In the last half month of development, the money is coming. (5200)

Cao Xing's eyes instantly lit up, and a spark of interest arose in his heart.

After all, the ancient gladiatorial arena was an important place.

Through rounds of challenges, one could obtain some powerful rewards, and by clearing the fourth round of challenges, one could even obtain the title of Champion Fighter.

Oran seemed to know he had grown interested, and then said, "City Lord Cao Xing, next time the Lost Royal City opens, how about we form a party and go together?"

He also finally stated his true purpose.

Clearly, he felt that Cao Xing's side possessed formidable strength and wanted to cozy up to a powerful ally through this.

Cao Xing thought for a moment, then nodded and said, "No problem, City Lord Oran."

A smile appeared on the burly city lord's face.

"Then it's settled. When the Lost Royal City opens, I will visit Lord Cao Xing's territory again!"

"Good."

The two quickly finalized the details regarding their future joint exploration of the Lost Royal City.

Before long, General Kloro turned back and said excitedly, "Lord Cao Xing, His Majesty has already agreed."

"I will prepare the supplies tonight and have someone deliver them to your mansion tomorrow."

The joy in Cao Xing's heart grew even stronger, not expecting this trip to go so smoothly.

As expected of the Ice Crystal Kingdom with its vast wealth and immense heritage, hundreds of millions of crowns and millions of units of food were merely a drop in the bucket for them.

Of course, relying on this person Cao's thick skin, he actually managed to think of borrowing money from a king.

If it were other powerhouses or allies of the Ice Crystal King, even if they could borrow it, they probably wouldn't have the shamelessness to do so.

He cupped his fists and said, "Then many thanks, General Kloro!"

"You're too polite." Kloro chuckled lightly.

Then, Cao Xing stayed in his mansion for a while and chatted about the Human Empire and those major lords in the center of the Western Continent.

Once the six-hour cooldown time ended, Cao Xing bid farewell to the two of them.

And used the teleportation array to return to his own territory.

Looking at the time overhead, it was now eleven o'clock at night.

Cao Xing thought to himself, "This time is just right; it's almost time to sleep."

With that said, he walked straight to push open the gates of the Lords Castle and took a hot shower.

Then he returned upstairs, holding his beauty in his arms as he comfortably fell asleep.

Night fell—

Inside that mysterious grand hall.

All fourteen stone chairs were fully occupied.

Except for that powerhouse sitting in the main seat, whose aura was unfathomable.

The auras of the other thirteen figures were no less than that of the Legendary powerhouse who had attacked the Eternal Frost Main City back then!

In other words, a full 13 Legendary creatures had gathered here!

Besides those existences on the stone chairs, there were many standing figures in the hall.

They were all Watchers, and each of their auras was no lower than Tier 8!

At this moment, the mysterious existence in the main seat said, "I believe you all already know about the subsequent strategic deployment of the Watchers."

"Next, we will concentrate all our power to summon the Blood Legion."

"Within a month, I want the power of blood to descend into this world!"

"Then, let blood cleanse everything and usher in a new era for humanity!"

Hearing these words, everyone present tightened their expressions!

And said in unison, "We are willing to pay any price for the rise of the new humanity!"

Their eyes carried a look of fanaticism, as if they were reciting some kind of oath!

A moment later, the existence in the main seat continued, "However—there has been some change in the Ice Crystal Kingdom."

"The Church of Light was wiped out by an Otherworld Lord teaming up with the Old King."

"This Otherworld Lord is strange and might pose an obstacle to our subsequent actions. Therefore, after deliberation, we have decided to strangle this person in the cradle beforehand!"

A strange look appeared in the eyes of everyone present, as they seemingly hadn't expected an Otherworld Lord to be valued so highly by their leader.

In the main seat, the Watchers Leader paused and swept his gaze across everyone.

Then it landed on three Watcher Legendaries.

"Elders Hanjian and Xuehuo, you two will now head to the Eternal Frost Main City, and then wait for my command to launch an attack on it."

"The purpose of the two of you is to hold back the Old King so he cannot make a move."

"Elder Raven, take this opportunity to sneak into the Gale Snowfield."

"If possible, directly execute that Otherworld Lord, and then take in all his subordinates in that territory, making all of them join the Watchers."

"If that doesn't work or if they resist, just wipe out the entire territory directly!"

Receiving the order, the three Legendaries straightened their bodies and replied simultaneously.

"As you command, great leader!"

Then, the Watchers Leader continued, "Now then, the other elders and Watcher members, take action!"

"Yes!"

With that said, the powerhouses in the entire grand hall launched into action one after another.

When the time reached midnight, which was the second half of the night, the world plunged into complete darkness.

