Once these three things had been done, the tiny flames of the Immortal Path in the hearts of rogue cultivators, disillusioned Border Army soldiers, declining aristocratic clans, and cultivators from humble families throughout the provinces along the route-flames that reality had nearly ground out-were forcibly rekindled.
The Governor-General's Office had recruited Dao soldiers before.
But back then, the Governor-General's Office had fallen behind on stipends, and those at the top had offered nothing but pictures of a feast.
Even entering the military register did not necessarily mean a chance to rise, and if one died at the border, even the death benefits might be skimmed away at every level.
Governor-General Qing was different. This man actually paid.
The spirit stones were real, the medicinal pills were real, the armor was real, and so was the Merit Exchange Register.
The chosen cultivators could collect their Military Tokens and Spirit-Sealing Spirit Jade Caskets on the spot, and many of their eyes reddened. They had but one life to cultivate and seek the Dao-who would willingly spend it rolling in the mud forever?
Who did not want to don armor and climb high one day, trading military merits for medicinal pills and a future! To stand glorious before others! To walk a smooth Immortal Path!
Trust and prestige were accumulating little by little.
Word spread from one to ten, then ten to a hundred. Many rogue cultivators and disciples of small sects and aristocratic clans who had initially watched from the sidelines even hurried ahead to places Qing Chen had to pass, waiting to enlist.
Nor did Qing Chen accept everyone who came. His criteria were exacting, a notch higher than those of the ordinary Border Army.
With all these stops along the way, Qing Chen stretched a journey to Yanmen Pass that