Assessment

Yang Wenqing carried the thick stack of books back to his new home in Dongning Community and neatly arranged them on the desk by the window. Looking at the textbooks piled into a small mountain, he felt no great dread. Instead, he felt an odd sense of solidity.

Knowledge was another form of power. Of that, he firmly believed.

Thus, over the next half month, Yang Wenqing's life became exceedingly regular. Before dawn each day, he woke on time. First, he meditated and practiced Qi Refining without fail, using the abundant spiritual energy within the community to fill his Qi Sea and consolidate his Early Qi Refining cultivation. By the time the rising sun first broke the horizon, he was already seated at his desk, beginning his day of study.

Just as Deputy Section Chief Li had said, after advancing to the Qi Refinement Realm, Yang Wenqing's thinking, memory, and comprehension had undergone a qualitative leap. Key points that once might have required repeated deliberation to memorize now became clear after just one or two readings. He could even draw inferences from one instance to another, and at remarkable speed.

Whenever he felt mentally fatigued, he rose to practice the few spells he had already mastered, or simply guided spiritual energy through a full circulation within his body.

This life immersed in an ocean of knowledge and personal cultivation gave him a tranquil sense of fulfillment. All the clamor of the outside world was shut beyond the walls of this small study.

About ten days into the training period, Yang Wenqing received a letter from home, sent from Yang Family Village in Three Rivers Town.

The letter had been written by his father, Yang Jianmu. As always, the handwriting was trying hard to be neat, and looked rather awkward.

The letter first followed the usual routine of asking about his daily life in the county town, reminding him not to slack off in cultivation and to take care of his health. Then, his father came to the main point:

"A few days ago, two guards from the county branch's Archives Division came to our home with the town garrison. They asked in detail about your birth, your upbringing, and your performance at the lineage school. They also examined the genealogy..."

"Upon hearing that you had broken through to the Qi Refining Stage, the lineage elders were all overjoyed. That very day, they led us to the ancestral hall and held a grand ceremony to worship our ancestors..."

Setting down the letter, Yang Wenqing walked to the window and recalled how the lineage had scraped together money to send him to study in the city.

Now, the lineage's solemn ancestral rite let him feel another weighty expectation—an expectation from his Lineage, from his bloodline.

After a long while, he gently let out a breath and carefully put away the family letter.

For the remaining days, Yang Wenqing studied even more diligently. On the final day, he continuously simulated and deduced various tactical cases within the Golden Core World, repeatedly memorizing key points of criminal investigation, determined to leave no room for error.

The half-month deadline passed in the blink of an eye.

On the day of the assessment, Yang Wenqing arrived at the office area on the third floor of the Operations Division fifteen minutes early.

When Sister Song saw him enter, she smiled and pointed toward the inner room. "Deputy Section Chief Li told me you could go straight in."

"Thank you, Sister Song."

Yang Wenqing nodded his thanks, lightly knocked on the office door, and pushed it open after hearing the steady voice within say, "Come in."

Deputy Section Chief Li was still seated behind his desk. Aside from the usual documents, there was now a blank test paper and a pen on the desk. He raised his eyes to look at Yang Wenqing and pointed to the chair opposite him. "Sit. Written test first."

"Yes."

Yang Wenqing sat as instructed, took the test paper, and swiftly scanned it.

As expected, the questions all came from those dozen-odd textbooks. They covered tactical command essentials, identification of spiritual-energy traces, application of laws concerning crimes committed by Qi Refinement Practitioners, and more. There were short-answer questions as well as essay questions.

After taking a deep breath, he picked up the pen. Following a brief moment of thought, he began to write.

The enhanced memory and comprehension he had gained after advancing to the Qi Refining Stage showed themselves to the fullest at that moment. The knowledge points he had gnawed through for half a month surfaced clearly in his mind and were organized into words with methodical precision.

In just one hour, Yang Wenqing set down his pen and handed back the completed paper with both hands. "Deputy Section Chief Li, I've finished."

Deputy Section Chief Li took the paper and rapidly looked it over. He read quickly, occasionally pausing over one or two key arguments. After a while, he put the paper down.

"Mm. Your foundation is fairly solid," he commented blandly. Then he stood. "That concludes the written test. Come with me to the combat room."

The combat room was at the far end of the same floor. It was spacious, and the most eye-catching feature was the enormous sand table in the center.

The sand table meticulously replicated parts of the county town's streets and the surrounding terrain. Buildings, roads, forests, and rivers were all present, along with markers representing different combat units.

Deputy Section Chief Li walked to one side of the sand table, picked up the blue command flag representing his own side, then pushed the red command flag representing the enemy toward Yang Wenqing.

Then he said softly, "For this simulation, you and I will each command a hundred-man unit. The terrain is this urban-rural fringe area. I defend, you attack. My objective is to rely on the abandoned factory complex ahead and the woodland to the side, holding out until the simulation ends. Your task is to break through my defenses within the time limit and seize, at minimum, the core marker within the factory complex."

He pointed at a conspicuous tower model inside the factory complex on the sand table.

"The rules are simple. Equal troops and equipment: eighty basic infantry, twenty Qi Refinement Practitioners, and no higher-level cultivators. During the simulation, you may ask for intelligence within your field of vision at any time. Understood?"

