145: Chapter 145 Oath-taking Ceremony and Command of Generals: Life and Death in Their Hands (3)

He stood before two thousand seven hundred people—these were the same people who yesterday had squatted in the mud, smashing moldy Spirit Rice cakes with stones, and squatting by the water trough to drink water covered in scum.

Today, they were his soldiers.

"The first batch of military supplies from Blue Moon Island has arrived at the fortress Logistics Department."

Lu Changyuan pulled his hand from his sleeve—in it was a bamboo slip.

The seal of the Logistics Supervision Department was stamped on the envelope of the bamboo slip—the blue ink of the seal was not yet completely dry.

"purification liquid—one hundred and twenty bottles.

The purity is a cut above the military standard.

Spirit Rice—two thousand shi.

It has already been stored in the Logistics Department warehouse.

Military-standard armor plates—eighty sets.

The Array Patterns on each set of armor were drawn by Blue Moon Island's own Formation Master—the wear rate is ten percent lower than standard military armor."

Among the two thousand seven hundred people on the drill ground, some heads lifted.

They lifted from the mud—and once lifted, for the first time, their eyes were no longer looking at the ground, but at the person holding the bamboo slip in front of the Generals Review Platform.

They did not know him.

But the words written on the bamboo slip in his hand—every single word represented the grain they would be able to eat and the armor they would be able to wear from this day on.

Xue Mingyuan stood in the ranks.

His bare feet stepped on the hard iron-sand soil—the dry mud on the soles of his feet mixed with the iron sand.

His eyeballs rolled in their sockets—shifting from the ground to Lu Changyuan's face.

Lu Changyuan was not looking at him—his eyes were sweeping across the entire formation of the Sin Battalion.

But Xue Mingyuan's lips moved—without making a sound.

That silent word was a "Thank you"—or perhaps it was a "Lu."

Lu Changyuan closed the bamboo slip.

"Sin Battalion—three military regulations."

"First—from this day on, fighting, gambling, stealing, or disobeying orders within the battalion will be judged by me personally.

The standard for judgment is not in the Military Law Department regulations—it is in my hands."

"Second—from this day on, every soldier's daily training volume will be executed according to the Vanguard Battalion standard.

Those who cannot handle it—stay behind and continue training.

Train until you can handle it."

"Third—from this day on, after the Sin Battalion sets out—no one is allowed to fall behind.

Anyone who falls behind, regardless of their military record—will be rescued.

After being rescued, return to receive punishment."

He placed the bamboo slip down—it flipped over in the morning light, revealing the back stamped with Lu Changyuan's own Spirit Stone seal.

The spiritual light on the Spirit Stone seal flashed in the sunlight—the sea-blue of Blue Moon Island.

"These three rules—did you hear them clearly?"

After a moment of silence, a response erupted from the two thousand seven hundred-man formation.

The response had no words—a dull thud slammed out from thousands of throats simultaneously.

It was like the dull sound of a heavy hammer striking the hard iron-sand soil layer.

The sound spread across the drill ground—by the time it reached the edge of the drill ground, the military flags on the Array Pattern flagpoles were shaken by the sound wave and flipped outward in a full circle.

Lu Changyuan turned around.

He placed the bamboo slip on the iron desk—it lay alongside Vice Commander Han Yi's secret order Jade Slip and Warehouse Chief Cui's confession Jade Slip.

Beside the bamboo slip lay a sword—the sword Commander Tie Zhan had his hand on was still sheathed.

Commander Tie Zhan glanced at him.

That piercing gaze paused on his bamboo slip for a moment—then Commander Tie Zhan raised his hand.

He raised his hand into mid-air—and swung it down.

"Swear the oath—set out."

The Array Pattern flagpoles at the back of the drill ground lit up simultaneously—the spiritual light arrays at the tops of the twenty-four flagpoles were activated at the same moment.

Twenty-four streaks of dark golden spiritual light rose from the tops of the flagpoles toward the sky—rising to about a hundred zhang high where they met, spreading out over the drill ground to form a massive Formation Plate that covered the entire area.

The Array Patterns on the Formation Plate were dense—the direction of every Array Pattern rotated slowly in the sea breeze.

The mobilization order for the hundred-thousand-strong army—spread outward from the center of the Formation Plate, traveling along every Array Pattern to every military flag.

The sound of horns rang out simultaneously from the four corners of the drill ground.

This time, the horn sound was deeper than the flying ship's departure signal, deeper than three beats of war drums—so deep that the iron sand on the drill ground surface jumped simultaneously, rising less than the height of a grain of rice before falling back down.

Lu Changyuan stood in front of the Generals Review Platform.

Behind him was the hundred-thousand-strong army and a dark red military flag slowly rotating under the Formation Plate.

The crossed sea-sword pattern on the military flag was dyed a deep, heavy rust-red in the dark golden light of the spiritual light Formation Plate.

Directly in front of him—in the direction of the horizon—the morning light was spreading across the surface of the sea.

The white foam kicked up by the waves reflected a layer of light like crushed silver in the morning glow.

Below the water's surface, it was darker than above—so dark that nothing could be seen clearly.

But in that deepest layer of darkness—something was moving.

A shadow so vast it could change the direction of the currents was slowly floating up from the extreme depths.

On both sides of the shadow—thousands upon thousands of tiny, half-human, half-fish silhouettes were arranged in some highly regular formation within the underwater currents.

Like an army marching on the seabed.

The direction—toward the sea surface.

After the oath-swearing ceremony dispersed, the mud roads in the Sin Battalion camp were trampled even worse than when they had arrived.

The mobilization order for the hundred-thousand-strong army traveled down from the giant Formation Plate above the drill ground along the Array Patterns—by the time it reached the Sin Battalion, only a faint dark golden afterwave flashed from the top of the flagpole.

The people in the camp walked back from the drill ground, walking on the mud road without anyone speaking.

The three flashes of sword light and the three rolling heads on the drill ground just now had sealed everyone's throats.

Lu Changyuan walked at the very back of the Sin Battalion.

Behind him followed Lu Hu—Lu Hu's frame after his Foundation Establishment had completely stabilized, and the depth his feet sank into the mud was half an inch shallower than a few days ago.

Gu He's marrow-replenishing soup had been finished two days ago—now Lu Hu stood one step behind and to the left of the Young Lord, that blade hanging at his waist, the old leather cord on the hilt replaced with a new one.

Commander Cai's tent was in the deepest part of the camp—the sign made of hammered iron plate on the tent flap was still there, and the character "Cai" on the iron plate had a thin layer of salt frost on its edges after being blown by the sea breeze all day.

The tent flap was lifted—inside the tent was still that smell of Spirit Beast bone powder mixed with wormwood smoke.

Commander Cai was squatting on a broken wooden crate, his pipe resting on his knees, the bowl of the pipe unlit.

"Sit."

Commander Cai pointed his pipe at an old, upside-down wooden crate opposite him.

On the wooden crate was a piece of coarse cloth folded in two—the surface of the cloth was washed to a pale white, with stitched mending along the edges.

Lu Changyuan sat down.

Lu Hu stood inside the tent flap—his hand not on his sword hilt, but his position perfectly blocked the line of sight from the gap in the tent flap.

"Commander Cai—how many people in the battalion can you command right now?"