Chapter 224: Chapter 224: Tianxu Province
Only then did the men understand the terrifying implications of Ye Xuan modifying a Cultivation Technique, and their hearts pounded with dread.
As mid-to-high-ranking officers in the Imperial Guard, the Cultivation Techniques they practiced were far from ordinary. Within the Liuyun Kingdom, they were all quite renowned.
Yet Ye Xuan, a mere sixteen-year-old youth, could modify and improve every single one of their techniques. Such an ability was something they had not only never seen, but never even heard of.
To casually modify an Earth Grade Cultivation Technique and elevate its rank was a feat likely beyond even a Tier Six Martial Venerable, let alone a Tier Five Martial Sect. At the very least, only a Tier Seven Martial King might have a slim chance of accomplishing it.
The mere thought of this discovery left them all aghast.
「On the eighth day.」
Liu Xiaolong finally broke through to the Third Heaven of the Celestial Martial Artist realm.
The commotion from his breakthrough shocked all the Imperial Guards, causing a stir within the ranks.
They were all high-ranking officers in the Imperial Guard and knew each other well. It had been five years since Liu Xiaolong had last broken through, after reaching the Second Layer of the Celestial Martial Artist realm.
To think that he had advanced a level so soon after pledging allegiance to Ye Xuan! Recalling Ye Xuan’s earlier promise, everyone was utterly shocked.
’Could it be that everything Ye Xuan said before was actually true?!’
Before the shock from this could fade, another Imperial Guard who had pledged allegiance to him broke through on the ninth day.
By the tenth day, two more had broken through in succession.
In a mere ten days, four of the seven Imperial Guards who had first pledged allegiance to Ye Xuan had advanced a level—more than half of them.
All the Imperial Guards who heard the news found it hard to believe. They were truly and utterly astonished.
If one person was an accident and two was a coincidence, then three, and now four, could no longer be explained away by luck.
For a moment, Ye Xuan’s initial promise echoed once more in everyone’s minds.
Only this time, it wasn’t with pure skepticism, but with a burgeoning sense of belief mixed with doubt.
Over the next few short days, nearly thirty more Imperial Guards made their decision and pledged their loyalty to Ye Xuan.
It was true that if they returned to the Imperial Guard, their status would be lofty and their positions respectable. But for most of them, their talent had hit a ceiling, and this was as far as they would go in life.
But by following Ye Xuan, they could achieve a qualitative leap in strength. Once that happened, wouldn’t status and reputation be easy to obtain?
As was his custom, Ye Xuan gave guidance to the Imperial Guards who pledged allegiance to him and taught them the Hundred Linked Array. However, for those who joined later, the guidance was not as extensive or detailed as it had been for the first few.
As more and more Imperial Guards pledged loyalty to Ye Xuan, the number of people breaking through also continued to rise.
In just twenty days, nearly half of the Imperial Guards had advanced a level in strength. Even those who didn’t break through saw significant improvements.
This wasn’t entirely because Ye Xuan’s guidance was miraculous. Rather, most of these Imperial Guards had, for various reasons, stagnated at a certain stage. Lacking better Cultivation Techniques and guidance, they had been unable to make any progress.
Now, under Ye Xuan’s instruction, their cultivation bottlenecks began to loosen one by one, allowing them to naturally break through to the next realm.
And Ouyang Xiaoshan, on the twentieth day, finally agreed to join the Ye family.
What convinced him wasn’t the successive breakthroughs of the Imperial Guards, but the Hundred Linked Array.
During a sparring session, several Celestial Martial Artists, including Liu Xiaolong, joined forces and actually managed to withstand several of his, Ouyang Xiaoshan’s, consecutive attacks. This completely shocked and, at the same time, won him over.
He knew Liu Xiaolong and the others’ strength quite well. That Ye Xuan, in less than a month, could enable a few Tier Four Celestial Martial Artists to block the continuous attacks of a Tier Five Martial Sect like himself was simply incredible. It completely exceeded his imagination and won him over.
He was beginning to faintly believe that Ye Xuan could actually help him break through to become a Tier Six Martial Venerable.
Although he couldn’t be completely sure, it was an opportunity he couldn’t afford to miss.
By this point, out of nearly a hundred Imperial Guards, a total of eighty-one had decided to join the Ye family. Only about ten men were left who had not yet made a decision.
"Alright, the rest of you don’t need to decide anymore," Ye Xuan said. "After this mission is over, you can all return to the Royal City."
Ye Xuan’s words directly sealed their fates.
"Master Ye Xuan, we haven’t reached Tianxu Province yet. There should still be time. Please let us consider it a little more..." The dozen or so men grew anxious.
"There’s no need to say more. Since you still haven’t decided, it means you have too many reservations about joining my Ye family. In that case, there’s no need to force it."
Ye Xuan shook his head.
These remaining dozen men were hesitant. Since they still hadn’t pledged their loyalty by now, it was clear they were either full of reservations or simply indecisive and trying to play both sides.
Even if they were willing to join the Ye family now, Ye Xuan wouldn’t accept people like that.
If it weren’t for the sake of leaving some experts in his family, Ye Xuan couldn’t have been bothered to orchestrate this whole affair. After all, in his eyes, not even the strongest among them, Ouyang Xiaoshan, was an absolutely essential recruit.
