Chapter 55 (2/2)

The soldiers smiled embarra.s.sedly. Apart from Jin Tao and the two archers, the rest looked regretful.

Ou Yangming suddenly asked out of curiosity, “Squad Leader Yan, what’s a half-spirit beast? Is it worth risking your life for it?”

“Master Ou, half-spirit beasts are actually mutated species of ferocious beasts in the forest. They’re more inferior to the legendary spirit beasts, but they’re powerful enough that it’s difficult for normal people to fight them. Even if the general gets involved, help from the military is needed to subdue and to kill them.” Yan Haobo smiled then changed his tone as he added, “But if we really succeed, it’ll be considered an extremely meritorious service!”

Ou Yangming knew how big the merit would be by just looking at the l.u.s.ter in Yan Haobo’s eyes.

Merits were very useful in the military in many ways, especially in exchanging pieces of equipment and medicine. Without enough merits, some things could not be acquired even if one had plenty of silver.

Although Ou Yangming did not require any equipment, he understood the importance of merits.

He only had the chance to come into contact with the Military Fire because of the merits acc.u.mulated by Old Craftsman for over more than a decade.

Ou Yangming pondered for a while before he asked, “Squad Leader Yan, how about you bring me along?”

“Master Ou, this is not a joke, our lives are at stake if we join them.” Yan Haobo’s face changed. He simply meant that it was too dangerous and that it was not a place for Ou Yangming.

Ou Yangming furrowed his eyebrows a little. He knew that he could not get Yan Haobo’s approval if he did not show some real stuff, let alone getting Captain Yu’s consent.

Subsequently, he retrieved his dagger. “Squad Leader Yan, what do you think about this dagger?”

Yan Haobo praised it after taking a few looks at it. “It’s a sharp dagger, and I believe that it’s a High Grade?”

The others were envious and they looked at the dagger with greedy eyes. It was a High Grade weapon, so even though it was just a dagger, they wanted it very badly.

Nonetheless, Ou Yangming only smiled. He took the dagger back, then threw it at a big tree as far away as hard as he could.

Yan Haobo and the others were confused as they did not know what he was doing. When the dagger finally hit the tree, an explosion was heard, and countless iron shards shot into the tree like a fall of rain.

While the areas around the tree were slightly affected, the effect mainly took place in one direction.

The faces of Yan Haobo and his men changed as they were dumbfounded. They wondered at the same time what would happen to them if the dagger exploded on them. In fact, Yan Haobo’s heart palpitated as well because he figured that he would have been a b.l.o.o.d.y corpse if that happened to him.

“Wh-what is this…” Yan Haobo mumbled.

“This is a new smithing skill that I learned, which allows weapons to explode when they’re thrown at enemies.” Ou Yangming shrugged, then looked at the two archers. “Since Captain Yu asked for archers, I’m sure arrows like that will be useful?”

Yan Haobo and the others were instantly interested.

After seeing the dagger’s explosive skill, there was a 180-degree turn in their att.i.tude.

If the explosive ability was transferred to an arrow… The image was too emotional for them, thus they dared not think about it anymore.

“Okay, Master Ou, please come with us!” Yan Haobo made his decision.

He was extremely glad at that moment because he made the right choice in bringing Master Ou to the forest.

Everyone dug a big hole in the ground to put their quarries inside. Following that, Yan Haobo brought Jin Tao, two archers, and Ou Yangming away. As for the rest, they took care of the injured ones and guarded their quarries.

Forget about long-range archers, but those who were going to fight the half-spirit beast at a close range must have the cultivation base of at least Yin Grade Cla.s.s Two, or one would only be a burden.

Needless to say, a blacksmith like Ou Yangming was in another category.

Before long, they met Zhuang Juncai who was not surprised by Yan Haobo’s decision at all, or he would not have stayed to wait.

With that, they advanced two hundred meters forward together until they saw a group of people sitting or standing around. There were at least twenty people there including the ones who were keeping watch nearby, as well as the lost men. There were at least three groups of men from the South Camp who entered the dense forest.

A tall man with muscular arms who was in the middle looked over.

His eyes were as sharp as lightning, which showed that he was a highly capable person.

“You’re Squad Leader Yan from the West Camp, right?” Yu Hailiang smiled, then pointed at the man beside him. “This is Squad Leader Jiang Chengwei from the Middle Camp. Hehe, three camps have to work together this time to kill the half-spirit beast.”

Yan Haobo and Jiang Chengwei greeted each other. Jiang Chengwei was the Middle Camp’s squad leader, and his status was slightly above Yan Haobo’s.

Jiang Chengwei frowned when he glanced at Ou Yangming. “Squad Leader Yan, we’re here to kill a half-spirit beast, which is extremely dangerous. This is not a sightseeing tour, so it’s best for those who aren’t capable to return.”

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