64: Chapter 64 Returning to the Island for Inspection: Strong and Well-equipped Troops

The first thing that caught the eye was not the city walls of Blue Moon Island.

It was a stretch of sea surface churned up by lightning and blood.

Just as the merchant fleet rounded the outer reef, the shallow sea ahead exploded with a roar. Three sea beasts, their bodies wreathed in black Qi, were crashing against the outer perimeter defense array. Their shells were cracked, and foul, black blood seeped continuously from the gaps in their scales. They didn't know pain like ordinary sea beasts, nor did they know how to retreat; they just kept slamming into the array wall, strike after strike.

With every strike, the Array Pattern of the Shallow Water Formation flared bright.

The city walls were not in chaos.

The Outer Port was not in chaos either.

Lu Changyuan stood at the bow of the ship, watching those few semi-demonized sea beasts being blocked outside the warning line by the array light, and instead of ordering to dock immediately, he held back.

Lu Hu had already placed a hand on his sword hilt: "My Lord, do you want me to take some men and charge a round?"

"No need."

Lu Changyuan looked toward the other side of the sea: "Someone is coming."

The moment he finished speaking, the low neighing of seahorses emerged from behind the reef line.

Fifty riders of the Sword Ray Cavalry cut out from behind the wave wall.

The Purple Lightning Seahorses beneath them were no longer the violent, untamable creatures they had been at the start. Thin fins sprouted from the sides of their bodies like blades, with tiny sparks of electricity trailing along the edges. The riders were clad in Cold Iron light armor, with Geng Metal sword patterns faintly visible on the surface. The fifty riders formed a diagonal wedge formation, treading the waves. Their speed was not blindingly fast, yet they were as orderly as a long sword being drawn from the sea.

Leading them was Leng Feng.

He did not shout orders.

He simply raised his sword and pressed it forward.

The fifty riders turned in unison.

A white line was cut across the sea surface.

The first semi-demonized sea beast had just turned back from the array wall when it was sliced by this white line across its flank. The Geng Metal Sword Qi was not the sword of a single person, but a wave of sharpness pressed out after the fifty riders' Qi connected into one. That sea beast, as tall as a small building, only had time to let out half a roar before its thick armor beneath its belly was sliced open by rows of Sword Qi, and foul black blood mixed with shredded flesh sprayed across the sea.

The second one tried to pounce.

The seahorse beneath Leng Feng tilted, and the entire cavalry unit swept past along the base of the waves following him.

Lightning paralyzed half of its body first.

Following that, over thirty streams of Sword Qi struck through the same wound, forcibly snapping the sea beast's spine.

The third one was the fiercest; it actually braved the array light and blood to charge toward the merchant fleet. The newly recruited laborers on the cargo ships behind immediately became agitated; some whispered, some hugged the ship's railing and trembled.

Lu Changyuan did not look back.

He only watched Leng Feng.

Leng Feng did not disappoint him.

The fifty riders spread out laterally on the shallow sea, their formation like a net. The instant the sea beast charged into the mouth of the net, the left and right wings tightened simultaneously. Sword light, lightning, the thin fins of the seahorses, and the tips of Cold Iron spears intersected and cut down. In just a few breaths, they dismantled the massive body into a dozen pieces.

By the time the bloody waves washed up in front of the merchant fleet, only a faint, fishy stench remained.

Leng Feng did not recall the unit immediately.

Instead, he had the fifty riders reform their formation on the surface of the sea amidst the scattered corpses and ran a full circle around the outer edge of the Shallow Water Formation. The cavalry did not draw their swords again, only using the electricity brought up by the seahorses' thin fins to sweep over the remaining foul blood. Those wisps of black Qi that hadn't dissipated, just as they were about to cling to the sea surface Array Pattern, were forced into sizzling noises by the electric light, finally shattering into several strands of gray smoke.

This was not simply killing the enemy.

It was practicing clearing the field.

Lu Changyuan saw it clearly.

Leng Feng had already started using the Sword Ray Cavalry as part of the outer defense line of Blue Moon Island, rather than just as a flashy shock cavalry. Being able to kill was the first layer. Whether they could suppress the foul blood, clear away residual Qi, and prevent the array footing from being further eroded after the kill—that was the deadly part when the demon tide truly arrived.

Lu Hu grinned.

"It's only been a few months, and that kid Leng Feng has already trained this cavalry unit to have some real flavor."

Lu Changyuan nodded.

"Not yet mature."

"But it's enough for now."

This was said calmly.

But the new residents from Black Reef Island following behind heard another layer of meaning.

On Black Reef Island, they had seen too many Loose Cultivators kneeling and begging for survival for a mouthful of food, a boat, or a few Spirit Stones. Yet this island before them, facing the semi-demonized sea beasts that had made them pale with fear on the road, didn't even require the Lord himself to take action.

Just a single cavalry unit had shredded the crest of the tide.

When the fleet docked, a long reception line had already been set up at the Outer Port.

Su Qingli stood on the high platform of the Pier, with three account books spread out before her. Seeing Lu Changyuan disembark, she bowed first, then immediately cast her gaze toward the cargo ships behind.

"Divide the people into three groups."

