Promotion to Imperial Guard Company Commander

Half a month later.

An appointment document arrived from the Capital City, and Huang Shaojie officially became an Imperial Guard Company Commander in Suzhou.

His monthly salary rose from three taels of silver to ten taels.

His green Imperial Guard Captain uniform was replaced by a blue Company Commander brocade robe. He wore an Embroidered Spring Blade at his waist and received an iron Company Commander token of the Imperial Guard.

Niu Ren kept Huang Shaojie, the newly promoted Company Commander, at Xiao Qiuyue's Ninth Guard Post. He also transferred one Imperial Guard Captain from each of the other eleven guard posts to serve under Huang Shaojie.

"Lord Huang, congratulations, congratulations!"

"Congratulations on your promotion, Young Master Huang. We hope for your guidance in the future!"

"Young Master Huang became a Company Commander at only twenty. Truly, heroes have emerged from the young since ancient times!"

"Company Commander is merely Young Master Huang's starting point. Your future is boundless!"

His former Imperial Guard Captain colleagues all clasped their hands in congratulations, their flattering words pouring forth without end.

Huang Shaojie likewise clasped his hands and laughed heartily. "You flatter me, fellow colleagues. Another day, I'll treat everyone to a feast at the Drunken Immortal Restaurant."

Everyone perked up at once, laughing and cheering in approval.

After leaving work at dusk, Huang Shaojie returned to Huang Manor on his yellow-maned horse, dressed in a watery blue brocade robe with an Embroidered Spring Blade at his waist.

In Huang Manor's dining hall, the servants had already prepared a table full of food and wine. Huang Baiwan and his wife were waiting for their beloved son to come home for dinner.

"Master, Madam, the young master has returned."

Before he had even entered the dining hall, Xiao He announced it loudly.

Huang Shaojie walked into the dining hall, called out to his father and mother, then removed the Embroidered Spring Blade from his waist.

"Eh, Jie'er, why are you wearing a blue brocade robe today?"

Huang Baiwan noticed that his son's clothing had changed. He was no longer wearing that green Imperial Guard Captain uniform, but a blue brocade robe clearly superior in both style and material.

It looked exactly like the official robe Zhu Shi wore.

"Dad, your son is a Company Commander now."

Huang Shaojie sat down beside the dining table, took out the token at his waist, and placed it on the table.

"My son is an Imperial Guard Company Commander now?"

Overjoyed, Huang Baiwan picked up the token and examined it carefully. He could not stop grinning.

"Aiya, my son is truly promising! He was only an Imperial Guard Captain for two months, and he's already been promoted to Company Commander. Green smoke is rising from our Huang family's ancestral graves... Someone, go set off a string of firecrackers at the main gate! Tomorrow, we'll hold a banquet in the manor to celebrate... Hahahaha..."

Back then, in order to curry favor with Company Commander Zhu, Huang Baiwan had given him two thousand taels of silver like a groveling grandson, treating him with even greater respect than a commoner would show a righteous magistrate.

Who would have thought that in just two months, his beloved son would transform from a wastrel into an Imperial Guard Company Commander?

To Huang Baiwan and his wife, this was simply joy falling from the heavens.

"Master, what kind of official is an Imperial Guard Company Commander?"

Madam Huang was also beside herself with joy and could not help asking her husband.

Huang Baiwan proudly raised a thumb. "An Imperial Guard Company Commander is a Subordinate Seventh Rank official—a bona fide court-appointed official!"

Madam Huang's face lit up with delight. "Then isn't Jie'er nearly the same rank as a county magistrate?"

In Madam Huang's eyes, a county magistrate was an imposing, righteous official, yet he was only Principal Seventh Rank. Her beloved son was already Subordinate Seventh Rank at only twenty.

Huang Baiwan curled his lip disdainfully. "Though a county magistrate is Principal Seventh Rank, if he sees our Jie'er, an Imperial Guard Company Commander, he still has to respectfully bow and address him as my lord."

Madam Huang opened her mouth in astonishment. "Ah, why is that?"

Huang Baiwan took the seat at the head of the table, flicked his sleeves, and said smugly,

"The Imperial Guard outranks officials by three grades and has the authority to supervise all officials. Otherwise, why would I have been willing to spend two thousand taels of silver on that Company Commander Zhu to get our Jie'er a position in the Imperial Guard? Now do you see how far-sighted this master of yours was?"

Huang Shaojie picked up the wine jar and poured his father a bowl of osmanthus brew, laughing as he said,

"All right, Dad, stop bragging here. If your son weren't capable, sending me to the Imperial Guard would only have made me cannon fodder."

"Yes, yes, it's mainly because my son is capable!"

Huang Baiwan laughed heartily and raised his cup to drink deeply with his son.

After drinking wine and finishing dinner, Huang Shaojie returned to the rear courtyard.

After strolling around the rear courtyard for a while, he went to the bathhouse for a soak, then returned to his room.

He took off his shoes, climbed onto the bed, and began meditating as he circulated the Wind God Leg's internal cultivation method.

Nearly twenty days had passed since he reached the second level of the Innate Realm. His body had accumulated nearly twenty more years of internal energy, and the true qi within him had begun to assault the third level of the Innate Realm.

After circulating it through several great cycles, his mysterious gate broke through once more, and the true qi in his body flowed even more smoothly.

"I've reached the third level of the Innate Realm!"

Huang Shaojie slowly exhaled, a satisfied smile appearing at the corner of his lips.

In only two short months, he had gone from someone without the slightest martial skill to an expert at the third level of the Innate Realm.

Moreover, he possessed two Peerless Martial Arts: the Wind God Leg and the Indestructible Vajra Technique.

Although he currently only mastered the first three forms of the Wind God Leg and the first level of the Indestructible Vajra Technique, he was absolutely invincible beneath the Grandmaster realm.

Even against a First or Second Rank Grandmaster, he could at least protect himself.