Dushui Official

The Black Mist!

A single sentence from the Martial Master landed on the island was the fuse that ignited the fire.

The news from the scouts guarding the island chain, who rowed over by boat, caused an uproar! Military merit!

The military merits were about to be in their hands! No one cared about winning or losing the game anymore. The thousands of Martial Master in the River Conservancy Office were operating at a rapid pace like machines.

Xu Yuelong and Wei Lin led their men to the island to investigate the situation.

On the once vibrant island chain, large trees fell one after another, their vitality completely drained, their leaves withered and brittle, resembling late autumn.

Fortunately, the worst-case scenario did not occur.

The corpses of the Wolf Smoke Martial Master and the Galloping Horse Martial Master lay perfectly still on the ground for six days, without any signs of reanimation.

The phenomenon of "coming back to life" stopped at the Hunting Tiger Great Martial Master, which is a very valuable piece of good news.

Live eels and frogs scurried about in the grass, not yet dead from having their life force drained.

The Martial Master on the island moved freely without any discomfort.

You can go to the island!

The message was reported up the chain of command, and the orders were issued one by one.

Once landing on the island was confirmed, the next step was a flurry of activity involving military coordination, supply transport, and disposal of the dead.

The weather was too hot, so it was obviously impossible to take the remains of our own people back for burial. The only option was to cremate them on the spot and collect their ashes.

Several plumes of black smoke rose from the island.

One by one, small boxes filled with ashes were labeled with names and stacked in the dark, sunless cabin at the bottom of the ship.

There are countless similar cases.

The Martial Master ' battles differed slightly from those of ordinary armies.

As long as the intelligence is accurate, the plan will certainly not allow any high-level combat personnel to be lost, which is easy to do.

Great Martial Master and Grandmaster can easily separate their small battlefields from the large battlefields, turning them into battles for a few, where the many fight the few, and the strong fight the weak.

That's why Zhang Longxiang of the Da Shun was able to break through the encirclement of three Grandmaster, which shocked the world.

But most Martial Master can only become insignificant ripples in the torrent of the battlefield.

Aside from their own people, the heads of all the enemy Martial Master were cut off and stuck on wooden spears for identification, to record their merits, and to report and confront them.

Confirming battle achievements is troublesome, and it is obviously not enough to rely on oneself to confirm them, as it will cause a lot of conflicts.

Not only did they accept bribes and misappropriate credit, but in the chaos of battle, mistakes in memory were common.

During the charge, I acted impulsively, and after the charge, I was covered in cold sweat. When I tried to recall what happened, I found my mind was completely blank.

To ensure the fairness and impartiality of the operation, the supervisory team would display the enemy's head for several days to see if others would agree.

If someone reports the false information successfully, not only the person who made the false report, but also their entire team will be punished.

If no one questions or reports it for several days in a row, then the credit can be considered truly earned.

Secondly, if an enemy is killed by multiple people, it is difficult to attribute the military merit to an individual.

For example, Liang Qu, being an archer, specifically targets those engaged in combat, relieving pressure on the front lines while having a better murderous intent.

This raises a dispute about whose head should be credited, and it certainly cannot be directly attributed to Liang Qu.

That is what we call "collective achievement".

After the total military merits are tallied, the merits are then distributed according to the position and type of soldier in the battle formation.

This arrangement is intended to effectively prevent disputes over the attribution of credit, with more credit allocated to dangerous positions and less to safe positions.

The supervisory team meticulously coordinated and recorded military achievements.

Liang Qu and the others went to move supplies.

If they hadn't sneaked onto the island earlier, it might have taken them a while to discover the mechanisms and Earthly Dao.

However, during their battle with the corpses, Xiang Fangsu and Ke Wenbin accidentally collapsed a third of the Earthly Dao, but the process was unimpeded.

As for the Hunting Tiger corpse at the entrance, it was nothing to fear and collapsed to the ground long ago.

The soldiers cleared away the stones, and Wei Lin and Xu Yuelong stepped into the passageway one after the other.

Xu Yuelong knew what was going on inside and was not surprised by the crisscrossing slashes in the passageway.

Wei Lin stared at the battle marks on the ground, then at the headless corpse in the main hall, and fell silent.

