Nine Smoke Marsh

On his island, on the stone house's roof, Luo Feng sat cross-legged on a massive stone slab, waiting. “A disaster-level mission… I wonder how difficult it will be,” Luo Feng mused. “It seems dangerous, but it’s actually a great opportunity to earn a massive amount of military merit.” Within the military camp, everything required military merit. Just idling away until death? That was a guaranteed death sentence. Typically, before embarking on a mission, one would use military merit to exchange for treasures, such as items that quickly restore one's divine body, or escape-type supreme treasures or mechanical-stream treasures. However, Luo Feng didn't have a single point of military merit, so he couldn't exchange for anything, and thus had no need to worry about it. At the same moment, at one of the East Army's supply points, the same one where Luo Feng and Wuhe obtained their 'Python River Battle Armor'. “Captain, our remaining military merit, all eighteen of us combined, is just over 260,000. What should we exchange for?” “This is a disaster-level mission that happens once every 10,000 eras, Captain. We really need to prioritize exchanging for life-saving items.” Outside the supply point's grand hall, eighteen soldiers from the Python River Army First Brigade, Sixth Squad, led by their captain, were discussing exchanges. “A bunch of idiots.” Six figures cast a mocking glance their way and directly entered the supply point. The captain and the eighteen soldiers couldn't help but feel enraged. “It’s Yuluo and his group.” “Let them be smug. I refuse to believe they’ll be lucky again this time.” “Right, Captain, when the time comes, we’ll give them a taste of their own medicine at a critical moment.” Many of the eighteen soldiers led by the captain were indignant. In a flash, “Assemble!” A voice echoed across the islands of all soldiers in the Python River Army First Brigade, Sixth Squad. Luo Feng, who was sitting cross-legged on the stone house's roof, also opened his eyes. “Has it begun?” Luo Feng smiled faintly. *Whoosh!* He immediately shot through the air. As soon as he left the island's perimeter, he instantly teleported, heading directly towards the Basic Inheritance Island. The entire Python River Army camp was vast, and the usual gathering point for missions was the Basic Inheritance Island. “Yinhe.” “Wuhe.” As soon as Luo Feng appeared outside the Basic Inheritance Island, he saw a figure of an exotic beast not far away. Wuhe, with the pair of wings on his neck trembling, swiftly flew over. Luo Feng glanced at the island and noticed that quite a few soldiers had already arrived. “Yinhe, I’ve already looked into everything,” Wuhe transmitted after flying over. “Our Sixth Squad, including us, has a total of 39 soldiers. The original 37 soldiers aren’t very united; they’ve split into three small groups. One is led by the captain, consisting of 18 soldiers. Another is led by Kufa, with 10 soldiers. And the last one is led by Yuluo, with 9 soldiers.” “Oh?” Luo Feng looked at Wuhe in surprise. This Wuhe, truly worthy of being the child of the Bei Zhen Star Master. It seemed he had prepared well before joining the army, figuring out the internal dynamics shortly after entering the Python River Army. Compared to him, Luo Feng felt he was far behind. *Whoosh! Whoosh!* As they spoke, the two of them swiftly flew towards the island. Landing on the island, over 30 figures had already gathered. Luo Feng's glance at the soldiers' gathering easily revealed… they were divided into three circles! The captain he had met before was in one circle, the relatively amiable Kufa was in another, and the third circle appeared colder and more fanatical. When Luo Feng and Wuhe arrived, the soldiers in these three circles looked at them with less-than-friendly eyes, clearly warning them not to approach. “The captain is still relatively fair,” Wuhe secretly transmitted. “Kufa has the best temper. As for Yuluo… Yuluo is that guy with the emerald-green body and eighteen hooves and claws. He’s bloodthirsty and fanatical, and most of the exotic beast forces in our squad are gathered under him. Normally, these three circles might try to recruit us, but with a disaster-level mission imminent, we’ve never cooperated with them, nor have we practiced combined attack secret techniques. So, for their own lives, none of these three circles will accept us.” Luo Feng nodded. It was perfectly normal. These three small groups had experienced countless life-and-death battles, cooperated extremely well, and knew each other’s strengths and weaknesses. Suddenly accepting new recruits would only disrupt their team’s coordination. Even the most amiable among them wouldn’t accept them. “Yinhe, Wuhe,” the captain said indifferently. “For this disaster-level mission… you two can only rely on yourselves, understand?” Wuhe grinned hoarsely, “Of course, we understand.” Luo Feng nodded. “Very good.” The captain nodded, but said no more. In his view… for a disaster-level mission, two new recruits who hadn’t had enough time to cultivate inheritances, nor even military merit to exchange for treasures or more powerful inheritances, were destined to fall unless they had incredibly good luck. *Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!* Figures descended one after another, joining the three major groups, which quickly became complete. “Let’s go, we’re going to receive this mission,” the captain ordered. *Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!