Low-Level Mercenary Contract

With a thought, Lu Yang chose to claim his reward.

The next moment, the space before him distorted for an instant without warning.

Five black-haired, middle-aged men with wooden faces appeared abruptly before him.

There was no flash of spiritual light, no spatial rift. It was as if they had been standing there all along, only hidden from view by something a moment ago.

Lu Yang looked over the five men one by one.

Their faces were utterly ordinary, so ordinary that they would disappear in an instant if thrown into the crowd at any market town, with no distinguishing features to speak of.

Their expressions were as cold as stone statues, their eyes deep yet empty, like lifeless wells.

The five raised their heads and looked at Lu Yang in perfect unison, without the slightest difference in timing. Then they dropped to one knee together, their knees striking the dead leaves with a crisp thud.

"Master!"

Five deep, utterly flat voices joined as one, echoing briefly through the mountain forest before fading away.

Lu Yang's sea of consciousness rippled slightly.

It was a strange sensation—as if five faint threads had emerged from his consciousness and tied themselves to the five puppets.

He instinctively sensed that through these five threads, he could control their every movement. With a single thought, he could even snuff out their lives.

Lu Yang took a deep breath, and the wild joy he could no longer contain finally surged up in his chest.

Seeing puppet bodyguards displayed on a panel and having them standing right in front of him were two entirely different feelings.

He steadied his emotions and returned to a calm expression. In an even voice, he said, "Rise."

The five puppets rose at once and stood quietly where they were, their hands at their sides as they waited for him to speak.

They did not blink, turn their heads, or speak. They were like five human-shaped stone statues.

Lu Yang pondered for a moment, then said, "From now on, just call me Young Master."

The address "Master" always felt a little old-fashioned.

He was only nineteen. Having five middle-aged men call him Master sounded awkward any way he heard it.

"Yes!" The five answered in unison again, without asking why or saying another word.

To them, an order was an order. There was no need for a reason.

Lu Yang nodded in satisfaction, sweeping his gaze over the five and back again. After a moment's thought, he continued issuing orders:

"Wang Er, Wang Si, Wang Wu, go to the Lu Household and protect its members."

As his words fell, he stirred his thoughts and transmitted everything he knew about the Lu Household—its location, its members' faces, and the size of the Lineage—through the five threads of consciousness.

His reasons for sending three puppets to the Lu Household were not complicated.

First, he had gotten into a minor conflict with the Li Household's people today. The Li Household was a Golden Core Aristocratic Clan. If they wanted to investigate his background, following the trail to the Lu Household would not be difficult. A Golden Core Lineage would be a calamity crashing down on a small Lineage that did not even have a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator.

Second, he would only spend Spirit Stones more lavishly in the future, and more and more people would pay attention to him. Some were bound to harbor ill intent. He had Golden Core puppets protecting him and had nothing to fear, but if he looked after only himself and ignored the Lu Household, the Lineage would likely be in danger.

Of these three puppets, Wang Er was at Late Golden Core, while Wang Si and Wang Wu were at Middle Golden Core.

Though Wang Er was only at Late Golden Core, with his full set of max-level earth-rank Cultivation Methods and Law Techniques, he could probably suppress even an ordinary Peak Golden Core cultivator.

The gap between minor realms was not as great as the gap between major realms.

The same was true of Wang Si and Wang Wu.

With these three puppets stationed at the Lu Household, the Lu Household would have high-end combat power on the level of a top Golden Core Lineage.

A small Lineage that, on the surface, did not even have a Foundation Establishment cultivator, secretly hiding three Golden Core-level powerhouses, would probably give anyone harboring ill intent toward him quite a surprise.

Upon receiving their orders, Wang Er, Wang Si, and Wang Wu did not pause for a moment.

Spiritual Qi surged around the three like a tide, their robes snapping in the spiritual pressure. Then they became three brilliant streaks of rainbow light, tearing through the night sky as they soared upward and vanished in an instant into the depths of the darkness.

Silence returned to the clearing.

Lu Yang withdrew his gaze. The translucent panel was still floating before him.

He turned his attention back to it and continued examining his other gains from the day.

First were the rewards from the end of the auction: the mid-grade Storage Ring and the Flowing Light Flying Boat.

Lu Yang held out his hand. Light flashed in his palm, and a silver-gray ring quietly appeared.

He held the ring up before his eyes and examined it closely.

The ring had a simple, ancient design, without ornamentation, but its inner and outer surfaces were covered in densely packed formation patterns. The intricate, profound markings were each as fine as a hair yet perfectly clear, giving off a faint, cold gleam in the moonlight.

[Intermediate Storage Ring (Special Law Treasure)]: Contains a space five thousand zhang in length, width, and height. Must be refined and bound to an owner before use.

Reading the description, Lu Yang could not help but catch his breath.

Five thousand zhang in length, width, and height?!

Converted, that meant the space inside was more than ten kilometers across!