The nights in this world were terrifyingly dark, and very rarely could any light be seen.

Aside from a very few prosperous countries and cities, most towns and cities would extinguish their lights at night.

The Ice Crystal Kingdom was no exception.

The kingdom in the late night was shrouded in darkness, and beneath this darkness, many unknown plots and eerie things were hidden.

The Ice Crystal Kingdom, which had only been peaceful for a few days, seemed to have undercurrents surging again—

The next day—

A system prompt appeared.

[Survivors, please take note! You have reached the 30th day of the development period, and there are still 15 days left until the third round of monster siege—]

[Today's Weather: Localized areas of the Gale Snowfield will usher in light snow, with the lowest temperature being: -57℃ ~ -65℃.]

After the prompt ended, Cao Xing instantly opened his eyes.

He pondered in his heart, "There are still 15 days, and the third round of monster siege is about to begin."

"Half a month's time is quite sufficient; we can take advantage of this period to improve our strength once more."

Liu Muxue beside the pillow softly said, "A-Xing, our strengths have all improved now, and we no longer need to worry about the Church of Light."

"Can I continue leading people out to search for enhanced Ice Nests?"

Hearing her suggestion, a trace of a smile appeared on Cao Xing's face.

Clearly, this woman was thinking about farming points again.

However, just as Liu Muxue said, the territory hadn't sent anyone out to deal with these enhanced Ice Nests for a few days, and now was about the right time.

He nodded and said, "Alright."

"Today, we will continue dispatching Bjorn, Xiao, and the other Ascalon Warriors."

"Dividing into more than a dozen teams, go out into the wilderness to try and find more enhanced Ice Nests—"

At this time, a different idea popped into Cao Xing's mind.

"Right, we can dispatch all the Silver Hand Knights and have them search within a range of one to two hundred kilometers around the territory."

"Whenever they see an enhanced Ice Nest appearing somewhere, they can share its location in the team channel."

"In this way, more efficient sweeping can be achieved."

Compared to the ground searches from a previous period, the efficiency of Cao Xing's method would increase by who knows how many times.

Relying on the griffins' high mobility and search capabilities, nearby Ice Nests would have nowhere to hide, even if they hid in the deep mountains.

Under the search of the griffin knighthood, purely based on the strength of his territory, he could monopolize all the enhanced Ice Nests within a two-hundred-kilometer radius nearby.

However, if that happened, other Survivors in the Gale Snowfield wouldn't be able to get many gold points.

But the levels of those Ice Nest Monsters were very high, and there weren't many lords who could deal with them.

Moreover, Cao Xing really wanted that Overlord-level recruitment scroll!

Liu Muxue also realized the feasibility and high efficiency of Cao Xing's method, and a trace of an excited smile appeared on her face.

Soon, the two of them quickly got up from bed.

As soon as they pushed open the gates of the Lords Castle, a prosperous scene appeared before their eyes.

Several Arctic People were setting up ladders, using various materials to upgrade the energy tower in the center of the territory.

Behind the Lords Castle, a group of Arctic People were also carrying out upgrades.

More workers were busy building more Blacksmith Shops, upgrading city walls, arrow towers, and so on.

Looking forward towards the buffer zone in the distance.

Old Village Chief Zelko led the villagers of Puteng Village in harvesting crops in the greenhouses while dispatching people to reclaim a large amount of fertile farmland.

The entire territory was in a thriving state.

A look of gratification appeared in Cao Xing's eyes.

"Not bad——. With more workers, the efficiency of getting things done really becomes faster."

"After developing for a bit longer and hoarding more resources, we can carry out the third expansion of the territory."

Cao Xing did not immediately send out the warriors to search for enhanced Ice Nests.

Because killing those Ice Nest Monsters would grant experience, and most of the warriors in the territory had already reached the limit of the current stage; going out now would waste quite a bit of experience.

Nowadays, Balthazar's divine altar already possessed the function of breaking through to Tier 6.

Therefore, Cao Xing thought it would not be too late to first elevate all these warriors' levels to Tier 6 before sending them out.

"I wonder when Kro will be able to send the resources over to me."

"Once the supplies from his side arrive, I can trigger a massive wave of upgrades."

Just as Cao Xing was thinking about this, a system prompt popped up in front of him.

[Ice Crystal Kingdom Lieutenant General: Kro Bronson applies to enter your territory via the teleportation array. Do you agree?]

A flash of surprise crossed Cao Xing's eyes.

"Goodness, so fast?"

He had just discussed borrowing money and food with Kro last night, and as a result, he showed up early in the morning!

However, this was a great thing for Cao Xing.

Then, he directly clicked agree.

"Hum!"

A pillar of light reaching into the sky appeared once again from the large teleportation array in the distance.

