Sage of Humanity

Unexpectedly, just as the thought occurred, Qian Wudang looked over with a smile, and the distance between them quickly closed.

With no other choice, Lu Ye flew forward to meet him, cupped his fists, and said, "Greetings, my lord!"

Qian Wudang stood three feet in front of Lu Ye, one hand behind his back, assessed him from head to toe, and nodded, saying, "Not bad, you've reached the True Lake. What brings you here?"

"I have some personal matters to deal with," Lu Ye casually replied, without going into detail.

Qian Wudang smiled slightly, not taking it to heart, and merely said, "When you return to the Cangyan Mountain Pass, convey my regards to your Mountain Pass Chief. Over a month ago, she came and went in such a hurry, not even willing to meet."

"Over a month ago?" Lu Ye was taken aback.

Qian Wudang's smile was full of meaning: "It was during the few days you were detained in the prison, otherwise, how do you think you got to the Cangyan Mountain Pass?"

Lu Ye really didn't know about this matter.

However, Qian Wudang obviously had no intention of explaining further, casually saying a few words before flying away.

Leaving Lu Ye deep in thought.

Listening to Qian Wudang's words, it seemed that his transfer to the Cangyan Mountain Pass was directly related to Nian Yuexian's last visit to Haotian City.

It appeared that Nian Yuexian specifically requested his transfer from the Recruitment Department?

It explained the coincidence of being sent to such a unique place as the Cangyan Mountain Pass among the many passes on the Bingzhou defense line, where for decades, Nian Yuexian had held the post alone.

Perhaps the Second Senior Sister had a hand in this as well.

The two women had a good relationship, and with no members of the Righteous Blood Sect at the front lines to care for him, they had Nian Yuexian, who had ties to the sect, act on his behalf.

With this thought, Lu Ye had pieced together most of the situation, although he could never know that in order to secure him, Nian Yuexian completely offended another strong cultivator in the Divine Sea Realm, even publicly assaulting him.

At the Department of Appointments, the comings and goings of cultivators were frequent, as they returned from various mountain passes, with the same thought as Lu Ye: to get promoted in rank as soon as possible and receive more monthly salaries.

On the front lines, battle merit accumulation often relied on time since conflicts and battles with the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge were not as frequent as imagined.

However, there were exceptions at some passes, where the battles were extremely fierce, and both sides continuously sent new troops. In those places, battle merit increased quickly, but so did the casualties.

After a short wait at the Department of Appointments, it was Lu Ye's turn. He stepped forward and handed his guard token to the petite round-faced female cultivator handling the matter.

The female cultivator was accustomed to promoting the military ranks of numerous cultivators daily. Naturally adept, she took the guard token, asked about Lu Ye's background, matched it with the information in the token, and after confirming it, asked him to place the hand with the battlefield marking on the battle merit panel to check the accumulated merit.

As the last time, the colors on the battle merit panel changed constantly, and the female cultivator's expression, as calm as water, changed along with it.

Until a low exclamation: "Violet!"

The last time he checked, the light emitted by the battle merit panel was yellow, corresponding to lieutenant colonel; this time, it was violet, corresponding to Capital Commandant!

It seemed that his calculations were correct, and the accumulated battle merit was indeed sufficient for a rank promotion.

Raising his eyes, he saw the female cultivator handling the matter before him, her beautiful eyes filled with shock and admiration.

The number of Capital Commandant level cultivators in the Haotian Alliance was not small, and she had dealt with many rank promotions here. She had seen not only Commandants but also some higher-ranking Brigadier Generals.

But where in the world was such a young Capital Commandant?

Due to Lu Ye's extensive travels and battles, he appeared older than his actual age, though not by much, just around twenty.

A twenty-year-old Capital Commandant? Not only had she never seen, but had never even heard of such a thing.

And his cultivation was merely at the True Lake Level 1!

Generally speaking, it took reaching at least the True Lake Realm Late Stage to be promoted to the rank of Capital Commandant. As for Brigadier General and Major General, those were exclusively for strong cultivators in the Divine Sea Realm, and there was no precedent for anyone in the True Lake Realm being promoted to Brigadier General.

For those at that level, it wasn't just about accumulating battle merit but also about the size of their achievements.

Perhaps someone in the True Lake Realm could accumulate enough battle merit through monthly salaries, but if their achievements weren't significant, they still couldn't be promoted to Brigadier General or Major General.

A not even twenty-year-old Capital Commandant at True Lake Level 1 left the female cultivator, who had been here for years, seeing Lu Ye today, shocked and puzzled.

She couldn't figure out what Lu Ye had done to accumulate such battle merit.

"Senior Sister?"

Lu Ye saw her lost in thought and couldn't help but call out.

The female cultivator returned to her senses, apologetically said, "I'll be done in a moment."

With those words, she went through the procedures with Lu Ye's guard token and quickly returned it to him, "Junior Brother Lu, please check to see if everything is correct."

Lu Ye took his guard token, channeled his spirit force into it, confirmed it glowed violet, then put it away, nodding slightly to the female cultivator, "Thank you, Senior Sister."

Under the stunned gazes of several nearby cultivators, he calmly departed.

