At 100 years old, he joined the army in place of his granddaughter, and became a national war god.

"General, all the grain supplies from Qingfeng Town have been transported back."

Su Mu cupped his hands slightly, and after speaking, he straightened up, turned around, and winked at the cooks behind him.

Zhao Dazui nodded and waved his hand.

With a "whoosh," the oilcloth covering the carriage was ripped off.

The grain sacks were neatly stacked on the truck.

Xu Shigui stood in front of the grain cart, his eyes sweeping over the bags of grain. His face was ashen, his cheeks puffed out, but he couldn't utter a single word.

After a long silence, he finally spoke, his voice dry and hoarse.

"Alright, supply battalion, unload the provisions and register them."

Qin Hao stepped forward, clasped his hands in a fist and said, "General, the cooks and Elder Su have made great contributions this time and deserve to be commended and rewarded."

"What merit will you be credited for?"

Xu Shigui suddenly turned his head, his eyes widened, and his voice became shrill.

"You're two hours late, and you still have the nerve to give me credit?"

Upon hearing this, the surroundings immediately fell silent.

The smiles on the faces of the cooks froze, and they clenched their fists.

Zhou Huchen stood in the crowd, seething with hatred.

Su Mu, however, remained unmoved, his expression as calm as still water.

Xu Shigui, with his hands behind his back, paced back and forth in front of the grain cart for a couple of steps. Suddenly, he stopped, turned around, and glared at Su Mu with eyes like knives.

"Su Mu, tell me, why are you two hours late?"

Su Mu's lips curled slightly upward, and he calmly cupped his hands in a respectful gesture:

"Reporting to the General, we encountered a group of scouts from the Northern Di on the way, who were trying to infiltrate Qinghe County. We spent some time killing them all, which is why we were delayed by two hours."

"Kill the Northern Barbarian scouts?"

Xu Shigui sneered, his eyes full of disbelief.

"You say it's true, but how do you prove it?"

"Yes! How do you prove it?" Xu Zhaowu, leaning on his cane, hopped forward two steps. "You cooks from your camp, could you really kill Northern Di scouts? You're just bragging without thinking!"

Xu Zhaowen chimed in, saying sarcastically, "Yes, whatever you say goes, right?"

Zhou Huchen could no longer contain himself and stepped forward, shouting, "General, all the soldiers of the cook battalion can testify, including Gu Changfeng and Zhao Tieniu from the vanguard battalion; they were present too! How could this be false?"

"Yes! We can all testify!" the brothers from the cookhouse shouted in unison.

Xu Zhaowen sneered, a sneer playing on his lips: "The cooks are all in cahoots, of course they're all on the same side, who would believe that?"

A chill flashed in Su Mu's eyes as he listened to these words.

He wasn't angry.

But he felt disgusted.

He slowly raised his head, staring sharply at Xu Zhaowen.

"General Xu, do you need evidence?"

"Brothers, push it up!"

Zhao Dazui and two cooks responded and pushed a cart from the back of the column.

A tarpaulin covered the cart, with dark red bloodstains on it, a shocking sight in the sunlight.

Su Mu stepped forward, his withered hand grabbing a corner of the oilcloth, and suddenly ripped it open.

"Whoosh..."

The cart was piled high with the armor of the Northern Di soldiers.

There were at least a dozen sets, each one tattered and torn. Some had been cleaved open with a knife, some had their straps cut, and some still had bits of meat hanging on them.

The soldiers around them gasped.

More than a dozen sets of armor belonging to the elite Northern Di troops were laid out right in front of me; these were not items that could be picked up casually from the battlefield.

Su Mu grabbed another thing wrapped in blood-stained cloth from the cart, raised his withered hand, and threw it towards Xu Shigui and the other two.

The thing rolled a few times on the ground, the blood-stained cloth unraveled, revealing what was inside...

It was a human head.

His face was covered with a thick beard, his eyes were half-open, and his mouth was slightly agape, as if he was still in shock in his last moments before death.

The head stopped right at the feet of Xu Shigui and his two companions, its half-open eyes staring straight at them.

Xu Zhaowu was so startled that he jumped back, which aggravated the injury on his chest, causing him to grimace in pain.

Xu Zhaowen's face turned pale instantly, his lips trembled twice, and he couldn't utter a single word.

Su Mu clapped his hands, then looked up at Xu Shigui and the other two with a serious expression, and said:

"General Xu, these are all the evidence. Take a look for yourself."

