Chapter 43

After capturing Hong Li alive, the cleanup battle proceeded extremely quickly.

There were ten bandits in this residence in total, none escaped; seven were killed on the spot, two were captured alive, and another was heavily wounded but not far from death.

All participating personnel had five minor injuries.

Like Xu Jin and Niu Gui, who had been wounded and vomited blood earlier, they also belonged to minor injuries, but after the Qi circulated, the stinging pain in their chests had lightened a lot, basically not affecting their combat effectiveness.

"Search inside and outside the residence, check for suspicious personnel." Niu Gui issued the order.

Although Xu Jin was a Squad Leader, it was very obvious that Xu Jin was actually a new recruit, and many things were led by Niu Gui, this personal guard.

Niu Gui issued the order, but the specific administrative orders were issued by Xu Jin.

He had Qiao Ruonan find a side room, bring the seven naked women over, and find them clothes.

Others, in groups of two, searched the entire residence.

A group of Jianghu bandits had extremely low vigilance; inside and outside the residence, no suspicious personnel were found.

But very quickly, Qian Qian Xiaohu came to find Xu Jin quietly, his expression both nervous and excited.

In a small side room connected to the back of the main hall, Qian Qian Xiaohu and Song Ye discovered two large boxes.

Even though Song Ye's family background was quite good, seeing these two large boxes, he was quite shocked.

The two boxes were filled with gold, silver, and treasures.

There were jade wares, pearls, a small amount of gold, a large amount of silver, and more than a dozen silver notes.

A rough count was at least five thousand taels, not counting those treasures.

When the Star Patrol Guard goes on a mission, there is a saying about "seizure," but Xu Jin didn't know how to divide it specifically.

Moreover, this amount was quite huge; if it were a few hundred taels, Xu Jin might have made the decision to average it out for everyone and divide it.

But this was several thousand taels.

No matter how it was divided, he couldn't bypass Niu Gui.

After thinking about it, Xu Jin brought Niu Gui over.

"Brother Niu, the brothers found these, what do you think we should do? Are there any precedents?" Xu Jin asked.

Looking at these two large boxes of gold, silver, and treasures, Niu Gui was also slightly surprised and looked carefully. "When the Star Patrol Guard goes on a mission, there are rules: seized property is divided by oneself, and stolen goods can be taken at 20%, which is considered the brothers' hard-earned money.

If brothers die in battle, they can take one or two more percent as a pension," Niu Gui said.

"Brother Niu, then how do we distinguish between seized property and stolen goods?" Xu Jin asked again.

"These treasures are considered stolen goods," Niu Gui pointed to the two large boxes.

"Those searched from the bodies of the thieves are considered seized property," Niu Gui shook the package he was carrying; it was obtained from searching the corpses just now, containing a small amount of silver notes and several bottles of elixirs.

After speaking, Niu Gui pondered for a moment and added, "Of course, the distinction between stolen goods and seized property is sometimes not very clear, but it cannot be too much; after all, stolen goods are to be returned to the victims, if there are victims."

Xu Jin understood a bit.

Seized property can be divided at will, and stolen goods can be divided at 20%; of course, taking a little more is also possible, and superiors will mostly turn a blind eye, after all, they are working with their heads tied to their pants, but it cannot be too much.

"Then continue to execute the mission, and discuss these after the mission is completely executed," Xu Jin said.

"Good."

This arrangement made Niu Gui look at Xu Jin with even more admiration.

Wealth confuses the eyes.

Such a huge amount of wealth was right in front of him, yet Xu Jin was thinking about completing the mission first; this kid would definitely have a great future.

"Brother Niu, your cultivation is the highest, and if there are any accidents, you can keep an eye on Hong Li; for the next mission targets, the highest cultivation base is no more than the fourth layer of the Meal of Mist Realm; I, Ruonan, and Song Ye joining forces will definitely be able to handle it easily," Xu Jin arranged.

"Can do, but absolutely cannot be careless; these people in the Jianghu have many low-down tricks, so don't underestimate them." Niu Gui had no opinion on Xu Jin's arrangement.

In the battle to capture Hong Li alive just now, Xu Jin had contributed a lot, and his killing was even more fierce; his prestige in this small team had soared, and he was about to surpass Niu Gui.

"I understand."

Xu Jin had two handfuls of lime in his arms that he hadn't used yet.

A few minutes later, the group of twelve, under the guidance of the guide arranged by the Spring Rain Division, touched the second mission target, Zhao Zhen, which was also a household, but it was obviously occupied.

There were only six people, and only two had cultivation bases; the one with the highest cultivation base was Zhao Zhen, who should be considered a wandering cultivator, only at the third layer of the Meal of Mist Realm, completely not Xu Jin's opponent.

Although the Star-Condensing Season of the Academy said the range was fifteen to thirty years old, in reality, they didn't accept anyone over twenty.

Many who were determined to condense stars saved money themselves, and then privately found experts to engrave Star Patterns, which cost several hundred taels each time.

Once wasn't enough, then twice, twice wasn't enough, then three times, and even using other methods to assist, it was still possible to succeed in condensing stars, including disciples who failed to condense stars in the Academy.

But for those who barely succeeded in condensing stars, their cultivation speed was also extremely slow.

Many people only improved their cultivation base by one layer of the Meal of Mist Realm in a year or two.

The first to fifth layers of the Meal of Mist Realm are tempering the chest, abdomen, and limbs, the sixth layer is tempering the head, which is the most difficult and slowest, and the seventh layer is the whole body's star light flowing together, and once the cultivation base reaches the peak of the Meal of Mist Realm, one can attempt to forge stars.

This Zhao Zhen was obviously a wandering cultivator.

But among the people, a cultivation base of the third layer of the Meal of Mist Realm was also very remarkable, enough to dominate a small place.

Originally, Xu Jin and the others had captured three alive from Zhao Zhen's group, but after seeing the tragic state of several children in another side room, Xu Jin's face sank, and he slashed one by one, killing them all.

Maiming and dismembering!

Several children, after their limbs were broken, were fixed at strange angles, and their noses were cut off and eyes dug out...

Maiming and dismembering, Xu Jin had seen this in the news in his previous life; at that time, seeing it made him tremble, feeling how there could be such vicious people. But seeing it for real today, Xu Jin only hated that he didn't kill them fast enough, and it was hard to let them have a quick death.

It was simply too inhuman.

After clearing up the harvest, the group continued under the guidance of the Spring Rain Division guide, straight to the third target, Liu San.

The uncle who was eaten out by Liu San was a blacksmith, running a blacksmith shop, and Liu San's group was now entrenched there; at the same time, Liu San was also the one with the highest cultivation base among the remaining mission targets, the fourth layer of the Meal of Mist Realm!

The intelligence said that after Liu San recently got rich, he took a large amount of elixirs and had only recently broken through to the fourth layer of the Meal of Mist Realm.

"Qian Xiaohu, Sha Youtian, you two guard the perimeter; if anyone runs away, execute them immediately!" After experiencing the second target, Zhao Zhen, Xu Jin's killing intent had been completely stimulated.

These were all human scum; killing them was killing them.

Killing them was saving people!

This kind of psychological suggestion of Xu Jin had slowly diluted many of the legal concepts of his previous life.

There were no accidents.

Xu Jin himself had the record of independently killing someone at the fourth layer of the Meal of Mist Realm.

After two consecutive big battles, not only was Xu Jin's practical combat technique improving rapidly, but the practical combat ability of others was also improving rapidly, which could be considered a transition from new recruits to veterans.

Each person had basically killed two on average.

In this battle, Liu San was captured alive, and all others were killed.

However, when searching for seized property, there was a small unexpected discovery.

It was hard to distinguish between wealth and stolen goods; there was over a thousand taels, and several bottles of elixirs, all Star-Replenishing Elixirs; this Liu San was quite ambitious.

What surprised Xu Jin was that the hundreds of catties of refined iron piled up in the blacksmith shop, and a small pile of copper ingots, should be for making copper utensils.

These things happened to be the materials Xu Jin needed for the Practice Arena to ascend tiers.

Xu Jin had inquired long ago that a hundred catties of refined iron cost about twenty taels of silver, and ten catties of purple copper, theoretically, had a value equal to ten taels of silver, but in reality, it would cost about fifteen taels of silver to buy.

Because the starlight hadn't been saved enough, plus the reason for killing Deng Hu earlier, Xu Jin hadn't purchased these things in the county city.

But seeing them at this moment, he had an idea.

Iron ingots and copper ingots were quite heavy and couldn't be transported, so they wouldn't be counted as stolen goods, and the original owner, Liu San's uncle, had already been eaten out by Liu San, leaving no one behind.

These things would likely be confiscated.

Then Xu Jin simply took a part of them himself.

Under normal circumstances, Xu Jin wouldn't be able to carry these hundred catties of refined iron and ten catties of purple copper.

Carrying a hundred catties, how could he execute the mission?

But when Xu Jin was exploring the tier-ascent situation of the Practice Arena earlier, he had made a discovery.

The Practice Arena could directly accommodate the items needed for tier ascent.

It just couldn't exceed the limit; otherwise, it could also be used as a temporary storage platform.

The method to discover this was very simple; among the items needed for the Practice Arena's tier ascent, one catty of silver, which was ten taels of silver, was needed.

Xu Jin had it in his hand.

A few days ago, when he was idle in the dormitory, he tried it.

Xu Jin discovered that as long as he channeled the Practice Arena, the Practice Arena's Qi would move slightly, and it could ingest the prepared tier-ascent items.

What was even more magical was that it could also spit them out.

But it was limited to the tier-ascent limit.

For example, silver.

Currently, one catty of silver, which was ten taels of silver, was needed for tier ascent.

At most, ten taels of silver could be ingested; more wouldn't work.

Under these circumstances, Xu Jin handled this pile of iron ingots and copper ingots very well.

While other team members were searching other places, Xu Jin's palm gently touched the iron ingots, his mind sank into the Practice Arena, channeled the Practice Arena, his mind moved slightly, and in an instant, more than ten pieces of refined iron ingots disappeared.

Doing the same, two pieces of copper ingots also disappeared.

On the Practice Arena, there were also different changes.

Around the Practice Arena, there was already a pile of iron ingots, a small pile of copper ingots, and a small pile of silver.

At the same time, the tier-ascent information on the Practice Arena's jade tablet also had a slight change.

【Can ascend tier: Still need ten wisps of starlight, nine pieces of human-tier star jade tablets, one tael of gold.】

A closer look, and the ingested tier-ascent materials were no longer displayed.

Three things were still missing: starlight, star jade tablets, and gold.

Xu Jin's mind flashed through the wealth in the two boxes after capturing Hong Li alive; there was gold, and there were star jade tablets, but he didn't know how many pieces there were.

He didn't know if this operation could gather the tier-ascent materials for the Practice Arena.

(End of chapter)