Dust Bone Fourth Branch

Soon, graduation day arrived.

The process was simple.

The teachers of each class called the students together, announced which students in their class had become outer gate disciples, then asked whether some students were willing to become servant disciples of the Jade Bone Sect. After that, they announced that all the students of Class Ten, Grade Wu, had graduated from the academy.

Plain and simple, with hardly any ceremony.

After the announcement, some students began to cry, saddened by the farewells that were about to come.

They had spent ten years of academy life together, with nearly the entire class passing through it side by side.

They had accompanied one another from the age of four or five until fourteen or fifteen.

After today, they would each set off into the wide world. It was inevitable that some would be moved to tears.

Zhang Wan remained quite calm, without much emotional fluctuation. He merely said farewell to a few familiar friends.

That fellow Xu Hui was only sorrowful for a brief moment before adjusting himself.

After saying farewell that day, Zhang Wan packed his things and took a rune carriage to the outer gate disciples' residential district of the Jade Bone Sect.

The classmates among the Grade Ten students who had been promoted to outer gate disciples would also head there within the next day or two.

Aside from the outer gate disciples who had graduated from the Beginner Martial Arts Academy, the outer gate disciples who had graduated from the other academies would likewise go to the outer gate disciples' residential district within those two days.

They would settle down in the residential district, then report to the sect.

After that, they would live in the outer gate disciples' residential district. Of course, they could also accept sect missions and voluntarily choose to become garrison disciples, traveling somewhere to take charge.

They could also enter departments such as the Spirit Planter Hall, Artifact Refining Hall, Pill Refining Hall, Formation Hall, Discipline Hall, Inheritance Hall, Outer Gate Management Department, or Mission Hall.

Of course, they could choose none of them and simply live as outer gate disciples of the Jade Bone Sect in the residential district.

But that status was also the least secure.

Whenever a place lacked manpower and needed people dispatched there, but there were not enough outer gate disciples accepting missions, the sect's compulsory missions would land on the heads of these outer gate disciples.

Whether they were willing or not, these outer gate disciples would have to obey.

And situations like that generally meant danger!

On the other hand, choosing no garrison mission and joining no sect department, merely existing as an outer gate disciple, was also the freest option.

Each year, they only needed to complete one sect mission issued by the Mission Hall. They could arrange the rest of their time however they pleased.

It could be said to have both advantages and disadvantages.

For Zhang Wan, a safe rear area was naturally more advantageous.

As long as he quietly accumulated experience points, he could surge forward in the martial path. Why take risks?

If deducing cultivation methods and martial techniques on his own did not consume so many experience points, and if there were not otherwise no way to obtain more experience points, then hiding away in the mortal world would actually be the safest choice.

After arriving at the Jade Bone Sect's mountain gate, Zhang Wan first went to the Outer Gate Management Department to report and changed his status from an academy student to a member of the Spirit Planter Hall.

After finishing that, Zhang Wan entered the mountain gate again and made a trip to the Spirit Planter Hall's headquarters.

A disciple at the Spirit Planter Hall headquarters received Zhang Wan.

"A newly graduated student? You've already been accepted into the Spirit Planter Hall? Not bad."

"Let me see. The Dust Bone Branch, Yi Nei Branch, and Wai He Branch all need people. Which branch do you want to join?"

The receiving disciple explained the circumstances of the three branches to Zhang Wan and let him choose for himself.

The Dust Bone Branch was the branch that had assessed Zhang Wan back then. All the spirit plantations south of the Jade Bone Sect, as well as the spirit plantations within its sphere of rule that were completely controlled by the Jade Bone Sect, were cultivated under the Dust Bone Branch's responsibility.

The spirit lands within the Jade Bone Sect's sphere of rule that had been leased to the various martial lineages and martial forces for cultivation, meanwhile, were placed entirely under the management of the Yi Nei Branch. The Yi Nei Branch was responsible for supervising them and periodically collecting the spirit-plant quotas submitted by the various martial forces.

