Daily life of a cultivation judge

Yang Qing, not wanting to be too blunt with his suspicions, decided to take a different approach.

"So, the second escort supervisor, Jiang Hao—despite how capable he was at his duties—surely you must have anticipated the possibility of something like this happening?

It's common practice for most escort agencies to plan for the unexpected. Whether it's the failure of a delivery or an unforeseen event during a commission, precautions are typically put in place to handle such situations.

For an agency like yours, no matter how skilled Jiang Hao was, wouldn't there have been both precautionary and contingency measures in place for a scenario where something went wrong?

And not just for him. I would assume even your founder has measures in place in case something were to happen to him, right?" Yang Qing asked, his tone steady but probing.

Based on his interaction with Bai Chen and his observations of how the man conducted himself, Yang Qing was confident that Bai Chen was the type of person to prepare for every eventuality. A person like that wouldn't have been able to grow the Bluefin Spine-tailed Swift Agency into what it was today without being meticulous and forward-thinking.

As expected, his assumption was correct. He noticed both Duan Ting and Liu Ying nodding in agreement.

"There is…" Duan Ting admitted, his expression still heavy with concern.

"In the preparatory phases of taking a commission, we gather all relevant details from the contracts—passenger information, deadlines, destinations—and use them to plan the route," Duan Ting explained, pausing briefly to take a sip of his wine.

"Once we have a preliminary route, we enlist the services of information brokers and organizations to gather the latest intelligence tied to that path.

The continent is always in flux. A route that was safe a week ago might not be the same today, and what seems safe now could change within hours. Our goal is to source the most current information to minimize the unknown variables we might face during the trip.

We applied the same level of diligence to this commission as we have to all others, and eventually finalized the route plan."

"Every ferry requires an escort supervisor," Liu Ying interjected, her tone sounding slightly dispirited as it did before. "And before any deployment, the ferry also needs an anchor."

"The anchor is always an escort supervisor," Liu Ying began. "Their primary duty is to maintain regular communication with the escort supervisor handling the commission. This involves scheduled updates every three hours, during which the field supervisor reports their progress.

Where have they reached? How many fares have been completed? Were there any unforeseen variables? Did they encounter anything during the trip that might affect the agreed-upon timeframe? These are the kinds of details that must be shared.

Because of the anchor's critical role, they are required to remain stationed here until the commission is completed and the ship returns to dock at our headquarters. Only then is the responsibility of both the anchor and the field escort supervisor considered fulfilled.

If anything goes wrong, it falls on the anchor to relay all relevant information to the founder and the other escort supervisors."

Liu Ying paused, her gaze dropping to the table. "I was Brother Jiang Hao's anchor for that particular commission," she murmured, her voice heavy with dejection.

"How many supervisors are there?" Yang Qing asked, seeking a clearer picture of the framework.

"Four," Duan Ting replied.

"The fourth, I take it, is the first escort?"

"Yes."

"Who holds that position?" Yang Qing inquired, though he already had a strong suspicion.

"It's held by the founder, Master Bai Chen," Duan Ting confirmed.

"Figures," Yang Qing thought silently, a pensive look crossing his face.

"So if every commission requires both an escort supervisor and an anchor, that means at any given time, you can only field two escort supervisors at most?"

"Yes," Duan Ting replied.

"What happens if one of the escort supervisors reports an issue during a commission?"

"It depends on the severity of the problem," Duan Ting explained. "If it's something they believe they can handle on their own, we let them proceed, but we still inform all the other escort supervisors regardless.

Once the issue is resolved, the escort supervisor must provide a detailed report on their condition, the state of the ship, and the status of both the passengers and the cargo.

Transparency is critical—especially regarding their own condition. As escort agents, the moment we take on a commission, the goods and lives on board become our responsibility. There's no room for complacency, not even for a moment.

If we're injured or compromised in any way, we're required to give an honest assessment of how it affects our ability to fulfill the commission.

Master Bai Chen is adamant about this. Stubbornness, blind bravery, and bravado have no place in the conduct of an escort agent. Clinging to those traits is the quickest way to endanger the ferry and everyone on it.

