Chapter 970, Dingtian City

Translator: Jon

Translation Checker: Silavin

 

The Spirit Boat soon left Grand Sky City. The vessel was driven by Xiao Xinghe. Lu Ye was seated at the bow with six Tracking Discs in front of him. Every Tracking Disc was full of Blood Qi as they pointed in different directions.

 

Lin Yinxiu was dumbfounded. “Team Leader, where did you get so many Tracking Discs?”

 

Lu Ye had used the Tracking Discs to complete the previous two tasks, and Lin Yinxiu found it inconceivable. After all, such items were rare, so it was wasteful that Lu Ye used them to search for their targets.

 

It was even more outrageous this time as he directly used six Tracking Discs at once.

 

In the entire Bing Zhou, there weren’t as many Tracking Discs as Lu Ye possessed even if the reserves of the Sects on both sides were combined.

 

“I picked them up,” Lu Ye lied.

 

He couldn’t tell anyone about the existence of the Hall of Battle Points, and the items he purchased from there were for his own use only. The two Flood Dragons told him about this rule the first time he entered the place.

 

Lin Yinxiu asked with an innocent expression. “Where did you pick them up?” There was a sense of longing on her face. It was as though she wanted to get those items for free as well.

 

Lu Ye ignored her. He had spent a lot of battle points to purchase six Tracking Discs from the Hall of Battle Points. Now, he was left with around 20,000 battle points.

 

Fortunately, he had just ascended to the Fifth-Order Real Lake Realm, so he didn’t need to use Amulets to cultivate his power for now. As such, he wasn’t in a hurry to earn more battle points.

 

He watched closely as the needles of these Tracking Discs kept adjusting.

 

Around four hours later, Lu Ye led the way as the Spirit Boat was moving in a particular direction.

 

They were more efficient than the previous time as the Tracking Discs led them to find the targets, and the three of them could easily capture those targets.

 

However, those people were hiding in different parts of Bing Zhou, so it took them some time to look for the targets.

 

Despite that, in just more than ten days, five out of six targets had been captured. Only a guy named Zhou Wang was left.

 

Presently, the five people were in the Spirit Boat. Lu Ye didn’t treat them harshly, nor did he have any intention of tying them up.

 

It could be said that they were free. It was just that they couldn’t leave the Spirit Boat.

 

The five people were not powerful, so they were clever enough not to have resisted after they were captured. They had resigned themselves to fate.

 

They knew that since they had broken the rules, they would be targeted by the Law Enforcement Hall. It wasn’t like they could hide forever. The crimes they had committed weren’t so serious. Now that they had been captured, they would only be sent to jail to suffer, after which they would be assigned to the Passes where the conflicts were most intense to make up for what they had done. As long as they weren’t too unlucky, they would stay alive.

 

Nevertheless, if they recklessly resisted after getting captured, they would break another rule, and their punishments would be more severe as well.

 

Since five out of six targets had been detained, there was only one left. As long as Lu Ye and his team could find him, they could go back to Grand Sky City.

 

The reason Lu Ye even used Tracking Discs to carry out the tasks which other teams found less attractive wasn’t to earn praise.

 

It was because only by doing so would they have a chance to take on other tasks and earn more battle points.

 

Presently, there were only three people in the team, and they could get around 50,000 battle points for every task. After the battle points were equally shared by Xiao Xinghe and Lin Yinxiu, the amount was still considerable.

 

However, there would be six members in the future. Even if Lu Ye still wouldn’t take any rewards by then, the battle points would be shared among five people, and each of them wouldn’t earn much.

 

As such, only by taking on tasks with better rewards could the team members grow in power more quickly.

 

The needle on the Tracking Disc was swaying slightly. It showed that they were near the target.

 

Lu Ye took a look at the ten-point map and discovered that there was a huge city in front of them called Dingtian City.

 

He couldn’t help but frown, for he seemed to have seen the city’s name before.

 

After giving it some thought, he recalled where he had seen the city’s name. It was recorded in the jade slip he had seen in the Hunting Pavilion.

 

According to the information in the jade slip, Zhou Wang was from the Zhou Family in Dingtian City. The family was famous throughout the entire Bing Zhou. It was because they were a family of cultivators with ample heritage, and they were of the Third Tier.

 

On both sides of Jiu Zhou, there were countless forces of different sizes. However, most of the time, only Sects could make it to the Third Tier. Although there were many families of cultivators, they were mostly of lower Tiers. That was because there were inevitable cons in the way they cultivated their powers. Also, the most important reason was that it was hard for them to get rid of weaker descendants and only keep the most brilliant ones. As such, their inheritances usually couldn’t last long.

 

It was a different case for Sects. They were always open to accepting more disciples, and there were talented disciples in every generation. Therefore, it was easier for their inheritances to be passed down to future generations than the families of cultivators.

 

Since the Zhou Family could make it to the Third Tier, it showed that they had a wonderful heritage. They had at least one Divine Ocean Realm Master. As for how many Divine Ocean Realm Masters there were or how powerful they truly were, Lu Ye had no idea. Such information wasn’t recorded in the jade slip.

 

Compared with the previous five targets, Zhou Wang had committed a more serious crime. Three years ago, he got into a fight with someone and affected some commoners. Dozens of people were either injured or killed.

 

According to the rules, he was supposed to be killed for committing such a crime.

 

The fights between cultivators must never affect the commoners. Be it Bing Zhou or the other eight Zhous, they had the same rule. Both the Grand Sky Coalition and Thousand Demon Ridge had to adhere to this rule. Those who violated the rule would be punished harshly.

