Lu Li became more confident upon exchanging ideas with Su Zixi.

Rules in the prefectures were strict. Prefecture warriors could not kill for no reason, generally speaking. Of course… if it were outside the city or the Valley of Vicissitudes, then it would be a piece of cake when a prefecture warrior wanted to commit the killing.

One must look at things in context. If one was much more powerful than the prefecture army and could wipe out an entire team in the wild without leaving behind any proof or traces, then there was nothing the prefecture armies could do.

On the record, everyone had to respect the rules. After all, the rules represent the dignity of a prefecture office and the authority of the chief. Anyone violating the rules would be challenging the authority of the prefecture chief. Eventually, they would suffer the strike from the warriors in the prefecture.

In other words…

Even when Yan Tiangang confirmed that Lu Li was in the Valley of Vicissitudes, he could not come in