Chapter 1229: Chapter 1229 - 1214: The Award Banquet

A few days ago, the conversations with Princess Jieyou somewhat put Ye Zhen at ease.

Basically, as long as nothing unexpected happened, he could safely take the bounty and leave Xitian County.

Of course, Ye Zhen knew that after that day’s talk, Princess Jieyou had frequently sent out talisman communications. Ye Zhen estimated that Princess Jieyou should be mobilizing people to search for the whereabouts of Jiang Hao and Guo Yu.

Princess Jieyou hadn’t given up on the idea of eliminating Ye Zhen, after all, only a dead person can keep a secret, right?

However, even if Princess Jieyou deployed all the secret scouts in the world, they still couldn’t find Jiang Hao, Guo Yu, and the others.

So, these days, Ye Zhen simply requested another carriage and steadily advanced with the army while cultivating.

The army moved quite slowly. The journey that initially took Ye Zhen only one day to complete took this army twenty full days to traverse.

Although slow, covering a marching distance of ten thousand miles each day was impressive enough.

Those ordinary soldiers who followed the path of body cultivation, although their cultivation was only at the Soul Sea Realm, could leap several tens of meters with one step, walking swiftly.

Moreover, the training of this border army was quite refined. Thousands of soldiers marched in unison, step by step, swiftly like a demon beast unit.

With Ye Zhen’s hearty nature, he quickly mingled with those ordinary soldiers and mid- and lower-level officers.

Through conversations with them, Ye Zhen thoroughly understood the value of the Cavalryman title and the preciousness of the Psychic Spirit Pill.

The Psychic Spirit Pill was even more precious than Ye Zhen had imagined.

More than ninety percent of the warriors only knew its name and value, but had never refined even half a pill of the Psychic Spirit Pill.

Among the lowest ranks in the border army, squad leaders or captains who gained the Iron Cavalry Captain title due to military merit could receive a Psychic Spirit Pill every year.

They had the annual quota to purchase ten Psychic Spirit Pills from the Empire’s official institutions.

Within the Empire’s official institutions, the official price of one Psychic Spirit Pill was one High Grade Spirit Stone, one hundred and twenty Mid-grade Spirit Stones, or fifteen thousand Low Grade Spirit Stones.

This price was very high, quite steep, yet on the black market, even the black market price for one Psychic Spirit Pill was at least one hundred and fifty Mid-grade Spirit Stones or twenty thousand Low Grade Spirit Stones.

A set of ten Psychic Spirit Pills could easily fetch the price of twelve High Grade Spirit Stones at an auction, and in certain situations, even over fifteen High Grade Spirit Stones.

This situation added to the value of the titles.

Even the lowest, non-hereditary Iron Cavalry Captain was highly sought after.

Once a warrior obtained such a title through military merit, before anything else, just by the annual quota for purchasing Psychic Spirit Pills, they could build a modest fortune within ten years!

You don’t have Spirit Stones to purchase Psychic Spirit Pills?

In the Primordial Continent, the concern isn’t about not having Spirit Stones, but rather not having a title. As long as you have a title, those unscrupulous merchants will cry and beg to provide you with Spirit Stones!

Acquiring the amount of military merit needed for the lowest Iron Cavalry Captain involves simply beheading someone at the Third Level.

However, this beheading at the Third Level refers to slaying Demons, the Demon Race, and various servant armies on the Human-Demon Battlefield.

The Great Zhou Empire has an extremely detailed head value list.

Yes, if, if Ye Zhen could slay a high-bloodline existence like the Three-eyed Demon Marshal or the Golden Flower Demon King that appeared in the Ancient Demon God Hall!

Ye Zhen could instantly be ennobled!

The Great Zhou Empire’s noble ranks, from high to low, are King, Duke, Marquis, Earl, Baron, Viscount in six levels, with each level further divided into three classes. Below the six-level titles are the honorary titles, divided into four categories: Captain, Colonel, General, Marshal, with each category having four classes, totaling sixteen levels of honorary titles.

The Cavalryman offered as a bounty by Xitian County is the fourth-class honorary title, allowing for the acquisition of five Psychic Spirit Pills annually from the Empire’s official institutions, but with the annual purchase quota being one hundred!

As long as Ye Zhen had enough wealth, obtaining a hundred and five Psychic Spirit Pills in a year wouldn’t be hard, enough for Ye Zhen to cultivate.

