The goal of attacking the Secret Realm is not for the Divine Armored Soldiers; their objective is to gather resources from the Secret Realm.
After a simple tally of the battle achievements, the Divine Armored and Divine Arm soldiers quickly withdrew from the Secret Realm, leaving only Zhou Yuan and Military Sima Cai Cheng behind.
Seeing Zhou Yuan's puzzled expression, Military Sima Cai Cheng began to explain.
"To prevent sudden deaths among the soldiers, the camp requires at least two soldiers to remain in the Secret Realm to guard it while waiting for the logistics team to transfer the resources."
"Usually, we leave behind one Divine Arm Warrior and a Secret Realm leader. Today, the reason we left you is because you will be stationed with the Secret Realm team permanently, so you should familiarize yourself with every detail here as soon as possible."
Military Sima Cai Cheng, like an instance NPC, tirelessly introduced the situation within the instance to Zhou Yuan.
In addition to focusing on the positions and attack rhythms of each bandit, he also took Zhou Yuan into the Demon Chieftain's room.
"Zhou Yuan, everyone has greed, and although you are young and vigorous, you might not be immune to it."
"I brought you here to tell you that there are spiritual medicines in the Demon Chieftain's room, but these medicines are limited and have never changed over the years."
"Moreover, all the resources in the Secret Realm are accounted for, and even the slightest discrepancy can be noticed."
"Open the large chest beside the bed and see if there are 10 white porcelain medicine bottles, 5 blue porcelain medicine bottles, and a martial arts manual."
Zhou Yuan could tell that the new leader was teaching him to restrain his desires and not to secretly take things that shouldn't be taken, as any issues would be easily traced.
Faced with such well-intentioned advice, he accepted it and opened the chest beside the bed as instructed.
Sure enough, inside were 10 bottles of Golden Sore Medicine, 5 bottles of Jade Essence Powder, and a martial arts manual titled [Three Talents Stance].
"Just as Military Sima said, not a single thing is missing. I have learned my lesson and will restrain my greed in the future, not taking any items from the Secret Realm."
"As long as you understand. What can be given to you will be distributed by the camp even if you don't ask for it. For example, the powder in the white porcelain bottles is excellent for stopping bleeding and healing wounds. Divine Armored warriors and Divine Arm Warriors injured in the Secret Realm can each receive a bottle."
"The pigs, chickens, and grain in the stronghold will partly end up in your stomachs and partly be converted into money for you."
"Don't be fooled by the desperate efforts of the Divine Armored soldiers in the Secret Realm; it seems extremely dangerous. In reality, they are all quite wealthy, most having bought land and taken wives in Jingan City."
"In this Secret Realm, only those 5 blue porcelain bottles are beyond your reach. They are spiritual items for cultivating energy, a martial artist's spiritual food, seemingly precious but actually of no value to you."
"Let me give you a piece of advice: if you are fortunate enough to obtain spiritual items in the future, never use them yourself. Once you start using them, you can't stop. Without spiritual energy to cultivate, your energy will dissipate, and you'll return to being ordinary, ending up with nothing." The source of this chapter is g.com.
To Zhou Yuan, Jade Essence Powder is just Blue Potion; he can get a few bottles by clearing instances, so it's not particularly precious. But for the locals, items that can restore energy in game instances are their source of transcendence and the spiritual items that maintain their transcendence.
When both the activation and maintenance functions are concentrated in one type of item, the spiritual items from the instance become the foundation of the transcendent community.
"Thank you for the warning, Military Sima. I will remember it well."
While Zhou Yuan and Cai Cheng were talking, a team of soldiers in red casual clothes quickly ran into the stronghold.
They split into groups and skillfully rummaged through everything, including the Demon Chieftain's room. The Jade Essence Powder, considered a spiritual item from the Secret Realm, was personally transported by an officer.
After they left, another team of soldiers seamlessly entered the Secret Realm, heading straight for the pigsty in the stronghold.
"Bang."
An iron club smashed a pig's head, and two people carried it away. In the blink of an eye, nine pigs of various sizes were transported out of the Secret Realm.
