Ding'an City, after a great battle, hundreds of corpses lay strewn three miles outside the walls.

The city gates stood wide open. Surrounded and escorted by many soldiers, Lu Ye rode back on horseback. Countless soldiers on the city walls, who had personally witnessed the battle just now, all gazed at him with worship and reverence, while on both sides of the inner passage, throngs of commoners welcomed the triumphant return of their meritorious hero.

They had clearly also learned of the Black Scarf vanguard troops being routed.

In a world where the level of cultivation was so extremely low, Lu Ye's performance just now was simply too shocking: charging alone into a formation of a thousand troops, slaughtering hundreds by his own strength, beheading the enemy general in the midst of their ranks—such things had only ever been heard of from storytellers' lips.

Yet today it had actually unfolded right before their very eyes.

Lu Ye returned to the Zhou family's small courtyard and, without stopping to rest, immediately began bitter cultivation.

Piece after piece of inferior Spirit Stone was devoured by the Talent Tree and turned into useless waste rock, while his own cultivation rose slowly yet steadily.

One day later, the 9th Spiritual Orifice opened, and Lu Ye let out a long breath.

Though the eighth and 9th orifices differed by only a single orifice in cultivation, it was in fact a qualitative transformation, because opening the 9th orifice meant truly stepping onto the path of cultivation. Strictly speaking, only at this point did one have the right to call oneself a cultivator.

Spirit force flowed through each spiritual orifice, linking them together, performing the work of a Minor Circumambulation—endless, inexhaustible.

Spirit Stream Level 1! With this, both his personal strength and his endurance would see a tremendous boost.

This round of tempering left Lu Ye with a very peculiar feeling. He had never thought he would walk the road he once trod all over again, yet compared to back then, now he was moving along this path much faster.

If he'd had Level 1 cultivation when facing the Black Scarf vanguard troops earlier, Lu Ye truly had the confidence to devour that entire vanguard by himself—provided they didn't all scatter and flee in every direction.

"Yao Nuan." Lu Ye called softly.

"Sir." Yao Nuan immediately walked in from outside, her eyes filled with reverence. Earlier she had watched with her own eyes from the city wall as Lu Ye displayed his divine might; for a girl her age, such a scene was overwhelmingly impactful.

"Has Zhou Ping come?" Lu Ye asked.

When he'd returned earlier, Zhou Ping had been leading men to clean up the battlefield. After all, so many had died, and right outside Ding'an City at that; if left unattended, it might well breed plague and the like. But Lu Ye had instructed him to come find him once the matter was dealt with.

"The City Lord has been waiting outside all this time," Yao Nuan replied. When Zhou Ping arrived, Lu Ye had been cultivating; upon learning this, he hadn't dared disturb him.

"Invite him in."

"Yes!"

A short while later, Zhou Ping strode in with long steps. Compared to the days of worry before, he was now undoubtedly much more high‑spirited. Upon seeing Lu Ye, he cupped his fists in salute at once. "I pay my respects to you, sir."

Lu Ye nodded slightly.

Zhou Ping said excitedly, "In the battle just now, sir displayed divine might and truly won our deep admiration. For Ding'an to have you, sir, is our great fortune. With you sitting in town for this city, we shall never again need to worry."

He actually couldn't quite figure it out: clearly Lu Ye's cultivation was only one orifice higher than his, so why was he so unstoppable on the battlefield?

In that situation, if he'd gone up instead, a single volley of enemy arrows would likely have left him dead or at least gravely wounded.

But that was unimportant. At present, as Ding'an's City Lord, with Lu Ye's support, he had the confidence to hold this city and protect the peace of the people in this region. He had even considered whether to let Lu Ye assume the position of City Lord. Previously he hadn't done so mainly because Lu Ye was an outsider and not suitable; but after the battle just now, Lu Ye undoubtedly already had the foundation for this among the populace.

Now in all Ding'an, who did not know of Mr. Lu's chivalrous name?

As he was thinking this, before he could bring it up, he heard Lu Ye ask, "Tell me about the specifics of the Black Scarf."

Zhou Ping's expression grew solemn. After pondering for a moment, he said, "The Black Scarf rose from bandits in the mountains. After their name spread, many bandits came to join them. Outwardly they claim thirty thousand, but according to the information we obtained, their actual strength should be around ten thousand or so…"

As he spoke at length, Lu Ye listened in silence.

When he finished, Lu Ye finally said, "So in other words, though we've routed their vanguard troops, in terms of the Black Scarf's overall size, it doesn't hurt them much."

Zhou Ping admitted somewhat unwillingly, "That is indeed the case. A ten‑thousand‑strong army, with only a few hundred casualties, can truly be ignored." Then he changed the subject: "However, sir need not be overly worried. The Black Scarf is currently attacking another city; their main target is not Ding'an. That first small squad was actually here in Ding'an to gather grain. It was only because they lost that squad that Fang Kuang's vanguard troops were drawn here. Now that Fang Kuang is dead and the vanguard has been smashed, the Black Scarf likely won't take any major action for the time being; they simply don't have enough forces to split their troops in two directions."

Lu Ye fell silent, lost in thought. If this weren't his trial scenario, then Zhou Ping's judgment was not unreasonable. But this was his trial scenario, so Lu Ye felt that the Black Scarf definitely wouldn't let it go at that.

