Seeing Hou Yixiao hanging by a thread, Gu Feng rolled his eyes and casually tossed something out from his ring storage.

"Moo!~"

A silver-scaled exotic beast with a bull's head and deer's antlers suddenly appeared. It let out a long howl, and when it saw Gu Feng, its eyes were filled with flattery.

Ever since Gu Feng extorted this creature from the Immortal Messenger, he had kept it in his white jade ring storage. Now, with Hou Yixiao desperately begging for mercy, he remembered he had such a beast at the Elemental Infant Realm by his side.

"Stop her!" Gu Feng ordered calmly.

The exotic beast snorted heavily, its intelligence high. It shook its head, turned around, lowered its head, and charged at Fang Feixue's flying blade artifact with its massive antlers!

"Clang!"

A metallic collision rang out. The beast steadied its massive body, its hooves gripping the ground to absorb the impact.

The five-ringed flying blade was knocked several meters away, spinning back to Fang Feixue.

Fang Feixue was slightly surprised. To withstand her full-force attack, this strange beast must have at least the fifth level of the Elemental Infant Realm!

Gu Feng slowly stood up, walked to the beast's side, and stroked its silver scales. He turned to Fang Feixue and advised, "This chubby Daoist didn't mean it. I'll have her pour you tea as an apology. Why not let him go?"

Hearing this, Fang Feixue was sullenly angry, her gaze at Hou Yixiao still filled with killing intent. However, since Gu Feng had spoken, she dared not refuse and quickly cupped her hands, saying, "Since the Sequence has spoken, how could Feixue not comply? Otherwise, I fear I would be stripped of my cultivation status and have nowhere to go."

Leading the exotic beast aside, Gu Feng handed the rope to Manager Wu and listened to Fang Feixue's words with a wry smile.

Though she was yielding and showing submission, her tone was undeniably sour.

Indeed, one should never easily offend a woman; when they hold grudges, their words can be laced with sarcasm, making it hard to bear.

No longer entangled with Fang Feixue, Gu Feng turned to Hou Yixiao and asked, "Hou Yixiao, would you be willing to serve me?"

Hou Yixiao sat on the ground, despondent. Having just escaped death, he was overjoyed at Gu Feng's words and immediately crawled to Gu Feng, kowtowing repeatedly, "I am willing! Willing!"

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Gu Feng nodded and gave Manager Wu a look.

Soon, a personal spiritual soul contract appeared before Hou Yixiao.

"Sign this contract, and from now on, you will be a visiting scholar in my household," Gu Feng said lightly.

Hou Yixiao hesitated, glancing at the contents of the spiritual soul contract, his beady eyes flickering with indecision.

In the cultivation world, spiritual soul contracts weren't new and merely imposed some restrictions on cultivators, but they couldn't be signed carelessly!

After all, without negotiating the terms, how could he sign a contract so casually?

Gu Feng, seeing through his thoughts, promised, "In Qiong Feng Pavilion, there are rooms prepared for visiting scholars, with three maids and two household servants at your disposal, and a constant supply of Immortal Tea and Immortal Fruit. As for the salary..."

Feigning contemplation, Gu Feng ignored Hou Yixiao's eager expression, paused, and slowly said, "...with your talents... hmm... how about eight hundred medium-grade spirit stones per month?"

"Thank you, Sequence, for your support! I will do my utmost to assist the Sequence, how dare I not serve loyally!?"

Hou Yixiao was overjoyed. Eight hundred medium-grade spirit stones a month—when had a Qi Refining Realm Daoist from a small remote sect ever seen so many spirit stones? By joining Gu Feng's team, he would no longer have to wander the world, deceiving others.

He immediately divided a portion of his spiritual soul and placed it on the contract.

Putting away the spiritual soul contract, Manager Wu glanced at him disdainfully. He had no regard for this chubby Daoist, but since Gu Feng approved, he naturally had no objections.

Ordering Hou Yixiao to join the ranks, Gu Feng waved his hand, signaling the public selection to continue!

Just joining Gu Feng's team, Hou Yixiao, new and eager, approached Gu Feng, only to find everyone keeping their distance. No one wanted to be near someone with such sneaky skills, capable of remote retrieval and clairvoyance, making them feel they had no secrets.

Helpless, he stood beside Jiu Long.

Jiu Long gave him a cold glance, exuding a hint of Spirit Dividing realm power, and said coldly, "Move aside."

Hou Yixiao broke into a cold sweat, not expecting such a powerful senior beside Gu Feng, who seemed to be just a guard. He quickly moved away, ending up with the silver-scaled exotic beast.

The subsequent interviews were filled with hundreds of bizarre individuals, leaving people shaking their heads.

If Hou Yixiao's spells were considered lowly tricks, the talents of these people were downright insulting to one's intelligence.

There were those performing feats like breaking stones on their chest...

Three people even showed up doing splits and somersaults...

Walking on tightropes, balancing ladders on their tongues, jumping through fire hoops, throwing frisbees...

Gu Feng even felt as if he had traveled back to the street performances of his previous life, a chaotic mix of street performers!

The most outrageous was a blind old man who spent half an hour telling Gu Feng a story...

Fortunately, there were some genuine cultivators among them. In just three hours, Gu Feng recruited over a hundred mid-level leaders for the Royal Guards.

These cultivators had no unique traits or advantages, merely possessing pure cultivation prowess, ruthless hearts, and a penchant for killing.

Many were even ghost cultivators, witch cultivators, and demonic cultivators from the northern lands, infamous for their deeds, all tired of their wandering lives and seeking stability.

Gu Feng employed people without fuss, offering generous pay and spiritual soul contracts. Those unwilling could leave as they came.

The only regret was that Gu Feng hadn't encountered any demon cultivators yet. But it was understandable, as the Eastern Region Divine Continent had always been wary of demon cultivators, and they dared not easily reveal themselves here.

The public selection continued into the night, with only a few candidates left from the original fifteen hundred. Gu Feng calculated that this Talent Recruitment Board had added over four hundred skilled individuals to the Royal Guards.

This approach had many benefits, not only diversifying the composition of the Royal Guards but also indirectly further eroding the last remnants of the Chen Long Army's spirit within the Royal Guards.

It was like having a bowl of green beans in front of you, and Gu Feng threw in a handful of red beans. Trying to separate the red and green beans again would not be easy.

"Number one thousand five hundred, enter!"

Finally, it was the last one. Gu Feng thought there wouldn't be any more talents and was about to return to his room to rest. The day's events had been exhausting!

"Sequence, please wait, wait!"

Ouyang Jing, dressed as a shopkeeper, jogged into the courtyard. He bowed and cupped his hands, saying, "Ouyang Jing from the Building of All Phenomena greets the Sequence! I humbly wish to discuss a business deal with you! I hope the Sequence will grant me this opportunity!"