‘18 year old Martial Lord!’ Qian Yu exclaimed inwardly. The world thousands of years ago had a much lower qi but even then, he managed to reach the Martial Lord realm at 18 years old. 

“Years passed by and of course, a small number of cultivators continued to learn it, letting us learn even a few more things. Prior to the Month of Hell, people only went crazy right before it started. However, afterwards, cultivators could easily become corrupted and lose control of themselves randomly. Years passed and in time, and it was only recently that there were two more findings. Firstly, you could only be corrupted once your soul world had completely matured, or in other words, when you become a Martial Fighter. Secondly, those that cultivated the Immortal Soul to the 4th stage were never corrupted,” Qiu Tai said.

‘What! Immunity towards the corruption?’ Qian Yu’s eyes opened wide in shock. 

“Back then, the World Congress was really strict and had a complete record of who learned the technique. With a sample size of millions of different cultivators throughout the years, not one has ever been corrupted upon mastering the 3rd layer of the technique. We hypothesize it to be because this technique strengthens your soul and protects it from corruption. So now, that brings us to the organization. The World Congress created this organization under the goal of specifically getting rid of those that are corrupted, well suspected to be at least. These people are put on the Hunted List. By doing all of this, it will hopefully weaken the severity and delay the dreaded apocalypse,” Qiu Tai explained. 

“So you and the rest of the higher-ups were sent specifically to deal with this situation?” Qian Yu asked.

“Indeed, you are correct. Anyways, we can go back to the main topic. I am here to reward you and also informally invite you to the organization. As for why, it’s a random observation process but we have determined you to be a good youngling to nurture. You even got a pretty high quality martial technique that was different from the data we got on you haha,” Qiu Tai laughed. 

“Ah! How did you know?” Qian Yu exclaimed.

“Hahaha, it’s nothing new for these old pairs of eyes,” Qiu Tai chuckled.

“What about the reward then?” Qian Yu asked. 

Qiu Tai smiled as he heard that, “The reward is the technique.” 

“What!” Qian Yu choked on the alcohol. 

Qian Yu wiped his mouth, “I don’t need to join the organization?” 

“Hahaha, do you think it’s too much for no reason?” Qiu Tai asked.

“Yea,” Qian Yu nodded. This was an extremely valuable technique and it was just given to him like that. It wasn’t too fancy or eye-catching but providing immunity from the corruption was invaluable. 

“Well if I put it like this, your information saved us anywhere from 4 to 7 days worth of time. I’m sure you don’t know the statistics but even with millions of cultivators here, there are thousands if not tens of thousands dying every day since the start of the rare grade spiritual beasts appeared in hordes. What your info did was save a potential tens of thousands, even hundred of thousands of lives. That is a merit,” Qiu Tai said with a smile on his face.

‘No way! I never thought about it like that,’ Qian Yu fell silent. 

Without letting Qian Yu say anything else, Qiu Tai continued, “Yes, this is a dog eat dog world. But just because it is, doesn’t mean there aren’t exceptions. Besides, the organization was created to deal with the Hunted List so giving away the technique removes potential people on that list right? Hahaha, I don’t want to have to send people to hunt down someone like you one day.”

As he said that, he took out a scroll from his storage ring as he threw it towards Qian Yu, “Here, take your reward. About the organization, the offer stands and there are rewards and other resources in there. Don’t worry about it right now though as you aren’t even a Martial Fighter yet and will need to master the 3rd layer of the technique anyways. By that time, you can just inform the sect about meeting the ‘Order’ if you want to join. Alright, I’ve taken up enough of your time. The world is big, kiddo. The Southern Ice Continent where you come from and the Soba Empire are no doubt the smallest countries in the world so make sure you continue to work hard. Lastly, the spiritual beast horde should be over by now. Good job.”

“Thank you senior! I shall excuse myself then,” Qian Yu said as he caught the scroll. 

