At this mont, looking at the arrogant family riders, Cang Linzu couldn’t help but recall the situation years ago outside Ming Mountain City in the Northern Border when the Tianyi Demon Sect was searching for the Children of Calamity.
The riders from the demon sect and the riders under the Divine Capital Family said the sa things and had exactly the sa thoughts.
Use cheap costs to obtain the best batch of seeds.
No, it’s still different.
Cang Linzu silently shook his head in his heart.
Because the demon sect’s tone... perhaps required disguise. After all, their goal was recruitnt rather than sheer enslavent, so it seed softer, with a hint of temptation and expectation, not as typically like a great family.
As for the tone of this Divine Capital Family, this aloof arrogance, viewing people as beneath them, too lazy to even pretend, evidently has a more genuine taste.
Impersonators can never truly learn the arrogance because they still care about reasoning, still care whether their words and actions can persuade the other party, and their posture is deliberate.
Whereas the true lords, born into noble status with a silver spoon, from the onset are born superior, their existence inherently aloof, absolutely never thinking whether their behavior is reasonable.
As his thoughts flowed, Cang Linzu had already walked forward.
He frowned, his gaze scanning over those arrogant riders, finally landing on the person leading them, and asked in a deep voice, "What are you doing here?"
The leader of the riders, impatiently whipping the ground with his horsewhip, was driving away several refugees who were too close.
Upon hearing this questioning voice, his expression instantly beca unpleasant, and he turned his head, ready to scold which impudent person dared to intervene.
But when he saw Cang Linzu wearing the Deputy General Armor under Gu Yunzhi, the words swallowed hard back into his mouth.
His mind turned rapidly, seemingly recalling sothing suddenly, the arrogance in his eyes was instantly replaced by suspicion and fear, a smile squeezed onto his face, and his tone imdiately softened: "It’s Cang Linzu... General Cang?"
"Haha, didn’t realize it was you in person, apologies, apologies. It’s thoughtful of you, we’re also here on the Family Head’s orders to give these refugees so livelihood."
Saying this, he touched his head, frankly and familiarly stated: "You must know how expensive labor is in Shenjing, recently phenona have changed abruptly, and there’s unrest everywhere. The family is in need of people, must have so servants to command."
He gestured towards the direction of the refugee camp: "These refugees are cheap, worthless lives, but there are quite a few good seeds among them. We spend a little money to cheaply buy so lives, cultivate them later, whether as guards or maids, it’s an investnt with no loss."
These words were extrely unpleasant, treating human lives completely as priceable goods, yet Cang Linzu also had to admit that it was indeed truthful, he had no doubt about this because the logic was coherent.
Back when the demon sect took these Children of Calamity, officially it was rescue, but actually it was also a form of investnt and cultivation. Ultimately, struggling to survive from a disaster as vast as a sea of corpses and blood itself signifies destiny, physicality, and ntality far surpassing ordinary people; among them, selecting the best naturally yields good seeds.
These families clearly also identified this opportunity for profit without risk.
At this point in the conversation, he seemingly had no reason to refuse the other party. What he could give these refugees was rely enough food to last the day. With his ager salary and wealth as a deputy general, he might not last for more days, probably having to shalessly go to General Gu for funding.
These great families have vast estates, surely wouldn’t really let the servants they buy back starve to death, right?
Even the demon sect wouldn’t do sothing like that.
Thinking of his experience in the demon sect where, despite enduring hardships, he at least had no worries about food and clothing, the unease in Cang Linzu’s heart sowhat settled, finally taking one last look at those riders, choosing to turn and leave in silence.
He still had more important things to do; the entire order of the refugee camp needed his maintenance.
Soon after, he heard the riders behind him continue calling, summoning people to co for selection. However, perhaps due to Cang Linzu’s presence, this ti their tone was much gentler, not as arrogant as before.
Quite a few refugees who had recovered so strength, after brief hesitation, chose to participate in the selection.
Because Cang Linzu hadn’t gone far, those refugees who didn’t et the requirents weren’t beaten or scolded, just impatiently waved away like discarding trash by the riders.
It must be said, indeed there were many naturally talented children among these refugees.
Soon, dozens of fresh-faced, bright-eyed young people and children were selected, families brought them aside, imdiately providing water and pills to feed them.
Cang Linzu glanced from afar, found it was Fasting Pills and Jade Liquid, quite formal, not so inferior drugs.
"Your words are vile, but the goods are genuine."
He felt a bit relieved, so he no longer paid attention to this group of people, turned around, and continued to utilize the Ghost Communication Divine Ability, shuttling between the outskirts of Shenjing and the refugee camp, using all his savings to transport supplies.