In the following days, Ye Xuan began to focus all his efforts on guiding the men in practicing the Hundred Linked Array.
This group of Imperial Guards had decent overall strength, but they were not invincible.
Improving their individual strength was a very slow process, but improving their strength as a collective was much simpler.
Under Ye Xuan’s personal guidance, the Hundred Linked Array quickly took shape, and the coordination among the eighty-one men grew increasingly proficient.
As for the Imperial Guards who had not joined, they could only watch helplessly as their former comrades trained together, their strength advancing by leaps and bounds. They were all filled with regret, but there was nothing they could do.
「Ten days later, the convoy finally entered Tianxu Province.」
Along the way, they passed dense mountain forests and fertile fields.
Looking at the territory they would be protecting in the future, the Imperial Guards were filled with mixed emotions.
When they passed through towns along the way, Ye Xuan’s group drove straight through without stopping to cause any disturbance.
Even when passing by cities, Ye Xuan didn’t enter. After all, a contingent of their size would cause a commotion in any city they entered.
「A few days later, another village appeared before them.」
"Young Master Xuan, the last few villages have seemed a bit strange. They’re much less lively than the ones we passed earlier, even though the environment here should be better."
Ouyang Xiaoshan came to Ye Xuan’s side and reported with a frown.
Ye Xuan also felt some doubt. This was the heartland of Tianxu Province, a prime location. Yet the small towns and villages they passed looked deserted from afar, nowhere near as bustling as the ones at the start of their journey. Even the carriages and merchant caravans on the main road were becoming increasingly scarce.
"Let’s go. That village ahead should be Molin Village. Let’s go in and take a look."
The convoy entered Molin Village.
At the village entrance, they saw a large crowd of people, several thousand strong, lined up. At the very front, a frail old man leaning on a cane walked forward, trembling.
"Brave heroes, we in Molin Village could only scrape together this much money this month. Please, be merciful. We will definitely make up for the shortfall with the next protection fee."
The old man, with trembling hands, held out a pouch. Inside were stacks of Profound Tickets, amounting to nearly 100,000.
This scene left Ye Xuan and his men stunned.
Seeing Ouyang Xiaoshan not take the pouch, the old man grew frantic. He knelt and began to kowtow repeatedly. "Brave heroes, please show some mercy! We in Molin Village really couldn’t gather any more this time. How about you give us a few more days? Five days! Come back in five days, and we swear we’ll pay the full amount of Profound Coins."
"Village Chief, why waste words on them? They’re just blood-sucking bandits! Let’s fight them!"
A group of Martial Artists suddenly surged from the crowd. Dozens of them, filled with rage, charged at Ye Xuan’s group, their eyes filled with a murderous hatred as if they wanted to tear him limb from limb. They swung their weapons down on Ye Xuan and his men.
"Stand down."
Ouyang Xiaoshan’s expression darkened. Before he could even give the order, a group of Imperial Guards had already rushed forward. After a flurry of moves, accompanied by a series of loud THUDS, the dozen or so leading Martial Artists were all on the ground, wailing in pain. It had all happened in the blink of an eye.
The remaining Martial Artists stared, stunned at the scene, their eyes filled with both terror and rage.
"Brave heroes, calm your anger! Please, calm your anger!" The old village chief crawled over, speaking in terror, his body trembling uncontrollably.
Ye Xuan frowned. "Gentlemen, I believe there has been a misunderstanding." He then looked toward Ouyang Xiaoshan. "Commander Ouyang, I’ll give you the time it takes for an incense stick to burn. Find out what’s going on."
Seeing that Ye Xuan and his men didn’t look as fierce and menacing as he’d expected, the old man was taken aback.
A short while later, Ouyang Xiaoshan finally got to the bottom of the matter. Molin Village was under the jurisdiction of one of the five satellite cities of Celestial Capital City, the capital of Tianxu Province. Not long ago, a group of bandits called the Fearsome Tiger Bandit Troupe had appeared and set up camp nearby. They demanded that every village and town pay them a hefty protection fee each quarter.
At first, nearly all the towns and villages refused and even formed a punitive expedition. However, the Fearsome Tiger Bandit Troupe was unexpectedly powerful. The expedition was intercepted and ambushed before they could even reach the bandits’ camp, suffering heavy casualties.
The major towns hurriedly reported this to their respective satellite cities, which in turn dispatched their City Guards to suppress the bandits. But despite several large-scale encirclement campaigns, each ended in failure.
On the contrary, a few of those towns were massacred by the bandit troupe.
Some towns also sent pleas for help to the provincial capital, Celestial Capital City. But their messages were like stones sinking into the ocean, receiving no response. Worse, the town that had asked for help was "visited" by the bandits and suffered devastating losses.
For a time, panic spread throughout the nearby towns. No one dared to continue resisting the Fearsome Tiger Bandit Troupe, and they could only obediently pay the protection fee each quarter.
And today was the day the Fearsome Tiger Bandit Troupe was scheduled to collect the protection fee from Molin Village.
That was why the old man had reacted the way he did upon seeing Ye Xuan’s group.
