Left Chiliarch

To ensure procedural justice.

Zuo Qianqiu first promoted Chen Fan from Centurion Officer in the Brocade Guard of Ping An County to full Centurion, and then transferred him to Dragon Abyss Prefecture, making him a Deputy Chiliarch in charge of logistics.

This was because the two Deputy Chiliarchs of the Dragon Abyss Prefecture Brocade Guard Chiliarch headquarters had both been promoted from within the headquarters.

Therefore, to avoid any appearance of favoritism with this third Deputy Chiliarch position, Zuo Qianqiu had long ago promised to select someone from the Centurion offices in the counties under Dragon Abyss Prefecture's jurisdiction.

Thus, Chen Fan's promotion to Deputy Chiliarch was reasonable, legal, compliant, and completely procedurally just.

If there hadn't been an agreement with the Centurion Officers guarding the various counties, this Deputy Chiliarch position in Dragon Abyss Prefecture wouldn't have fallen into their hands.

Generally speaking, the Centurion Officers guarding the counties mostly had a cultivation base at the fifth level of the Divine Treasury Realm. Very few were at the Divine Aperture Realm, and even if they broke through to the Divine Aperture Realm, they were at the very bottom of the food chain among Divine Aperture Realm martial artists.

On the other hand, the front-line Centurion Officers of the Dragon Abyss Prefecture Brocade Guard Chiliarch headquarters were all Divine Aperture Realm martial artists. At the Dragon Abyss Prefecture Chiliarch headquarters, one could be promoted to Centurion Officer without breaking through to the Divine Aperture Realm, relying on accumulated merits for promotion.

However, such Centurion Officers couldn't lead a large team on the front lines. If they were in logistics, they could manage some errands and follow the orders of the Deputy Chiliarch in charge of logistics.

This was both responsible to him and to these Brocade Guard brothers who risked their lives.

Without a Divine Aperture Realm cultivator, don't even think about leading a team to Purple Mountain to slay demons, because you'd just be delivering food to the demons.

"The courtyard is nice, a private residence, cleaned spotlessly, with all the daily necessities complete and new."

"You can cook your own meals here, or you can go to the Chiliarch headquarters camp to eat."

Chen Fan looked around. The courtyard wasn't large, with two courtyards, a kitchen in the front courtyard, a utility room, a servants' room, two bedrooms in the back courtyard, and a reception room.

Small but complete.

Living alone, it wasn't too small. Even if he remarried, it would be enough to raise a cook and a beautiful maid.

As he was strolling in the courtyard, Wang Teng and a middle-aged man who looked to be in his forties or fifties knocked on the door and entered the front courtyard.

Wang Teng, as a Deputy Chiliarch, was half a step behind that middle-aged man, so the identity of the visitor was obvious.

The Chiliarch of the Dragon Abyss Prefecture Brocade Guard, Zuo Qianqiu, at the peak of the Divine Aperture Realm!

"Subordinate Chen Fan greets Left Chiliarch!"

Chen Fan took the initiative to greet him, cupping his fist in salute and speaking.

"Deputy Chiliarch Chen, truly a young talent."

"Turning the tide and saving tens of thousands of people in Ping An County, you deserve the greatest credit!"

"If you have any discomfort or unfamiliarity upon arriving at the Dragon Abyss Prefecture Chiliarch headquarters, feel free to find Xue Ning and Wang Teng. Of course, if I am at the Chiliarch headquarters, you can come directly to me as well."

"It's just that I'm stationed at Purple Mountain year-round, confronting the demons of Purple Mountain, so I'm often gone for several months at a time. I hope you can understand that I'm not often at this Chiliarch headquarters."

Zuo Qianqiu had a mustache and a goatee. He looked thin and wiry, but Chen Fan felt a fatal threat from him.

This Dragon Abyss Prefecture Brocade Guard Chiliarch was probably even more powerful than ordinary peak Divine Aperture Realm cultivators. Otherwise, the Cloud Province Myriad Household Office wouldn't have entrusted him with such an important task, allowing him to be stationed in a prefecture.

"I wouldn't dare to trouble Left Chiliarch. Everything is fine here."

Chen Fan replied upon hearing this.

"I heard from Xue Ning that you risked cultivating the Blood Fiend Art to save the people of Ping An County, and that you cultivated the Blood Fiend Art to perfection in a very short period of time, opening up thirty-six acupoints throughout your body."

