Once I enter the pass, great Confucian scholars will surely debate the classics for me.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Qingfeng remained calm and composed, as steady as Mount Tai, and said indifferently, "So you want to negotiate with this admiral?"

Upon hearing this, Long Cheng lowered his head and his eyes darted around frantically. He knew that if he hadn't died and had fallen into the hands of the Censorate, he would definitely be tortured and tormented in every way. The restriction placed on him could only delay things for a while at most. The Censorate was full of experts, and as long as he figured out what type of restriction he was under, it wouldn't be too difficult to break it.

When the barrier is broken, the secret will be exposed even if no one speaks.

He now has two paths: either seek a quick death, but he is at the mercy of others and death is not so easy; or he feigns submission and tries to escape. The latter is unlikely, but it is not without room for maneuver. If he can take advantage of the enemy's eagerness to wipe out the rebels, he might be able to give it a shot. Even if he fails, he will have a chance to commit suicide in the chaos.

Thinking of this, Longcheng respectfully flattered, "The Admiral is indeed wise and powerful; nothing can be hidden from you."

Zhou Qingfeng glanced at him indifferently: "Speak, what are your conditions?"

Longcheng said, "I am all alone, my parents died early, and I have no wife or children. I am willing to abandon darkness and turn to the light, and I only ask to atone for my sins and be forgiven for my death sentence."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Qingfeng smiled faintly: "Alright, I like people who know when to back down. However, you are currently suspected of participating in the serious crime of treason, and I have no authority to pardon you. But as long as you redeem yourself through meritorious service, I can plead for you in front of my mother, and perhaps grant you leniency and pardon your death sentence."

Upon hearing this, Long Cheng sneered inwardly, but outwardly appeared overjoyed. He immediately knelt down to express his gratitude: "Thank you, Admiral, for sparing my life. I am willing to serve you like a dog."

Zhou Qingfeng waved his sleeve and pointed to the raw materials piled up outside the warehouse not far away: "Now tell me, what is your identity, who is instructing you, what is your purpose in infiltrating the Sword Tower, and what are these materials for? Tell me everything. If you dare to cheat or shirk your duty, then don't blame me for not giving you a chance."

Long Cheng hurriedly said, "My original name is Chen Bu'er, and I use the alias Long Cheng. I was originally from Yumi City. After years of war, all my family members died. By chance, I joined the Vision Sect. Eight years ago, I was assigned by the sect to participate in a secret mission. I came to Sword Tower with Lu Xingshou and others to infiltrate and create internal strife to hinder Sword Tower's expansion."

"Lu Xingshou is the leader of this team. Gou Xiong, Pang Mao, Hua Dan and I are just following orders. So we know very little about the details of the plan, including where these materials are used. Lu Xingshou has not told us. He just told us to focus on our work and not to ask any questions. But if we ask any questions, we will be scolded."

After listening for a while, Zhou Qingfeng still hadn't received any particularly valuable information, so he gave a soft "hmm" to express his slight dissatisfaction.

Longcheng hurriedly added, "Admiral, please don't be offended. Although I don't know much, I have been involved in the operation for eight years. We have set up many outposts in the Sword Tower and bribed some people with a lot of money to recruit them as peripheral followers of the Vision Church to work for us. They can also provide us with assistance when necessary."

"When our car dealership was besieged, Lu, the head of the dealership, took Fat Cat and Gou Xiong with him and left in advance, leaving only me and Hua Dan to destroy all paper documents and all remote communication tools. The purpose was to prevent the government from following the clues and finding more people and destroying more strongholds."

"The villain covered the rear, and the actress managed to escape by sheer luck."

"Lu, the head of the guild, will definitely hide even deeper with Gou Xiong, Pang Mao, and Hua Dan. With Lu's intelligence and eight years of scheming, he has countless hiding places prepared in advance. He must have hidden in a foolproof place with his men. Even if the government conducts a city-wide sweep, they may not be able to find or kill them in a short time."

"However, I have a way to join them. All I need is for the Admiral to lend me a squad of men, and I will personally lead the way to wipe them out in one fell swoop."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Qingfeng asked with great interest, "Oh? What method?"

Long Cheng knelt down and looked up, saying, "Director Lu had previously formulated a contingency plan to deal with unforeseen circumstances."

