........

Jin Chuan’s head, missing half its crown of the skull, sprayed blood like a fountain that cost nothing.

Lu Ding moved with extreme speed, using action to replace unnecessary words.

He reversed his grip on the dagger.

And stabbed it into Jin Chuan’s head.

He slashed up, sliced down, cut left, chopped right!!!

Jin Chuan’s body was carved into pieces, chunk by chunk.

After finishing all this, Lu Ding flicked the dagger, shaking off the blood, and studied it. There were three characters engraved on it: ‘Ground Divider Blade.’

A dagger capable of piercing his body, just its sharpness value alone surpassed who knew how many artifacts.

But that was about it.

There was no real threat to speak of.

What Lu Ding prided himself on was never hard defense, but recovery and control over his body.

If we’re talking hardness.

The hardest part of him was his head.

Overall, this thing had its merits, but Lu Ding’s stats were still too comprehensive.

As for the poison on this dagger, Lu Ding didn’t even mention it. It was about as harmful as the cigarettes he smoked when he was bored.

His gaze shifted, sizing up the herb garden that, after Jin Chuan’s complete death, had become ownerless and no longer guarded.

Lu Ding wanted to directly refine it.

Good stuff couldn’t be delayed.

But this was ultimately discovered by Zhan Tingzhou. Without him, the guy might have escaped today.

They were brothers; things had to be done right for the long haul.

Lu Ding came back to his senses and waved: “It’s all clear, come on over.”

Zhan Tingzhou flew over.

His gaze burned with intensity as he studied the herb garden before him.

With this thing, he had infinite possibilities.

Zhan Tingzhou’s original talent, while decent, wasn’t anything particularly outrageous.

The Five-Colored Divine Light was basically cheating—it amplified what he already had.

But even so, chasing Lu Ding’s back remained his ultimate goal, and he still lacked much confidence.

However, with this herb garden, everything changed.

In his memory, the auction house in the southern part of the new city would, soon enough, feature a spiritual fruit capable of boosting talent.

If he could buy that fruit as a seed and cultivate it in this garden........

Beneath his mask, Zhan Tingzhou’s grin was crooked, his eyes nearly squinting shut with joy.

He spoke up: “This thing is hard to split. I have a suggestion: you refine it, but this garden counts as my share. When you grow rare natural treasures from it, just give me a cut proportionally. What do you think?”

On the surface, Zhan Tingzhou seemed to be angling for something for nothing—giving up nothing and just waiting for a share of the treasures.

But actually, with this decision, Lu Ding got the lion’s share.

After all, the ownership was his.

It made Lu Ding a bit embarrassed. Whether it was the Mad God’s Tomb or this place, he always got the bulk, while Zhan Tingzhou sipped the leftovers and was still thrilled.

Lu Ding felt somewhat guilty.

And keeping the spirit fields with just one person was inconvenient.

“There’s no trouble splitting it. I’ll handle it.”

Zhan Tingzhou listened and thought that sounded okay too. With that in mind, he pointed at the whole garden, which was divided into four plots, and said: “Then I’ll take this plot.”

Lu Ding: “Don’t waste time with this useless talk. Half each, two plots for each of us.”

Zhan Tingzhou argued: “Too many, I won’t be able to manage them all.”

Lu Ding rolled his eyes: “Cut it out. How come I never see you complaining about having too much money to spend?!”

“This stuff is hugely useful, with a high ceiling. We can’t be careless. And you discovered it. I just put in the effort. Without you finding it, I wouldn’t have a share.”

Zhan Tingzhou: “But without your effort, I would’ve just found it and stood here crying in vain. And you just saved my life—I owe you even more.”

Lu Ding waved it off: “Enough, enough. That’s final. There are other things to do. I’m not arguing with you. Anyway, you agree whether you like it or not. Careful I’ll ‘punch’ you silly—can you really take me?”

Might makes right.

Hearing ‘punch you silly,’ Zhan Tingzhou instinctively touched the back of his head, still throbbing.

Helpless, he said: “Fine, you’re the boss. I can’t beat you. Whatever you say goes. But how are we splitting it? Using your Slash Attack to cut?”

Lu Ding looked up, casting a glance that seemed to say, ‘That’s more like it.’

Then he replied: “After my Slash Attack cuts through it, whether this ground can still be used is a big question mark.”

“So we’ll use this.”

Lu Ding pulled out the dagger he’d just taken from Jin Chuan.

The three characters ‘Ground Divider Blade’ made its purpose clear.

He’d really delivered the land and the farm tool too.

What a good man, a great man!!

Lu Ding gripped the dagger, infused it with Spiritual Energy, and began cutting along the edge of the herb garden.

And honestly, this thing worked great. Cutting through the ground was like slicing tofu.

In no time, he sliced the land out of Jin Chuan’s internal Earth Observation space.

Then he cut the garden in half, giving both Lu Ding and Zhan Tingzhou two plots each.

One was tossed into the Red Coffin, the other stored with the Five-Colored Divine Light.

The refining could wait until later.

After finishing all this, Zhan Tingzhou once again cast his secret technique, leading Lu Ding as they flew out of Jin Chuan’s internal Earth Observation space.

