Heaven's Devourer

The Lunar Flower Sword Sage's voice started to fade into the distance.

As Wu Yu got closer to the inner city, the common folk could no longer follow after him. Other than the patrolling Yan Huang Immortal Army troops in the vicinity that were still keeping a look out for him, only Jiang Xuechuan remained by his side.

Jiang Xuechuan was tall and sturdy and wore a suit of Yan Huang Immortal Armor. His stalwart expression gave him the air of an important general.

He led Wu Yu toward the inner city with big strides. As he walked, he said, "Wu Yu, I'm just wondering if you had already made today's decision earlier on. Could it have been a last-minute choice due to the provocation of those two Sword Sages?"

"Before I set off, I had already made my choice."

Jiang Xuechuan laughed. "To me, this is even better news. This means that you've thought things through and were not making an impulsive decision due to anger."

Wu Yu nodded. That went without saying.

As they got closer to the inner city, Jiang Xuechuan did not beat around the bush; he directly explained the details to Wu Yu. He said, "Usually, you’d need to pass a trial to become a Yan Huang Immortal Army soldier. This trial tests one's prowess, ability to handle affairs, as well as their personality. However, your reputation precedes you, so you're exempt from this test. You can directly become part of the Yan Huang Immortal Army. However, there's a matter that I need you to make a decision on."

"Please elaborate, Commander Jiang." Wu Yu was calm right now.

It would not take dreadfully long before the entirety of Shushan would be in an uproar over his decision. A certain girl back in the Shushan Immortal Domain would become more disappointed in him…

It did not matter anymore.

Jiang Xuechuan continued, "Your strength exceeds your cultivation level by quite a lot. This is very rare in the entire divine continent, and based on your strength, you can immediately join the core of the inner city. With my recommendation, becoming a centurion would be no problem at all. However, if you choose to do so, there will be quite a number of Yan Huang Immortal Army soldiers who may object to this. After all, many of them have worked hard in hopes of becoming a centurion, and there are even some who are at the Violet Kingdom of the Inner Sea Realm but have yet to become one. Of course, even with such objections, they'll be unable to influence your appointment. Another option for you would be to start off as an ordinary Yan Huang Immortal Army soldier. With your prowess, you'll probably be able to swiftly rise from within and become a centurion as well."

Only those of centurion rank and above were considered key individuals that were part of Yan Huang Imperial City's core. Before an ordinary soldier became a centurion, they were permitted to disaffiliate themselves from the Yan Huang Immortal Army. 

From Wu Yu's point of view, he much preferred to start from the beginning. He did not want to rely on Jiang Xuechuan and take the easy way out. He replied, "I'm fine either way. After all, I have not reached the appropriate cultivation level, so I think it's better if I start off from being an ordinary soldier."

Jiang Xuechuan was surprised by this. He was actually just making some casual conversation, for he was already prepared to let Wu Yu walk on the path of a centurion.

However, he respected Wu Yu's choice as well. He laughed in reply. "With your strength, I don't even think that the 10 or so centurions under my command can subdue you. Oh, wait, you've met Commander Luo before as well. If that's the case, then I'll assign you to her for some time. After a month or two has passed, I'll then be able to arrange for you to be promoted to a centurion and assign 100 soldiers under your command.”

"You'll be able to become good friends!" Ming Long laughed. She could not wait for Wu Yu to get closer to that Commander Luo, as she wanted to know what that mystical dragon intended to do.

Wu Yu nodded.

After making his decision, Jiang Xuechuan added, "All first-time disciples in the inner city have to first go to the Yan Palace to complete some registration procedures. Over there, you'll receive a suit of Yan Huang Immortal Armor as well as an introduction to the Yan Huang Immortal Armor and Yan Huang Imperial City. After that's done, I'll bring you to Commander Luo's Blue Dragon camp and hand you over to her for the time being. You'll be all set then. After your previous meeting with her, she eventually mentioned to me that if you were not in a hurry to become a centurion, I could assign you to her instead."

"Blue Dragon camp?"

Also, why had she taken notice of him?