He raised his head, his gaze sweeping over the silent outlines of the peaks beneath the moonlight.

Several mountaintops could fit inside this Storage Ring.

He could not help slowly drawing in a breath, the corners of his mouth curling upward despite himself.

With this much space, he could never use it all!

Moreover, unlike a Storage Bag, this thing had to be refined and bound to an owner.

Anyone who got their hands on a Storage Bag could pry it open and pull things out, but once a Storage Ring was bound to an owner, only that owner could use it. Its security and privacy were on an entirely different level.

He slipped the ring onto his finger. A slight chill touched his skin as the silver-gray band settled against it.

He turned the ring around, growing more pleased the longer he looked at it.

Then Lu Yang turned his attention to the other reward.

[Flowing Light Flying Boat (Supreme-Grade Flying Law Treasure)]: A large, tower-ship flying Law Treasure over a hundred zhang long. Its hull has a frame of ten-thousand-year-old spirit wood and planking of spirit-gathering star silver. Seven stories of towers rise from its deck, and it can accommodate several hundred passengers. It comes equipped with complete living facilities, including a pill-refining room, an artifact-refining room, a spirit beast pen, a spirit field, a nursery, and more...

Lu Yang's eyelid twitched violently.

Holy shit?!

A supreme-grade flying Law Treasure?!

Cultivators in the Qi Refining Realm used Law Artifacts, those in the Foundation Establishment Realm used Spirit Artifacts, and only those in the Golden Core Realm could activate Law Treasures.

Combat Law Treasures had to be driven by a cultivator's own spiritual power. At his current cultivation realm, he could drain all the Spiritual Qi from his body and still be unable to activate something at the Law Treasure level.

But flying Law Treasures were different—they relied not on a cultivator's own spiritual power, but on spirit-gathering formations and Spirit Stones.

This Flowing Light Flying Boat had two modes of propulsion.

In normal mode, the spirit-gathering formation inside the boat could absorb Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi on its own to keep it flying. Full-power mode required a large supply of Spirit Stones, using their highly concentrated Spiritual Qi to unleash speeds far beyond normal.

Best of all, although the supreme-grade flying Law Treasure's formation system was vast, he only needed to refine its core control formation disk to command it with a thought!

In other words, even with his Mid-stage Qi Refining cultivation, he could easily pilot a supreme-grade flying Law Treasure that would make even a Golden Core mighty figure green with envy!

For him, it was practically tailor-made.

Lu Yang licked his slightly dry lips and chose to claim the Flowing Light Flying Boat.

The next moment, the flying boat entered the system inventory.

Just as the flying boat entered the system inventory, the text on the panel before Lu Yang's eyes changed once more.

[As a tycoon, the host has obtained his first vehicle. Reward: 10,000 Low-Grade Spirit Stones, Low-Level Mercenary Contract ×1.]

Lu Yang's eyes lit up, and he raised his eyebrows.

Huh? Something new?

A mercenary contract?

Those words instinctively brought the bodyguard puppets to mind. Could it be a similar item for hiring help?

In the past, he probably would only have thought of things like hiring retired special forces soldiers.

But now, with five Golden Core bodyguards whose attributes defied the heavens as a point of reference, his expectations for the mercenary contract instantly shot through the roof.

He could not wait to open the detailed description.

[Low-Level Mercenary Contract: Spend Spirit Stones to hire one temporary mercenary puppet (cultivation options: Peak Foundation Establishment—30,000 Low-Grade Spirit Stones per day; Peak Golden Core—300,000 Low-Grade Spirit Stones per day; Peak Nascent Soul—3,000,000 Low-Grade Spirit Stones per day). The mercenary is absolutely loyal but has no independent consciousness and will automatically disappear when the term expires. A maximum of one may be hired at a time!]

As Lu Yang read the description on the panel, his pupils widened involuntarily.

Holy shit?

Peak Nascent Soul?!

He had already seen from Wang Da just how outrageous the attributes of a system-rewarded puppet could be.

How strong would a Peak Nascent Soul puppet's stats be?

If he could hire a Peak Nascent Soul puppet for one day, forget ordinary cultivators—even if he picked any top sect in Qin Province, the puppet could probably inflict enormous losses on it, right?

Of course, the hiring price was outrageous too.

Three million Low-Grade Spirit Stones for just one day. It was burning money at an absurd rate.

Lu Yang scratched his head, grumbling inwardly.

But on second thought, this was a Peak Nascent Soul mercenary, and one who was absolutely loyal.

When he truly needed to call on power of that level, perhaps three million Low-Grade Spirit Stones was not especially expensive?

At the very least, this thing could serve as a life-saving trump card tucked away at the bottom of the chest.

Unfortunately, he did not have three million Low-Grade Spirit Stones on hand right now.

Lu Yang carefully put the mercenary contract away and silently began making plans.

It looked like he would have to save up more money from now on.