"Wu Xintai greets the Army Inspector." Before the gates of the Xuanjia Camp, Wang Ping studied the heavily armored general before shifting his gaze to the towering military encampment.
How formidable.
To Wang Ping, the general's martial strength did not seem particularly high. At best, he was an Internal Force Martial Master. Yet, an inexplicable momentum radiated from the man.
If he settled his mind to listen, he could tell this momentum originated from the military camp behind the man. The breathing of over five hundred soldiers merged into a single entity, rumbling like dormant wind and thunder. It felt less like an encampment and more like an ancient beast lying prone on the earth—an impression so intense it almost formed an illusion before his eyes.
It's like the bailiffs at the County Yamen... no, even stronger!
After all, the County Yamen only had about a hundred bailiffs. This military camp was at least five times that size, so its resulting Divine Intent and martial presence naturally far surpassed them.
With this in mind, Wang Ping quickly made a judgment.
This man is stronger than Xu Bingzheng, too.
Backed by this five-hundred-man camp, even if his personal cultivation is only at the Internal Force Martial Master level, killing Xu Bingzheng in a real fight wouldn't be much harder than slaughtering a chicken.
After all, he held the bronze Military Tally bestowed by the emperor, as well as an imperial edict. The stronger the Xuanjia Camp was, the more advantageous it would be for him.
Looking at it this way, becoming a government official was not entirely without its perks.
"There is no need for such formality."
Wang Ping smiled faintly and reached out to help Wu Xintai up. "Although I bear heavy responsibilities, I am a newcomer here. I will have to rely on you going forward, General."
"You flatter me..."
Wu Xintai's eyes brightened. Sensing the goodwill in Wang Ping's words, his tone grew significantly warmer, and the atmosphere between them quickly turned harmonious.
Even so, Wu Xintai could not help but mutter internally:
This Gold-Bearing Brocade Guard... doesn't seem very strong.
An Internal Force Martial Master with a Microcosmic Orbit Physique? He isn't even a Titled Martial Master. Could he be some noble family's young master who came here specifically to pad his resume?
...
Outside the Xuanjia Camp, on a small hillside.
Just as Wang Ping entered the Xuanjia Camp, every word and action shared between him and Wu Xintai was taken in by two figures standing atop the hill, overlooking the tents.
The two men had vastly different appearances and attire. One possessed the long arms of an ape and a narrow waist, with a sharp mouth and monkey-like cheeks. Carrying a Coiled Dragon Staff, at a glance he looked like a common errand boy from a tavern or inn. The other man had narrow, elongated eyes and revealed sharp teeth whenever he smiled, naturally exuding a sense of ruthless ferocity without lifting a finger.
"...So, what do you think?"
The sharp-mouthed man spoke first. "A Gold-Bearing Brocade Guard. Using this identity as a stone to test the waters should create quite a splash."
With that, he suddenly let out a soft chuckle.
"A Gold-Bearing Brocade Guard, an imperial guard of the Son of Heaven."
"Do you think that kid actually believes His Majesty would entrust such a heavy responsibility entirely to a martial master who hasn't even earned a title?"
"Hard to say, but it is not up to him anyway."
The ruthless man spoke indifferently. "Whether he realizes the truth or not, he still has to do what must be done. Otherwise, it is deceiving the sovereign and disobeying orders. Either way, there is little difference."
"True enough."
The sharp-mouthed man's expression grew slightly solemn. "Regardless, the waters in Longxing County run deep. If they didn't, the National Academy and His Majesty wouldn't have cast their gazes here."
"Of course they do."
The ruthless man said in a deep voice, "I investigated beforehand. This place is where the previous dynasty's Grand Ancestor first rose to power, which is exactly why it was given the name Longxing—Dragon's Rise."
"The previous dynasty? High treason?"
The sharp-mouthed man frowned. "No wonder His Majesty is paying such close attention... Does that mean there is lingering destiny from the previous dynasty left within Longxing County?"
"It is highly likely," the ruthless man nodded. "At the very least, the National Academy is aware of it, and so are those extraordinary persons. That is exactly why they specifically came here to build Youren Temple. The two sides likely reached some sort of agreement, aiming to use the imperial destiny here to carry out unspeakable acts."
"There is also the White Lotus Sect."
Recalling the case files he had reviewed earlier, the sharp-mouthed man looked solemn. "This sect is no ordinary band of rebels. An evil entity is suspected to be lurking behind them."
"The Mother of Pity?"
The ruthless man shook his head. "I have never heard of such an evil entity before... though it is also possible that it is a demon that changed its name after a warrant was put out for it."
"Regardless, we must remain on guard."
"That is why we need this Gold-Bearing Brocade Guard. By having him carry the imperial edict and the Military Tally, we can toss him into Longxing County as bait to fish out whoever is pulling the strings."
"When that time comes, it will finally be the Tribute Hall's turn to act."
As his voice fell, the two men looked up simultaneously.
Their gazes landed squarely on Longxing County City. Endless plumes of cooking smoke rose into the air, and the bustling sound of human voices echoed outward. The city looked like a vast lake, so completely serene that not a single ripple could be seen.