"Could you allow me to examine your physical condition? Perhaps I can think of some ways to counteract its effects."

Zuo Qianqiu asked.

He was actually quite puzzled by Chen Fan. He had seen martial artists who cultivated the Blood Fiend Art, and their eyes were bloodshot. The higher their cultivation, the more they looked like they had pinkeye.

But Chen Fan's eyes were dark and bright, and he didn't seem to have any signs of blood fiend energy invading his body. It was truly quite magical!

"Thank you, Left Chiliarch!"

Chen Fan nodded upon hearing this.

He felt that he couldn't refuse Zuo Qianqiu's suggestion, because he saw the words "as good as his word" in Zuo Qianqiu's eyes.

Clearly, the other party was worried that he would have serious aftereffects after cultivating the Blood Fiend Art. This was obviously not concern for his body, but concern that he would be possessed by blood fiend energy, go mad, and bring disaster to the area.

"Pardon me!"

As soon as Zuo Qianqiu put his hand on Chen Fan's shoulder, Chen Fan felt a bone-chilling true qi burst forth from Zuo Qianqiu's hand, enter his body, travel through his eight extraordinary meridians, and finally, a wisp of cold air poured into his dantian and disappeared completely!

"An Innate Body, physical strength far exceeding ordinary people, perhaps with a hidden special constitution."

"Thirty-six acupoints throughout the body have been opened, but the flesh has not been eroded by Bloodfiend True Qi at all, let alone blood fiend energy entering the brain and causing madness."

"However, the black and red aura within the dantian is like a maggot attached to the bone. It seems that the dantian has already begun to be eroded. If this continues for a long time, it may spread from the dantian to all parts of the body in a few years, eventually leading to blood fiend energy entering the brain and causing madness."

"But if his flesh can continue to strengthen and give birth to more powerful physical strength, he may be able to suppress the Bloodfiend True Qi in his dantian, preventing it from continuing to erode other parts of his body."

"Moreover, Chen Fan possesses an Innate Body. If he also has a hidden special constitution or special bloodline, then he can continue on the path of strengthening his body."

"If he walks the Path of Incarnate Sainthood in the future, the mere Bloodfiend True Qi can be destroyed with a wave of his hand, and he can even turn the Bloodfiend True Qi into nourishment to enhance his body!"

"In addition, I guess the reason why this Bloodfiend True Qi has such a small impact on him should also be inseparable from his use of his own essence blood to assist in cultivating the Blood Fiend Art."

"Although this Bloodfiend True Qi has strong corrosive properties, it is, after all, nourished by his own essence blood, so it has minimized the damage to his body."

"This may be a path for Brocade Guards with low aptitude who find it difficult to break through to the Divine Aperture Realm to break through in martial arts."

"Using their own essence blood as an aid to cultivate the Blood Fiend Art, break through to the Divine Aperture Realm, and then immediately stop cultivating, which can prolong life and improve their strength."

"This might actually be a viable path."

"This Chen Fan is truly extraordinary. He may have inadvertently stumbled upon a way to make use of the Blood Fiend Art's waste. If a senior expert were to refine the Blood Fiend Art along these lines and then promote it, how many more Divine Aperture Realm cultivators could Great Zhou produce in a year?"

"Even though the combat power of Divine Aperture Realm cultivators who break through in this way is generally low, and there is almost no room for their strength to improve, it's still enough."

"If they don't take this path, they'll be trapped at the fifth level of the Divine Treasury Realm, and they'll only live for a little over a hundred years."

"If they embark on this path, they'll break through to the Divine Aperture Realm. Even if they're the weakest Divine Aperture Realm cultivators in history, their combat power will still be improved, and their lifespan will be greatly extended, living for at least two hundred years."

As Zuo Qianqiu examined Chen Fan's body, his thoughts drifted far away.

"Cough, cough."

"Left Chiliarch, is it done?"

Chen Fan coughed lightly twice, unable to resist speaking.

Zuo Qianqiu then snapped back to reality, nodded, and said:

"Chen Fan, you're simply a genius."

"I don't know how you managed to do it, but even though you've cultivated the Blood Fiend Art to perfection, the Bloodfiend True Qi has only eroded a portion of your dantian, and it hasn't had any adverse effects on your body so far."