Chapter 327 - 302 General Lingdong_1

"I wonder if these martial pills will be enough."

Lu Yan mused silently.

When they were breaking through from the third level to the fourth level of True Body refinement, the two of them had refined around thirty-five thousand fourth-level martial pills.

On average, each of them consumed over seventeen thousand.

However, Lu Yan has now reached the sixth level of True Body refinement.

The energy needed from the sixth to the seventh level of True Body refinement is definitely much more than that required from the third to the fourth level.

Over sixty-seven thousand might not be enough.

It’s better to begin refining them and see. They’ll be stored in the body anyway, so they won’t be wasted.

He took out ten fourth-level martial pills and, with an open mouth, one after another they flew into his mouth. Then he started to employ the True Dragon War Body technique to refine them.

Lu Yan’s True Body was refined based on the foundation of thirty strands of Inner Strength, which surpasses the general King’s True Body. He also mastered three sets of Divine-level Martial Arts, which caused his True Vigor to alter. Therefore, his speed of refining the fourth-level martial pills was very fast.

In just two hours, ten fourth-level martial pills were completely refined.

Even though this speed is still far from the Yin Yang Melting Furnace Method, it’s numerous times faster compared to others.

Then he took ten more.

In the following days, Lu Yan devoted himself wholeheartedly to refining martial pills.

In the blink of an eye, another month passed.

That day, Chu Long summoned Lu Yan again.

"Lu Yan, I’ve called you here because I have good news for you."

Chu Long said with a smile.

"Good news? What is it?"

Lu Yan was interested.

"You were born in the six counties of Lingdong, and so was Chenzhou. However, he had no intention of managing Lingdong, which led to its disarray and thus gave Spirit Sect an opportunity."

"Now, the king has decided to appoint you as the General of Lingdong, and you will be in charge of all matters there."

After saying that, Chu Long took out a token and a conferment document.

"The General of Lingdong?"

Lu Yan was astonished.

"Lu Yan, the Mansion of King Ming had just annihilated Shengxuan Sect and has also occupied half of Qizhou’s land. It won’t expand its territory in a short time and will focus on gathering strength. So, there will be no wars for a while, but I can’t say the same for later."

"Manage Lingdong well. The king has given you ten years. He hopes that you can raise an army by that time. During the next external expedition, you can lead your own army."

Chu Long said.

"Thank you, Commander. Thank you, King Ming."

Lu Yan bowed and took over the token and the conferment document.

"Furthermore, regarding Chenzhou’s spirit tablet that you hope to return to the ancestral temple, unfortunately it’s still not possible. After all, he accidentally killed a cousin in the past - the son of my fifth brother. My fifth brother is strongly against returning Chenzhou’s spirit tablet to the ancestral temple."

"However, it doesn’t matter. Devote yourself to cultivation. Once you have sufficient power, I believe no one will oppose you anymore. In this world, power is everything."

Chu Long patted Lu Yan’s shoulder and said.

Lu Yan nodded.

"If you need any help, just let me know. I’ll help you as much as I can."

Chu Long added.

"Commander, I would like some Master Level Martial Chefs; if we have Honorable Level Martial Chefs, that would be even better. In addition, I would also like some top-quality animal carers."

Lu Yan said.

Developing an army needs Martial Chefs and animal carers, and Lingdong lacks both in a severe way.

"It’s easy to get Master Level Martial Chefs and animal carers, but Honorable Level Martial Chefs are highly esteemed even in the Mansion of King Ming. Convincing them to go to Lingdong with you might not be easy."

"Well, I will do my best to help you facilitate this, but they can only stay in Lingdong for five years. After that, they have to return to the Mansion of King Ming."

Chu Long said.

"Thank you, Commander."

Lu Yan was overjoyed.

He had asked for Honorable Level Martial Chefs without much hope, as he was just aiming high. He hadn’t expected Chu Long to actually agree.

Five years was enough.

By then, he could select some people with high martial arts talent to be taught by the Honorable Level Martial Chefs. After five years, they would surely gain a lot, cultivating a group of elite Martial Chefs for Lingdong.

"If there is anything else you need, please tell me all at once."

Chu Long said.

"I am planning to take my disciple Wen Yuan with me to Lingdong."

Lu Yan said.

Lingdong, after all, is too small. He can’t stay in Lingdong forever. If he leaves, he intends to hand over Lingdong to Wen Yuan to manage.

Additionally, having Wen Yuan by his side would mean he could supervise him at any time. Now that they had plenty of third-level martial pills, having Wen Yuan by his side would likely increase his progress speed.

"I can arrange it. You all can return to Lingdong in ten days."

Chu Long said.

...

After ten days, a group of people left Mingwang City for Lingdong.

Half a month later, Lu Yan returned to Li’an City.

When Li Quan, Wang Lin, and others learned that Lu Yan was appointed as the General of Lingdong, they were all overjoyed, the smiles on their faces uncontrollable.

"My lord...no, General. Now that you’re the General of Lingdong, you should unify Lingdong. But the great feudal lords of Lingdong may not accept this."

Li Quan bowed and said.

"They won’t accept it? Don’t worry, I will ’win people over by virtue’."

With a small smile, Lu Yan said, "Send a message to the great feudal lords of Lingdong, inviting them to gather in Li’an City in a month."

He paused a moment, then added: "Under the name of the Mansion of King Ming."

"Yes."

Li Quan had a fresh surge of energy.

"Also, gather the craftsmen, dispatch the martial troops, and go to Kunwu Mountain to choose a location for building a city. From now on, Kunwu Mountain will be the core of Lingdong."

Lu Yan gave the order.

"At your command."

