Patrolling the Streets

The next day.

Early in the morning, Huang Shaojie rode a fine horse to the Imperial Guard office.

After tying up his horse, he went to the main hall of his department to sign in and mark attendance.

It was the equivalent of clocking in for work in his previous life, drawing a circle on the daily attendance sheet.

At that moment, the system's notification sounded in his mind.

Sign-in successful. Obtained 1 year of Internal Cultivation.

Immediately, a stream of true qi appeared out of nowhere and flowed into Huang Shaojie's body.

Signing in for duty really could earn him Internal Cultivation!

Huang Shaojie secretly rejoiced. No wonder the system had said yesterday that serving at the office would also grant him one year of Internal Cultivation every day.

"System, if I'm away handling a case and can't come to the office to sign in, will I still receive Internal Cultivation rewards?"

The host will receive one year of Internal Cultivation for signing in at work each day. If away handling a case, the reward will be granted automatically without the need to sign in.

Huang Shaojie counted on his fingers in secret:

One year of Internal Cultivation every day meant thirty years in a month.

After one year, merely clocking in would give him 360 years of Internal Cultivation.

If he kept signing in for ten years or so, wouldn't he have several thousand years of Internal Cultivation?

Wouldn't that crush a Great Grandmaster?

Just thinking about it made Huang Shaojie feel downright ecstatic!

At this time, his colleagues gradually arrived in the office hall. Zhu Shi and several other Small Banner Officers had also arrived and stood at the front.

Then, a woman dressed in purple brocade robes, a treasured sword hanging from her waist, strode into the hall.

She looked to be just over twenty. She had an oval face, exquisite features, snow-white skin, and breathtaking beauty. Her tight purple brocade uniform wrapped around her tall, graceful figure.

Yet there was a trace of frost on her peerless face, making people afraid to look at her twice.

Huh, the Imperial Guard actually had such a stunning beauty!

Huang Shaojie stared unblinkingly at the purple-clad beauty with his large eyes. Her figure and face utterly eclipsed the actresses from his previous life.

"Greetings, Battalion Commander Xiao!"

Everyone in the hall, including Zhu Shi and the other three Small Banner Officers, clasped their fists and bowed to the purple-clad beauty in respectful salute.

The highest-ranking officer of the Suzhou Imperial Guard office was the Thousand-Household Commander, under whom served three Hundred-Household Commanders.

Below them were twelve Guard Posts, each with around fifty Imperial Guards and led by a Battalion Commander. This purple-clad beauty was Xiao Qiuyue, Battalion Commander of the Ninth Guard Post.

Damn, she's actually the boss of our department!

Only then did Huang Shaojie realize it. He hurriedly followed suit, clasping his fists in salute. "Greetings, Battalion Commander Xiao."

Xiao Qiuyue's eyes swept toward him like twin bolts of cold lightning. She had noticed when she entered that this newly arrived officer had been staring straight at her, which made her slightly displeased!

"What is your name?"

Xiao Qiuyue sized up this new subordinate. Sword-like brows, starry eyes, a tall and imposing bearing—he was quite a fine-looking man.

"Reporting to you, my name is Huang Shaojie." Huang Shaojie answered with utmost respect, lowering his head slightly and no longer looking directly at Battalion Commander Xiao.

It was not that he feared her. This was simply the most basic etiquette of officialdom.

When speaking to a superior, a subordinate had to bow slightly and could not look directly at them.

"Who recommended you to join?" Xiao Qiuyue asked coldly.

The Imperial Guard recruited new members every year to fill vacancies left by casualties and retirees. Usually, recruits entered through formal examinations.

Newcomers who passed the recruitment examinations first had to come from respectable families and have reliable identities. Second, they had to possess a certain level of martial cultivation or some specialized skill.

Even the lowest-ranking officers and Strongmen generally had to reach the Houtian Third Layer. Otherwise, they were not qualified to join the Imperial Guard.

The other route was through internal recommendations within the Imperial Guard. Those who came in through such back doors generally failed to meet the requirements. If they did meet them, they would not need to use the back door in the first place.

The Imperial Guard had not publicly recruited officers recently, so Xiao Qiuyue concluded that Huang Shaojie had been recommended by someone within the Imperial Guard.