Next came those transporting grain, catching chickens, and collecting bows and weapons, wave after wave, like a never-ending stream of ants.
For a moment, Zhou Yuan couldn't tell if they were a regular army or professional bandits.
"Why are you staring at them? Carefully observe the terrain here. Our Divine Armored Squad usually holds the enemy at these three locations. Try to find which shooting position suits you best and how to reach it quickly."
"Military Sima, shouldn't we go help?"
"No need, they're very skilled. This job is neither dangerous nor poorly paid. If we help, they won't need as many people in logistics. Don't be kind-hearted and cut off someone else's livelihood."
Combat soldiers and auxiliary soldiers are not part of the same system. Combat soldiers focus on fighting and monitoring, while auxiliary soldiers focus on transportation.
Military Sima Cai Cheng told Zhou Yuan that they were not standing there doing nothing but supervising the transportation. Without supervision and management, there might be private hoarding, pushing, shoving, and disorder.
After entrusting the responsibility of supervision to Cai Cheng, Zhou Yuan began to explore the stronghold carefully.
He found that the Jingan Army truly deserved its reputation as seasoned veterans. The rooms visited by the logistics soldiers were cleaner than if they had been gnawed by dogs.
They took away the bedding and fabrics, moved the treasure chests and boxes, and even rolled up the kitchen knives and iron pots.
He looked at the wooden bed in the room and felt it was very familiar. Upon closer inspection, it was identical to the one he slept on in the Shesheng Camp.
No wonder the Jingan Army was so inexplicably wealthy; with Niutou Stronghold as a continuously refreshing source of resources, they couldn't be poor even if they tried. Enjoying the story? Read on at novelping dot com.
Taking advantage of the current lull, Zhou Yuan allocated the 200 experience points he gained from defeating the boss to the 'Bow Control' skill.
The moment the Bow Control skill reached its maximum level, he felt everything around him quiet down.
It was an extreme focus, and in this state, the auxiliary soldiers transporting resources seemed to slow down significantly.
He could raise his bow and instinctively know where to shoot to hit the auxiliary soldiers' heads, bodies, and legs with his arrows.
The sturdy 3-Stone Bow became as flexible as a 2-Stone Step Bow, and with a flick of his fingers across the bowstring, he could naturally gather strength and draw the bow.
"Whoosh, bang, bang."
Three sharp arrows flew in succession toward the round wooden wall of the stronghold. The first arrow landed, the second tore through its shaft, and the third arrived in an instant, firmly nailing the same spot.
"Three Stars in a Row, multiple arrows with one mind. If the bandit leader stood still now, these three arrows would definitely penetrate his skull and empty his health bar."
The max-level Bow Control skill had already surpassed the limits of ordinary humans.
Now, except for the mysterious martial artists, no one in the entire Jingan Army could shoot more accurately or faster than Zhou Yuan.
Perhaps a highly talented archer could achieve the same feat at a certain moment, but they couldn't sustain that moment of brilliance, whereas this was Zhou Yuan's permanent state.
When Zhou Yuan and Military Sima Cai Cheng left the Secret Realm, the audit clerk from the Colonel's Office promptly delivered the money.
Zhou Yuan received 4 taels of gold and 500 copper coins, while Military Sima Cai Cheng received 6 taels of gold, with no additional copper coins for compensation.
"Military Sima, isn't our treatment too generous? With a few more trips to the Secret Realm like this, it's hard not to get rich."
"You put in more effort, so you get more. Other Divine Arm Warriors receive at most less than a third of what you do. Divine Armored warriors receive a bit more, but they risk their lives defending, and their bodies suffer more damage."
"I'm a bit special, usually getting 6 taels of gold, but if I make a mistake, I'll be fined. If a Divine Armored warrior is lost, I have to compensate."
Zhou Yuan weighed the four taels of gold in his hand and suddenly understood why the camp's rewards were so generous.
Divine Arm Black Armor Soldiers are still normal people; they can't fight hard battles for many years. Perhaps after a year of intense combat, they would be physically exhausted and mentally drained. Without substantial rewards, they couldn't cultivate a fighting spirit for bloody battles.