Chapter 223

Long before the arrival, there were not just four, but dozens of territories around Wanjin Mountain Town.

They were also attached to Wanjin Mountain Town, acquiring massive wealth through trading goods, thereby achieving rapid development of their territories.

However, once the number of lords increased, conflicts were naturally inevitable; for the sake of profit and territory, battles and clashes broke out between them constantly.

The entire process of them becoming stronger was extremely cruel; after a series of competitions, only four lords remained in the end.

While lords in other regions were still struggling to develop, a group of lords like Ji Chengshi had long since conducted a "Lord Contest," and those who remained in the end were the best among the batch of lords.

Ji Chengshi was one of them, having already upgraded his territory to the Bronze Grade, placing him in the first or second tier among lords.

Ji Chengshi was very confident and proud of the achievements he possessed today.

However, Ji Chengshi did not become arrogant or complacent, because there were still three other lords whose strength was not inferior to his.

Precisely because of this, he was unable to dominate this region, and not only did he have to guard against the threats of the other three lords, but he also had to be subject to the jurisdiction of Wanjin Mountain Town.

In order to avoid damage to their respective interests, the Chamber of Commerce came into being.

It was precisely thanks to the establishment of the Resource Trade Alliance that the four lords, including Ji Chengshi, understood the principle that cooperation benefits both, while fighting harms both.

Ji Chengshi and the others were no exception.

Because lords often undercut each other's prices to compete for the market, using malicious competition to gain a larger market share.

They were currently subject to Wanjin Mountain Town and forced to compromise only because their strength was not strong enough.

After all, their strength hadn't reached that level yet!

There were many top powerhouses within Wanjin Mountain, especially the town mayor who had served for decades, whose strength was even more unfathomable.

They only needed to enter the free market of Wanjin Mountain Town to purchase large quantities of ore, including but not limited to the various mineral resources needed for territory construction, such as Red Iron, Bronze, Mithril, Jingjin, and so on, and even rarer ores.

Otherwise, with the resources they currently possessed, they could absolutely allow their territories to continue upgrading and expand their territorial area.

But when the external enemy disappeared, the few people present all developed other thoughts in their hearts.

It was just that now they could only use some underhanded little tricks.

Not long after.

By now, each of them already had a Bronze One-Star territory, and they held large quantities of resources in their hands, which was enough to allow them to upgrade to Bronze Two-Star or even Bronze Three-Star territories.

And behind them, each brought their own most powerful combat troops, guarding against the others.

As the saying goes, success is due to Xiao He, and failure is also due to Xiao He!

But although Ji Chengshi and the others were subject to some restrictions, they did not sit idly by and wait for death.

Inside the free market, in a building with a sign reading "Wan Jin Shan Chamber of Commerce," Ji Chengshi and the other three lords sat face to face, observing each other's expressions, all with faces full of worry.

Ji Chengshi and the others did not need to be like lords in other barren regions, dispatching troops to mining areas to mine; the amount of mining depended on the number of laborers.

But they had never ceased their attempts to seize control of Wanjin Mountain Town and become the true masters of the town.

At the beginning of the alliance, everyone trusted each other very much, talked about everything, and were united and helpful, which was the only way they could eliminate the other dozens of lords.

Of course, it was the same now; after they eliminated the other lords, they established a Wan Jin Shan Chamber of Commerce.

They relied on Wanjin Mountain Town to develop far beyond other lords, but because of the existence of Wanjin Mountain Town, it had now become the biggest obstacle to territory expansion.

That was that their territories were too close to Wanjin Mountain Town, and the territory boundaries were intertwined with the town's boundaries.

This made his territory different from other lords, having only half the territory of a normal Bronze-grade territory.

To the east of Wanjin Mountain Town, a huge territory had actually appeared, the scale of which, I'm afraid, had reached the Silver Grade!

This was simply unbelievable!

But when they eliminated dissenters, wiped out other lords, and their territories continued to expand, they faced an even bigger problem.

Therefore, the four remaining lords of Wanjin Mountain Town were all members of the same organization before.

Besides this, it seemed that everyone else's gaze was very vigilant.

Because the Barren Land was rich in various mineral resources, they could purchase large quantities of cheap ore in the free market at extremely low prices, and then sell them to other lords through the lord's trading system, thereby making a huge profit.

Through bilateral trade, as long as one had a little business sense, it was hard not to make money.

On the other hand, they used some "rare resources" and wealth they controlled to secretly bribe some guards and officials to gain convenience in channels, and to buy off some refugees or indigenous people in the town, attracting them to become residents of the territory, and other such measures.

