I bear witness to immortality in the human world.

Chapter 185 The New Chief
Normally, when a new head of the Censorate arrives, all officials above the rank of patrol officer in the Censorate should go outside the city to greet him.

But the situation is different now. Liu Muyuan has not yet left the Cautious Punishment Division and is about to hand over the reins to the new division chief. As the previous division chief, Liu Muyuan is now a powerful expert who has achieved the sixth level of blood coagulation. Naturally, he cannot go out of the city to welcome the new division chief. Instead, the new division chief will take the initiative to visit Liu Muyuan at the Cautious Punishment Division.

Therefore, the people under the command of the Shenxing Division could not leave Liu Muyuan to go outside the city to greet him, so they could only wait in the Shenxing Division.

Not long after.

Then a figure came from afar, surrounded by many people.

He was a middle-aged man, who looked to be around forty years old. He walked with a steady gait and a restrained aura. He stepped into the courtyard of the Ministry of Justice and his gaze swept over the crowd gathered there, carrying a faint sense of pressure.

"Huang Lin, Chief Clerk of the Censorate, pays his respects, Your Excellency."

"Zhu Yuan, Chief Clerk of the Censorate, pays his respects, Your Excellency."

……

Upon seeing the middle-aged man arrive, everyone in the courtyard immediately took action, bowing respectfully to him.

The man before me is Dai Yuan, the new head of the Censorate, a master of five-times blood coagulation, from the capital of Yong Kingdom. From now on, he will be in charge of the Censorate in Jingye City. If nothing unexpected happens, he will be in charge of the order in Jingye City for the next few decades.

Dai Yuan glanced at everyone in the courtyard, and greeted Huang Lin and the other leaders with a calm demeanor. At the same time, he focused his gaze on the youngest, Wu Ming, and Ling Zhonghan. He only glanced at Ling Zhonghan, but his attitude towards Wu Ming was completely different.

"Steward Wu must be Lord Liu's personal disciple, right? You are truly a promising young man. I heard about you in the capital. Steward Wu, you are going to the capital with Lord Liu this time. I hope you will rise to great heights in the future. Please take good care of you."

Dai Yuan walked up to Wu Ming and spoke to him very politely.

Although Ling Zhonghan is also a young talent, he has only achieved four blood condensation stages at the age of twenty-seven. Although he will have the opportunity to achieve five blood condensation stages in the future, the chance is not particularly high. However, Wu Ming is completely different. Putting aside Wu Ming's talent in primordial spirit, in terms of martial arts alone, it is almost a certainty that he will reach the fifth blood condensation stage in the future. Even though Wu Ming has not yet broken through, he treats Wu Ming as an equal.

"You flatter me, sir. My little reputation is nothing to boast about... I will indeed be going to the capital soon. Jingye City is my hometown, so please take good care of me."

Wu Ming cupped his hands in a respectful gesture towards Dai Yuan, his attitude being very polite.

Although he has now reached the fifth level of primordial spirit refinement, and in terms of realm alone, he is no less than Dai Yuan, the new head of the department, and in terms of actual status, he is far above him, he will not stay in Jingye City for long. In the future, Dai Yuan will serve as the head of the Department of Cautious Punishment, and will be the local official of Jingye City. If there are any issues in Jingye City, he will be unable to handle them from the capital, and Dai Yuan will still need to take care of him.

"Easy to say, easy to say."

Dai Yuan nodded with a smile. Jingye City was a remote area. He came here because his martial arts had reached its limit and he could not go any further. He had been kicked out of the core sphere of influence of the capital. On the other hand, it was precisely because this place was remote that he could become a local emperor when he served as the head of the Shenxing Division. He could act as he pleased and no longer had to care about others.

Even so, there are still people in Jingye City who need to pay attention to him, and Wu Ming is one of them. Even though Wu Ming's current cultivation level is not as high as his, in terms of status, Wu Ming is even higher than him. Not to mention that Wu Ming is Liu Muyuan's personal disciple. Liu Muyuan has now completed six blood condensation stages, and his status is far above his.

Just as Wu Ming and Dai Yuan were exchanging pleasantries.

suddenly.

Steady and gentle footsteps echoed from the tower not far away.

