Inside the room, Chu Ge unleashed the Blood Rage secret technique.
In his inner sense, his blood-qi climbed frantically, condensing over half a tiger's head in a split second and instantly reaching the blood-qi standard of the late Blood Change Realm, almost scaling the peak of the Blood Change Realm.
Clack--
The bed beneath him was the first to buckle under the unconscious impact of his burgeoning force, emitting an overloaded groan and beginning to let out a dense flurry of creaks.
"Upstairs! It's almost the first watch, can you keep it down? Go play across the street at Yihong Tower if you want to make a racket!"
A rough, impatient voice suddenly traveled up from downstairs.
Jolted awake, Chu Ge felt a wave of information sweep through his mind with a sense of forewarning, quickly calming his blood-qi and ending the technique.
Huu-huu-huu--
The force enshrouding his entire body dissipated, his intimidating aura subsided, the bed stopped shaking and rattling, and the bulging veins on his skin slowly receded, his blood-qi falling back to the mid-Blood Change Realm stage.
At the same time, however, Chu Ge felt a wave of exhaustion, akin to the post-orgasmic sage mode of a saint, and even felt dizzy from a slight lack of blood in his brain.
Information regarding the related state swiftly surfaced in his mind.
Once Blood Rage was unleashed, side effects were inevitable—namely, an excessive short-term drain of blood-qi that exerted an immense burden on the body and consumed massive amounts of physical stamina.
In severe cases, it could even cause cerebral blood vessels to rupture, carrying the risk of a stroke.
Yet these side effects varied depending on an individual's physique, so the maintenance duration of the secret technique also differed.
I only maintained it for barely three breaths just now, yet I already feel dizzy and exhausted. This secret technique must not be employed unless we are at life's door and forced into a desperate fight.
However, I have only inherited and mastered it thanks to the Dragon Clock for now. If I want to learn this secret technique on my own, I will have to reach the peak of the Blood Change Realm and awaken my spiritual aptitude before I can practice it.
Chu Ge pondered silently. Once his blood-qi had settled, he stepped off the bed and drank some cooled salted water to replenish himself.
That night, he consumed exotic power to continue his cultivation, only to feel a wave of exhaustion.
In the end, he failed to even exhaust the four wisps of exotic power designated for daily cultivation before sleep overtook him in a seated position due to sheer fatigue.
Waking up early the next morning, Chu Ge sensed the intensity of the blood-qi within his body and grew alert.
It seems that after using the exotic secret technique Blood Rage, it causes sluggishness in the blood-qi and even decline, which is already beginning to affect my cultivation.
Fortunately, through the secret technique information inherited in his mind, he knew that with his brief display yesterday, the negative impact would last at most a single day.
As he went about his daily activities, his body would naturally and gradually recover its vitality and surging blood-qi.
"Pillar, are you awake? Look, how is this one? Xiao Qian wants to wear this today."
At that moment, Xiao Qian's voice came from the side.
Shifting his gaze over, Chu Ge saw Xiao Qian dragging a paper doll of a little girl with two braided pigtails out of the chest, gazing over with an expression of eager anticipation.
"Fine, but you supply the exotic power to maintain the shadow puppet yourself!"
He said offhandedly.
Anyway, the shadow puppets inside the chest were all handcrafted by him, so it didn't matter what Xiao Qian dressed them in.
He glanced at them every day, which he considered a daily change of scenery—as long as he didn't have to output extra exotic power, anything went.
Being rather sensitive, Xiao Qian knew Chu Ge was just brushing her off the moment he spoke like that. She immediately pouted and began rummaging through the chest again.
"Alright, I'm heading out. Are you coming with me, or staying in the inn by yourself?"
Putting on his clothes, Chu Ge walked over and fed today's exotic power to Xiao Qian.
He was currently finding it somewhat strenuous to raise Xiao Qian.
Counting his daily cultivation and the exotic power required to maintain the Crimson Scale Claws, he had to consume a fixed seven wisps of exotic power every day.
And now, the remaining exotic power inside the Dragon Clock was barely a little over two hundred, meaning he would have to continue acquiring some antique objects within the prefectural city.
A chah of tea later, Chu Ge finished his breakfast, borrowed the inn's brush and paper, wrote a letter addressed to his eldest sister Chu Feixue, and then set out with Xiao Qian in tow.
Considering the heavy pedestrian traffic in the city, he did not take a carriage, instead walking on foot toward the Spirit Treasure Pavilion first to inquire about information regarding the Blood Augmenting Marrow Cleansing Pill.
In the end, however, shop assistants informed him that the Blood Augmenting Marrow Cleansing Pill would not be brought out for auction until a few days later and was not sold publicly at flat rates.
This thing seems to be in high demand.
Gazing at the martial artists inquiring all around the Spirit Treasure Pavilion—among whom were not lacking one or two with formidable auras akin to experts of the Blood Change Realm—Chu Ge could not help feeling somewhat speechless.
The competition in a major city was truly fierce and cutthroat.
Yet the Blood Augmenting Marrow Cleansing Pill indeed held immense value.
He had originally intended to purchase one, then feign breaking through the Blood Change Realm with the aid of the pill to maintain the image of a pill-popping genius before defecting to the city's Demon Suppressing Division.
As for whether he could gain importance in the Demon Suppressing Division afterward, that would also depend on his spiritual aptitude and personal development.
But it seemed he would have to wait a few more days after all.
Chu Ge cared little about whether he could compete for the spiritual pill in a few days.
