Chapter 867: You Just Say If You Want It

Several more days passed. When all the golden spiritual talismans were finally used up, this period of intense cultivation concluded. Lu Ye quietly examined himself.

Compared to before, his cultivation level hadn't changed, but the spiritual power within him was undoubtedly more condensed, and his personal strength had clearly improved by a fraction.

This was the unique characteristic of the True Lake Realm.

In this realm, as long as cultivators practiced, their strength would increase, regardless of the degree.

This was incomparable to the first two realms.

In the Spirit Stream and Cloud River realms, cultivators only experienced a sudden leap in power after breaking through their current limits and advancing their cultivation level.

However, the True Lake Realm was different. Here, as cultivators continued their practice, their strength improved continuously and steadily.

Feeling pleased both physically and mentally, Lu Ye suddenly shot up the moment he opened his eyes. His hand pressed against the hilt of the Mountain Crushing Saber at his waist, his body slightly hunched like a leopard about to pounce, and his spiritual power burst forth.

This was because a figure stood silently a zhang away in front of him.

However, he quickly realized that the person standing before him was none other than his superior, Nian Yuexian, the pass master of Cangyan Pass.

A cold sweat immediately broke out, and he was secretly alarmed. "Is this the capability of a Divine Sea Realm grand cultivator?"

Before opening his eyes and seeing her, he had been completely unaware of when she had appeared there, nor had he detected any trace of her aura.

All the formations he had set up were utterly useless. "When did she arrive?"

"Wouldn't she have seen all his cultivation secrets and Yiyi's existence clearly?"

But then he reconsidered. Neither his cultivation secrets nor Yiyi's existence were major issues. The former were at most some special cultivation techniques he had developed, nothing shameful, and even if he told others, they couldn't replicate them. As for Yiyi... the Bi Xie Sect had records of Yiyi, and she even held the identity of a Bi Xie Sect disciple. If Nian Yuexian had any doubts, she could easily verify them with the sect.

Furthermore, since he would be residing here long-term, everything would eventually be exposed under the watchful eye of a Divine Sea Realm grand cultivator.

With these thoughts, Lu Ye relaxed. He released the saber hilt, clasped his hands, and greeted, "Master!"

Nian Yuexian said lightly, "Your formation skills are good, and this bamboo building isn't bad either."

"You flatter me, Master." Lu Ye thought to himself, "No matter how good my formation skills are, you still managed to sneak in unnoticed."

Thinking this way, his pass master's attainments in formation arts must be truly astonishing.

"Is she a ghost cultivator?"

Lu Ye realized it a little late.

Lu Ye naturally didn't know what type of cultivator Nian Yuexian was, but judging by the current clues, she was very likely a ghost cultivator.

Ghost cultivators like Ying Wuji could pose a great threat to cultivators of the same realm, let alone a Divine Sea Realm ghost cultivator. The extent of such a ghost cultivator's abilities was beyond Lu Ye's imagination.

"Is there anything else, Master?" Lu Ye felt immense pressure as she stared at him coldly.

Nian Yuexian said nothing more. Her figure swayed slightly, and she vanished.

Lu Ye had no idea how she left.

Inside the bamboo building, Lu Ye was bewildered. "What did that mean?"

His pass master suddenly came here just to compliment him?

It didn't make sense.

Yiyi, standing nearby, tugged at Lu Ye's clothes. "Lu Ye, does she want this bamboo building?"

A woman's thoughts were undoubtedly more discerning. While Lu Ye was puzzled by Nian Yuexian's actions, Yiyi seemed to have vaguely grasped something.

"Impossible," Lu Ye flatly denied. "If she wanted one, she could easily build it herself. Why would she try to take mine?"

With her capabilities as a Divine Sea Realm grand cultivator, a small three-story bamboo building could be constructed effortlessly. "You're right," Yiyi nodded, thinking she might have overthought it.

However, Nian Yuexian's words just now clearly had an underlying meaning.

Overthinking was pointless. After many days of cultivation, it was inevitably monotonous.

"Let's go for a walk," Lu Ye said, pushing open the door with Amber and Yiyi.

At a glance, he saw Nian Yuexian sitting on the trunk of a large tree outside, leaning against its body, her gaze distant as she looked into the distance, lost in thought.

Lu Ye raised an eyebrow, unable to figure out why she was staying near him. Or perhaps this was originally her resting place, and he had coincidentally built a bamboo building here?

Taking a few steps forward, Lu Ye looked up and called out, "Master, do you have any orders?"

In his imagination, arriving at the Bingzhou Guard frontline would involve constant strategizing, fighting, and friction with cultivators from the Myriad Demon Ridge. Yet, the environment here seemed excessively peaceful.

The dilapidated pass housed only him and Nian Yuexian, with no signs of Myriad Demon Ridge cultivators attacking or infiltrating. Nian Yuexian had given him the position of a Pass Stationed Guard, but he couldn't just stay here indefinitely.

As a Bingzhou Guard, he couldn't act without orders, which made things difficult.

"You want a mission?" Nian Yuexian slowly regained her focus and looked down at him.

"If there is one..."

Nian Yuexian nodded. With a flip of her jade hand, her guard token appeared. Without any visible movement from her, Lu Ye immediately felt something, quickly retrieved his own guard token, and immersed his consciousness in it to check.

