131: Chapter 131 A Generous Reward for the Army Wins the Commander's Hearts (2)

Wei Chuan—his wife stood in the crowd, holding their child. The child, not even two years old, was strapped to her back with an old cloth carrier. When Wei Chuan took the bag of Spirit Stones, his wife said nothing—she merely tightened the child's carrier.

"Wei Chuan—move your family to the Inner Harbor. Once the child turns two—the Blue Moon Island public treasury will allocate five Spirit Stones to the child every month until he turns sixteen."

Wei Chuan's wife's lips moved—but no words came out. An old miner nearby spoke for her: "Five Spirit Stones—are enough to buy a year's worth of spirit rice."

Lu Changyuan finished distributing the last seven bags of Spirit Stones. Then, he took a jade seal from his sleeve.

The jade seal was not large—about a thumb's width thicker than a thumb. The seal body was made of deep-blue sea-patterned stone, and the face of the seal was carved with a sword and a sea—the sword tip pointed downwards, plunged into the sea surface, and the sea patterns on the sword body connected seamlessly with those on the seal body. The Grand Commander of Blue Moon Seal. Su Qingli had carved it last night—using a wisp of Geng Metal Sword Intent lent to her by Luo Qingcheng, she had carved the seal face all night long. The sound of the Geng Metal Sword Intent cutting through the sea-patterned stone was very faint—like an ice blade writing on stone.

He held the jade seal up in front of Leng Feng.

"Leng Feng—what you did underwater yesterday was not just leading ten people. Forming the array—descending in a shuttle shape, observing in a ring, and returning in a shuttle shape. Controlling the advance—from seven hundred zhang to two thousand five hundred zhang, you controlled the speed of travel at every stage. Judging the gap between the enemy and us—you didn't touch the altar when it was right in front of you, not because you were afraid, but because you knew touching it would get people killed. Retreating—you let the entire team retreat first, and you were the last to leave. You tore up the Bone-Repelling Paste for the wounded—and now there is no repellent scent left on you. Every decision you made underwater—was that of someone leading an army."

Everyone on the Pier went quiet. Leng Feng stood on the wooden bridge, still wearing the old cloth shirt that Gu He had draped over him when changing his dressings last night—his heavy black iron armor was still being polished, and he hadn't had time to put it on. The linen wrapping on his left wrist was a bit tight—the wound was still oozing faint traces of blood. His eyes turned red.

"I am giving you three things today. First—the Grand Commander of Blue Moon Seal. From today on, all military affairs of Blue Moon Island are under your command. The cavalry, Dao soldiers, perimeter guard teams, and Pier garrison—all are under your control. Second—you and these ten people are promoted to the Personal Guard. You will not be part of the cavalry battalion—you will report directly to me. Third—starting tomorrow, you will go to Qixia Peak for two hours every day. Fairy Luo will teach you military battle formations."

Leng Feng knelt on one knee. His movement was not fast—his left leg touched the ground first, followed by his right. He pressed his right hand against his left chest—the veins on the back of his hand twitched in the morning light. He opened his mouth—but no words came out.

"No need to speak. Your eyes are red—that is enough." Lu Changyuan placed the jade seal in Leng Feng's palm. "What I am giving you is not just a job, but a position. This position is not something you traded an arm for—it is something you proved you deserved while underwater."

Luo Qingcheng's voice drifted down from Qixia Peak—she had brewed tea this morning. The fragrance of tea drifted down from the peak, mingling with the morning mist on the Pier.

"Bring the Jade Slip when you come in the morning—last night I embedded a battle formation simulation array into the third phase of the Killing Array. It's not to teach him to memorize books—it's to have him use his Divine Sense to simulate formation changes within the earth veins. If he gets it wrong, the earth veins will shake—every time it shakes, he will remember it. He will remember it until he stops making mistakes."

Leng Feng looked up—glancing in the direction of Qixia Peak. The sword light on the stone platform at the peak flickered in the morning mist—Luo Qingcheng's sword had not been unsheathed, but her Sword Intent had already traveled down along the earth veins. Last night, the first section of the third phase of the Killing Array had been connected—the Spirit Stone slots on the eastern branch of Qixia Peak had been filled up to above the waist of the peak. Deep within the earth veins, the transmission speed of the Geng Metal Sword Intent was a full two times faster than the previous two phases—the earth veins had already been tempered by the array veins of the first two phases.

