Yamafu Military Affairs

Chapter 655 Saint

"At least two types? Then shouldn't those of us who cultivate by relying on the power of the Divine Star also adjust our cultivation methods according to the nature and characteristics mastered by the Divine Star?"

Qin Huai listened to Wei Xiaolian's explanation and seemed to be deep in thought.

"Yes, yes, no."

Wei Xiaolian nodded, then shook his head: "Constantly exploring and trying to postpone one's destined death is indeed the top priority for most cultivators. Methods like the external alchemy and ordination of Taoism, the precepts and detachment from desires of Buddhism, and the self-cultivation and strengthening of spirit of the Zoroastrian and Vishnu schools are all methods explored on this path of struggle for survival. But even the powerful Diviners do not necessarily have the correct or suitable affinity. In fact, it can be said that in terms of resisting demonic corruption, the Diviners are in a worse situation than us mortals."

"A predetermined death? Worse? What does that mean?"

Qin Huai raised an eyebrow and asked casually.

"Destined death, as the name suggests, means that all seekers who embark on the path of cultivation, obtain power from the God of Destiny, and establish a connection with their nature will inevitably be corrupted and devoured by demons, either dying or going mad. Depending on individual constitution, temperament, and nature, the time each person can persist varies, ranging from several decades to three to five years, depending heavily on individual circumstances."

Wei Xiaolian spoke with great emotion, paused, and then continued, "If you want to avoid being caught up by the demons, there are only two ways: either you successfully ascend and become a saint under the command of the God of Fate; or you join the Hundred Lotus Sect, find a lotus seed, and do everything you can to cultivate it to maturity to protect yourself."

"The hope of mortals to ascend to immortality is extremely slim. In the vast Sichuan region over the past seventy years, only a handful of people have succeeded, making it as difficult as ascending to heaven. The Emperor has fought on the battlefield for seventy years, killing countless people and enjoying the favor of the God of War, yet in the end he is only a half-immortal. If it weren't for his impending death and his inability to suppress the demonic influence, he wouldn't have hastily mobilized the entire Great Western Region's manpower and resources to prepare for his ascension this year."

"As for the Hundred Lotus Sect, those wicked bandits, they keep proclaiming that their Eternal Mother is the one who has vanished. Relying on various tricks they somehow obtained, they have actually fooled quite a few people. In recent years, they have been very powerful. No matter how the four kingdoms' courts try to suppress them, they will spring up like bamboo shoots after a spring rain, and it is impossible to completely eradicate them."

"So, it seems the Hundred Lotus Sect doesn't have a God of Fate?"

Qin Huai's heart skipped a beat, and he asked casually, "Then how did they resist the demonic influence?"

"The Hundred Lotus Sect does not have the backing of the Fate God. Otherwise, given the nature of those demonic thieves, the mortal world would not be divided among the four powers, but rather be a five-way struggle for supremacy."

Wei Xiaolian nodded and said, "I don't know if you've ever heard the saying, 'The lotus rises from the mud yet remains unstained, washed by clear ripples yet not seductive.'"

"No."

Qin Huai shook his head, a gesture perfectly in line with the persona of the body he was currently inhabiting.

"The general idea is that the lotus seed can be exposed to demonic influences without being corrupted. Several altar leaders of the Hundred Lotus Sect once relied on their protective lotus treasures to stir up trouble, incite rebellion, and cause a lot of turmoil."

Wei Xiaolian's face darkened as if he were recalling some unpleasant past events: "However, later, the Killing Department paid a heavy price to capture a Master of the Fragrance Altar. After numerous tests, we discovered that the Lotus Treasure was not as miraculous as the Hundred Lotus Sect boasted. Although it could suppress demonic influence to a great extent, it could not completely exempt one from it. Old Man Yu guessed that perhaps only the Hundred Lotus Demon Thieves could unleash its full power. Unfortunately, without the cooperation of the Hundred Lotus Sect's demigods, this mystery may remain unsolved."

"Brother Wei, do you think it's possible that the Fragrance Master is actually a human-shaped, naturally born lotus seed, which is why he was able to completely escape demonic contamination with the help of his protective lotus treasure?"

Qin Huai gestured with his hand, suddenly having a whimsical idea.

"No way."

Upon hearing Qin Huai's idea, Wei Xiaolian was taken aback, then shook his head and rejected it, saying, "If that Hundred Lotus Demon Thief were truly born from a lotus seed, he would have been captured and sacrificed by the God of Fate long ago, and sent to the Outer Heaven. How could he still be wandering around in the mortal world?"

"What do you mean?"

"Brother Qin, it's normal that you don't know since you've just joined the Killing Department. Do you think the cultivators of various sects are so obsessed with ascension just to become servants under the God of Fate? If it weren't for the fact that after ascension they could rely on the God of Fate to attract away a large amount of demonic influence, and they could maintain their sanity by relying on the newly acquired sexual favor, there would be more than half of the evil cults and licentious rituals in this world."

