it would be to deal with the matter.
Based on the brief judgment Yang Qing made from their interaction, he guessed the golden-haired man was massively spoiled by either his father or mother. How would said parents react when they saw his current state?
Yang Qing dryly laughed once his thoughts reach this far.
"Come what may in fact it would be best if they have it in for me atleast it will stop the Order from sending me out or at worst I'll just have to ask for precious treasures to guarantee my life against a potential vengeful domain father with a special physique. Just another day at the Order.
If you don't draw hate and grudges then you're not doing your job well. I wonder which bastard wrote that quote in the Court building's hall. They cursed us all," Yang Qing venomously thought.
The Order wasn't infallible. It may have a fearsome reputation but accidents do happen especially due to its nature of business. Since its founding over the years, there have been countless members who have been disappeared, cursed, or killed using special means or end up with injuries that take centuries to heal.
Yes, those caught suffered brutal retaliation from the Order as an example to the rest and there were unsuccessful attempts that left the attackers worse off but still these workplace accidents never stopped.
The southern continent was an enormous place filled with millions of cultivators with esoteric cultivation arts and techniques and some of those techniques could help them get away with harming a member of the Order despite the measures the Order uses to prevent that very thing from happening. The best they could do was train up their members, equip them properly, and use special means to tip the odds in their favor.
Yang Qing was justified to be wary since he had potentially drawn the ire of a rich, well-connected domain expert who had a quasi-purple core when he was in the core formation realm.
He may have mopped the floor with the three palace stage experts but that was only because based on their fluctuations the elderly man and the orange red-haired man must have broken through with orange core and quasi-blue core respectively. While the golden-haired man had a blue-grade core, his combat sense was poor.
He had dwarfed them all in terms of accumulation and experience even if they were one or two levels above. His feats were not unique since you could grab even the palace realm guards at the Court building and they would effortlessly do a repeat of what he had just done. But facing off against a domain expert with a renowned reputation of being a combatant and worse off, he was a merchant, which meant he had more means to work with, Yang Qing couldn't help but be wary of the potential mishaps.
"Yang Qing?!" Lei Weiyuan called when the silence became too overdrawn.
"Sorry, my mind wondered for a bit there Supervisor Lei Weiyuan. Ummm about his son?" Yang Qing warily asked to try as he looked to share the hatred with someone.
"Don't worry about it. I'll inform Hou Dehui of the matter. He will handle the aftermath," Lei Weiyuan curtly said.
"Yes!!" Yang Qing joyously said before he hurriedly shut his mouth in embarrassment. However, his gleeful state resumed seconds later as he excitedly swung his fists in the air which drew strange looks from Ellie who was still nursing her head wound.
"Isn't this why I joined the Order? To rest beautifully under the comfortable shade provided by my powerful seniors," Yang Qing smugly thought as he looked at the golden-haired man as a mere peasant who couldn't match his background.
He even had the urge to throw a kick in but he held back as he had an image to uphold in front of Ellie.
"Yang Qing make sure to send the three men to the nearest branch to have their statements and records taken. It should be the Yellow Plains Branch mmmh if I remember well Luo Xiaofan should be the head there. She should be able to handle the matter well with her strength and abilities," Lei Weiyuan thoughtfully said.
"Mmh" Yang Qing muttered in agreement. Luo Xiaofan was a domain-level expert and the branch head of the Yellow Plains Branch. Even though she was just in the early stages her means were bound to be better than what Yang Qing could do with his puny palace realm strength.
He couldn't wait to dump these hot potatoes at her office while he went on with his evaluations. Even though the case would still be his but when he handled it, he would be under the sweet protection of the main headquarters until then it would be better to let someone else hold the bag.
"That reminds me what are you doing all the way at Red Maple Empire? That's halfway through your quadrant. You better not have glossed over those evaluations Yang Qing. Do I need to come and personally monitor you?"
"NO..NO…NO..There's no need for that," Yang Qing hurriedly said with a flustered expression that he almost dropped his communication talisman.
"I just decided to start from the midway point as I worked my way upwards to the White Baobab kingdom then I'd come back and work my way downwards to the Blue sky carp sect," Yang Qing fearfully added trying to stop Lei Weiyuan from coming. He would be on edge through the whole thing if he got closely monitored by him.
"Okay then. I'll go inform the administration and Hou Dehui of the matter. Take care," Lei Weiyuan said as he cut off the communication.
Yang Qing slumped on the floor like a log as he heaved a sigh of relief.
He quickly made a call to the Yellow Plains branch to have them grab the three men and hold them at the branch along with the recording he had made of his judgment.
In about twenty minutes later, someone from the branch arrived and took the three unconscious men from Yang Qing's hands. Yang Qing also happened to receive an earful from the branch head via his communication talisman for adding more to her already enormous workload of maintaining the fragile balance between the Red Maple Empire and the Five clover kingdom. Yang Qing could only promise to repay her back if she ever needed his assistance with anything along with any good treasure he may get during his palace court promotion ceremony.
…
"Now I can eat in peace," Yang Qing muttered as he watched the inquisitor from the Yellow plain county fly away. The inquisitor was also a palace realm expert at the fourth stage and was thus well at ease to handle three palace stage experts even if they woke up.
Yang Qing decided to bring Ellie with him as he told her to hide in the skies above Wang's restaurant.
Yang Qing reappeared the same way he disappeared, like a gust of wind. His sudden appearance caused the two siblings to jump up in fright as they shrieked. They had been gorging themselves on a blueberry cake that had been brought over at some point along with other dishes that Yang Qing didn't leave behind.
"Big brother….." both siblings hesitantly said
