Li Ban considered his current situation and spoke slowly, "I want to cultivate in the Myriad Ancient Pagoda first. I've only just broken through to the 4th Tier, and the elements in my body haven't reached full spiritual rhinoceros yet. Furthermore, I'd like to get a solid understanding of the Shattered Realm before I go looking for wizard embryo fragments."
"Alright!"
However, this response didn't come from Qian Que or Qian Jing.
Li Ban turned his head. The white-robed priest who had been floating above the Shattered Eye just moments ago had flown over and landed beside them.
"Priest Li Ban, I am Fei Jun. You may call me Priest Jun."
Pagoda Master Qian immediately chimed in from the side, "Priest Jun is a Star Glow Priest."
Another 6th Tier heavyweight.
A mere 4th Tier like Li Ban truly wasn't much to look at around here.
Without waiting for Li Ban to bow again, Priest Jun turned to Priest Qian Que. "I also believe that a newly promoted priest should first calm their mind, adjust their condition, and achieve full spiritual rhinoceros before entering the Shattered Realm to collect fragments. This allows the state of mind to reach a steadier equilibrium, which is highly beneficial for cultivating the heart."
Pagoda Master Qian, displaying seamless tacit understanding, instantly caught his meaning and told Li Ban, "If you don't mind the position, you can enter the Myriad Ancient Pagoda first and serve as a 4th Tier Floor Master."
"There aren't that many corpses here at the Unreturning Place, but there are some. Besides retrieving and refining them, our main task is to check if any insects have tunneled into the corpses to sneak out of the Unreturning Place. The Floor Master is responsible for the final gatekeeping of this process. It doesn't take much time, so it won't delay your cultivation. During this period, you can also learn more about the Unreturning Place and the Shattered Realm."
Being able to participate in corpse processing was, of course, the best outcome.
Li Ban had been thinking that if his new status as a priest made it inconvenient for him to touch the corpses in the Myriad Ancient Pagoda, he would just sneak into the water and scrounge for waste elements to cultivate with under the guise of 'tempering his heart.'
After all, in plenty of movies and TV shows, martial arts experts loved standing under waterfalls to be battered by the current.
"No problem."
Seeing Li Ban's agreeable attitude, Priest Jun couldn't help but admire him.
Because he had been overly eager for achievements in his youth, Priest Jun had taken many detours on his path as a priest. Consequently, he had a special fondness for steady, grounded young people now.
In comparison, Priest Du An was far too impatient.
Having become priests, they obviously possessed countless ways to extend their lifespans, yet Du An always acted as if his eyebrows were on fire, refusing to rest for even a moment.
And it wasn't as if he had any specific, clear-cut reason to be in such a frantic rush.
Priest Jun always felt that Du An's state of mind was too volatile and wanted to temper it a bit.
"That's the right attitude. Li Ban—I'll just call you Priest Ban—I will be guarding the Unreturning Place for the foreseeable future."
"You can come ask me if you have any questions regarding your cultivation."
He raised a hand and pointed at Priest Qian Que, who had shut his mouth again now that there were two 'translators' around. "This guy rarely opens his mouth. The fact that he said a few words today is already a display of tremendous enthusiasm toward you."
"Many thanks, Priest Jun. Many thanks, Priest Qian Que."
"By the way, I want to send Shi Ming out to capture a Bug Mother. If he is unwilling, help me persuade him. It will only benefit him."
Although the atmosphere was pleasant and they were having a great conversation, Li Ban didn't immediately agree since it involved Shi Ming.
"Could I ask the two priests something? There is one thing I've never understood. What exactly is Shi Ming's identity?"
The group fell silent for a moment before Priest Jun finally spoke up.
"Shi Ming's identity is rather unique. Very few priests know his specific circumstances. And those who do know are not permitted to spread it to outsiders privately. So, I apologize, Priest Ban, but we can't say much either. However, you can treat him as a black-robed priest who has lost all his abilities and identity."
A black-robed priest who had lost all his abilities and identity?