Nor would he place the future peace in the enemy's hands.

"Let's go. Take me to the warehouse," Lu Ye rose to his feet.

Zhou Ping did not hesitate and immediately led the way.

Moments later, in the spacious warehouse, Lu Ye paced back and forth inspecting. This was one of the most important places in Ding'an, guarded by heavy troops. Inside were stored supplies sufficient to sustain all the city's populace for several months, as well as some items used for cultivation.

Zhou Ping did not know what Lu Ye was looking for, but now the safety of all Ding'an rested on Lu Ye alone; naturally, whatever was in the warehouse was his to take as he pleased.

A short while later, Lu Ye stood in front of a pile of pitch-black rocks. He casually picked up a fist-sized stone and slightly urged his spirit force. His brow lifted.

Zhou Ping watched his expression and immediately stepped forward to explain, "Sir, this is black-green ore. After smelting, it can be used to forge spirit weapons."

Not all minerals are suitable for forging weapons for cultivators. This involves conductivity. When cultivators fight enemies, they must drive their spirit force. The easier the material used to forge a spirit weapon conducts spirit force, the more valuable it is. Some materials that cannot conduct spirit force can only be forged into ordinary weapons.

Just like that thick, long spear Lu Ye used before—that was merely an ordinary spear. It was only because it was quite heavy that it could display such tremendous destructive power in Lu Ye's hands.

This black-green ore could indeed be used to forge spirit weapons, but in Lu Ye's view, spirit weapons made from it would only be the lowest grade, because the mineral itself was very poor in quality.

But in a world like this, having something like this was already quite rare.

"Aside from what's in the warehouse, does I have any other black-green ore elsewhere?" Lu Ye asked.

Zhou Ping thought for a moment and said, "The Zhou family has some. The other two of the three great families should also have part of their own stock. If you need it, I can requisition it all."

"Get it all here, then find people to smelt it."

"What does Sir intend to forge?" Zhou Ping asked.

"You'll know when the time comes." Lu Ye didn't explain much.

After a short while, he returned to his small courtyard and continued his cultivation.

Zhou Ping's efficiency was undoubtedly high. Only two days later he came again to report that all the black-green ore in the city had been gathered and fully smelted.

In the east of the city, at a place seething with heat, Zhou Ping and the Family Heads of the other two great families waited. This was the ironsmith workshop jointly owned by the three great families; almost all the weapons in the entire city were produced here.

Lu Ye arrived unhurriedly. Zhou Ping and the others hurriedly saluted him, their attitudes respectful.

"It's all here?" Lu Ye's eyes immediately fell on the piled-up items to the side. The things were black, square, about an inch thick and five inches long and wide, roughly a bit more than twenty pieces.

"All here," Zhou Ping replied. This black-green ore was expensive; what lay before them was already the entire stockpile of the whole city.

Lu Ye picked up a piece and weighed it, finding it quite heavy. He urged his spirit force into it and gave a slight nod. "Passable, I suppose."

This stuff was far too low in quality. Over in the Nine Provinces, it was trash no one would bother to glance at, but in a world like this, he could only make do.

"Find a blacksmith master to come over," Lu Ye instructed again.

Very soon, a burly, thick-waisted blacksmith stood before Lu Ye. His face was fierce, yet his attitude was respectful. "Mr. Lu, what spirit weapon do you wish to forge?"

By the side, Zhou Ping introduced, "This is the forging chief of our three great families. His craftsmanship is absolutely reliable."

Lu Ye nodded and looked at him. "You'll be my assistant."

What he intended to forge was not something a blacksmith of this world could create.

The previous battle with the Black Scarf vanguard troops had made Lu Ye realize something: in a world like this, the role cultivators could play was largely diminished. Even he himself, at that time, had no way to wipe out a vanguard force of over a thousand. Even if he went all out, killing four or five hundred would already be remarkable.

Because the level of cultivators was too low and the gap in physical fitness between them and ordinary people was not so enormous.

Just a Black Scarf vanguard troop was already so troublesome. If the full Black Scarf army launched an assault, Ding'an most likely could not be held.

So he could not rely on himself alone!

Yet the personal strength of the other cultivators was even weaker. Even gathering them together wouldn't let them exert much power. In that case, he could only borrow External Force and pool these scattered strengths together.

The As-Close-As-Siblings Array Disc was undoubtedly the best and only choice!

Back then, Lu Ye had refined countless such array discs and was already thoroughly practiced. The only troublesome part was that the As-Close-As-Siblings Spirit Runes were extremely complex.

This was also why Lu Ye had to raise his cultivation to Spirit Stream Level 1 before making a move—because cultivation at the 8th orifice stage simply wasn't enough.

Even now, at Spirit Stream Level 1, he wasn't sure he could succeed.

"Bring the goods!" Lu Ye gave another order.

Zhou Ping gestured, and soldiers immediately lifted a large chest and set it down by Lu Ye's feet. He opened it; inside were all those inferior Spirit Stones.

Lu Ye stepped onto these Spirit Stones with one foot, ready to replenish his spirit force at any time. Only then did he roll up his sleeves. "Let's begin."

A short while later, the clang of metal rang within the ironsmith workshop. The chief blacksmith was sweating profusely, and soon forged a piece of black-green ore into the shape of a round disc.