"Someone came in."

The officials of the fifth and sixth ranks following behind the two men were talking amongst themselves.

Who can come to the island?

Wei Lin thought of the leaders on the first ship that was unafraid of the Black Mist during the night raid. He looked in the direction he remembered when he entered the palace, and a figure flashed before his eyes.

"It would be good if Lord Wei didn't waste his time," Xu Yuelong said with a smile.

Wei Lin stared coldly at Xu Yuelong. He glanced at the clerk beside him, and the dozens of people present immediately sprang into action to check the supplies.

Liang Qu and Xiang Fangsu huddled in a corner, feeling extremely uneasy as they watched those people's actions.

The Qilin Great Pill was already inside his belly, and he couldn't take it out.

He turned to look at Xiang Fangsu and Ke Wenbin.

The two didn't seem to care at all. Ke Wenbin even secretly patted Liang Qu on the shoulder, signaling him to relax.

The entire hall is underground, and there weren't many people who came, so the traces they left behind were too obvious.

It cannot be hidden.

As expected, after a search, Wei Shao ran to Wei Lin and whispered a few words in his ear.

Wei Lin glanced sideways at Xu Yuelong.

Xu Yuelong remained expressionless, continuing to trace the patterns on the cauldron, marveling at them.

The entire underground atmosphere was somber and silent, with pressure filling every corner like a tidal wave.

A long silence followed.

Wei Lin waved his hand.

"Move!"

Whew! Liang Qu breathed a sigh of relief.

Ke Wenbin looked at Liang Qu with a smug expression.

Liang Qu gave a thumbs up. "Wen Bin is top-notch!"

Once they start moving, all traces they left behind will be completely destroyed.

In other words, they are safe.

Ke Wenbin smugly remarked, "This is enough for you to study for a lifetime."

With Wei Lin's command, the group moved large items such as the Black Dragon Myriad Square Cauldron out.

"So heavy!"

Liang Qu lifted one of the tripod legs and, with all his might, worked together with Ke Wenbin to move a Great Cauldron out along the enlarged passageway.

He had consumed the Qilin Great Pill, which gave him the Qilin Spirit Illumination Strength. With the opening of his fifth aperture, his strength was supposed to increase by another 50%, but he still couldn't lift the Great Cauldron on his own.

"That's normal. These Great Cauldron are nurtured by generations of alchemy masters. Like our Spirit Weapon, they will become heavier and heavier. Keep it up."

A Great Cauldron, bathed in sunlight, emerged from an underground hall that had been sealed for over a decade and slowly made its way onto the large ship.

For the next two or three days, everyone at the River Conservancy Office spent their time moving goods and recording military achievements.

The evening of the fourth day.

Xu Yuelong received the military merit list.

He ordered someone to grind the ink first, then browsed through it before sitting back down at the long table. He spread out several blank books and began to commend or recommend his subordinates one by one.

When it was Liang Qu's turn, Xu Yuelong pondered for a while.

Looking back from the beginning, he was surprised to find that Liang Qu had actually accomplished a lot in the past four months, and had made several Great Merit contributions.

The Whale Gang, the Anchor, the two Galloping Horse Upper Realm Martial Master from the Ghost Mother Sect, plus the military merits recently tallied...

Regarding the Whale Gang's affairs, he has already been promoted one rank...

Xu Yuelong dipped his brush in ink and wrote on the album page by candlelight.

"Liang Qu, a native of Huaiyin Prefecture Ping Yang County, is only..."

How much was it again?

Xu Yuelong thought for a moment and filled in eighteen.

It's normal for there to be a difference between the nominal age and the actual age; being older is advantageous in the Ministry of Personnel.

"Having been in the River Conservancy Office for more than four months, he has repeatedly performed extraordinary feats."

He broke through the Whale Gang, annihilated the Ghost Mother, and was quick-witted, fearless, and outstanding. He also presented the rare "Mountain Character Anchor," which was several times more effective than the Four-Claw Anchor.

His swimming skills surpassed those of Wei Shao, a sixth-rank Wei Shao in Hengshui Envoy.

He might be appointed to the position of a seventh-rank Dushui Official.