Someone in the crowd watching by the Pier pushed forward. It was an old miner from the third row of the eastern shed area—his hair was completely white, and his back was slightly hunched. He clutched an old cloth hat in his hand—he had been squeezing the hat for quite a while, loosening the threads on the brim. He looked at the cavalrymen lined up on the Pier, then looked at the now-empty Spirit Stone bag in Lu Changyuan's hand—and then took two steps forward.

"Young Lord—my boy is fifteen this year. He can't fly on a sword, but he has decent strength. He wants to be a soldier—I don't know if he qualifies."

Lu Changyuan turned his head to look at him.

"Bring him here—let him sign up himself. Whether he qualifies is not for me to decide—it is for Leng Feng to decide."

"The Grand Commander of Blue Moon decides." The old man repeated this sentence. He put his old cloth hat back on his head—it was crooked, and he didn't straighten it. As he turned to walk away, his steps were faster than when he arrived—that kind of brisk pace of an old man, with his heels lifting half an inch higher off the ground than when walking. He was going home to call his son.

Su Qingli was behind the small table in the receiving shed, recording today's Spirit Stone expenditures in the ledger. She wrote a line in the expenditure column: 'Abyss Exploration Reward—1,100 Spirit Stones (100 for each of the ten cavalrymen + 5 Spirit Stones per month for Wei Chuan's son until age sixteen). Public Treasury.' After writing, she added a smaller line next to it: 'Public Treasury Balance—less than 1,000 Spirit Stones.'

She flipped the ledger back a page—to the monthly settlement page. Monthly income was approximately 11,850 Spirit Stones (8,250 from military long-term contracts + 3,600 from the first month of civilian use), and monthly expenditures were approximately 5,800 Spirit Stones—plus the expenditure after doubling wartime allowances, which was about 7,000 Spirit Stones. The monthly surplus should have been 4,850 Spirit Stones. But the conscription order compensation was 3,000—the hole in this month's public treasury would have to wait until the next long-term contract payment and the second batch of civilian advance payments arrived to be filled.

"Can the public treasury hold out until the next payment?"

"Yes—but it will be tight. The military long-term contract payment of 8,250 is due on the fifth of next month—no problem holding out until then. The second batch of civilian advance payments won't arrive until the month after next—Manager Song Yuan settles every six months, and the first month's advance payment has already been spent on the conscription order. If there is another conscription order next month—" Su Qingli closed the ledger, "—then forget about it. If it really comes to that, we will have no choice but to sell our stockpiles."

Lu Changyuan looked at the underwater map on the table. Su Qingli had drawn the red circles for the new distribution of Bone Fish schools and the green lines for the rising Black Fish schools on a sea chart—the lower half of the chart marked the locations of the Dragon Burial Trench altars and their patrol patterns. Leng Feng's squad had traded the underwater footprints of eleven people for this map—safe passages, dangerous waters, and unknown altars.

"Three months." He pointed his finger at the upper edge of the red circle for the Bone Fish schools—the red line was moving up, and the green line was also moving up. In three months, the Bone Fish schools would be pushed to the vicinity of the spirit field drainage outlet, and the Black Fish schools would be even earlier—they would reach the Abyss Mouth in three days, and a few days later, they would surge onto the island along the northeast coast fissures.

"Regarding the Black Fish schools surging onto the northeast coast—does Leng Feng have a corresponding defense plan?"

"Yes." Leng Feng had already stood up from the ground. He tied the Grand Commander of Blue Moon Seal to his waist—the blue patterns on the seal shimmered with a faint sea-blue hue in the morning light. His eyes were still a bit red, but his voice had returned to its usual steady, deliberate rhythm, "Black Fish are sensitive to Spiritual Qi—not to blood. The repellent for bloodthirsty Bone Fish is useless against Black Fish. But Black Fish fear the cold—they follow the cold water layers because they can only live in cold zones; once the water temperature exceeds a certain limit, their gills will spasm. The shallowest point of the northeast coast fissure is one hundred zhang—the water temperature at the bottom is about thirty percent lower than at the surface. When the Black Fish schools surge up from the fissure, they will follow the coldest water channels—they will not disperse."