Provincial Governor's Office

Early the next morning, Zhou Yi arrived at the entrance of the Provincial Governor's Office. The guards standing watch were still the same two from yesterday. They recognized Zhou Yi now and did not stop him, simply letting him in and telling him where Du Wei was.

Following the guards' directions, Zhou Yi took several wrong turns before finally finding the East Courtyard of the Provincial Governor's Office. Only after entering did he see Du Wei.

The moment he saw Du Wei, Zhou Yi complained, "Uncle Du, this Provincial Governor's Office is way too big, isn't it? And why does it have an East Courtyard and West Courtyard..."

Before he could finish, Du Wei covered Zhou Yi's mouth and led him to a secluded spot. Only then did he release him.

Du Wei immediately lowered his voice and said, "Shh. The Provincial Governor's Office is divided into the east, south, west, and north courtyards, each corresponding to an area that must be protected. As for why they are divided... that was the City Lord's order."

As he said this, Du Wei pointed upward. Zhou Yi understood at once. It was a measure to divide and weaken them, lest the Provincial Governor's Office become a second Four Great Families. If that happened, they might obey orders but ignore proclamations, which would be a real headache.

After thinking it through, Zhou Yi asked, "Uncle Du, wasn't I supposed to join the Provincial Governor's Office today? Don't I need to take a test?"

Du Wei shook his head at Zhou Yi. "With your Uncle Du here, what are you worried about? Still, I can only arrange for you to enter the Provincial Governor's Office, so you'll have to start from the very bottom."

"In the Provincial Governor's Office, official rank isn't determined by strength."

Zhou Yi was somewhat confused. Du Wei saw the expression on his face and said, "No rush. I'll explain it slowly."

After a pause, Du Wei said, "In the Provincial Governor's Office, promotion depends on strange points."

"Strange points?"

"That's right, strange points. They're points calculated from the strange entities you kill. There's a saying in the Provincial Governor's Office: someone with few strange points may not necessarily be weak, but someone with many strange points is definitely strong, because strange points are all earned through killing."

Zhou Yi understood after hearing that, so he asked Du Wei, "Uncle Du, how many strange points is a squad leader like you worth?"

Du Wei held up one finger to Zhou Yi.

"One thousand?" Zhou Yi voiced his guess.

"Ten thousand!" Du Wei nearly choked on Zhou Yi's guess.

Zhou Yi pulled a long face. "How long would that take to kill?"

"It took me nearly ten years," Du Wei said to Zhou Yi with a sigh.

Zhou Yi's expression gradually went numb. Seeing him like that, Du Wei could not bear it, but he himself had endured things the same way back then.

"Next, let me tell you about the four courtyard masters of our Provincial Governor's Office. The East Courtyard Master is Xie Yun, the South Courtyard Master is Wang Qi, the West Courtyard Master is Di Feiyun, and the North Courtyard Master is Luo Han. All of them are in the Embrace Dan Realm, and there isn't much difference in their strength."

"You and I belong to the East Courtyard, and my direct superior is Xie Yun. Each courtyard master has five squad leaders like me under them."

Hearing this, Zhou Yi suddenly asked Du Wei, "Uncle Du, then how many strange points does it take to become a courtyard master?"

Du Wei shook his head. "Becoming a courtyard master doesn't require accumulating strange points."

At those words, Zhou Yi's eyes suddenly lit up. He continued, "Then what does it require?"

"First, you must be an Embrace Dan Realm expert. Second, you must kill a specific strange entity."

Zhou Yi thought it over and felt that it still sounded fairly simple. With the panel, advancement in realm was not a problem for him. At the very least, he would not have to painstakingly hunt strange entities.

At this point, Du Wei added from the side, "Among ordinary people, one in a hundred can reach the Strength Channeling Realm. Among those who break through the Strength Channeling Realm, one in a thousand can reach the Vitality Realm. As for the Embrace Dan Realm, among those who break through the Vitality Realm, only one in a hundred thousand can reach it. So, do you understand now?"

Zhou Yi could only nod along, deciding that one day he would use his "talent" to shock Du Wei.

Seeing Zhou Yi nod, Du Wei continued in a low voice, "Our East Courtyard has a better relationship with the North Courtyard, while the West Courtyard has a better relationship with the South Courtyard."

Before he could finish, Zhou Yi interrupted Du Wei.

"Uncle Du, besides raising official rank, what else can strange points do?"

Du Wei slapped his forehead. "Right, good thing you reminded me. Strange points can be exchanged for all sorts of things in the Provincial Governor's Office—materials needed to break through to the Vitality Realm, Spiritual Skills, cultivation manuals, talismans. As long as the Provincial Governor's Office has it, you can exchange for it."

"As for things they don't have, you can spend silver to buy them at the Treasure Pavilion."

Zhou Yi silently committed the name Treasure Pavilion to memory.

Zhou Yi did not have a single strange point on him right now. After officially joining today, he planned to take a stroll through the Treasure Pavilion.

Soon, Uncle Du finished explaining the matters Zhou Yi needed to pay attention to. He took Zhou Yi through the paperwork for joining the office and collected a set of brocade uniform from the Provincial Governor's Office. Zhou Yi had to admit, it looked far better than the Green Bamboo Village Patrol Team uniform. Moreover, the Provincial Governor's Office uniforms had an animal embroidered on the shoulder.

