Chapter 147: Forging the Execution Order

"My husband! You guys were amazing!" Princess Huofeng, who had been struggling to contain her excitement, darted out of the tent the moment all the black-clad masked men were wiped out. She leaped directly into Du Long's arms and praised him ecstatically.

Flipping his hand to put away the Scarlet Flame Cleaver, Du Long looked at the beaming princess. Not knowing how to respond to his betrothed—who seemed to live for chaos—he could only offer a wry, helpless smile. "Do you finally understand why I bought that Scarlet Flame Cleaver now?"

"I know, I know now!" Huofeng bobbed her head repeatedly. "To actually be able to kill enemies across realms—forget one million, it's worth ten million! My husband truly has eyes like pearls; you're sharper than any appraiser at the Treasure Pavilion!"

With no time to indulge in idle chatter with her, Du Long smiled and nodded at Xia Qinglian, who had just stepped out of the tent. He then set the beauty down from his embrace and instructed the great lion, "Little Lie! Gather all the corpses, burn them completely, and scatter their ashes into the stream!"

"Understood, Master!" Little Lie acknowledged with a grunt. In a flash, the beast collected the severed remains of the assassins slain by Du Long near the edge of the stream, opened its jaws, and unleashed a torrent of scorching flames that reduced the bodies to a pile of ashes in moments.

Having successfully destroyed all traces and evidence—with the spirit realm beauty scanning and confirming that not a single human soul remained within a radius of dozens of miles—the trio no longer wished to linger in a place reeking of cremated flesh. Riding atop Little Lie, they flew at full speed toward Fengli Commandery in the southwest.

As dawn broke, a party of over a dozen individuals arrived at a small town a hundred miles away from the ambush site. At the head of the procession was none other than Fan Tong, the direct grandson of the Fan family!

Inside a large courtyard within the town, Fan Tong sat high in the main seat, listening with a grim expression to the report delivered by a shrewd middle-aged man below.

"Reporting to the Young Master! According to the original plan, the Black Eagle death squad led by Min Xing should have launched the assassination last night. By all accounts, they ought to have returned to report the results by now, but there is still no sign of them!"

"Min Guo, did you not send anyone out to investigate the cause?!" Fan Tong knitted his brows, instantly sensing the gravity of the situation.

"They were sent out at first light! Word should be coming back very soon!" Min Guo said nervously.

"Hmph! The sun is already high in the sky, yet no news has been found. It seems the operational efficiency of your people is seriously flawed! Do you three Min brothers think my Fan Tong lacks weight and is easier to fool?!" Fan Tong's face darkened, his gaze falling upon Min Guo like a sharp blade.

"This humble subordinate wouldn't dare... I will send someone to urge them right away..." Wiping away a cold sweat from his brow, Min Guo was just about to turn and make arrangements when a figure burst in in a panic.

"R-Reporting to Lord Min! We searched the entire mountain forest, but there is no trace of Second Lord Min and his men! Even the three targets and one beast are completely unaccounted for!"

"How can this be?!" Min Guo bellowed angrily at the subordinate who had rushed in to report. "Wasn't Min Xing lying in ambush in the dense forest by Clear Water Creek, ready to strike the targets under the cover of night? Even in death, there should at least be bodies!"

"Lord Min! At the spot where Second Lord Min lay in ambush by Clear Water Creek, we found campfires that had already burned out. There are some strange signs of a struggle at the scene, but no blood, corpses, or anything of the sort!"

"This... this is impossible!" Min Guo muttered to himself. "Min Xing's own strength has reached the Astral Dan stage, and he had over twenty Qi Ocean experts under his command. How could they just vanish into thin air without a trace?!"

"Hmph! This young master is heading back to the capital first! Min Guo, I give you three days to find out the cause and effect and report back to me. Otherwise, I will make you pay dearly!" Fan Tong rose with a dark expression and swept his sleeves, tossing out a threatening remark before rapidly departing with his guards.

Clearly, he suspected that the assassination attempt had most likely failed. Among the empire's top families, resorting to assassination against direct descendants would provoke a joint retaliation from the other elite clans, with catastrophic consequences!

Fan Tong understood this principle well, which was why he was in such a frantic rush to return to the capital and consult his father. Matters had already spiraled beyond his control; seeking his father's counsel was the only viable path left.

"Men! Send an urgent requisition order to the Black Eagle secret agents in Fengli Commandery City. Ascertain whether Du Long has safely reached his fief, and transmit the news back to me at top speed!" Recognizing the urgency of the situation, Min Guo began issuing orders immediately after seeing Fan Tong off. While having men investigate whether Du Long had arrived safely in Fengli, he also dispatched search parties to track down the missing Black Eagle death squad led by Min Xing!

Momently, a messenger falcon soared out of the courtyard, flying at full speed toward Fengli Commandery City!

In the capital of the Haotian Empire, the Fan Estate!

"What?! You actually used your father's name under false pretenses to issue an order to the Black Eagle death squad commanded by the Min brothers to assassinate Du Long?!" Left Prime Minister Fan De roared at his travel-worn son, who had just rushed back.