"Your corporeal strength exceeds that of an ordinary cultivator, and possibly exceeds that of an immortal beast like her. She's experienced and knowledgeable, so she's naturally somewhat intrigued by you. When interacting with her, make sure that you don't reveal that you know about her true form. Other than that, everything else should be fine." Ming Long babbled a bunch of words. She had been quite active recently.

There was a centurion leading 100 or so Yan Huang Immortal Army troops guarding one of the large doors leading into the inner city. Out of sight, there was even a chiliarch there as well, but all of this was merely for show. After all, the inner city's spirit design was incomparably stable, and even those at the level of the Lunar Flower Sword Sage would not be able to charge in.

"So this is Wu Yu? Jiang Xuechuan, you're sure quick to act! I’m jealous. This old man here is so jealous of you!" After entering the inner city, a dark-skinned elder with a full beard appeared. He was dressed similarly to Jiang Xuechuan, and had a coarse and wild disposition.

"This here is Commander Li Shanhai. Around 100 years ago, he was the general of some remote immortal kingdom. After that, he had a stroke of good luck and ended up here. He's truly a lucky bastard," Jiang Xuechuan bellowed as he introduced him.

"Go back to your grandmother's," Li Shanhai cursed back before saying to Wu Yu, "Young one, this old man here has his eye on you. Welcome to Yan Huang Imperial City! We're really the best in the entire divine continent!"

He was evidently a general from the boorish way he spoke.

After greeting him, Wu Yu stepped into the inner city. Once he had entered, Wu Yu finally got a taste of the Ancient Spiritual Qi that was comparable to that in the Shushan Immortal Domain. Before him, everything certainly looked like paradise on earth. There was indeed a huge disparity between the inner city and outer city. In contrast to the flourishing outer city, the inner city had an air of violence and austerity. This was clearly the center of the Yan Huang Immortal Army!   

"Within the inner city, there are many areas with different functions, and there are quite a few forbidden places as well. You'll get a detailed introduction soon, so after a bit of thinking, you'll get the hang of things."

The Yan palace was the first place that every Yan Huang Immortal Army soldier had to visit upon arriving here.

After entering the Yan Palace, Wu Yu found that there was quite a crowd gathered both on the outside and inside. This was probably because he had announced his intention of joining the Yan Huang Immortal Army outside the inner city beforehand. The crowd was quite large, and it consisted of Yan Huang Immortal Army soldiers that wore identical sets of Yan Huang Immortal Armor. Centurions even made up a large part of them!

"Is this youth that Wu Yu discussed in those rumors that spread like the wind?"

"By taking him in as a subordinate, Commander Jiang is certainly doing a great service to us all." 

"It's still too early to say. We'll still need to wait for Wu Yu to reveal just how skillful he is. Let's wait and see just how much talent he has."

"That's right. After all, our Yan Huang Imperial City has many young and extraordinary geniuses as well! They're no weaker than Shushan's Beishan Mo and Nangong Wei, and could perhaps even be stronger than them."

As the surrounding crowd engaged in such discussions, Wu Yu followed after Jiang Xuechuan and entered the Yan Palace. The interior of the Yan Palace had a plain and simple design, and there were not that many decorations adorning it. Straight ahead was a square table made of stone, and on it were densely packed spirit designs. Behind the table was an elder that was as thin as a match. He was currently slumped on the square table and taking a break, so Wu Yu could not see what he looked like.

Beside him were a couple of Yan Huang Immortal Army soldiers that seemed like very strong chiliarchs based on their suits of Yan Huang Immortal Armor. They were as strong as Heaven sword ranked cultivators from Shushan, but their suits of Yan Huang Immortal Armor were still slightly different from Jiang Xuechuan and Li Shanhai's.

Jiang Xuechuan explained that they were attendants of the Yan Palace, and were not chiliarchs after all. They were part of the administration of Yan Huang Imperial City, and were known as Enforcers. The City Lord was directly in charge of them, and on average days, where they had no tasks to execute, they spent the vast majority of their time in the inner city.

As for the person slumped on the desk right now, he was known as General Gu.

