Daily life of a cultivation judge Chapter 1512: Rest well (1)

It didn’t take Yang Qing long to settle down after meeting Assistant Director Jun Pei. Years of being served nothing but hearty helpings of bad news had left him with something of an acquired taste for it. As a result, he found it easier to accept and bounce back from soul-crushing news than from genuinely good news.

If Chairman Long Enlai had told him that reaching the Domain Realm would automatically grant him access to the Ancestral Dragon Vein, or that connecting to it right now would only cost something like twenty thousand merit points, or even fifty thousand, Yang Qing knew himself well enough to know that his mind would never have focused on anything else from that moment onward.

All he would see, over and over again, would be those twenty or fifty thousand merit points and the Ancestral Dragon Vein that would soon be his. There was even a chance that, consumed by that single-minded fervor, he’d cut back on eating and survive on just one meal a day.

But since it was bad news, his well-honed instincts from being a regular recipient of sour news quickly took over. The revelation had shaken him for a moment, but his mind adjusted with remarkable speed. He had already resigned himself to the fact that there was an Ancestral Dragon Vein beneath his abode... that he couldn’t quite access. At least not the full version and at least not without twenty million merit points.

But, it wasn’t all bad, even with all that, was it?

Yes, all he currently had going for him was access to one of its tributaries, but if you’d been starving and dying of thirst for who knew how long, would you really turn up your nose at a bowl of soup simply because it contained only a few vegetables and herbs, along with one or two thin slices of meat? Especially when the broth itself had been made from quality meat instead of some decaying carcass.

As Assistant Director Jun Pei, who had wisely decided against asking Yang Qing what had happened to him, led him to Veiled Destiny, Yang Qing used the walk to thoroughly convince himself that he had actually gotten the better end of the arrangement with his abode’s spiritual vein.

So what if he’d lost his chance to brag to Kang Huilang? Was he really such a base man that he needed to boast about every little thing?

Yang Qing knew he was no noble, but he liked to think of himself as someone with grace, refinement, and a sober mind.

And if he ever felt compelled to brag, didn’t he still have the coin made from Ancestral Dragon jade?

If anything, given the material it was made from and the history behind it, Yang Qing felt it carried even more bragging rights than a Mature Dragon Vein. After all, how many people, even within the Order itself, could claim to have interacted with an Ancestral Dragon’s jade crystal? Prior to meeting Tang Xiadan, Yang Qing certainly couldn’t. And he was fairly certain the gambling addict Kang Huilang most definitely couldn’t either.

After all, Huilang hadn’t joined the Order because of some righteous calling. He had joined because he owed a gambling den eighty pieces of silver, fourteen chickens, and one rock-tailed lizard.

Yang Qing wasn’t sure why the chickens and the lizard had somehow become part of the debt. He only knew that they had.

So, for someone who couldn’t even repay eighty pieces of silver, fourteen chickens, and a rock-tailed lizard, what were the odds that he had ever interacted with an Ancestral Dragon’s jade crystal?

Huilang had seen his first low-grade spirit crystal only after joining the Order.

With his spirits rapidly lifting, Yang Qing found a spring returning to his step. Assistant Director Jun Pei naturally noticed the abrupt change but wisely chose not to comment on it. Instead, she could only sigh inwardly.

Yang Qing, who had no idea he had just proven one rumor true with his antics, was now happily buttering up the Assistant Director with warm conversation. In the process, he ended up confirming yet another rumor Assistant Director Jun Pei had heard about him.

Not that she minded.

For all the strange rumors surrounding him, Yang Qing turned out to be quite the conversationalist.

By the time they reached their destination, Yang Qing was already calling her ’’, while she, much to her own amusement, had begun calling him ’ at his insistence instead of the more formal ’Judge Yang Qing.’

"This is where I stop," Assistant Director Jun Pei said warmly, gesturing toward the black swirling vortex before them. "The senior is on the other side."

"Thank you, Assistant Director Jun Pei, for your assistance and accommodation," Yang Qing said, his expression turning solemn as he cupped his fists in gratitude.

"Go on," Assistant Director Jun Pei said with a smile. "Don’t keep the senior waiting. It’s rare for her to accept a request this quickly. She must have a soft spot for you, which, after talking with you, I can understand..."

A teasing smile spread across her face.

"...Qing’er."

Yang Qing let out a bashful chuckle.

"I’ll show you the coin when I’m done."

"I look forward to it," Assistant Director Jun Pei replied before giving him a light nod of farewell and taking her leave.

During their conversation, Yang Qing had brought up the coin, thinking it would make for an excellent conversation piece. It would help him warm up to the Assistant Director while also serving another objective.

There had to be a reason she had been appointed Assistant Director of Internal Logistics, especially when she was entrusted with overseeing some of the Order’s most precious Saint-grade treasures.

Given the value of those treasures, common sense dictated that the person overseeing them ought to have been a Soul Formation expert. Yet Assistant Director Jun Pei wasn’t. She was merely a late-stage Domain expert, occupying a position that, by all appearances, should have belonged to someone far more powerful.

Why?

If this had been a clan or some long-established sect, one could have simply assumed she had obtained the position through connections more than merit.

But this wasn’t some sect or clan.

This was the Order, an institution that prided itself on squeezing every last drop of value from its members to ensure the massive beast that was the Order remained well fed.

As such, for Assistant Director Jun Pei to hold that post, it wasn’t because of connections. It was because the Order had deemed her the right person for the job. More than that, they had deemed her the person for it.

After all, this employer of theirs wasn’t one to tolerate losses.

They sought to extract the greatest possible value in the most efficient way imaginable. To them, the greatest value could only be extracted when a person was placed in the role best suited to their talents.

If someone possessed a gift for farming, assigning them to construction would be a waste. No matter how relentlessly they were worked, day and night without rest, the quality and quantity of their output would still likely fall short of that produced by a skilled builder working only half a day.

The Order wasn’t in the business of making losses.

So the farmer would be put to work in the fields, where their talents could shine brightest, and then be worked day and night. They would even be fed nourishing meals to ensure their performance never declined by so much as a single point under those grueling conditions.

The skilled builder would receive the same treatment.