The next day, Luo Feng left Huaiyang City, and after his departure, Gu Chen also left, planning to spend some time traveling around Li Mountain County to complete the final task of his Metropolitan Procurator assessment.
Fortunately, Gu Chen had intelligence provided by Jing Tian Department, giving him a rough understanding of the area where demons were active. Otherwise, Li Mountain County was so vast—with over a dozen cities on the scale of Huaiyang City—that a aimless search would take more than a month and waste a tremendous amount of time.
Thus, after spending half a month, Gu Chen thoroughly eradicated the demons in the vicinity and completed his Metropolitan Procurator assessment task, then returned to Tiandu.
Looking at the majestic city before him, towering like great mountains, no matter how many times he had seen it, Gu Chen couldn't help but feel a sense of awe. It was unimaginable how much manpower, material resources, and wealth were expended in building this city in the old days.
Entering Tiandu, Gu Chen first went back to his home, changed his clothes, and rested for a while to restore his condition to its peak.
After all, his return to Tiandu involved a long journey, naturally filled with the dust and wear of the road.
Later, Gu Chen headed to the Jing Tian Department and arrived in front of the pavilion. After a junior official announced his arrival, Gu Chen once again entered the grand hall and met the commander of Jing Tian Department's external operations in Tiandu, Commander Chen Yu.
Chen Yu wore a blue robe, his appearance dignified and handsome, sitting at the head of the hall, engrossed in a page of scripture in his hands.
Gu Chen could see clearly that it was a martial arts manual. Given Commander Chen Yu's rank, the manual that caught his interest was at least superior-grade, or even a Superior Martial Skill.
Gu Chen's Horizontal Training skill was a superior-grade martial art, and he had only attained the introductory level but already possessed such formidable power. It was beyond imagination how powerful a legendary Superior Martial Skill could be?
But such things were still far too distant for the present Gu Chen; the gap between him and Chen Yu was just too great.
"I've seen Commander Chen," said Gu Chen, standing at a lower position and bowing with cupped hands.
Upon seeing Gu Chen's arrival, Chen Yu put the martial arts manual aside, and in his admiring gaze towards Gu Chen, there was no attempt to conceal his praise, "You performed very well in this assessment."
Gu Chen's expression remained unchanged, neither servile nor overbearing, "Commander Chen flatters me."
Chen Yu smiled slightly, "As I've said before, talent is talent; you don't need to be modest. One of your tasks for the Metropolitan Procurator assessment was merely to find evidence that Zheng Jinan is a demonic cult martial artist, but unexpectedly, you ended up killing him directly, as well as a ghost-rank demon, overachieving the task.
This also spares Jing Tian Department the trouble of dealing with him."
"You must understand that when it's time to be fierce, you must be fierce; otherwise, others will see you and think you are easy to bully."
Hearing this, a hint of a smile appeared on Gu Chen's face, "Thank you for the guidance, Commander Chen."
Seeing Gu Chen slightly startled, Chen Yu smiled and explained, "The position of Metropolitan Procurator is different from that of a patrol officer. You'll see once you enter the inner city, each Metropolitan Procurator is led directly by a commander. Although I am stationed in the Jing Tian Department of the outer city, I do have my own personnel.
However, having just been promoted to commander recently, my staff is quite limited."
Upon hearing this, Gu Chen immediately clasped his hands in gratitude, "Thank you, Commander Chen, for your high regard."
Chen Yu had a pleasant personality and strong power. Most importantly, he was very young with a promising future. With his knowledge from a previous life, Gu Chen understood how crucial it was to follow the right leader in an institution like the Jing Tian Department that was directly under the control of the state.
Moreover, not knowing anyone else in the expansive Jing Tian Department apart from this one commander, Gu Chen decided it was much better to follow Chen Yu than to be randomly assigned within the department after entering the inner city.
Noticing Gu Chen's sensible response, Chen Yu was naturally very pleased. After all, there was also competition among commanders.
"Our ages are not far apart, and since you've joined my ranks, there's no need to call me Commander Chen anymore, it sounds too impersonal. If you're willing, you can call me Brother Chen from now on," Chen Yu said with a smile, evidently happy to have recruited a talent like Gu Chen.
"There are many extraordinary skills and treasures within the Jing Tian Department. Having just been promoted to Metropolitan Procurator, you now have greater authority and can exchange for more treasures and skills. Among them, there's an elixir called 'Meridian Opening Pill' within the department that works wonders for practitioners in the channel-opening realm.
With the merits from completing this mission, you should have just enough to exchange for it."
Gu Chen's eyes shone with joy upon hearing this and hastened to thank Chen Yu.
Chen Yu chuckled, "With the Meridian Opening Pill, you still have great hope of opening fifty meridians in the channel-opening realm."
As for more than fifty, that possibility was extremely slim. Even Chen Yu, with the aid of the Meridian Opening Pill and various opportunities, had only managed to open fifty-three meridians during his time in the channel-opening realm.
Not having been able to open fifty-six meridians in the channel-opening realm was always a regret for Chen Yu.
"If there's nothing else, you may leave now. After exchanging for the Meridian Opening Pill, go back and settle your thoughts. Report to the headquarters of the Jing Tian Department in the inner city tomorrow," Chen Yu said.
"Yes."
Gu Chen clasped his hands and then turned to leave. First, he went to the Hall of Merit to exchange the merits from this mission for the "Meridian Opening Pill" Chen Yu had mentioned, and then he picked up a new waist badge.
The Metropolitan Procurator's waist badge was still black, with a large "Jing" character on the front. The only difference was on the back, where, aside from Gu Chen's name, his rank had changed from patrol officer to Metropolitan Procurator.
Once everything was ready, Gu Chen did not return to Gu Mansion; instead, he went back to his own home. After all, he had accumulated some merit points from this mission, and with the added help of the Meridian Opening Pill from the Jing Tian Department, Gu Chen wanted to see how far he could progress this time.