The highest building in the Nightwatcher's yamen was the magnificent Haoyi Tower in the courtyard, with its upturned eaves and several layers of flying rafters, looking the same from all sides.

Outside the lower four floors, there was a corridor, and the corridors of the fifth and sixth floors could serve as observation decks, overlooking the entire Nightwatcher's yamen.

The great eunuch known as "Wei Qingyi" to the martial arts world lived in the building.

In the tea room on the seventh floor, a man in a blue robe reclined on a soft couch, holding a scroll in his hand.

His sky-blue clothes were embroidered with intricate cloud patterns, exquisitely crafted, and his black hair was tied up with a jade hairpin, with frost-white sideburns, a white and smooth face without a beard, deep and profound eyes, and a sense of age that had been washed away by time.

Wei Yuan was a man of both temperament and appearance, elegant and refined, deep and restrained.

There were two other men in the tea room, accompanying Wei Yuan to drink tea and read books. One was a serious-looking man with stiff features that seemed carved in stone, showing no emotion.

The other had a soft and feminine temperament, handsome in appearance, with phoenix eyes, willow eyebrows, thin and rosy lips. At first glance, one might suspect that he was a woman disguised as a man.

The soft and feminine man stood in the observation deck, basking in the warm sunshine, with one hand resting on the hilt of his sword at his waist, saying, "The sunshine is bright, the sky is cloudless. Isn't it more interesting to enjoy the scenery here than to read indoors?"

Wei Yuan put down his book and smiled, "There are fewer and fewer books worth reading these days. I've heard that the Astronomical Bureau has acquired a new blue book that records the essence of all things in the universe. I'm quite curious about it."

"Yang Yan, in another decade, it will be the day of the emperor's ancestral sacrifice. Notify everyone to step up patrols in the inner city and reduce commerce in the inner city."

The man with the stiff face "Hmm"ed.

The soft and feminine man exhaled a breath, "Father, don't you plan to compete for the position of Ministry of Revenue attendant and appoint your own people?"

"This is a necessary concession." Wei Qingyi said, looking towards the tea room door, where a blue-clad official bowed and entered.

"Lord Wei, these are the results of the aptitude test for the newly appointed Bronze Drum and his household registration. Please judge them."

The official handed over a stack of documents.

Wei Yuan opened the household registration and glanced at it. The newly appointed Bronze Drum was named Xu Qi'an, originally from the Changle County courier team. His father and uncle were both soldiers.

This information was both important and unimportant.

It was important because the identity of a Nightwatcher had to be pure for three generations. Xu Qi'an was a native of the Great Feng capital city, born and raised there.

So Xu Qi'an's identity was qualified.

The unimportant part was that every Nightwatcher had a similar pure identity.

Underneath the household registration was the result of the "intelligence" test. Wei Yuan glanced at it and smiled, "Qianrou, how long did it take you to answer the questions?"

The soft and feminine man, Qianrou, who was as beautiful as a flower, raised his chin slightly at the words, "Fifteen breaths, Yang Yan took nineteen breaths."

"This newly appointed Bronze Drum took twelve breaths."

Twelve breaths... Qianrou raised an eyebrow and arrogantly commented, "Not bad."

The man with the stiff face showed no expression on his face and said, "It's not surprising to be able to solve the tax and silver case in a short time with such intelligence."

Wei Yuan laughed and looked at the follow-up notes, adding, "The bearer of the box was stunned for about five breaths."

"That's impossible." Qianrou suddenly turned around and walked into the tea room.

Yang Yan frowned.In other words, he only had seven breaths to think, what a sharp mind.

Yang Yan stood up and saluted, "Father, give me this person."

"He's under your name, following Li Yuchun with the silver gong." Wei Yuan put down his teacup and looked at the man with a soft temperament. "You've seen him before, that day at the Observatory."

Observatory... The man with a soft temperament pondered for a few seconds and sneered, "He's just a kid who talks big."

Yang Yan was satisfied to hear that this new bronze gong was working under Li Yuchun.

"Father, how strong is he?" Yang Yan asked.

"At the pinnacle of refining essence, there's no need for testing." Wei Yuan smiled. "This person was recommended by the Princess Chang, and I think he's resourceful and capable, so I'm giving him a special position in the Nightwatchers."

Princess Chang?!

Yang Yan and the man with a soft temperament exchanged a glance. Wei Yuan hadn't told them this news.