"You can think of the God of Fate as a piece of pork, the Saint as a chicken leg, and the demonic influence as swarms of mosquitoes and flies. Fanning the pork and adding the chicken leg will attract more mosquitoes and flies, but most of the mosquitoes and flies will be attracted away by the pork. In this way, there will be fewer mosquitoes and flies landing on the chicken leg than when there was only one on it. The Saint uses a similar method to transfer the risk and use the God of Fate to draw the fire."

Perhaps fearing that Qin Huai might not understand such an abstract ecological niche between the Sage and the God of Fate, Wei Xiaolian even gave a special example to illustrate it.

"While the Fate Master is indeed powerful, there is still a limit to how much he can withstand demonic influence. As the number of Saints increases, the pressure will multiply. For their own sake, the Saints also need to help their Fate Master resist the erosion of demonic influence. The innate lotus seed, like the Shattered Aspect, is one of the very few treasures that can help the Fate Master resist demonic influence."

Wei Xiaolian shrugged, feigning ease, and said, "This is why the Hundred Lotus Sect is the number one evil cult in the world. Besides their influence on the court and the foundation of the country, it's also because of the desires of the God of Fate and the Saints. 'A common man is innocent, but possessing a treasure is a crime.' The lotus seeds that only the Hundred Lotus Sect can find are destined to put them on the opposite side of us, and there is no way to resolve this."

“I see. But Brother Wei, after listening to you, I feel that the saints’ attitude towards the God of Fate is somewhat wavering, and it seems that not all of them are wholehearted believers.”

Because of preconceived notions, Qin Huai had always thought that the other saints would be like Ci Du, loyal followers of the Gods of Destiny and Fate.

But now he realized that it wasn't like that at all. The Sage and the God of Fate were more like a strange symbiotic entity that was linked together by interests and each got what they needed.

The God of Destiny attracts and resists demonic influence for the saints under his command; in turn, the saints search for and compete for treasures such as lotus seeds that can resist demonic influence for the God of Destiny.

"The world is bustling with activity, all for the sake of profit. It's perfectly normal for sages to have their own calculations. After all, those who can successfully ascend to immortality with great perseverance and determination are all outstanding individuals. Why would they want to remain subservient to others for long? Even if they are assimilated by the God of Fate after years of cultivation, their ambitions are still greater than those of us mortals."

Wei Xiaolian looked at Qin Huai with a resolute gaze: "Since we are all mortals, if they can do it, then we can too."

Thinking about the many strange monsters he had seen in the Demon-Infected Illusion, Qin Huai felt that if he were to become one of those crazy, freakish ghosts, he would rather be an ordinary mortal.

“Buddha is someone who has been through it all, and man is a future Buddha. Sichen is the current Sichen, but that doesn’t mean it can remain Sichen forever. In the seventy years since the upheaval of the Heavenly Revelation, there have been three wars between the Sichen in the Outer Heavens, each bringing unpredictable natural disasters to the mortal world. So you don’t need to be too afraid of the Sichen. They don’t have time to bother with mortals like us who are like ants.”

Wei Xiaolian chuckled self-deprecatingly and looked at Qin Huai: "The treasury of the Killing Department has plenty of resources, enough to answer your many questions. However, although you now have the Gengqi Iron Order, your merit rewards are far from sufficient. It just so happens that the recruiting soldiers need to collect materials for the Emperor's blood-receiving ceremony during this period. You can run around more. If you perform well, you might be able to make a great career out of it."

After saying this, Wei Xiaolian gave Qin Huai time to process the complex information on his own and then left.

After a while, Qin Huai finally came out from behind the screen and returned to the counter.

“Yu Gongcao, Wei Xiaolian said that I want to enter the treasury to check the secrets, but my merit reward is not enough. He wants me to take on more jobs.” Yu Gongcao, who seemed to spend all twelve hours of the day at the counter, was not surprised at all. He simply nodded and said, “Normally, you need to accumulate a thousand merit rewards to be designated as a Geng Banner officer. You are currently eight hundred and sixty-five merit rewards short. You can choose what you want to do.”

Yu Gongcao tapped the table with his finger, and immediately a taciturn soldier came out from behind the hall, saluted Qin Huai, and then stood quietly to the side.

"Ask him what kind of work you need, even if it's someone who just arrived tonight, he'll know. You can also find out from him how many recruits are below you in rank in the Great Western Region, who to choose as your assistant, and how much of the reward to share."

Hearing what Yu Gongcao said, Qin Huai looked at the soldiers in front of him and thought for a moment before asking, "Do all ten Heavenly Stems (甲, 乙, 丙, 丁) have to be handled this way?"

"In reply to you, sir, of course not."