Standing up, Qian Yu politely bowed as he excused himself out of the bamboo house. Looking at the scroll in his hand, Qian Yu couldn’t hold back his smile as he put it away in his storage ring and started to return back. 

As he was walking back, he ran into a familiar person. 

“Hey Zhong Chun, let’s talk,” Qian Yu yelled as he saw Zhong Chun wandering around.

“Huh? Oh hey Qian Yu!” Zhong Chun waved as he ran over.

“Let’s go somewhere private,” Qian Yu said as he started walking away from the other cultivators. 

“What’s up?” Zhong Chun said as he caught up with Qian Yu. 

“Why did you join the organization?” Qian Yu asked as he continued walking. It was pretty obvious about who was monitoring him. There was only 1 person other than Sun Hong and Zhen Yue that he really interacted with and it was none other than the guy besides him.

“Huh? That was fast. They told you already?” Zhong Chun replied shocked. 

“Yea, but I don’t know if I want to join so I’m curious about why you joined. Also, why did you observe me?” Qian Yu asked another question he was curious about.

“Brother Qian, don’t you want to join the organization? We’ll be heroes that can bring home riches, fame, and beauties! There’s also plenty of other benefits in the organization as well,” Zhong Chun laughingly said, easing the atmosphere.

“Ahem,” Zhong Chun coughed as his tone turned serious. “No, but well seriously, I joined the organization for a pretty simple reason. I don’t want the world we live in to be destroyed. Although I’m young, I love the world we live in. The people I meet, the places I go to, there’s still so much that I want to accomplish in this lifetime,” he answered Qian Yu’s first question. By now, they had reached the top of a cliff.

“As for why I observed you it was random. After getting to know you and travel around with you, I deemed you had good potential, especially when we met after the inheritance realm so I just recommended you to the organization. I have been travelling for a few years now and I have met many people. Few are genuinely good and kind like you. I don’t know if you know this, but whenever we went on missions to the smaller towns and villages, you were happy to help the people you see. Besides, recommending people is my job and it also helps out with my first goal right? So that’s my answer. Alright, I’ll go get some food now, I’m starving haha,” Zhong Chun said as he left Qian Yu alone to think. 

‘Protecting the world huh? That’s a big aspiration, Zhong Chun. Compared to me, I haven’t really thought much of the future...,’ Qian Yu stared off in the distance.

‘Helping the poor and the weak is something I’ve grown accustomed to since I was young. If it’s easy and doesn’t hurt to help them, I would naturally do it. But when there’s danger involved...  I don’t think I’ll be the same,’ The sun was starting to set.

After a while, Qian Yu muttered, ‘I don’t think I’ll live up to your expectations.’

‘What was wrong with being a village doctor? Why did I start cultivating?’ Qian Yu thought as he looked back on his life. 

From the day his grandpa died, Qian Yu decided to cultivate in order to grow more powerful and live on, avoiding the grasp of death. ‘At first, it was the simple desire to grow stronger, but what about now?’ Qian Yu knew the answer. 

It was different now. Qian Yu smiled and looked at the horizon, with a new look on his life, ‘I’m a simple man and don’t really care for fame or honor. My aspirations are simple. I just want to continue eating Bai Jia’s food. I just want to see how Zhao Xieren will grow. I just want Sun Hong to achieve her own goals safely. I just want Zhen Yue to find her family one day. I don’t know about protecting the world but I’ll grow stronger, and do everything I can to protect those important to me.’

“Master! I finally found you,” Qian Yu heard a voice from behind.

“Oh Zhen Yue, looks like you’re fine now haha,” Qian Yu laughed as he saw her. She had pretty good regenerative abilities, though not as insane as Sun Hong. She was able to walk and run but fighting was still out of the question.

“What are you doing? You should go back and eat and then rest,” Zhen Yue was confused. 

“No, there’s no point. Come sit with me, let’s watch the sunset,” Qian Yu motioned.

“What do you mean?” Zhen Yue asked, still confused as she went to sit with him.

Hugging her in his arms, Qian Yu said, “It’s time to go home!”