Wei Yuan continued to browse through the results of the "Heart Exam." Gradually, his gentle expression became serious and his deep eyes became sharp.

Yang Yan stood up straight and looked at the paper.

The man with a soft temperament walked boldly to Wei Qingyi's side, looked at the paper, and laughed, "He's just a kid who talks even bigger than me. Father, how do you want to deal with him?"

There was a hint of schadenfreude in his smile.

Wei Yuan pulled out the bottommost piece of paper, which had ugly handwriting:

You eat and drink on the people's account, but you use the people's blood and sweat.

It's easy to oppress the common people, but it's hard to deceive heaven.

Wei Qingyi's pupils suddenly froze as he stared at the two sentences, and he remained silent for a long time.

"It's easy to oppress the common people, but it's hard to deceive heaven..." Yang Yan repeated the sentence.

The man with a soft temperament's eyes flickered slightly, and he recovered from his brief shock. His attention was the opposite of Yang Yan's poker face.

"You eat and drink on the people's account, but you use the people's blood and sweat... Hmph, so this little fast hand thinks he's eating the people's fat and not the emperor's."

Yang Yan thought for a moment and asked, "What do you think, Father?"

Wei Yuan asked back, "What do you think?"

Yang Yan considered and said, "Eat the lord's food, bear the lord's worries."

In other words, he didn't agree with that sentence.

Wei Yuan nodded, "When the little bronze gong rises to the level of gold gong someday, you can debate with him yourself."

The man with a soft temperament raised his eyebrows, "Father, do you think that kid can become a gold gong in the future?"

"As long as he's a warrior, there's no problem." Wei Yuan smiled gently. "Each of the three teachings has its own rules. Sorcerers are influenced by human luck, and so are witchcraft. Among the present world, only warriors are the purest."

"Although I dislike warriors who break the law with their strength, I have to admit that the more unruly the warrior, the more brave and diligent he is."

"He who has no respect or fear in his heart dares to turn the world upside down."

With that, Wei Yuan took out a new inkstone from under the desk, poured in cinnabar and clear water, ground it into red ink, and dipped his brush in it.

He wrote the words "Jia Shang" on the household register.

"Unruliness is the mark of a warrior, and having a broad mind is the mark of a hero. The greatest heroes are those who serve their country and their people."

Jia Shang!

Since the establishment of the Nightwatchers, there were few who had received this evaluation.

...

In a certain secret room.Li Yuchun pointed to the wooden barrel and said, "Take off your clothes and sit in there."

Finally, he was about to enter the Qi Refining realm... Xu Qi'an suppressed his excitement and glanced at the foul-smelling bath barrel filled with dark green liquid.

This stuff is called Marrow-Cleansing Liquid, and this one barrel costs about one hundred and fifty taels of silver.

He quickly took off his clothes, pants, and shoes, and sat naked in the bath barrel.

Li Yuchun asked, "You're not deflowered, are you?"

Xu Qi'an nodded, "My second uncle is a commander of the Imperial Guards, and he told me that I can't deflower before entering the Qi Refining realm."

He leaned back comfortably in the bath barrel and asked, "Boss, are you in the Divine Refining realm?"

Li Yuchun replied, "Mm."

"Then after the Divine Refining realm is the Copper Skin and Iron Bones, right?"

Li Yuchun nodded again.

Xu Qi'an laughed and said, "That name doesn't sound good, why not call it the Diamond Body realm? Copper Skin and Iron Bones are too lowly and will make us martial artists look like uncultured peasants."

"The third level of Buddhism is called the Diamond Body," Li Yuchun explained.

"I see!" Xu Qi'an nodded and asked carefully, "Boss, among all the cultivation systems in the world, which one is the strongest?"

Find the original at " pa𝑤read.com ".

Li Yuchun answered without hesitation, "The Daoist system claims to be the strongest."

"What about the other systems?"

"All the other systems believe that they are the strongest."

"Oh...I understand."

"However, all the systems in the world have one consensus, that martial artists are the most vulgar and cannot be presented on the highest stage."

"I...know a little about this because warriors only have brute strength, but no supernatural powers."

It's still not flashy enough.

"That's just the surface. There are bigger secrets involved in the upper limits of the cultivation systems."

Xu Qi'an straightened his back and asked tentatively, "Boss, can you tell me?"

PS: This one will take six or seven hours to explain.