I Cultivate in a Government Office

Chapter 88: Chapter 80: Completion of the Second Refinement

Yang Wenqing then followed an established rhythm, slowly circulating a basic Qi Cultivation technique. He nourished his Spiritual Veins, which were slightly damaged from the torrent of violent energy, and simultaneously recovered his exhausted mental energy.

Half an hour later, his Spiritual Veins were fully recovered, and his mind had calmed slightly. Without hesitation, he began the second cycle...

Time trickled by with each cycle. Outside the window, the sky turned from dusk to night, then from night to the first light of dawn.

The third cycle, the fourth... The seventh cycle, the eighth...

With every cycle, the completeness of his skin and membranes improved by a fraction. His Spiritual Veins grew tougher and wider through the repeated process of damage and repair. But enduring such extreme, continuous pain exacted a tremendous toll on his mind.

In the midst of repeated waves of pain and battles of will, the fleeting warmth brought by the Liuyun Music Garden yesterday gradually faded from Yang Wenqing’s eyes. Frost began to re-form in its place, growing thicker and colder.

The ninth cycle, the tenth... The thirteenth cycle, the fourteenth...

Yang Wenqing’s movements became more and more mechanical, his expression increasingly detached. Pain could no longer faze him. All that remained was a pure, cold will, driving his body to complete each step.

The seventeenth cycle, the eighteenth... When the twentieth cycle ended, the energy crystal turning to dust and the medicinal power of the final spoonful of Stone Marrow Liquid completely absorbed—

"THUMP!"

A dull, drum-like thud resonated from beneath the skin and membranes of his body. The sound wasn’t loud, but it was deep, solid, and filled with a sense of power!

The Second Refinement of the *Nine Refining Secret Skill*, ’Skin and Membranes Like a Drum’, was finally complete!

Yang Wenqing slowly concluded his cultivation. The Spirit Gathering Array stopped running, and the light from the Array faded.

He opened his eyes.

But his eyes held no joy or excitement from his breakthrough, only a bottomless indifference. Ten consecutive hours, twenty cycles of extreme pain, had not only tempered his skin and membranes but also seemed to have tempered away most of his human emotion and warmth.

He rose to his feet. His movements were fluid and precise, almost inhumanly so, yet possessed an unnatural rigidity. He walked to the mirror and stared at his own icy reflection.

The sense of power from perfecting his skin and membranes was real. With his wider Spiritual Veins, his Qi Sea was also fuller. But in contrast to this was the boundless cold and loneliness in his heart. He couldn’t feel his connection to the world, as if separated by a thick, intervening medium.

He silently cleaned up the empty Stone Marrow Liquid bottle and the fragments of the depleted energy crystal. He put away the base of the Zhenyuan Nourishing Vein Array, then sat down to meditate and regulate his aura through Qi Cultivation.

Once he had mostly recovered, Yang Wenqing stared blankly at the bright morning sky for a while. Then, he mechanically began inscribing Rune paper. After completing the Second Refinement, the number of Rune papers he could inscribe at one time had increased to thirty-two.

After putting away the Rune paper, he stood stunned for more than ten seconds, as if only then remembering he was supposed to go to work. On his way, neither the bustling morning market nor the hurrying pedestrians could cast a reflection in his indifferent eyes.

He didn’t even notice that a few neighbors, who had intended to greet him, were deterred by the forbidding chill emanating from him and instinctively looked away.

He had just walked into the Third Squad’s office and hadn’t even sat down when a stern communication came from the badge on his chest—Vice Director Gao’s voice: "Wenqing, get to my office immediately!"

Yang Wenqing paused. His face remained expressionless as he got up and walked out of the office. Throughout this, Liu Qin kept her head down, not even daring to look at him. Other colleagues they encountered in the hallway, upon seeing his current state, couldn’t help but soften their steps or avert their gaze.

After knocking on the door to Vice Director Gao’s office, Yang Wenqing walked in and stood at attention. "Director Gao."

Vice Director Gao sat behind his desk. He didn’t ask him to sit as he usually did, but instead sized him up and down with a solemn gaze.

"Close the door."

Vice Director Gao said in a low voice.

Yang Wenqing closed the door as instructed.

"Come closer."

Vice Director Gao said.

Yang Wenqing walked up to the desk.

Then, Vice Director Gao stood up, walked around the desk to stand in front of Yang Wenqing, and stared into his empty, indifferent eyes for a long time.

"Something is very wrong with you!" Vice Director Gao’s voice was low and severe. "You’ve already perfected the Second Refinement this quickly. You think you’re some kind of genius?"

Yang Wenqing seemed to want to say something.

"You’re being absolutely reckless!" Vice Director Gao barked, his face showing anger, but even more so, concern. "Do you have any idea what you look like right now?"

He took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down, but his tone remained terrifyingly serious. "Listen, Yang Wenqing, as someone who has been down this road, I am telling you with the utmost seriousness: stop this desperate, reckless cultivation! Right now!"

He pointed at Yang Wenqing. "A Cultivator must first be a person. If you lose your humanity, lose the ability to feel normal joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness, lose your capacity for empathy, your consciousness will gradually become twisted."

"If you continue in this state, your consciousness will suffer serious problems in less than half a month. You’ll become cold, radical, and see all life as worthless. You might even resort to any means necessary to pursue power, and ultimately, you will be completely lost!"

"Do you know how many geniuses the main bureau loses every year to an over-indulgence in power, to Qi deviation, to a complete collapse of their consciousness?"

Vice Director Gao paced back and forth a couple of times, softening his tone as he tried to enlighten him with a more concrete example. "Think about it. Why does the Police Academy require cadets, even after they have learned Fasting, to eat at regular times every day, participate in group activities, and study literature and history? Do you think it’s merely to replenish energy, exercise the body, and broaden their knowledge?"

"No! Those things are the most crucial part of cultivating one’s humanity and stabilizing one’s consciousness! Eating, savoring the taste of food, feeling the satisfaction of a full stomach—that is part of the human experience. It’s the tether that binds you to the mortal world. Interacting with others, forming emotional connections, experiencing joy and sorrow—all these seemingly useless things are the very anchors that prevent your consciousness from becoming inhuman!"

He walked right up to Yang Wenqing, speaking almost word by word, "Power must be controlled by a sound, human consciousness. Otherwise, the stronger the power, the greater the danger, and in the end, it will turn on you. What you need to do now is not to keep pushing for the Third Refinement, but to immediately—right now—find your humanity again!"