Rewards and Recruitment

"Cluck cluck cluck!"

At the sound of the door opening, the four little hens immediately came racing out of the chicken coop.

They surrounded Wang Chen, who had just returned home.

Wang Chen crouched down and gave every one of them a thorough petting.

Ever since Xiao Bai had run off with her husband, he had no one left to pet and could only make do with these hens.

To ease his taut nerves a little.

Then he added rice bran to their feed trough.

Watching the hens desperately scramble for food, Wang Chen revealed a kindly smile.

Whether he would get to eat boiled eggs, fried eggs, scrambled eggs, steamed egg custard, omurice...

Would all depend on them.

It was not that Wang Chen was greedy for food.

The immortal path stretched long and far, and cultivation was no easy thing. Without a little enjoyment in life, how agonizing would it be!

In truth, he was already quite fortunate.

Of the nine members of the Fourth Patrol Team at Guard Post Yi-10, only four had returned after that battle.

One of them had lost an arm.

Wang Chen had escaped the tiger's jaws without a scratch and even earned battle merit. What was there for him to complain about?

Earlier at the guard post, he had heard others discussing how the border regions of the Outer Mountain Gate had suffered a massive assault by the Gray-Eyed Bandits. Besides several Night Patrol Teams suffering grievous losses, many farming households had also been caught up in the disaster.

The exact casualties were unknown, but they were surely very severe.

At the very least, Wang Chen's home had remained safe and sound.

But fortunate as he was, the thick sense of crisis in his heart still refused to dissipate.

The suddenly erupting Earth Rhinoceros disaster, his inexplicable conscription, the Gray-Eyed Bandits' invasion, and the appearance of Evil Spirits.

Thinking of the warning Big White Rat had given him.

Wang Chen deeply felt that this place was truly no longer safe!

The problem was that, even knowing the danger, he had no better choice.

When all was said and done, he was simply too weak!

Sitting in the meditation room, Wang Chen summoned the Cultivation Panel.

Aside from the Five Elements Technique, which he cultivated as his main art, and the Heavenly Dragon Vajra Righteous Dharma, which he cultivated as a secondary art, he had currently mastered nine skills.

Among them, Mighty Strength Art, Cloud Rain Art, Spirit Eye Technique, Vajra Fist, and Spirit Light Shield Armor had all reached the proficient level.

Fire Crow Technique had just begun, while his strongest skill, Gengjin Finger, had already reached Great Accomplishment.

In terms of spell characteristics, he had offensive, defensive, and supportive spells.

But he still lacked an Evasion Technique.

To put it plainly, Wang Chen had a weakness when it came to fleeing for his life.

Though he could use Jia Ma Talismans, how could they compare to personally mastering a powerful Evasion Technique?

Previously, his pockets had been empty, and he lacked the means to purchase an Evasion Technique to cultivate.

Now, he had a little capital.

Wang Chen considered it carefully and quickly made a decision.

He then looked at the merit section of the Cultivation Panel.

Heavenly Merit (Fate Alteration): 10

Human Virtue (Breakthrough): 39

Destroying one Evil Spirit had earned him 25 points of Human Virtue, so his ammunition for upgrading skills was undoubtedly much more plentiful.

His Heavenly Merit had increased by 6 points, reaching double digits in one stroke.

Needless to say, those 6 points of Heavenly Merit had surely come from killing the Gray-Eyed Bandit cultivator.

Just like that traveling merchant!

And these 10 points of Heavenly Merit happened to give Wang Chen one chance to improve either his Spiritual Root or comprehension.

After some thought, he added them to his Spiritual Root!

Spiritual Root: 4

Four points—exactly double his original attribute value!

Wang Chen was overjoyed.

The Spiritual Root could be said to be a cultivator's most important attribute, determined by one's innate endowment.

To improve one's Spiritual Root, one would have to obtain supreme Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures such as a ten-thousand-year vermilion fruit to alter one's fate.

Moreover, when a Purple Mansion cultivator condensed a Golden Core, they would have one chance to reshape their spiritual roots.

But it had to be a Pill Formation of the top three grades.

The problem was, anyone capable of condensing a top three grades Golden Core could not possibly have poor spiritual roots!

