From the Wind Gliding Mercenary Escort's end, they had sent the head of logistics to assist Yang Qing in his endeavors. The head of logistics was a middle-aged man with a slender build and a scholarly air to him. His name was Yun Wei and had been one of the instrumental figures who helped the Wind Gliding Mercenary Escort to reach the heights it did, today.
He had a genial personality and was very meticulous and erudite in everything he undertook. He knew the background of all the organizations within their territory by heart, to the point that one would mistake him for their founder because of the depth of information he knew about each organization. It didn't matter whether it was ranked or unranked, he knew enough about all of them. He even gave Yang Qing a well-drafted list of all the organizations that would likely reach a promotion standard before the year's-end.
Yang Qing gladly accepted the list since he spotted a number of rank 5 organizations predicted for promotion within the year. When he moved to the palace courts he would start handling the promotion of rank 5 organizations to rank 4 organizations. The information Yun Wei provided would help him plan his evaluations better when the time came.
Yang Qing recorded that favor in his heart. When he returned back to the Order he would push for a few more contracts to be thrown in the way of the Wind Gliding Mercenary Escort. He was a lazy parasite most of the time but every now and then he'd have an ant's conscience in him, when he went above and beyond in returning favors.
….
With Yun Wei's help, Yang Qing was able to complete all 300 evaluations within a short period of time. The evaluation had been free flowing just like it was at the Diamond Body Sect's territory.
Their results were also not that bad, though there were a few organizations that tried to pull something. Their futures seemed to turn bleak the moment they got caught. The cold look Yun Wei threw at them the moment they were exposed, was enough for them to know their future within the Wind Gliding Mercenary Escort's territory would not be an easy one.
The reaction of those who got caught had a ripple effect on those who were about to be evaluated. Once they revealed Yun Wei's displeasure, a few organizations decided to opt out of the evaluations.
Of the 300 organizations, 8 were caught cheating, 14 opted out and the remaining 278 organizations passed their evaluations. Of the 278, there were about 30 organizations that had members with blue grade pillars which was the highest record since Yang Qing started his joint evaluations. Those with white grade pillars were just two organizations, while the remaining bulk either had orange grade pillars or high tier red grade pillars.
Ironically though, with such good results, the recorded physique among all the organizations that came, was just one. It was an iron fog physique, which wasn't a particularly eye-catching physique since its strength and effectiveness were tied to the user's cultivation base.
The physique was a utility-based physique that had no lethality to it. Those with the iron fog physique were able to produce a grey fog that would shield them from being scanned by a cultivator's spiritual sense by creating a formless field of disruption around their body.
The range and capabilities of the physique were restricted to the user's strength. A foundation establishment expert with that physique would not be able to shield themselves from the spiritual sense of someone in the core formation expert. Those the fog could work on were those who were in the same realm as them. Though it had some good points to it even with such a restriction. The more the fog was used, the more it strengthened the user's mental sea and as a result fortified their spiritual senses too.
It may not directly help in a frontal confrontation but it was more than enough for helping someone make a clean escape or those whose occupations lay in espionage and spying.
…
Yang Qing wasn't that surprised by the results, though the same couldn't be said for Ma Yuan whose eyes were saucers during the whole thing, especially when the count of blue-grade pillars reached 20.
Yang Qing expected such a result from the place and the reason for that was the presence of Wind Gliding Mercenary Escorts in the area. In addition to their core duties, the mercenary organization also acted as go-betweens and procurers. Because their commissions and contract works had them on different parts of the continent for days on end, for the better part of the year, that exposure left them with a lot of knowledge and access to all sorts of goods and information from all over the continent. For a fee, they could get you whatever you wanted as long as it was within their means to do so and was on their travel route.
Those within their territory would use the connections of the Wind Gliding Mercenary Escorts to buy cultivation arts and other resources such as cultivation pills or formation array blueprints, through them. And because prices of these goods varied from place to place, thanks to the Wind Gliding Mercenary Escort's vast travel route, they had the option of getting whatever they wanted at a cheap price.
