Planning an Outlying Garrison Posting

Although Soul Devouring Sect's mountain gate was a sacred cultivation ground, situated atop a Second-Grade Spirit Vein and capable of greatly increasing cultivation speed...

I carried too many secrets. I could never truly act freely here; if anything went wrong, it would be troublesome...

It seemed better to find an excuse to leave the sect. The inner sect was not necessarily all that safe either!

He finished his cultivation and withdrew his aura. The flickering Profound Fiend Qi all sank into his flesh. Zheng Yi opened his eyes, and in the black chamber, a soul-chilling cold gleamed in his shadowy gaze.

After a long while, Zheng Yi rose to his feet and exhaled.

There were four great essentials on the path of cultivation: Wealth, Law, Partner, Land.

Many people placed immense importance on the sect's Second-Grade Spirit Vein. Cultivating here not only guaranteed their safety, but the dense spiritual energy also made their cultivation far faster than elsewhere.

But Zheng Yi did not value such things. He bore too many secrets and naturally had no desire to expose himself in such an environment for a few paltry gains.

If some important figure in the sect discovered even the slightest clue, it would bring him a hundred harms and not a single benefit.

Moreover, the cultivation arts he had chosen were all highly unusual. Though they also required spiritual energy, they did not necessarily need the support of a Second-Grade Spirit Vein.

He had greater adaptability than his fellow sect members when it came to choosing a place to cultivate.

Even in some barren land where spiritual energy was scarce and thin, as long as Zheng Yi could travel back to the Apocalyptic World and plunder its resources, he could still rapidly raise his cultivation realm.

At the very least, this held true while his strength remained weak and he was still in the Qi Refining Stage.

The only thing he lacked now was time.

From what I learned from Liang Qing, aside from highly dangerous tasks such as wanted hunts and captures, the Internal Affairs Hall has recently issued a large number of tasks and Contribution Points through the War Conscription Order.

It seems the sect is severely short on people. The war with Hundred Beasts Sect is growing more intense by the day.

Fortunately, I am a newly joined Inner Sect Disciple and have a two-year buffer before I can be conscripted. Otherwise, I would probably have been press-ganged and sent straight to the front lines as cannon fodder...

Zheng Yi secretly counted himself fortunate. He had not expected this sect war to be even more intense than he had imagined.

After discovering that Mid-Grade Spirit Stone mine vein, Soul Devouring Sect had already gathered a group of Inner Sect Disciples and sent them to guard it.

Later, Hundred Beasts Sect joined the struggle, directly setting off this great war.

If it had merely been a small Low-Grade Spirit Stone mine vein, it would at most have caused friction between sects.

But once Mid-Grade Spirit Stone resources were involved, they represented enormous profit. Small Devil Dao sects such as Soul Devouring Sect and Hundred Beasts Sect would surely fight for every inch of ground.

The specific location of that Spirit Stone mine vein lay in the Three-No-Care Zone. Thus, neither Soul Devouring Sect nor Hundred Beasts Sect had a completely legitimate claim, nor enough strength to swallow it whole in one bite.

That was what caused the scale of this war to grow ever larger.

The second batch of conscripted disciples had also been sent to the front lines.

As the situation on the battlefield grew increasingly fierce, a third batch of disciples led by the Grand Elder and the sect master likewise marched for the front.

And now, it was the fourth batch of Inner Sect Disciples being conscripted.

It was no exaggeration to say that the Inner Sect Disciples remaining behind in Soul Devouring Sect numbered less than thirty percent of their strength at its peak.

Now they still had to continue conscripting from among that remaining thirty percent, showing just how brutal the war had become.

However, Zheng Yi was not worried. Those generally conscripted were veteran Inner Sect Disciples. A newly promoted Inner Sect Disciple like him enjoyed the right to exemption from conscription for two years.

Cultivators were all practical, let alone devil cultivators. Each was narrow-minded, selfish, and even lawless; all matters had to be weighed against benefits from every angle.

Otherwise, others joined a sect to take a master and learn its arts.

Who would have thought that before they even learned anything, they would be press-ganged on the first day of taking a master and sent to the front lines as cannon fodder?

Even the stupidest disciple likely would not agree to that. Though it could be forcibly imposed under pressure from above, Inner Sect Disciples differed from ordinary Outer Sect Disciples or sect menials. They were the backbone of a cultivation sect and a Devil Dao sect.

If they were left alienated and divided, that cultivation sect's future prospects for further development would be deeply worrying.

Furthermore, in a sect war of such scale, ordinary Inner Sect Disciples were no more than cannon fodder on the battlefield. Only those at the Qi Refining Seventh Layer or above could be considered minor experts.

This was therefore also a means by which the sect protected newly promoted Inner Sect Disciples. There would always be some preferential treatment during the novice period; they only needed to stay obediently in the newbie village.

Since sending them out would only make them cannon fodder, it was better to train them for a few more years. Once they had grown stronger and gained a measure of self-preservation, then they could be dispatched.

...These tasks hold little meaning for me.

What I need now is neither sect Contribution Points nor rewarded resources.

It seems that, at present, the only good way to leave the sect is to voluntarily apply for an outlying garrison assignment.

But such garrison assignments require one to be sent elsewhere.

They are generally in very remote places, far from the sect, where the mountains are high and the emperor is far away. Thus, the garrison disciples hold considerable authority, but they are also far from the sect's Second-Grade Spirit Vein, causing their cultivation to stagnate.

Generally speaking, such garrison assignments are not difficult to obtain.

Zheng Yi calculated in his heart, based on the information he had obtained earlier and the results of his personal visit to the Internal Affairs Hall.

He discovered that these assignments to guard a region were rarely accepted in ordinary times and were generally compulsory tasks imposed by the sect.

At all times, a sect disciple's identity was merely an outward label. The identity of a cultivator was everyone's true core.

And as a cultivator, whether of the Righteous Path or a devil sect, raising one's cultivation was forever the unchanging pursuit and subject of all.

Especially in a small Devil Dao sect like Soul Devouring Sect, where competition was savage, everyone without exception sought to raise their realm.

To raise one's realm, one needed vast amounts of spiritual energy. And where in the entire Demon Domain had the most spiritual energy? For sect disciples, it was naturally the inner sect grounds.

As for the places requiring garrison duty, aside from strongholds like Blood Mist Abyss City, most were far from prosperity.

Soul Devouring Sect's subordinate industries in particular—the many varied small mines—were mostly located in desolate wildernesses with extremely little spiritual energy. Thus, almost no sect disciples were willing to go and guard them.

Therefore, tasks to guard mine veins generally required the sect to forcibly dispatch Inner Sect Disciples.

Where there were obligations, there were rights.

Disciples guarding mine veins generally had to complete their term of duty before returning to the sect. During their posting, they did not have to participate in the sect's war conscription.

At this time, when the battle between Soul Devouring Sect and Hundred Beasts Sect was becoming increasingly fierce, guarding a mine vein and staying far from the war might also be an excellent opportunity.

Though Inner Sect Disciples were the backbone of the sect, in a sect war, they were merely expendable goods.

Having made up his mind, Zheng Yi headed straight for the Internal Affairs Hall.