This showed just how heaven-defying the Cultivation Panel was.

Wang Chen reckoned that if he tested his spiritual roots now, he should receive at least a "middling-low" evaluation.

Of course, Wang Chen would never test them again. If anyone learned that he could actually improve his spiritual roots, even the Yunyang Sect's Golden Core True Persons would surely be very interested in having a talk with him.

Over the course of his subsequent cultivation, Wang Chen clearly felt the benefits brought by the increase in Spiritual Root Points.

He became more effective at refining spirit food, could absorb more spiritual energy from the outside world into his body, and needed less time to complete a Great Heavenly Cycle, correspondingly improving both the efficiency and quality of his cultivation.

The investment of 10 Heavenly Merit was absolutely worth every bit of it!

For two consecutive days, aside from tending to his spirit fields, Wang Chen diligently cultivated and trained at home.

Grinding experience for Mighty Strength Art, Vajra Fist, Spirit Light Shield Armor, and Fire Crow Technique.

Until the morning of the third day, a white Paper Crane fluttered into his home.

It landed before his windowsill.

Startled by the disturbance, Wang Chen picked up the Paper Crane and opened it.

This kind of Paper Crane was a single-use Mechanical Creation, mainly used to deliver messages.

It was essentially a letter that could deliver itself.

It was also called a Message Crane.

The original owner had received Paper Cranes sent by others before, so Wang Chen was not unfamiliar with them.

And this Message Crane had come from the Outer Sect Main Hall!

The letter's contents were divided into two parts.

First came Wang Chen's commendation. The battle merit that Squad Leader Yao Mingjie had reported for him had been confirmed. He could bring his Identity Token to the Merit Affairs Hall to claim a reward of five hundred Merit Points.

Furthermore, the Magic Tools, Pills, and Talismans issued to him by the guard post would no longer be reclaimed.

Five hundred Merit Points!

Wang Chen was truly overjoyed.

The Magic Tools, Pills, and Talismans issued by the guard post were nothing much, but Merit Points were genuine good stuff.

The original owner had painstakingly cultivated spirit fields and paid the full amount of Spirit Grain due. Over five years, he had accumulated only a hundred Merit Points.

Then he had spent every last one of them exchanging for the latter six layers of the Five Elements Technique.

And now, just for killing one Gray-Eyed Bandit, he had received a reward five times greater than what five years of hard work had earned him!

How could he not be happy?

Within the sect, Merit Points were even more useful than Spirit Stones.

They could be exchanged for techniques, spiritual materials, Pills, and Magic Tools, and could also serve as payment for seeking instruction from an Elder of Inherited Teachings.

They could even be used to offset minor offenses.

Wang Chen's wish to obtain an Evasion Technique could now immediately be fulfilled!

Besides the commendation, the other part of the letter contained a Recruitment Notice issued by the Main Hall.

It was recruiting cultivators between the ages of sixteen and forty-five who were at the third layer of Qi Condensation or above.

To join the Reserve Teams of the War Hall, Guard Hall, and Discipline Hall.

Reserve Cultivators would receive allocations of techniques, Magic Tools, Pills, and Talismans, as well as a chance to become official disciples of the three halls.

If they earned merit, they could even advance into the Inner Sect.

Among the Outer Sect's hundred thousand cultivators, anyone who met the requirements could sign up.

Compared to that inexplicable mandatory conscription from before, Wang Chen felt that this Recruitment Notice, baiting people with benefits, was the proper and reasonable way to recruit cannon fodder!

Never mind advancing into the Inner Sect—even the status of an official disciple of the War, Guard, or Discipline Hall was enough to make countless low-level cultivators flock toward it, willing to risk their lives for a future.

Setting aside all other benefits, an official disciple of one of the three halls received a rent exemption quota for ten mu of spirit fields.

If Wang Chen became an official disciple of one of the three halls, he would no longer have to hand over a single jin of Spirit Grain from his own spirit fields!

The temptation was truly powerful.

Yet Wang Chen's heart remained utterly still. He even felt like laughing.

Whoever wanted to go could go.

In any case, he absolutely would not.