For an additional fee separate from their commission, the Wind Gliding Mercenary Escort would also provide a tabulated list of common goods and their prices across different locations. With such access, it was only reasonable that those organizations would experience explosive growth.
By Yang Qing's estimates, it wouldn't be too long before the region was swarming with rank 3 organizations.
…
"Chief Yun Wei, pardon my impudence but can I ask you for a favor?"
Ma Yuan who had been silent all this while suddenly spoke up. He was clearly very anxious about his request, based on the trembling in his voice when he asked and his shaky hands.
Yang Qing couldn't help but look his way with perplexion. Based on the severity of the look Ma Yuan had, Yang Qing guessed the matter more than likely had something to do with his present circumstances.
"If it's within my means, I would be more than happy to help, Brother Ma Yuan," Yun Wei politely replied.
Even though Yun Wei was a palace realm expert and Ma Yuan was just someone with a crippled cultivation base, who even at his prime would have been unworthy of being called brother by a palace realm expert, Yun Wei still afforded Ma Yuan respect because of his association with Yang Qing.
In all the areas Yang Qing went to with Ma Yuan, he introduced him as his friend which was sufficient to cover him with his halo.
In Yun Wei's mind, he was all too glad to help Ma Yuan since this was a chance of deepening the organization's good karma with Yang Qing via Ma Yuan.
All members present were aware of what was at play here. Yang Qing knew Yun Wei wanted to deepen the connection with him by agreeing to that request and Ma Yuan knew whatever assistance was afforded to him, was all because of Yang Qing. Otherwise, there was no way he'd be able to ask a favor of someone as lofty as Chief Yun Wei.
He felt a bit guilty since he knew he was basically using Yang Qing to further his ends but he had to do it. Things such as pride and face had long become weights he couldn't afford to carry over the past few years.
Ma Yuan on seeing Yun Wei's agreement took out something from his storage ring. The storage ring was about the only possession he had on him.
What he took out was a small shard about the size of a pinkie. The shard was crystalline with a faint violet-white lustre to it. It could easily be mistaken for an expensive gem because of how magnificent it looked.
However, there was one indistinct feature that made one unable to call it a gem, and that was the freezing attribute it had. From the moment it was taken out, the temperature within a 50-meter radius around it, suddenly plummeted. It didn't visibly release anything for one to expect such a change from it. Just its mere presence and exposure to the air caused a sudden and severe dip in temperature within seconds of it being brought out.
Yang Qing's pupils constricted when he saw the shard. He noticed that the energy within that shard was the same as the energy he had detected in Ma Yuan's shattered dantian. With how clear the fluctuations were, he had no doubt the source was the same.
"What dense Yin energy," Yun Wei muttered in consternation as he narrowed his gaze on the shard in Ma Yuan's hands.
Ma Yuan's hands immediately began frosting over, the moment he had the shard in his hands, but he paid it no heed despite the tremendous pain it was definitely inflicting on him.
"Chief Yun Wei, can you please help me find any organization whose attacks closely resemble this shard? Any information no matter how small is fine.
I don't have much to my name but I would be willing to repay the favor many times over, including staking my own life if you were to help me with this," Ma Yuan solemnly said as he made a deep ninety-degree bow with his hands placed forward like a servant presenting something to his master.
"This....brother Ma Yuan you don't need to be like this," Yun Wei softly said as he helped Ma Yuan up.
He could tell the shard had a deep importance to the man and one that wasn't tied to anything good. When Ma Yuan removed the shard, a faint killing intent flashed in his eyes as he was holding the shard.
" While I can't say with definite assurity that I may be able to find which organization this belongs to, but I can tell the list is likely to be small, based on the effects on this shard. There are not that many organizations that I know of with a yin-based technique this strong.
The search may take some time and you have to be prepared that there's a chance it may not bear any results at all. The scale of the search will be continent-wide after all, and there are some areas we may not be able to pass through even with our connections.
Perhaps......" Yun Wei left a few words unsaid but his look was enough to give away his thoughts as his gaze fell on Yang Qing.
The roots of the Order were far more widespread than theirs were and investigations into matters such as this were more of the Order's forte compared to them.
