Assessment

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

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

Thus, over the next half month, Yang Wenqing's life became extremely regular. He woke punctually before dawn each day, 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 morning sun rose, he was already seated at his desk, beginning the day's studies.

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 required repeated study to remember could now be fully grasped after one or two readings. He could even draw inferences from them, and at remarkable speed.

Whenever he felt mentally fatigued, he would get up and practice the few spells he had already mastered, or simply guide spiritual energy through a full circulation within his body.

This life immersed in the sea of knowledge and personal cultivation gave him a fulfilling peace. All the noise and turmoil of the outside world seemed shut out beyond the walls of that small study.

Around 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, making it look rather awkward.

The letter first asked about his daily life in the county town as usual, reminding him not to slacken 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, accompanied by the local garrison commander, came to our home and questioned us in detail about your birth, upbringing, and performance at the clan school. They also examined the genealogy..."

"After the clan elders heard that you had broken through to the Qi Refining Stage, they were overjoyed. That very day, they led us to the ancestral hall and solemnly paid respects to our ancestors..."

Setting down the letter, Yang Wenqing walked to the window and recalled how the clan had gathered money for him to study in the city.

Now, the clan's solemn ancestral worship ceremony made him feel the weight of their expectations once more—expectations from his family, from his bloodline.

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

Over the remaining days, Yang Wenqing studied even more diligently. On the final day, he continuously simulated and analyzed various tactical scenarios in the Golden Core World, repeatedly memorizing the key points of criminal investigation, determined to leave nothing to chance.

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

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

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

"Thank you, Sister Song."

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

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

"Yes."

Yang Wenqing sat as instructed, accepted the test paper, and quickly scanned it.

As expected, the questions all came from those dozen or so textbooks. They covered tactical command principles, identification of spiritual energy traces, application of criminal law involving Qi Refinement Practitioners, and more. There were short-answer and essay questions alike.

After taking a deep breath, he picked up the pen. He pondered briefly, then began writing.

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 he had crammed over the past half month surfaced clearly in his mind, and he organized it into words with methodical precision.

In just an hour, Yang Wenqing set down his pen and returned the answer sheet with both hands. "Deputy Section Chief Li, I'm finished."

Deputy Section Chief Li took the paper and skimmed through it quickly. He read at a rapid pace, occasionally pausing over one or two key arguments. After a while, he set it down.

"Mm, your fundamentals are fairly solid," he commented flatly, then stood. "That concludes the written test. Come with me to the war room."

The war room was at the end of the same floor. It was spacious, and the most striking feature was the enormous sand table at its center.

The sand table precisely simulated part of the county town's streets and the surrounding terrain. Buildings, roads, woods, 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 side, then pushed the red command flag representing the enemy toward Yang Wenqing.

Then he said softly, "For this simulation, each of us will command a force of one hundred. 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 woods to the side, holding out until the simulation ends. Your task is to break through my defenses within the time limit and capture at least the key marker in the factory complex."

He pointed to 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 view at any time. Understood?"

"Understood!" Yang Wenqing fixed his gaze on the intricate 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 attack. He first ordered a small number of reconnaissance units forward, cautiously probing the enemy's firing positions and ambush locations. At the same time, he deployed his main force along the edge of the enemy's long-range fire radius, built simple fortifications, and adopted a steady, step-by-step advance.

"Playing it safe?"

Seeing this, Deputy Section Chief Li immediately directed a small force in the woods on the flank to launch a brief assault, attempting to harass Yang Wenqing and draw out his main force.

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 little by little, and the confrontation on the sand table seemed somewhat dull.

Like the most patient hunter, Yang Wenqing constantly used small-scale engagements and fire reconnaissance to wear down and probe the enemy. He carefully recorded every enemy firing position, its field of fire, and the patterns behind troop movements.

Deputy Section Chief Li tried several times to lure him into advancing rashly with feints. He even deliberately exposed an opening, but Yang Wenqing remained unmoved. His advance was slow yet firm, ensuring every step was solid and never chasing merit recklessly.

Finally, in the second hour of the simulation, Yang Wenqing discovered a tiny oversight in the enemy's defensive line through the mass of information he had gathered.

An opportunity!

Yang Wenqing did not immediately commit his entire army. Instead, under the cover of a powerful feigned attack by the frontal troops, he suddenly ordered an elite squad of ten Qi Refinement Practitioners who had been standing by to drive like a sharp sword straight into that junction!

The strike was swift and ruthless!

Deputy Section Chief Li clearly had not expected Yang Wenqing to pinpoint such a fleeting weakness so precisely, much less dare to commit his valuable Qi Refinement Practitioner elite to an all-or-nothing assault. He hurriedly moved his reserves, trying to seal the gap and intercept the assault squad.

But this was exactly the moment Yang Wenqing had been waiting for!

The instant the enemy reserves left their assigned positions, Yang Wenqing's main force, which he had held back all along, suddenly launched a genuine all-out assault against the front of the factory complex. With no reserve support, Deputy Section Chief Li's frontal defenses immediately came under immense pressure from Yang Wenqing's fresh troops, who had conserved their strength for so long.

"Not bad!" Deputy Section Chief Li said in a booming voice. "First make yourself invincible, then wait for the enemy to become vulnerable. Good tactics!"

He studied Yang Wenqing carefully and commented, "Steady without losing your edge. Extremely patient, yet able to seize a fleeting opportunity. Most importantly, you can keep your composure. I tried to lure you several times, but you never took the bait. That kind of temperament is rare among young people!"

Finally, he concluded, "You passed this simulation, and passed 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, and used his badge to cast a spell that imprinted his signature upon it. Then he handed it to Yang Wenqing.

"With this document, you may study all basic spells within the branch. Secret arts of 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-handed."

"Thank you, Section Chief!"

Yang Wenqing thanked him sincerely.

Deputy Section Chief Li nodded. "I'm merely 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 took it to the Archives Division and knocked on Qin Feng's office door.

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

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

"Yang Wenqing? Is he 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 too poor. If he wants to temper his aptitude properly during the Qi Refining Stage, he'll need to be flexible enough to obtain sufficient resources."

"He's very rigid?"

"Not exactly..."

"Then that's fine. The authority of old fellows like us is limited. When we see a promising 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 East City Public Security Station—could he possibly be transferred to the General Affairs Division?"

Deputy Section Chief Li immediately understood. "Is he interested in competing for deputy director?"

Qin Feng nodded. "See whether he can use your brother-in-law's connections?" After saying that, he added, "During the cleanup operation before the new year, didn't West City Public Security Station suffer severe losses in a cave? The position of General Affairs Division chief should no longer go to that station director, right?"