The footsteps were very light, but those present were at least seventh-rank patrol officers with three blood clotting techniques, so they could hear them clearly even in the midst of the noise. In an instant, the entire patrol building fell silent, and even Dai Yuan's expression turned solemn as he looked at the patrol building.

soon.

Liu Muyuan walked out of the building.

Huang Lin and the other officials, along with Wu Ming, all bowed to Liu Muyuan.

Even the newly appointed head of the department, Dai Yuan, bowed respectfully to Liu Muyuan and said:
"Your humble servant Dai Yuan greets Lord Liu."

In the Blood Condensation Martial Arts, the higher the realm, the greater the gap between each level. The difference between the fifth and sixth levels of Blood Condensation may seem to be only one realm, but they are worlds apart. Even though he is a top expert among the fifth level of Blood Condensation, he knows very well that even if ten of him joined forces, they would still be far from being a match for someone like Liu Muyuan.

"Please rise, Lord Dai."

Liu Muyuan nodded slightly to Dai Yuan, then flipped his hand, and an official seal of the Chief of the Censorate appeared in his hand. He then handed the seal to Dai Yuan and said, "Let's skip the formalities. Since you're here, please keep this seal. From now on, the Censorate will be under your command."

"Yes."

Dai Yuan bowed respectfully, stepped forward, and accepted the official seal with both hands.

Many of the older generation of officials present, such as Huang Lin, felt quite emotional watching this scene. They recalled that the previous Chief of the Department of Punishments, Wang, had stepped down when he was old and frail and could no longer serve as the Chief of the Department of Punishments. At that time, the Chief of the Department of Punishments, Xie, who came to take over, was not as respectful to Liu Muyuan as Dai Yuan was.

Even after Director Xie took over, the old Director Wang fought openly and secretly with Director Xie for more than ten years in order to maintain the power of the Wang family. Although he was old, he had been in charge of Jingye City for decades and had a complex relationship with various forces, which gave the young and powerful new Director Xie Hong a lot of headaches. Even after being transferred, he was unable to completely crush the Wang family.

Then came the matter of Liu Muyuan taking office.

His tenure lasted only a few months before the old master of the Wang family passed away. Afterward, the Wang family quickly consolidated its power and submitted to Liu Muyuan. Several years passed in the blink of an eye.

Until Wu Ming suddenly appeared and incurred the wrath of the Wang family, forcing them to retreat and abandon their base in Jingye City, fleeing directly to the outer city, simply to avoid Wu Ming...

In the past, the handover of previous department heads always caused some turmoil, but this time it was obviously different. Liu Muyuan broke through his cultivation and was promoted to a high-ranking official, so Dai Yuan, the new department head, naturally wouldn't cause any power struggles.

After a while.

The handover between the two chief officials was then completed.

Liu Muyuan stepped down from the top floor of the building and found Wu Ming, who was guarding the fourth floor. He said calmly, "Is everything prepared? We can set off tomorrow. We will travel light and only need two days to reach the capital." "As you command, Master."

Wu Ming naturally had no objections; he had indeed taken care of most of the trivial matters he needed to handle.

……

The next day.

The city gate of Jingye City.

Liu Muyuan was dressed in simple clothes and traveled light. He looked very ordinary and did not look like the former head of the Shenxing Division at all. Wu Ming followed beside Liu Muyuan, also dressed in simple clothes and carrying only a bundle.

"Master Liu."

Just after Wu Ming and Liu Muyuan left the city gate, a figure took the initiative to greet them and bowed respectfully to Liu Muyuan.

Liu Muyuan glanced at the other person, nodded slightly, and said:
"Ready? Let's go."

"Yes."

The visitor responded respectfully, then winked at Wu Ming.

She carried a bundle on her back and had a horizontal sword hanging at her waist; she was none other than Yan Yuntian's daughter, Yan Chuyu.

"Is Miss Chuyu also going to the capital?"

Wu Ming was slightly surprised to see this. He had thought that he and Liu Muyuan would travel light and travel with him, but he did not expect that Yan Chuyu would also come along to go to the capital.

Yan Chuyu smiled and said, "You went to the capital, how could I not follow? Otherwise, who would I spar with in the future? You promised to spar with me... Well, actually, my purpose in going to the capital is the same as yours."

