Xuanqing Guard

Chapter 366: Chapter 366: Before the Tournament

Entering April, the weather in Fengri City finally shook off its gloomy chill, feeling much more comfortable now.

The main culprit was the stove—after using that thing for so long, your whole body starts feeling dried out. Even placing a few basins of water in the room doesn’t help, like meat in the fireplace slowly losing its moisture.

Shen Hao stopped having Xia Nu light the heated dragon in his bedroom early in March. But he couldn’t have the public office cut it off for him alone; others still needed it even if he didn’t, so he could only survive with open windows for a month, and tried to spend less time in the public office.

This month, Shen Hao made rounds at four Hundred Households Stations, checking how well the pilot plan was progressing since implementation.

After a round, the results far exceeded Shen Hao’s expectations.

Firstly, in Xuanqing Guard, such a high-risk job can’t afford to support idle hands, especially at the grassroots level, with dangerous cases popping up all the time. A loafer might lose his life any day.

There’s a saying among Xuanqing Guard at the grassroots: Anyone who survives three years at the bottom of Xuanqing Guard isn’t ordinary—they’ve all got their own seasoned tricks.

Whether for money, merit, or career advancement, there are almost no slackers in Xuanqing Guard, living out their days as salted fish. Among outsiders, each garrison feels like a snake’s nest—step inside and you’ll feel cold, scrutinizing eyes sweeping over you. Nobody wants to linger.

Secondly, lately, the Black Banner Battalion stirred up a "surprise training" craze, making the whole Hundred Households Station throw themselves into relentless practice as if their lives depended on it.

Just one "Martial Competition Schedule and Entry Instructions" was like pouring a ladle of water into a hot oil pan—sizzling, jumping, lively beyond measure, even Shen Hao had to raise his expectations again.

It’s hard to imagine those grassroots soldiers—hopeless for life, yet stubbornly holding out hope to cross the threshold into the world of cultivators—erupting with such wild determination after seeing real hope once more. Even the Qi Refining First and Second Layer cultivators got fired up nearly as much.

In just a month, nearly a hundred and fifty Black Banner Battalion members from the four Hundred Households Stations broke through mortality and stepped into the cultivation realm! Another fifty low-tier cultivators advanced and broke through small realms. There’s even a cultivator named Ma Shun who went from Qi Refining First Layer straight through two bottlenecks up to Qi Refining Third Layer!

These are all concrete achievements. Shen Hao himself compiled the tally and reported it upwards. Jiang Cheng even sent people specifically to verify, afraid that Shen Hao had made a mistake in the numbers and would make a fool of himself. In fact, the verifiers returned with eleven new names on the breaking mortality list, looking utterly bewildered.

Later, Jiang Cheng’s order made it clear: Make arrangements for the Martial Competition urgently, ensure the pilot plan’s achievements by Black Banner Battalion in Fengri City are showcased at the competition, and make all preparations for reception and safety on April 15th flawless.

This later, hand-written order from Jiang Cheng confirms that Pang Ban will attend the Fengri City Martial Competition site on April 15th.

After receiving Jiang Cheng’s order, Shen Hao had no intention of keeping it to himself. He handed it off to Wang Yiming, telling him to stamp copies and immediately "forward" it to the Black Banner Battalion in all four Hundred Households Stations.

No need to say—those already hyped-up maniacs got even louder.

At the grassroots, Xuanqing Guard may act aloof and cocky in the region, but it’s all relative—when faced with their own Hundred Households Officer, they bow their heads and show respect. But when have they ever seen a high-ranking official like the Commander? Forget the Commander, many have never even seen a Thousand Households before.

And this time, the Martial Competition will happen right under Lord Commander’s nose—if you earn a ranking, you’ll even have a chance at rewards personally bestowed by the Commander.

This is glory! For many of the grassroots soldiers in Xuanqing Guard, it’s nearly enough to bring honor to their families.

Such excitement—how can you not want to give it your all?

According to Wang Yiming’s arrangements, preparations for the Martial Competition are nearly complete. Everything, from events to location and even logistics, has been carefully worked and reworked, with Shen Hao approving and Jiang Cheng consulted on details. Everything is basically ready.

The only thing still in suspense is the "rewards."

Shen Hao’s initial thought was since this is an internal Martial Competition in Fengri City’s Black Banner Battalion, rewards should be within "manageable means"—rank, ordinary pills, low-grade magical artifacts, silver coins, even an "excellent" in official evaluations, all valid prizes for winners.

But this seemingly reasonable plan was put on hold by Jiang Cheng’s decision.

It wasn’t until this morning that Shen Hao finally received Jiang Cheng’s approved revision of the reward scheme.

"Lord Jiang sure is generous!"

When Shen Hao saw Jiang Cheng’s confirmed "rewards," his first reaction was to think he was seeing things. After several checks, he couldn’t help but marvel that Jiang Cheng truly dared to go all-in. Not only did the reward pool get nearly thirty percent bigger, but some key prizes even had an added column: Merit.

Merit is hard to earn. The Thousand Households Station has authority to issue it down, but Shen Hao hadn’t considered including this level of reward in the Martial Competition—it felt a bit "over the top."

Thinking further, Shen Hao couldn’t help but admire Jiang Cheng’s nerve.

Jiang Cheng is gambling here.

By raising the rewards prepared in Fengri City, the excess won’t be borne by Black Banner Battalion or Fengri City Thousand Households Station—it’ll be subsidized by the Governor’s Office. The "Merit" rewards are also directly reviewed and issued by the Governor’s Office.

The core reason, in Shen Hao’s eyes, is that Jiang Cheng is betting on the Martial Competition, expecting it to be a showstopper. If so, the returns from that bet will let the Jingxi Town Governor’s Office grab a bigger share, not just sit by as a "spectator."

This isn’t stealing credit—it’s making his own opportunity.

After sorting out all these twists, Shen Hao handed the finalized reward details to Wang Yiming to include in the competition notice and send it out.

It’s clear this reward list will drive everyone below even crazier.

"Sir, Households Commander Kuang’s constable requests your presence at his public office."

Just as Shen Hao was about to ask Wang Yiming to check the parade ground setup again, to see if any details were missed, he stood up and saw the gatekeeper report in.

"Households Commander Kuang? Got it, I’ll head over right away."

Shen Hao didn’t think much of it—Kuang Shengyuan was his superior, so it was normal to be summoned. He just wasn’t sure what it was about.

Arriving at Kuang Shengyuan’s public office, he happened to run into four faces rarely seen, the Hundred Households Officers from the four districts, just leaving Kuang Shengyuan’s office.

Shen Hao smiled and nodded at the four, stepping aside to let them go first. They cupped their hands in return, but said nothing.

But Shen Hao thought to himself: The four came together to see Kuang Shengyuan, and Kuang Shengyuan immediately calls for me—there must be a connection.