The Yan Huang Immortal Army had appointed close to 30 generals. Each one of them was in charge of 10 or so chiliarchs, and so Jiang Xuechuan addressed them as “general” too. Their battle prowess matched up to that of a Shushan Sword Sage. While General Gu was a general, he was not a member of the 30 or so of them. In fact, he was part of the City Lord's administration as well, and carried out various tasks under the City Lord's command. For instance, General Gu was specifically in charge of the Yan Palace.

In fact, they were all at the same level. They just had different tasks.

As Wu Yu gazed at General Gu, his heart was full of admiration. With his keen perception, he found that General Gu had a heavy and imposing presence, and was probably stronger than even the Lunar Flower Sword Sage.

"General Gu, this here is Wu Yu. From today onward, he'll be a member of the Yan Huang Immortal Army. Your Honor probably has no opinions about this, right?"

Jiang Xuechuan walked forward and cupped his hands in deference as he spoke.

Upon hearing noise around him, General Gu sat up straight and looked at them. He had very little flesh on his body, and many the outlines of many of his bones were visible beneath his skin. This gave him a rather grotesque appearance, and he resembled a dried corpse. However, his eyes were burning bright with the energy of a fiery sun. His gaze swept over Wu Yu and he said in a withered voice, "Is he to become an ordinary soldier, or will he directly become a centurion?"

After hearing those words, a hubbub rose through the surrounding crowd. It was evident that they had some objections to Wu Yu directly becoming a centurion. After all, they had only managed to become centurions after experiencing much suffering. They had to complete extremely difficult missions before they were able to become part of Yan Huang Imperial City's core.

However, nobody seemed to voice out their disagreement. After all, Wu Yu's reputation preceded him, so nobody really doubted that he was indeed very skilled.

Jiang Xuechuan replied, "Wu Yu has decided that he'll start off as an ordinary soldier. I've assigned him to the Centurion Luo Pin's Blue Dragon camp."

Luo Pin!

So that was Commander Luo's name.

In the depths of Wu Yu's mind, this name seemed somewhat familiar.

"Sure." General Gu did not say much more. He picked up a Sumeru Pouch and prepared to throw it to Wu Yu. Inside this was probably a collection of newcomer essentials. This included the Yan Huang Immortal Army's most classic immortal treasure, the Yan Huang Immortal Armor. After donning this suit of armor, not only would your defensive capabilities increase, you would look exceptionally heroic too.

"Actually, General Gu normally does not appear in the Yan Palace. He made a special trip down here to see you today," Jiang Xuechuan softly whispered beside Wu Yu's ears.

It seemed like General Gu was probably quite satisfied with him. Things would not have gone so smoothly otherwise. In particular, he had chosen to begin as an ordinary soldier, so there was not much to nitpick about anyway. 

"Hold up."

Unexpectedly, someone had stopped things even at this juncture. The crowd looked toward the voice and found that it came from a young man dressed in Yan Huang Immortal Armor. This youth was tall and lanky, and extremely dashing as well. Among the numerous centurions, he was the center of all attention, and the heroic air around him exceeded that of others around him by a great deal. Among the many centurions around him, he certainly seemed like the youngest one as well.

"That's General Gu's grandson, Gu Xuan. His character isn't bad at all." Jiang Xuechuan briefly introduced him to Wu Yu.

Since his character was not bad, why did he want to stop him from becoming a Yan Huang Immortal Army soldier?

This Gu Xuan slightly bowed to General Gu before addressing the crowd, "I've heard of the events surrounding Wu Yu, and apparently ordinary centurions aren't your match at all. Now that you've entered the inner city, our band of brothers want to know how talented you, Wu Yu, actually are. As such, I, Gu Xuan have mustered up the courage to exchange lessons with Wu Yu as a representative among my fellow brothers. I'm considered to be average among the hundreds of centurions, so in my opinion, if Wu Yu manages to show that he's stronger than me, he should be allowed to directly become a centurion. Since he's a genius, it'd be normal for him to begin from a higher position. We're Yan Huang Imperial City after all, not Shushan, so we can't ever stifle such geniuses. Do my brothers here agree?"

After Gu Xuan finished talking, the crowd started to applaud and cheer.

Truth be told, this group of centurions was only interested in checking out just how strong this Wu Yu actually was…

However, at least they were friendly enough to approve of Wu Yu skipping ahead and directly ascending to the rank of centurion.