Daily life of a cultivation judge Chapter 1499: Welcome back, O Silent Voyager, unannounced by the bell’s voice.

Yang Qing reappeared in his chambers, letting out an involuntary sigh as he looked around, his gaze falling particularly on the door behind his chair that led to the more private rooms attached to the chamber: the cultivation room, the library, the alchemy and artifact room, the ingredient storage, and a small training room for practicing his spells and techniques.

It dawned on him that he’d hardly set foot in a single one of them.

When he was in the Core Formation Courts, part of what had motivated him to improve quickly and move up the ranks to the Palace Courts was the thought of finally having unfiltered access to his own chambers. In the Core Courts, due to a few choice words from some of the higher-ups, owing to the passionate activism he’d been engaged in back then, upper management had rescinded all support to his private chambers. That meant the cost of keeping those chambers functional had to be borne by him alone.

As someone who could barely get by on what he was earning, he couldn’t afford to pour what little he had into another venture. He already had a nest bleeding him dry, and fines, and food to buy. He had nothing spare to power the arrays fitted into that chamber.

Yang Qing did the only thing he could do, which was pretend he’d never been assigned a chamber in the first place, and never set foot in there. That chamber was no different to a house that had been stripped clean of everything and anything of value by the creditors, leaving it nothing more than walls and a roof. Imperial tombs had more life and decoration than his chambers from back then.

In his entire time at the Core Courts, not once did he set foot in his chambers, given how bleak it was. Not to mention Yang Qing was afraid if he dared use it, even in its barren state, the higher-ups might find a way to charge him for it.

So he avoided it like the plague. The only good thing was that the punishment he’d received only applied to the Core Courts. Once he was in the Palace Courts, his chamber privileges would be fully restored.

As such, Yang Qing had sworn to himself that once he became a Palace Court judge, he would capitalize on lost time and milk every use he could from his chambers. He’d blast spells in the training room, just because he could and also wanted to see how sturdy the arrays were. He’d meditate endlessly in the cultivation chamber to test how efficient and powerful those arrays were. He’d process ingredients, and brew potions and pills, and play around with artifact crafting even though it wasn’t his area of expertise, all to test the quality of the ingredients, the tools provided, and the arrays built into the room.

As for the face of his chamber, where he was currently standing, he’d planned to host a banquet here every day, and audaciously cook here. It was his private chamber, after all. Why couldn’t he cook a little something if he felt a little peckish? He was sure other judges and inquisitors, within the confines of their own chambers, brewed tea and wine in there. So would it really be out of order if he decided to roast a little chicken, or haunches of beef and goat, in his own chambers?

He intended to make thorough use of his chambers. And yet...

Yang Qing wondered as he looked around. And yet in those few times he’d been here, he hadn’t roasted meat. He hadn’t crafted potions. He hadn’t tested spells and properly worked the containment arrays of the training chamber.

Yang Qing’s gaze fell to his hand, which held the bamboo leaf with the glowing gold-white writings, then it moved back to his office.

He let out another sigh. "Once this case is over, I promise I will not neglect you as I have," whispered Yang Qing tenderly to the air, before letting out another sigh, casting an apologetic and faintly regrettable look to his office as he left it once more, wearing the expression of a soldier reluctantly leaving his family,that he didn’t want to leave, but had to, because of duty. After casting one last glance at his neglected office, Yang Qing made his way to the Administration Hall, swiftly making his way to the section of the Internal Logistics Division that handled access to the Order’s treasured items and grounds.

The entire process, from explaining his request to handing over the leaf, went by quickly and smoothly. Moments like these were among the scant few times Yang Qing genuinely appreciated the Order’s utilitarian nature. Turns out grueling work schedules, chronic overwork, and juggling multiple duties at once, all so the Order could squeeze every last drop of value from its people, did wonders for workplace efficiency, as it produced workers who were exceptionally good at their jobs.

"All for the betterment of the nest," Yang Qing droned as he stepped out of the office and into the Administration Hall, where he was greeted by the sight of Order employees from various departments bustling through its many doors and corridors.

"Nest," Yang Qing muttered, his gaze scanning his busy surroundings as he walked out of the hall. "Nest... Nest..." he repeated absently as he walked on, before finally shutting up as his expression twisted slightly, almost as if he’d tasted something foul.

He didn’t quite like that word.

With all matters that needed handling in the Tower, handled, Yang Qing made his way to the Thousand Flavor Restaurant. Chen Yu was likely done with the registration particulars or almost done. Hopefully, Yang Qing would find him already there. Though he wouldn’t mind if he didn’t. There were worse places to wait for someone than doing so in a restaurant serving delicious dishes.

As he exited the Black Medallion Tower, as he always did whenever he was around that building, Yang Qing flinched when he caught sight of a face that looked remarkably like Old Lei’s among the sea of people streaming into the compound. It wasn’t him... thankfully.

"Mmh, I should have asked them where he is," Yang Qing muttered as he discreetly studied the man who resembled Old Lei, just to be absolutely certain it wasn’t him. The Judicial Review Committee was likely to know where he was. Old Lei was rather close to the chairman. Yang Qing had been surprised to learn that the many bonsai the chairman so lovingly tended had all been gifts from Old Lei, given upon seeing how much the chairman enjoyed tending to them.