Wang Lin stepped forward.

"Over the years, I have asked you to select and cultivate your own martial forces. How is that going?"

Lu Yan asked.

The previous martial soldiers were all reorganized from various feudal lords, hence their loyalty remained questionable.

Only the soldiers nurtured from young could be truly loyal.

Lu Yan had started working on this long ago.

Establishing martial arts schools back in the day was also for this purpose.

"General, we’ve been working diligently on this matter and have never forgotten your instruction. Now, we’ve cultivated eight hundred direct martial soldiers, all of whom possess excellent martial arts talents."

"There are also some with talents for martial cuisine. They are currently being instructed by several martial chef grandmasters around us, numbering over one hundred."

Li Quan reported.

"Good, this time I’ve brought one master level martial chef and three martial chef grandmasters from the Mansion of King Ming. Those talented martial chefs should learn from these three grandmasters. The master level martial chef has also promised me that he will hold classes to impart martial culinary skills periodically. Those martial chefs should seize the opportunity."

Lu Yan said.

"Master level martial chef? Martial chef grandmaster?"

Li Quan, Wang Lin and the others were visibly shaken, their eyes shining bright like stars.

The orders were given, and the entire Li’an City swiftly got into action.

Meanwhile, Lu Yan spent some time instructing everyone on cultivation. The remainder of his time was spent refining martial pills.

In the blink of an eye, a month had passed.

A large square had been built outside Li’an City. Rows of seats were arranged around the square.

Early one morning, the seats were filled with people.

All the remaining master level feudal lords from the six administrative divisions of Lingdong had arrived.

Apart from these feudal lords, there was a large number of martial marquis level feudal lords, with all family heads personally present.

Everyone knew that Lu Yan had already joined the Mansion of King Ming.

This time, Lu Yan summoned them under the name of King Ming’s Mansion, and nobody dared not come.

"Where’s Lord Lu? Why hasn’t he arrived yet?"

"Do you know why Lord Lu has summoned us this time?"

"No idea."

"I heard a piece of gossip from a relative who runs a trading firm and has dealings with Li’an City. I’m not sure whether it’s true or not."

"What news? Tell us quickly."

"I heard that Lord Lu has greatly contributed to the Mansion of King Ming, and has been made the General of Lingdong by King Ming, holding command over Lingdong."

"What? Does that mean he wants to integrate Lingdong?"

The family heads of many martial marquis level feudal lords gathered and chatted. Hearing this, their faces changed significantly.

On the other hand, the family heads and masters from the master level feudal lords, all looked gloomy and serious, clearly already aware of some inside information.

"Look at the sky."

Suddenly, someone exclaimed.

Everyone looked towards the sky.

A figure was traversing the sky, taking one step at a time in mid-air.

The figure was poised, as if walking on solid ground.

"Lingkong Xudu... I heard that it requires at least the Ture Body Fourth Refinement to achieve."

"Look at Lord Lu, stepping through the sky as if walking on flat ground, this is beyond the Ture Body Fourth Refinement."

The crowd began to discuss.

The grandmasters, however, gasped for breath. Their faces filled with shock.

Lu Yan had reached such a level?

Forget about the True Body Fourth Refinement, even the Ture Body First Refinement, in their eyes, was an unreachable existence.

A Third-level Master was enough to dominate Lingdong.

"The unification of Lingdong is inevitable."

A master from the Zhao clan sighed.

Lu Yan slowly descended on the first seat.

"I asked all of you here today because there’s an important matter to discuss."

"Lingdong consists of six territories, vast in area, but too scattered. Hence, for hundreds of years, there have been hardly any truly skilled individuals. The catastrophe of the Spirit Sect last time was due to Lingdong being too weak."

"Since ancient times, unity breeds strength, a divided Lingdong cannot continue. The time for unification has come. Once unified, we can gather the strength of the entire Lingdong, build a strong army to defend our homeland."

As he spoke, Lu Yan pulled out the token and the insignia of the General of Lingdong, and said, "I have received the great favor of King Ming, who has appointed me as the General of Lingdong, putting me in charge of unifying Lingdong. It’s a responsibility, and I’ll give it my all."

He then paused for a moment and emphasized, "From today onwards, there will no longer be any division in Lingdong, everything will be under the control of the Military Government, and the family heads of all the feudal lords will be reassigned. What do you think?"

The scene fell silent.

No one spoke, and apart from the occasional sound of the wind, a pin drop would have been heard.

"Alright, since none of you have spoken, I will consider it as your approval. You all may return, prepare things. You have half a month time to submit the list of all the martial soldiers and martial cultivators, and the military government will make arrangements."

Having said that, Lu Yan said nothing more. He levitated into the sky and left the area.

People at the scene looked at each other and then dispersed.

"Alas, the hundred-year foundation of my Wang Family is going to be destroyed in my hands, what can I do?"

"Humph, I’ll just pretend I didn’t hear anything. While I obeyed overtly, I opposed covertly. Does that Lu Yan really dare to annihilate my Shen Family over this matter?"

On their way back, a few feudal lord heads of the martial marquis level gathered to discuss.

"We, the martial marquis level feudal lords, have no say in this matter. Why don’t we ask the Zhao clan?"

"Yes, let’s go."

A few feudal heads immediately moved, catching up with the representatives from the Zhao clan of Lingwang City to inquire about the matter.

"Our Zhao Clan will of course comply with the instructions of the Mansion of King Ming and General Lu. Ladies and Gentlemen, let me advise you, General Lu is extraordinarily talented and decisive, do not fool yourselves."

The current head of the Zhao clan, Zhao Tianyang, said so.

Those feudal lords looked at each other.