Chapter 343: Soldier's Box

After much hesitation, Feng Yue finally approached Lu Ye. Lu Ye reached out and took her hand.

Feng Yue's body trembled. In a panic, she closed her eyes, gathered her courage, and gritted her teeth, declaring, "Even if you possess my body, you'll never have my heart..."

"Ha..." A strange sound escaped Lu Ye. Feng Yue squinted her eyes to see, only to find the young man in front of her taking out a large seal, breathing a puff of air onto it, and then pressing it onto the back of her hand.

The instant the seal landed, something intangible shifted. Feng Yue distinctly felt an invisible connection form between her battlefield mark and the Bloodfiend Sect's Heavenly Mechanism Pillar. Her eyes widened instantly.

"What are you talking about?" Lu Ye asked, putting away his Garrison Envoy's seal and looking at her strangely.

"N-nothing... nothing," Feng Yue stammered, feeling overwhelmed by how quickly happiness had arrived. Her face flushed red as she recalled her recent misunderstanding.

As the former Garrison Envoy of the Feng family, she understood better than anyone what Lu Ye's action had just signified. That single imprint meant she would no longer be a nameless, unranked cultivator. From now on, she wouldn't have to live in daily anxiety at the Bloodfiend Sect. Her heart surged with excitement, instantly filling her with the joy of seeing the moon after the clouds had parted.

"Am I a named disciple?" Feng Yue asked cautiously.

"A full disciple."

Feng Yue felt a little dizzy. She had originally thought that Lu Ye accepting her as a named disciple would be a favorable outcome, but the reality was even better than she had anticipated.

"You should understand what it signifies for me to dare to accept you as a full disciple."

Feng Yue nodded vigorously, like a chick pecking at rice. "I understand!"

"You may go."

Feng Yue curtsied gracefully, then turned and walked out of the hall. As she stepped outside into the bright sunlight, the gloom that had weighed on her for days lifted, and she felt a sense of rebirth.

Ever since Lu Ye had brought her captive to the Bloodfiend Sect's stronghold, her state had been abysmal. Even if the Feng family were willing to pay a hefty price to ransom her, she would never dare to return. After all, the stronghold that the Feng family had painstakingly managed for decades was lost under her command. If she dared to go back, only two fates awaited her: either facing extremely severe punishment from the Feng family or being used as a pawn in a marriage alliance with another family. She couldn't bear either outcome. Escaping from the Bloodfiend Sect to seek refuge with another faction was even more unrealistic, so she had no choice but to remain.

During this time, she had seemingly integrated into the Bloodfiend Sect, and the cultivators at the stronghold treated her reasonably well. However, without official status, she had no future. Aside from everything else, she couldn't even earn merit points. After all, you couldn't expect a medical cultivator like her to go kill enemies, could you? Currently, the Ten Thousand Devil Ridge forces near the Bloodfiend Sect were so suppressed that even the Bloodfiend Sect's own disciples had no opportunities to kill enemies, let alone her. Without merit points, she would lack the resources to purchase Heavenly-tier cultivation methods in the future, meaning her cultivation would be capped at 180 orifices.

However, the Bloodfiend Sect couldn't easily admit her, as she was, after all, from the Feng clan and a medical cultivator. It was an unspoken rule in the cultivation world of the Nine Provinces that captured medical cultivators from opposing factions could be ransomed back for a price. Her remaining at the Bloodfiend Sect without official status wasn't an issue. If the Ten Thousand Devil Ridge pressed the matter, it could be explained that the Bloodfiend Sect and the Feng clan hadn't reached an agreement on ransom terms. However, if the Bloodfiend Sect were to officially recruit her, it would break this rule. Once such a precedent was set, and everyone followed suit, chaos would undoubtedly ensue. So, Feng Yue had never imagined that she would one day be admitted into the Bloodfiend Sect.

Although Lu Ye hadn't explicitly stated it, she understood perfectly well that he had recently thrown the inner circle into disarray, causing widespread chaos and almost igniting a full-scale war between the two major factions in the Spirit Stream battlefield. Compared to what he had already done, accepting a medical cultivator from an enemy sect was insignificant. Who would dare to object? Anyone who stepped forward would likely find their own stronghold compromised by the next day. Furthermore, the Ten Thousand Devil Ridge had broken rules multiple times to target Lu Ye. Even if the news spread later, they would have no standing to criticize him. It could be said that across the entire Spirit Stream battlefield, only Lu Ye possessed the resources and the audacity to do something like this.

A full disciple! It wasn't merely a title but also brought tangible benefits. Beyond the monthly stipend she would receive from the main sect, she would also be eligible for merit rewards in the future. What Feng Yue wanted to do most now, however, was to build her own house in the official disciples' residential area.

She still had some connections. After sending out a few messages, seven or eight Bloodfiend Sect disciples arrived to help. Upon learning that she had been accepted as a full disciple by Fifth Senior Brother, they all offered their congratulations.

Gu Yang was highly efficient; in less than half a day, he had already handed the drafted roster to Lu Ye. After Lu Ye had Hua Ci review it and confirmed there were no issues, he instructed Gu Yang to summon the full and named disciples listed for admission. Over the next period, these disciples, one by one, joyfully entered the council hall. Gu Yang, exercising his authority as Deputy Garrison Envoy, formally elevated their statuses and registered them. After today, the Bloodfiend Sect would have an additional one hundred full disciples and two hundred named disciples.

