Passing

After she figured out Taiping City's "rules," even Lu Mingyue, a newcomer, felt a faint, inexplicable sense of belonging to the city.

There was no other reason: Taiping City really did abide by its rules!

What did so many people in the mortal world toil their entire lives for?

Wasn't it simply to be able to choose rules they could accept?

The same principle applied in the cultivation world.

"Steward Deng, I heard a female cultivator came to apply for the corpse collector position today?"

"Steward Deng, we've finished patrolling the streets. Could we go in and take a look?"

"A female corpse collector, and a fellow cultivator at that. I wonder what she looks like..."

At dusk, teams of City Patrol Envoys returned to the City Patrol Office to change shifts. Upon hearing that a female cultivator had applied to become a corpse collector, the envoys couldn't help asking the man in blue about her.

There really were very few female cultivators in their City Patrol Office!

And every one of those few had a fiery temper and struck even more ruthlessly than they did...

Mortals married and had children, and these cultivators wanted to find Dao companions they liked, too!

Especially since Taiping City, situated between several Immortal Sects and those Foundation Establishment rogue cultivators, had enjoyed peace for one or two hundred years. Although these City Patrol Envoys could be considered the City Lord's disciples and granddisciples, not every one of them possessed extraordinary aptitude or believed they could break through to the Foundation Establishment realm!

Moreover, compared with the City Lord, who could refine lifespan-extending pills and had lived until now with only Qi Refining cultivation, these little granddisciples of his in the Qi Refining stage clearly lacked that ability.

Life as a cultivator in Taiping City was also so stable.

Their lifespans were only a hundred years or so anyway. Why not find one or two Dao companions they liked while they were young and have children of their bloodline? Even after they were gone, their descendants could continue living in Taiping City, cultivate a houtian spirit mansion, and become cultivators who, though ordinary, were still far better off than mortals.

Thus, the moment they heard that a female cultivator had come to the City Patrol Office to apply as a corpse collector, these young City Patrol Envoys were like ravenous wolves that had spotted meat. If not for the blue-robed man's authority, they would already have swarmed into the Corpse Storage Courtyard!

Unfortunately, the man in blue did not indulge them...

"Have you got too much time on your hands?"

Seeing dozens of young men standing before him, openly asking about that female cultivator, Deng Yuan immediately released an immense, oppressive aura.

Its strength was several times greater than the aura Deng Yuan had released before Lu Mingyue!

Every City Patrol Envoy was at least at the Fourth Layer of Qi Refining, and a third were at the Qi Refining Stage, Fifth Level, yet the pressure radiating from Deng Yuan made all their knees buckle.

"Since you have set foot on the path to immortality, cultivation should be your priority. A City Patrol Envoy's duties are indeed light, but you receive no preferential allocation of resources. Even with a lifetime of effort, reaching the tenth level of Qi Refining is extremely difficult!"

Having cowed these youngsters, Deng Yuan stood and said expressionlessly:

"Only by ascending Taiping Mountain and becoming my master's disciples will you have a chance to break through to the tenth level of Qi Refining, become part of Taiping City's core, and safeguard its legacy..."

"If you cannot control your worldly desires, wouldn't it be better to strip off your City Patrol Envoy uniforms and armor and join the rogue cultivators in the city?"

Although Deng Yuan delivered these words as lightly as drifting clouds and a gentle breeze, they made beads of sweat as large as beans break out on the dozens of City Patrol Envoys.

They knew what Steward Deng was like, and understood very well that although he had ostensibly been assigned to the City Patrol Office to oversee its affairs, he was actually their teacher!

And Steward Deng was one of the City Lord's prized disciples.

Otherwise, why would the City Lord have entrusted Steward Deng with the important task of maintaining order in Taiping City?

Now that they had actually driven Steward Deng to say such things, they had clearly angered him!

"Steward Deng... I was wrong!"

"Steward Deng! I was wrong, too!"

"I'll go back and cultivate diligently right now. I won't disappoint you, Steward Deng!"

Once one bold City Patrol Envoy took the lead in admitting his mistake, the other young men followed suit, then fled like a wisp of smoke.

They couldn't help it. The pressure of Steward Deng's cultivation was simply too powerful-the tenth level of the Qi Refining stage!

This was the level they dreamed of reaching!

It was said that once Steward Deng had spent ten years here, he could return to Taiping Mountain and receive a Foundation Establishment Pill refined for him by the City Lord.

If Steward Deng could break through to the Foundation Establishment realm...

"Huh? This person... was actually a mortal?"

Lu Mingyue knew nothing of what had happened outside.

For one thing, the Spirit-Sealing Stone Chamber prevented her divine sense from extending outside. For another, the sun was about to set, yet she still had one corpse left to deal with.

Now, after carefully examining the corpse before her, Lu Mingyue couldn't help feeling surprised. This was actually a mortal!

Though calling him a mortal wasn't entirely accurate, either.

He wore a suit of black chain mail and a black iron mask that exposed only his eye sockets. Looking farther down, she saw that almost his entire body was covered in iron armor.

Had Lu Mingyue not clearly seen the layer of frost covering him, she would never have believed that this mortal had actually been killed by a cultivator!

"Among mortals, there are those who slay immortals, too."

Just then, a voice laden with mixed feelings came from the doorway of the Spirit-Sealing Stone Chamber.

Lu Mingyue looked up and saw the man in blue standing outside with his hands behind his back, looking at the mortal on the stone bed.

"Please wait a little longer, senior. Give me another quarter of an hour, and I'll be able to prepare his remains!"

Although Lu Mingyue was curious about what the man in blue meant, she was more anxious to pass the City Patrol Office's assessment. Thus, she merely replied before concentrating on controlling the Fireball Technique she had conjured.

The mortal man on the stone bed had been frozen to death by a Frost Spell. To completely remove the spell from his body, Lu Mingyue could only use the Fireball Technique.

And the reason Lu Mingyue had worked so slowly over nearly an entire day was that each time she cleared the residual spells from a corpse, she needed to rest outside for a while to replenish the origin power she had expended.

"Phew... finally done!"

Fortunately, the man in blue did not disturb Lu Mingyue. Before sunset, she finally cleared the Frost Spell from the armored mortal's body, then undid his iron armor. Only after confirming that he had no other injuries did she walk out of the Spirit-Sealing Stone Chamber, feeling somewhat weak.

"Congratulations. You've passed our City Patrol Office's assessment."

The man in blue looked at Lu Mingyue with a slight smile, then took another black token from his Storage Bag and handed it to her.

"This is your Identity Token. My name is Deng Yuan, and I'm a steward of the City Patrol Office. You may call me Steward Deng."