"Meng'er, Qing'er..."
"When you go out hunting again, pay more attention to the traces of these Torren tribe minotaurs."
"Find out where their tribal settlement is. To be able to mobilize nearly a thousand minotaurs so quickly, their settlement must be near our territory!"
"Once found, investigate their strength thoroughly."
"If their strength is too great, then postpone the plan for now."
"If their strength is inferior to ours, then..."
"We'll destroy them directly! We can't let others snore by our bedside!"
These Torren minotaurs were native beastmen forces of the Primordial Continent.
Although they were also intelligent beings, judging by the situation in this war, their combat strength did not seem strong.
The strongest this time was merely a chieftain of the sixth-tier mid-grade.
According to the ancient texts unearthed from this chieftain, the Torren tribe's chieftain, Ryan Bloodhoof, was reportedly only at the peak of the seventh-tier.
Furthermore, the number of this tribe of minotaurs was not very large, and they had already lost nearly a third of their forces in this invasion.
Ryan Bloodhoof's strength at the peak of the seventh-tier might pose a significant threat to other lords.
However, for Xiao Mo at the moment, it was merely so-so.
Through this battle, not only had Xiao Mo's strength advanced, but the strength of his Immortal-Demon Corps had also improved significantly.
Xian Qing'er, originally at the seventh-tier mid-grade, directly advanced to the peak of the seventh-tier, even approaching the lower eighth-tier.
Xian Meng'er crossed the peak of the sixth-tier and advanced to the lower seventh-tier.
Xian Yi and Xian Er also crossed the lower sixth-tier and advanced to the peak of the sixth-tier.
Mo Yi advanced to the sixth-tier mid-grade, along with four peak fifth-tier soldiers and three mid fifth-tier soldiers.
With such strength, led by the peak seventh-tier Xian Qing'er, it should be sufficient to raze the Torren tribe's settlement.
"Yes, Master!"
Xian Meng'er and Xian Qing'er accepted the order and bowed, leading the Immortal-Demon Corps to continue hunting.
...
After his strength advanced to the third-tier, Xiao Mo clearly felt his immense power.
If his strength in the second-tier was about one thousand catties per punch, then now it was around three thousand catties.
However, despite possessing such a physique and strength, it was merely brute force.
Without corresponding cultivation methods, he did not yet know how to utilize this strength.
This point made Xiao Mo somewhat dejected.
It felt like guarding a treasure mountain but not knowing how to develop it, which was an unpleasant feeling.
But he also knew that this matter couldn't be rushed, and perhaps one day he would luckily find a suitable cultivation method.
Anyway, with his current strength, combined with the rudimentary martial arts he had learned, it was more than enough.
After washing up, Xiao Mo strolled into the dining room.
The dining table was already laden with a feast.
Ever since Xian Meng'er was summoned, she had been responsible for Xiao Mo's daily life and was very meticulous.
Take breakfast for instance, it not only included various meat dishes but also honey water, fruits, and so on.
It could be said that Xiao Mo was now a noble among billions of lords.
And this living standard could be maintained indefinitely.
The only drawback was that Xiao Mo was still only wearing a tiger skin for protection.
This made the originally handsome and dashing Xiao Mo look somewhat out of place.
"Looks like I need to find a way to get a couple of outfits!"
Xiao Mo muttered to himself, then opened the [World Chat Channel].
However, a message suddenly popped up in [Friend Messages], catching Xiao Mo's attention.
"Big Brother Qianmo! Did you really reply to me?! You actually accepted my friend request! Xiao Douzi is so happy!"
This was a message from a lord named Dou Xiaodou.
One could feel his excited and thrilled emotions from the message.
Then followed a series of several more messages.
"Big Brother Qianmo, Xiao Douzi's territory is in a large mountain."
"There are many, many stone mines here, and also many, many iron mines!"
"My troop type is goblins. Although their combat power is not strong, they have exceptional talent in mining, resource gathering, and forging."
"The stone collected from the stone mines has been used by me to trade for food and upgrade the territory. There is still a lot of raw iron."
"However, my goblins are currently smelting raw iron into refined iron, and we have accumulated over 400 units."
"Big Brother Qianmo, do you need this refined iron?"
Seeing the message from Xiao Douzi, Xiao Mo's heart lit up, and he unhesitatingly replied.
"I need it! I'll take all your refined iron. Name your price!"
"Big Brother Qianmo, how about exchanging six units of refined iron for one unit of food?"
Xiao Douzi's message quickly came back.
Xiao Mo was slightly stunned upon seeing it.
Refined iron was currently a very precious resource.
He had expected to have to spend quite a bit this time, but unexpectedly...
The exchange rate he had previously set on the trading platform was one unit of food for five units of refined iron.
And this Xiao Douzi offered a price of six units of refined iron for one unit of food, which was even lower than his listed price.
"Did you see my listing on the trading platform?"
Xiao Mo asked, puzzled.
This time, Xiao Douzi's reply was even faster.
"I saw your listing! But Xiao Douzi is not strong, so naturally, I need to cooperate with a powerful figure!"
"Big Brother Qianmo seems to be the strongest among all lords currently. And you happen to need refined iron, so Xiao Douzi wants to establish a long-term cooperation with you."
"Since it's a long-term cooperation, Xiao Douzi naturally needs to show sincerity. It's also Xiao Douzi's honor to be able to provide refined iron to Big Brother Qianmo long-term!"
Seeing these messages, Xiao Mo could not help but look highly upon this lord named Dou Xiaodou.
This fellow was very smart and understood social dynamics well.
Appearing to do business with him at a lower price seemed like a loss.
However, looking at it from a long-term perspective, it was definitely a huge profit!
With Xiao Mo's current strength, he could be considered the strongest lord!
Dou Xiaodou, by merely leveraging a difference of one unit, had established a long-term cooperative relationship with the strongest lord and gained his friendship.
If, later on, Xiao Mo's strength became even greater.
Let alone just a unit's difference in refined iron.
Even if a mountain of immortal-demon stones or soul crystals were piled in front of him, it might not cause him to bat an eyelid.
"Alright! Then we'll exchange at the price you've set!"
"I'll come to find you when I've collected enough food!"
After a moment of thought, Xiao Mo agreed to Dou Xiaodou's terms.
"That's great!"
Seeing Xiao Mo agree, Dou Xiaodou seemed very excited.
However, Xiao Mo still had some doubts in his mind.
Refined iron was one of the indispensable resources for upgrading a territory to a tribe.
However, for such a long time, he had not heard of any lord being able to smelt raw iron into refined iron.
So how had this Dou Xiaodou managed it?
Was there a special method involved?
"Xiao Douzi, how did you smelt raw iron into refined iron?"
"Is there any special method?"
Xiao Mo couldn't figure it out, so he simply sent a message to ask Dou Xiaodou.
"Hehehe... There's no special method, it's just that Xiao Douzi was lucky!"
"My goblins are already skilled at mining and smelting. We dug up a lot of raw iron before, but we didn't have smelting tools, so we could only pile it up."
"Yesterday morning, while the goblins were mining, they unexpectedly dug up a basic smelting furnace blueprint. So I built the smelting furnace and successfully smelted refined iron!"
What the heck?
A building blueprint dug up while mining?
Was there such a good thing?
Xiao Mo was somewhat stunned.
His Immortal-Demon Corps was definitely top-notch at hunting monsters.
But he had never tried mining before.
Let alone what treasures could be unearthed from mining.
Should he also have the Immortal-Demon Corps mine occasionally in the future?
A thought suddenly crossed Xiao Mo's mind.