Chapter 1437: Wanted Warrant
In just a few days, the news of the Tongzhou Great Emperor's demise quickly spread. It circulated not only within the Underworld Office but was also known by many from other factions. Although the four Great Emperors of the Underworld Office had issued a strict order, forbidding anyone from spreading the news of the Tongzhou Great Emperor's demise, and even strictly prohibiting its mention internally, the secret could not be kept.
However, far too many people knew about it. Even with the strict orders from the four Great Emperors, the news still leaked out, causing a tremendous impact. Consequently, factions hostile to the Underworld Office began to stir restlessly.
Besides the demise of the Tongzhou Great Emperor, another significant event also spread within the Underworld Office and among external factions: Yang Haoran, the Guardian of the Jingling Continent Underworld Office's Ninth District, had betrayed the Underworld Office. He had not only colluded with external enemies, causing the deaths of the Tongzhou Great Emperor and two Guardians, but had also taken all personnel from the Ninth District, hiding them somewhere unknown. As a result, the Underworld Office issued a warrant for Yang Haoran's arrest.
If anyone could capture Yang Haoran alive and deliver him to the Underworld Office, an immense reward would be bestowed. If that wasn't possible, killing Yang Haoran was also acceptable, but only if Yang Haoran's soul was presented. Only then could they determine who was responsible for his death.
If they couldn't capture Yang Haoran alive, nor had the ability to kill him, providing clues about Yang Haoran was also acceptable and would still earn a certain, generous reward. However, compared to capturing or killing Yang Haoran, the reward would definitely be significantly less.
The warrant issued by the Underworld Office for Yang Haoran was not merely an internal one, but one effective both internally and externally. This meant that any faction or individual in the New Beginning Realm could take on this warrant; even hostile factions were no exception. Setting aside whether hostile factions would actually do this, or whether the Underworld Office would honor its promise if they did, simply the Underworld Office's approach to this matter revealed the astonishing depth of their hatred for Yang Haoran!
The warrant issued by the Underworld Office did not state that Yang Haoran had colluded with external enemies to kill the Tongzhou Great Emperor and two Guardians, nor did it say that Yang Haoran had emptied out the Ninth District and taken all its personnel. It only stated one thing: that Yang Haoran had betrayed the Underworld Office, becoming a traitor, and therefore, the Underworld Office intended to eliminate him.
Although the Underworld Office did not explicitly state this, many people knew about it. It was clearly impossible for the Underworld Office to completely seal everyone's mouths, so the news still spread quickly. The Underworld Office simply did not respond to it.
At the beginning, this meeting did not include the Guardians. The four Great Emperors first attempted to contact the Death God through special means. With such a significant event occurring, they certainly had to report the situation to the Death God. If it were just two Guardians who had fallen, there would naturally be no need to alarm the Death God; the Death God wouldn't have the leisure to care about the lives or deaths of two Guardians. But the demise of a Great Emperor was different; the impact it brought could not be compared to that of Guardians. The importance the Death God placed on Great Emperors was also incomparable to that of Guardians. That's why the four Great Emperors wanted to contact the Death God through special means, to provide a detailed report of the situation. Unfortunately, none of them received a response.
Unable to contact the Death God, the four Great Emperors naturally couldn't keep waiting. After all, the issues that needed addressing required immediate action, to prevent greater impact and losses. Thus, the four proceeded with their secret meeting.
This meeting lasted almost a full day in the mortal realm. When the four Great Emperors emerged from the meeting room, they had already deliberated and reached a conclusion.
After deliberation, how much Luo Yao needed to be held responsible for this incident, and whether he should step down, would be discussed once the truth of the matter came to light. For now, this matter would not be brought up. After all, the Underworld Office's five Emperors were already down one, and the entire Underworld Office's strength was greatly diminished. If they lost another Great Emperor, then the Underworld Office's situation would become perilous. Everyone understood the stakes involved, which was why they made this decision.
