Brand New!

Right from the start, Ding Hao slapped a huge label onto Zhang Dalong.

The celebrating soldiers around them immediately erupted in an uproar.

One had to know—

Though this battle had ended in a great victory, there were still many regrets. The greatest regret was that they had failed to kill the Commander of Northern Barbarians!

If someone had deliberately let the Commander of Northern Barbarians escape, then this matter naturally had to be thoroughly investigated!

Zhang Dalong knew full well that this was no small accusation. His face darkened as he shouted, "You bastard, what the hell are you talking about?!"

At this moment—

Ding Yishan hurriedly asked from the side, "Ding Hao, why do you say that? Did you see something on the battlefield?"

Ding Hao pointed his War Saber at Zhang Dalong and recounted what had happened earlier!

He further stated plainly that his next strike could have completely severed Man Potian's head, only for Zhang Dalong to ruin it.

He seriously suspected that Zhang Dalong was a spy for the Northern Barbarians!

Finally, Ding Hao added, "Even his build looks like one of those barbarian breeds!"

"Fuck!"

"Ding Hao, you're spitting blood at people! You're framing this general!"

Zhang Dalong nearly coughed up blood.

He truly had not expected Ding Hao, with that pretty-boy appearance of his, to be so skilled at slandering others. He could even make an issue out of Zhang Dalong's build.

Though he had indeed deliberately tried to snatch Ding Hao's kill on the battlefield, saying that he had intentionally let Man Potian go was utter nonsense!

"Framing you?"

"Just tell us—didn't Man Potian escape from your hands?"

Ding Hao coldly rebuked him again. Though he knew his accusation would not truly harm Zhang Dalong—

he was deeply displeased, so naturally he could not let Zhang Dalong feel comfortable!

Sure enough, Zhang Dalong's expression became extraordinarily ugly. "What kind of nonsense is that? Man Potian escaped from my hands, yes, but he's the Commander of Northern Barbarians, a Grandmaster-level expert. It's perfectly normal that I couldn't beat him!"

"Couldn't beat him? What a joke. I was only a ninth-rank martial artist, yet I could sever one of his arms. But you, Zhang Dalong, a fierce general at the high True Martial Realm, let him escape. Is that normal?"

Ding Hao accused him again, and Zhang Dalong's face turned even uglier, because he was still baffled by this matter even now!

Why could Ding Hao sever Man Potian's arm, while Zhang Dalong himself had nearly been killed when it was his turn?

At this point, Ding Yishan had also understood the whole sequence of events. He immediately shouted, "Zhang Dalong, tell the truth! Did you use public office to avenge a private grudge, deliberately letting Man Potian escape just to target Ding Hao?"

"Fuck me!"

Zhang Dalong's face turned completely livid. Ding Yishan's shout—

was like asking him whether the yellow mud in his crotch was really shit!

For a moment, the soldiers around them all began to show faintly suspicious looks!

They might not believe Zhang Dalong was a Northern Barbarian spy, but they had every reason to believe that he had targeted Ding Hao on the battlefield, causing Ding Hao to lose his chance to kill the barbarian commander!

By that logic, Zhang Dalong might as well have been the one who let Man Potian go!

"What's going on?"

At that moment, Luo Shenhuang rode over after hearing the commotion, arriving before the gathered soldiers!

Ding Yishan hurried forward and explained Ding Hao's accusation!

Luo Shenhuang's expression immediately turned unfriendly.

Like the surrounding soldiers, she did not believe Zhang Dalong was a Northern Barbarian spy, but he must have targeted Ding Hao on the battlefield.

As for Man Potian's escape, she did not feel much regret!

In her view, Ding Hao's severing of his arm had likely been a stroke of luck. Wanting to kill Man Potian was still unrealistic!

"Commander, I didn't target him. Who wouldn't want the merit of Slay the General? I wanted it too! Is it wrong for me to want to improve?"

"You can't say that I let Man Potian go just because I failed to Slay the General!"

Zhang Dalong pleaded his case to Luo Shenhuang with an aggrieved expression.

Luo Shenhuang frowned, but she did not convict him of any crime!

She merely said coldly, "Zhang Dalong, there is nothing wrong with you wanting the merit of Slay the General. But you were greedy for quick success, which instead caused Man Potian to escape too early. You bear some responsibility. Deduct three months of military pay as a warning to others!"

"I... obey!"

Zhang Dalong wanted to say more, but in the end, he could only cup his fists and accept the punishment!

After all, three months of military pay was neither here nor there to him!

But in the next moment, his face became even more unpleasant. Luo Shenhuang said to Ding Hao, "Ding Hao, in this battle, you not only successfully completed Capture the Flag, but also killed several Northern Barbarian generals. You even severed an arm from Man Potian, the Commander of Northern Barbarians. Your merits are immense. Your achievements will be recorded for now, and rewards will be issued afterward!"

"Thank you, Commander!"

Ding Hao cupped his fists in thanks.

Much of the gloom from having his merit of Slay the General ruined by Zhang Dalong dissipated as well.

"Mhm. Disperse and return to your duties. Clean the battlefield and reorganize the troops!"

"Though we won this battle, there is still much to be done!"

Finally, with a wave of Luo Shenhuang's hand, the soldiers scattered!

Ding Hao and Zhang Dalong secretly exchanged a glance. Both snorted coldly before leaving.

Zhang Dalong went to reorganize the troops, while Ding Hao returned to the Death Row Camp and immediately followed the many death-row prisoners in cleaning the battlefield!

After all, military merit was merely the icing on the cake. Cleaning the battlefield was his bread and butter.

Ding! Congratulations, Host, for picking up 10 points of Vitality!

Ding! Congratulations, Host, for picking up 10 points of Vitality!

Ding! Congratulations, Host, for picking up 5 points of Comprehension!

Ding! Congratulations, Host, for picking up 3 points of Spirit!

Following the Death Row Camp, he picked from south to north, from daylight until darkness.

Ding Hao picked until his heart blossomed with joy, and the last of his pent-up frustration completely vanished!

That was because more than a hundred thousand Northern Barbarian soldiers alone had died in this war.

Though most corpses yielded nothing useful, after picking through so many bodies, the harvest was unprecedentedly bountiful!

The Vitality alone exceeded ten thousand points, while Spirit surpassed five hundred points and Comprehension exceeded a thousand.

There were also some talent martial arts. Though they no longer provided much of a boost to him now, something was better than nothing!

Of all these things, however, two were the most helpful to him.

The first was the Martial Dao True Meaning he picked up from the corpses of Northern Barbarian generals and Divine Phoenix Army generals, in all sorts of varieties.

Besides the True Meaning of Strength and True Meaning of Fire from before, he also picked up the True Meaning of Saber, True Meaning of Wind, and more!

Only, their degrees of comprehension differed.

The second was the Primordial Barbarian Bloodline. It had not come from a Northern Barbarian general, but from a severed arm!

That's right!

It was the severed arm of Man Potian, the Commander of Northern Barbarians, which Ding Hao had cut off!

Though it was only a severed arm, the Primordial Barbarian Bloodline that dropped from it amounted to a shocking dozen or so strands.

Especially after fusing them, the Primordial Barbarian Bloodline he possessed had already reached as much as two and a half tenths!

In the end, when Ding Hao returned to the wooden plank bed in the Death Row Camp and fused all the attributes, talents, and bloodlines he had picked up in one go—

his strength immediately underwent an enormous transformation.

When he finally opened his character panel, the values on it had been completely renewed!