They emerged through the wound on his back.

Back on Songyuan Valley’s soil, Lu Ding raised his hand and unleashed a dense barrage of slashes, reducing Jin Chuan’s corpse to pieces. By then, the investigators cleaning up the battlefield were almost done.

Those guys had bags and bundles everywhere.

And Zheng Feng was waiting nearby.

Lu Ding said to Zhan Tingzhou: “Perfect timing. You’re injured now anyway. Take them back first. Hand these things over to Xinghe. Whatever needs to be stored, store it; whatever needs to be logged, log it. I’ll head to Snow City with him first.”

His days were busy, running around like his feet were hitting the back of his head.

After coming back from Snow City, he still needed to see Yuwen Longyuan, help Ying Gou secure territory, and deal with the three-month appointment between Zhan Tingzhou and Yu Ci of Purple Cloud Sect.

The western region needed reorganization, investment attraction, dock rebuilding, and negotiations with An Wuyang about commercial connections between the new city’s west and Great Jing.

All tasks, tons of tasks.

It wasn’t that Lu Ding didn’t delegate work to his subordinates.

Feifan wasn’t up to speed yet. Xinghe looked at documents every day that, stacked together, were several times taller than him. An Ning handled internal and regional miscellaneous affairs.

And now, the Mouth of the Evil Prison Bureau Chief was dead, meaning he’d need Qian Jin to come over and fill in temporarily.

All together, no one was idle. Everyone was a nuclear-powered workhorse.

Plus, there were reports to write this time.

After all, a Bureau Chief had died.

Suddenly, Zhan Tingzhou’s voice came from the side: “Alright then. I’ll take the people back first. Be careful. Contact me when you’re back.”

“Wait!”

Lu Ding grabbed him, a smile curling at the corner of his mouth.

Zhan Tingzhou suddenly felt a bad premonition rise in his heart.

“Wh... what?”

Lu Ding grinned: “Hehehe, you’re not going on any missions or field assignments for a while, right?”

Zhan Tingzhou assessed his physical condition: “I need at least a few days to recover.”

Plus, he still needed to complete the final color of his Five-Colored Divine Light.

Lu Ding kept smiling: “Can you write up this batch of reports for me? Not many, just two or three. One is a self-surrender report for Mouth of the Evil Prison’s 749 Bureau Chief Zheng Tai, one is a martyr sacrifice report for Zheng Tai, and one is a situation report on eliminating Songyuan Valley.”

Zhan Tingzhou sucked in a cold breath: “I was involved in all these things. I have to write three for myself. And then I have to write three from your perspective to avoid duplicate checks. That’s six reports, at least over a hundred thousand words!!!!!!!!”

“I only have a few days of recovery... Can I say no?”

Instantly, the atmosphere dissipated. Snowflakes drifted down from the sky, carried by a cold wind, heavy with the presence of the Proud Snow Defying Frost Tree.

In that mood, Lu Ding spoke.

His voice low: “You know, I came up alone from the Third Circle. No connections, no background, starting from scratch. And now Xinghe and the others are swamped, I......”

Zhan Tingzhou gritted his teeth: “I’LL!! Write!! But......”

Before he could finish, the snowflakes kept falling, the cold wind kept blowing.

Lu Ding: “You know, the western region is short on administrative staff. There are a ton of brutes. As the special envoy......”

Zhan Tingzhou: “No ‘but’!! I’ll write!! I’ll write, alright!?”

Lu Ding’s face shifted instantly: “Hehe, thanks. I’m off. Contact you when I’m back.”

Watching Lu Ding’s retreating figure with Zheng Tai.

Beneath his mask, Zhan Tingzhou sighed with a crooked smile: “Sigh... there’s no such thing as a free lunch, huh. But what can you do? You’re my only friend. Guess I’ll write.”

Zhan Tingzhou pulled out paper and pen, ready to start writing right away. Over a hundred thousand words, plus duplicate checks—no slacking. He had to hurry, leaving time to complete his final divine light.

But the moment he lifted his pen.

Zhan Tingzhou frowned, stopping a passing investigator: “Bro, how do you write ‘Song’ in Songyuan Valley?”

Great, blanking on the character.

It wasn’t that he was uneducated. He just forgot momentarily. He hadn’t written in so long. He could recognize it and read it, but the moment he had to write it, his brain short-circuited.

The nearby investigator thought for a second, then grabbed another guy: “Hey bro, how do you write ‘yuan’ in Songyuan Valley?”

The third man frowned: “Damn, you really stumped me. It’s the ‘yuan’ from plains, right?”

Zhan Tingzhou muttered as he wrote: “The ‘yuan’ from plains, yuan... how do you write yuan?”

Both other investigators frowned, their eyes filled with thought.

Then came:

“Hey bro, how do you write ‘Song’ in Songyuan Valley, and the ‘yuan’ from plains?!”

.

Sorry folks, the update’s a bit late today. The breaker tripped. And I wasn’t exactly bright either. Last night at 3 a.m., the smoke alarm kept going off. I pressed the test button, and it still kept ringing. Half-asleep, I just took it apart. Turns out it was 220 volts. Almost fried this 250- IQ me. The electrician didn’t show up until almost noon today.