As I passed in front of the recruiter, a hint of Qi invaded my body. However, considering I could hide my abilities from actual cultivators, a martial artist recruiter who was merely using an artifact was nothing.

The recruiter gave a signal to someone else, and soon, two people were following me. One of them moved forward first, and pulled me to an alley between tents. He was a burly, intimidating man, and as he pulled me, the other people retreated, some looking at the scene with fear, the others with pity.

"Give me everything you have," he said even as he threw me to the ground.

I spat, making sure to let out some blood. He had hit me hard, and I wanted to make sure there was no suspicious quality. "I … I have nothing, sir martial artist," I gasped, making sure to speak like a scared villager. It would explain my lack of martial arts better.

"Nonsense, you have your clothes, right?" he declared with a mocking tone as he kicked me. I grabbed his leg, acting like I was trying to prevent the hit. However, as I did so, I checked his martial arts, trying to check.

Interestingly, it was neither Tiger Fist, nor it was Everdawn Saber. It was just merely one of the ordinary martial arts that was in circulation.

"N-no, I won't give up my dignity," I tried to roar as I tried to fight back. It would have been a stupid move under the circumstances if I was as weak as I represented, which was a deliberate move. After all, I was trying to get recruited by a cult. Intelligence was not a favored trait by them, at least for the random recruits.

A few more kicks later, the second man that had been following me burst in. "How dare you attack the people of the camp, you bandit," the other man had declared loudly even as he took a step forward. My 'attacker' tried to take him down as well, only for my 'savior' to grab his clothes and throw him to the ground. Once my 'attacker' hit the ground, he stilled, acting unconscious.

A poor production quality, but I wasn't in a position to give them a detailed critique. Since their recruitment was lax enough, it was to my benefit. I could have sneaked around them easily, but a legitimate identity could give me a chance to leverage the System.

Instead, I started speaking before he could help me up. "Thank you for your great grace, martial master," I bowed. "I won't forget your grace."

"No need to thank me, young man. I was impressed by your valiant defense. You have the heart of a martial artist. It would be a pity if it was shattered by a ruffian."

"You think so, martial master," I gasped.

"Of course," he said as he made a show of checking my shoulders. I could see that he had some apothecary skills, barely enough to check someone's aptitude. His eyes widened as he checked mine. I allowed him to detect only a portion of it, but it was still enough to make his eyes widen. "You have talent. More than I can teach. I need to bring you to my master," he said.

However, even as he said that his greed was clear. Not that it surprised me. A young, gullible villager down on his luck with no training and excellent aptitude, I was prime recruiting material. His greed suggested that they worked on commissions, and I probably represented a few gold pieces at a minimum.

As for not teaching me directly, it was already out of the question. He was also using another random martial art. Teaching me meant he couldn't sell me to the cult.

"I'm willing, martial master," I said as I bowed, showing my enthusiasm as I treated this as my opportunity. He immediately brought me out of the camp, and to a nearby forest, talking about his great master and the martial school he had. I wasn't faking my smile as I walked, feeling like he was bypassing a few steps on the way.

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We only stopped when we were at the entrance of a concealed valley. "Wait here," he said to me. "I need to talk to my senior brother."

I waited as I promised, but using a formation to peek into the valley had been easy. I wasn't afraid of them having a cultivator. No cultivator could sneak into the Kingdom without alerting me.

He was stopped by a guard. "Why are you here?" he asked. "The next delivery is five days away."

"I have found an excellent talent. He's more valuable than anyone else, and I didn't want to risk him."

"You just didn't want your boss to steal your commission," the guard grumbled. "You better hope you're right. If you disturb the guardian for false news, you won't like the results."

My 'savior' shivered at his mention, but he still looked stubborn. "No, he's an excellent talent. I guarantee it. I have never met someone that talented in my life."

That surprised me. I had already limited my talent quite a bit. It was hard to quantify something like talent, but if I were to guess, I was merely showing off one percent of my talent. I sighed. Ultimately, it didn't matter. If the worst happened and they got suspicious, I had too many ways to interrogate them directly before repeating the same trick in another recruitment spot.

"Are you sure he never practiced martial arts? You know the rules."

"I know. The artifact confirmed it," he replied.

"Very well. I want half of the reward," the guard said.

"That's robbery."

"Either that or you can let your boss contact the guardian through usual channels," the guard declared. "I'm also taking a risk here. Do you think the guardian will treat me kindly if I disrupt him during his meditation for no reason? We're both risking our lives here."

The guard didn't seem like joking, which didn't surprise me too much. The guardian was likely the Connate realm martial artist I could feel in the village, and depending on his personality, killing was an acceptable response to disrespect.

"A third at most," the other countered. After five minutes of bargaining, they come to an agreement for the forty-sixty split. The guard went in, and when he came out, he was being followed by a man in his fifties, radiating a subtle smell of medicine which I identified as essence pills for initiates.

I wondered just how many people they recruited that even their recruitment agents were preparing essence pills. He had a stormy expression on his face, muttering about insulting an apothecary by letting him prepare such basic pills, confirming my guess.

"Is this the new recruit," he said once he appeared, accompanied by the guards. "If he's not as talented as you promised —" he started, but the moment he touched my shoulder, he froze. "Stand still," he ordered to me.

I did so, a fearful expression on my face as a hundred and eight needles sank into my body without warning. The fear was naturally fake. His essence infused my body, searching my skin, bone, and heart, trying to find a hint of martial essence.

Since my essence was hidden by my Qi, he failed. And, as a martial artist, he lacked the ability to detect Qi.

Still, I made a note to set a formation on myself to hide my abilities before I arrived at their main base. I was always either hiding my essence in my Qi, or my Qi in my essence to avoid detection. It would be hard to hide both if a cultivator checked me.

Since the conspiracy included sending Foundation Establishment experts for errands, it was not out of the question to have Qi cultivators at the base.

Meanwhile, I was distracted by my attention. "Good, good, good," the apothecary muttered, his expression getting more feverish even as he checked my cultivation more. He pulled a message talisman and activated it. The content of it was simple, alerting the discovery of a top-grade talent, and asking for early transport.

I sighed even as I caught the message, which was only due to closeness. Tapping into the message of talismans was not something easy, and only with a combination of formations and talismans, it was possible. Otherwise, I would be able to catch every message sent in the area my formation covered.

Then, he turned to the guard. "Give him a first-grade reward package," he decreed, then paused. "Make sure to add two breakthrough pills as well," he added as he grabbed me, dragging me away without even asking for my opinion.

Facing an expert, freezing in shock was an acceptable reaction, so I accepted it.

Still, I was surprised when, barely twenty minutes later, a flying boat arrived. It was a small one, and not a particularly high quality. "Step in," the cultivator ordered.

I was once again glad for my identity as a poor villager, as it allowed me to gawk at the flying boat in shock, which gave me enough time to build the formation to hide both sides of my cultivation.

Still, I couldn't help but wonder whether I had overdone with my talent when even a fraction was enough to make them send a cultivator to pick me up.