Yang Qing didn't waste much time at the internal logistics department when it came to liquidating his abode. He was clear, direct, and brief. He made sure to ignore all sorts of 'well-meaning' suggestions that came from the attendant who tried to convince him to try the abode for a week before he made a decision, and if within a week he still did not want it, they could convert it then.
However, Yang Qing wasn't easily tricked. He knew it was more than likely a trap. Who knew what could happen within a week? He may very well end up being given the runaround and find himself one year in being fleeced dry maintaining two cultivation abodes, making the Order richer.
Yang Qing heard none of it and quickly insisted on settling the matter right then and there. He opted to trade the abode for a natural treasure from the open vault. He was given a token that he would present at the vault to trade for an item that was the equivalent value of the abode.
Yang Qing left in a ginger mood as he made his way to his next stop which was the External logistic division. The visit was a short one since it was basically him introducing himself to the department member attached to his court. As far as he knew the logistics personnel attached to him would remain with him throughout his stint as a palace court judge. This is whether he was an outer palace court judge or a core palace court judge, his attached personnel member from the External logistics division would not change, thus it was better for him to establish a cordial relationship with them.
The meeting proceeded smoothly. Lu Mei, the personnel attached to his court, was a pretty sociable person. She had been an attaché to the palace court for almost ten years and Yang Qing would be the 14th judge attached to her within the present batch of palace court judges.
With how burdensome the process of remuneration was, every logistic personnel attached to the palace court could only have a maximum of 15 judges attached to them and Lu Mei was one judge shy of reaching her limit.
She was very generous in her explanation of the ins and outs of her duties and all she expected of Yang Qing, which luckily for him wasn't much other than ensuring the spirit stones were made available three days prior to the agreed-upon date of payment which would give her enough time to convert the spirit stones into whatever format the person who completed the commission would want. In addition, Yang Qing would also have to hand her the report of his valuation of the commission. As long as she had those two things, she would be able to handle the rest easily.
This worked well for Yang Qing who felt he already had his hands full with the intelligence network, his cases that he was currently undermanned in, and whatever new duties that were tied to his next stop, the Requiem.
Yang Qing exchanged a few pleasantries with Lu Mei along with promising her a meal at the Thousand Flavors restaurant before he finally left for the office of the Judicial Committee.
There was no direct way of heading to Requiem, at least not one that he knew off. In fact, Yang Qing didn't even know where the grand prison of the Order was located, despite him sending a fair share of cultivators that way. The only way he could access the place was via the Judicial committee.
The Judicial Committee could be considered to be the spirit council form for the judges of the Order. It was made of former judges who gave up their posts, for another role which was to judge the judges. Every judge had judicial discretion on their cases however whatever judgments they made on their cases were subject to review by the judicial committee.
The committee would evaluate whether the sentencing was sound and whether the judge and his team had done enough on the case to make a sound ruling.
Using their judgment, experience, and information on hand they would assign a grade to the judge and the grade was per case. The grade has a variety of uses within the Order, one of which was in gaining bonuses. At Yang Qing's current post if he got an evaluation score of good at the end of the month, he would get a bonus of 10,000 high-grade spirit stones, and the higher the grade, the higher the bonus.
The reverse was also true. If he got a low grade, he would suffer penalties. Those penalties were in the form of fines. If the issue seems to be a common occurrence then the particular judge would be placed under investigation to see if the malfeasance is intentional or incompetence. If it's found to be the former then the judge gets sent to requiem, but if it's the latter then they get reassigned to a different department within the Order, however, even in that new role they would be placed under close monitoring.
If one wanted to move up the courts, having a decent valuation was one of the prerequisites along with an increase in their cultivation base. Therefore, the Judicial Committee had a lot of influence in the promotion and demotion of judges and their roles didn't stop there as they acted as intermediaries for the judges to different departments within the Order, one of which was Requiem.
If Yang Qing wanted to head there it would have to be through them.
Yang Qing went to the hallway of the main building and triggered a rune at the center of the hallway using his gold eagle medallion. He disappeared from the center of the Hallway and reappeared in a rustic building that was in the middle of a small grove.
The building was made of old brown brick and had flying eaves roofing. The area was tranquil, surrounded by green lush trees and a small pond next to the building. The building was a two-story building and was 2000 square feet.
Outside the building's entrance, there were three elderly men leisurely seating about on futons. Two of them seemed engrossed in playing Go while the last one was fiddling around with a miniature penzai.
They all had greying white hair and white robes that had the symbol of a hammer hanging above a podium. This was the symbol of the members of the judicial committee.
Yang Qing on arriving here straightened his robes out of habit and carefully went forward and cupped his fists in greetings.
"Junior Yang Qing, greets the elders," said Yang Qing in a deferential tone.
Yang Qing's respect for them wasn't because of their ability to influence the growth or destruction of his career but rather because of their prior identity.
The Judicial Committee was also known by another name, it was known as the Collection of the Original Judges. The committee was made up of 17 members and every one of them were the very first judges the Order ever heard. The groundwork upon which every judge currently works on was set up by them, and they have continued to do so even after they left their posts and became part of the judicial committee.
From the original batch, some joined the committee, others went to the spirit council, others became deans or instructors at the institute, others joined different departments and others died in the conduct of their duties.
Every judge held them in high esteem and Yang Qing was no exception. The Judicial Committee may not be as powerful as the Spirit Council, but in terms of prestige they didn't lose out, and when it came to power even though they couldn't compare to the Spirit Council that only consisted of soul formation experts, the Judicial Committee wasn't that bad off. Of the 17 members, there were a few soul formation experts while the majority were domain-level experts.
Yang Qing knew of the three members present, the one fiddling around with the penzai was one of the soul formation experts of the committee. His name was Long Enlai and the two-playing go; one of them was Jiang Heng and the other was Jia Bohai. They were both late-stage domain experts as far as Yang Qing knew.
"Yang Qing, you're here, would you like chrysanthemum tea?" asked Long Enlai who was still busy pruning and adding a few touches to the penzai. Every time he did so, the change would be reflected in the background of the building they were staying at. One second there was a bare rocky mound the next it was replaced by a forest, then a river, then a mountain.
Yang Qing wasn't sure whether the changes were real or fake because to him it felt very much real.
"How are you finding your new position?" gently asked one of the elders playing go.
"Heavier than I expected," said Yang Qing as he picked up the cup of Chrysanthemum tea that floated next to him.
"It seems you have already met with the Shadow Hawks?" asked the other elder.
"Yes," answered Yang Qing as he took a sip of the tea.
"This is good stuff!!!!!" thought Yang Qing as his eyes lit up.
"Who knew Shen Zhu's impetuous idea would grow into one of the backbones of the Order, shame it came at the cost of his life," said Long Enlai with a sigh. The other two elders sighed along with him as they put aside their go table.
"Shao An should be expecting you, Yang Qing so we will not delay you any further," said Long Enlai as he drew a seal on the penzai, immediately after a spatial tunnel opened up behind the building revealing 12 mountains.
Yang Qing took a small gulp as he felt a terrifying aura within those mountains.
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