Mist Lord

"Xia Yuan, have you survived another calamity?"

Song Jing, who has always been very proud of himself, is now feeling the challenge and pressure from Xia Yuan more and more.

Although time was always on his side thanks to his advantage of being a Tier 3 unit, he was still somewhat discouraged by constantly being outmaneuvered by Xia Yuan.

"I need to reach level 3 as soon as possible!"

This way, we can not only match Xia Yuan's level, but also gain a new troop building.

Don't even think about Tier 3 units. Even Tier 2 units can greatly make up for the severe shortage of heavy infantry, so that Xia Yuan won't always have the upper hand.

There's also the Level 1/2 Territory Civilization Trial this month.

Since Xia Yuan can't participate, he needs to stand out even more and try to surpass the other faction's newcomers to win the three-star trial champion title. Otherwise, he will really be a bit lackluster.

.........

The other lords of the Yanxia Alliance need not be mentioned.

Those who were initially gloating and waiting to see Xia Yuan make a fool of himself were certainly humiliated. However, this also made Xia Yuan's name increasingly renowned within the alliance.

Previously, when Xia Yuan was mentioned, it was always as a newcomer with incredible luck. Now, when he's mentioned again, it's unconsciously tinged with more respect.

This is how strength determines status.

Being able to severely dampen the arrogance of the Yingzhou Alliance is undoubtedly a very satisfying thing for many Yanxia Alliance lords, especially those lords who have suffered losses at the hands of the Yingzhou lords in the past.

For a time, the restaurants throughout Yunyang City were more lively than usual.

It wasn't exactly a deliberate celebration, but it was at least an excuse for a gathering, and we should have a good drink.

Happy Summer!

.........

As the saying goes, some are happy while others are sad.

While the summer heat was in full swing, the atmosphere at the Yingzhou Alliance was quite strange. The alliance leaders had already prepared a victory banquet, released the news of the victory in advance, and even started popping champagne ahead of time.

What we received instead was a defeat announcement?!

Doesn't this mean stomping the entire league's face into the mud and spitting on it along the way?

How shameful! How shameful!!!

.........

Nakamura Teppei eventually died.

"The enemy is cunning. After being attacked by the mist monsters, they deliberately left behind two disguised slave corpses. If it weren't for the idiot's keen sense of smell, he would have been fooled."

Elua was also still shaken.

Who would have thought that a dignified level 3 lord would prepare slave corpses in his storage space in advance, and even have the slaves dressed in lord's clothes, planning to escape at any time?

Judging from the freshness of the corpse, it was most likely slaughtered before the war began.

The level of perversion is simply outrageous.

"That's how the people of Yingzhou are."

Xia Yuan wasn't too surprised. "Drag Nakamura Teppei's body to Celia so she can finally give up."

He was ultimately unwilling to give up on this fourth-tier shadow assassin.

"By the way, Master, when Nakamura Teppei was killed, there was a bloody mark on his body."

"They're being watched."

The Bloodstained Mark, also known as the Bloodstained Mark of Revenge, increases the chances of being matched with another lord in subsequent Civilization Trials once it's been marked. This means that in the next Civilization Trial, Xia Yuan is very likely to be matched with a lord from the Yingzhou Alliance again.

That's not really bad news.

"Also, during our pursuit of the enemy, we found three mutated kobold corpses at the scene."

"You mean there might be a camp of demonized kobolds hidden in the mist to the south of the territory?"

As the territory continues to expand outwards, encounters with new demonic creatures and mist monsters are inevitable.

"When mutated creatures go out hunting, they usually don't stray too far from their camp, otherwise they'll get lost. The mutated kobolds appearing here most likely mean the camp isn't far from here."

The mutated creatures and their descendants, while becoming mutated, also indirectly evolved the ability to survive in the fog. They can barely hunt in the fog without the aid of fog lights.

This is exactly the same as the Mist Monster.

"Understood. Have the sword-and-shield dogs increase patrols along the southern border and send more personnel."

Unlike goblins, kobolds are both vengeful and warlike. Once they discover the death of a member of their tribe who went out hunting, they expect to find the location of Bright Village very soon.

If it were a large camp of demonized kobolds, they would most likely retaliate against Mingguang Village.

To the mutated creatures, territory was a more delicious prey than the mist monsters, offering food, jerky, women, weapons, and ores—everything they could want. Conquering a territory would be enough for them to live a life of luxury for quite some time.