Later, they united to develop together, and the speed was indeed astonishing.

On one hand, they constantly strengthened their power and shifted their expansion direction to the vast land outside the town.

At the same time, because their territory expansion also attracted the high attention of the managers of Wanjin Mountain Town, they were given a death order: the territory area must be maintained as it was, and no further expansion was allowed, otherwise they would be cleared out.

It was just that at the very beginning, the number of lords was relatively large, and the competition was extremely fierce. The reason Ji Chengshi was able to stand out, besides being a Rare Lord himself, was that he united with several other powerful lords to establish an offensive and defensive alliance organization, known as the Wan Jin Shan Four Heroes, which rose abruptly, utilized their respective advantages, and quickly defeated other lords, thereby achieving the result of "one family dominating."

At the same time, they could also purchase various resources in the trading system, especially things that were in urgent shortage in the Barren Land, such as freshwater resources, grain, fruit, rubber, seafood, and so on.

Including Ji Chengshi, they had long since made taking over Wanjin Mountain Town the next step in the Chamber of Commerce's plan.

But because their territory level was lower than Wanjin Mountain Town, one could see that their territories were not circular, but missing a huge concave corner.

As the saying goes, rely on the mountains to eat from the mountains, rely on the sea to eat from the sea; the development of Ji Chengshi and the other three lords could be so rapid precisely because of Wanjin Mountain Town.

The appearance of the Wan Jin Shan Chamber of Commerce was to obtain a stable trading market and ensure the interests of the several lords.

But who would have thought that an unexpected situation would occur at this very moment.

As a lord, the thing one lacks the least is ambition.

On the surface, everyone was friendly, but in reality, everyone had their own ulterior motives.

The reason was actually very simple: it was for the sake of profit.

You must know that there was also competition between them; although the profits of the Chamber of Commerce were very large, precisely because this cake was too big, everyone wanted to enjoy it alone.

As long as they wiped out the other lords, they could become the exclusive partner of Wanjin Mountain Town and control the market of Wanjin Mountain Town!

Perhaps, they would become the top batch of lords among the billions of lords.

With such a huge temptation, who wouldn't want to monopolize it instead of always sharing it with others.

In other words, if they could monopolize the entire Wanjin Mountain market, or even occupy the entire Wanjin Mountain Town, they might become one of the top existences among billions of lords.

If it were before today, the most real thought in their hearts would be to kill each other and annex Wanjin Mountain Town.

After all, the threat from within was far greater than the threat from outside.

But after Qin Luo upgraded his territory to the Silver Grade, his powerful strength could no longer be hidden and was directly exposed before them.

This immediately caused a strong sense of crisis in the hearts of Ji Chengshi and the others.

They had originally thought that their biggest threat lay in each other; who would have expected that there was such a powerful "enemy" outside, and so close to them.

To say that Qin Luo's territory was just a little close to them and did not constitute any substantial threat was simply unrealistic.

Because they themselves were lords, they naturally knew what kind of creature a lord was!

In particular, no lord could resist the urge to stop expanding their territory.

Ji Chengshi and the others stopped upgrading their territories because they were under the eaves and dared not defy the will of the town's high-level officials, not because they themselves didn't want to upgrade.

"Everyone has seen that territory to the east, right!"

In the living room, one of them suddenly said.

This person was named Murong Mingjun, one of the Wan Jin Shan Four Heroes; he was originally just an Elite Lord, possessing the Elite troop Iron-Eating Beast.

Among the dozens of lords near Wanjin Mountain Town, he was unremarkable.

But the Iron-Eating Beast had a powerful talent, which was the ability to feed on various metal element ores and quickly improve its own strength.

After Murong Mingjun discovered this, he purchased a large amount of metal ore to feed it, allowing the Iron-Eating Beast under his command, which originally only had Common Realm strength, to quickly grow to the Black Iron Realm!

At this moment, two Iron-Eating Beasts were standing behind Murong Mingjun, their bodies exuding a powerful aura.

If Qin Luo were present, he would be able to discover that these Iron-Eating Beasts already possessed Bronze Realm strength.

And this was also the reason why Murong Mingjun was able to survive the fierce competition and sit here.

To the right of Murong Mingjun was Ji Chengshi, who possessed the Rare troop Ice Flame Magic Lion, capable of simultaneously manipulating two different elements: fire and frost.

Behind Ji Chengshi also stood two Ice Flame Magic Lions, their strength the same as the Iron-Eating Beasts, at the Bronze Realm.

But unlike the Iron-Eating Beasts that grew by consuming metal ore, these two Bronze Realm Ice Flame Magic Lions were cultivated only after he spent a large amount of resources.

