Chapter 692

Chapter 692: A New Era of Independent Cultivators

Fangzhang Continent, Tianya Mountain Base

After many years of improvement, Tianya Mountain Base is very strong. It has multiple layers of defense and has withstood several monster attacks without falling, firmly controlling this large area.

The defense line centered at Tianya Mountain Base is very long, spanning across the entire Fangzhang Continent. It requires a large number of stationed soldiers, even with the assistance of millions of war robots, there are still millions of soldiers stationed.

Among these millions of soldiers, about half are from the Alliance of Three Countries. The three countries constantly deploy troops to rotate, improving the combat power of their soldiers. The rest were originally indigenous soldiers from Fangzhang Continent.

Many years have passed, and the initial soldiers have used up too much. The remaining Fangzhang Continent kingdom also struggled to support the war expenses, as they were already overwhelmed.

Leading the way was Huaxia, who began recruiting mercenaries, especially independent cultivators from within Huaxia. Huaxia publicly shared their cultivation techniques, allowing not only those from academies and official cultivators, but also many individuals in society to cultivate immortality, as they used to do as independent cultivators.

Since most of the cultivation resources in Huaxia were monopolized by the authorities, there was a great desire for these resources, leading to a high demand which posed a significant challenge to the social order in Huaxia.

Since independent cultivators needed resources but the authorities wanted to reduce their numbers, a perfect solution emerged: the creation of mercenaries. A large number of independent cultivators were recruited to fight in Fangzhang Continent, a strategy known as diversion rather than suppression.

However, with more independent cultivators joining the military, many problems arose, including issues with military discipline. These individuals didn’t undergo rigorous training, so their discipline was not as strong as that of regular soldiers. While they were fine during peacetime, they struggled during intense battles, causing various other problems.

This situation left many lower-ranking officers extremely frustrated, prompting continuous complaints to higher authorities. Eventually, the authorities changed their strategy and removed these individuals from the military, allowing them to become free hunters. They could freely enter the territory of demons, hunt demon beasts, gather spirit herbs, mine minerals, and then exchange these items with the authorities for cultivation resources, a mutually agreeable solution.

After several years of trial and error, the authorities decided to fully implement this policy and proceed with its standardization. Thus, a separate hunter base was established.

"Today marks the official establishment of the Hunter Organization, guided by the Human Alliance and composed of various governmental bodies worldwide. In the future, only official personnel or members of the Hunter Organization can be present at the frontlines. Others are prohibited from approaching, as there is a risk of being shot. Therefore, we remind you that if you don’t wish to join the Hunter Organization, please leave within three days. After three days, patrol guards will verify your identities at any time…"

Joining the hunter organization is easy. You just need to show your legal ID, register, and then buy a watch for one million Huaxia coins.

This watch is very important, it represents your identity, and it has many practical functions, like basic maps and radar, all given for free.

Besides that, transactions are also done with this watch, we will also assign tasks through the watch. Each time you trade with the officials, you will earn points. The more points you have, the higher your identity level will be. The identity levels are bronze, iron, silver, gold, platinum, white gold, diamond, glory, champion. Each level has different privileges, including trading for cultivation resources with us. Remember, all resources are available to you, not just martial arts, but also secret techniques, elixirs, weapons, and more.

If your level and money are enough, you can even hire high-level cultivators to help you with cultivation issues. The role of a great master speaks for itself.

In the future, we plan to open more functions, like battlefield support. If you encounter danger, notify us using the watch, we can send help or even launch attacks on the monsters. Of course, this service is not free, but if your level is high enough, you can have it on credit. We’re not afraid of you not paying us back.

In simple terms, this watch is a high-tech product, a supercomputer, an artificial intelligence, and it’s also the link between the Hunter organization and the officials.

An official spoke to the independent cultivators in the hall, disregarding their discussions. Bargaining was out of the question. They can either accept the offer or go home and sleep.

Don’t even think about hunting monsters elsewhere. Except for the Endless Sea, all monster territories in other regions are monopolized by various official agencies. If conflicts arise with the local authorities, you might be labeled as an illegal monster hunter.

Even in the Endless Sea, they won’t be of much help. If you capture a monster and don’t go through the Hunter organization platform, you won’t be able to trade. Without resource consolidation, the effectiveness of the monsters will decrease significantly.

While the independent cultivators were still discussing, the officials had already left. Soon after, a sign was put up in an office, indicating that watch transactions were now accepted.