A moment later, he looked up at Nian Yuexian with a speechless expression.

Missions for the Bingzhou Guard could be given verbally by superiors or issued through guard tokens. Nian Yuexian's action just now was clearly issuing him a mission via the guard token.

The mission's content was also quite intricate: "Find a suitable dwelling for the Pass Master!"

Upon seeing the mission content, Lu Ye's eye twitched uncontrollably.

Yiyi had actually guessed it right!

"But... if you wanted it, why didn't you just say so? How was I supposed to know if you didn't tell me?"

"Besides, as a grand cultivator of Cangyan, is building a bamboo building really that difficult for you?"

"Where did you reside before I arrived? You couldn't have been sleeping rough for all these years."

Thinking about it, it was indeed possible.

He had inspected the Myriad Demon Ridge Pass's city; there were no signs of habitation, and it had been uninhabited for many years. There were no other buildings in the vicinity either.

This meant that during her time single-handedly guarding the Myriad Demon Ridge Pass, Nian Yuexian had been without a fixed abode.

Lu Ye was filled with unvented complaints, feeling both annoyed and amused.

"Master, if you don't mind, the bamboo building behind me has just been completed..."

Before he could finish speaking, Nian Yuexian flickered and shot into the third floor of the bamboo building. The next moment, the meditation mat Lu Ye had left inside was thrown out, which he caught.

His eyelid twitched even more violently.

This was a bit too much "burning the bridge after crossing the river"!

Lu Ye never imagined his pass master, a grand cultivator of Cangyan, would be like this!

However, he quickly realized something and hurriedly lowered his head to check his battlefield mark. All his complaints instantly vanished.

Nothing else. The information recording his battle merits in the battlefield mark had changed.

Previously, after buying golden spiritual talismans at the Merit Pavilion, he had 40,672 battle merits remaining. Now, it had become 42,672 points.

In other words, he had gained an extra 2,000 battle merits. "Such a good thing exists?"

Lu Ye was extremely surprised.

He knew that Bingzhou Guards could earn battle merits, which was also the most attractive aspect of the Bingzhou Guard for cultivators. Furthermore, the ways to obtain them were far more numerous than in the Spiritual Peak Battlefield.

Monthly stipends were one way, killing enemies another, and completing missions yet another – these were all things not found in the Spiritual Peak Battlefield.

But in his mind, "executing missions" was always inextricably linked to the conflict between the two major factions. Giving his pass master a bamboo building could also count?

This was somewhat bizarre.

It seemed then that as long as he completed missions assigned by his superior, regardless of what they were, he could earn battle merits, irrespective of whether they involved fighting cultivators from the Myriad Demon Ridge.

Although 2,000 battle merits weren't a large amount, building a bamboo house wasn't easy either. It seemed like a good deal no matter how he looked at it.

"Master, the bamboo building is too small; it doesn't suit your status. Do you need your subordinate to build you a larger residence?" Lu Ye called out, asking.

Yiyi, standing beside him, looked at him in surprise, as if seeing a fawning flatterer.

There was no reply...

Lu Ye sighed, feeling a slight sense of regret.

But there was nothing he could do.

Since the bamboo building had been given away, he could only build another one. Fortunately, it wasn't too much trouble.

As for the location, Lu Ye felt it was inappropriate to live on the same peak as Nian Yuexian. After all, she was a grand cultivator, and sharing a peak would still create some pressure.

So he found another spot in the distance and, together with Yiyi, spent some time reconstructing a bamboo building.

No sooner had they finished here than his guard token vibrated again.

Clearly, another mission had arrived.

Lu Ye quickly checked and found that this time, the mission was to hunt some wild game in the mountains and prepare some food.

This was straightforward. The Myriad Demon Ridge had plenty of wild beasts, and even traces of demonic beasts were often found. With his True Lake Realm strength, it would be easy to catch them.

He flashed out and returned shortly with his catch. He detoured to the area where Nian Yuexian was and started a fire below the bamboo building.

It wasn't that he wanted to show off; rather, the mission explicitly stated that he needed to cook it there.

He skinned and gutted the animal, then washed the meat. He gave half of the fresh meat to Amber and roasted the other half over the bonfire.

Lu Ye had done this many times, so he was naturally skilled at it. As for the taste, he could only say it wasn't unpalatable.

Less than half an hour later, the aroma of roasted meat filled the air. Just as Lu Ye was about to tear off the choicest piece to offer Nian Yuexian, a figure flashed before him, and Nian Yuexian herself came out.

Yiyi's eyes darted around. She quickly stood up, moved her stool behind Nian Yuexian, and sweetly called out, "Sister, please sit."

Nian Yuexian looked at her with a hint of surprise, said nothing more, and gracefully sat down.

Yiyi gave Lu Ye a meaningful look. Lu Ye quickly offered the cooked meat, saying, "Master, please enjoy." Nian Yuexian nodded slightly, took it, and began to eat unhurriedly.

She didn't comment on whether it was good or bad. In any case, she ate everything Lu Ye gave her, not even spitting out the bones, which left both Lu Ye and Yiyi wide-eyed in astonishment.