After Xiao Yi Xian chased Lin Ze out of her room with her little fists, he rubbed the spots she had pounded. It had felt like a massage, and was pretty comfortable.
On their way back, they had already stopped for a barbecue meal.
There was no need to prepare dinner.
Or rather, ever since Xiao Yi Xian discovered that Lin Ze had someone with such impressive culinary skills working for him, she had cooked far less often.
She still cooked for Lin Ze from time to time, but more often they went to a barbecue restaurant or had the restaurant prepare food and deliver it.
"Having Death Soldiers really is convenient!"
"Good thing I've been training to get stronger. Otherwise, with the Death Soldiers taking care of everything, I might've started thinking I was some good-for-nothing young master who never had to lift a finger."
Back in his room, Lin Ze made fun of himself.
He sat cross-legged on the bed. Tomorrow, he and Xiao Yi Xian would set off for Jia Nan Academy.
Everything was ready, so they could leave right away.
As for the Death Soldiers, they couldn't come along.
There were nearly one hundred and eighty of them.
Lin Ze wasn't even sure whether the team Jia Nan Academy had sent to recruit students numbered that many.
There was no way he could take so many people with him.
Besides, four more Death Soldiers would manifest each day while Lin Ze was on the road.
Fortunately, he had unlocked a new function that let him use Precision Deployment.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to summon any new Death Soldiers during the trip.
Jia Nan Academy was extremely far from the Jia Ma Empire.
For an ordinary person, the journey would take at least half a year.
That was why the academy's recruitment team traveled back and forth on Flying Magical Beasts.
As far as Lin Ze knew, the Flying Magical Beasts might only land every few days to rest.
Without the newly unlocked function, he couldn't possibly summon Death Soldiers aboard a Flying Magical Beast.
He had no way to explain a few strangers suddenly appearing out of thin air beside him.
That was why Lin Ze had decided to leave all his Death Soldiers in the Jia Ma Empire this time and take none of them along.
Once he reached Jia Nan Academy, he could summon new ones by his side again.
Jia Nan Academy was located in the dangerous Black-Corner Region. Death Soldiers who had just been summoned would have almost no chance of surviving there.
After all, the Black-Corner Region was a place where the strong preyed on the weak, and the law of the jungle was on full display.
The newly summoned Death Soldiers were all ordinary people with no cultivation at all. Expecting them to survive in the Black-Corner Region was a pipe dream.
But Jia Nan Academy wasn't merely an academy. There was also the Ancient City of Canaan outside its walls.
With Jia Nan Academy, one of the continent's top institutions, in its midst, Canaan City surpassed the Imperial Capital of the Jia Ma Empire in every respect.
Many rare cultivation resources unavailable in the Imperial Capital could be found in Canaan City.
It was like how Storage Rings and pills were hard to come by in Qingshan Town but easy to find in Wutan City.
In a vast, ancient city like that, even thousands of Death Soldiers wouldn't make much of a splash.
It was more than large enough for them to survive and grow.
Lin Ze knew that the Death Soldiers he summoned were weak. What they needed was an orderly place, not a chaotic one like the Black-Corner Region.
His Death Soldiers hadn't made much progress in a remote town like Qingshan Town, but once they reached Wutan City, they had developed rapidly.
The sharp rise in Lin Ze's daily Flesh Essence made that clear.
After all, no matter what, Wutan City had the City Lord Mansion and a powerful army under its command. It couldn't eliminate all disorder, but it could maintain order overall.
Qingshan Town was different. Even a single Mercenary Group could stir up trouble there.
Of course, Lin Ze wasn't giving up on the Black-Corner Region entirely. He was just waiting until his Death Soldiers grew stronger.
The Black-Corner Region was full of opportunities. The one Lin Ze coveted most was the Life-Devouring Pill from the Original Work.
A single Life-Devouring Pill could create a Dou King strong person.
Even a Dou King strong person with only three years left to live could bring Lin Ze a wealth of cultivation resources.
Three years would be more than enough for Lin Ze to make a huge leap in strength.
"It's midnight?"
"Bronze Mirror, manifest!"
White, white, blue, white.
He had seen that deep-blue color many times before, but seeing it again still stirred Lin Ze's excitement.
"Let's see what skill it is... Appraisal-related skills and talents!?"
"That's a pretty useful skill... Maybe this could get someone into an Auction House?"
After reaching Wutan City, Lin Ze hadn't kept all his Death Soldiers together.
Most of the Ordinary Death Soldiers worked alongside Rare Death Soldiers.
They ran barbecue restaurants, Blacksmith Shops, and Chambers of Commerce...
Even in Wutan City, Death Soldiers with Proficient Grade skills were sure to have a valuable trade.
Some of those skills were suited to running a shop and earning money, while others weren't. The newly manifested Rare Death Soldier was one such example.
The Appraisal skill was useful, but it would be hard to build a reputation from scratch—especially for an ordinary person with no cultivation.
Besides, there were very few shops that did nothing but appraise items.
If you wanted an appraisal, you might as well go to a shop or an Auction House, where they would buy your items as well as appraise them. Of course, whether they cheated you was up to you to figure out.
So Lin Ze planned to have the Death Soldier with the Appraisal skill work at an Auction House in Wutan City.
It would be even better if he could use the Auction House's resources to help his other Death Soldier brothers.
Lin Ze believed that as his Blue Rare Death Soldiers became more numerous, he would be able to place his own people in every line of work in Wutan City.
Then they could help one another and make the Death Soldier family stronger.
After imagining the bright future ahead, Lin Ze cleared his mind, tossed a Clear Wind Pill into his mouth, and began cultivating.
The next day, Lin Ze and Xiao Yi Xian met up at the Enrollment Plaza.
Many excited new students had already gathered there.
After Instructor Ruo Lin counted the students, she smiled and beckoned them over.
The students boarded the Flying Magical Beasts one by one.
These large Flying Magical Beasts had spaces on their backs for passengers to rest, and everyone got a small room.
Some people had rooms to themselves, while others shared with a few companions.
The men and women stayed separately. Xiao Yi Xian shared a room with Xiao Yu, while Lin Ze was assigned a small room of his own.
Lin Ze looked around the rather spartan room and shrugged. He wasn't fussy about such things.
He casually sat on the bed. Not long afterward, he felt a tremor beneath him.
Then, thick wind-attributed energy rushed toward the Flying Magical Beast, sending it soaring into the sky!
Feeling the wind-attributed energy suddenly grow dense inside the room, Lin Ze paused, then broke into a smile.
"So much wind-attributed energy! It's perfect for cultivating."
"Looks like I can spend this long, tedious journey cultivating."
Before you continue