Claiming a New Cultivation Method

Yang Wenqing left the branch's main building and headed straight for the Folk Customs Division. Unlike his last visit, quite a few people were inside this time, though most sat at wooden tables by the windows, reading the materials in their hands.

"Chief, is there anything I can help you with?"

A gentle female voice sounded beside Yang Wenqing. When he turned around, he saw the same female security officer from last year and immediately replied, "I'm here to collect cultivation methods for the Qi Refining Stage, as well as some spell-seal techniques."

As he spoke, he walked up to the female security officer's counter and handed over the authorization document Deputy Director Li had given him. While she picked up the document to examine it, he removed his badge and placed it on the counter as well.

The female security officer kept smiling, unsurprised by Yang Wenqing's purpose here. After efficiently verifying his identity, she returned his badge and pointed toward the staircase in the distance. "Please follow me, Chief."

Yang Wenqing nodded and silently followed her toward the stairs. As they neared the second floor, the female security officer suddenly asked, "Have we met somewhere before?"

"Last year, when I came to receive my second spell seal, I think you were the one who handled it for me."

"I think I remember now."

As she spoke, the female security officer turned back and gave Yang Wenqing a careful look, then said nothing more.

The second floor was completely different from the open layout below. At the top of the stairs was a quiet, enclosed corridor, lined on both sides with heavy metal doors. There were no windows in those doors, only jade plaques emitting faint glimmers of light, each carved with different symbols in ancient seal script.

The lighting here was dim. The female security officer led Yang Wenqing to an iron door and stopped. "Your badge has one authorization to open this door."

After saying that, she gave him a professional smile and decisively left.

Yang Wenqing watched her disappear into the stairwell before turning his attention to the iron door in front of him. He then followed her instructions and pressed his badge against an indentation in the door.

The badge fit the indentation perfectly with a faint click. Dull mechanical turning and a low hum sounded from within the iron door, and then the heavy door suddenly swung inward.

The room beyond was smaller than he had expected. A few strands of dim green light seeped in from somewhere unknown, barely outlining the room's shape.

Inside stood an enormous mechanical puppet that occupied half the room.

It was a bizarre construct forcefully pieced together from countless brass gears, dark pipes, and metal components of unknown material. Its head was a hemisphere embedded with dozens of crystals of varying sizes. Their light pulsed faintly like living things as they coldly watched the intruder.

Yang Wenqing had seen this type of puppet at the Security Academy. Even so, seeing one now still made his scalp prickle. Yet he did not hesitate. The moment he stepped into the room, the iron door behind him closed without a sound.

He raised the badge in his hand again, facing the enormous mechanical puppet.

The dim green crystals in the puppet's head emitted a solid beam of green light, accurately enveloping Yang Wenqing's badge. The badge instantly became scorching hot, and countless tiny golden runes, as dense as ants, emerged across its surface.

The process lasted around ten seconds. The green light abruptly vanished, and the badge returned to normal. Then a mechanical, icy voice spoke. "The Ninefold Refinement Method has been stored within the core formation of your badge. Keep it safe."

Before Yang Wenqing could even breathe a sigh of relief, the crystals in the puppet's head lit up again. This time, dozens of hair-thin, ghastly white rays shot out with lightning speed and pierced straight into his forehead!

"Ugh!"

Yang Wenqing gave a muffled grunt, feeling as though his head were about to explode. Countless unfamiliar diagrams, runes, spiritual-energy circulation paths, along with corresponding incantations and insights, flooded brutally into the depths of his memories like a burst dam.

Wind Controlling Technique, Earth Listening Technique, Sword-Controlling Art, Clear Mind Spell...

Information on one basic spell-seal technique after another was forcibly branded into his memory.

He had no idea how long it lasted. Perhaps only an instant, perhaps a long quarter of an hour. At last, the ghastly white light dispersed.

Yang Wenqing staggered, catching himself against the cold wall before steadying his footing. Fine beads of cold sweat covered his forehead, and his face was somewhat pale, yet his eyes were exceptionally bright.

The dim green light in the enormous mechanical puppet's eyes had faded, returning it to its previous lifeless state, as though none of it had happened.

The room sank into dead silence once more. Only the occasional creak of turning gears proved that this massive thing was still operating.

Yang Wenqing took several deep breaths, solemnly bowed to the eerie mechanical puppet, then turned and used his badge to open the iron door again before walking out on slightly unsteady steps.

By the time he reached the stairs, the spiritual energy within Yang Wenqing's Qi Sea had already completed a Greater Circulation, and he had returned to normal. When he emerged from the stairwell, an illusory barrier formed at the corridor entrance, completely isolating it from outside perception.

The moment he stepped out of the stairwell, two people came up to him. They were his classmates from the same cohort, Wu Qi and Song Yu. "See? I told you it was Wenqing."

Song Yu spoke to Wu Qi first, then turned to Yang Wenqing. "Congratulations, Wenqing. You should be the first person in our cohort to advance to the Qi Refining Stage."

Wu Qi's gaze fell on Yang Wenqing's shoulder insignia. Somewhat unable to believe it, he said, "How did you do it, Wenqing? Your cultivation aptitude should be about the same as mine."

Facing them, Yang Wenqing relaxed somewhat and replied, "I just worked a little harder than usual. I spend several times as much time cultivating every day as you do."

Wu Qi replied, "You should know that there's no shortage of hardworking people in the city defense system."

People who liked reading history were just that particular.

"This is Wenqing's own business. Wenqing is already a chief, so treating us to a meal shouldn't be a problem, right?" Song Yu promptly interrupted them. He was reminding Wu Qi not to pry into someone else's privacy, and also reminding him that the bureau had already promoted Yang Wenqing, so there would be no issue with this advancement.

"Are you two off today?" Yang Wenqing smoothly changed the subject.

"We've both been transferred to the night shift," Song Yu answered.

"What about Liu Rong?" Yang Wenqing asked.

"Him? Sigh, his luck was terrible. During the demon-clearing operation before the New Year, their station chief got him badly screwed over. He's recovering at home now. From what he says, he was incredibly lucky just to come back alive."

Wu Qi lowered his voice as he answered.

"What happened?" Yang Wenqing asked even more quietly.

As the three talked, they left the Folk Customs Division and stopped beneath a banyan tree beside the gravel path. Only then did Wu Qi begin telling them about Liu Rong. During the operation before the New Year, a cave had been discovered deep in the mountains under their jurisdiction. Normally, something like that should have been reported to the operations team, or investigated only after they had obtained more specialized equipment.

But for some reason, their station chief had gone mad. Relying on his cultivation, he personally led the way into the cave. Who could have known that inside was not a demon, but an evil Qi Refinement Practitioner at the Seventh Refinement.

"Originally, that evil cultivator had no intention of fighting. But Station Chief Cao insisted on tangling with him. In the end, the evil cultivator was pushed too far and, without regard for anything else, activated the traps in the cave, intending to perish together with Station Chief Cao."

After the three had settled into a nearby morning tea shop, Wu Qi continued recounting the events from before the New Year. "Liu Rong was a newcomer, so he was stationed on the outer perimeter and escaped disaster. As for everyone else... sigh, it was awful. West City Public Security Station is practically paralyzed now. They can only rely on militia units even for patrols."