It had been ten days since they left Qingshan Town.
During those ten days, Lin Ze and the Death Soldiers had disguised themselves as a caravan and headed for Wutan City.
Since they were posing as a caravan, they stopped to trade whenever they passed through a town.
As a result, they didn't make very fast progress. It took them a full ten days to reach Wutan City.
During this time, Lin Ze had successfully advanced to Two Star Dou Practitioner.
The number of Death Soldiers had also surged to seventy-six.
Among them were five Blue Rare Death Soldiers.
Two had been reflected by Lin Ze over the past ten days.
Their skills were Culinary Arts and Management Skill, respectively.
They weren't blessed with the noble Alchemy skill, but Lin Ze was still quite satisfied.
At the very least, the Death Soldier with Culinary Arts had greatly improved their quality of life on the road.
And the one with Management Skill had made the ever-growing group of Death Soldiers far more efficient.
Every ten Blue Rare Death Soldiers increased Cultivation Speed by one percent.
By that count, including the Cultivation Speed gained through resonance with the White Common Death Soldiers, it had already reached one percent!
Now that it seemed to have truly reached one percent, Lin Ze could feel a slight change.
It seemed his cultivation really had gotten a little faster.
He couldn't tell whether it was just his imagination or whether he was genuinely feeling the difference.
As the road grew flatter and wider, more and more travelers appeared around them.
In the distance, a towering city stood at the edge of sight.
Wutan City!
Even from afar, he could see the throngs at the city gates: mercenaries returning from hunts jostled shoulder to shoulder, merchants hawked their wares, and travelers from afar gazed around with curiosity.
It was a lively, bustling scene.
Xiao Yi Xian lifted the carriage curtain and looked toward Wutan City, her eyes filled with curiosity and amazement.
So this was one of the Jia Ma Empire's major cities?
It was certainly nothing like Qingshan Town.
The towering city walls alone were beyond anything Qingshan Town could compare with.
As the caravan drew closer, Lin Ze could make out more details.
The towering walls of Wutan City bore notches left by blades and swords, claw marks from terrifying beasts, and dried, dark bloodstains. They all told passersby what merciless wars the city had endured.
Lin Ze had also gathered a great deal of information about Wutan City.
Thanks to its location beside the Magical Beast Mountain Range, Wutan City had risen to rank among the Jia Ma Empire's major cities.
But that was the end of the good news. Now for the bad.
Because it lay beside the Magical Beast Mountain Range and was home to such a vast population, Wutan City also attracted the attention of Magical Beasts whenever their numbers grew too large.
Driven by hunger, the Magical Beasts would gather in hordes and surge toward Wutan City like a tidal wave.
This was known as the Beast Tide Disaster!
However, the City Lord Mansion had issued missions on a regular basis to hunt Magical Beasts and keep their numbers under control. As a result, there hadn't been a beast tide in recent years.
Remembering what he'd learned, Lin Ze looked at the bloodstains and scars of war on the walls and felt a wave of emotion.
Even Wutan City wasn't completely safe.
"But even so, it's safer than staying in the Magical Beast Mountain Range."
"Besides, Wutan City is a major city backed by the Magical Beast Mountain Range. It has far more mercenaries than Qingshan Town!"
"A huge increase in mercenaries also means a greater supply of Magical Beast resources!"
"That means I can buy Magical Beast meat directly from these mercenaries."
"I'll gather Flesh Essence far more efficiently this way than by having the Death Soldiers hunt in the Magical Beast Mountain Range!"
"After all, the Death Soldiers are far too weak right now."
Lin Ze thought about it with a sigh.
He had obtained more than seven hundred thousand gold coins from the ruins, more than enough to buy Magical Beast meat.
But to avoid raising suspicion, Lin Ze decided to open a restaurant specializing in Magical Beast meat.
As it happened, the Blue Rare Death Soldier he had reflected earlier possessed Culinary Arts as a skill and talent.
After paying the entrance fee, the caravan entered Wutan City without a hitch.
Lin Ze sent the Death Soldiers to gather information about the city.
He also had Ma Fugui scout out a shop in a good location. An existing restaurant would be even better; they could simply pay whatever it took.
After all, in a cultivation world, gold coins still had plenty of purchasing power as long as they weren't being used to buy cultivation resources.
Twenty gold coins could feed a family for a year, and even a shop would cost only a few thousand at most.
Lin Ze left all the arrangements to the Death Soldiers. He took Xiao Yi Xian and rented a small courtyard in Wutan City, where he could cultivate in peace.
By his rough estimate, less than a month remained before Jia Nan Academy's entrance exams.
Perhaps he could reach Three Star Dou Practitioner before the academy began recruiting.
It took Ma Fugui less than three days to get everything sorted out.
The shop, all the permits needed to open a restaurant, and even the connections he'd cultivated had cost less than ten thousand gold coins in total.
Lin Ze gave the place a simple, straightforward name: the Magical Beast BBQ Restaurant.
Anyone could tell at a glance that the restaurant welcomed Magical Beast meat and would buy as much as it could get!
With the Magical Beast BBQ Restaurant in place, he could buy Magical Beast meat on a large scale.
The restaurant was conveniently located near the Marketplace, where mercenaries traded goods after returning from their hunts. It was an ideal spot for buying meat.
In less than a day after the restaurant opened, Lin Ze's Flesh Essence reserves had already surged by a hundred units!
And that was only the beginning!
Many mercenaries only took valuable parts from the Magical Beasts, such as Magic Cores, hides, and claws, and simply discarded the meat.
Now that they'd heard they could sell the meat too, more mercenaries would bring it back with them.
Watching his Flesh Essence reserves climb day after day, Lin Ze's smile grew brighter.
"Lin Ze, has something good happened lately? You seem really happy."
"Haha, something good did happen. The Magical Beast BBQ Restaurant my men opened is doing great business. I'm sure it'll turn a profit soon."
Xiao Yi Xian found it a little odd, but after thinking it over, she couldn't figure out why. She accepted his explanation.
After all, the BBQ restaurant Lin Ze's men had opened really was bustling.
It had become fairly well-known in Wutan City in no time at all.
Xiao Yi Xian even went there for a meal every day. She felt like she was starting to put on a little weight around her stomach.
Thinking of her stomach, Xiao Yi Xian couldn't help recalling what the Seven Colored Poison Scripture said. Her eyes dimmed slightly.
She was still hesitating over whether to tell Lin Ze about her Woeful Poison Body.
Lin Ze didn't notice the hesitation in Xiao Yi Xian's eyes. His attention was already fixed on the Bronze Mirror.
[Flesh Essence: 1015/1000 units]
The Flesh Essence was full. It was time to unlock a new feature!
"Consume the Flesh Essence!"
[Precision Deployment: After the Mirror Master reflects a Death Soldier, when summoning that Death Soldier, he can choose where it appears (beside the Mirror Master, at any location within the Mirror Master's soul perception, or beside any Death Soldier.)]
Seeing the Precision Deployment feature, Lin Ze clapped his hands in delight.
This feature couldn't have come at a better time!
If he went to Jia Nan Academy and summoned Death Soldiers on campus, he'd inevitably attract attention.
With Precision Deployment, he'd have nothing to worry about!
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