It wasn't until he left that the female cultivator showed a look of regret. She had been too shocked earlier and forgot to exchange markings with Lu Ye. Such a promising young man, if those pretty junior sisters in the sect could interact with him more, they might gain something from it.

As for herself, she was already married and had someone to stay with, so she didn't think much about it.

The sky was already dark, and Lu Ye did not plan to continue his journey.

He had taken a day off from Nian Yuexian, who also told him not to rush back. After all, there hadn't been any battles at Cangyan Mountain Pass for a long time, so he could stay in Haotian City for a few more days or even return to the Righteous Blood Sect to take a look.

Haotian City is not only the central hub of the Haotian Alliance in Bingzhou, but the city also contains many taverns and teahouses, as well as various shops, mainly for the convenience of cultivators traveling to rest and eat.

Moreover, the prices here are quite cheap, about half as expensive as outside.

Although Lu Ye wasn't exactly in a hurry last time, he was confined in a prison for several days and didn't have time to stroll around Haotian City carefully. Now, it was a good time to take a look around under the cover of night.

Amber perched on his shoulder, and the man and tiger strolled through Haotian City at night.

Before long, Lu Ye stopped in front of a shop specifically selling demon beast meat.

The two flood dragons in the Hall of Battle Merits were gluttons, and each trip cost him twenty thousand merits. He might as well buy some demon beast blood and meat here for backup. He and Amber might need it sometimes and could also feed the two flood dragons.

He rarely used spirit stones, so many had accumulated in his storage space.

After spending nearly a hundred thousand mid-grade spirit stones, he almost emptied the shop's stock and left satisfied, leaving the cultivator guarding the shop looking wistful.

He entered a tavern, ordered a table of good dishes, sat by the window, and feasted.

After eating and drinking his fill, he continued to wander, passing by a spirit artifact shop, and stepped inside calmly.

The day's encounter reminded him of something: recently, the Boulder Mountain Saber was in the middle of an upgrade, and he needed to find another long saber as a temporary replacement.

Although the Boulder Mountain Saber would be fully repaired soon, if during that gap he needed to face an enemy, not having a suitable weapon would hinder his ability to exert his power.

That was exactly what happened during the day. If his spiritual artifact long saber hadn't suddenly shattered, the opponent wouldn't have had a chance to breathe.

In the future, there might be situations where the Boulder Mountain Saber wouldn't be by his side. Having a spare could be useful in emergencies.

However, now that he was in the True Lake Realm, weapons at the spiritual artifact class were no longer suitable for him; he could only choose those of the magic-artifact class.

Of course, weapons at this level weren't cheap.

After searching through the spirit artifact shop, he found a few magic-artifact class long sabers, but only one barely met his requirements.

He spent a large number of spirit stones to purchase this saber.

Compared to the Boulder Mountain Saber, this saber was sharp enough but lacked weight. Lu Ye felt somewhat unhandy using it, and since the Boulder Mountain Saber had accompanied him for years, they were in harmony, something other weapons couldn't replace.

Realistically speaking, even if this long saber wasn't inferior in quality to the Boulder Mountain Saber, Lu Ye could only exert about ninety percent of his usual power with it.

Combat cultivators are overly reliant on their weapons, an undeniable drawback for them.

Having bought demon beast blood and meat, as well as a magic-artifact long saber, Lu Ye no longer felt like wandering around, afraid he would give in to buying more things.

Though he had gained much from his conquests, he couldn't afford to spend lavishly like this.

He found an ownerless house nearby, used his guard token to open the restriction, and entered to rest.

Yiyi finally had a chance to stretch and take a breath.

A moment later, one person, one spirit, and one tiger sat in a circle. With a thought, Lu Ye began cultivating by borrowing Heaven's Augury, while simultaneously activating the power of the Talent Tree, continuously absorbing the energy of the fire spirit stone in his hand.

The metamorphosis of the Talent Tree was not complete yet, and it was unknown how much energy was needed. Anyway, whenever Lu Ye had a moment, he would take out a fire spirit stone and let the Talent Tree absorb it.

After a peaceful night, Lu Ye got up the next day, prepared himself, and opened the door to return to Cangyan Mountain Pass.

However, just as he moved, someone descended from the sky, landing directly in front of him.

The newcomer was a husky man with a bushy beard, his face honest and seemingly straightforward.

Their eyes met.

The man spoke, "Does this Junior Brother have any military duties?"

Lu Ye shook his head, "None at all."

The man showed his guard token to Lu Ye, "I am the Warlord Geng, Captain of the A-3 squad under the Law Enforcement Hall of the Justice Department. We are now temporarily recruiting you to carry out a mission with our team. If you don't have other military duties, you must not refuse!"

As he spoke, the man's guard token emitted a strong yellow glow, while his own spirit force surged, showcasing his powerful cultivation at the True Lake Level 9.

Lu Ye was taken aback by his words but quickly realized—had he been forcibly conscripted?

But... could such temporary recruitment actually happen?

Perhaps sensing some misunderstanding, Warlord Geng explained, "Rest assured, Junior Brother. This mission doesn't have significant risks and won't take too long, at most three to five days, so it won't delay you much. Besides, participating in the mission with us will earn you battle merits."