The Wai He Branch was the most special.

It was responsible for managing the spirit plantations controlled by the Jade Bone Sect outside its sphere of rule.

Some were completely controlled by the Jade Bone Sect, while others were jointly controlled by the Jade Bone Sect and other forces. The circumstances there were the most complicated.

Besides these three branches, the Spirit Planter Hall also had some other internal departments, but those departments were not places a newcomer like Zhang Wan could enter.

Zhang Wan eliminated the Wai He Branch first.

Spirit plantations outside the Jade Bone Sect—just hearing that made it sound as though he would have to leave the Jade Bone Sect's sphere of rule and venture beyond its territory.

Such a dangerous task clearly had nothing to do with him.

Although the Yi Nei Branch did not require him to cultivate spirit plants himself, he would have to deal with other martial forces and supervise the spirit plantations cultivated by martial forces in various places. He would be running around all day, and Zhang Wan did not want to go there either.

Although such work sounded like it would come with plenty of grease, it would also be troublesome if anything went wrong.

Who knew whether those martial forces would falsify their yields or shortchange the amounts when cultivating the spirit plantations?

If he really encountered such a matter, handling it would be troublesome, and he might even run into danger.

Cultivation resources were a martial artist's very life! And among martial artists, there had never been any shortage of desperadoes!

Besides that, supervision and collection could easily lead to collusion between those above and below, resulting in corruption.

When that happened, should he participate or keep himself clean?

If his superiors investigated, how would he deal with it?

Just thinking about it made him feel troubled.

Although this branch clearly offered the chance to rake in abundant benefits and obtain quite a few cultivation resources, it was not worth getting himself entangled in trouble for them.

After considering it, only the Dust Bone Branch remained.

"Staying quietly in the spirit plantations completely controlled by the Jade Bone Sect and farming there—surely that won't bring any trouble, right?" Zhang Wan said with a laugh.

Once he made his choice, the receiving staff assigned Zhang Wan to the Dust Bone Branch.

As for which spirit plantation Zhang Wan would actually go to work in, he would have to wait for the Dust Bone Branch to arrange it.

The Dust Bone Branch's headquarters was inside the Spirit Planter Hall, so Zhang Wan went straight there.

The other party immediately made arrangements for Zhang Wan, sending him to the Fourth Spirit Plantation among the five large spirit plantations south of the Jade Bone Sect. That place currently lacked manpower.

When Zhang Wan heard "the Fourth Spirit Plantation," he immediately realized how familiar it was.

The two friends he had gotten along with best while in the Spirit Planter Hall, Li Sanjian and Wan Xing'er, were at the Fourth Spirit Plantation.

"Is this fate?" Zhang Wan took his proof of assignment, left the mountain gate, and went to the outer gate disciples' residential district to find the Dust Bone Fourth Branch, which was responsible for the Fourth Spirit Plantation.

The Dust Bone Branch had five branches in the outer gate disciples' residential district. Every sign hanging outside bore the name of the Spirit Planter Hall's Dust Bone Branch, with only the specific branch number written in a corner.

After Zhang Wan reported to the Dust Bone Fourth Branch, one of the branch's members immediately took him to the Fourth Spirit Plantation.

"The Dust Bone Branch has always been short-handed. Too many spirit plants need meticulous care, and we usually can't keep up, so we issue missions and bring other outer gate disciples over to help."

"But having them turn the soil and pull weeds is fine. Diagnosing problems in spirit plants, removing the sources of their diseases, and increasing their yields—those things are beyond them."

The member leading the way kept explaining the circumstances of the Dust Bone Branch and the Fourth Spirit Plantation to Zhang Wan, while Zhang Wan occasionally responded with questions.

Before long, he had gained a certain understanding of the Fourth Spirit Plantation.

He also arrived at the spirit land that would be placed under his responsibility.