Conversely, these demonized creature camps are also prey in the lord's eyes. After breaching the camps, aside from anything else, the black crystals alone would be enough to recoup the losses.

Especially for lords who prefer to choose the defensive side in the Civilization Trials, expanding their territory depends on wiping out the enchanted creature camps around their territory.

They both desperately want to eliminate each other, so it's a matter of who has the greater strength.

"Master, how about I take Hanbao south to scout ahead? Let's find out the location and size of the kobold camp first, so we can prepare accordingly."

Elua volunteered.

Seeing that the eldest sister Satir's strength had improved by leaps and bounds, she was also envious and couldn't help but feel eager to make a contribution.

"Yes, but please be careful."

Xia Yuan thought for a moment and agreed to Elua's request. "As I said before, safety first. If things become unbearable, retreat to the territory immediately and do not risk going deeper."

"clear!"

Elua nodded emphatically, feeling a warmth in her heart.

"Here, take this."

Xia Yuan selected the only elven war bow of exceptional quality from the spoils left by Nakamura Teppei after his death and handed it to Elua as a reward.

This pursuit of Nakamura Teppei was made possible by Elua's quick thinking. Otherwise, with that taciturn giant in black armor, they might have lost him, and all their efforts would have been in vain.

"Thank you for the gift, Master!"

Elua happily accepted it, feeling that life was becoming more and more hopeful.

The loot that appeared in Nakamura Teppei's storage space after his death wasn't anything too surprising; it consisted mainly of common items like silver coins, mist bud crystals, and wound medicine.

There isn't a single treasure or anything like that.

The only thing worth mentioning is this elven war bow.

Nakamura Teppei was unremarkable during his rookie years, only rising rapidly after drawing the Bone Wing Bat, before he had a chance to obtain any great opportunities.

Fortunately, the biggest spoils of this battle were not Nakamura Teppei, but the territory under his rule.

.........

[Revenge complete! You have achieved total victory. Merit points increased by 200. According to the revenge rules, Nakamura Teppei's territory will be forcibly destroyed. Do you wish to proceed and claim it?]

Revenge is not a trial; aside from merit points, there will be no extra rewards such as treasure chests.

"yes!"

A flash of white light, and Xia Yuan, guarded by Satir and Black Armor on either side, led a group of skeleton warriors to the enemy territory, ready to claim the final spoils of victory.

The landing location was the enemy's Blackrock Altar.

"Snap!"

As soon as it arrived, the Black Stone Altar shattered, dropping 20 low-grade black crystals.

It is evident that after upgrading to level 3 territory, Nakamura Teppei did not lie low as before, taking advantage of the bone-winged bats. Instead, he eagerly began to sweep through the surrounding demonized creature camps in order to quickly expand his territory.

Unfortunately, what seemed like a sure-win revenge operation ended in complete defeat.

The cruelty of the Misty Continent is evident.

As the Blackrock Altar shattered, all the buildings, including the Lord's Courtyard, the earthen walls, the troop buildings, the slave camp, the Mist Beacon, and the Demon Sealing Tower, shook violently and were on the verge of collapse.

The people inside the house were so frightened that they ran out as fast as they could.

Those who remained in the territory were completely unaware of what had happened and looked utterly bewildered.

"Everything was fine, how come our home is gone?"

Xia Yuan ignored these matters and sent Wang Er with his men to gather the prisoners and inventory the supplies. He, meanwhile, wandered around under Satir's protection, looking for anything he could learn from.

Although both are level 3 territories, Nakamura Teppei has been managing his territory for over a year, which is quite different from Meiko Village.

The village not only had more houses, but every corner had been turned into vegetable gardens, and chicken and duck pens had been built around them. Although most of the houses were shacks, making it look like a slum, it was full of life.

The biggest difference, however, is outside the village.

The land near the city walls was reclaimed for growing rice, potatoes, peanuts and other food crops to maintain basic self-sufficiency.

Water channels and ditches were dug around the area to divert water for irrigation, and waterwheels were even installed in the higher-lying farmland to pump water, which shows that a lot of thought was put into it.

It is evident that even though he was leading a group of militiamen with little fighting ability, Nakamura Teppei did not give up in the past year, but instead did his best to manage his own little plot of land.

Xia Yuan even felt a little wistful.

If one day Mingguang Village is unable to withstand the enemy's attack, will it also suffer the same fate?

Construction takes a long time, but destruction can happen in an instant.

With the Blackrock Altar shattered, the mist at the edge of the territory is already churning violently, eager to reclaim the land and become part of the mist once more.