Military Merit in Hand!
Hearing this, Zhou Tong, who had always been wary of Dongfang Yueming but had never dared show it, immediately plastered a false smile on his face and hurried over.
"Ahem." He cleared his throat and tried to look friendly. "Well... Brother Dongfang, Sister Hongxiu."
Zhou Tong rubbed his hands, a trace of barely perceptible greed in his eyes as he looked at the pouches at Dongfang Yueming's and Hongxiu's waists. "Look... my cultivation is the highest in our team, so there shouldn't be a problem with me serving as captain for the time being, right? Why don't you hand all the ears over to me, and I'll register them for everyone?"
Dongfang Yueming's brow furrowed almost imperceptibly. Hand his spoils over to someone else? And to Zhou Tong, whose intentions were clearly crooked? He didn't believe the man would honestly divide them fairly.
He shook his head, his voice calm but leaving no room for argument. "No need. I'll register them myself."
The smile froze on Zhou Tong's face, which instantly turned ugly! He hadn't expected this brat to dare make him lose face in public!
"Brother Dongfang, what do you mean by that?" Zhou Tong's voice grew deeper, carrying a hint of menace. "Don't tell me you don't trust me?"
"That's right, we don't trust you!" Before Dongfang Yueming could speak, Hongxiu beat him to it. She looped her arm through his with a coquettish laugh and said bluntly, "Brother Zhou, let's speak plainly. Who can't see through that little scheme of yours? Young Brother Dongfang is strong, and he just saved me. In my opinion, he's the best choice for captain!"
She turned to the brothers Tie Shan and Tie Zhu, who had just walked over, and asked with a smile, "Brother Tie Shan, Brother Tie Zhu, don't you agree?"
The sudden turn of events left Tie Shan and Tie Zhu at a loss. On one side was Zhou Tong of the Bone Forging Realm; on the other was Dongfang Yueming, whose strength was unfathomable and who had Hongxiu's support. The two of them were only at lesser flesh refining and couldn't afford to offend either side! All they could do was scratch their heads with guileless expressions, too tongue-tied to speak.
Seeing Hongxiu openly undermine him and Tie Shan and Tie Zhu too afraid to support him, Zhou Tong turned red and pale by turns, his expression ugly in the extreme! His resentment toward Dongfang Yueming and Hongxiu grew wildly in his heart like poisonous weeds!
But he knew confronting them head-on would do him no good now, especially after witnessing Dongfang Yueming's terrifying saber techniques and movement skills.
Zhou Tong took a deep breath and forced out a smile uglier than a grimace. "Heh heh... since Sister Hongxiu puts it that way, then... let Brother Dongfang be captain! I have no objections! Whoever's strongest should be captain. That's only right!"
That was what he said, but in his heart, he cursed viciously, Fine! You can have it! Once we reach the frontier, there'll be plenty of chances to kill you!
Naturally, Dongfang Yueming wasn't fooled by Zhou Tong's clumsy act, but he couldn't be bothered to take issue with him. He nodded, accepting the position of "captain."
He then motioned for Hongxiu, Tie Shan, and Tie Zhu to hand over the left ears of the Mortal Beasts they had each collected. Hongxiu handed him her pouch without hesitation, and Tie Shan and Tie Zhu obediently handed over their meager spoils as well.
Dongfang Yueming gathered all the ears into a slightly larger pouch, then walked straight to the makeshift military merit registration point.
A long line had already formed in front of the registration point, where a number of team captains were handing bags of bloody ears to the gray-clad staff in charge of counting them.
Seeing how young Dongfang Yueming was and that his aura seemed to indicate he was only in the Flesh Refining Realm, many of the martial artists waiting around him looked at him with scorn and disdain.
"Tch, someone in the Flesh Refining Realm thinks he's fit to be captain? Is there no one else in his team?"
"He probably got lucky as hell, or maybe he has some backing."
"With strength like that, he's destined to be cannon fodder once he reaches the frontier."
The low murmurs reached Dongfang Yueming's ears, but he turned a deaf ear and waited in line with a calm expression.
Finally, it was Dongfang Yueming's turn.
He handed over the heavy pouch.
The gray-clad registrar took it expressionlessly, emptied the ears onto the table, and began counting them quickly.
"Left ears of Low-Level Mortal Beasts... ninety-six."
"Left ear of an Intermediate-Level Mortal Beast... one."
When the Blue-Scaled Leopard's left ear appeared, noticeably larger than the others and still bearing fragments of blue scales, the registrar paused briefly and looked up at Dongfang Yueming.
The martial artists nearby, who had been whispering among themselves, also noticed the ear of the Intermediate-Level Mortal Beast, and their murmurs immediately grew much quieter.
Intermediate-Level Mortal Beasts were not so easy to deal with. Even a Bone Forging Realm martial artist would have to put in considerable effort to kill one alone. Yet this unremarkable-looking young captain had managed to obtain an Intermediate-Level Mortal Beast's ear?
The way everyone looked at Dongfang Yueming finally underwent a subtle change. There was far less disdain, replaced by a measure of scrutiny and surprise.
The registrar swiftly finished recording the results and handed Dongfang Yueming a metal token engraved with the number "99."
"99 military merit points. The team's total has been entered into your terminals. Divide it among yourselves," the gray-clad staff member said succinctly.
Dongfang Yueming took the metal token, turned, and headed back.
When he returned to the place where the temporary team had gathered, Zhou Tong, Hongxiu, Tie Shan, and Tie Zhu were all watching him expectantly.
Dongfang Yueming wasted no words and went straight to distributing the military merit. He divided it relatively fairly according to the number of ears each person had handed over earlier.
"Mine, 34 points." He entered the number "34" into his own terminal. This included most of the credit for killing the Blue-Scaled Leopard, as well as credit for killing the largest number of Low-Level Mortal Beasts.
"Hongxiu, 20 points." He looked at Hongxiu.
Hongxiu accepted her share of the military merit, her smile blooming like a flower. "Thank you, Captain Dongfang~"
"Zhou Tong, 19 points." Dongfang Yueming looked at Zhou Tong.
Zhou Tong's expression turned somewhat ugly, but he accepted the distribution without protest. After all, he knew perfectly well that he had killed fewer Mortal Beasts than Hongxiu, let alone Dongfang Yueming.
"Tie Shan, 13 points."
"Tie Zhu, 13 points."
"Thank you, Captain!" The brothers Tie Shan and Tie Zhu accepted their military merit, their faces brimming with simple joy. Tie Zhu was especially excited. "Great! With a bit more effort, we can save up 100 military merit points and exchange them for a basic bone tempering cultivation method at the quartermaster's office!"
Their greatest goal in coming to the Beast Defense Frontier was to break through to the Bone Forging Realm!
Hearing this, Zhou Tong, who stood nearby, gave a derisive snort and said sarcastically, "Heh, a bone tempering cultivation method? Even if you get your hands on one, do you think breaking through to the Bone Forging Realm is that easy?"