The auctions at the Spirit Treasure Pavilion were held in the form of silent bids; once one participated, who could tell who had placed the winning bid?
Even if he failed to win the bid, he could completely fabricate the facts—so long as there was a record of him participating in the Spirit Treasure Pavilion's auction.
Without further lingering, Chu Ge turned and headed for the Demon Suppressing Division.
Every prefectural city in Great Zhou possessed a Demon Suppressing Division.
The Attendants supported within the Demon Suppressing Division, along with outer division experts like the Golden Sparrow Tiger Guards and Silver Sparrow Wolf Guards, safeguarded the safety of the prefectural city and the towns surrounding it.
This was also the reason why exotic demons and exotic beasts rarely roamed within the borders of Great Zhou.
Yet chaos had already sprouted, and the pressure on the Demon Suppressing Divisions across various prefectures and provinces grew day by day, likely reaching a point of manpower shortages.
Compared to family lineages where joining would not attract much attention, or sects that exerted strong personal control,
Chu Ge preferred to join the Great Zhou Demon Suppressing Division. As long as one could perform meritorious service, one could acquire resources; at the very worst, even slacking off and paddling could secure a meal.
The relationship between the Great Zhou Demon Suppressing Division, sects, and family lineages was roughly equivalent to the relationships between administrative establishment positions, public institution establishment positions, and labor contract positions in his past life.
Donning that skin, one was a government man after all.
No matter how much Great Zhou's power declined, Emperor Wu of Zhou had not fallen yet, and he still held a deterrent force for the vast majority of sects and lineages.
Half an incense stick of time later, Chu Ge arrived before a grand and spacious complex of buildings in the city.
The architecture was exceptionally majestic, featuring structures everywhere, with red doors and golden ring knockers at the center, radiating immense imposingness. Exotic trees thrust upward within the high walls, and at this moment, the area outside the building was already swarming with people gathered around a desk at the entrance, registering some sort of information.
Several men and women clad in silver sparrow patterned wolf garments, full of high-spirited vigor and bearing sabers and swords, entered the building amidst the awe-filled gazes of the crowd.
Witnessing this scene, Chu Ge also squeezed closer, hearing the distressed conversations of the crowd ahead. Although they spoke in a local dialect, he could still understand them.
"Alas! I never expected so many people to come join the Demon Suppressing Division recently."
"You can say that again. I even said I'd come try my luck and see if I could muddle my way into a fringe Blade Catcher position in the outer division, but who'd have thought there are no openings left now."
"We can only register first and see if we can wait for an opportunity..."
"Forget it. This registration is just going through the motions. Unless one has already reached the Blood Change Realm, or has already tested positive for spiritual aptitude in the Bone Training Realm, or has connections, one doesn't even get a chance to take the assessment—mind you, just the assessment chance."
"Then it's going to be difficult. If I were in the Blood Change Realm, wouldn't it be better for me to go join the Yun lineage as an outer clan member, and look for an opportunity to enter a sect later? Being a beast of burden for a sect for a lifetime by playing both sides for dual benefits—so be it."
Hearing this, Chu Ge looked at the dozen or so people lining up to register ahead, then glanced at the onlookers lingering not far away, and instantly felt depressed.
He had not expected that while job-hunting was cutthroat in his past life, time-travelers still faced the exact same rat race.
He could also sense the strength of the people around him through their vital breath—they were roughly all in the Bone Training Realm.
A prefectural city was truly a prefectural city; talent was overabundant. Placed in Linyuan City, these people would all be experts capable of opening martial arts halls.
Yet they flocked together here, fiercely competing for a single Blade Catcher quota in the outer division's Demon Suppressing Division.
To put it nicely, a Blade Catcher was a man of the Demon Suppressing Division.
To put it bluntly, they were extra-departmental dogs tasked with taking on every grueling chore.
Even to be a dog, there were this many people fighting for the position.
No wonder people called them eagles and hounds—slip on that layer of skin and one became an official beast.
Before long, the queue reached Chu Ge.
Harboring a try-it-and-see attitude, Chu Ge still handed over his travel permit for registration.
"From Linyuan City? Staying at the Moon Xi Inn?"
The elderly woman handling the registrations lifted her gaze to appraise Chu Ge, logged his information, and casually returned the travel permit.
"You can leave."
Chu Ge smiled, and while seamlessly taking back the travel permit, he placed a coin pouch into the old woman's hand and asked.
"May I ask when there will be news? Where should I go to inquire about it?"
The old woman's expression turned cold. Refusing to take the coin pouch, she stiffened her face and said, "Don't try that routine with me! You'll naturally be notified when there's news. Aren't you staying at the Moon Xi Inn?"
Chu Ge choked on his words, frowning slightly. He had just seen someone else slip a coin pouch, and that old woman had accepted it.
He hadn't expected that when his turn came, he would be pushed aside.
Whether this was because the other party had already pulled strings and arranged connections in advance, or because she discriminated against him for being an outsider upon hearing his accent, he wasn't even qualified to offer a bribe.
"What are you looking at?" The old woman rolled her eyes. "Get down the line once you're registered, there are more behind you."
Before she even finished speaking, she suddenly caught sight of something. First she startled, but then her expression instantly shifted as she stood up, bustling to welcome someone and striding out toward a short-bearded, rough-hewn fellow marching straight toward the gates, cupping her fists with utmost solemnity.
"Might your excellency be Xue Yan of the Prairie Fire Saber, ranked eighty-third on the Blood Ranking?"
(Another chapter updating at eleven)
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