Chapter 1125: Counterattack
Welcoming a Great Sage was essentially the Daoist Mansion’s responsibility. Yao Pei and Li Zhuyu could choose to attend or not. Zhang Yuelu, being from the Lingnan Daoist Mansion, simply did not come at all and stayed behind in Lion City to oversee the situation.
Yao Pei happened to be in Thanglong Prefecture, so she joined the reception. Li Zhuyu’s task was in Lion City; hence, she had no need to travel such a long way just to attend.
Li Zhuyu was the Acting Deputy Beichen Hall Master. Beichen Hall ranked among the Three Great Halls because it specialized in covert external operations, something the Fengxian Hall lacked. With the Buddhist Sect in decline and losing its former influence, the next external enemy of the Daoist Order was the Holy Court.
Thus, Beichen Hall dealt with the Holy Court almost as frequently as the Ciji Hall.
Both Zhang Yuelu and Li Zhuyu originated from Beichen Hall, but Zhang Yuelu switched midway to Tiangang Hall. Thus, within the Daoist Order, most people now considered her a Tiangang Hall insider, rarely mentioning her experience in Beichen Hall. Qi Xuansu was similar. He was originally from Tiangang Hall but was later reassigned to Ziwei Hall, so people now regarded him as a Ziwei Hall insider. In truth, one’s true affiliation was determined by where one first served as Deputy Hall Master.
Li Zhuyu had always been rooted in Beichen Hall. Thus, she was a professional handling external investigations, significantly better than Zhang Yuelu, who had dealt almost exclusively with internal affairs and hardly any external operations.
During the previous riot, Qi Xuansu declared martial law. As such, the Nanting Protectorate arrested many individuals who were in public spaces after curfew and confined them to military camps. Once detained, the Black Robes registered and verified each person’s identity.
Following Qi Xuansu’s directives, this group needed to be controlled and sorted. Organizers, agitators, and those responsible for major destruction were separately interrogated.
There were distinctions among them. The Poluo natives, who were mere accomplices, were only restricted within the camp. They had no shackles and were guarded by the Black Robes. However, foreigners from the Western Continent and West Shakya were detained in far stricter facilities for interrogation. The guards there were armed with Thunderbolt Guns, not normal firearms.
The interrogation results would then direct arrests of the hidden forces still at large.
At the same time, the Nanting Protectorate deployed Black Robes forces to secure Lion City and its ports, preventing anyone from fleeing.
When Li Zhuyu arrived, she mainly coordinated with Qin Hengjun. The Deputy Protector finally felt relieved because he was not great at such matters and was only acting under pressure. Now that a real expert had come, he could finally breathe.