As night deepened, cold mist arose, and that convoy of carriages filled with refugees lit their lanterns in the darkness, preparing to depart.
Cang Linzu was busy distributing a batch of wheat cakes that had just arrived; he had his own tasks and didn’t pay much heed to the caravan that was about to leave.
However, for so reason, he always felt a strange sensation in his heart, an inexplicable sense of discord that lingered.
"Playing around on odd jobs..."
Recalling the words of the rider earlier, Cang Linzu paused his actions, murmuring puzzledly to himself, "Speaking of which, does Shenjing really lack people? It always feels like these ancient family estates, with deep foundations and hordes of servants, do not need to co to the refugee camp to take advantage of such a thing, right?"
Within Shenjing, the great families stand tall, with each having thousands of servants. If they really needed people, countless dependent branches and small families would scramble to send people in; there’s no need to co to this chaotic, disease-ridden refugee camp to personally select people, is there?
"When the Demon Sect took us in back then, their goal was very clear—to train us to be Martial Artists, to beco the mainstay of the sect’s future. But these families, they don’t seem like that."
This is clearly not a path to select Martial Artist seeds. Martial Artists are ultimately unruly; to earn their true loyalty, what’s needed is a strategy to win their hearts, or a common will and ideology.
Cang Linzu had to admit that if he hadn’t t his Eldest Senior An Jing back then, he might very well have naturally entered the system of the Demon Sect, eventually acknowledging that system and becoming a follower of the Dao of Heaven’s Will.
However, with the practices of this family, there doesn’t seem to be any elent of winning hearts; from beginning to end, they have shown no grace, only charity. Even those who were taken away and fed did not receive any respect. This kind of suppression and contempt is of no use in cultivating a loyal Martial Artist.
So, what exactly are their motives?
Cang Linzu hesitated for a mont, watching the outline of the convoy of carriages about to disappear into the shadows in the distance, feeling torn inside—he still had to manage the order of the entire refugee camp, distribute supplies, and comfort hearts; it was really difficult to do both.
Moreover, this was ultimately just a little unprovoked doubt in his heart, not enough to make him abandon his current work to pursue it.
But it was at this mont.
An imnse, gentle, yet indescribably familiar feeling erged, as if traversing boundless ti and space, clearly transmitted from beyond the distant sky and earth.
"Eldest Senior?"
Cang Linzu was suddenly startled, then imdiately realized the origin of this feeling—it was clearly An Jing perceiving his troubles and dilemmas from so incredible situation, for which he conveyed a ’Divine Skill’!
For a mont, a talisman of mysterious profundity, ebony in color but interwoven with dark red fire patterns, manifested in the void before him.
Light and shadow flowed, coalesced into shape, then transford into a point of darkness that seeped into Cang Linzu’s mind, turning into the four characters of "Shadow Clone."
With just a slight perception, Cang Linzu was greatly shocked: "Has Eldest Senior achieved great success in his Divine Skill? Can even such a level of Divine Skill be granted across space?!"
Indeed, Cang Linzu realized in an instant that this was not An Jing’s usual thod—relying on the causal link between companion stars to transmit cultivation techniques and cultivation insights to them.
This ti, An Jing directly conveyed a complete, fully-ford talisman of Divine Skill! Not only did An Jing convey the essential mysteries of the entire Divine Skill, but he also transmitted a substantial amount of the ’power’ needed to activate this Divine Skill along with it!
In simple terms, An Jing directly delivered a part of his power, crossing worlds, onto him, sharing it with him!
And this shared power was the ’Shadow Clone,’ which could integrate his own Spiritual Fiend with dust and shadow to coalesce a powerful clone capable of bearing the coordinates of the Great Void.
This clone not only possessed a certain combat capability, allowing the original body to teleport over at any ti via the coordinates, but more importantly, its stealth capabilities were extrely strong. Compared to a True Person operating a concealnt Divine Skill, its essence was nothing more than a mass of lifeless dust and shadow, almost impossible to detect.
With this Divine Skill, Cang Linzu was no longer at a dilemma.
Because with the talisman and power granted by An Jing, he didn’t even need to cultivate himself; he only needed a thought to activate and execute it.
As shadows shifted, a cloud of dust silently rose from his shadow, growing darker in the night, coalescing, then transforming into a shadowy human form akin to his own in stature, entirely pitch black, with indistinct features.
This form originated from Cang Linzu’s power, sharing all perceptions with him completely.
Upon seeing it, Cang Linzu was overjoyed, no longer hesitating, and imdiately with a thought, sent the Shadow Clone to directly follow the distant convoy of carriages.
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