Yang Qing had been completely shocked when he learned that little fact. Old Lei had always been... you know... scary. He’d never expected his supervisor to be the type to give out bonsai. Now, if that bonsai had some insidious ability, that he could accept. But as far as Yang Qing could tell, the bonsai in the Judicial Review Committee’s courtyard were perfectly ordinary. He’d examined them thoroughly the moment he learned they were from Old Lei. He’d been afraid they had some sort of spying rune or contraption placed on them by Old Lei to spy on him and see what he was up to whenever he went there.

Yang Qing felt a cold draft travel up his spine as he hurriedly looked around him, covertly, of course, out of fear that Old Lei was, in fact, spying on him at that very moment.

After sweeping the surroundings with his spiritual sense and even going as far as activating his Grand Lunar Eyes, Yang Qing found nothing. Even so, he subtly quickened his pace toward the Thousand Flavors Restaurant, going so far as to execute the Gold Grade Movement Art, Phantom Void Steps, to put as much distance as he could between himself and the Tower.

He was being silly and a little contradictory, he knew, especially given the lengths he’d gone to in looking for the old fiend. But that was then, and this was now. Fear wasn’t exactly an emotion famed for its rational influence.

In no time, Yang Qing was already at the entrance of the Thousand Flavors Restaurant, swaggering inside like a king returning to his capital after a long but victorious campaign. Nothing soothed the nerves or emboldened the spirit more than being bombarded by the aroma of countless mouth-watering dishes.

Seeing him enter, regulars familiar with him immediately started throwing comments one after the other.

"Oh, Yang Qing, you’re alive? Where have you been? We all thought you’d either died or gone into seclusion, given how long it’s been since you’ve been here."

"My spirit stones were on him being in some type of confinement for punishment for something."

"I’m with you on that one. He does look a little pale, like he’d just escaped something terrifying. Oi, Yang Qing, you’ve fully served your sentence, right? You haven’t escaped again like you did that one time, have you?"

"One time? At the Institute, the instructors there constantly tell stories of his exploits from his time as a student. There’s practically an entire lecture devoted to it. What was the name again... ah, Some of his exploits served as subject material on the topic. He had about thirteen."

Yang Qing’s lips curled into a wide grin as his gaze swept across the boisterous environment of the restaurant before settling on a certain table shared by two superior court judges, one administrator, and one superior court inquisitor. His attention then settled on one of the four, the one who had made that scathing comment about his exploits being taught as a subject. It was one of the superior court judges.

The judge had been a year below him, and they’d crossed paths a few times. Said judge had the misfortune of catching Senior Instructor Lu Yuan’s eye, just like he and Fei Chen had. Yang Qing felt Lu Yuan’s interest in the superior court judge far exceeded the interest he’d shown in either him or Fei Chen, owing to the former’s prodigious ability and natural talent in concealment arts and movement arts. Given that concealment and movement arts were precisely the disciplines favored by assassins, it only made sense that an assassin hunter would take notice of a student who possessed such extraordinary talent and affinity for them.

"You’re one to talk, He Jun. You had twenty-seven entries in that lesson, and three of them are still used as the main examples. What made you think disguising yourself as a shadow and hiding in one of the instructor’s shadows was the best place to hide?" said Yang Qing, chortling at the end.

"It wasn’t my idea!! One of the final year seniors swore that it would work and I... believed him," He Jun said defensively as his voice lowered, lacking the earlier bluster. "I was desperate. And for a bit there, it did work..." he said, trying to redeem his case, prompting the entire table, and soon the rest of the floor, to erupt in laughter, as the other superior court judge said in between wheezing laughs,

"For three seconds... Pwahahahaha! I hope those three seconds of respite were worth it!"

"Listening to you laugh this hard, one would think you graduated without leaving a layer of skin behind as the price of admission, and another for graduation," He Jun snidely remarked to his counterpart before he too broke into a laugh.

As if they had rehearsed it, He Jun and those sharing his table stood up, which was immediately followed by other Order employees dining on that floor. Their actions drew curious glances from other patrons on the floor, those not from the Order, for whom this was their first time there and were thus unfamiliar with the particular custom.

He Jun and the others raised their cups to Yang Qing and said, "Welcome back, O Silent Voyager, unannounced by the bell’s voice."

Yang Qing cupped his fists and said, "The Silent Voyager rejoices."

The greeting was something that only those of the Order would understand.

In cases of serious injury or death of a member or members of the Order, the saint-grade artifact, the Voyager’s Bell, would ring to announce their return, because said member or members could not do so themselves.

So, whenever those from the Order, especially those familiar with one another, as in this case with the regulars of the Thousand Flavors Restaurant, whenever they saw one of their own that they hadn’t seen in a while, and it was known that the person had been outside, they would offer that greeting upon their return: "Welcome back, O Silent Voyager, unannounced by the bell’s voice." Celebrating the fact that their return was silent, without the bell’s involvement.