Respected Lord:
Since our parting in Jingzhou, I have traveled far and wide, gathering information on Gaunt Stallion Sect as follows:
The Gaunt Stallion Sect operates in Jiangnan East and Liangzhu Circuits, overtly profiting from trade of slaves and maids, while secretly engaging in abduction and robbery. They leverage waterway transport to expand their influence along Yangtze River, causing significant harm to prosperous places like Hangzhou.
The Gaunt Stallion Sect's human trafficking is different. They seek out young girls, not rushing to trade them, but instead teaching them skills. Only when the girls are well-trained do they sell them at high prices.
Because Gaunt Stallion Sect's acts are similar to horse traders who buy gaunt horses cheaply, fatten them up, and sell them at a high price, the sect leader Feng Xueya named the sect "Gaunt Stallion."
The girls from it are sought after by wealthy merchants. Those with the most outstanding beauty are presented to court officials. Gaunt Stallion Sect sometimes acts as fighters, eliminating troubles for officials, thus holding leverage over them, making it difficult to act against them.
Gaunt Stallion Sect was founded by its leader, Feng Xueya. There was a local thug in Hangzhou, nicknamed "Phoenix Overlord," notorious for his evil deeds. It is said that Feng Xueya is his son. After Feng Xueya's birth, his mother died, leaving him to survive through robbery and extortion. As he grew older, he went to Yangzhou, engaging in the theft of corpses for ghost marriages. It was through this morally bankrupt trade that Feng Xueya quickly rose to prominence. Later, he turned to kidnapping children and abducting women to train as "Gaunt Stallions."
Feng Xueya is violent and eccentric, yet shrewd in his calculations. In just a few years, he monopolized the human trafficking business along Yangtze River. Furthermore, Feng Xueya is audacious and reckless. At first, he only traded with families selling their children. Later, he also targeted daughters of noble families. About seven years ago, the young daughter of Huang Zhixing, Magistrate of Yangzhou, was abducted by Gaunt Stallion Sect. Huang Zhixing ordered a crackdown on the sect, but was framed with treason.
Feng Xueya has a mistress, known as "Immortal Fang." She broke away from Gaunt Stallion Sect to form Immortalis Sect, specializing in abducting the elderly, women, and children to beg, even deliberately crippling them to earn money. Sir, we once saw a large dog at Jingzhou Port that could speak and sing. The dog was made from a three-year-old child. Truly horrifying!
I only know that the secret treasure is in Hangzhou, but exact location remains undiscovered. Although Gaunt Stallion Sect is not directly connected to the secret treasure, their growing influence in Hangzhou and deep ties with the Government may prove useful in the future.
I am determined to do my utmost to uncover the secret treasure and restore the glory of our sect!
Respectfully submitted by Chu Tao
October, Second Year of Zhenghe