Immortality and Cultivation: This old man seeks enlightenment through mere survival.

About half an hour later, the two women recovered from their injuries.

They all stood up and bowed to Lu Zaian.

"Fellow Daoist An's pills are truly extraordinary, the effects are amazing!" Li Qian said with a smile.

She had exchanged for first-grade high-quality pills in the alliance before.

But the results don't seem to be as good as what Lu Zaian gave me...

Could it be bad?

Those pills were personally refined by Lu Zaian himself.

Although the pill patterns were not intentionally generated, the effect still surpassed that of a typical first-grade high-quality pill.

“Now that you’ve rested, lead the way,” Lu Zaian nodded.

He had just used soul-searching to find out the location of the Demon-Slaying Alliance's branch.

The two women were unaware that he had searched their souls.

Therefore, Lu Zaian still needs their recommendation to join the Demon-Slaying Alliance.

Every disciple who enters the Demon Slayer Alliance will receive an identity token.

In the early stages of Qi Refining, one receives an iron medal; in the middle stages, a bronze medal; and in the later stages, a silver medal.

The token is not only a symbol of identity for members of the Demon-Slaying Alliance, but also a container for storing battle merits.

Lu Zaian's goal was to create the identity of a rogue cultivator to infiltrate the Chen family, participate in the grand competition, and then get close to the spiritual water.

The Chen family doesn't accept just any independent cultivator.

This process requires a pledge of allegiance.

The so-called "pledge of allegiance" is proof that one has killed members of the Demon-Slaying Alliance.

Corresponding to the early, middle, and late stages of Qi Refining, independent cultivators must present at least ten iron plaques, five bronze plaques, or one silver plaque.

The more tokens you pull out, the more you can prove your strength and attitude.

Therefore, Lu Zaian was too lazy to collect the tokens one by one.

It would be better to just go to the headquarters of the Demon Extermination Alliance branch and "borrow" a few pieces.

along the way.

As the two women gradually lowered their guard, they also became familiar with Lu Zai'an.

"Fellow Daoist An, actually the management within the Demon Extermination Alliance is quite chaotic."

If you join them without any powerful backers, your mid-stage Qi Refining cultivation level makes you vulnerable to being bullied.

"Why don't you join us? With my master here, he can definitely protect you."

Liu Sining had a ulterior motive. She saw that Lu Zaian was a good fighter and an upright person, and wanted to bring Lu Zaian into her camp.

In the Demon Slayer Alliance, Qi Refining disciples are divided into numerous small teams.

Most dispatch missions are also conducted in small teams.

The team leader is usually at least in the late stage of Qi Refining.

Liu Sining's team leader is their master—Qi Daoren.

A cultivator who has reached the peak of Qi Refining is quite famous in the Thunderfall Plains branch alliance.

"Oh? But if I hadn't happened to save you this time, your master wouldn't have been able to protect you either, right?"

Lu Zaian replied jokingly.

Meanwhile, in his mind he was thinking:

No wonder the war between the Demon Extermination Alliance and the Demon Spear Sect, the Blood Burning Sect, and other demonic sects has been deadlocked for three years...

The main reason for this is the chaotic management within the Demon-Slaying Alliance, where forces cannot be united...

There were seven Foundation Establishment factions in total, plus a large number of independent cultivators.

Everyone has their own interests and demands; how can things not be chaotic?

"Ahem... My master recently collected enough battle merits to exchange for a Foundation Establishment spiritual item."

He's currently in seclusion within the alliance, adjusting his condition in preparation for breaking through to the Foundation Establishment stage...

That's why they didn't come with us.

Liu Sining answered with a mixture of embarrassment and pride.

However, it's clear that this master usually treats her quite well.

That's why she defended her master.

"I see. Then I'll go into the Demon Extermination Alliance first to find out what's going on..."

Lu Zaian did not agree and gave a perfunctory answer.

He wasn't very interested in joining the Demon-Slaying Alliance.

To put it bluntly, all I want is a temporary identity.

Seeing that Lu Zaian was not very interested, Liu Sining wisely stopped discussing the matter further.