While they were busy there, in the main sect, Shui Yuan found the Sect Master and explained Lu Ye's idea. Upon hearing this, the Sect Master nodded. "Indeed, we should recruit more people. Yi Ye is right; only recruiting talents from rogue cultivators will undoubtedly lead to a talent gap in the Cloud River and True Lake realms in the future, which would be detrimental to the sect's development."

"So, should we hold a grand disciple recruitment ceremony?"

"No need," the Sect Master replied. "Currently, only you and I, master and disciple, are available in the sect. Preparing a grand ceremony would be too troublesome. We can reconsider this matter when Yi Ye and the others have achieved higher cultivation levels."

"Without a grand ceremony, how will we select talent?"

"I will devise a plan."

After Shui Yuan departed, the Sect Master rummaged around and found a gilded invitation. The sender was clearly a second-rank sect in Bing Province called the Three Saints Academy. Bing Province was a place of perpetual strife, as it was a land where sects from the two major factions were in constant opposition. This situation led to the presence of many powerful sects in Bing Province, on both sides of the conflict. For instance, among the ten top-tier first-rank sects, five belonged to the Vast Heaven Alliance and five to the Ten Thousand Devil Ridge. Although the Three Saints Academy was a second-rank sect, its foundation was considerable, and it boasted a significant number of Divine Sea realm cultivators. Major powers like this would hold grand disciple recruitment ceremonies every two or three years, selecting exceptional talents from all corners to join their ranks, thereby bolstering their foundations and ensuring their continued legacy.

Generally, each faction had its own designated area for talent selection, which essentially constituted its sphere of influence. If exceptional talents with outstanding aptitude emerged within this area, they would naturally be recruited by these factions, who held the advantage of proximity. Major sects were keen on maintaining their prestige. Whenever they held such grand ceremonies, they would symbolically send out invitations in all directions, inviting highly respected individuals to attend as observers. This served both to build momentum for themselves and to strengthen their ties with other sects.

The Sect Master had received many such invitations over the years but had never attended. This time, however, he decided to go and observe the ceremony! "Others have ready-made disciple recruitment ceremonies; why bother organizing one myself?" Over the years, many exceptional talents had been lost from the Bloodfiend Sect's territory. The Three Saints Academy was not too far from the Bloodfiend Sect, and it could be said that they had greatly benefited from this proximity.

A moment later, from Shou Zheng Peak, the main peak of the Bloodfiend Sect, a streak of light shot into the sky and vanished in an instant. The Three Saints Academy's disciple recruitment ceremony was about to begin; there was no time to lose!

At the Bloodfiend Sect's stronghold, inside the Heavenly Mechanism Hall, Lu Ye searched diligently within the Heavenly Mechanism Vault and found a palm-sized, nine-holed, honeycomb-like box. This item looked unassuming, but it was actually a mid-grade spiritual artifact containing eighteen internal restrictions. Spiritual artifacts with fewer than nine restrictions were low-grade; fewer than eighteen, mid-grade; fewer than twenty-seven, high-grade; and a full thirty-six constituted a top-grade artifact. Above that level were Dharma artifacts, which contained even more restrictions. Above Dharma artifacts were spiritual treasures. For example, the Nine Realms Map was a spiritual treasure, its value immeasurable.

For cultivators at the Spirit Stream realm, low-grade spiritual artifacts were generally sufficient, as the more restrictions hidden within a spiritual artifact, the greater the spiritual energy consumed upon activation. Of course, if one had sufficient financial resources and confidence in their spiritual energy reserves, they could also consider purchasing a mid-grade spiritual artifact; it depended on individual needs.

Besides the Nine Realms Map, a spiritual treasure, Lu Ye also possessed a Dharma artifact longsword. It was spoils from previously killing a True Lake realm cultivator, and he hadn't rushed to sell it, thinking he might find a use for it in the future. The honeycomb-like box in his hand, called a "Soldier Box," was a spiritual artifact used for manipulating other artifacts. Since returning from Immortal Yuan City, Lu Ye had been able to manipulate four artifacts. Now, his limit for artifact manipulation was even higher; he estimated that manipulating six or seven artifacts would be effortless for him.

Furthermore, he had high standards for his artifact manipulation. It wasn't merely about wielding spiritual artifacts; he also needed to engrave spiritual patterns onto them concurrently, which placed a significant burden on his mind. If it were purely artifact manipulation, Lu Ye felt he could easily control a dozen or even twenty artifacts. Compared to cultivators of the same level, this number was formidable, though he still lagged significantly behind his Fourth Senior Brother.

The primary reason for purchasing this Soldier Box was Li Baxian's recommendation. Lu Ye had already realized that while using artifacts to kill enemies was convenient, it had a troublesome aspect: one needed to retrieve the spiritual artifacts from their storage bag before manipulating them. When facing an enemy, any delay, no matter how brief, could influence the outcome of victory or defeat, or even life and death. This was precisely why Lu Ye had never put his Mountain-Crushing Blade into his storage bag. With his blade in hand, he could draw it and engage enemies at any moment. If it were stored in his bag, encountering an enemy would require retrieving it, which was ultimately a nuisance. Furthermore, the spiritual energy used for artifact manipulation was pre-stored within the artifact itself. Once consumed, it had to be retrieved and replenished. These two issues significantly diminished the effectiveness of artifact manipulation for cultivators. To resolve these problems, the Soldier Box was the ideal solution!