The quick-thinking independent cultivator found the office quickly, paid for the watch directly, activated it, and also received a badge, all made of bronze. As their points increased, they could exchange for higher badges.

·······

"Over ten thousand Hunter Watches have been sold, with eighty percent sold in the Tianya Mountain Base. They sure have a lot of money!"

Inside the base, Zhou Yuan told Shiyi that he was here to take over, and they were still in the process of handing over.

"I must say, the officials really know how to play. Just by selling watches, they’ve made a huge profit. Each watch costs one million Huaxia coins, I heard the cost is less than a hundred thousand. Even with research and development, they didn’t spend much."

"Haha, this is just the beginning. This watch is a replacement for phones. How phones make money, this watch will make money the same way. The platform is set up and monopolized. No need to worry about making money, right?"

"That’s true, but there are talented people among independent cultivators. I heard that within five days of the watch going on sale, someone already advanced to silver?"

"Probably they had stocked up items from before. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be that easy. We don’t need to care about them. Relying on them to defeat the Yaozu is impossible. It’s just to reduce pressure within the country. How we played in Yun State before, we’ll play the same way now."

Zhou Yuan mentioned that in Yun State before, independent cultivators were manipulated by major sects like sheep, harvested in batches. After so many years, only Pill King Li Ruoxu emerged.

Nowadays, things are still the same, just the way people play has changed a bit. For these independent cultivators, most of them are destined to have a sad fate and can never beat the officials.

"Yes, we are lucky. We used to join the sect, now we join the officials."

"Thank you very much to Zhang Wanjing from the Five Elements Sect. Without him, Ancestor Lin wouldn’t bother with you all."

"Haha, you’re right! It’s just a pity that we didn’t find a wife for Ancestor Lin back then. If we did, the relationship would be even better."

"Come on, it’s not polite to try to take advantage of our ancestor in front of me."

Zhou Yuan immediately became unhappy. Everyone knows the relationship between Cao Ying and Lin Jiang. Trying to introduce a woman to Lin Jiang, isn’t he afraid that Cao Ying will be mad at him?

"Just kidding, just kidding. Don’t let Cao Ying know about this, or I won’t be able to handle it."

"Alright, I won’t tease you anymore. I will go on vacation in two months. You need to take care of the base, don’t let the demon race break through. The message from above is clear, it’s all about delaying. Delay until stronger weapons are developed, delay until more experts appear."

Zhou Yuan said, he was also afraid that Shiyi would act recklessly. There is no need to rush, just delay. This is the biggest strategy.

"I know I’ve reached the middle of Void Achieving, and I want to break through to Tao Achieving to become the top in the history of the Five Elements Sect."

"With the Five Elements Sect gone, and my Zhonghang Sect gone too, I only have a slight chance to become the second best in Huaxia. But I’m faster than you, haha."

Zhou Yuan laughed heartily. He was close to reaching the late stage of Void Achieving. After waking up, his cultivation speed was dozens of times faster than in the previous era of cultivating. The treasures he obtained were beyond his wildest dreams.

·········

"Hunter Organization."

Jiabang Empire. When Muse heard this news, he was completely bewildered.

In recent years, he had been secretly promoting cultivation techniques, creating a large number of cultivators among the human race. His goal was to intensify the conflict between independent cultivators and the authorities. However, with the appearance of the Hunter Organization, the situation escalated beyond a simple conflict. It was like a gift to the human race.

"Boss, the official authorities are undermining all our previous efforts. They are actively promoting the benefits of the Hunter Organization. Many of the cultivators we’ve been following are tempted and want to buy tickets to Fangzhang Continent. What should we do? The Heavenly Fox Demon King will surely hold us accountable."

A trusted aide said to Muse, "The situation is very grim now. With the official authorities taking action, how will we explain this to the Heavenly Fox Demon King? They might end up being executed."

"I’ll go talk to the Heavenly Fox Demon King and try to buy some time, but we need to come up with a new plan."

"Boss, do you have any more tricks up your sleeve?"

"First, send someone to join this hunter organization to gather information. Also, release our secret followers of dark magic early to showcase some achievements. We’ll think of other things later, but we need to show results soon."

Muse said. The authorities are pressuring us now. If the demon clan gets upset, we’re in real trouble. The Heavenly Fox Demon King has thousands of spies, so they don’t need us. We don’t have time to plan slowly; we need to show results quickly to silence the critics.