Chapter 7: Origin Bureau

The Origin Bureau was on the southern road of Clear River City.

The carriage progressed steadily. After arriving at the Origin Bureau, Su Chen disembarked the carriage and handed over his letter. Very quickly, someone came to show him in.

The person greeting Su Chen was a steward called Cao Zhengjun. He wasn’t an Origin Qi Scholar; he was a genuine steward, and he said to Su Chen after they had introduced themselves, “Prince Su, from now on you will be the Knowledge Executor at the Clear River Origin Bureau. Normally, you would need to meet City Head Liu first to take office, but City Head Liu left two days ago to take care of business and isn’t in the bureau right now, so you’ll have to meet him next time.”

“No worries. Once City Head Liu comes back I’ll make a visit.”

“Since that’s the case, sir, I might as well introduce you to some of the people in the bureau,”

“That will be fine.”

They walked to the main hall of the lobby of the bureau, where only a few martial artists were scattered. Not a single Origin Qi Scholar was present.

If the Origin Bureau was responsible for handling conflicts between Origin Qi Scholars, naturally they would need to have Origin Qi Scholars as well.

However, most of the Origin Qi Scholars had high statuses and weren’t willing to be restricted. They would only come if there was business to take care of; otherwise, how could this job be described as carefree?

Even Su Chen wouldn’t be able to accept being forced to come and check in every day.

Thus, under most circumstances, there would only be a single Origin Qi Scholar on duty within the Origin Bureau.

The one on duty today was called He Yu. He knew that Su Chen was a graduate of the Hidden Dragon Institute, so he treated Su Chen with a modicum of respect.

The two of them talked briefly, giving Su Chen a broad understanding of the circumstances here.

Apart from Su Chen, there was a total of twenty-eight Origin Qi Scholars in the Origin Bureau, and three hundred Body Tempering Cultivators. City Head Liu Wuya was in the Yang Opening realm, while below him was another Yang Opening cultivator and eight Blood Boiling cultivators, with the rest all being Qi Drawing cultivators.

Clear River City was not particularly large, and this force was more than enough to deal with most issues that arose. If they encountered any enemies that were simply too powerful, they could request for help from the Clear River City government or even from the nearby troop garrison.

The Origin Bureau would give each of its Origin Qi Scholars a notification talisman. Under normal circumstances, when there was nothing to do, those not on duty could rest as long as they didn’t leave Clear River City. If the notification talisman activated, they would need to instantly go into action.

Everything was according to how Su Chen wanted.

But just before he was about to leave, a small incident occurred.

A tall, brawny individual suddenly came in from outside. After seeing Su Chen, he asked, “Cao Zhengjun, who is this person?”

Cao Zhengjun hurriedly replied, “This is our new Knowledge Executor.”

“Our new Knowledge Executor? You’re Su Chen?” The fierce man seemed to size up Su Chen, his eyes gleaming frigidly.

After sizing Su Chen up, he harrumphed, then waved his sleeves and left.

Su Chen was confused by his attitude. He asked Cao Zhengjun, “That person is?”

Cao Zhengjun said in a low voice, “That is Sir Yuan, Yuan Lieyang. He is the other Yang Opening Cultivator here apart from City Head Liu. Originally, he was the one with the most hope to become the next Knowledge Executor.”

Upon hearing this, Su Chen understood.

Most likely, the other party wasn’t happy because he had stolen his position.

That wasn’t too big of a surprise. After all, Yuan Lieyang was in the Yang Opening Realm, a whole cultivation realm higher than him. He had also been in this Origin Bureau for many years; in terms of seniority, cultivation base, and experience, he was superior to Su Chen. But as a fresh graduate from the Hidden Dragon Institute, he had wiped out all of Yuan Lieyang’s efforts throughout the years and had even become Yuan Lieyang’s higher up. Anyone would have a hard time accepting this.

Even though working for the Origin Bureau was pretty easy, with everyone minding their own business, there were also times where joint operations were necessary. At that point, Yuan Lieyang would need to listen to Su Chen’s orders; that might be a stab to the heart to him.