"Father! Du Long has humiliated me repeatedly. I had to make sure he died without a burial place to purge the hatred in my heart!" Fan Tong was terrified inside, but feigned an expression of righteous anger.

"You... you good-for-nothing, trouble-making brat! Do you have any idea what the consequences are when the top families of the empire assassinate each other?! Didn't I tell you explicitly not to stir up trouble recently?!" Fan De pointed a trembling finger at his prized son and berated him furiously.

"My handling of this matter was extremely secretive! Even if he knows he was targeted for assassination, there is absolutely no evidence pointing to us! With no living witnesses or proof, what do we have to fear from him?!" Fan Tong stubbornly argued.

"No living witnesses and proof?!" Fan De fumed. "The Black Eagle death squad led by Min Xing is missing and their fate is unknown—we don't even know if they were captured by the surname Du! And you have the nerve to talk about having no proof?!"

"Father, I considered that possibility as well! The families and children of those Black Eagle members are all in our hands; I dare say they wouldn't dare betray the Fan family!"

"Do you really think that by burying your head in the sand, others won't figure it out?! Everyone knows the Black Eagle death squad was cultivated by our Fan family! Even if they don't confess, won't people still know we were behind it?!" Fan De was so enraged by his son's ignorance that his voice trembled.

"Father! What should we do now?!" Fan Tong was starting to panic and lose his composure.

"Hand over the stolen token of authority, and get your ass back to the Royal Academy! Remember, from now on, you are not permitted to step foot into my study without my permission! I will handle this matter personally; you are to stay out of it!" Fan De instructed with a dark expression.

"Oh... I understand, Father." Having no other choice, Fan Tong took out the stolen token, handed it to Fan De, and slunk away dejectedly.

"Black Eagle!" Fan De shouted coldly once his precious son had departed.

"What are your orders, My Lord?" Fan De's capable right-hand man, Black Eagle, immediately stepped forward and bowed.

"From now on, do not allow Tong'er to enter my study without my permission!" Fan De commanded coldly. "Also, immediately investigate whether Du Long and his party are safe and sound, and whether there are any survivors among the Black Eagle death squad led by Min Xing! Do whatever it takes to cover up the grave mistake Tong'er has made. If necessary, silence everyone who knows about this mission!"

"Understood! This subordinate will attend to it right away!" Black Eagle cupped his fists and withdrew.

In Fengli Commandery, Du Long maintained his usual low profile as he appeared at the City Lord's Mansion. He immediately summoned the two core administrators, Uncle Fu and Sun Lin, to begin discussing the management of various affairs within his territory.

After settling all the major decisions that required his personal authorization, Du Long smiled at the two men and said, "Time is of the essence! Many of our pre-established plans need to be accelerated. Sun Lin, the Shadow Guard's performance of late has been exceptional, so you are authorized to expand its total strength to three thousand. Begin establishing secret intelligence outposts across the entire empire and in several neighboring countries as well!"

"Uncle Fu, the expansion of our Brave Cavalry Legion must be sped up with a target of one hundred thousand troops. Due to the limited number of spirit beasts, we must settle for the next best thing: thirty thousand in the Beast Legion, thirty thousand in the Heavy Armor Cavalry Legion, and forty thousand in the Light Armor Cavalry Legion!"

"We must achieve this goal within one to two years. That means we will be recruiting soldiers on a massive scale. Only locals with an unblemished background, as well as outsiders with clean records and genuine strength, will be assigned to the core Beast Legion."

"As for the rest, they will all be assigned to the newly formed cavalry legions. Both of these cavalry legions must be fully equipped with Black Mysterious Iron sets; I will personally design specialized armor sets for the warhorses."

"To that end, Uncle Fu, you must coordinate with Sun Lin to transfer more skilled blacksmiths and miners to the secret Black Mysterious Iron arms factory. Only then can their production pace keep up with the expansion of our forces!"

Astonished, Uncle Fu and Sun Lin listened as Du Long rattled off his grand blueprint for the future development of the fief. Seeing that he had finally paused, the two men exchanged glances before shaking their heads and offering wry, helpless smiles.

"Young Master! The future you've painted is magnificent, but relying solely on those three gold mines, we simply cannot sustain such an astronomical expenditure! You must remember, a single word from you increased the grain and salary of all soldiers by one or two folds, and our soldiers' equipment costs countless times more than anyone else's. All of this requires money to make happen!" Uncle Fu explained with a bitter expression.

"Young General! Uncle Fu is right! If you want to build secret intelligence bases across the entire empire and neighboring countries, it will require massive amounts of gold coins. Intelligence work, especially in foreign territories, is extremely hazardous. Without exorbitant compensation, who would be willing to take such risks?" Sun Lin chimed in with his own grievances.

"Is money all it takes? Here, take these five million gold notes! Spend these first; if it's not enough, I can give you another five million." With a flick of his wrist, Du Long produced five million in gold notes and handed them to the stunned Uncle Fu.

Staring at the glistening golden notes, Commander Uncle Fu and Shadow Guard Chief Sun Lin were completely dumbfounded. They could not fathom for the life of them where Du Long had managed to acquire such an enormous fortune.