Chapter 390 - 365: Establishment of Martial Alliance_1

"I hope Wen Yuan and Guan Shan can advance to the True Body Seventh Refinement level as soon as possible."

Lu Yan thought to himself.

With the cultivation level of True Body Seventh Refinement, they would have adequate prestige to command a large army.

Lu Yan planned to call on Wen Yuan and Guan Shan to come to Jinzhou once they reach the True Body Seventh Refinement level, to command an army of a hundred thousand.

Thinking of Guan Shan, Lu Yan smiled.

Just as he had expected, Guan Shan was now too happy to entertain other thoughts.

Although King Ming had agreed to let him return to the Mansion of King Ming, he no longer wished to return and was determined to assist Lu Yan.

Of course, that suited Lu Yan perfectly.

Right now, Lu Yan was short of people.

He was short of people who were both trustworthy and capable.

"Lu Yan, my father has promised you that he will hand over half of Xuan Zhou to you. When I lead the army back, I will implement it. You can then send someone to take over," said Chu Long.

"Please express my gratitude to King Ming on my behalf. If there is a problem in the Mansion of King Ming in the future, that would also mean a problem for me, Lu Yan. I certainly won’t shirk," replied Lu Yan.

Since the Mansion of King Ming had done so much for him, it was only natural that Lu Yan should also show his attitude. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be fair.

Chu Long had wanted to hear those words and revealed a smile upon hearing them.

Chu Long led fifty thousand soldiers back home, while Lu Yan immediately dispatched someone back to Lingdong to bring old acquaintances like Li Quan and Wang Lin to the Mingdu Mountain and help him manage the political affairs.

The old team was more reliable.

The most important task for Li Quan, however, was still to expand the intelligence system.

Everything was being carried out methodically.

In the beginning, just after occupying Jinzhou, there were inevitably some minor disruptions. There were bound to be people who would secretly resist their role, but after Lu Yan made an example of one person, everyone else toe the line.

Gradually, Lu Yan took full control over Jinzhou.

This time, when they broke the Fang Family, not a single resource of the Fang Family was lost. Everything ended up in Lu Yan’s hands.

Huge amounts of Martial Pills, Martial Coupons, Divine Weapons, numerous grades of martial arts, from third-class to supreme-class, were all available.

There was only one Divine-level Martial Arts, the Yin Yang Poison Palm, and it ended up in Lu Yan’s possession too.

Additionally, they also got a small number of Immortal Bones.

However, the quantity wasn’t large.

Immortal Bones were of little use to ordinary martial cultivators. For a large power like Fang Family, the Immortal Bones could only be used for implanting into alien beasts to breed Immortal Beasts, posing no other use.

Better something than nothing at all.

Of course, the most valuable assets left by Fang Family were talents and the Blood Land Vein.

A complete Level Four Blood Land Vein was full of all kinds of Alien Beasts.

There were also plenty of high-ranking breeders and Martial Chefs.

Even though the Fang family’s main clan was wiped out, there were still many breeders and Martial Chefs with different surnames.

There were four Honorable Level Martial Chefs alone.

This was not a loan from the Mansion of King Ming. All these people surrendered to Lu Yan and became his subordinates, fully belonging to his Martial Chefs.

With a significant amount of resources, Zuo Yun immediately set up a Hua Wu Array in Mingdu Mountain, and Lu Yan began to vigorously train his confidants.

...

A month later, the Mansion of King Ming fulfilled its promise and gave half of Xuan Zhou to Lu Yan.

Lu Yan dispatched an army of thirty thousand to take over half of Xuan Zhou.

Of these thirty thousand soldiers, twenty-five thousand were from the Fang family who had surrendered.

Four Thousand were from Lingdong.

The remaining one thousand were from the Mansion of King Ming, who formerly belonged to the Shengxuan Sect. They were familiar with the geography and customs of Xuan Zhou, hence taking over would be simpler.

