Cao Zhengjun

Cao Zhengjun is the administrative steward who receives Su Chen at the Clear River Origin Bureau. Though he is not an Origin Qi Scholar, his command of procedure, personnel, and political danger makes him an effective survivor and eventually a dependable member of Su's bureau faction.

Biography

Steward of a divided bureau

Cao welcomes Su to the Origin Bureau and explains its personnel structure, including Yuan Lieyang's resentment over the Knowledge Executor appointment. When Su returns with two clan-affiliated prisoners, Cao is shocked by the political danger but obeys the order to process them. After Liu Wuya's betrayal and death, Cao rapidly understands Su's consolidation plan and privately summons disconnected groups under the old leader's name, helping the takeover proceed without alerting the entire bureau at once. (Chapters 348, 350, and 365–366)

Loyalty under new pressure

When the new City Head Xing Shabei restructures the Origin Bureau and arrests Su's allies, Cao hurries to report the threat. By this point he is described as completely aligned with Su, although his lack of cultivation and his administrative usefulness temporarily protect him. He continues recording decisions and fetching case files under Xing's authority. The corpus does not establish what happens to him after this transition. (Chapters 401–402)

Appearance and personality

The corpus does not provide Cao Zhengjun's age, build, hair, eyes, or clothing. His visible sweating and collapse under pressure are reactions to danger rather than enduring physical traits. (Chapters 365–366)

Cao is observant, intelligent, cautious, and procedurally minded. He has survived by reading shifts in authority and working within bureaucratic gaps. His fear is genuine, especially around powerful cultivators, but does not prevent him from executing complicated administrative orders or warning Su when the political situation changes. (Chapters 348–402)

Abilities and cultivation

Cao is explicitly not an Origin Qi Scholar and displays no combat or cultivation technique. His abilities are administrative: he understands the Origin Bureau's hierarchy, maintains records, gathers personnel without exposing the plan, processes prisoners, and retrieves dossiers. Su values him because competence of this kind remains useful even during factional upheaval. (Chapters 348, 350, 365, and 401–402)

Relationships

• Su Chen: Cao's superior and eventual faction leader. Cao begins as an institutional guide, then helps him consolidate the bureau and warns him of Xing Shabei's purge. (Chapters 348–402)
• Yuan Lieyang: A powerful officer whose hostility Cao explains to Su and whose intimidating presence terrifies the non-cultivating steward. (Chapters 348 and 365–366)
• Xing Shabei: The new City Head whose restructuring threatens Su's allies while leaving Cao in place for his administrative usefulness. (Chapters 401–402)

Items

No finalized signature-item entry is assigned to Cao Zhengjun in the supplied catalog. The records and dossiers he handles belong to the Origin Bureau rather than being established as personal possessions.