Lying on the soft bed in his bedroom, Xiao Mo leisurely browsed the messages.
In the [World Chat Channel], more lords were celebrating Xiao Mo's departure from being a black-hearted merchant.
Xiao Mo didn't bother reading further and quietly closed the [World Chat Channel].
If the current "market" allowed, he would be more than happy to remain a black-hearted merchant.
He didn't care what the other lords thought of him; developing the strength of his territory was the ultimate path.
It was just a pity that if he continued to exchange food at exorbitant prices, more and more lords would boycott him.
His food, even if listed on the [Myriad Races Trading Platform], would go unsold.
Therefore, he had to adjust the prices.
However, after lowering the prices, the "business" was still booming!
As for when he could harvest more and more special foods in the future...
He would revert to his old ways then, continuing his "black-hearted" enterprise!
As the saying goes, rarity breeds value!
In any case, he was the only one with these special foods, and he set the prices. Whether to buy or not was up to the individual.
However, judging by human nature, those lords would still clamor to trade for them.
With this thought, Xiao Mo closed his eyes and slowly drifted into dreamland.
...
The next morning, before dawn.
Thousands of miles away in the Dark Forest region.
Beneath another pale blue protective shield lay a castle resembling a medieval European fortress.
Jin Xuan stood below the castle, looking at the information interface of her territory.
[Endless Wasteland]
[Current Level: High-Level Territory]
[Next Level: Primitive Tribe]
[Basic Building: Classical Castle (Upgrades with the territory)]
[Ordinary Building: Warehouse]
[Special Building (Troop Building): Endless War Puppet Synthesizer]
[Upgrade Requirements: 100,000 Wood, 50,000 Stone, 10,000 Iron Essence]
[Current Status: Invincible]
[Current Faction: None]
Looking at her territory, which had just finished upgrading, Jin Xuan's beautiful eyes narrowed into crescent moons.
Her snow-white, slender neck arched high like that of a swan.
The territory's upgrade to High-Level had put Jin Xuan in a very good mood.
However, the thought of the aloof Qian Mo caused her willow-leaf eyebrows to furrow slightly.
Her upgrade speed was already quite fast, yet she was still a day and a half behind that scoundrel.
Moreover, the sudden listing of 3,200 units of food by the scoundrel Qian Mo had genuinely shocked her.
When she first saw the news on the trading platform, her cherry-like small mouth instantly formed an 'o' shape and remained that way for a full ten minutes.
However, she soon became certain that the scoundrel must have upgraded his troop building and expanded his troop size that very morning.
She had also upgraded her troop building today, and knew that a level two troop building could summon four troops at once.
But even with eight troops, how could she hunt over three hundred magical beasts in a single day!
And among them were several elite magical beasts at the peak of fifth-tier or above.
Her own troops were considered top-tier among the best.
However, after summoning four more war puppets, she had a total of one at peak fifth-tier, one at low fifth-tier, two at peak fourth-tier, and four at peak third-tier.
With such a war puppet squad, hunting one to two hundred magical beasts at most in a day would be quite good.
Hunting over three hundred in a day?
This was simply wishful thinking!
After examining Qian Mo's profile countless times, the troop section only contained one sentence.
[The opponent has set this information to private.]
At that moment, Jin Xuan was so angry she could spit blood.
Everyone else's could be viewed, yet this guy had set his troops to private.
But what kind of troops did that scoundrel Qian Mo possess?
His territory's strength was actually so much greater than hers!
With this thought, Jin Xuan wrinkled her delicate nose and unconsciously glanced at the [Friend Message] interface.
Seeing this interface, Jin Xuan felt even more infuriated!
She had added Qian Mo as a friend a total of four times, and all had been rejected.
This had dealt a huge blow to her confidence.
"You scoundrel! You better not let me catch you, or you'll be sorry!"
"Just you wait! I'm going to be a woman of the Empress of the Primordial Continent!"
...
On the other side, Xiao Mo had also woken up early. After breakfast, he prepared to head to the Immortal-Demon Reincarnation Pool.
At this moment, Xian Meng'er, who had already been promoted to mid-tier sixth-rank and was infinitely close to peak sixth-rank, returned to the city with the Immortal-Demon troop, dragging a batch of monster corpses.
"Master, your subordinates have discovered unknown creatures!"
"It was these creatures that left those tracks at the edge of the territory!"
Xian Meng'er knelt on one knee before Xiao Mo, reporting respectfully to him.
Hearing Xian Meng'er's report, Xiao Mo's brows slightly rose, and he thought of the indigenous forces in the Endless Abyss region.
"Tell me the specifics!"
"Yes, Master!"
Xian Meng'er nodded and continued:
"While we were hunting earlier, we suddenly heard some movement nearby and went to investigate."
"We saw several strangely shaped creatures, seven in total."
"They all had bull heads but human bodies, yet with differences. They had only four fingers and four toes."
"Are you saying these were all minotaurs?"
Xiao Mo interrupted Xian Meng'er.
"Yes, Master!"
Xian Meng'er nodded with certainty and continued:
"They seemed to have their own language and appeared to have well-developed intelligence."
"Because the weapons each minotaur held seemed to be made from a hard mineral, and they wore iron armor."
"However, their strength was generally not high. The strongest among them was at peak fifth-tier, and the weakest was only at mid-tier third-rank."
"Furthermore, upon noticing they had been discovered by us, they all left in a hurry."
"Without your command, Master, we dared not leave the territory's boundaries, so we did not pursue them."
After listening to Xian Meng'er's words, Xiao Mo pondered for a moment.
These minotaurs could not possibly be the troops of other lords.
Then the only possibility for intelligent creatures to appear was...
These minotaurs were indigenous tribes from the Endless Abyss region of the Primordial Continent!
As the saying goes, those who come are not good, and those who are good do not come!
This group should just be scouts from the indigenous tribes, trying to probe the reality of the Immortal-Demon Territory.
Moreover, their purpose seemed less than pure, otherwise why would they be so stealthy?
"Let them go if they ran. Keep a close watch. Arrange patrols at night to prevent any incursions into the territory at all times!"
Xiao Mo thought no further and directly commanded Xian Meng'er.
Although they were within the novice protection period, there was no need to worry about any forces attacking the territory.
However, it was always good to be prepared.
Besides, free resources and spirit points were not to be refused, what if they dropped something good!
Moreover, these minotaurs were all wearing iron armor, so perhaps he could obtain Iron Essence from them!
"Your command! Master!"
"The Immortal-Demon troop will not fail Master's expectations and will swear to protect the territory and Master's safety with their lives!"
Xian Meng'er and the Immortal-Demon warriors behind her knelt down simultaneously and loudly pledged their allegiance to Xiao Mo once again.