Furthermore, the Level Four Blood Land Vein that was previously owned by the Shengxuan Sect also ended up in Lu Yan’s hand.

In this way, the number of Level Four Blood Land Veins under Lu Yan’s control increased to two.

He allocated some of the breeders and Martial Chefs, who had surrendered, to the Level Four Blood Land Vein in Xuan Zhou, to breed Alien Beasts and cook Martial Food.

"Short of people, I’m short on people..."

Sighed Lu Yan.

He was sorely short of people.

He lacked martial arts stipends, breeders, Martial Chefs... he lacked everything...

Originally, he only controlled the six counties of Lingdong. Now, he directly occupied a vast territory of one and a half states, with two Level Four Blood Land Veins and over a dozen Level Three Blood Land Veins, he swallowed up resources like a snake devouring an elephant.

With the manpower he had, it would be difficult to absorb in a short time.

Despite the Mansion of King Ming lending him fifty thousand soldiers, these were ultimately not his men.

"Wang Lin, select intelligent children from the border regions of Jinzhou and Xuan Zhou. Assign them to those Martial Chef Masters, Martial Chef Grandmasters, and Honorable Level Martial Chefs to train a batch of Martial Chefs quickly," he instructed.

"In addition, we also need to train exotic beast breeders."

Lu Yan ordered.

"Yes!"

Wang Lin agreed to the order.

"Li Quan, notify everyone that we are recruiting. As long as they are talents and have passed the observation and assessment, they will be put to important use."

Li Quan asked, "General, under what name should we recruit people now? If we use the name of the Mansion of King Ming, it’s not suitable. Using the Lingdong General’s Mansion is too petty."

Lu Yan rubbed his temples.

"You’re right."

He now occupied a territory of one and a half states and controlled two Level Four Blood Land Veins. In the whole world, although he was not as powerful as the eighteen strongest feudal princes, he was still regarded as a major power.

Under what name should he control such a large territory?

Simply put, it was time to create a force.

But what kind of force should he create?

A feudal lord? A sect? A military regime?

Clearly, none of them were quite right.

"I don’t care about blood lineage or family status. As long as they are suitable, they could become a part of us. It’s like a huge alliance, let’s call it the ’Martial Alliance’, where all martial cultivators are allies."

Lu Yan had a flash of inspiration and felt extremely satisfied.

"Li Quan, announce to the world that our power is known as the ’Martial Alliance’. All martial cultivators are our allies, and it will attract others."

"The existing framework of Lingdong General’s Mansion can be slightly adjusted accordingly for each position."

Lu Yan declared.

"My lord, I pledge my loyalty to the Alliance Hierarch."

Li Quan responded quickly, kneeling on one knee immediately.

"Pay respect to the Alliance Hierarch."

The others were a bit slower, also paid their respect by kneeling on one knee.

"Rise."

Lu Yan waved.

...

The establishment of the Martial Alliance sent shock waves across the world.

Everyone knew that a powerful force was rapidly rising.

Many sighed that the world was truly changing swiftly.

Some strong forces collapsed in an instant while others ascended like stars, illuminating the sky.

Where the world would go, nobody could predict.

In a blink of an eye, another month passed, Wen Yuan and Guan Shan finally achieved success. They refined all the rare treasures Lu Yan gave them and stepped into the True Body Seventh Refinement.

They came to Mingdu Mountain one after another.

Now, it could not be called Mingdu Mountain anymore.

Because Lu Yan disliked the name, he had already changed it to ’Wu Mountain’.

Lu Yan directly appointed the two as Great Generals, each commanding fifty thousand soldiers.

With his own people in command, Lu Yan felt much more at ease.

As for Lu Qingshan and Wang Cui, Lu Yan let them continue to stay in Lingdong.

After all, Lingdong was relatively isolated from the world, making it safer.

The management of the entire Lingdong was handed over to Lu Qingshan.

As time went by, the Martial Alliance gradually began to develop in an orderly manner.

Meanwhile, several pieces of critical news reached Lu Yan.