According to those soldiers’ envious words, the benefits brought by a Cavalryman title would be enough to create an inheritance family.

And precisely because of these special interests in titles and ranks, the entire Primordial Continent has formed an indescribable noble interest group.

All beneficiaries spontaneously maintain this privilege, so much so that even the Emperor of the Great Zhou Empire or the dignified Heavenly Temple do not dare to change the rules casually.

In such circumstances, the recognition of military merit has become extremely stringent.

In neighboring Xitian County, except for elite troops drawn annually to the Human-Demon Battlefield, others have no chance of obtaining honorary or noble titles.

To earn those titles, one can only risk their life on the battlefield.

The Earth Core Fire Commander from back in the day only acquired the highest honorary title of the sixteenth rank.

Of course, where there are people, there are benefits. According to some memories within the Earth Core Fire Commander’s Martial Inheritance, the merits established by the Earth Core Fire Commander Di Baimo were not enough to become king, but plenty sufficient to become a Duke or Marquis.

But Di Baimo, throughout his life, only received the highest honorary title at the Marshal level.

The reason is simple, within the Great Zhou Empire, each enfeoffed nation is allowed to war against each other, with sufficient power, conquering and annexing is not impossible.

However, the military merits gained from these internal wars aren’t recognized officially by the Great Zhou Empire.

Yet, the meritorious deeds of the subordinates still need rewards, otherwise, who would fight for them to maintain their status?

Therefore, for their power, the various enfeoffed nations would discount the military merits gained by the warriors sent annually to the Human-Demon Battlefield.

The real great nobles need to reserve some military merit to hand out to reward their ministers as needed.

Each enfeoffed nation within the Great Zhou Empire has a high degree of autonomy, free to appoint positions, but the titles and honorary titles are tightly held by the Great Zhou Empire.

Without the official seal of the Great Zhou Empire, the unique titles enfeoffed within each nation hold no value!

Consequently, even the rulers of these enfeoffed nations, when truly wishing to ennoble their subordinates, must exchange the heads of demons and the Demon Race with the Great Zhou Empire officially, in order to obtain the titles and honorary titles granted by the Great Zhou Empire.

Just like the Princess Seal of Princess Jieyou, only the seals secretly created by the Seal Bureau within the Great Zhou Empire can hold such power and cannot be counterfeited.

Therefore, the Cavalryman in the bounty offered by Princess Jieyou was exchanged with real demon heads with the official authorities of the Great Zhou Empire by the Earl of Xitian, the nation’s ruler.

As part of the ranking within Xitian County, beneath the awarded official seal of the Great Zhou Empire’s specialty, the Earl of Xitian could award the honor.

Beneath the Cavalryman, one must go to higher-ranking enfeoffed nations or the Great Zhou Empire’s capital to complete the award ceremony.

According to those soldiers, the national power of Xitian County is weak, so their gains from the Human-Demon Battlefield annually are meager, making honorary titles even more precious.

Like their border army commander Luo Ren’s title, it’s only a Cavalryman as well.

A Cavalryman can command a ten-thousand-strong army?

This made Ye Zhen marvel, and he was somewhat expectant.

Of course, the benefits of the Cavalryman honorary title extend far beyond this, with privileges visibly everywhere.

As those soldiers said, if Ye Zhen is willing to stay within Xitian County for one or two years of experience, as long as he doesn’t lose his mind, he could at least become the main general of a ten-thousand-strong army, with boundless prospects.

However, Ye Zhen has no regard for a small Xitian County.

Moreover, if Ye Zhen stayed in Xitian County, he probably couldn’t sleep peacefully!

Princess Jieyou’s return to Xitian County wasn’t as grand as imagined, but rather she quietly approached the Imperial Palace of Xitian County.

Meanwhile, Ye Zhen was also led to a secluded residence by a group of eunuchs radiating with a gloomy aura.

Every day, fine wine, delicious food, and beautiful maids were served, with no neglect of Ye Zhen, and he was in no hurry, calmly cultivating and comprehending while waiting.

Six days later, an old eunuch exuding an unusually soft aura, hunched over, quickly walked into the courtyard where Ye Zhen resided, "Please, Hero Ye, bathe and change."

"What’s this?" Ye Zhen was a bit puzzled.

"The ruler has issued an order; today, Hero Ye will be honored and there will be a banquet to thank Hero Ye for your service in protecting."