I bear witness to immortality in the human world.

Chapter 48 Division of Punishment

Jingye City, the inner city.

The headquarters of the Censorate is located within a high stone walled compound, covering an area of ​​nearly a thousand acres. It is the largest government office in the inner city, even more spacious than the Demon Suppression Office.

In one of the courtyards, Wu Ming was participating in the company's entry assessment.

The assessment consisted of two parts. One part was an evaluation of martial arts skills, with one instance of blood coagulation being the minimum requirement. Skills also needed to reach the level of freehand combat. For Wu Ming, this was almost just a formality.

The second part is an assessment of practical issues, which is in written form. It assesses how to choose and handle situations in different circumstances. There are no fixed answers; it is mostly based on subjective judgment.

At last.

The questioning was conducted face-to-face by the patrol officer of the Censorate.

In reality, this onboarding process is just a formality. As long as you are qualified enough, these assessments are just a formality. If you are not qualified enough, even if you pass all the previous assessments, you will be screened out during the final "face-to-face interview".

Wu Ming was appreciated by Zhou Huai'an and came here with Zhou Huai'an's guidance, so the whole process was basically just a formality. Even the 'inspector' who questioned him in person at the end was Zhou Huai'an himself.

"grown ups."

In a spacious and quiet room, Zhou Huai'an stood behind a yellow pear wood table, looking at Wu Ming with a gentle expression. He asked a few simple questions, and after Wu Ming answered them all, he suddenly asked, "Yesterday outside the city, some people from the Sand Boat Gang died, including one named Guo Huai. Did you do this?"

Wu Ming wasn't too surprised by Zhou Huai'an's sudden question. As one of the six major powers in Jingye City, the Shenxing Division actually held almost the most power. They simply ignored the various conflicts outside the city, not that they were unaware of them.

"Reporting to your Excellency, it was I who did it."

Wu Ming didn't hide anything from Zhou Huai'an and openly admitted it.

Fighting and strife among martial artists is the norm in this world. The various rules and regulations of the Shenxing Division are limited to the city. Moreover, he acted uprightly and honestly. It was reasonable for him to seek revenge after his parents were humiliated. Furthermore, seeing Guo Huai commit numerous evils and abuse women, killing him in a fit of rage did not violate the rules of the Shenxing Division. Lu Yuan and others tried to surround and kill him, but he killed them one by one, so they had no one to blame but himself.

“It’s a good thing that young people have guts. If they don’t even dare to stand up for their parents when they are insulted, how can they talk about maintaining order in this city and fighting against those vicious bandits and evil demons?”

As Wu Ming had expected, Zhou Huai'an did not criticize what he had done. In particular, seeing that he was open and honest and did not hide anything, he nodded slightly.

As the inspector of the Censorate, since he had taken notice of Wu Ming, he naturally learned the whole story after a brief investigation. Guo Huai's numerous misdeeds had long been recorded in the Censorate's records. However, Guo Huai's misdeeds were all outside the city. Only once did he cause trouble in the city, but the situation was not serious and no one was killed or injured. In addition, his elder brother Guo Xiang had the background of the Black Fiend Sect, so he was only imprisoned for a short time before being released.

Even Xu Hao didn't care much about Guo Huai's death, let alone Zhou Huai'an, who was a high-ranking and powerful seventh-rank patrol officer.

"okay."

Zhou Huai'an added Wu Ming's name to a list and then called out, "Someone come here."

"exist."

Zhao Hu walked up from behind and bowed respectfully.

Zhou Huai'an put the roster aside and said, "Take Wu Ming to familiarize himself with the various places in the Shenxing Division, tell him about the treatment and rules of the Shenxing Division, and he will be working in the seventh team of the Night Patrol Division from now on."

"Yes."

Zhao Hu responded, then looked at Wu Ming and said calmly, "Come with me."

Say it.

He then led Wu Ming out of the house. Zhou Huai'an stood behind the desk, watching Wu Ming and Zhao Hu leave.

Meanwhile, on the top floor of the five-story main building, which is located in the very center of the Shenxing Division and resembles a towering tower, a figure dressed in simple blue robes is looking down over the entire Shenxing Division. His gaze seems to be fixed on Wu Ming's figure, and he is pondering something.

