Chapter 215 - 121: The East Canghai, Decades of Storms, 3 Generations of Master and Disciple, the Cause and Effect Within

Chapter 215: Chapter 121: The East Canghai, Decades of Storms, 3 Generations of Master and Disciple, the Cause and Effect Within

WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

On the training ground, battered by a biting cold wind, banners stood as thick as a forest. The gale raced past rows of weapons, making the place look like a military garrison camp perched by the water’s edge.

This was the place that coordinated all the counties, stood guard over Eight Dock, and served the only major coastal prefecture within a thousand miles, Jiangyin Prefecture—

The Great Xuan Garrison Mansion!

All three thousand of the prefecture’s brave followers were stationed here.

Warships and battle vessels, each gleaming with the cold, hard light of iron, were moored at this military garrison camp.

The prow of every vessel was carved into the head of a dragon or a tiger. Their eyes, one on each side, seemed to glare with fury, and a single glance was enough to send a chill down one’s spine.

To be a soldier here...

...at the absolute minimum, one had to be an expert who had tempered their Iron Bones. They were clad in Eighth-Grade Iron Armor and wielded Eighth-Grade Battle Sabers.

As long as they didn’t fall in battle while exterminating fiends, suppressing bandits, or during one of the Calamities of the Abyss Ruins...

...then after ten years of service, they would either become a Military Mansion Guard or a Brave Follower, striving for a chance to become a Grandmaster.

Or, once they passed the age of forty, when a Martial Artist’s Qi and Blood begins to decline, they would be discharged. They could then find respectable work under a Grand Lineage, buy a residence to settle down in the prefecture, and start a family.

Failing that, they could still go to a lesser county or village, open a Boxing Hall, and live out their later years as a local landlord. In most cases, they could secure a status below only the County Magistrate, but above ten thousand others.

Unless one was born of noble status into the direct lineage of a Grand Lineage—destined to enter the Mansion Courtyard, take the examinations for Prefecture Officials, or join a True Sect to become a personal disciple—

...then for most commoners, and even for those from the side branches of the Grand Lineages, joining the Military Mansion and making a name for oneself...

...was considered an extraordinary path to success.

If one could manage to become a Personal Guard for the Garrison Commander, Luo Daocheng, and then be noticed and promoted by the military vassal town over in Cangdu...

...well, that would be a true meteoric rise!

Due to the invasion of the Outer Dao Celestial Universe, the Great Xuan Territory was divided among vassal towns, each controlling a state. These vassals maintained their own armies and were responsible for resisting and eliminating disasters caused by the Outer Dao.

The central government in Xuanjing only established branches of the Northern Garrison Command in the various states and Prefecture Guard Offices to act as observers. It did not meddle too much in specific internal politics or military affairs.

Below the vassal towns were the various military mansions, established in prefecture cities to coordinate the counties. If a ’fiend calamity,’ ’demon disaster,’ ’divine disturbance,’ or the like occurred, they would dispatch troops to quell it.

County Soldiers were just local militia recruited by the County Magistrate; they were not officially registered and varied greatly in quality.

But Government Soldiers came from the official Garrison Mansion. They were on the ’rosters,’ each with a registered name.

Although they couldn’t compare to a Prefecture Official, if a Government Soldier went down to a rural county, a common County Official would have to bow and scrape. If they didn’t, giving them a hard slap across the face would be no problem at all.

Further up were the Personal Guards who were under the direct jurisdiction of a state and reported directly to a vassal town!

Only the most elite could be entered into the registers!

As the saying goes, even a gatekeeper at the Prime Minister’s residence is a seventh-grade official. One could imagine their status!

Long yellow silk banners, each embroidered with the character ’Luo,’ fluttered in the vast, windy expanse of this major coastal camp.

Before a high platform in this coastal military town, adjacent to Jiangyin Prefecture, a man stood with one hand behind his back, gazing out at the vast sea. He wore Black Gold Suanni Armor, its beast-headed pauldrons savage and fierce.

His attendant Personal Guards stood behind him, heads bowed respectfully. One held a helmet with a face covering, while the other brandished a ten-foot red-tasseled spear that shone with spiritual light.

Among them, the armored youth holding the helmet had an honest face and dark skin. His demeanor seemed completely out of place compared to the fierce and valiant Tiger Soldiers surrounding them.

"General Luo, one of the Jiangyin Nine Lords, the grand old man from the Medicine Shop, just requested an edict from the Prefecture Yamen. He’s mobilized all one hundred of Deputy General Huang’s soldiers."

A guard hurried over. Seeing the back of the man standing before the two Personal Guards—the one holding the helmet and the one with the red-tasseled spear—he dared not show the slightest disrespect and quickly dropped to one knee.

Hearing this, Luo Daocheng turned, revealing the rugged face of a classic Martial Artist, with thick, silkworm-like eyebrows.

His frame was like a small mountain.

This was the Garrison Commander of Jiangyin Prefecture, a man who ranked among the Prefecture Officials and was one of the three heads of the ’Prefecture Yamen, Garrison, and Mansion Courtyard.’ His status was revered!

Legend had it that this Garrison Commander had once led the horse and held the stirrups for the esteemed Marquis Beicang, who held sway over Beicang. Decades ago, he had fought in brutal battles against Immortal Dao Soldiers and Buddha’s Soldiers, earning brilliant military honors!

"The Medicine Shop? Deputy General Huang..."

Luo Daocheng raised an eyebrow, thinking for a moment.

"Is that the kid from a side branch of the Huang Family, sent over seven years ago? The one who earned some merits a while back and got promoted from Ten-Group Official to Centurion General?"

"A mobilization order from the Prefecture Yamen, and it even came with a handwritten order from the Prefecture Lord himself..."

He mused,

"Do you know why?"

The attendant hesitated before replying,

"Reportedly, it seems they’ve been dispatched to Anning County to handle the matter of a Dharma Guardian General from the Central Yellow Sect manifesting a saint..."

Luo Daocheng furrowed his brow.

"Anning County, the Central Yellow Sect?"

"I know about that. Wasn’t it said two days ago that Duan Chenzhou, the disciple of the former Vast Sea Celestial Saber, Wang Xuanyang, had appeared in Anning County and eliminated the calamity?"

As he spoke, he glanced at Zhang Qing—the one holding the helmet. Zhang Qing was from Anning County, was his own grand-disciple, and had now joined the Prefecture Army to serve as his Personal Guard.

"I hear his disciple, Ji Xiu, has already made quite a name for himself, even before arriving in Jiangyin."

’To forcibly refine a wisp of a Dharma Guardian General’s Divine Thought...’

"Tsk tsk, Wang Xuanyang’s lineage truly produces some demon fiends."

Luo Daocheng waved his hand and glanced dismissively at the attendant.

"I’ve received the message. I know exactly what that old man is thinking."