Chapter 577: Lending a Hand

Chapter 577: Chapter 577: Lending a Hand

Asking the Gui Mountain Cultivation Institute for help?

Shen Hao blinked and asked, "How are they connected to the Jingying Prefecture?"

Zhang Qian gave a thumbs up and said, "Exactly, Shen, you know of Jingying Prefecture too?"

"Just learned a bit about it today. I heard they were brought in under the Dynasty’s war edict to deal with the barbarian cultivators."

"That’s right. Now that His Majesty has issued the War Opening Token, the whole tone of the war has been set. It’s not just the military and local forces being mobilized—every major sect also has to answer the command and send experts to form the Jingying Prefecture, coming under the border army’s unified coordination to fight.

There’s a whole art to this. How much do you know, Shen?"

Shen Hao filled their cups, shook his head—he wanted to hear what these two old foxes had to say about Jingying Prefecture. It was a good chance to understand how the Jingjiu Dynasty handled wars beyond its borders.

"Then let us give you the details today, brother. It’s useful for you too. If fighting erupts, you, as Inspector General, are highly likely to follow Marshal Zuo to the front and oversee things. Better be prepared."

After a pause, Zhang Qian continued: "There’s a threshold for sect cultivators to enter Jingying Prefecture—you can’t even get in if your Cultivation is below the Post-God-Gathering Realm. Generally, to give themselves the best survival odds, the sects only send disciples who’ve reached the Primordial Pill Realm. Gathering Spirit cultivators are rare. The highest we’ve heard of is the Middle Stage of the Profound Sea Realm—usually it’s just the Initial Stage.

Based on their Cultivation, sect cultivators are grouped into three ranks in Jingying Prefecture—first rank is the highest, third rank the lowest. According to the situation and needs, they’re assigned to specific ten-thousand-man formations or even camps, to counter the Barbarian Race’s body cultivators or launch devastating assaults..."

To put it bluntly, those sect cultivators in Jingying Prefecture are this side’s top-tier combat assets. Their battlefield role is to "counter enemy elites" and "assist the army in crushing attacks." They’re responsible for reinforcement, support, decapitation strikes, raids—strategic and tactical tasks rolled into one. Absolutely crucial.

"Old Zhang and I have already trained three camp-level units each at Hai Xia and Beach Stone. The pace of training was forced by strict orders from the Daoxing Chief’s Office, but honestly, we’ve only managed to achieve a bit over half the effect we’d hoped for. Just the day before yesterday, both of us got reassigned from the Hai Xia training camp to Beach Stone. Our positions were bumped up half a grade; we’ve both been given thousand households officer posts, with the official rank raised to Senior Fifth Grade as well.

But the robes and waist tokens and all that still have to wait—should get them tomorrow, maybe.

Don’t—don’t rush to congratulate us. Old Zhang and I have both been through this years ago. It’s called temporary promotion before war—same as buying your life with higher pay. Think about it and you’ll get the taste of it. So, really nothing to congratulate. If you’re gonna celebrate, wait till the war’s over and we make it back alive. Otherwise, what good’s a bigger promotion if you’re dead?

You can tell just from how we got the order for the promotion but not the robes or tokens—that must mean they’re temporarily promoting a lot of people this time, or else the things and the orders wouldn’t get separated."

Hearing this, Shen Hao couldn’t even bring himself to offer congratulations.

And it made sense. Promotion’s great, but first you have to survive, or else you don’t get to enjoy any of the perks.

Thinking back to the sects he’d heard mentioned, Shen Hao was starting to piece things together.

"So you two are trying to get yourselves some insurance for when you go up on the battlefield?"

"Exactly!"

Shen Hao gave them a thumbs-up. He had to admit—these two were meticulous to the hilt, shamelessly slick.

"But how do you know where you’ll end up? Even if you get in touch with Gui Mountain Cultivation Institute, doesn’t guarantee you’ll get to use their help, right?" Shen Hao respected their shrewdness, but didn’t think the plan was all that reliable. The war had just gotten underway; nothing was certain at the front yet, too many variables.

"Heh, you think we’re that clueless, Shen? Old Zhang and I have been knocking around the military half our lives. Maybe we’re not the ultimate insiders, but we know the ropes seven or eight parts out of ten.

We’re old foxes in the battle formations with frontline command experience, and our Cultivation is barely serviceable. Most importantly, we used to serve with the Garrison, not the Four Major Armies, so transferring us is easier—the Daoxing Chief’s Office just shuffles us around like bricks, no need to worry about anything else.

If you were in charge, wouldn’t you use us as test stones, sending us ahead to feel things out?"

Shen Hao was silent. If he was in that seat? Officers with skill and ability, yet not too strong in their footing—useful, expendable, no baggage—the perfect "test stones" to throw out first.

And once you’re that test stone, thrown ahead, what guarantee do you have? Live or die, it’s mostly up to yourself.

Seeing Shen Hao silent, Zhang Qian laughed, "So yeah, we’ll be sent to the very front for sure—and it’ll definitely be the most dangerous place, the deadliest mission. And facing us will be the Barbarian Race’s fiercest vanguard.

As for your earlier question—the Gui Mountain Cultivation Institute is a top-tier sect. They’re always ranked as first-class combat power, and by custom, first-class is sent out in the first wave to gauge the enemy, most likely working in tandem with ’test stones’ like us. Now you see what we’re getting at?"

Shen Hao understood.

In short, Zhang Qian and Gan Lin had already resigned themselves to being put into deadly positions in the coming war. To survive, they had to prepare on every possible front—personal and external alike. Shen Hao arriving at the border army meant he could give them a shot at making connections with those cultivator elites in Jingying Prefecture. Even if the odds weren’t great, they had to take it.

Figuring this out, Shen Hao said solemnly, "Don’t worry, brothers, I’ll do everything I can to make it happen." He couldn’t promise too much, but deep down he wasn’t totally without confidence, either.

"Hah, relax, Shen. We’re just trying to stack the deck for survival. If it falls through, doesn’t matter—our skills for staying alive on the battlefield aren’t for nothing. Hehe."

"But if we could get those top dogs from Gui Mountain Cultivation Institute to back us up, it’d be a whole different story. So this time, Shen, we’re really counting on you."

...

After seeing Zhang Qian and Gan Lin out, Shen Hao didn’t overthink. Things were urgent—Zhang Qian and Gan Lin wouldn’t be staying long at Beach Stone, could get sent outside the border at any moment. And over at Jingying Prefecture, everything was already in motion, everyone who was supposed to be there had arrived.

According to what Zhang Qian and Gan Lin heard, the leader sent by Gui Mountain Cultivation Institute this time was Master Wushan. Master Pingyang—whom Shen Hao had met before and had a bit of friendly history with—was Wushan’s fellow disciple. That’s why the two brought up Master Pingyang earlier.

So after sending Zhang Qian and Gan Lin off, Shen Hao made his way to Jingying Prefecture’s gates, presented his waist token, and asked to be let in.