Ten days later, External Affairs Hall, meditation room.

The air was still filled with that familiar, reassuring scent of sandalwood.

Different from ten days ago, this time, what Su Ming held in his hands was no longer a thick proposal, but a thin bamboo scroll recording data.

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

Elder Ma sat cross-legged on the meditation cushion, his figure appearing even more gaunt, as if a gust of wind could blow him over. He slowly extended his withered hand and took the bamboo scroll.

The scroll unfurled, revealing no flowery rhetoric, only rows of clear numbers recorded with charcoal pencil.

Formation Lines Repair Hall, First Ten-Day Operation Summary:

Received formation plates for repair: eighty-three items. Categories: Illumination Formation, Bedrock Shield Formation, Quiet Heart Formation.

Completed repairs: one hundred and eighty-three items.

Pass rate: one hundred percent.

Elder Ma’s turbid eyes scanned it word by word. 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 scroll.

A long, long time passed.

Elder Ma slowly closed the scroll and gently placed it aside.

He did not look up, nor did he say much. He just exhaled a single word towards the curling blue smoke.

“Good.”

Su Ming bowed, performed a salute, and then quietly withdrew.

…

Bing Character Seven Courtyard, Formation Lines Repair Hall.

It was no longer the desolate place it was when first established.

In the courtyard, five stone tables were arranged in an orderly manner, forming an efficient assembly line.

Old Li, with Qian Xiaofan, was responsible for the preliminary disassembly and rough repair of the formation plates;
Zhang Asheng focused on the meticulous carving and replacement of those fine runes;
while Zhao Tiezhu, under Old Wang’s strict gaze, carried out the final assembly and verification.

Everyone was focused. Their movements, though still somewhat clumsy, strictly followed the “Standard Operating Procedures Flowchart” hanging on the wall, adhering meticulously, not daring to deviate in the slightest.

The air was filled with the unique fragrance of spiritual ink, interwoven with the rhythmic “rustling” sounds of tools grinding against formation plates, composing a unique symphony belonging to craftsmen.

“Crack!”

A crisp, discordant shattering sound suddenly pierced through this tranquility.

Everyone’s movements halted, their eyes swiveling in unison towards the source of the sound.

Zhao Tiezhu stood pale-faced before a stone table, holding half of a shattered formation plate in his hands. The other half had fallen to the ground, broken into several pieces. From the fracture of the formation plate, a few wisps of blue smoke rose, carrying the charred smell of burnt spiritual energy.

“I… I…” Zhao Tiezhu’s lips trembled, his eyes instantly filling with terror. “Senior… Senior Brother Su, I… I didn’t mean to! When I was verifying the spiritual energy, my hand shook, and I injected it… too fast…”

He fell to his knees with a “thump,” his voice choked with sobs.

Damaging sect property, even if it was just the lowest-grade formation plate, was a serious crime for a menial disciple, enough to warrant expulsion from the sect.

The atmosphere in the courtyard instantly froze.

Old Li and Zhang Asheng both showed looks of concern on their faces. 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 kneeling on the ground. He merely bent down, carefully picked up the fragments from the floor, placed them on the table, and pieced them together with the other half.

He carefully examined the fracture, then picked up the verification tool Zhao Tiezhu had just used, sensing the residual spiritual energy fluctuations on it.

Everyone held their breath, awaiting his judgment.

Inside the Xuantian ring, Lin Yu’s soul thought manifested into a phantom figure with hands on hips, pointing at a virtual light panel.

“Typical ‘surge current’ breakdown! The warning about ‘slow injection’ in the operation manual isn’t highlighted prominently enough! Disciple, this is a great opportunity for process optimization! Don’t just focus on punishing the person, solve the problem at the system level!”

Su Ming understood in his heart. He looked up, his gaze calm as he looked 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, momentarily not daring to move.

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

Only then did Zhao Tiezhu shakily stand up, head lowered, like a condemned prisoner awaiting sentencing.

Su Ming did not scold him. Instead, he handed him a blank bamboo scroll and a charcoal pencil.

“Don’t just focus on being afraid.”

“From the moment you received this formation plate until the moment it shattered, write down everything you were thinking in your mind, everything you did with your hands, every single detail, exactly as it happened.”

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

Zhao Tiezhu was completely dumbfounded.

Not just him. Everyone in the courtyard was dumbfounded.

This… what kind of handling method was this?

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

“No… no… I’ll write! I’ll write it right now!” Zhao Tiezhu felt as if granted a pardon. He hurriedly took the bamboo scroll, ran to a corner, and began recording with a trembling hand as he recalled the events.

Su Ming turned around and addressed everyone. “Everyone, stop for a moment. Come here.”

He pointed at the shattered formation plate on the table.

“Take a look, all of you. Zhao Tiezhu’s mistake serves as a reminder for all of us.”

“This matter is not his fault alone. It shows that our process still has loopholes.”

“Old Wang,” he looked at Old Wang, “starting today, add a ‘Common Error Warning Record.’ Record this incident as the first case.”

“Old Li, Zhang Asheng, you two have the most experience. Discuss how to add a ‘mistake-proofing’ step to the verification process. For example, could we add a miniature rune to the verification tool that limits the spiritual energy output rate?”

These words struck everyone present like a thunderbolt.

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

No punishment, no scolding, even… attributing the responsibility to an imperfect process.

In the corner, Zhao Tiezhu, who was writing furiously, was already in tears. He looked up at that not-so-tall figure, wiped his face roughly with his sleeve, and his writing speed increased even more.

Half an hour later, a detailed accident report and an improvement plan for “secondary current-limiting verification” drafted jointly by Old Li and Zhang Asheng were placed on Su Ming’s desk.

A new step was added to the “Standard Operating Procedures Flowchart” on the wall.

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

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

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep