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"What? You also want to infiltrate for an investigation?"

Wu You looked at the two Centurions who had been following him for four or five years, his expression somewhat inexplicable.

Di Yun and Old Li were also startled. What did he mean by... also?

Seeing the dumbfounded expressions of the two men, Wu You said with a dark face, "Old Jin came by just now, proposing the same idea as you guys. If it weren’t for your silly looks, I would have thought you’d coordinated this together."

Di Yun: "...."

Old Jin, Jin Dazhong, a Centurion with even more seniority than them, was said to have followed Wu You for fifteen years, one of the few Centurions who managed to stay. And he thought the same as them?

Wu You looked at the two men, his heart filled with complex emotions.

People’s hearts... have scattered...

He had considered the possibility of this situation arising but never imagined it would come so quickly.

"General, we were just making a suggestion.

.." Old Li finally couldn’t hold back anymore, saying guiltily, "We just thought that trying to gather intelligence from the outside is not yielding much, so it might be better to infiltrate... If the General thinks it’s inappropriate, then consider we never said anything. .."

Hearing this, Di Yun gave Old Li a fierce glare. What a coward!

"Go ahead..."

"Huh?" The two were startled and incredulously looked up.

Wu You sighed and said, "The two of you have been with me in the north for nearly eight years, right?"

"Yes..." The two men quickly saluted, "We have been under the General’s command since we enlisted, and we are grateful for the General’s care over the years."

"There’s no need to mention care..." Wu You waved his hand, "Bringing you to Jiangnan to join the Black Dragon Guard was meant to find a place for you to retire. After all, you’ve worked hard over the years, and the conditions in Jiangnan are good, there’s less danger, and it’s more suitable for settling down.

That was all I could offer you back then. "

The two men lowered their heads, their feelings suddenly complex.

Honestly, General Wu was decent to his men. Following him, the average Centurion would have a relatively good place to end up, not as harsh as other generals.

But... as the other party said, that was all there was...

To ascend further was impossible. Now, none of the generals in Great Jin could offer a better future to anyone outside of those with special bloodlines.

"Go ahead..." Wu You waved his hand again, "Don’t disgrace me by being outdone by those farmers and hunters!"

At his words, the two looked at each other, then knelt and kowtowed, "Thank you, General. We will never forget your kindness!"

After the two men left, the massive figure of Hong Lie appeared at the doorway, looking puzzled at Wu You, "You’re just letting them go like that?

They are Centurions. If they take the lead in signing up for the Tiger Guard Army, what if other members of the Black Dragon Guard follow their example? "

"Then let them all go!" Wu You said coldly, "I want to see just how much the Magistrate of Lyuzhou can handle!"

Hong Lie was taken aback but then understood Wu You’s intention.

The families with special bloodlines also raised private armies, and they were all too aware that although bloodline soldiers were formidable, they consumed dozens of times more resources than ordinary people.

The so-called followers of divinities in Lyuzhou seemed peculiar to him, but he believed that the universal principle held true: even with any powers of blessing, they couldn’t be obtained out of thin air and must require accumulated resources.

Clearly, a Magistrate of Lyuzhou should not have the resources to recruit thousands of soldiers, let alone ones similar to the transcendent soldiers of bloodline families.

"You want to see where Lyuzhou’s limit lies?" Hong Lie asked.

"Yes!" Wu You nodded, "Lyuzhou already has several thousand soldiers with abnormal abilities, and if they keep expanding their recruitment, we’ll see their limits.

Letting Di Yun and the others join in will squeeze the resources of the original soldiers.

Once the size increases, flaws will inevitably appear. "

"And if he can handle it?"

"Impossible?" Wu You shook his head, "His power must have a limit!"

-------------------------------------------

"Oh?"

Chen Qing, who had successfully crossed the divide on the Yangtze River, looked at the spiritual message sent by Wei Gongcheng and was momentarily surprised.

The Black Dragon Guard as a whole participating in the Tiger Guard Army?

This new appointee from the Imperial Court really has gall.

As soon as Chen Qing received the message, he knew what the other party was aiming for.

He wants to see my limit?

For an NPC without information, that’s a pretty accurate judgment...

Indeed, Lyuzhou... does have its limits.

The other party guessed correctly, neither the fighting gods nor the Gate Deity can expand their ranks infinitely, and the power of the blessings is indeed limited...

Currently, Xu Hu can summon at most seven thousand warriors, while Door God Old Wolf has just entered the Yellow Rank Eighth Grade, with the ability to summon three thousand gatekeeper soldiers. This... is the limit, and the Blessing Force they can confer is actually quite limited.

That thing, it’s like the daily funds allocated by the finance department above, but that’s all there is. How to allocate these funds is the prerogative and responsibility of each deity.

If everyone is given the same amount, then it’s likely that the progress will be mediocre.

Just like Old Wolf before, after such a long time, there are only two second-level gatekeeper soldiers, and those are the ones with decent aptitude and enough effort.

On the other hand, Xu Hu’s approach is very scientific.

By using competitions, battle achievements, and other methods to selectively bestow blessings, in just a few months, there are already dozens of second-level fighters, progress that has satisfied Chen Qing.