He paused, a slight smile playing on his lips.

"I don't have time to argue with you about these things. I'll head back to camp to rest now. Farewell."

After saying that, he turned around, shouldered his horse-slaying sword, led his Ferghana horse, and walked step by step toward the direction of the cookhouse.

The cooks behind him were all filled with righteous indignation, their chests burning with righteous indignation.

Looking at Su Mu's hunched back, they felt both admiration and heartache.

Old Su is so old, yet he risked his life to kill the enemy and transport grain, and he still has to suffer this kind of treatment when he comes back.

"Let's go! Back to camp!"

With a wave of his hand, Zhao Dazui caused the two hundred cooks to turn around in unison and follow Su Mu, striding towards the cook camp.

No one turned around, no one gave Xu Shigui a second glance.

Xu Shigui stood there, furious.

He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but looking at the bloody human head on the ground and the cartload of Northern Di armor, he swallowed his words.

What could he say?

Are you saying the head is fake? The armor was found? The knife marks on those dozen or so suits of armor, the fatal cuts, are clearly there.

Those were spoils of war accumulated by killing dozens of elite Northern Di soldiers.

If he insists it's fake, with thousands of eyes in the entire battalion watching, who would believe him?

Xu Shigui took a deep breath, turned around and left.

Behind him, Xu Zhaowen and Xu Zhaowu, leaning on their crutches, followed with limpses, their faces increasingly grim.

Qin Hao stood there, watching Xu Shigui's departing figure, then looked in the direction Su Mu had left, and sighed deeply.

He thought to himself, "Now, General Xu has completely lost the hearts of his troops."

Behind them, the supply battalion soldiers began unloading rations, but the atmosphere was as somber as the sky before a storm.

No one spoke, but everyone's heart was in turmoil.

A centenarian risked his life to transport grain, only to be harassed upon his return.

Is a general like this worth risking their lives for?

……

Fire Station.

Su Mu returned to his tent, leaned his horse-slaying sword against the wall, and tethered his Ferghana horse to a wooden stake next to the tent.

He bent down and crawled into the tent, sat down on the hard bed, and let out a long breath.

He closed his eyes and sank into that dark space of consciousness.

A golden system panel appeared before my eyes.

[Ding! Congratulations, host, for completing the side quest: Head to Qingfeng Town and escort grain supplies!]

[Rewards: 30 days of lifespan, Dragon-Slaying Saber (from "The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber")!]

A golden light emerged in the space of consciousness, growing brighter and brighter, like a small sun rising before one's eyes.

Su Mu narrowed his eyes, feeling a scorching and heavy aura slowly emerge from the light.

The light dissipated.

A knife, suspended in mid-air.

The blade is jet black, about four feet long, with a thick back but a blade as thin as a cicada's wing.

There are faint dark gold patterns flowing on the blade, like a sleeping dragon coiled within it.

The hilt of the sword is engraved with two ancient seal characters: "Slaying the Dragon".

Su Mu reached out his hand, his withered fingers gripping the knife handle.

A warm, powerful force surged from the hilt of the knife into his palm, flowing through his meridians and throughout his body.

The feeling was as if a sleeping giant beast had opened its eyes inside him.

He slowly drew his Dragon-Slaying Saber.

The moment the blade was drawn, it was as if a bolt of lightning flashed through the tent.

The cold glint of the blade was blinding.

Su Mu gripped the knife with one hand and swung it lightly.

"Buzz..."

The blade sliced ​​through the air, emitting a clear, resonant dragon's roar that echoed within the cramped tent.

Su Mu looked at the precious sword in his hand with great joy.

He raised the Dragon-Slaying Saber and examined it closely in the sunlight streaming in from outside the tent.

The dark gold patterns on the blade flowed in the sunlight, as if they were alive.

"A fine knife," Su Mu murmured to himself, a smile on his face.

"This trip was very fruitful."

He placed the Dragon-Slaying Saber across his lap, his withered fingers gently stroking the blade.

With this knife, combined with the Five Tigers Severing the Gate Knife Technique, my strength will reach a new level.

Next time I encounter an opponent like Chi Lie, let alone three strikes, one strike will be enough.

He leaned against the pillar by the head of the bed and closed his eyes to rest.

Outside the tent, the brothers of the cookhouse were still excitedly discussing the mission, their laughter and voices faintly audible.

Su Mu's lips curled up slightly.

We rested until noon, then got back to work.

In the evening, I will also teach them to practice with their swords.