Mist Lord

[Choose one of the three awards]

1. Undead Warhorse (Rare)

2. Damaged Hero's Helmet (Legendary - Broken)

3. Elf Armor (Excellent)

The three awards were suitable for Black Armor, Sword and Shield No. 1, and Satir, respectively, and Xia Yuan decisively chose the Hero's Helmet.

It's not just because the Hero's Helmet is of the highest quality, but also because the strength of Sword and Shield No. 1 is gradually falling behind the pace of the territory's development, and it needs to be appropriately strengthened, otherwise it will really fall behind.

With a flash of white light, Xia Yuan held a simple, dark silver helmet covered in spikes, somewhat resembling a crown, with a red gemstone inlaid in the center.

There was a large crack in the middle of the gemstone, and its light was dim, as if it had lost its magical power.

[Hero's Helmet (Legendary - Damaged)]: A hero's helmet inlaid with a gem of courage. Wearing it greatly enhances perception, allowing you to predict enemy attacks and quickly find their weaknesses. However, the gem of courage is damaged in battle and requires the wearer's courage power to slowly repair it.

"Whoa!"

Xia Yuan smiled as well, this Hero Helmet was made for Blade & Shield No. 1.

The bronze treasure chest awarded by the gray fog contained a bag of Night-Shining Grass seeds.

【Night-Glowing Grass】: A mutated plant with no offensive capabilities. It emits a blue glow when startled at night, hence its name. It can grow by division and is relatively easy to cultivate.

Compared to ground thorns and brambles, glowing grass may seem rather ordinary. However, due to its ease of cultivation, it can also be used for nighttime early warning. Planting it extensively on the outskirts of territory, or even inside city walls, will make it glow and reveal any invading enemies, which is quite useful.

If planted extensively on both sides of the street, they can even be used as streetlights.

"good!"

Xia Yuan has always been lucky since childhood. It seems that this good fortune has carried over to the Misty Continent; every time he opens a chest, he always manages to get some good items, constantly increasing his hand.

.........

On the open ground next to the training camp, Blade & Shield One was practicing again. Although he had just finished a battle, he seemed tireless, with inexhaustible energy and stamina, his eyes only on the battle and training.

Every setback is a form of stimulation and motivation for Blade & Shield One.

"My sword and shield?"

When his master came to him, Blade & Shield One looked puzzled and even a little ashamed. He had embarrassed his master again.

"Here you go!"

Xia Yuan handed over the Hero's Helmet.

"My sword and shield?!?"

The moment Sword and Shield No. 1 saw the Hero's Helmet, he fell completely in love with it. He carefully took it, couldn't wait to put it on his head, and instantly felt like he had transformed into the king of the Sword and Shield clan.

"Great, it looks even more imposing."

Xia Yuan was also very satisfied with the new look of Blade & Shield One. Then he saw Blade & Shield One stop practicing and run to the training camp with his short legs to show off, acting as if he were the real king.

He's so arrogant!

.........

After finishing the sweep operation, Xia Yuan didn't rush to Yunyang City. Going to sell spoils at this time, even under the guise of Shang Ze, would easily arouse suspicion from those with ulterior motives.

He wasn't in a hurry to throw black crystals into the black stone altar.

Before upgrading to a level 3 territory, the Blackrock Altar can hold up to 12 low-grade black crystals, expanding the territory's area by another 12 square kilometers.

Such a large area must be inhabited by many mist monsters, which need to be cleared out promptly. We just went through a tough battle this morning, so there's no need to rush. We can wait until tomorrow, rest, and then expand our territory while completing the cleanup mission.

I'll take a half-day break today.

.........

Yunyang City, Lieyang Tower.

Xia Yuan could rest, but Xiao Xiong dared not delay for a moment. As soon as he returned from the sweep, he came to Yunyang City to report the situation to Li Mingyu in person.

"The operation failed?"

Li Mingyu had a keen eye; he could guess most of what was going on just by looking at Xiao Xiong's expression.

"yes…"

Xiao Xiong dared not hide anything and recounted the whole story in detail.

"I see..."

Li Mingyu's gaze sharpened slightly as he realized that he had indeed underestimated Xia Yuan.

That's a ruthless person.

According to Xiao Xiong's description, Chen Wei and his group were ambushed in the fog surrounding Outpost 3, and were most likely surrounded and killed as soon as they landed. This shows that Xia Yuan not only sensed the conspiracy but also launched an indiscriminate attack, demonstrating his extremely ruthless nature.

