Chapter 124: Chapter 123: Garrison Situation, Bribery

The Cyan Feathered Eagle’s massive body kicked up a gale as it landed steadily on a relatively flat, hard patch of ground outside the Linze County outpost. The restraining force on its back vanished, and Lu Zhao and the other dozen or so Outer Sect Stewards leaped off.

The moment Lu Zhao’s feet touched the soft, muddy ground, he was hit by a wave of air thick with moisture, the smell of rot, and... a certain indescribable, sickly-sweet stench.

At that very moment, a skin-crawling, writhing crimson mass covering the entire forest at the edge of Lu Zhao’s vision seemed to stir. A thin stream broke away from it and surged toward the newcomers—silent, swift, and hungry as a school of piranhas that had caught the scent of blood.

VMMM!

In the same instant, over a dozen Protective Spiritual Lights flared to life. Varying in color and thickness, each one enveloped its master.

A pale blue Water Membrane flowed across Lu Zhao’s body. It looked thin, but it was exceptionally resilient. The swarming, blood-red insects slammed into the Spirit Light, making a soft, pattering sound like rain on broad leaves. The faint power within the light repelled and crushed them, leaving behind trivial dark red specks that quickly vanished into the air as if they had never been.

But more insects swarmed forward, wave after wave, fearlessly battering the invisible barriers. Soon, every person’s Protective Spiritual Light was encased in a writhing, blood-red film.

Lu Zhao glanced around and saw that the other Outer Sect Stewards looked unfazed. They had clearly anticipated this, as no one panicked. They simply maintained their Protective Spiritual Light in silence. They must have been warned before setting out that these Non-Tiered Blood Spirit Worms were inexhaustible. Trying to kill them would be a pointless waste of Magical Power; the best defense was simply to keep one’s Protective Spiritual Light up and block them out.

"Fellow disciples, this way, please!" A slightly hoarse voice cut through the drone of the insects. A middle-aged man in the black Steward Black Robe of a Bixia Sect Outer Sect Steward was striding toward them from the outpost. He, too, was protected by a layer of earthen-yellow Protective Spiritual Light, and he paid the writhing crimson tide no mind as he beckoned to the group.

The group did as he said, trudging through the slick, muddy ground with their Protective Spiritual Lights active. The closer they got to the outpost, the stronger the reek of insects, damp earth, and faint blood became.

The outpost, which covered a considerable area, sat at the edge of the bizarre, Blood Spirit Worm-infested forest. The first thing they saw was a large cluster of plain, even crude, stone and wooden houses. They were arranged in a relatively orderly fashion, but they were clearly built from local materials with little refinement, giving the place the rough-and-ready feel of a temporary camp.

Most of the roofs were covered in thick moss or waterproof animal hides, and the mottled walls were clearly weathered by the constant humidity.

Lu Zhao took a moment to sense the Spiritual Qi in the air and found its concentration fluctuated somewhere between Tier One Middle-Grade and Tier One High-Grade. It was far inferior to the Sect’s Cave Mansions and even weaker than some of the rental caves in the Bixia Marketplace. It was barely enough to sustain daily cultivation; rapid progress would be impossible without relying on a large quantity of Pills.

The entire outpost was enveloped in a pale cyan Array Light Curtain, like a massive inverted bowl. This was the Tier Two Array that guarded the area. At the moment, however, the Array Light Curtain shimmered slowly, its glow contained. It clearly wasn’t operating at full power, merely maintaining a basic defense that kept the vast majority of the Blood Spirit Worms outside.

Inside the Array Light Curtain, a few stray Blood Spirit Worms still crawled about near the edges, but their numbers were far lower than outside.

The middle-aged Steward in charge of the reception led them through a temporary opening in the Array Light Curtain and into the outpost. The barrier blocked out most of the sight and sound of the swarm outside, but the cloying, sweet stench still lingered faintly in the air.

"It must have been a long journey, my fellow disciples. My surname is Sunx, and I’m in charge of receiving new Outer Sect Stewards." The middle-aged Steward stopped and turned, forcing a formulaic smile. "First, I’ll take you to your quarters. I can give you a brief overview of this place as we walk."

He led them down a relatively even main path inside the outpost, explaining in a level voice, "The highest authority here is a Martial Uncle at the Foundation Establishment Stage. However, he spends his years cultivating at the Spirit Vein node in the heart of the outpost. As long as no Tier Two Demon Beasts appear, he rarely involves himself in day-to-day matters. Daily operations are mostly managed by a few senior brothers who have been stationed here for several years."

He had barely finished speaking when one of the stewards—a man in his early thirties with a weathered face, at the Qi Cultivation Eighth Layer—couldn’t help but ask, "Brother Sunx, I heard that it’s incredibly rare for an Outer Sect Steward to last even a full year here. How can there be senior brothers who have stayed for several years?"

Steward Sunx seemed to have expected this question. His formulaic smile didn’t waver as he explained, "Those senior brothers are a different case. For their merits or other special reasons, the Sect granted them protective Tier Two Magical Artifacts for Exorcism and insect repellent. With artifacts like those, ordinary Blood Spirit Worms don’t dare come within several yards of them, so of course they can remain stationed here long-term."