Beneath the surface of that lake, however, hidden currents were surging.
That was exactly why they needed to cast a stone to test the waters—to gauge just how deep this lake truly was!
...
Inside the Xuanjia Camp.
A few soldiers skillfully arranged a bed for Wang Ping and carefully tidied up the space, clearing out a relatively quiet tent for him.
After everything was sorted out, Wu Xintai stepped forward and asked in a low voice, "Lord Wang, do you have any other orders?"
Hearing this, Wang Ping realized there actually was something he needed help with. He leaned closer to Wu Xintai and whispered, "Are there any martial arts in this camp?"
"...Martial arts?"
Wu Xintai froze for a moment before nodding instinctively. "Of course there are. But when it comes to profundity, the cultivation methods in our camp certainly can't compare to your martial arts, Lord Wang..."
Wang Ping naturally knew this well. After all, just like the bailiffs, the identity of a Gold-Bearing Brocade Guard came with its own inherent martial arts and even included an internal force physique diagram. But he had already looked them over, and they could not compare to the Heavenly Roc Dragon Capture Physique Diagram. Trash physiques like those were completely useless to him now.
After all, he was going to walk the Immortal Dao.
Based on his experience from his past life, the moment he started cultivating immortality, any internal force physique of an insufficient grade would be directly converted and erased during the process.
In other words, he either avoided training in internal force and cultivating a physique entirely, or he had to train in the absolute best.
However, the Xuanjia Camp obviously lacked those kinds of resources, so Wang Ping had not expected them to pull out any profound internal martial arts for him anyway.
What he was asking for was another type of martial art entirely.
"Unranked martial arts."
Wang Ping explained, "I want a batch of unranked martial arts. The kind that don't rely on weapons, but instead use the practitioner's own flesh and blood as the weapon."
After speaking, he even used the Iron Ox Art to demonstrate.
Wu Xintai was completely baffled, entirely failing to understand Wang Ping's reason for requesting unranked martial arts. After all, they were called unranked for a reason.
First was the difficulty of cultivation. Forging a weapon and tempering the physical body were two completely different concepts. A weapon was an external object that could be hammered recklessly; iron and metal would only grow stronger the more they were tempered. The body, however, was flesh and blood. It had limits and required careful nursing; otherwise, the practitioner was just asking for suffering.
Under such circumstances, the difficulty of training naturally skyrocketed.
Second, the speed of cultivation inevitably plummeted. The body needed time to recover, and in this back-and-forth process, massive amounts of time were simply wasted.
Finally, the actual power yielded was not even that impressive.
Although unranked martial arts could still manifest an Art of War, its scope was generally limited, only capable of covering a specific portion of the body. The effects were far inferior to those of orthodox martial arts.
High difficulty, massive consumption, and poor power.
With those three factors stacked together, the payoff was completely disproportionate to the investment. Over time, unranked martial arts naturally fell out of favor, with no one willing to practice them anymore.
However, that was the mindset of a Mortal.
To me, unranked martial arts are actually a great avenue to the heavens!
In Wang Ping's view, even though the Great Shun Martial Dao was vastly inferior to the Immortal Dao, it possessed at least one highly unique and immensely valuable aspect.
The Art of War.
The Art of War, which could only be manifested to empower oneself after cultivating a martial art to full consummation, was the single most valuable element of the Great Shun Martial Dao in Wang Ping's eyes.
The reason was simple:
This effect isn't diminished or influenced by the baseline strength or weakness of the physical body. From that perspective, its enhancement actually functions as an independent multiplier.
That was absolutely crucial!
According to the Immortal Gate's cultivation system, I am currently at the Tribulation Transcending First Layer. In this realm, I must directly face the Human Tribulation and successively condense four cultivation traits.
Telepathic Spiritual Perception, Flawless True Body, Cosmic Orbit Respiration, and Borrowing Qi to Manifest Magic—these four cultivation traits allowed a cultivator to truly transcend mortality. In his past life, he had only cultivated a half-completed Flawless True Body, yet his physical strength had been no weaker than an Internal Force Martial Master's. If he were to receive the Art of War buffs from an entire set of unranked martial arts on top of that...
Just how strong could he become?
Taking a step back, if he obtained a massive number of unranked martial arts to empower his physique through the Art of War, the difficulty of cultivating the Flawless True Body would probably decrease as well, right?
After all, it was a noble, independent multiplier.
Of course, this was only Wang Ping's speculation for now, but he felt it was worth testing in practice. If it truly worked, he would be making a massive profit this time!
Soon, Wu Xintai left the tent, his mind still filled with confusion.
"He wants unranked martial arts?"
Outside the tent, the sharp-mouthed man and the ruthless man stood side by side. Even though patrolling soldiers surrounded them, not a single person noticed their presence.
"Interesting."
The sharp-mouthed man chuckled softly. "It seems he has already realized he is bait, and might have even figured out that our Tribute Hall is the one pulling the strings from behind."
"He is demanding compensation."
The ruthless man shook his head. "The ignorant are fearless. There is no need to pay him any mind."