* The four groups—the one led by the captain, the one led by Kufa, the one led by Yuluo, and the group of two pitiful new recruits, Luo Feng and Wuhe—swiftly flew out, then collectively teleported, rushing outwards. An eerie, entirely black grand hall, adorned with numerous carvings depicting many powerful figures. After nearly a day, all 39 soldiers of the Sixth Squad arrived here as streaks of light, reaching the area encompassed by the eerie grand hall. *Boom!* A pillar of light shot directly towards all the soldiers of the Sixth Squad. Immediately, a voice echoed in their minds, like a telepathic message, clearly detailing the mission assigned by the army. Army Mission Location — Nine Smoke Marsh! Mission Content — Obtain 10,000 military merit. Killing a True God grants 10,000 military merit. Killing a Law Master grants 1 military merit. Proof of killing a True God requires their ‘True God corpse’. Proof of killing a Law Master requires their remaining weapon. Mission Time — Must be completed before the next mission. Failure will result in military tribunal punishment. The mission description was simple. But it immediately made Luo Feng and Wuhe's expressions change. Go to Nine Smoke Marsh to kill True Gods or Law Masters? “This is big trouble now. Nine Smoke Marsh, it’s not as strong as my father’s Northern True Sea, but it’s still a very, very powerful force. There are so many True Gods there, and countless more Law Masters. Are we going there… just to die?” Wuhe was truly panicked. Before accepting the mission, he had been quite confident, believing his strength was considerable, and even if it was difficult, he could probably complete it with time and effort. But now, upon learning the mission content, he collapsed. Luo Feng also grew anxious. What to do? Accumulate 10,000 military merit! Nine Smoke Marsh… Luo Feng had seen it on his way to join the army. It was a vast marsh covered in mist. When he passed by and looked down, he vaguely saw many True God figures. If it was a one-on-one kill against a True God, and with nearly an era (before the next mission) of time, given his current powerful strength after 8 million eras of cultivation, fully unleashed in a one-on-one fight, there was still hope of grinding down a True God to death. Of course, the premise was that the opponent wasn't hiding inside a supreme treasure palace! But… to go to Nine Smoke Marsh to kill, if he wanted to kill a True God, the other True Gods of Nine Smoke Marsh weren’t fools. They wouldn’t foolishly let Luo Feng and his group act without interfering. Once they interfered, Luo Feng and their 39 Law Masters… facing Nine Smoke Marsh, a casual dispatch of a group of True Gods would be enough to sweep them away. “It’s too crazy, to accumulate 10,000 military merit,” Luo Feng thought to himself. “Even if it’s killing Law Masters, we’d have to kill a full ten thousand of them.” “Law Masters… are definitely very strictly protected in Nine Smoke Marsh. Killing ten might be achievable, but killing too many would certainly attract True Gods. Once surrounded, especially by a large number of True Gods, even with the Tomb Mausoleum Boat, I might not be able to escape.” Luo Feng was very worried. In the Universe Ocean… he had indeed been besieged by many Universe Supreme Masters back then. But firstly, how many Universe Supreme Masters were there in total at that time? Secondly, their individual strengths were suppressed. But in the Jinzhi World’s ‘Nine Smoke Marsh’, hundreds of True Gods could probably arrive easily, and their strengths wouldn’t be restricted. His Tomb Mausoleum Boat might not be able to escape. “It’s too crazy.” “Fortunately, fortunately, army missions… Void True Gods won’t participate,” Luo Feng thought to himself. “Otherwise, there would be no hope at all.” Army missions… The army, exotic beast forces, and tribal forces all had unwritten rules. For example, sending a squad to attack a certain force, clearly for ‘training’. If Luo Feng’s squad posed no threat to the entire Nine Smoke Marsh, then the three Void True Gods of Nine Smoke Marsh would absolutely not participate in the battle. However, True Gods *could* participate! “Success is very difficult, but if we fail…” Luo Feng was worried. Failure meant military tribunal punishment — execution! With the army’s authority throughout the Jinzhi World, a single command would turn all tribal forces and exotic beast forces in the entire Jinzhi World into their enemies. There would be no escape! Of course, if one had 100,000 military merit, it could be used to offset and save a life, a concept known as ‘merit offsetting demerit’. But 100,000 military merit? Let alone Luo Feng and his group, even other veteran soldiers didn’t have that much. If they did, they would have used it long ago to improve their own strength. The entire squad fell silent for a moment outside the eerie grand hall. Everyone felt the pressure. “Everyone knows now,” the captain said, his gaze sweeping over them. “The mission is location-specific. This means the True Gods and Law Masters we kill must be from Nine Smoke Marsh. After we return from battle, the army will contact Nine Smoke Marsh to confirm our military achievements.” “If it wasn’t specified as Nine Smoke Marsh, we could easily kill a True God by working together. By killing them one by one, with some time, we would definitely succeed. But since it *must* be Nine Smoke Marsh, we could easily be besieged by a large number of other True Gods from Nine Smoke Marsh. Once caught in a siege, we wouldn’t be able to escape and would surely die.” The captain looked around. “Therefore, I believe… this time, we must cooperate.”