And 'treat him as'?
Li Ban let his imagination run wild for a moment, and his expression turned a bit strange.
Surely it couldn't be what he was thinking, right?
Following a warm and 'enthusiastic' welcoming ceremony, Li Ban received a few greeting gifts and a house on a cliff face quite close to the Myriad Ancient Pagoda.
Very considerately, Pagoda Master Qian also sent people to escort Deng Jun and Shi Ming to Li Ban's new residence.
Returning to the house, Deng Jun and Shi Ming, who had just arrived themselves, put down the luggage they were organizing and went to greet Li Ban.
"I plan to join the Myriad Ancient Pagoda's tasks."
Shi Ming said earnestly the moment they met.
Li Ban nodded. "If you must stay at the Myriad Ancient Pagoda, it's essential to build a good relationship with the people here."
Li Ban looked at Shi Ming, recalling Priest Jun's words.
If he were truly just a black-robed priest who had lost his abilities, the white-robed priests would have just killed him directly.
Look at how they had dealt with the black-robed Xiao Suo—swift, decisive, leaving no survivors, wiping him out until nothing but ash remained.
If he was merely a black-robed priest, how could they possibly have kept Shi Ming around?
Even if he remembered absolutely nothing right now.
Li Ban let his thoughts wander again, highly suspecting that Shi Ming might be a Wizard who had ascended from a black-robed priest!
But perhaps the kind of Wizard who had already lost his power.
He posed no threat to the Wizard World or the White Robes, but he wasn't one of their own either.
Therefore, everyone recognized him, yet everyone ignored him.
In contrast, Xiao Suo, who was also a Black Robe, had shown far more wariness toward Shi Ming.
However, whoever Shi Ming was in the past didn't have much to do with Li Ban.
"I've spoken with the two priests; they won't make things difficult for you."
Shi Ming nodded, falling back into deep thought.
Ever since they entered Yanzhou, he had started dreaming. After getting closer to the Unreturning Place, his mind had been flooded with even more scattered thoughts, leaving him looking constantly dazed and muddled.
But there was nothing abnormal about his physical condition, and his Undying Halo hadn't failed either.
So Li Ban could only assume that his 'dead memories were murdering him.'
Since Shi Ming's identity was a mystery, Li Ban didn't continue pressing the issue in front of the others.
He turned to Deng Jun, who was standing obediently to the side. "Deng Jun, I'll be entering the Myriad Ancient Pagoda next. What about you? What are your plans?"
Deng Jun was currently a 2nd Tier iron-badge assassin.
However, since he had already pledged his loyalty to Li Ban, and the Assassin Hall was currently a complete mess, it was unlikely he would continue to develop in the assassin profession.
"Lord Priest, I—" Deng Jun paused, though not out of hesitation.
He had already figured out his future path during their journey.
Now that Li Ban was joining the Myriad Ancient Pagoda and Shi Ming would also be working for it, as their lackey and driver, he naturally had to enter the Myriad Ancient Pagoda as well.
"Can I follow you into the Myriad Ancient Pagoda?"
Moreover, the Myriad Ancient Pagoda at the Unreturning Place was clearly quite different from the Myriad Ancient Pagoda at the Mass Grave.
At the very least, the Myriad Ancient Pagoda at the Mass Grave didn't have a priest constantly floating right beside it.
Li Ban agreed. "Alright. The area around the Unreturning Place is completely deserted, and there are no other organizations. If you don't enter the Myriad Ancient Pagoda, your only option to continue advancing would be to leave this place entirely. Pagoda Master Qian has already promised me that if you wish, you can enter the Myriad Ancient Pagoda and start as a 2nd Tier corpse retriever. Once you achieve full spiritual rhinoceros, you can immediately be promoted to a 3rd Tier corpse refiner general or a Battle General."
Battle General was a unique position exclusive to this Myriad Ancient Pagoda.
However, unlike the corpse refiner generals who frequently processed dead bodies, Battle Generals had to go down into the Unreturning Place to fight.