The lowest-ranking personnel of the Provincial Governor's Office, people like Zhou Yi, had a Lian Que embroidered on their brocade uniforms. It looked quite elegant. One rank higher, people like Zhou Yi's Uncle Du, had a Bai Xian embroidered on their uniforms. As for courtyard masters, their clothing bore embroidered cranes.

Other than the clothes, Zhou Yi received nothing at all—not even a weapon. It seemed he would have to buy one himself or exchange for one with strange points. Yet he had neither. Zhou Yi could not help missing his Han Guang.

Although the strength of his physical body was his trump card, the thought of an enemy painstakingly knocking away his weapon only to find that they could not break his defense made Zhou Yi happy.

After thinking it over, Zhou Yi still decided to spend some money on a lower-quality saber, just to "decorate" himself.

Holding the clothes he had received, Zhou Yi left the Provincial Governor's Office. Since Uncle Du had given him two days off to adapt to Luoshi City first, Zhou Yi was in no hurry after leaving. He returned to the inn, changed into the Provincial Governor's Office uniform, and prepared to find a broker to rent a small house.

Otherwise, if he stayed at an inn every day, Zhou Yi would go bankrupt sooner or later and end up wandering the streets.

After asking passersby for directions, Zhou Yi arrived at the famous "Trading Street" in the outer city. It was said that as long as one had money, one could buy anything there. Naturally, that was an exaggeration. Even the Treasure Pavilion would not dare boast so extravagantly. Still, in the outer city, one could generally find whatever one wanted to buy there, and the prices were cheap, making it perfect for Zhou Yi's current situation.

After wandering along the street for a while, Zhou Yi noticed that the people around him all wore varying traces of fear on their faces when they saw his clothes.

Seeing their expressions, Zhou Yi lost interest in continuing his stroll. He casually found a broker's office by the roadside and walked in.

When the people in the broker's office saw someone from the Provincial Governor's Office arrive, their faces also carried a trace of fear. Only after learning that Zhou Yi had come to rent a house did their hanging hearts finally settle. One after another, they swarmed toward him as though racing to be first.

Even if a deal fell through, goodwill remained. But if this deal went through, wouldn't there be twice the goodwill?

Zhou Yi then chose a young man from the crowd to serve as his broker. The young man was thrilled to be selected. If this deal went through, he could ask this lord for help in the future if anything happened. With that thought, the young man became exceptionally attentive.

The young man said quietly to Zhou Yi, "My lord, this humble one is called Huang Wei. You can just call me A Wei."

"A Wei? Do you know Brother Jie, then?"

A Wei shook his head at Zhou Yi. "No, I don't. Who is this Brother Jie?"

Zhou Yi said solemnly to A Wei, "Brother Jie is a good man. He often helps people who run away from home, and he even gives them bread and wine to drink."

Hearing that, A Wei could not help sighing. "This Brother Jie really is a good man!"

Suppressing his laughter, Zhou Yi said to A Wei, "Don't be afraid. You'll understand when you meet him."

Seeing the topic veering off course, A Wei shook his head and asked Zhou Yi, "My lord, do you have any requirements for the house?"

Zhou Yi looked at A Wei. "Somewhere quieter would be best, with a small courtyard."

A Wei nodded after hearing this, then took Zhou Yi to view houses. The first house had quite a good environment, and its courtyard was large enough. Its only flaw was that it was too expensive.

Zhou Yi then said to A Wei, "It doesn't need to be such a good house. A slightly smaller one is fine."

A Wei nodded as if he understood, then took Zhou Yi to view a second house. This house was on the southern side of Luoshi City, far too distant from the area Zhou Yi would patrol in the future.

Zhou Yi shook his head at A Wei again, then asked, "Do you have any houses on the eastern side of Luoshi City?"

"Yes, yes."

After looking at three houses in a row on the eastern side of Luoshi City, Zhou Yi finally settled down. Looking at the courtyard before him, it was not large, but it gave him great peace of mind. On one side stood a stone table and stone stools, with a peach tree planted beside the table. It was already early winter, and there were few leaves on the tree, only bare branches. But in summer, once the leaves grew back, he could sit beneath it to enjoy the shade.

There was also a small well on the other side of the courtyard, so he would not need to go out for water every day. As for the rooms in the courtyard, there were only two. One was the master bedroom, while the other was a storage room that could also be converted into a secondary bedroom.

After viewing the house, Zhou Yi directly paid a year's rent. Then he gave A Wei fifty taels of silver as commission, but A Wei refused to accept it no matter what. He only hoped that Zhou Yi could help him if he ran into trouble in the future. Zhou Yi nodded at him, but still forced the silver into A Wei's hands. After all, the man had spent the entire day running around with him.

After paying the rent, Zhou Yi could be said to be utterly penniless. Fortunately, he finally had a home in Luoshi City.

Zhou Yi returned to the inn and moved his belongings over. As for the horse that had traveled with him for three days, Zhou Yi led it to a stable and had the stablehands care for it. Though the black horse was not expensive, Zhou Yi had grown attached to it. Gritting his teeth, he paid a hefty care fee, nearly ten times the black horse's value.

Still, he would not need to worry about it in the days ahead, and whenever he wanted to ride out, he could bring it out again.

So after feeling the pain in his heart for a while, Zhou Yi finally let it go.

At that moment, Zhou Yi remembered that the courtyard had not been cleaned yet, nor had any furniture been added. He had no choice but to find A Wei again and ask him to help furnish the place. A Wei naturally agreed at once and quickly arranged Zhou Yi's new home.

At last, after all that bustle, Zhou Yi's "new" home finally began to take shape.