This outcome was naturally the best possible for Luo Yao. Since he wasn't immediately deposed, he had ample room to maneuver. As long as he handled things well, even when the truth of the incident came to light, it would be difficult to threaten his position as Great Emperor. At most, he would receive some minor, insignificant punishment. Thus, this outcome finally allowed his taut nerves to relax somewhat, and he breathed a sigh of relief. Besides discussing Luo Yao's temporary handling, they focused more on discussing what to do next. After reaching a conclusion, they did not gather all their respective Guardians for a meeting. Instead, they issued a series of urgent orders, providing detailed arrangements and deployments for their Guardians. As for the Tong Continent Underworld Office, it would be temporarily managed jointly by the four Great Emperors, and orders to its existing Guardians were also jointly issued by the four of them.
The four Great Emperors did not gather all the Guardians for a meeting. Instead, they issued orders and arranged deployments via the Underworld Iron Tome. This was because the four Great Emperors needed all these Guardians to remain steadfast at their posts, to prevent hostile forces from exploiting any loopholes and causing greater losses to the Underworld Office.
Besides making detailed arrangements and deployments for the Guardians, the four Great Emperors also issued a warrant through the Underworld Iron Tome, and this warrant was precisely for Yang Haoran.
The appearance of this warrant caused a huge uproar within the Underworld Office. Anyone with even a little bit of sense connected this matter to the demise of the Tongzhou Great Emperor. Although they didn't believe Yang Haoran possessed the ability to kill the Tongzhou Great Emperor, they all believed that the Tongzhou Great Emperor's demise was definitely related to Yang Haoran.
Following the issuance of Yang Haoran's warrant, the news that the Jingling Continent Underworld Office's Ninth District was left as an empty shell also quickly spread. Word spread like wildfire, and in just a few days, not only did personnel within the Underworld Office know about this, but many non-Underworld Office individuals were also aware of it.
Yang Haoran's warrant was issued by the four Great Emperors after deliberation. Their decision to issue such a warrant was enough to illustrate their attitude towards this matter, and their stance towards Yang Haoran.
Although the four Great Emperors had not yet fully grasped the entire sequence of events, one thing they firmly believed: this matter was absolutely related to Yang Haoran. In other words, in their eyes, Yang Haoran was not only guilty, but his crime warranted death. Therefore, when they issued this warrant, they did not believe they would be killing the wrong person, even Luo Yao thought so.
However, Luo Yao was different from the other three Great Emperors. Yang Haoran was his subordinate. Naturally, his thoughts on certain matters differed from those of the other three Great Emperors.
To protect himself, Luo Yao wasn't foolish enough to stop the three Great Emperors from issuing the warrant for Yang Haoran. Not only did he not stop them, but he even put on a show of absolute support. In truth, he greatly hoped for a reversal in this matter, which would significantly lessen his responsibility. But he knew in his heart that the possibility of a reversal was very slim.
In a short period of time, two traitors appeared by Luo Yao's side. One openly betrayed him in front of all high-ranking officials of the Underworld Office, standing against him, and clinging to the Tongzhou Great Emperor, his sworn enemy, joining forces with the Tongzhou Great Emperor to bring about his downfall, ensuring he would never recover and leaving him no way out.
The other was even more audacious; he directly betrayed the entire Underworld Office. He not only caused the deaths of two Guardians but also killed a Great Emperor, and furthermore, abused his authority to promote over six thousand Emissaries of Death, allowing them to undergo the baptism of Heaven and Earth rules and gain undying bodies. He even secretly transferred all personnel from the entire Ninth District. This was truly outrageous beyond measure! The Underworld Office had existed for countless years, yet there was no record of anyone ever being so brazen!
Such a dual blow enraged Luo Yao to the extreme, filling him with suppressed fury.
Yang Haoran and Huo Laoban—these two were naturally the best targets for his wrath. However, he couldn't find where Yang Haoran was hiding now. Therefore, Huo Laoban, this masterless dog, became the first object of his rage, and the best one to vent his anger upon, because his fury towards Huo Laoban far surpassed his anger towards Yang Haoran!
And so, Luo Yao, seething with anger, headed to Huo Laoban's Guardian District. He intended to make this traitor understand the consequences of betraying him.
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