"Ordinary Blood Spirit Worms?" someone else asked, latching onto the key word. "Does that mean there are extraordinary ones?"

Steward Sunx nodded, his tone still placid. "With such a vast number of Blood Spirit Worms, it’s inevitable that not all of them are Non-Tiered. A rare few get lucky and advance to the Tier One Early Stage. But they are few and far between. Even when they do advance, their individual strength is at the very bottom among Tier One Early Stage Demon Beasts. Aside from a slightly more potent Blood Poison, they pose no real threat to us Late-stage Qi Cultivators and still can’t break through our Protective Spiritual Light. You just need to stay vigilant and not let them catch you off guard."

He paused, as if he felt he’d explained enough, and got to the point. "Your main task here is quite simple, actually. You will take shifts patrolling and guarding the outpost’s perimeter and the surrounding area. If you spot a Demon Beast causing trouble—whether it emerges from the swamp, the river, or the forest—your job is to give a timely warning and either kill or drive it off. As for the internal management of the outpost and matters concerning the Wanderers mining ore here, others will handle that. You don’t need to concern yourselves with it."

Before anyone could speak, his gaze swept over the group, and he added, "Also, if you’re on patrol and discover a contracted Wanderer attempting to escape, you don’t need to pursue them yourselves. Just report it to the enforcers in the outpost. These Wanderers are all on three-year contracts to mine Blood Spirit Jade. The power of the contract binds them; they can’t run far, and they can’t get away." His tone, as he spoke the last sentence, held an air of cold, indisputable finality.

Lu Zhao followed the group, listening in silence and sighing to himself. ’Signed a contract? More like they were tricked into it. This environment is atrocious, and the Blood Spirit Worms are a plague. Who would willingly sell their life to work here unless they were completely desperate? Judging by the casual, yet controlling way Steward Sunx talks about escaped Wanderers, capturing them must be a regular occurrence. I bet there’s a hefty profit to be made from it, too.’

"Alright, my fellow disciples, the houses assigned to you all have a Spiritual Qi concentration of Tier One Middle-Grade. The conditions here are spartan, nothing like the blessed lands of the Sect, so I ask for your understanding." Steward Sunx stopped in front of a row of relatively new-looking wooden houses. "You will rest here for three days to acclimate yourselves. After that, I will inform you of the patrol rotation schedule. Rest assured, aside from the poor Spiritual Qi and the bothersome Blood Spirit Worms, you will have ample time for your cultivation. The duties are also relatively light. The Demon Beasts don’t attack often. If you’re lucky, you could be stationed here for two months without seeing a single one."

With that, he began assigning the houses according to a list. Lu Zhao was eighth and was given a wooden house located in the middle of the row.

"Junior Brother Lu, here is the Token for your house. You can use it to activate the simple Protective Array outside." Steward Zhao handed a Black Iron Token engraved with a number to Lu Zhao and gestured to the closed wooden door. "Go on in. Get some good rest."

Lu Zhao took the Token. It was cold to the touch. He offered a word of thanks, pushed open the heavy wooden door, and went inside, closing it behind him. The air that hit his nostrils was a mixture of stone, dirt, and a faint, musty odor. It wasn’t pleasant, but it was a vast improvement over the omnipresent, foul stench of the insects outside.

The house was small and the furnishings extremely simple. A stone bed, a stone table, a stone stool, and a meditation cushion in the corner were the only belongings. A few glowing stones embedded in the wall cast a soft white light, barely illuminating the interior.

Lu Zhao’s gaze fell instantly upon the stone table. Ten Lower Grade Spirit Stones were stacked there in a neat pile, gleaming softly in the light of the glowing stones.

He walked over, picked up a Spirit Stone, and weighed it in his hand. The corner of his mouth lifted in a barely perceptible smirk, a look of faint mockery and understanding.

"’A welcome gift...’ he muttered to himself. It was clearly a ’goodwill gesture’ from the outpost’s management to the newcomers. Or, to be more precise, a kind of unspoken hush money or appeasement fund. They were using the Sect’s resources to buy the silence of the Outer Sect Stewards on this mandatory assignment—to get them to turn a blind eye to the shadier side of the outpost, or at least to not stir up trouble.

Lu Zhao was no stickler for rules, and he felt little loyalty to the Bixia Sect anyway. He knew full well that in an outpost like this—far from the Sect’s core, a world unto itself, and with such a hostile environment—acting too ’impartial’ or ’uncooperative’ would only make his own life difficult and could even attract unnecessary trouble.

With a light flick of his sleeve, he swept all ten Spirit Stones from the table into his Storage Bag.

’The Bixia Sect loses a few Spirit Stones, and in return, I might gain some convenience or avoid some trouble. Lu Zhao understood the calculation perfectly.’ He walked to the stone bed and sat down. His gaze passed through the narrow window, toward the shimmering, pale cyan Array Light Curtain, and beyond it, to the endless, heart-stopping, writhing sea of red.

Lu Zhao’s tour of duty in Linze County had officially begun.

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