……

Zhao Hu followed him and inspected all the areas of the Censorate.

Wu Ming discovered that the internal structure of the Shenxing Division's headquarters was quite similar to that of the Seven Martial Alliance's outer hall. Both had a martial arts academy for honing skills, a food academy for handling meals, and a headquarters building that served as the central hub for managing various affairs.

The Shenxing Division is divided into five sub-districts: the Night Patrol Division, the Arrest Division, the Foreign Affairs Division, the City Guard Division, and the Internal Affairs Division. The Night Patrol Division is responsible for nighttime patrols in Jingye City. The Arrest Division is specifically responsible for apprehending various fierce bandits. The Foreign Affairs Division is responsible for some affairs outside the city and often handles liaison with the Demon Suppression Division. The City Guard Division is responsible for maintaining order in Jingye City during the day. As for the Internal Affairs Division, it guards the inner city headquarters and is responsible for internal files and coordinating with all other government offices.

Generally speaking,
Those young martial artists with high talent, when they first enter the Cautious Punishment Division, do some leisurely work in the Internal Affairs Division, focusing on martial arts cultivation. Once they break through to the second stage of blood condensation, they will be transferred to the Night Patrol Division, the Arrest Division, and other departments to undergo training.

The Shenxing Division offered generous benefits. First, basic food and lodging were provided. Second, all registered officials received a salary. The lowest-ranking ninth-grade official received fifteen taels of silver per month, while the eighth-grade official received thirty taels, and the seventh-grade official received sixty taels.

Other than that,

All members of the Cautious Punishment Division who achieve an overall evaluation of 'A' will receive an extra 'Seven-Flavor Blood Nourishing Powder' each month to replenish their blood and qi. The main evaluation criteria for this overall evaluation are age and cultivation level. The younger the age and the higher the cultivation level, the higher the score. Next is talent in skills, and finally, performance in actual duties.

"As long as you are under twenty years old, you can reliably reach the 'A' standard just by relying on your age. If you are under twenty-two years old and can achieve secondary blood clotting, you can also meet the 'A' standard. If you cannot meet the standard, you need to have talent in skills or make merits in actual service in order to rise to the 'A' standard."

Zhao Hu gave Wu Ming a brief explanation.

Upon hearing this, Wu Ming understood. This hierarchical distribution of treatment served two purposes: firstly, to focus on cultivating talented and young individuals with high potential, and secondly, to provide incentives for those with average or mediocre abilities.

Of course, the 'merits' earned during the term of office are also very important. For example, the Night Patrol Division's daily night patrols, even if nothing happens all night, can earn the most basic merits. If you participate in battles, capture thieves, kill bandits, or kill demons that have infiltrated the city, you can earn more merits.

These merits not only serve as part of the overall evaluation, but can also be exchanged for various resources within the Censorate, such as advanced martial arts techniques, resources to nourish blood and qi, or even rare and expensive refined weapons and soft armor linings.

……

Just as Wu Ming entered the Shenxing Division and became a ninth-rank patrol officer with a legitimate official position, he learned about the various situations within the Shenxing Division.

The sand barge camp, located far outside the city.

"Have you found out the details?"

The leader of the Sand Boat Gang, wearing a black cloak, sat on a stone chair and spoke in a deep voice to his gang members.

His face was somewhat pale, and he didn't look like a vigorous blood-coagulating martial artist, but rather like a weak ordinary person. However, there was a faint sense of oppression emanating from him.

"Reporting to the chief, the situation should be like this..."

Upon hearing the report from his gang members, the leader of the Sand Boat Gang frowned slightly and muttered, "Wu Ming... killed ten thieves at night... the Censorate?"

After pondering for a moment, he shook his head and said, "Send the message to the Black Fiend Sect and tell Prime Minister Guo that we should not do anything else."

Things become complicated once the Ministry of Justice is involved.

Now he avoids the Censorate like the plague, not wanting to attract their attention at all. Guo Huai often causes trouble outside, and if he weren't Guo Xiang's younger brother, he would have fed him to the water ghosts long ago... Now, it's a good thing that this trouble is gone.

(End of this chapter)