 

Lu Ye tried to recall the jade slip’s content and was certain that there was only a piece of information. The target was last seen in Dingtian City around one year ago. Since then, the information had never been updated again.

 

Since the task had been stuck in the Hunting Pavilion for a long time, it must’ve been assigned to other law enforcement teams before. Considering that Zhou Wang was right in Dingtian City, why had no team completed the task before?

 

Take Lu Ye’s previous targets as an example. They had been hiding in the wilderness. If he didn’t have the help of Tracking Discs, it would’ve been extremely difficult for him to look for them. Whether he would find them would depend on his luck. Nevertheless, Zhou Wang’s case was different.

 

Lu Ye had a feeling that it wouldn’t be easy to complete the task. There seemed to be some invisible obstacles in front of him.

 

He wasn’t in a hurry to follow the traces. Instead, he pulled up the Spirit Boat somewhere around 30 kilometres away from Dingtian City.

 

He stood at the bow and lifted his military token. Then, he infused his Spiritual Power and waited patiently.

 

An hour later, a figure riding a Flight-Type Artifact came over from Dingtian City. When the person saw the Spirit Boat from afar, he rushed over and stopped in a spot around 30 metres away from Lu Ye before cupping his fists. “Greetings, Sir.”

 

The person was wearing a face mask, so his face couldn’t be seen. He was in the Eighth-Order Cloud River Realm. His figure showed that he was a man. He was a local Nightingale.

 

“Why are you here, Sir?” asked the Nightingale. “Do you need my help with anything?”

 

Lu Ye glanced impassively at him. “I’m here to capture Zhou Wang.”

 

Upon hearing that, the Nightingale asked, “What can I do for you, Sir?”

 

Lu Ye wasn’t in a hurry to give him any order. Instead, he asked, “The information about this task was last updated one year ago. Were you the one who reported the incident?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Have you found any traces of Zhou Wang in the past year?”

 

“Sir, I’ve never found traces of him again. Since he has committed a serious crime, he must’ve gone somewhere else.”

 

Lu Ye squinted his eyes. “Do you know where he is?”

 

“I have no idea, Sir. If he’s determined to hide, no one can find him.”

 

“What about the Zhou Family?”

 

“There’s no anomaly either.”

 

Lu Ye nodded, for there was no longer a need to keep probing. He said, “Lin Yinxiu.”

 

“Yes,” Lin Yinxiu replied firmly while stepping forward.

 

“Keep an eye on them. If any one of them dares make a reckless move, kill him right away,” Lu Ye ordered before glancing at the Nightingale. “Including him!”

 

“Yes,” Lin Yinxiu replied.

 

The Nightingale was astonished. “Sir?”

 

“Third Senior Brother, please come with me.” Lu Ye ignored the Nightingale. After he spoke to Xiao Xinghe, he flew towards Dingtian City. Xiao Xinghe followed him without a word.

 

After they were gone, Lin Yinxiu looked at the Nightingale with a disappointed expression. “After this incident, you’ll go to Grand Sky City and admit to your crime. You won’t lose your life, but a punishment is unavoidable.”

 

Although she was innocent and adorable, she wasn’t a fool. Despite the fact that Lu Ye had said nothing, she realised something.

 

She had tagged along with Lu Ye to capture criminals as of late, and they could always achieve their goal, which was why she admired the man. Since Lu Ye was heading straight to Dingtian City, he must be certain that Zhou Wang was over there.

 

However, the Nightingale said he had never seen Zhou Wang in the past year, so something was obviously not right.

 

As soon as Lin Yinxiu finished speaking, the Nightingale staggered as his forehead was beaded with sweat.

 

Dingtian City was massive. After all, it was where a Tier-Three family of cultivators resided, so it was only natural that it was a large city. Many commoners lived in the city. The area within a radius of 1,000 kilometres around Dingtian City was under the Zhou Family’s control.

 

Although there were a lot of commoners in the city, many cultivators could be seen flying around.

 

Not all of these cultivators were from the Zhou Family, though. Even though the Zhou Family was the dominant force here, many families of lower Tiers existed as they were reliant on the Zhou Family. Some of the cultivators had been recruited by these families.

 

Such cultivators were usually independent cultivators. Some had nowhere else to go after their Sects or families were destroyed, so they had to rely on the Zhou Family to earn some cultivation resources.

 

There wasn’t a Grand Defensive Ward around Dingtian City, so Lu Ye and Xiao Xinghe could easily enter it.

 

The needle of the Tracking Disc swayed more vigorously, which showed that Zhou Wang must be somewhere in the city.

 

“Little Junior Brother,” Xiao Xinghe suddenly called out.

 

At the same time, Lu Ye kept the Tracking Disc and lifted his head.

 

In that direction, an old man with a goatee came over with a smile. The fluctuations of his Spiritual Power showed that he was an Eighth-Order Real Lake Realm Master.

 

It was apparent that the goateed old man was waiting for them as he got in their way and cupped his fists. “Fellow Cultivators, I’ve never seen you before. I don’t suppose you come from Dingtian City. What are your names?”

 

“Who are you?” Lu Ye slightly lowered his head.

 

Earlier, he had only suspected that the local Nightingale had been bribed by the Zhou Family, but he could confirm it now.

 

That was the reason their whereabouts had been exposed. The Nightingale must’ve informed the Zhou Family about it as soon as he detected Lu Ye’s presence.

 

The person before Lu Ye’s eyes must be from the Zhou Family as well.