"I actually quite like that ambition of his."
The sharp-mouthed man lowered his head, his voice echoing faintly. "Moreover, what he asked for wasn't anything else; it was unranked martial arts. That shows he simply wants the qualifications."
"Since that is the case, what is the harm in giving him one?"
"Don't forget, Haizhu just died in Qingping Town a few days ago. The Tribute Hall is short one member, making this the perfect time to recruit externally and bring in outstanding talents."
"A Gold-Bearing Brocade Guard's background is certainly clean enough."
With that, the sharp-mouthed man took a step forward, completely ignoring the people around him as he casually lifted the tent flap. He laughed, "Kid, the unranked martial arts you wanted are here."
"...Who's there?!"
Inside the tent, Wang Ping snapped his head up, his pupils shrinking violently. Before the other party had spoken, he had not sensed their presence at all.
Not even with his spiritual sense!
In an instant, Wang Ping's muscles tensed, and the Heavenly Roc Force within his body flared to life. He stared fixedly at the man before him. Despite his shock, he did not forget to formulate a countermeasure:
Martial arts... against this person, they are probably not even worth mentioning. The feeling he gives me is even more absurd than Xu Bingzheng. But I still have spells. Qi Restriction can rapidly restore me, Soul Seizing can shake his mind, and I have the Life-Stealing Thief. As long as my hand touches him, I can devour his life force and vital essence.
Wang Ping thought rapidly, feeling a deep sense of relief at the same time:
Fortunately, I already dragged out the Outer Heavenly Demon's seven-day cooldown before coming here. If I truly run out of options, fighting to the bitter end is also a choice...
With this in mind, Wang Ping lowered his stance slightly.
"Relax, kid."
The sharp-mouthed man waved his hand and said casually, "I am Shenhou, and this is Xugou. Just as you thought, we are from the Tribute Hall."
As his voice fell, Wang Ping immediately lowered his eyelids.
What is he talking about? The Tribute Hall?
Wang Ping immediately began digging through his predecessor's memories, quickly finding the answer hidden away like background trivia: answering directly to the Son of Heaven, the Imperial Tribute Hall!
According to rumor, the Tribute Hall was established by the Grand Ancestor and permanently consisted of twelve members arranged in the order of the twelve earthly branches. The first six were all Grandmaster Rank experts standing at the absolute pinnacle of the martial dao. While the latter six were not grandmasters, they were Titled Martial Masters powerful enough to rival the top ranks of the Armament Manual. Every single one of them possessed unfathomable martial strength.
Why would experts like this be here?
And judging by his tone, does he think I already knew of their presence? But my predecessor's memory had no such thing. Is he misunderstanding something? Why the misunderstanding?
Wang Ping's mind was a blur. Having absolutely no idea how to respond, he simply let out a sigh, allowing a look of helpless hesitation to wash over his face.
He understood deeply that silence was golden.
At times like this, he just needed to keep his mouth shut and act like an expert. Otherwise, if the two men before him saw through his act, he might miss out on crucial clues.
Besides, smart people would fill in the blanks themselves.
Sure enough, seeing Wang Ping not answer, Shenhou did not mind. He continued, "You are quite smart, and well-informed too. The conditions you demanded are not excessive."
With that, he pulled a booklet from his robes.
Wang Ping focused his gaze, his eyes quickly landing on the sharp, bold characters written across the booklet's cover: Thirteen Grand Protectors Hard Qigong?
"This is the qualification you wanted."
Shenhou smiled. "As the closely guarded secret of the Imperial Tribute Hall, it contains thirteen martial arts. You must master at least seven of them before you are qualified to join the Tribute Hall."
"I have given you the opportunity. Whether you succeed or not depends entirely on you."
"Consider it a way to add a bit of weight to your stone. That way, you can stir up a larger splash in the muddy waters of Longxing County, instead of simply sinking without a trace."
"So? Do you want it?"
Saying this, Shenhou's smile grew increasingly intriguing, while Xugou, standing behind him, also raised his eyes to look at Wang Ping, revealing a hint of scrutiny.
The Thirteen Grand Protectors Hard Qigong was undoubtedly a good thing.
But meat pies did not simply fall from the sky. Behind this benefit lay enormous risks. By taking it, he would permanently tether himself to the muddy waters of Longxing County, entirely unable to escape.
As a mere Internal Force Martial Master, one wrong step meant dying without a complete corpse.
If he didn't take it, he still had a sliver of hope of extricating himself from the situation.
Whether he had the courage to face these difficulties head-on, even fearless in the face of death—that was the Tribute Hall's true screening standard. The Tribute Hall absolutely did not tolerate cowardice.
"Then I thank you, Senior."
In the next second, Wang Ping accepted the martial arts manual from Shenhou's hands without a shred of hesitation, seemingly treating it merely as an incredible stroke of fortune gifted to him for free.
He did not care about the underlying risks at all.
Watching Wang Ping, both Shenhou and Xugou could not help but reveal looks of surprise. If this display was not pure stupidity, then it could only mean—
He isn't afraid of dying?
Why wasn't he afraid?
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