The reports came in waves.Patriarch Guo's network moved first as his disciples in plain robes fanned out through the western slums with the care of people who had been told to gather information by their Supreme Leader in Green and the absolute terror of people who knew what happened to the last group that wandered too close to the previous Demon's territory without an invitation. They went in groups and never alone. Carrying fully loaded out gear that included robes, weapon of choice, loud wood sandals, and a small banner of pale green in case anyone asked who they were and what they were doing…Which happened to be a lot of people, mostly because they talked to everyone they could reach.Merchants, beggars, street sweepers, the women who washed clothes in the river shallows at dawn, the children who ran messages between districts for copper coins, the guards who stood at the intersections between the inner city and the slum border, bored and underpaid and more than willing to talk if someone brought them something warm to drink.Everyone they could get their hands on.Patriarch Liang's people covered the eastern slum perimeter. Patriarch Fen handled the river district. Sho's students, broad-shouldered and earnest, worked the refugee camps outside the walls where information flowed as freely as the mud between the huts. Duan sent nobody because Duan was ninety years old and had decided that his contribution would be sitting in the compound's corner, eyes half-closed, listening to the reports as they arrived and saying nothing until he had something worth saying.Jun respected that more than she wanted to admit.The first batch arrived before sunset.A fruit seller near the western wall was a thin woman, maybe forty, with calloused hands and a voice that cracked when she spoke too fast. She'd been paying the Jade Serpent Syndicate four silver coins a week for the privilege (...)