Their targets were the insects in the water.
There was a vast variety of insects, including the Corpse Worms Li Ban and the others had seen, as well as bugs of various other shapes and sizes.
These bugs were byproducts that the Myriad Ancient Pagoda had no choice but to face in order to maintain a stable spatial fragment.
They came from the crevices between worlds, and some even came from the Dark Side of the World. Their innate nature drove them to crawl from chaos toward stability, only to corrupt that stability back into chaos.
They weren't insects in the traditional sense, but rather all sorts of dark, dangerous races. It was just that after entering the Wizard World, they had been transformed into weakened, suppressed forms by the power of the Wizard Lords. Because most of these forms resembled bugs, they were collectively referred to as 'insects.'
And one of the missions of the Myriad Ancient Pagoda at the Unreturning Place was to purge these negative byproducts while maintaining the Shattered Eye.
"You should already be somewhat familiar with corpse refiner generals. Battle Generals, on the other hand, are geared more toward combat. It's dangerous, but it's also easier to accumulate merit and boost your strength."
Seeing Deng Jun frowning in deep thought, Li Ban advised, "There's no rush on this. You can make your decision once you reach full spiritual rhinoceros."
Deng Jun nodded. "Rest assured, I will carefully consider it."
Li Ban told them both to go back to unpack their bags and get some proper rest.
The journey had been arduous and exhausting. Even a 2nd Tier Spirit Practitioner and someone with an 'Undying Halo' were completely worn out.
Li Ban likewise needed to recuperate so he could properly face his new life at the Unreturning Place.
Right as Li Ban was preparing to begin his new career at the Unreturning Place's Myriad Ancient Pagoda, his temporary subordinate in Trash City, 9899, had just been captured.
She was pinned to the ground, with dozens of drones hovering overhead, their weapon ports wide open.
Beside her stood several soldiers clad in full-body Smart Mechas, leveling their weapons right at her head.
Soon, one of the mecha soldiers stepped forward. Pointing his gun at her with one hand, he freed up the other to plug a terminal interface into the port on the back of 9899's Smart Mecha.
[Data transmission in progress—]
[Modifying permissions—]
The terminal screen had originally been displaying the progress of the permission override.
But suddenly, the progress bar froze.
Just as the soldier looked down at it, the entire mobile terminal erupted into a mess of red garbled code.
The mecha soldier immediately tossed the mobile terminal away while simultaneously checking the status of his own mecha.
Fortunately, because he had been on guard, he hadn't allowed the Virus from her mecha to infiltrate his own.
"Just as invasive as expected." He stood up and took two steps back, gripping a heavy machine gun the size of a small cannon in both hands. "Take off the Smart Mecha yourself, or we'll turn you into mechanical scrap mixed with minced meat."
9899 knew she could no longer resist.
She was currently just a day's journey away from the Western Base, yet she had suddenly been ambushed by a group of fully armed legion soldiers.
Even wearing Shen 19's Smart Mecha, she was completely no match for them.
Now, apart from cooperating, there was nothing else she could do.
9899 sighed softly in her heart. She couldn't understand how the Shen Family had managed to mobilize such a large legion force just to hunt her down.
In Trash City, although several major corporations monopolized many industries, military force had always been controlled by the Main Brain, and authorization was rarely granted to outsiders.
She unlocked the Smart Mecha from the inside and slowly backed out of it, moving carefully so the other party wouldn't think she was launching a surprise attack and shoot her.
When 9899 finally emerged from the mecha wearing a tank top and combat trousers, Legion Sergeant 341 frowned.
"You aren't Shen 19. Why are you here? Where is Shen 19?"
With over a dozen guns aimed directly at her, 9899 said dejectedly, "He gave me his mecha and told me to head to the Western Base. As for him... I have no idea where he planned to go."
"Where were you when you two last parted ways?"
"In the wilderness near Trash City."
Sergeant 341 lowered his gun. "Lead the way."