By the careful preceding small private hour of three days after Madam Hollow's preceding small private sealing, the careful preceding small private investigation team's preceding small private senior — a Sovereign Origin Stage Three woman named *Hu Caiyu*, the same Hu Caiyu who had escaped the central facility's preceding small private third corridor seven months ago — registered the careful preceding small private absence of her commander.
Madam Hollow had — by every careful preceding small private bookkeeping of the Hollow Veil's preceding standing protocol — been required to *return* to her preceding small private team within the careful preceding small private hour of one full day of her preceding entry into Cloud Sky City. She had not. By the careful preceding small private hour of three days, the team was, by every careful preceding small private bookkeeping, *required* to assume the careful preceding small private commander had been preceding-time *captured or killed*.
Hu Caiyu — by the careful preceding small private hour of three days of preceding small private waiting at the careful preceding small private outlying village of Mei-cun — assembled the team, by Wei Mingfan's preceding read, at the careful preceding small private south road three li outside Cloud Sky City's preceding small private south gate.
The team prepared, by Hu Caiyu's preceding standing operational protocol, *to enter the city in force*.
Su Yan, by Wei Mingfan's preceding small private most recent intelligence flash delivered to the eastern wing at the third hour past dusk, *registered* the careful preceding small private intent.
He inclined his head.
"Mother."
"Yan-er."
"The team is preparing entry by force. Six Foundation Late, two Sovereign Origin Stage Three. They will, by Hu Caiyu's preceding read, attempt to *locate* and *eliminate* the careful preceding small private kingdom of Beicang's preceding small private cultivator who has, by their preceding read of the careful preceding small private hour of three days of commander absence, *taken* the commander."
His mother held her brush still on the writing-table.
"By my preceding read, the careful preceding small private team will, by every careful preceding small private bookkeeping, lose."
"Yes, Mother."
"Then by my own preceding preference, Yan-er — *the careful preceding small private team will lose*. We will not, by my preceding preference, *engage* them ourselves. The careful preceding small private kingdom of Beicang's preceding standing arrangement — by the careful preceding small private King's preceding standing courtesy, by the careful preceding small private patriarch's preceding standing arrangement, and by the careful preceding small private Bureau's preceding standing intelligence — will, by every careful preceding small private bookkeeping, *handle* the careful preceding small private team. We will, by my preceding preference, conduct the careful preceding small private hour from a small careful preceding small private supportive distance."
Su Yan inclined his head — small, formal.
He carried his mother's preceding small private decision to Cousin Su Lin, who carried it to Wei Mingfan, who — by the careful preceding small private hour of the next twelve hours — informed Bureau Chief Lu Yiren, who informed King Cang Yuan.
By the careful preceding small private hour of the next morning, the kingdom of Beicang had — by the careful preceding small private King's preceding small private private order — *dispatched* the careful preceding small private *Royal Guard's preceding small private elite combat unit* of forty cultivators, plus the careful preceding small private *Bureau's quiet office's standing combat detachment* of eight, plus *three* of the kingdom's preceding small private senior elder cultivators (Sovereign Origin Stage Two through Stage Three), to the careful preceding small private south road three li outside Cloud Sky City's preceding small private south gate.
The careful preceding small private kingdom's preceding small private fifty-one combat cultivators against Hu Caiyu's preceding small private eight, by every careful preceding small private bookkeeping, was *favorable to the kingdom*.
By the careful preceding small private second evening, the engagement was *resolved*.
Six of Hu Caiyu's preceding small private team had been *killed* by the kingdom's combat detachment. Two — including Hu Caiyu — had been *captured*. The captures had been conducted, by the careful preceding small private King's preceding small private private order at Cousin Su Lin's preceding small private suggestion at Wei Mingfan's preceding small private suggestion at Lin Wanyue's preceding small private private suggestion, by the careful preceding small private substrate-suppression collars Lin Wanyue had — by the careful preceding small private hour of the past two months — quietly forged in the eastern wing's preceding small private workshop and provided to the Bureau through Wei Mingfan.
Hu Caiyu and her preceding small private surviving operative were, by the careful preceding small private hour of the engagement's preceding small private close, *delivered* to the careful preceding small private foundation platform of the Mirror by the careful preceding small private hour of one further substrate-anchor pair calibration Lin Wanyue had — by her preceding preference — preceding-time prepared.
Hu Caiyu was, by the careful preceding small private hour of the second day after the engagement, *interrogated* by Lin Wanyue.
The interrogation — by the careful preceding small private courtesy of the substrate-suppression collar's preceding small private inability to permit deception — yielded *further* careful preceding small private operational intelligence on the central facility's preceding small private third level. Hu Caiyu was — by the careful preceding small private close of the interrogation — *also sealed* in the foundation platform's preceding small private interior, by the same careful preceding small private century-long agreed seal.
Madam Hollow's preceding small private operative was sealed similarly.
The careful preceding small private foundation platform's preceding small private interior was, by the careful preceding small private hour of the three sealings — *three guests*, by the small careful preceding small private accommodating arrangement Lin Wanyue's preceding small private living foundation had calibrated for.
The kingdom of Beicang's preceding small private public read — by the careful preceding small private King's preceding small private private order — *did not register* the engagement.
The careful preceding small private engagement's preceding small private bodies were buried, by the careful preceding small private King's preceding small private quiet courtesy, at the careful preceding small private royal cemetery's preceding small private second tier, with the careful preceding small private cover-story of *six unidentified bandits engaged at the careful preceding small private south road by the careful preceding small private royal guard's preceding standing patrol*.
The kingdom's preceding small private senior cultivators — by the careful preceding small private hour of one quiet Bureau briefing at the careful preceding small private patriarch's hall the next morning — *also* did not press the cover-story.
By the careful preceding small private hour of the close of the third day after Madam Hollow's preceding small private sealing, the careful preceding small private kingdom of Beicang's preceding small private standing operational record registered: *one quiet engagement of one preceding small private bandit team at the careful preceding small private south road, six casualties, two captures, no preceding small private kingdom-side losses*.
The careful preceding small private kingdom's preceding small private public read remained, by every careful preceding small private bookkeeping, *unchanged*.
Su Yan filed the careful preceding small private hour.
In his chest, the ember pulsed — slow, considered, *gentle*, twice — and the dry voice, very quietly, said: *The careful preceding small private hour has, by every careful preceding small private bookkeeping of the past three days, *closed* the careful preceding small private threat of Madam Hollow's preceding small private chain in the careful preceding small private kingdom of Beicang for at least the careful preceding small private hour of the next decade. Use the careful preceding small private hour well.*
Su Yan inclined his head, in the careful preceding small private dim of his mother's writing room, in the direction of the ember.
The careful preceding small private hour of the *quiet decade* — by the careful preceding small private hour of one Madam Hollow's preceding small private sealing and one investigation team's preceding small private resolution — *began*.
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