As escort agents, we're expected to be cunning, cautious, meticulous, and level-headed. That applies especially when evaluating the challenges we face during a journey and our ability to address them. If an escort supervisor's condition or the situation calls for it, we have to make clear, level-headed decisions about whether another supervisor needs to take over," stated Duan Ting.

"But if the problem is something the escort supervisor lacks full confidence in overcoming, two possible actions are taken immediately after they report the issue along with their danger assessment:

First, all available escort supervisors and staff are deployed to provide assistance. This is typically done when the escort supervisor believes they can at least hold out, even if they cannot resolve the issue themselves. In such cases, if Master Bai Chen is at the headquarters or near the affected agent, he personally handles the situation. If he isn't, the responsibility falls on the rest of us.

Second, if the danger level is assessed to be too high by the escort supervisor, we request help from other escort agencies we have strong relationships with. Additionally, we also maintain a partnership with a mercenary agency specifically for these scenarios.

In most cases, the mercenary agency is our first point of contact, with other escort agencies being a secondary option," Duan Ting explained.

Yang Qing nodded appreciatively. The redundancies they had implemented were practical, particularly the inclusion of other escort agencies as a resource. Such a network of alliances could be invaluable in critical situations—provided the bonds were trustworthy. In their line of work, those relationships were often forged under intense and trying circumstances, making them all the more reliable.

"So, in the case of Escort Supervisor Jiang Hao, what happened?" Yang Qing asked, sensing he had gathered enough context to address the core issue.

Duan Ting smiled bitterly, his gaze briefly lingering on Ming Wa before shifting to his own hands holding the wine cup, and finally settling on Yang Qing.

"I don't know. Even now, I can't wrap my head around what happened," Duan Ting said with a bitter shake of his head.

"What do you mean?" Yang Qing pressed.

Duan Ting let out a soft sigh before preparing to answer.

"His journey was normal. He had completed almost three-quarters of the commission without incident, and then... he disappeared, just like that.

He missed the next three-hour check-in, and all other secondary tracking measures... failed," Duan Ting said, pulling out a golden-brown feather with a charred, woody texture and an unmistakable burnt scent, though it wasn't actively burning.

"Feather from a cinder-feather sunbird?" Yang Qing asked the moment he saw the feather.

"Yes," Duan Ting confirmed.

"With the feather, even if he encountered some calamity and couldn't report immediately, it should've alerted us to his danger, but it didn't..." Duan Ting continued, frustration seeping into his voice as his gaze remained fixed on the feather.

Since the incident, he had been staring at the feather unblinkingly, his intense focus almost enough to drill a hole through it.

The cinder-feather sunbird was a unique spirit beast, often referred to as the "harbinger of misfortune and disaster" because of its ability to sense impending danger. Each time danger loomed, its feathers would catch fire.

There was a common saying about it: If you see a cinder-feather bird in flames, flee. Don't look back, don't ask questions—just flee. If you want to keep your life, just flee.

It was a saying that most rogue cultivators—and even those in their escort agency circle—believed in.

Every escort supervisor of the Blueswift Spine-tailed Swift carried one of these feathers. They were all from the same cinder-feather sunbird, so if one of the feathers ignited, they would all light up simultaneously, regardless of distance.

It was one of the best emergency flares available, as it could be used to track each other's positions for a brief window of time before the feathers burned out. That window lasted for 48 hours.

If activated, it was usually a sign that something bad had happened. Most of the time, Duan Ting hoped the feathers would never light up, but in this one instance, he desperately wished it would.

Jiang Hao had vanished without a trace. No one knew how, where, or when—only that it had happened. It had been five weeks since the incident, and they were still in the dark. At least if the feather had flared up, they would have had a lead.

Being stuck in limbo of not knowing what happened was a far greater torment. He would much prefer to know, even if the news was unpleasant.

Yang Qing, already familiar with the cinder-feather sunbird's features, didn't ask for clarification. Instead, he focused on something else.

"Where is Bai Chen now?" Yang Qing asked softly, his question causing the two escort supervisors to exchange grim looks.

"He disappeared too..." Duan Ting answered, his face paling at the words.