Upon hearing Qin Huai's question, the soldier finally spoke up to explain: "For ordinary jobs, those below the iron rank are all taken this way. But if you go up a bit and change your rank, the situation will be a little different."

Listening to the soldier's detailed explanation, Qin Huai finally understood the structure of the Killing Department.

The Killing Department is strict internally but lenient externally. If you want to climb the ranks and enjoy better treatment, the corresponding constraints will become increasingly tight. It is true that the recruits are ranked according to the ten Heavenly Stems (甲, 乙, 丙, 丁, 戊, 己, 庚, 辛, 壬, 癸), but once they actually enter the Killing Department, for convenience, they are generally only checked by their waist badge.

Waist badges are made of four materials: gold, silver, copper, and iron. The grades are: gold (甲), silver (乙) and silver (丙), copper (丁), copper (戊), copper (己), and iron (庚), iron (庚), copper (辛), iron (壬), and iron (癸).

According to Qin Huai's judgment, the power levels represented by gold, silver, copper, and iron can be roughly compared to the Seven Palaces, Eight Extremes, Nine Luminaries, and Ten Capitals.

If it's only at the Iron Badge stage, then the process of accepting the bounty is indeed no different from the mercenary tournament that Qin Huai originally imagined.

Once a recruit receives a silver medal and reaches a position like Wei Xiaolian, it's practically the same as becoming an official in the imperial court, with official robes and superiors in charge.

However, in return, recruits can also obtain some good things that others have no chance to see within the killing department, such as clues about ascension from various sects, as well as various martial arts techniques and treasures that are not passed on to outsiders and are kept in the secret vault. The higher the official position, the better the things that can be exchanged with salary.

The dividing line is the bronze plaque. If Qin Huai only intends to be a straggler in Gengqi, then he will naturally not receive many benefits. At most, he can exchange his merits for some ordinary things, but it will be basically impossible for him to enter the treasury.

As for when one can enter the inner circle of the Assassin's Guild from the outside, that depends entirely on each person's usual actions.

Once one gold medalist and two silver medalists in the assassination department believe that someone has great potential, is capable of great things, and has a completely trustworthy background, they will send someone to discuss the matter in detail.

As Wei Xiaolian said, the recent period is a crucial time for the Great Western King to prepare for his ascension. There are many tasks to be done, which is indeed a good opportunity for a commoner like Qin Huai to make a name for himself.

"What kinds of tasks does the department handle related to sexuality and ascension?"

"My lord, please wait here for a moment, I will go and get it right away."

After saluting, Jun Yong disappeared back into the deep darkness.

Seeing Qin Huai's actions, Yu Gongcao frowned slightly and asked, "This matter concerns the nature of things and usually involves the Outer Heavens. If you don't have enough strength, you may be in danger of losing your life."

"Don't worry, I've just acquired the [Asura Technique], and my strength will improve immediately. When that happens, slaying evil and destroying demons will be a piece of cake, won't it?"

Qin Huai feigned arrogance and brandished the small, blood-red box in his hand.

"To unleash the true power of the [Asura Technique], you need the cooperation of soldiers. Since you are all alone, you can take the Geng Flag Iron Token to the military camp and select a squad of soldiers to temporarily serve."

As a practitioner of the three teachings (military strategy, philosophy, and religion), Yu Gongcao was insightful and experienced. After giving Qin Huai his advice, he remained silent.

A short while later, the soldier returned, carrying a stack of freshly copied letters in his hands.

"My lord, these are all."

Before he could finish speaking, Qin Huai nodded, picked up the papers, and began to carefully examine them one by one.

However, after searching through everything from beginning to end, Qin Huai couldn't find a single job with a reward of more than a Zhu Shang rank; all he found were trivial matters that were based on rumors and wasted his time.

"Why are they all just small fry? And even those are just suspected cases, without any definite information. Aren't there any jobs to deal with half-immortals, evil spirits, or the Hundred Lotus Sect?"

Upon hearing Qin Huai's words, the soldier's expression immediately changed: "Sir, the kind of assignments you mentioned are all extremely urgent disasters. The department generally doesn't have time to send out recruits to investigate and resolve them slowly. The Emperor will directly dispatch the Eight Great Camps to eradicate them completely!"

"That's true. Speed ​​is of the essence in war, and usually things wouldn't last until now."

Thinking of what the original owner had done, Qin Huai nodded in understanding.

"Are there any jobs with higher rewards? I don't want to waste my time on trivial matters."

After thinking it over, Qin Huai asked the soldiers again, "Aren't you afraid of danger, as long as the reward is generous?"

"I have a black reward of two thousand merits here. The risk of death is very small, but it can easily drive people insane. If you are willing, I can let you try it."

Just then, Yu Gongcao, who was behind the counter, stopped writing and drawing at some point and looked at Qin Huai with an eerie calm in his eyes.

(End of this chapter)