Before Huang Shaojie could speak, Zhu Shi stepped forward and bowed. "Reporting to Battalion Commander, Huang Shaojie was recommended to Commander Zhao by this subordinate."

Commander Zhao was Xiao Qiuyue's immediate superior. Zhu Shi could see that Xiao Qiuyue seemed somewhat displeased with Huang Shaojie, so he quickly invoked Commander Zhao's name.

After all, Zhu Shi truly had given Commander Zhao five hundred taels of silver to arrange for Huang Shaojie to enter the Imperial Guard.

Xiao Qiuyue said nothing further.

She then began assigning the day's tasks.

The Imperial Guard's duties mainly consisted of three things:

First, monitoring civil and military officials.

Second, handling major cases and investigating spies from enemy states.

Third, patrolling to maintain public order.

Tracking and monitoring Suzhou's local officials was generally done by Imperial Riders.

Officers were chiefly responsible for handling major cases, apprehending important criminals, and patrolling to maintain public order.

Strongmen, meanwhile, were responsible for rough work such as confiscating property, hauling goods, and torturing prisoners.

As a newly arrived officer, Huang Shaojie was naturally assigned to patrol the streets.

"Brother Zhang, what's Battalion Commander Xiao's background? She's so young, yet she already holds the position of Imperial Guard Battalion Commander?"

As they walked through the streets of Suzhou City, Huang Shaojie could not help asking his colleague Zhang Biao, who was patrolling with him.

"You don't know this, Brother Huang. Battalion Commander Xiao is no ordinary person. She was transferred from the Capital City to gain experience. They say she's the daughter of some high-ranking figure in the Capital City. Though she isn't even twenty-one yet, her martial cultivation has already reached the Xiantian Eighth Level. Among the office's twelve Battalion Commanders, she's the strongest."

Whenever Zhang Biao spoke of Xiao Qiuyue, he became animated, words pouring from his mouth like a flying waterfall.

"She was only transferred here this year, yet in just half a year, she handled two major local officials and captured a notorious Jiang Yang bandit. Tell me, isn't that impressive?"

"Having such formidable martial arts and such ruthless methods would be enough, but she also happens to be a peerless beauty, and her family background is even more unfathomable..."

"Hey, tell me, what sort of man in this world could marry a woman like Battalion Commander Xiao, a rare jewel with beauty, talent, and background all in one?"

Huang Shaojie was dumbfounded by the question!

Fuck, you're asking me? How the hell would I know what kind of man could marry her?

In any case, she would not marry losers like them.

Still, this Xiao Qiuyue really was a martial arts genius. She had reached the Xiantian Eighth Level before even turning twenty-one.

So damn impressive!

However, Xiao Qiuyue had powerful backing in the Capital City. She had surely been taught martial arts by top experts since childhood, and the cultivation resources available to her were far beyond what ordinary people could compare with. With her own talent and hard work added to that, reaching the Xiantian Eighth Level at twenty-one was possible.

Patrolling the streets was an exceedingly pleasant assignment. The two of them swaggered down the avenues in their Imperial Guard uniforms, and passersby lowered their heads and stepped aside. Wherever they went, they were met with fearful, respectful gazes.

At noon, they ate a bowl of dumplings from a roadside stall. The vendor was utterly deferential. After eating, Zhang Biao wiped his mouth and pretended to ask how much it cost, only for the owner to wave his hands repeatedly and say there was no need to pay.

Zhang Biao did not stand on ceremony. He simply lifted his leg and left. He had never intended to pay in the first place.

Huang Shaojie took out a string of copper coins and tossed it onto the table, moving the owner so deeply that he repeatedly clasped his hands and bowed in thanks.

In the blink of an eye, more than a month passed.

Over that month, Huang Shaojie clocked in every day and received more than forty years of Internal Cultivation as system rewards. Combined with his daily practice of the Wind God Leg's internal cultivation method, his cultivation had already broken through to the Houtian Ninth Layer.

Now, when Huang Shaojie unleashed the Wind God Leg, it possessed formidable offensive power. Although he still could not bring out the Wind God Leg's true might, it was enough for him to defeat Xiantian Realm experts above the First Level across a realm.