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The next day.
In the morning, Tao Qingping and Xu Ning made their beds.
“Go, let’s eat!”
Tao Qingping once again asked Xu Ning to go to the dining hall.
Tao Qingping didn’t sleep well since he didn’t eat dinner last night.
Xu Ning felt better, but he also felt his stomach was a little empty.
“Xu Ning.”
As soon as Xu Ning and Tao Qingping went outside, they ran into the other Tao Village members.
.
Everyone greeted Xu Ning proactively.
Xu Ning also responded politely.
The reason why Xu Ning had become so popular had a lot to do with yesterday’s conflict.
Yesterday, when the two sides were fighting, almost every Tao Village member saw Xu Ning fighting with them side by side. Regardless of whether Xu Ning’s punches were lethal, just seeing a person fighting with them, gave them a good impression of Xu Ning.
1
In addition, after the conflict ended, everyone saw that Tao Qingyuan took the initiative to talk to Xu Ning, which improved Xu Ning’s status in everyone’s hearts.
“That damn thing!”
As soon as they arrived at the dining hall, Xu Ning and his party met the people from the Tan Village.
They were now enemies.
But because they had been warned before, neither of the two parties fought again.
Xu Ning did not eat lunch yesterday, so this was his first time eating at the dining hall.
Xu Ning walked around and noticed that the food here was surprisingly good.
There were plates upon plates of meat. He could take as much as he wanted—there were no limits.
Even breakfast was so lavish.
Xu Ning took a pancake, a plate of meat, and a bowl of porridge.
He found Tao Qingping and sat down with him. As soon as he sat down, Tao Qingyuan also took the opportunity to sit next to Xu Ning.
“Look at those people from the Tan Village, they must hate us.”
Tao Qingping said in a quiet voice.
“Don’t you hate them too?”
Xu Ning smiled as he responded.
“Yesterday evening, the people from the Song Village also arrived.” Tao Qingyuan put a piece of flatbread into his mouth. “Other than the new members from the small villages outside the county city, most of the newcomers have arrived.”
Xu Ning looked around and noticed that the dining hall had gotten quite crowded.
Everyone sat together selectively in their own groups.
“Tao Jin, sit here.”
While eating, Tao Qingyuan suddenly greeted her.
Xu Ning looked up. He saw Tao Jin and three girls holding plates. They had not found a place to sit yet.
After Tao Qingyuan greeted him, Tao Jin and the others walked over.
Xu Ning and Tao Qingping squeezed over as they sat down.
This time, there were only four women from the Tao Village who had passed the Black Armored Guards assessment.
After sitting down, they nodded their heads and ate their meals.
After Tao Jin took her seat, she sat between Xu Ning and Tao Qingyuan.
Tao Jin lowered her head and drank the porridge without looking up or talking.
‘These people…’
Xu Ning always thought that Tao Jin was sensitive and a little conceited.
1
In contrast to Tao Qingyuan, she had arrogance written all over her face.
However, Tao Jin was the granddaughter of Clan Head Tao. Xu Ning tolerated her on the surface, but he disliked her from the bottom of his heart.
6
While they were eating, someone from the dining hall entrance suddenly shouted.
“Listen up everyone!”
Xu Ning and the others turned their heads and saw that the person shouting was the stocky Black Armored Guard who broke up the fight last night.
He said, “After everyone has finished eating, gather at the camp school field. Master Wei wants to give a speech.”
After that, the short Black Armored Guard turned around and left.
“Already…?”
After Master Wei gave his speech, they would probably start performing their duties.
Because of this notice, everyone lost their appetite.
After eating a few final bites of food, they all quickly went to the school field.
No one wanted to leave a bad impression on the highest officer.
When they arrived at the school field, many people were already there.
On the way, people came from all directions. It was obvious that all of the newcomers in the camp had been notified to gather here.
“Stand in formation!”
The 20 people from the Tao Village had already gathered by Tao Qingyuan’s side.
He directed everyone to stand in line.