A second-level fighter, in the standard of a warrior, is already considered as a ninth-rank warrior, and they can also venture away from the gods without being affected, taking on missions solo.

Once there are third-level, fourth-level, or even higher-level fighters later on, they could even transmit a portion of their power to the surrounding ordinary people, which would be a decisive force for taking over Jiangnan later!

Chen Qing doesn’t fear large numbers of people. Shintoism differs from common mortal ways, as the resources of Shintoism are people; the more people there are, the more resources they have. This is something Wu You, a native, could never imagine.

"Daddy, look ahead..." Ghost Doll pointed at the river in front, and Chen Qing looked over, his eyes lighting up. That was a large group of moving corpses, with a few advanced types that looked like flowing black liquid atop the horde.

"That guy seems to be quite sincere," Ghost Doll murmured softly.

Sincere?

Chen Qing let out a cold smile but didn’t say much more.

From the looks of it... indeed, it seems sincere.

The next second, a folding mirror-image appeared in front of them, causing all the moving corpses to become incredibly agitated.

They roared as if to outdo each other, and those pitch-black moving corpses gave Chen Qing and Ghost Doll a cold glance before deliberately swimming to the front, parting the masses like a reversed magnet, creating a path.

"Into the water!" Chen Qing looked back at the boat, where there were about thirty people, predominantly from Xu Hu’s Tiger Guard Army, almost all of them being the cultivated second-level fighters and the two unique second-level gatekeeper soldiers.

Dozens of robust men stripped off their clothes, revealing their sleek and solid muscles. Blessed with Divine Power, each one was full of vigor and perfectly combined magic and martial skills.

But if you looked closely, you would notice that the muscles of each body were trembling uncontrollably, indicating a tremendous psychological pressure to swim into the approaching dense group of moving corpses...

In fact, Chen Qing was also nervous inside, but he had no choice. He had to lead the way in this critical moment.

The current situation could not be delayed.

According to the information from the guy behind Weichi Feihong, the trap that lured Old Ancestor Shen was set by four of them.

However... there was a traitor among them, whose identity is still unknown; thus, it’s not clear which ones escaped. She wasn’t entirely sure either!

The only confirmation was that Chen Qing’s guess was right; some of those nine Original Worms had indeed escaped and possessed bodies from the Shen Family’s heads.

Time would be extremely limited because, according to calculations, those worms that got out had been occupying bodies for many years already.

The worms that occupied the bodies of several members of the Shen Family had been laying dormant for years, fearing detection by the Nine Heavens Mirror. The remaining worms in the mirror valley were not content to watch their brethren develop in secret.

But they were helpless until three months ago when the head of the Shen Family’s main branch appeared in the West Sea and deliberately entered the Nine Heavens Mirror Valley, luring them all out at once.

The Array was reactivated. Amid mutual calculations, she knew only that two of her kin had been plotted against and killed, specifically Old Four and Old Five, while the one who possessed the body of the Shen Family’s eldest had almost reached the point of transformation.

This incident was very likely initiated independently by the one who possessed the elder’s body. As for the remaining few, she didn’t know the exact situation.

So she was in a rush, eager to merge with Shen Family’s Old Three as soon as possible but had been afraid to do so without information, as acting rashly could lead to the same fate as the previously deceased Old Four and Old Liu.

Under this background, she took the initiative to subdue Weichi Feihong!

After learning this information, Chen Qing reached an agreement with her.

She would help Chen Qing invade Jiangnan, except for Nanming Prefecture and Nanyang City, covering the remaining four states.

However, the precondition is that Chen Qing must try to eradicate the moving corpse forms associated with the other Original Worms, while sparing her subordinates as much as possible and providing a certain area and space for them to grow and strengthen.

When necessary, assist her subordinates in devouring a sufficient number of high-level corpse types from other powers!

Secondly, provide as much information about the Shen Family as possible, aiding in identifying those possessed by the worms and helping her scheme for Old Three’s body in the Shen Family!

Of course, in return, she could offer a safe passage for his soldiers traveling to other states and actively cooperate in suppressing the forces of the other Original Worms.

Splash!

As Ghost Doll and Chen Qing dived in first, the rest of the fighters looked at each other and hesitated no longer, following Chen Qing’s lead and jumping into the water.

It has to be said that soldiers with Shinto beliefs exhibited strong obedience; if they were ordinary human race soldiers, it would be difficult to train such fearless warriors willing to face death in just a few months.

As Chen Qing and the soldiers entered the water, the moving corpses below boiled with excitement, looking at Chen Qing and his people as if they were hunks of fat meat, barely able to restrain themselves from charging over.

Yet under the pressure of those few black corpses, they dared not make a move.

Chen Qing glanced at them; these few black moving corpses were almost at a ninth-level standard, which, in human terms, equated to the power of a Super First Rank warrior!

They might be the favored subordinates of that guy in the shell...

The sincerity of the other party was quite substantial, but he couldn’t relax.

When designing the nine Original Worms, he was responsible for their abilities, but he also had input on their personalities.

He distinctly remembered that the Seventh Ancient Worm first possessed a princess of the West Sea country, which is the woman in the shell now.

She was a sinister person who sought immortality and sacrificed her parents, family, including nine million living people of the entire nation!