Wu Ming ignored the first part of the sentence. Upon hearing the second part, a thoughtful expression appeared on his face. He glanced at Liu Muyuan walking ahead, then returned his gaze to Yan Chuyu and said:

"Hidden Dragon Academy?"

"good."

Yan Chuyu nodded.

Wu Ming looked Yan Chuyu up and down.

It wasn't that he discriminated against Yan Chuyu, but based on his understanding of the Hidden Dragon Academy, Yan Chuyu's talent and strength were probably a notch below that level if she wanted to enter the Hidden Dragon Academy, and it would probably be quite difficult for her to pass the assessment.

Just look at Xiao Yang of the Black Fiend Sect and Ling Zhonghan of the Cautious Punishment Division. In terms of talent, these people are slightly stronger than Yan Chuyu, but none of them have any plans to go to the capital at the moment. They may go in the future, but they will most likely need to further consolidate their strength and have enough confidence before they can go to the capital to try their luck.

Is Yan Chuyu really that confident now?
Noticing Wu Ming's gaze, Yan Chuyu seemed to guess what Wu Ming was thinking and immediately smiled and said, "The assessment of the Hidden Dragon Academy is so difficult that I am certainly not confident of passing it now, but I am different from you and do not need to pass such a difficult assessment."

Upon hearing this, Wu Ming was slightly taken aback, and then he realized something.

"Have you not……"

“That’s right. My mother is a member of the royal family of Yong Kingdom. Although it’s a bit remote, I also have royal blood. The requirements for me from the Hidden Dragon Academy aren’t that high. As long as I can break through the Blood Coagulation stage four times before the age of thirty, I can go in directly.”

Yan Chuyu didn't hide anything and told her the story with a smile.

It turns out that Yan Yuntian was once a young prodigy in the capital of Yong Kingdom. He was considered very talented at the time. Her mother's biological father was a prince of Yong Kingdom. Although her mother was born to a concubine and did not have a high status in the prince's mansion, she was still the daughter of a prince and of royal blood. At that time, Yan Yuntian was very talented and was eventually able to marry her mother.

However, Yan Yuntian stopped at the fifth level of blood condensation and failed to reach a higher realm... This is quite normal. Even the most amazing genius may stop at the threshold of the sixth or seventh level of blood condensation. After all, the higher you go in martial arts cultivation, the more difficult it becomes.

but,

It was precisely because of this that Yan Yuntian disappointed her maternal grandfather, the Prince, and received a lot of cold treatment. Later, when she went to Jingye City to serve as the head of the Demon Suppression Division, it was Yan Yuntian who chose to stay away from the capital.

She had witnessed all of this since childhood, and thus, from a young age, she had a heart that yearned for martial arts. She wanted to follow in her father's footsteps and climb the path of martial arts, and even more so, she wanted to surpass her father and reach the realm that he had never been able to reach. She did not want anyone to look down on her, nor did she want others to treat her father coldly again.

Therefore, she cultivated diligently without ever slacking off. Now she has finally reached the fourth stage of blood coagulation, making her one of the top talents in Jingye City, second only to Wu Ming. If she wants to continue on her path, the Hidden Dragon Academy is a place she must go.

Yan Chuyu was not shy at all, and she spoke these words frankly to Wu Ming. However, these were her true feelings, which she had never told anyone else before. Looking at Wu Ming now, her eyes shone with a hint of light.

Wu Ming was almost exactly the person she aspired to be, but unfortunately she didn't have Wu Ming's talent.

"I see."

After listening to Yan Chuyu's words, Wu Ming's eyes flickered slightly, and he nodded gently.

In terms of background, he and Yan Chuyu were worlds apart, and their circumstances were completely different. No matter how much Yan Chuyu was looked down upon, she was still of royal blood and the only daughter of Yan Yuntian. She was born into a noble family, but he was born into the lower class of Wu Village and had to endure hunger and cold every day.

But precisely because of this, he was determined to change his fate from a young age and had an indomitable will. Yan Chuyu, on the other hand, was born into a life of luxury. Although she did not want to be looked down upon and practiced martial arts, her situation was incomparable to his. She was able to give up her life of luxury and practice martial arts with great difficulty, which showed that she was also extraordinary in terms of willpower.

(End of this chapter)