In this world, the relationships between individual martial artists, various cultivation forces, gangs, and the imperial court are fluid and constantly changing.
When you are not strong enough, the relationship between you and the imperial court is one of ruler and ruled.
But when you become strong enough, the relationship between you and the imperial court will transform into a cooperative one.
The essence of domination is based on power, and the confidence to cooperate is also based on power.
In this world where extraordinary power can be cultivated and individual strength has an infinite limit, there is naturally no eternal ruler and ruled, only a dynamic and ever-changing relationship.
Therefore, the martial artists in this world are not particularly enthusiastic about being loyal to the imperial court.
Even many low-level martial artists disdain joining the local county or prefecture government departments.
This is vastly different from the situation on Earth.
After all, as martial artists, they possess privileges because of their power, allowing them to come and go freely and without restraint.
However, once one joins the imperial court, one will be controlled by superiors and driven by orders.
However, the power he wielded was almost identical to the privileges he obtained through martial force.
Therefore, many lower-level martial artists are unwilling to join the local Martial Hall.
Just like Zhao Lie and Li Chengfeng before them.
Of course, in any case, the imperial court is currently the most powerful party.
Otherwise, how could this vast land be ruled in the name of the Great Qing Dynasty?
In most cases, it is the various cultivation sects and forces that compromise, rather than the imperial court.
The choice between the elixir and the fourth-rank official position, the choice of the Assistant Commissioner of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, is, to some extent, a manifestation of this ideology.
Is it the fundamental strength that makes one powerful?
Or should you choose to join the imperial court and become a member of the Great Qing Dynasty?
Choosing elixirs would undoubtedly allow for a rapid breakthrough, enabling one to become a powerful expert at the peak of the Aperture-Condensing Realm.
A powerhouse of this caliber is on par with the Martial Order of the Shuiyang Prefecture Martial Yamen.
It could completely dominate the entire prefecture city, not to mention the prefecture city, it could roam freely throughout the entire Forest Mountain City.
Its status is in no way inferior to that of the Martial Yamen of the Martial Hall.
Choosing to become a fourth-rank Assistant Commissioner of the Embroidered Uniform Guard would give him even greater power.
The Embroidered Uniform Guard was a privileged department established by the Great Qing Dynasty for martial artists, possessing the power to monitor the entire country.
Once you become a royal guard, no matter the gangsters, traffickers, or officials, they will all be within the scope of your supervision.
Once you find solid evidence and report it to higher authorities, and it is verified, all the things you report can be ruthlessly destroyed by the imperial court's military force.
The Assistant Commissioner of the Embroidered Uniform Guard was practically at the top of the entire Embroidered Uniform Guard system.
Only two officials were of higher rank than him: one was Subordinate Third Rank commander, who ranked second.
One was a commander of the Principal Third Rank, ranking first.
The Commander-in-Chief was the third-ranking official in the vast system of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.
Not to mention their privileges and the right to mobilize troops from various cities.
The sheer number of Embroidered Uniform Guard cavalry and Embroidered Uniform Guard that it could mobilize, along with the Imperial Guards themselves, was enormous.
Taking the Qinghe Gang as an example, a commander could mobilize the equivalent of an entire Qinghe Gang's strength from the Embroidered Uniform Guard system simply by virtue of his own power.
This is the power of the Assistant Commissioner of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.
"The perfect Spirit Aperture Realm and the Assistant Commissioner of the Embroidered Uniform Guard —either of these two positions were the pinnacle of my dreams, something I could only dream of but never reach."
Zhao Lie, who entered with Qian Anguo, the Martial Yamen of Shuiyang Prefecture, looked at Li Chengfeng with a sigh and muttered to himself.
Upon hearing his words, Zheng Pandao also looked deeply moved.
Back when he was in Green Mountain City, he was the head of the most powerful Lineage in the area. In other words, it was because of his existence that the Zheng Family became the most powerful Lineage in Green Mountain City.
He lived a life of unparalleled ease, as his powerful late-stage Channel-Opening Realm allowed him to do almost anything he wanted in Green Mountain City.
However, even with such strength, the Aperture-Condensing Realm remains a huge hurdle for him.
Like how, after he became sworn brothers with Li Chengfeng and Zhao Lie, he went with them and Chen Guangwu, the leader of the Qinghe Gang, to the Exotic Beast Forest to hunt a large number of strange beasts in order to break through his cultivation level.
It was simple when the four of them acted together, but without the sworn brotherhood between Li Chengfeng and Zhao Lie, and without the special permit for hunting exotic beasts in Li Chengfeng's possession, the difficulty would have increased many times over.
The simplest reason is the difficulty in gathering enough manpower, because the cost of trust is simply too high.
Without a deep enough relationship, no one will be willing to go on an adventure deep into the mountains with you.
Because once you're in the mountains and forests, you can choose to hunt exotic beasts or choose to hunt people.
In that situation, under the intense temptation of the flesh and blood of the strange beast, what choice one would make is unpredictable.
No one would willingly entrust their life to someone they've only recently met, someone with whom they don't have sufficient trust, nor would they easily put themselves in an uncontrollable situation.
To gain sufficient trust, one needs a strong bond of shared interests, or to have grown up together since childhood, or to be from the same hometown.
But for Zheng Pandao, a martial artist at the peak of the Channel-Opening Realm who hails from Green Mountain City, how could he possibly find other fellow villagers when he was the only one at that Channel-Opening Realm in the entire Green Mountain City?
How could someone who lacks even the resources to break through to the Aperture-Condensing Realm find a sufficiently deep-rooted relationship of interest, one that would allow him to be controlled and prevent others from becoming greedy and exploiting him when faced with the hope of breaking through to the Aperture-Condensing Realm?
Finding even one Chen Guangwu is the result of generations of accumulation.
However, even with just the two of them, going hunting was still fraught with danger.
So normally, Zheng Pandao's planned trajectory for himself was to focus on cultivating his nephews and nieces, nurturing the next generation, and building relationships in this life.
The goal is to ensure that the next generation, namely Zheng Lianqing's generation, has at least three trusted allies, allies of the same level, so that they can hunt together demonic beasts at the Channel-Opening Realm and eventually break through to the Aperture-Condensing Realm.
Only in this way can the Zheng Family become Lineage at the Aperture-Condensing Realm level, thereby gaining the opportunity to enter the prefectural city to establish Lineage cultivation base and obtain more resources.
Unexpectedly, planning is no match for fate. One incident orchestrated by Li Chengfeng allowed him to fulfill his long-cherished wish without the need for a generation's accumulation.
Now, Li Chengfeng has actually obtained enough medicinal resources to train all the way to the Acupoint Condensation Perfection. How could he not be amazed by the difference?
It's important to understand that the difference between the Perfected Stage of the Aperture-Condensing Realm and the Stage Beyond the Aperture-Condensing Realm is far greater than the difference between the Aperture-Condensing Realm and the Stage of the Channel-Opening Realm!
This can be seen from the fact that a cultivator at the peak of the Aperture-Condensing Realm can become a martial arts officer in the Shuiyang Prefecture's Martial Yamen, while a cultivator at the late stage of the Aperture-Condensing Realm can only become Martial Hall master in Green Mountain City.
It's entirely a difference between ruler and ruled, between command and being commanded!
"What are you lamenting about? You're part of it too."
When Qian Anguo heard Zhao Lie's sighing voice, he looked at him with a smile and said directly:
"Don't forget, this reward is for both of you together. You're currently ranked second on the Heavenly Prodigy Ranking!"