Of course, Ji Chengshi's territory had been upgraded to the Bronze Realm, and the level of his barracks was not bad either; although he did not upgrade the barracks to the Fourth-Tier Transcendental like Qin Luo, he had upgraded it to the Second-Tier, capable of directly recruiting the Transcendental troop Flame Magic Dragon, and it possessed Bronze Realm strength as soon as it was recruited.

But Ji Chengshi did not bring the Flame Magic Dragon out, still bringing the Ice Flame Magic Lion as before.

Because the Ice Flame Magic Lion was his first troop.

And what the others brought were also their first troops, that is, the combat troops initially recruited.

Instead of bringing "advanced" troops.

On one hand, although the strength of the Flame Magic Dragon was very strong, their numbers were relatively small, and they couldn't afford the consumption.

On the other hand, it was to hide their strength and prevent others from figuring out their true strength.

It was not just Ji Chengshi; at this moment, the four people present, except for the lords themselves, basically brought their first troops.

Like Murong Mingjun, his barracks had likely been upgraded to the Third-Tier, but the troop brought out today was only a First-Tier Elite Iron-Eating Beast.

Besides these two, a man and a woman were sitting opposite.

That female lord was named Wanyan Wanrong, a Rare Lord, and behind her stood two soldiers two meters tall, covered in heavy armor, holding black long spears.

This was Wanyan Wanrong's first troop: the Rare troop Heavy Spear Knight!

In the backyard of the Chamber of Commerce, there were also two Blood-Sweating Horses, which were the mounts of the Heavy Spear Knights.

Humanoid combat troops were indeed a very rare existence.

Not to mention that they were Rare-grade combat troops, which made many lords envious!

Among the combat troops present, if it were a one-on-one fight, perhaps the Heavy Spear Knight would not be a match for the Iron-Eating Beast or the Ice Flame Magic Lion.

But if it were on the battlefield, with both armies engaging in battle, then the Heavy Spear Knight army would definitely achieve the final victory!

"Whose territory is that???"

"On such a large scale, if I'm not mistaken, it's probably not just Bronze Grade, it should be a Silver Grade territory!"

The last young man said with a solemn expression.

As soon as he spoke, the gazes of the other three were instantly attracted, looking at him, with a hint of wariness in their eyes.

Among the four people present, their initial barracks were different, which led to their different initial strengths.

The one with the lowest "level" was Murong Mingjun, who could only recruit the Elite troop Iron-Eating Beast at the beginning, but because of the talent characteristics of the Iron-Eating Beast and the ability to provide a large amount of metal resources, his growth speed was very fast, and his current strength was no worse than those Rare troops.

As for Ji Chengshi and Wanyan Wanrong, they were both Rare Lords, and their development speed was not slow either.

Even if they just developed normally, they would surpass the vast majority of lords.

After all, not every Rare Lord was as unlucky as that lord Xiong Zifang who possessed the Green Giant.

After a period of development, the strength of Ji Chengshi and the three others was about the same.

But there was one exception, and that was Ou Chuyuan, the young man who had just spoken.

According to the level division of different lords by the barracks, Ou Chuyuan was a Transcendental Lord, and his initial barracks could recruit Transcendental troops.

Ou Chuyuan's first troop was the Elemental Elf, which was at the Black Iron Three-Star realm as soon as it was recruited.

After some normal growth, most of them had been promoted to the Bronze realm.

And the reason why the first troops of the other three lords were able to be promoted to the Bronze realm so quickly was that they all spent a lot of costs; like the Iron-Eating Beast consuming a large amount of metal elements, Murong Mingjun's Flame Magic Lion attracted some natural treasures possessing frost and flame elements, and the two Heavy Spear Knights learned many powerful skills, thereby achieving a breakthrough in the great realm.

In short, except for the Elemental Elf which belonged to normal growth and breakthrough to the Bronze realm, the troops of the other lords were Bronze combat power that required a high cost and were piled up with resources!

Behind Ou Chuyuan floated an Elemental Elf with a perfect face, glowing all over, wearing colorful clothes, and growing wings as thin as cicada wings.

The other three lords each brought two combat troops with Bronze realm strength, only Ou Chuyuan brought only one Elemental Elf.

And like Ji Chengshi and the three others, the gaze looking at Ou Chuyuan carried a hint of wariness, fearing that the other party would suddenly make a move; Ou Chuyuan's expression appeared much more peaceful, or perhaps, he didn't put the other three people present in his eyes at all, and was not afraid that they would pose any threat to him.

This was also the confidence brought by strength.

(End of chapter)