Chapter 162 - 95: Entering the Commandery City, Meeting the Prefect!

Chapter 162: Chapter 95: Entering the Commandery City, Meeting the Prefect!

For four consecutive days, Zheng Jun stayed inside the Zheng Mansion, absorbing the Condensing Gang Powder. The four days of consuming the powder allowed him to improve rapidly.

After swallowing the Condensing Gang Powder, it repaired the hidden injuries in his body and steadied his mind. With its assistance, he slowly allowed the medicinal power to blend his True Qi and Gang Qi. The energies began to compress and merge, refining True Qi into Gang Qi.

It was not until dawn that Zheng Jun completely absorbed the medicine and exhaled from his Dantian.

[Consumed Condensing Gang Powder, refining True Qi into Gang Qi. Broken Jade Skill repayment progress +229. Current repayment progress: 2360/5000.]

As the small ink-like characters floated before him, Zheng Jun let out a deep breath. He opened his eyes, strapped on his saber, and stood up.

He thought, "I’m still halfway through the repayment progress. But based on my current pace of consuming medicine, about ten more doses should be enough to complete the Refining Gang process and step into the Outer Gang Realm."

Pondering this, Zheng Jun stretched his body, which had grown stiff from a night of cultivation, and walked out the door.

After leaving the room, he went to the dining hall as usual. Qingdai thoughtfully brought over a portion of Medicated Pancakes, which were made by mixing in Spiritual Medicine. Accustomed to this routine, Zheng Jun ate the pancakes clean, feeling a faint trace of medicinal power purifying within the Qi and Blood in his meridians.

Before he could finish, the maid Banxia walked in and said, "Mr. Zheng, County Captain Cai is here to see you."

"Hmm?" Zheng Jun was momentarily stunned.

The County Captain held a higher official rank than he did. For a higher-ranking official to request an audience with him felt rather absurd.

Despite the strangeness of the situation, Zheng Jun stood up and headed toward the door. "Quickly, let my dearest friend in!" he said as he walked. In his haste, he even forgot to put on his boots, going out to greet his guest barefoot.

Zheng Jun was greeting Cai Xun barefoot! In truth, he had genuinely forgotten his boots when he stood up, but realized it the moment he took his first step outside. However, he decided to just roll with it. He wanted to let Cai Xun experience what a truly sincere welcome felt like!

And so, Zheng Jun arrived outside the courtyard of the Zheng Mansion. Cai Xun was standing on the stone steps. He looked physically exhausted, yet his expression was wildly ecstatic. If Zheng Jun didn’t know him better, he would have suspected the man had taken something like Five Stone Powder.

Seeing Zheng Jun emerge, Cai Xun immediately rushed over to meet him. "He approved it!" he said excitedly. "The Prefect has gone senile—he actually approved it!"

"Approved what?" Zheng Jun asked, puzzled and unable to follow his words.

Noticing Zheng Jun’s confusion, Cai Xun eagerly grabbed him by the arms. "The official document from the commandery has arrived! We are to merge the Black Mountain Guard, Zhiyuan Guard, Pingyun Guard, and Rongyuan Guard to establish the Black Mountain Fortress. At the same time, we’re authorized to conscript two battalions of new recruits to form a Squad, totaling one thousand eight hundred men!

"You, Zheng Jun, it clearly states you are the Acting Squad Commander! The Prefect ordered you to enter the commandery city within ten days to receive all instructions in person!"

Cai Xun let out a hearty laugh, thrilled beyond measure. "At the same time, you can bring the silver back and learn those two Upper Grade Martial Arts!"

Seeing how worked up Cai Xun was, Zheng Jun didn’t know what to say. He wondered, "I’m the one who got promoted, so what are you so happy about, man? And could you at least notice that I came out barefoot to greet you?"

Still, being promoted to Squad Commander was indeed a good thing. The County Soldiers of the other three counties all had their own complications. Their interests were deeply intertwined and complex. There were definitely many ghost soldiers on the payroll, colluding with the local Officials. Therefore, there wasn’t much to say about the troops from those three counties.

The key lay in the two battalions he was allowed to conscript. That was a full quota of six hundred men! Combined with the Black Mountain Guard currently in his hands, he would have a total of nine hundred soldiers. With such numbers, his forces would inevitably overpower the County Soldiers of the remaining three counties. Moreover, he could use the pretext of this Black Mountain Fortress to intervene in the affairs of those three counties!

Thinking of this, Zheng Jun exhaled a breath, forming a plan in his mind. Besides, the nominal one thousand eight hundred men didn’t matter much; he could secretly expand his forces even further.

However, there was one issue that still worried him. Could the Prefect have seen through his grand ambitions and was now trying to lure him in under the guise of an official meeting? Would he just shout for his guards to arrest him the moment he arrived?

Zheng Jun pondered for a moment and decided it was unlikely. His rank wasn’t high enough to warrant such an elaborate trap. Having reached this conclusion, Zheng Jun took a deep breath and asked, "Cai Xun, in that case, should I enter the city now to seek an audience with the Prefect?"

"Yes. If possible, head to the commandery city today. If you ride like the wind, you can make the round trip in two or three days without delaying the conscription," Cai Xun nodded earnestly. He then enthusiastically tried to pull Zheng Jun along to hit the road immediately.

Zheng Jun hastily replied, "Hold on a moment, Cai Xun. When I heard you had arrived, I was in such a rush that I forgot to put on my shoes. I’ll go back and put them on right now!"

Hearing Zheng Jun’s words, Cai Xun froze. Only then did he notice that Zheng Jun was entirely barefoot. A wave of warmth immediately surged in his heart.

He thought, "To think that Zheng Jun cares so deeply about me. Knowing I was here, he ran all the way over without even remembering his shoes... A true friend like this is truly worth following to the death!"

His heart was filled with endless emotion! He had completely forgotten that he was actually Zheng Jun’s sponsor and that Zheng Jun was technically his subordinate.

Seeing that Cai Xun had finally noticed his barefoot welcome, Zheng Jun felt incredibly satisfied.

"I finally managed to drop that hint," he thought.

"Zheng Jun, go back and pack up," Cai Xun said. "I will have Cai Liu wait for you at the Military Department with a carriage. When you get there, just take the carriage and go. My Cyan Mane Horse has a trace of Demon Fiend bloodline in it, so it can barely be considered a Half-demon. Its travel speed is incredibly fast!"