Mansion of King Ming was attacking the Tianque Sect.

King Ming and Chu Tianjiao joined forces, leading two hundred thousand soldiers to attack the Tianque Sect.

The experts of the Tianque Sect were in decline and there were no reinforcements. They could not resist the two mighty forces for long.

Not much time after their resistance, Tianque Mountain was broken into, and the entire Tianque Sect surrendered.

With the surrender of the Tianque Mountain, other territories of the Tianque Sect naturally surrendered one after another. The Tianque Sect, which initially occupied three states, all fell into the hands of Mansion of King Ming.

Thus, the territory of the Mansion of King Ming greatly expanded.

With five and a half states under their control, they became one of the feudal princes with the widest territory in the world.

However, after occupying the three states of the Tianque Sect, the Mansion of King Ming halted their expansion, switched from offensive to defensive mode, and focused on consolidating their current gains.

"Yanluo Golden Body has finally reached the ninth level."

In the practice room, Lu Yan showed a smile.

After refining all the Immortal Bones from the White Tiger Holy King and the Fang Family, the Yanluo Golden Body reached the ninth level. However, just like the Demon Hunting, once it reached the ninth level, the difficulty of advancing increased dramatically, and the required energy was enormous.

So, after reaching the ninth level, Lu Yan decided to use the remaining few Immortal Bones to enhance several top martial arts.

"It’s a pity that my cultivation level didn’t break through."

Lu Yan thought to himself.

In these two months, Lu Yan had refined all the Soul Crystals he had. But his cultivation remained at the third round of the Primordial Spirit, still a long way from the fourth round.

Indeed, trying to condense the Primordial Spirit was not that easy.

On the other hand, Zuo Yun had some good news. After refining the Soul Crystal rewarded by King Ming, he had a breakthrough and advanced into the second round of Primordial Spirit.

The cultivation level required for Zuo Yun to advance was much less than that of Lu Yan, and breaking through the second round was naturally much easier.

With his advancement in cultivation, Zuo Yun’s soul power increased greatly, making it much easier for him to set up the Hua Wu Array.

He improved the Hua Wu Array once again, expanding its coverage area and enhancing its effects significantly, accelerating the processing of Martial Food by an astonishing fifteen times.

As time went by, people from other states began to join the Martial Alliance.

There were martial arts experts, Martial Chefs, and Exotic Beast Breeders.

Among the martial artists, there were even two who were in the True Body Realm.

These martial artists were mostly from declining or extinct feudal lords.

The world was now in a state of chaos, with lords fighting and feudal lords collapsing from time to time. Some people were lucky enough to survive and ended up wandering around.

Like the former Shengxuan Sect, some of its members ended up wandering outside.

A few, however, were roaming cultivators, without a sect or clan.

After confirming their identities and finding no problems, Lu Yan accepted all of them and discreetly assigned people to keep an eye on them. If these people were found to be spies from other forces, they would be executed without mercy.

The development of the Martial Alliance was moving in a positive direction, and given time, it would definitely be able to gather tremendous power.

In the blink of an eye, two years passed.

After two years of effort, Lu Yan firmly controlled Jinzhou and half of Xuanzhou. Though not impenetrable, it was indeed solid.

Everyone had got used to the presence of the Martial Alliance, and the hundred thousand soldiers of the Fang Family already considered themselves members of the Martial Alliance.

So, the Mansion of King Ming gradually retracted its fifty thousand soldiers, leaving only twenty thousand to assist Lu Yan.

"Five-Colored Heavenly Saber, Phantom Dragon Palm, Yin Yang Poison Palm, I’ve mastered them all and formed Martial Arts Avatars. Now, I only lack Immortal Bones. Immortal Bones, where should I get them from?"

Lu Yan felt a bit troubled.

Over the past two years, he sent people to buy Immortal Bones everywhere, but he did not get many. It was only enough for him to upgrade the Demon Hunting to about 60% of the ninth level.

It was far from enough for him.