It wasn’t just the Tao Village. The Song Village, the Tan Village, and even some newcomers who came from smaller villages gathered in their own groups.
“Get closer!”
The Black Armored Guard appeared again.
He pointed to the distinct gaps between the various groups and motioned for everyone to come closer.
“When Master Wei arrives, be quiet. When he’s speaking, anyone that talks will be punished!”
Although they didn’t know what rank this Black Armored Guard had, since he spoke in a commanding tone, they all obeyed his words subconsciously.
Soon, a team of Black Armored Guards entered the school field.
After they stood in their positions, everyone stopped talking.
Then, a middle-aged man in a white shirt came in, accompanied by a few people.
He was skinny and had gray hair. He looked elegant from the outside.
In addition to the short Black Armored Guard standing next to him, Xu Ning also saw Xia Yuanxing.
They followed the middle-aged man in the white shirt with a respectful look on their faces.
Everyone could tell that this middle-aged man in white shirt should be the helm of the Black Armored Guards in Kangyun County—Master Wei Changqing.
“I’m Wei Changqing.”
Wei Changqing stood on the school field stage.
From this position, he could see everyone’s expressions.
“Today, I will talk about three things.”
“First one, I want to congratulate you all on passing the Black Armored Guards assessment. I hope that in the days to come, everyone can earnestly perform their duties, work hard, and become the backbone of Kangyun County Black Armored Guards.”
Wei Changqing’s tone was soft, but everyone in the school field could still hear it clearly.
“The second thing is about the allocation of resources for you newcomers.”
“Our resource allocation is determined based on the level of the previous assessment.”
“Among you, sixty have gray plates, thirty have cyan plates, and ten have yellow plates.”
“In addition to the monthly salary, newcomers with gray plates receive an additional subsidy of two hundred taels of silver each month; newcomers with cyan plates receive another additional subsidy of two hundred taels of silver, and a Swallowtail Flower; newcomers with yellow plates will receive another additional subsidy of two hundred taels of silver each month, and a Qinglu Dan.”
After Wei Changqing said this, the newcomers below had different expressions on their faces.
Those who received grey plates felt a little unfortunate. As the lowest-ranking rookies, their subsidies were half of the cyan plate subsidies, and only a third of the yellow plate subsidies.
Those who received cyan plates felt a little lucky and unlucky at the same time.
Only those who received yellow plates showed a faint smile on the corners of their mouths.
Xu Ning listened, but was not emotionally perturbed. He was just curious about the Qinglu Dan reward for the yellow plates.
Xu Ning had heard of Qinglu Dans from Guo Ye before.
It was a kind of medicinal medicine with the same effect as a Swallowtail Flower. For internal skill practitioners, it had the effect of strengthening the body.
However, dans were the essence of spirit medicine. It was expensive and difficult to refine. A Qinglu Dan was worth five hundred taels, which cost as much as spirit medicine.
Therefore, the effects of dan medicine were better. The effect of the medicine was also easier to absorb after ingesting it.
For an ordinary person, the efficiency of spirit medicine was 20% at best, whereas dan medicine could reach more than 50%.
Only people like Xu Ning with a Martial Arts Panel could absorb all of the energy in spirit medicine, and then use different promotion mechanisms to transform them into internal or external skill enhancement.
For a person who was just starting to practice internal skills, even brewing ten Swallowtail Flowers and drinking it won’t allow them to advance their realm, but Xu Ning only needed the energy of a single Swallowtail Flower to level up.
This was not only due to the amount of energy absorbed, but also the unique promotion mechanism of the Martial Arts Panel.
Therefore, Xu Ning was curious as to how much energy was contained in a Qinglu Dan.
5
‘When Tao Qingyuan receives the Qinglu Dan reward, I’ll be able to see…’
Xu Ning thought in his head.
After seeing the different expressions of the newcomers, Wei Changqing smiled.
“Although the assessment levels are different and the rewards are different, the assessment levels are not static.”
Wei Changqing said, “If you perform well enough, your assessment level can be improved later.”