Instead, they continued talking about other things...

During the conversation, Lu Zaian also learned about another major factor that led to the Demon Extermination Alliance's current predicament.

Two years ago, the atmosphere within the Demon Extermination Alliance was quite good.

Although everyone had their own agendas, they still managed to defeat the demonic forces by working together.

In a short time, they conquered many mineral and spiritual veins, acquiring a great deal of resources.

However, later, due to an uneven distribution of resources, the situation changed.

In addition, each family sacrificed Foundation Establishment cultivators.

Chaos began to emerge within the alliance.

You might say that your family sacrificed an extra Foundation Establishment cultivator and want a larger share of the profits as compensation.

But do you think about it? With one less Foundation Establishment cultivator in your family, do you still have the qualifications to compete with other families?

When sacrificing combat power doesn't bring more compensation, but instead results in being pushed off the table to share the spoils.

Who would still be willing to be at the forefront and become a scapegoat...?

Everyone wants to get something for nothing.

This resulted in a situation where, three years later, there were very few wars involving cultivators above the Foundation Establishment level.

Instead, they were tacitly controlled by both the righteous and demonic factions and confined to the realm of Qi Refining cultivators.

The so-called "war to slay demons" has also become a battlefield for honing the skills of disciples from various factions...

Lu Zaian scoffed at this.

He himself is a Foundation Establishment cultivator, so his vision and ideas are much broader and more far-reaching.

Lu Zaian dared to say that there were many more details behind this war...

These are things that Liu Sining and other Qi Refining disciples could never have encountered or imagined.

What kind of "war to slay demons" is it if no Foundation Establishment cultivators participate?

The demonic forces, on the other hand, couldn't be happier than this.

This will give them more time to rest and recuperate...

Perhaps the Foundation Establishment level leaders of the Demon Extermination Alliance have already secretly negotiated with the higher-ups of the demonic path and obtained sufficient benefits.

They left behind a group of Qi Refining cultivators who fought each other to the death like children playing house.

Calling it a trial is just an excuse to save face for the so-called "Demon-Slaying Alliance"...

Two hours later.

Led by the two women, Lu Zaian finally arrived at the Demon Extermination Alliance's base in Luolei Plain.

A continuous cluster of buildings.

Most of them look like temporary tents, while a few resemble palaces.

"These tents are for Qi Refining cultivators, while those palaces are where Foundation Establishment cultivators usually live."

There are also two adjacent palaces, which are the Hall of War Merits for exchanging war merits, and a warehouse.

Fellow Daoist An, if you join the Demon-Slaying Alliance, please remember not to wander into these palaces carelessly…

Before even entering the camp, Liu Sining began explaining some of the rules and regulations within the alliance that Lu Zaian needed to be aware of.

"Yeah...I'll pay attention."

Lu Zaian nodded, but in his heart he felt apologetic.

According to soul searching and conversation, only three Foundation Establishment stage cultivators were stationed at this base.

It posed no threat to Lu Zaian at all.

However, he didn't want to openly offend the Demon Slayer Alliance.

Therefore, the matter of the identity token can only be handled in secret.

The two women first took Lu Zaian to the Hall of Military Merit to process his identity.

Inside the hall, there were other people queuing up.

Liu Sining peeked out and saw the figure of the person in charge of registration ahead, but frowned.

"What's wrong?" Lu Zaian noticed something was amiss.

"It just so happens that a disgusting guy is on duty. Don't say anything, just leave it to me."

Liu Sining said with dissatisfaction.

Lu Zaian nodded.

Before long, it was Liu Sining and Lu Zaian's turn to line up.

As you can see, the person in charge of registration at the counter is a chubby, round-faced fat man.

His bloated body, when he sat there, resembled a mountain of flesh.

He is currently looking down and writing or drawing something.

He only looked up when Liu Sining's shadow blocked the paper in front of him.

The fat man peeked at Liu Sining through his fleshy eyes, which were like green beans, and immediately said in a sarcastic tone:

"Oh, isn't this our Fairy Ning? What brings you here today?"