Chapter 56: Strategic-Grade Cultivator

Yizhou Tianji Pavilion.

"Have the arrangements regarding the Jade Dew Sect been finalized?"

"Twelve cultivators have already been deployed to monitor the situation twenty-four hours a day. There has been no movement from their side so far."

"Good. That will be all for today, you may leave."

Watching his subordinate walk out the door, Luo Mingxian slowly crossed his legs on the cushion in his office and massaged his temples.

In the past eight hours, he had first witnessed the heavily guarded Tianji Pavilion being entered and exited at will, followed by the Heavenly Master miraculously returning from the dead, and then he had watched a Nascent Soul veteran demon die silently right before his eyes.

Any one of these three events alone would be a jaw-dropping, earth-shattering upheaval. Yet the jaws of everyone at Tianji Pavilion had dropped three times within the span of a few hours, and even now, he still felt a sense of unreality.

The mastermind behind all of this was the person he had seen this afternoon...

He buried his hands in his hair, recalling the events of the past few hours.

According to the normal course of events, with Zheng Yiqiu, an emissary of a major sect, dying on the territory of Tianji Pavilion, his position as the person in charge would definitely be described as critically perilous.

One must know that behind Zheng Yiqiu stood the Jade Dew Sect, a major faction in the lands of Shu. Although various departments in Yizhou had previously exchanged gunfire with this sect on several occasions, there had never been an open, official conflict. But once this incident occurred, the relationship between the two sides was bound to plummet straight to rock bottom.

Under such a trajectory, he should have been brimming with extreme tension right now, but thinking of the manner in which Zheng Yiqiu had died, he simply could not muster up any tension at all.

After dealing with Zheng Yiqiu's corpse, he had also spoken with Yuan Tiangang about what would happen if the Jade Dew Sect made an issue of this matter, and the reply he received was, "There is no need to care about what they might do anymore."

Luo Mingxian knew the implicit meaning behind those words—with that old friend around, there would no longer be any such thing as "what they might do."

A buzzing sound rang out. The smartphone resting on the desk suddenly vibrated. Picking it up, he saw that the call was from an internal encrypted number, with the area code at the very front indicating Liangzhou.

He answered it, and an unfamiliar male voice came through the receiver.

"Is this President Luo Mingxian? I am Lü Zhenhai, the executive director of the Liangzhou branch of the Sanitation Bureau."

The caller exchanged some brief polite pleasantries: "Today, in the system's workflow, I saw that Tianji Pavilion has applied to investigate a cultivator named Zhou Qing. Regarding this matter, I hope to communicate with you in detail."

Lü Zhenhai from the Liangzhou branch?

Luo Mingxian's expression turned slightly serious. Although he and this colleague from the external system had not had much interaction prior to this, news regarding Zhou Qing had originated precisely from the Liangzhou Sanitation Bureau. That fact alone demanded serious attention.

"You can simply understand it as him having a close and profound connection with the supreme powerhouse who presides over our institution."

"A supreme powerhouse? You mean he is directly connected to the Heavenly Master?" The voice on the other end instantly grew cautious. "Can this be confirmed?"

"For now, it can be confirmed," Luo Mingxian took a deep breath. "In fact, he already came to the pavilion today."

"What?! He went to Tianji Pavilion so soon?"

The tone on the other end suddenly spiked, sounding just like someone who had just heard that the goddess they had pursued for many years had suddenly been snatched away by their sworn brother. The soaring pitch startled Luo Mingxian slightly.

"We don't know the exact details either. But he did indeed appear suddenly within the territory of Tianji Pavilion, took action to heal the Heavenly Master, and smoothed over some trouble for us, leaving shortly after that."

Luo Mingxian continued, "We witnessed everything mentioned above from beginning to end. So far, no one can figure out what kind of methods he actually used, and we are already planning to report this matter to the capital."

There was a long silence on the other end of the phone, through which heavy breathing could faintly be heard.

When he spoke again, his pace of speech had noticeably quickened.

"President Luo, I have a feeling that our country might be about to produce another new strategic-level cultivator."

Luo Mingxian was slightly startled.

A strategic-level cultivator was the highest official rating given by the Chinese authorities to internal cultivators. It required joint certification from the three major systems—the Sanitation Bureau, Tianji Pavilion, and the Super-Research Institute—before a nomination could be made. Furthermore, after the nomination, it required an extremely rigorous review procedure, which often took several years to complete.

A high level of cultivation was merely one element among them. Aside from strength, indicators for evaluation also included the level of contribution to the country, historical accumulation, networks within the cultivation world, past styles of conduct, and even united front value.

The standards were so high and the dimensions so vast that anyone would gasp upon seeing them.

And the treatment enjoyed by a strategic-level cultivator was remarkably simple and crude: within the jurisdiction of the supernatural system, they could unconditionally mobilize national resources. It represented the government's highest degree of trust in supernatural individuals.

Take Yuan Tiangang, for instance—he was a typical strategic-level figure.

His cultivation was at the Void Training realm, possessing top-tier strength.

He specialized in divination and arts of destiny, making him irreplaceable.

His temperament was mild, he was friendly towards mortals, held a positive attitude towards the government, and engaged in extensive cooperation.

He had cultivated countless disciples in divination arts for China, single-handedly constructed a large portion of the Tianji Pavilion system, and made tremendous contributions.

He had entanglements with multiple important cultivation world forces such as the Jiuli Immortal Alliance, yet at the same time, he did not stand on the side of any single faction, giving him extremely high united front value.

His name was recorded in secular historical texts such as the *Old Book of Tang* and the *Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance*, and he had direct interactions with multiple historical figures such as Emperor Wen of Sui and Emperor Taizong of Tang, resulting in an exceptionally high level of historical accumulation.

Only by stacking up various elements similar to the above could one constitute a strategic-level status. Within the government, every strategic-level figure possessed a unique title; for instance, Yuan Tiangang's title was "Heavenly Master."

Judging by the current situation, although Zhou Qing was not yet within the official system, the multiple dimensions he displayed were extremely striking, and his value was no less than that of Yuan Tiangang. Both Lü Zhenhai and Luo Mingxian believed that he thoroughly deserved this title.

At present, the only system that had yet to express its stance was the Super-Research Institute.

In past strategic-level nominations, the hurdle of the Super-Research Institute was often the hardest to clear. After all, indicators like strength, contributions, and connections were obvious at a glance, whereas historical accumulation required repeated excavation and verification—and that was precisely the domain of the Super-Research Institute.

Perhaps the time had come to provide them with some historical clues...

"President Luo, regarding that Zhou Qing, could I ask you to inquire of the Heavenly Master for more details about him?" Lü Zhenhai said. "If possible, we hope to dispatch specialized personnel to meet with the Heavenly Master and ask in person. Do you think you could grant permission for this?"

"The Heavenly Master has just recovered from his illness and has numerous affairs to attend to. If we were to arrange a meeting, it would have to be scheduled at least three months from now," Luo Mingxian said. "Right now, the Heavenly Master is temporarily away from the pavilion. Once he returns, I will go and ask for his opinion."

"Extremely grateful," Lü Zhenhai said, sounding as though a weight had been lifted off his chest. "May I ask one final question: where are that supreme powerhouse and the Heavenly Master currently located?"

"He..."

Luo Mingxian took a deep breath.

"He took the Heavenly Master out to eat hot pot. He said since it's his rare visit to Yizhou, he wants to taste the local specialty cuisine."

"...?"