"Has Xia Yuan's troop type been confirmed?"

"This is the only unfamiliar body found at the scene, and it should belong to Xia Yuan's troops."

Xiao Xiong retrieved the corpses of the soldiers with their swords and shields from his storage space. Xia Yuan had left in a hurry and hadn't had time to collect them, or perhaps he had deliberately left them on the battlefield.

"A new type of soldier?"

Even with Li Mingyu's extensive knowledge, he had never seen such a strange type of soldier. However, this did not stump him. He took out an appraisal scroll from his storage space and quickly obtained information about the soldiers' swords and shields.

The scouting skills a lord possesses can only detect basic information such as fog monsters, demonic creatures, and items. They cannot detect information about other lords or troop types; otherwise, what privacy would be left?

"Ha, trash among second-tier units!"

With irrefutable evidence in hand, Li Mingyu secretly breathed a sigh of relief. As long as Xia Yuan didn't draw a Tier 3 unit, there would be plenty of ways to deal with him later, and the factions would support him.

"This defeat is not your fault. You may leave."

"yes!"

Xiao Xiong also secretly breathed a sigh of relief, respectfully bid farewell and left, bumping into Zhao Wu as he went out.

Zhao Wu was unlucky; Chen Wei was the first vassal lord he signed. Before he could even play a role, he died so inexplicably. Such sudden deaths mean permanently occupying a vassal territory slot without gaining any benefits.

After Chen Wei's death, his territory was no longer able to summon any troops, and its development stagnated.

Even if some strong individuals among the remaining inhabitants step forward to take charge and risk going out to kill mist monsters and collect mist bud crystals to continue maintaining the operation of the Blackstone Altar, they can only barely prolong their existence.

Territories that survive despite losing their lords are generally called forgotten lands. Any sudden event could cause the altars to go out of flame, and the entire territory to be swallowed by the gray mist once more. Or it could be transformed into a stronghold of demonic creatures by a demonic tide.

Zhao Wu had invested a lot of resources in Chen Wei, but got nothing in return, so of course he came to Li Mingyu to complain.

"Don't come to me complaining about being poor regarding Chen Wei's situation. He died at Xia Yuan's hands because he was useless. I gave him so much support, and he didn't even make a ripple. He was truly the worst of the worst."

When they met again, Li Mingyu was no longer friendly.

He had completely lost patience with Zhao Wu, this reckless fool who was more likely to cause trouble than to accomplish anything. The thought of losing a third-tier elven ranger and six hard-won shield warriors made him even more heartbroken.

Before he could even feel the pinch, Zhao Wu came knocking on his door.

"But Chen Wei was working for you, Deacon. With his death, I've lost everything."

Zhao Wu, however, had an extremely thick skin.

There's nothing we can do about it; the deed is done, and we have to get some compensation.

"To do something for me?"

Li Mingyu laughed too. "You recommended Chen Wei to me back then, right? You said he was so reliable. I believed you, that's why I entrusted him with such an important task. And what happened? Who should compensate for the losses incurred?"

He was trying to cultivate an image of appreciating talent, but he wasn't some sucker who would let Zhao Wu extort him.

"..."

Zhao Wu was speechless after being rebuked. Although he was full of resentment, he dared not be presumptuous anymore, and his face turned red.

"Just because I can't offer compensation doesn't mean there's no chance of things turning around."

"Please enlighten me, Deacon!"

"As the saying goes, every wrong has its perpetrator and every debt its debtor. Chen Wei was killed by Xia Yuan, which is fratricide, isn't it? If this gets out, it's all Xia Yuan's fault. We'll see if the alliance will uphold justice."

Li Mingyu's gaze was deep and unfathomable.

"This…"

Zhao Wu looked troubled; wasn't this asking him to deliberately smear Xia Yuan?

Who in the alliance doesn't know about the feud between Li Mingyu and Xia Yuan? Even if Xia Yuan killed Chen Wei, who would be foolish enough to unilaterally blame Xia Yuan?

This method is rather despicable.

"I've shown you the way; whether you walk it or not is up to you."

If you want benefits, you have to do the dirty work. Li Mingyu didn't give Zhao Wu any room to bargain, and directly served him tea and saw him off. He still had to meet with the vice leader Zhu Xiaotian later, which was the main battlefield.