In the palace city of Dali, Emperor Li looked coldly at Fu Xiao, who lowered his head below.
"Is this how you manage the Shadow Department?"
"Your subject is incompetent," Fu Xiao admitted his guilt honestly.
The structure of the Shadow Department adjusted every few years. Besides directly receiving tasks at the Headquarters, many tasks were issued from the Headquarters and then passed to local spies via subordinate offices.
A normal task was not only written in cipher. How it was composed was constantly adjusted, serving as a hidden code. On the surface, each would have a unique imprint—an overt signal.
Each step of a task required a complete record, and any mistake could directly point to the responsible person.
The incident of a Shadow Department spy being misled by a false task and almost silenced was brought to light, becoming a major event.
Such an event implied there were certainly more incidents undisclosed.
The Shadow Department, as the hound of the night, spread its footprint and tentacles throughout Dali and, to a large extent, beyond its borders, with numerous hidden spies.
If outsiders could manipulate this force, the possibilities would be endless.
Issuing false tasks was a minor issue, while the major concern was using intelligence grasped by the Shadow Department to control more people little by little.
Fu Xiao knelt, his expression grim.
Of course, he hadn't issued the false task. Having risen to Chief Venerate, he needed only to follow protocol and secure his position.
Furthermore, he had ample resources to steadily cultivate to the Ninth Tier.
A man's thoughts often change. Before becoming Chief Venerate, his mentality and thoughts were entirely different from now.
Now, he truly wanted to secure his position well.
This position itself was his greatest interest.
Before being seated in this position, he only saw its dangers outweighing its benefits. Now, knowing so much more, his thinking changed.
If he were to issue a task, there was no need for false tasks. He could issue real tasks with a mere excuse.
Even if it was not a normal task, directly assigning it to spies as a secret mission was entirely feasible.
The exposure of a false task meant he, as Chief Venerate, was the first to be scrutinized.
This threatened the foundational existence of the Shadow Department.
Even during the Old Chief Venerate's time, such an incident had never occurred.
Emperor Li heavily criticized Fu Xiao, making it clear that if the issue was not thoroughly investigated and resolved, he should no longer remain Chief Venerate.
Returning to the Shadow Department, Fu Xiao awaited for a moment in his study before seeing Ye Jiuyuan enter, his eyes fixed intensely on Ye Jiuyuan.
"Did you handle the false task?"
"No," Ye Jiuyuan firmly denied, "Even if it were to assassinate any court official, there's no need for a false task."
Fu Xiao's expression remained grim as he reviewed the records.
"Investigate, this matter must be thoroughly examined. Arrest all involved."
Naturally, he knew who was behind the false task, but the opponent had stepped over the line.
Placing personnel in the Shadow Department was one thing, but to set such a deep trap for him was intolerable.
Their cooperation started due to various interests, but the premise was that some matters should not be overstepped.
This incident was fortunately exposed, for if it hadn't been, who knew how many more traps would secretly deepen?
Ultimately, when these traps piled up, Fu Xiao would be the one held accountable.
These countless pitfalls would be the leverage against him.
Once manipulated, it would happen over and over until the Shadow Department was entirely under the opponent's control in the shadows.
At that time, when something happened, he would be the scapegoat.
On that very day, Fu Xiao gave the order, and Ye Jiuyuan cooperated fully. Everyone involved was quickly seized and thrown into the Prison.
After purging the Headquarters, he picked trusted individuals to continue cleansing the subordinate offices.
Rather err on the side of caution than let anyone go; if there was any issue, they were all detained.
Matters concerning confrontations with the Jinyi Wei were temporarily set aside.
On the surface, he pretended not to know who it was, assuming instead that there was a mole within the Shadow Department, acting ruthlessly when, in reality, he was severing the tentacles of the dong chang.
In just a few days, over a dozen spies within the Shadow Department were dead.
Cases of missing spies, strange deaths, were all brought to attention and laid out on his desk.
With every case accounted for, investigations started anew.
Soon, a case was placed on Fu Xiao's desk.
Years earlier, a spy from the Shadow Department appeared near Almsgiving Town, precisely during the days when Qing Ziyu was captured.
However, this spy later disappeared and was recorded as having failed and died during another task.
Fu Xiao effortlessly linked many clues together.
This spy had once been under his command.
Yet Fu Xiao, as his direct superior, had never assigned any task related to Almsgiving Town.
In the records, the task during which this spy died was indeed issued by him.
"Had they been planting traps for me since then?"
Fu Xiao's expression remained impassive; plotting with a tiger posed no surprises when such incidents occurred.
However, now, to eliminate latent threats, he had to start planning for himself.
While sparring with the Jinyi Wei, they had carelessly revealed a piece of information to him.
Daqian had abolished the dong chang.
With no further information available, it was enough for him to understand that Emperor Qian had abandoned the dong chang.
Meanwhile, in Dali, the chief director had been explicitly defined as an Evil Dao Demon akin to the White Sun Evil Cult, deemed an enemy to all.