"If anyone gets separated, they can send a message through the outer outposts, and Chief Lu will naturally send someone to meet them."

"At that time, the Admiral can send men to follow my trail and pursue me all the way to Lu Xingshou's hiding place."

"After the rebels are captured in one fell swoop, please, Admiral, find a way to break the restrictions on me."

Zhou Qingfeng narrowed his eyes: "Alright, I'll lend you a squad of men. Lord Ye, you're in charge of this matter. Make sure you wipe out all the traitors in one fell swoop."

Overjoyed, Long Cheng quickly kowtowed and said, "Thank you for your trust, Admiral. I will definitely make amends for my crimes."

Upon hearing this, Ye Tingxiu clasped his hands in obeisance and replied, "I will obey the Admiral's orders."

After saying that, Ye Tingxiu grabbed Long Cheng by the shoulder, lifted him up, and pushed him forward: "Come on, don't try to play tricks on me, or I'll chop you in half with one sword!"

Zhou Qingfeng said calmly, "Lord Ye, please stay. I have something to say to you."

Upon hearing this, Ye Tingxiu gestured to his subordinate Sheng Tuo to take Long Cheng away first. He then turned back to Zhou Qingfeng and whispered, "What's wrong? Do you think there's a trap?"

Zhou Qingfeng gently patted the top of his cane and said calmly, "I'm not afraid of a trap, but I'm afraid he'll stubbornly refuse to budge. A stalemate is not good for me. The Dragon Banquet is about to begin, and we can't afford any mistakes. Now, whether he's genuinely surrendering or setting a trap, you have to be careful to prevent him from resorting to desperate measures and making a last-ditch counterattack."

Ye Tingxiu frowned slightly: "He's the fish on the chopping block, and I'm the butcher. What tricks can he possibly pull?"

Zhou Qingfeng said calmly, "It's hard to say. Even small people have their own wisdom and courage. A foreign spy who can cultivate to the Food Fiend Realm is not an ordinary person. Remember not to be presumptuous or think that you are the smartest and that everyone else is a fool. Otherwise, you will become the real fool."

Ye Tingxiu hissed, "Now that you mention it, I'm even more uncertain. How about we resort to torture? It's simpler and more brutal, but it'll be more effective."

Zhou Qingfeng chuckled and shook his head: "Winning hearts is the best strategy, followed by attacking strategies, and then besieging cities. Winning hearts ensures complete success, attacking strategies ensures complete success, and besieging cities will inevitably result in losses."

"This person was sent out as a foreign spy, so his mind must be far beyond that of an ordinary person. It will take at least two or three months to find a breakthrough to break through his defenses, and what I lack right now is time. I can't afford to wait. Torture is certainly useful, simple and brutal, but it is really troublesome to verify the authenticity of the intelligence obtained. If we are not careful, we will suffer losses."

"Why not play along with him for a while? If he's sincerely willing to join us, that's fine. But if he dares to play tricks, he'll inevitably reveal more flaws in the operation. You can openly lead a team of men, pretend to trust him, and make him relax. Meanwhile, secretly deploy four elite teams to ambush him from all sides and provide support at any time."

"If anything seems amiss, don't hesitate, close the net immediately. It's better to have nothing than to let this person escape."

Upon hearing this, Ye Tingxiu's eyes gradually brightened: "I understand, I know what to do."

Zhou Qingfeng nodded slightly and patted Ye Tingxiu's arm: "Go ahead."

Ye Tingxiu chuckled, pressed down on his sword with one hand, turned around and quickly left.

At this moment, Xiao Hongyun also transformed into sand and materialized into human form in front of Zhou Qingfeng, saying, "They've arrived."

As soon as he finished speaking, the other six officials from the Censorate arrived outside the storeroom.

There were more than ten officials in total, all of whom were experts in weapon crafting and alchemy.

"Your humble servant greets Admiral Zhou." The group of officials immediately faced Zhou Qingfeng, clasped their hands in greeting, and paid their respects. They belonged to different factions and did not really care about the famous Fourth Master of Sword Tower. They were already bound to their own factions and could not easily switch sides. Even if they fawned over this Fourth Master, they would not be able to advance any further.

