Exchanging Rewards

The moment the words fell, the entire scene fell into dead silence.

Foreman Wang's face, in particular, had turned a deep, liverish purple.

The first floor of the armory! Foundation Elixir! A Hundred Refinements Saber!

Any one of these rewards was something the lowliest personnel could only dream of!

"Th-thank you, Captain Li!" Lu Chen trembled with excitement, nearly collapsing to his knees.

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of Foreman Wang's ashen face.

The man was staring fixedly at Lu Chen, his triangular eyes seething with a venomous, murderous intent that almost seemed to solidify into substance.

Foreman Wang slowly lowered his head, masking the towering hatred in his gaze with the most humble posture imaginable.

"Congratulations... Lu Chen." He forced the words out through gritted teeth, one by one.

With that, Foreman Wang could not bear to stay another second. He turned and pushed his way out of the crowd.

Captain Li paid him no heed, merely waving at Leader Liu. "Take him to collect his rewards, then see that he rests well."

"Yes, my lord!" Leader Liu bowed in acknowledgment, then walked over to Lu Chen and personally helped him up—his attitude a world apart from when he had arrived.

Lu Chen's body was still as frail as a candle flickering in the wind. He leaned most of his weight on Leader Liu and another Warrior, letting them support him as they headed to the Logistics Office within the department.

The Old Clerk at the Logistics Office wore his usual half-dead expression. When he saw Leader Liu and his group, he lazily lifted his eyelids.

"Leader Liu... ah, no, I should call you Deputy Commander Liu now. What brings you here?"

Leader Liu wasted no words. He slapped Captain Li's writ onto the counter. "Captain Li's order—issue Lu Chen his rewards."

The Old Clerk picked up the writ, initially unconcerned. But when he read the contents and saw the bright red seal of the Captain, his drowsy eyes snapped wide open.

He set the writ down, raised his head, and carefully scrutinized the pale-faced young man being supported. The laziness and disdain on his face vanished without a trace.

The Old Clerk hurried out from behind the counter and went personally to the storeroom to fetch the items. "Please wait a moment, sir—I'll retrieve them at once!"

After a short while, the Old Clerk returned with three items, which he respectfully presented to Lu Chen.

A heavy Brocade Box. When opened, it revealed a White Jade Porcelain Bottle lying quietly inside—that was the Foundation Elixir.

A sheathed long saber, its scabbard wrapped in Black Shark Skin. It felt substantial in the hand, exuding a solid, textured weight.

And a Darksteel Token engraved with the words "Armory Access."

"Sir, please check them," the Old Clerk said, bowing and scraping.

Lu Chen took the items. At Leader Liu's gesture, he slowly drew the Hundred Refinements Saber.

Clang—!

A clear, resonant metallic sound echoed through the Logistics Office.

The blade was three feet three inches long, its entire body a deep, dark silver.

Under the lamplight, one could clearly see the dense, flowing fold patterns covering the blade—marks left by a thousand hammerings and temperings.

At the edge, a straight, icy gleam was so sharp and piercing that just looking at it made one's skin ache.

A fine blade!

Lu Chen praised inwardly.

The moment his hand gripped the hilt, the muscle memory from his mastered Demon Suppressing Saber Technique forged a strange, blood-bond-like connection between him and the saber.

It felt like a peerless calligrapher finally obtaining a divine brush that fit perfectly in hand.

"Thank you." Lu Chen slowly sheathed the saber. His voice was still weak, but his eyes held a barely concealed satisfaction.

After receiving the rewards, Leader Liu personally escorted Lu Chen back to the entrance of the Corpse Handling Room.

"Brother Lu Chen," Leader Liu said, looking at him with a complicated expression, "this time... thank you. Rest well and recover. As for Foreman Wang... be careful. If you run into trouble, come find me at the Imperial Guard Camp to the west."

Now a Deputy Commander, his status was vastly different, and his words carried weight.

"Thank you, Deputy Commander Liu." Lu Chen nodded in acknowledgment.

After seeing Leader Liu off, Lu Chen dragged his "exhausted" body back into the cold, damp Corpse Handling Room and bolted the stone door tight.

All the noise and prying eyes from the outside world were shut out.

The weakness and fear on his face instantly faded, replaced by a deep, unfathomable fervor.

Lu Chen laid out the Foundation Elixir, the Hundred Refinements Saber, and the Armory Access Token one by one on the icy stone bed.

This was the capital he had fought for with his life!

Lu Chen did not immediately consume the elixir or indulge in the new saber's sharpness. Instead, he grasped the cold Darksteel Token in his hand.

The Armory!

That was the greatest gain this time!

The Turtle Breath Meditation Method was mainly for breath-holding—adequate for corpse handling.

But in combat, it had become a severe bottleneck on Lu Chen's actual strength.

He urgently needed a more powerful internal cultivation method as the foundation for his survival!

Without a moment's hesitation, Lu Chen tucked the token away, pushed open the stone door, and strode straight toward the heavily guarded building deep within the Demon Suppression Division.

The Demon Suppression Division's armory was a three-story stone structure built entirely from massive boulders. At its entrance stood two Imperial Guards, their auras heavy and their gazes sharp as lightning, holding halberds in solemn silence.

As Lu Chen approached, the two Imperial Guards' eyes locked onto him instantly, an invisible pressure bearing down.

"Halt!"

"By order of the Captain, I've come to the armory to select a cultivation technique."

Lu Chen presented the Darksteel Token with neither arrogance nor servility.

One of the Imperial Guards took the token, inspected it carefully, and cross-checked it against the roster at his waist. Only after confirming its authenticity did he step aside to clear the path.

"The token grants access only to the first floor, with a time limit of one hour. Inside, no noise, no damaging the manuals. Violators... will be executed."

"Understood."

Lu Chen pushed open the stone door, which felt as heavy as a thousand jin, and stepped inside.

A dry, musty scent mingled with aged books, ink, and some peculiar medicinal herbs rushed toward him.

The first floor of the armory was exceedingly spacious. Rows upon rows of towering bookshelves stretched from floor to ceiling, densely packed with various cultivation manuals.

Each manual was wrapped in specially treated beast hide to prevent decay.

This was the accumulated heritage of a century within the Nanling Prefecture Demon Suppression Division!

Suppressing the excitement in his heart, Lu Chen began to walk slowly between the rows of shelves.

His goal was clear—internal cultivation techniques.

Blazing Sun Technique, Ice Art, Brute Ox Strength...

A dazzling array of Yellow Rank Low-Grade and Mid-Grade techniques lined the shelves. Any one of them, taken outside, would stir up no small commotion in the martial world.

But Lu Chen did not rush to choose.

He understood well that a technique's ferocity wasn't everything—what suited him was best.

His gaze finally settled on a manual placed in the corner of a shelf, its cover slightly dusty.

Bedrock Art.

Yellow Rank High-Grade.