"Understood!" Yang Wenqing fixed his eyes on the complex sand table. This was a standard assault exercise.

The simulation began.

Deputy Section Chief Li was clearly experienced. His blue markers swiftly occupied advantageous terrain.

Yang Wenqing did not rush to launch an attack. He first ordered a small number of reconnaissance units forward, cautiously probing the enemy's fire points and ambush positions. At the same time, he directed his main force to deploy at the edge of the enemy's long-range firing range, build simple fortifications, and assume a steady, step-by-step advance.

"Playing it safe?"

Seeing this, Deputy Section Chief Li immediately commanded a small force in the woodland on the flank to launch a brief assault, attempting to harass and draw Yang Wenqing's main force away.

Faced with this probing attack, Yang Wenqing remained calm. He used only part of his troops to block and drive them off, while his main force continued holding the line. At the same time, he ordered the reconnaissance units to intensify their search for weak points in the enemy's defenses.

Time passed bit by bit, and the confrontation on the sand table appeared somewhat dull.

Like the most patient hunter, Yang Wenqing continually used small-scale contacts and fire reconnaissance to wear down and probe the enemy. He carefully recorded the position and field of fire of every enemy fire point, as well as the patterns behind their troop movements.

Deputy Section Chief Li tried several times to lure him into rash advances with feints, even deliberately exposing an opening. Yet Yang Wenqing remained Unmoving. His advance was slow but firm, ensuring every step landed on solid ground, never greedy for merit.

Finally, when the simulation entered its second hour, Yang Wenqing discovered a tiny flaw in the enemy's defensive line through the accumulation of vast amounts of information.

An opportunity!

Yang Wenqing did not immediately throw his entire army forward. Instead, he suddenly ordered the elite squad of ten Qi Refinement Practitioners that had remained on standby to spear into that junction like a sharp sword, under cover of a powerful feigned attack from the frontal troops!

The strike was swift and ruthless!

Deputy Section Chief Li had clearly not expected Yang Wenqing to find this fleeting weakness so precisely, much less dare to commit his precious Qi Refinement Practitioner elites to an all-or-nothing charge. He hurriedly moved his reserve force, trying to seal the breach and intercept the assault squad.

But this very moment—the moment he moved his reserves—was what Yang Wenqing had been waiting for!

The instant the enemy reserves left their assigned positions, the main force Yang Wenqing had held back all along suddenly launched the true general assault against the front of the factory complex. Without reserve support, Deputy Section Chief Li's frontal defense immediately found its pressure multiplied under the ferocious attack of Yang Wenqing's fresh troops, who had long been conserving their strength.

"Not bad!" Deputy Section Chief Li's voice rang out. "First make yourself invincible, then wait for the enemy to become vulnerable. Fine tactics!"

He carefully sized Yang Wenqing up and assessed him. "Steady, yet not lacking in sharpness. Full of patience, yet able to seize a fleeting battle opportunity. Most importantly, you can keep your composure. I tried several times to lure you in, but you never budged. That temperament is rare among young people!"

Finally, he concluded, "You passed this simulation—and with excellence."

As he spoke, he took out a document he had brought with him and quickly wrote something on it. Then he looked up at Yang Wenqing. "Come with me."

He led Yang Wenqing back to the section chief's office, took out a certification document from a drawer, used his badge to cast a spell and imprint his signature upon it, then handed it to Yang Wenqing.

"With this document, you may study all basic spells within the branch. Secret arts for the Qi Refining Stage will also be open to you. In addition, your official transfer order has come through. You're being assigned to the Major Crimes Unit. Remember to report there before the twentieth of this month. They're badly short on people."

"Thank you, Section Chief!"

Yang Wenqing offered his sincere thanks.

Deputy Section Chief Li nodded. "I'm only doing my duty. You can go collect your new cultivation technique now."

Yang Wenqing gave a respectful salute, then pushed open the door and left.

Deputy Section Chief Li quickly wrote something else on the document he had been carrying. After a while, he picked it up, went to the Archives Division, and knocked on the door to Qin Feng's office.

"A rare visitor. What brings you to my door today?" Qin Feng was somewhat surprised by Deputy Section Chief Li's arrival.

"I came to deliver a file. Haven't you always said we never create files after each training session? This time, I made one." Deputy Section Chief Li took out the document he had just written and handed it to Qin Feng.

"Yang Wenqing? Is he that special?"

"What, you don't think highly of such a young Qi Refinement Practitioner?"

"His talent lies in the strength of his consciousness, but his cultivation aptitude is far too poor. If he wants to temper his aptitude properly at the Qi Refining Stage, he'll need to know how to adapt in order to obtain enough resources."

"He's rigid?"

"Not really..."

"Then that's all right. We old fellows have limited authority. When we see a good seedling, we give him a push. Whether he can climb higher depends on himself."

Qin Feng accepted the document and lowered his voice. "Yang Wenqing's former superior—Wang Ren, the director of the East City Public Security Station—could he possibly be transferred to the General Affairs Division?"

Deputy Section Chief Li immediately understood. "He intends to compete for deputy bureau chief?"

Qin Feng nodded. "See whether he can take the path through your brother-in-law?" After saying that, he added, "Didn't the West City Public Security Station suffer devastating losses in a cave during the cleanup operation before the New Year? The position of General Affairs Division chief shouldn't fall to that director now, should it?"