171: Ten days

Ten days later, External Affairs Hall, quiet room.

The familiar, comforting scent of sandalwood still permeated the air.

Unlike ten days prior, this time, Su Ming held not a thick proposal, but a thin bamboo slip recording data.

He stood silently in the center of the quiet room, head bowed, waiting.

Elder Ma sat cross-legged on a prayer mat, his figure appearing even thinner, as if a gust of wind could blow him over. He slowly extended a withered hand and took the bamboo slip.

The bamboo slip unfolded, revealing no flowery prose, only lines of clear numbers recorded with charcoal.

Formation Inscription Repair Hall, First Ten Days Operation Summary:

Received Formation Plates to be repaired: eighty-three pieces. Categories: Illumination Formation, Bedrock Shield Formation, Tranquility Formation.

Completed repairs: one hundred eighty-three pieces.

Pass rate: one hundred percent.

Elder Ma's cloudy eyes scanned word by word, sentence by sentence. His finger unconsciously rubbed over the line “Pass rate: one hundred percent” for a long time.

In the quiet room, there was only the faint rustling sound of his fingertip rubbing against the bamboo slip.

A long, long time passed.

Elder Ma slowly closed the bamboo slip and gently placed it aside.

He didn't look up, nor did he say much, merely exhaling a single word towards the curling green smoke.

“Good.”

Su Ming bowed, saluted, and then quietly withdrew... Bing Zi Qi Hao Courtyard, Formation Inscription Repair Hall.

It was no longer as desolate as when it was first established.

Inside the courtyard, five stone tables were neatly arranged, forming an efficient assembly line.

Old Li, with Qian Xiaofan, was responsible for the initial disassembly and rough repair of the Formation Plates; Zhang Asheng focused on the meticulous engraving and replacement of fine runes; while Zhao Tiezhu, under Old Wang's strict gaze, performed the final assembly and calibration.

Everyone was focused, and though their movements were still somewhat clumsy, they strictly followed the “Standard Operating Procedure Diagram” hanging on the wall, meticulously, not daring to overstep in the slightest.

The air was filled with the unique fragrance of spiritual ink, interweaving with the rhythmic “shush” sound of tools grinding Formation Plates, forming a unique melody belonging to craftsmen.

“Crack!”

A crisp, discordant shattering sound suddenly pierced the tranquility.

Everyone's movements froze, and they all looked in unison towards the source of the sound.

Zhao Tiezhu stood pale-faced before the stone table, holding half of a shattered Formation Plate in his hands, while the other half lay on the ground, broken into several pieces. From the fracture, wisps of green smoke rose, carrying a burnt smell from spiritual power scorch.

“I... I...” Zhao Tiezhu's lips trembled, his eyes instantly filled with fear. “Senior Brother Su... I... I didn't mean to! When I was calibrating the spiritual power, my hand shook, and I injected it... too fast...”

He fell to his knees with a thud, his voice choked with tears.

Damaging Sect property, even if it was just a low-grade Formation Plate, was a serious crime for a handyman, enough to be expelled from the Sect.

The atmosphere in the courtyard instantly solidified.

Old Li and Zhang Asheng both showed worried expressions, and even the usually strict Old Wang frowned.

Su Ming put down the record book in his hand and slowly walked over.

He did not look at Zhao Tiezhu, who was kneeling on the ground, but instead bent down, carefully picked up the fragments from the ground, placed them on the table, and pieced them together with the other half.

He meticulously examined the fracture, then picked up the calibration tool Zhao Tiezhu had just used, sensing the residual spiritual power fluctuations on it.

Everyone held their breath, awaiting his judgment.

Within the xuantian ring, Lin Yu's soul-sense materialized into a phantom figure with hands on hips, pointing at a virtual light board.

“A typical ‘current surge’ breakdown! The warning about ‘slow injection’ in the operation manual isn't prominent enough! Disciple, this is a good opportunity for process optimization! Don't just focus on punishing people; solve the problem systematically!”

Su Ming understood in his heart, raised his head, and looked calmly at Zhao Tiezhu, who was on the verge of tears.

“Get up.” His voice was not loud, but it clearly reached everyone's ears.

Zhao Tiezhu was stunned, not daring to move for a moment.

“I told you to get up.” Su Ming repeated.

Only then did Zhao Tiezhu shakily stand up, head bowed, like a condemned prisoner awaiting his sentence.

Su Ming did not scold him; instead, he handed him a blank bamboo slip and a charcoal pen.

“Don't just be afraid.”

“From the moment you received this Formation Plate until it shattered, write down every single detail of what you were thinking and doing, exactly as it happened.”

“When did you feel nervous? Why were you nervous? When your hand shook, how did the spiritual power get out of control? The more detailed, the better.”

Zhao Tiezhu was completely bewildered.

Not just him, everyone in the courtyard was bewildered.

This... what kind of disciplinary method was this?

“Can't write it?” Su Ming looked at him.

“No... no... I'll write! I'll write it right away!” Zhao Tiezhu, as if granted a great pardon, quickly took the bamboo slip and ran to a corner, recalling and recording with trembling hands.

Su Ming turned around and said to the crowd, “Everyone, stop for a moment and come over.”

He pointed at the broken Formation Plate on the table.

“Take a look. Zhao Tiezhu's mistake serves as a reminder to all of us.”

“This incident is not solely his fault. It shows that our procedures still have loopholes.”

“Old Wang,” he looked at Old Wang, “starting today, establish a ‘Common Error Warning Record’ and include this incident as the first entry.”

“Old Li, Zhang Asheng, you two have the most experience. Discuss how to add an ‘anti-error’ step in the calibration process. For example, can we add a miniature rune to the calibration tool that limits the spiritual power output rate?”

These words struck everyone present like a bolt of lightning.

They looked at Su Ming, their eyes filled with disbelief.

No punishment, no scolding, and even... attributing the responsibility to imperfect procedures.

In the corner, Zhao Tiezhu, who was diligently writing, was already in tears. He looked up at the not-so-tall figure, wiped his face haphazardly with his sleeve, and wrote even faster.

Half an hour later, a detailed accident report and an improved “Secondary Current Limiting Calibration” plan, jointly drafted by Old Li and Zhang Asheng, were placed on Su Ming's desk.

A new process was added to the “Standard Operating Procedure Diagram” on the wall.

And the first record was made in the brand new “Common Error Warning Record.”

After this incident, the atmosphere of the entire Repair Hall quietly changed. The sense of detachment that had originally stemmed from rules was completely replaced by something called “belonging” and “trust.”