"Spirit farmers and Mortals go to the new shed area on the west side. Isolate them for three days first to verify their identities, contracts, and re-register them."

"Miners are not to go down to the mines directly; hand them over to Shi Jian to screen their physical strength and old injuries first."

"Shipwrights, rough-embryo array masters, and Loose Cultivators who know how to repair instruments will be added to the Workshop's secondary register tonight, but do not touch the core blueprints."

She spoke quickly.

The managers on the Pier also moved quickly.

Cargo ships were unloaded one by one, and crates of anti-demon supplies were escorted separately into the Inner Harbor warehouse. purification powder, evil-warding sand, old lightning-patterned talisman paper, lightning-struck wood, and heart-cleansing pills—each category was verified and sealed by different managers, not mixed with ordinary cargo.

Lu Changyuan walked along the Pier, and a bit more satisfaction finally appeared in his eyes.

This was the Blue Moon Island he wanted to see before leaving the island.

Not a frontier island that relied on a single victory to boost its Aura.

But a machine that could continue to operate according to the rules even when its backbone was away.

After nightfall, the council hall of the Lords Mansion was brightly lit.

Leng Feng, Lu Hu, Su Qingli, Shi Jian, and several managers from the Workshop, mining administration, and census records gathered together. On the table were not wine and food, but volumes of war preparation accounts.

Su Qingli reported on the city defense first.

"The outer Shallow Water Formation has been patched twice. The three array footings cracked by the beast tide have all been replaced with star sand to stabilize the foundation."

"Of the fifty mystic ice spirit-breaking crossbows, the twelve most severely damaged have been dismantled for reassembly; the remaining thirty-eight can fire immediately. The newly manufactured crossbow arms are still missing a batch of Cold Iron locks, which can be replenished within three days."

"The Forbidden Great Array has been nurtured to seventy percent capacity. It cannot be forced open for too long like last time, but it can suppress the field for a short time."

After listening, Lu Changyuan only asked one question: "And the people?"

"The old islanders are stable."

Su Qingli opened the second book.

"The five thousand people sent by the Chen family have basically been absorbed into the Workshops, mining lines, water channels, and spirit fields. Of the three thousand one hundred and seventy-two new arrivals, today is just the registration; it will take at least ten days before they can be assigned to work in batches."

She looked up at Lu Changyuan.

"The background of this batch of people is mixed, and their hearts are flighty. They must be used, but we cannot swallow them all at once."

Lu Changyuan said: "Give them food first, then rules, and finally a path for advancement."

"Revise a version based on the old precedent of burning contracts and granting fields."

"Anyone who can stabilize their position within three months—no fleeing, no chaos, no theft—will be given temporary civilian status. Those who perform meritorious service can be registered early."

Shi Jian stood up immediately: "This subordinate will go handle it."

He was now at the Foundation Establishment stage, and standing there, he no longer resembled that Mortal youth covered in mud and blood from before. But when he heard the words "registered," his eyes still flickered.

Because he understood best what those two words meant to those at the bottom.

Lu Changyuan did not say much more.

He pressed his hand on the last account book.

"Store anti-demon supplies in a separate warehouse."

"Distribute the Evil-warding Talismans to the city defense and outer patrols. Do not distribute the heart-cleansing pills yet. Hand over the purification powder and evil-warding sand to Su Qingli to test the formations. Send the old lightning-patterned talisman paper to the talisman room to be dismantled for samples. Divide the lightning-struck wood: half to the Workshop, half to the Spirit Plant Garden and array affairs."

Su Qingli turned back to the previous page, her pen tip pausing on the "lightning-struck wood" item.

"The Spirit Plant Garden?"

"Lightning-struck wood is not just wood."

Lu Changyuan said: "There are some things, even dead wood can nurture a path to life."

He pointed to the new resident roster again.

"Among the three thousand one hundred and seventy-two people, for those who have old contracts, put the contracts into the government treasury first; don't be in a rush to burn them."

Several managers in the hall were slightly taken aback.

Lu Changyuan said calmly: "It's not that we won't release them, it's that we cannot let them just get off the boat today and think tomorrow they've just changed places to be sold by someone else. First, let them see food, housing, work points, and the registration rules, then change their contracts in public."

"Graces must be landed in reality."

"Rules must also be landed in reality."

"Otherwise, these three thousand plus people are not a framework, they are tangled hemp."

After listening, Su Qingli turned her pen tip and opened a new page next to the household register.

"Three days of isolation, seven days of work allocation, ten days to publicize the first batch of temporary civilian status quotas."

"Also, list the likes of Ye Zhe separately in an observation register."

Lu Changyuan looked at her.

"He doesn't count as a sample for this batch of people yet."

"I know," Su Qingli said, "so I will only list him for observation, not set him up as a flag."

Su Qingli looked at him for a moment, words still unsaid.

But before she could speak, a Spirit Plant Garden manager hurried over from outside the door, his expression very strange.

"My Lord, Chief Steward Su."

"Something happened with the batch of lightning-struck wood that was just sent to the Spirit Plant Garden."

Lu Changyuan raised his eyes.

The manager swallowed.

"That Ye Zhe you brought back from Black Reef Island, he is refusing to let anyone split one of the bundles of scrap wood."

"He says... that is not dead wood."