But so what?

Su Chen laughed coldly in his heart.

What he pursued was not some kind of influential position. If it weren’t for the fact that he had to work for his country for ten years after graduating, he wouldn’t have even come to Clear River. He didn’t care whether Yuan Lieyang listened to him.

Working at the Origin Bureau was just out of duty. The attractiveness of the Knowledge Executor position wasn’t even as interesting to him as the skeletons excavated from the Su Clan’s palace grounds.....

When he thought of this, Su Chen gently laughed. “Sir Yuan has quite the fiery temperament. It seems like his Infernal Ape Bloodline is affecting his mood. But if it’s this bad even though Sir Yuan only has a mixed bloodline, he still needs to focus on cultivating his mental state and temperament.”

Cao Zhengjun was stunned. How did Su Chen know that Yuan Lieyang had the Infernal Ape Bloodline? And that it was a mixed bloodline?

Yes, because it was a mixed bloodline, and a bloodline that he had received while he was a Qi Drawing Cultivator, the Yang Opening Realm was the highest Yuan Lieyang’s cultivation base was going to go. He would never reach the Light Shaking Realm.

Perhaps because of this, Yuan Lieyang had given up on his cultivation, instead focusing on trying to gain societal status.

Unfortunately, all of his effort couldn’t compare to a single sentence from Shi Kaihuang. In addition, Su Chen had already demonstrated his own worth during the expedition to the ruins. Naturally, he couldn’t let Yuan Lieyang do as he pleased.

After Su Chen said that, he stepped out of the Origin Bureau - he had completed his orientation, and he had no interest in remaining here for any longer.

However, even though Yuan Lieyang had left, he had kept paying attention to Su Chen. Su Chen hadn’t spoken loudly, but Yuan Lieyang had still heard him. The flames of anger instantly rose in his heart when he heard Su Chen’s comments. “Are you going to comment even on my temperament?”

He charged out of the bureau and reached for Su Chen’s shoulder.

This grab seemed to just be meant to restrain Su Chen, but Origin Energy was concealed within the blow. If Su Chen let himself be grabbed, he would absolutely be injured; if he tried to block it, his whole arm might be severed.

Just as it was about to slam into Su Chen, his figure suddenly swayed. He didn’t even turn around to deal with it, instead continuing to advance. Yuan Lieyang’s claw raked through the air.

Even though this was somewhat of a casual strike, it was still from a Yang Opening Cultivator. Yuan Lieyang immediately felt like he had lost a lot of face when his blow didn’t connect, and the flames of rage in his heart only grew hotter. Another claw struck out, this time glowing faintly red with flames. Evidently, Yuan Lieyang was going to make a move even if it meant getting rid of all pretenses of cordiality.

This time, Su Chen didn’t treat it casually. He suddenly launched a punch back, and the claw and fist slammed into each other, releasing a wave of energy upon impact.

The two of them separated. Yuan Lieyang hadn’t moved, but Su Chen was blown nearly a hundred feet backwards. He clasped his hands after regaining his balance and said, “Many thanks to Sir Yuan for sending me off, but please stay here. Su Chen bids farewell.”

Yuan Lieyang harrumphed when he saw Su Chen sent flying by a single claw of his, “Don’t act so cocky if you can’t even block a claw strike at 30% of my power.”

He was about to give chase when he suddenly found that his feet were stuck in place.

He lowered his head and found that at some point, his feet had been encased in ice, firmly freezing him in place.

Su Chen had told Yuan Lieyang to stay put, and he had actually managed to make it so that Yuan Lieyang couldn’t advance.

Even though a moment later, the Infernal Ape Bloodline activated, and fiery Origin Energy melted away all of the ice and frost, Su Chen was already far away.

Yuan Lieyang harrumphed angrily as he glanced in the direction that Su Chen had left. After thinking for a moment, he decided to give up the chase.

It wasn’t like they were mortal enemies; there was no need for them to go all out. But Yuan Lieyang vowed that the next time they met, he would give Su Chen something to think about!