To put it bluntly, no matter how powerful you are, you can't control me. You're nothing but a fart. I only show you respect on the surface because I don't want to cause trouble.

If it weren't for the prior instructions from Deputy Commanders Jiang and Mao, they wouldn't have obeyed Zhou Qingfeng's orders.

They might even sabotage things behind the scenes, making things difficult for Zhou Qingfeng so that he can't accomplish anything.

After all, you have to use your brain and come up with solutions to get things done well, but it's not so easy to mess things up without leaving a trace.

These people are full of bad intentions. Having climbed the ranks in officialdom, they are all cunning and scheming. They are incredibly adept at plotting and scheming. Although such schemes and tricks are despicable, they are often the most deadly and effective, enough to solve 99% of problems. If they can't solve the remaining 1%, then they can deal with the people who created the problems.

However, the conditions required for an open strategy are too demanding. First, absolute strength or institutional advantage; second, accurate control over human nature; and third, skillful timing. If one of these three conditions is met, an open strategy can be used. However, open strategies have great limitations and not everyone can master them. If you really want to show off an extreme operation that can go down in history, you can easily ruin yourself.

Throughout history, those who have the means and ability to engage in open and overt schemes are few and far between.

To put it simply, 99.9999% of people will never need to use open strategies in their entire lives.

Being able to skillfully use intrigue and scheming is already a mark of exceptional talent. Whether in the imperial court or the martial world, it would be difficult for such a person to fare poorly.

Zhou Qingfeng would not underestimate them, nor would he easily trust any of them. Even if they were sincere in their work, he would still be suspicious. He didn't care if they alienated people, since they weren't his own people anyway. He would let them think whatever they wanted. Once he had complete control of the Censorate, he wouldn't use them for important official positions in various departments.

In short, you should use those you doubt, and you should doubt those you use. You should never hand over your trust; once you do, it's like handing a knife to someone else, and you won't even know how you died.

He pointed to the pile of raw materials: "Take a look and see what the purpose of this batch of raw materials is. Each of you should write a list and hand it to me so that I can check it one by one."

"Yes, Admiral Zhou." The thirteen officials bowed respectfully and accepted the order, though they were inwardly grumbling. If he didn't trust them, why did he use them? If he was so capable, why did he come to them? They were suspicious of him. But whatever, he had orders from above, so they should assist him to avoid getting into trouble.

Zhou Qingfeng ordered people to bring over a tea table and chairs, and set up a parasol, so they could drink tea and wait in the shade.

Xiao Hongyun sat down beside him and chatted to pass the time: "Where's Lao Ye?"

Zhou Qingfeng picked up his lychee black tea, took a sip, and said calmly, "I found some fun for him. He should be playing with the thief right now. Don't worry. Although Lao Ye is a bit impatient by nature and lacks in wisdom, he has been tempered over the years and is now capable of handling things on his own. He won't suffer a big loss."

Xiao Hongyun lightly waved his folding fan and crossed his legs: "Cats have their ways, and mice have their ways. Although this guy is all brawn and no brains, such people often manage to create some unexpected surprises because schemes are useless against him. If you try to outsmart him, he won't see it at all. He'll just draw his sword and fight. Enemies who are unfamiliar with him will suffer a great loss."

Zhou Qingfeng chuckled and picked up his teacup: "Great minds think alike."

Seeing this, Xiao Hongyun smiled, picked up his teacup, clinked it against his own, took a slow sip, and said, "By the way, have you met your future wife?"

Zhou Qingfeng pondered for a moment: "Are you referring to the First Zhenzhen or Princess Yaoyue? I have seen the portrait of the First Zhenzhen, but I haven't had time to see her in person. I'll go and see her in person after I'm done with this busy period to see if she is gentle and obedient. As for Princess Yaoyue, I haven't seen her yet, but it doesn't matter. She can be short, fat, or ugly, she's just a decoration anyway."

Xiao Hongyun said, "You really have a broad perspective; you can be so particular about such an important matter as marriage."

Zhou Qingfeng crossed his legs and said nonchalantly, "Otherwise what? Do you really think I can make that decision? If I could, I would certainly prefer to find a clean and innocent girl to marry, date freely, and get married and have children when it's right. A happy family would be great, at least I wouldn't have to sell my body and be used as a stud to be paired up."