When the light dissipated, Cao Xing saw seven or eight figures appearing there.

However, this time it wasn't just Kro alone; a group of warriors clad in battle armor followed behind him.

They looked quite strong, each possessing a special aura.

From their attire, it was easy to tell that they were squad leaders or the like from the royal palace.

"Lord Cao Xing, sorry to disturb you so early in the morning!" Kro's voice rang out from afar.

Cao Xing walked over with a smile, "What disturbance? I've been looking forward to General Kro's arrival."

Then, Cao Xing looked at the few people behind General Kro.

"Who are these?"

Before Kro could speak, these warriors introduced themselves.

"Haha! We are the squad leaders of the 3rd to 8th squads of the Royal Guard Regiment."

"General Kro said he couldn't carry so many supplies all by himself, so he brought us along to visit Lord Cao Xing's territory by the way."

"Sorry for the intrusion!"

These squad leaders had a very good attitude and appeared quite amiable.

Cao Xing said with a smile, "It's fine, my territory warmly welcomes your arrival as well."

The previous battle could be said to have gone quite smoothly, which also allowed Cao Xing and the Ice Crystal Kingdom to establish a good cooperative relationship.

Then, Kro looked at the squad leaders behind him and said, "Alright, let's stop chatting idly, everyone. Give the things to Lord Cao Xing."

Hearing Kro's command, the smiles on everyone's faces subsided, and they solemnly said,

"Yes."

As the words fell, these squad leaders stepped forward one after another and handed several backpacks over to Cao Xing.

Cao Xing took them, and upon seeing the contents inside, the corners of his mouth curved into an arc.

Then, he stored all the resources inside into his own backpack.

[Obtained: Coins * 1 billion]

[Obtained: Food * 8 million]

Cao Xing sighed inwardly, "Very good, the resources are completely sufficient now!"

"Next, I will let all these warriors break through, and I will soon have over a thousand Tier 6 warriors."

Moreover, these warriors were not ordinary Tier 6 warriors.

Under the blessing of various buffs, everyone possessed the combat power to solo a boss of the same level.

In other words, apart from lacking extra skills, they were essentially equivalent to bosses already!

That is to say, Cao Xing would leap to having over a thousand Masters!

One could well imagine what kind of concept this was!

You must know that even a kingdom's heritage didn't have this many Master-level powerhouses.

Just thinking about it was exciting!

Cao Xing suppressed the excitement in his heart and then said, "General Kro, the teleportation array needs a six-hour cooldown. During this period, you can wait in the tavern first."

"I'll have the bartender specifically entertain you all."

Kro said, "No problem, I've long wanted to taste Lord Cao Xing's treasured fine wine!"

"These brothers of mine have also heard me say that the brewed wine in Cao Xing's territory has an exceptional taste, and it has been making their mouths water!"

Cao Xing laughed heartily, "No problem, everyone drink to your heart's content."

Anyway, during this period, Zelko had brewed quite a lot of [Crafted Rum] in the brewery.

It was completely fine to let these squad leaders drink to their hearts' content.

Then, Cao Xing called the bartender Lucky over and had them lead this group of kingdom generals and squad leaders into the tavern.

"Next, I can let the warriors make their breakthrough!" Cao Xing thought excitedly.

But before that, he first had to use the once-a-week [Shining Nova] effect on the [Shining Throne].

Pushing open the doors of the Lords Castle, Cao Xing quickly clicked on the effect above.

"Hum!"

A shining star shot up into the sky and then landed somewhere in the southwest direction.

On the minimap, a location was instantly lit up.

Cao Xing took a glance, and that area was displayed as the [Snowy Wasteland].

It was yet another area he had never explored before.

Following the old rules, Cao Xing first called over the Centaur Harati and then handed over the exploration task to her.

This saint respectfully said, "Guaranteed to complete the mission, respected Lord!"

Soon, she led a team of Centaurs and left this place.

Cao Xing clapped his hands and walked out of the Lords Castle.

At this time, a series of buzzing current sounds came to his ears.

It was a message coming from Assam's side.

"Lord, I am reporting my exploration progress to you."

"Last night, Winter and I successfully arrived at the target area."

"Just as you expected, this is a hidden tomb room with a rather concealed location, and there is also a large door blocking my entry."

About three days ago, Cao Xing had sent Assam out to search for other parts of the set.

So he had already arrived at the destination now.

Assam continued, "That door was very hard and could not be broken open with brute force, but in the end, I still successfully deciphered the mechanism on it through a string of symbols on my helmet and opened the door."

"After going in, I encountered two more battles. The enemies were a kind of dark-type creature."

"After smoothly slaying these monsters, I entered the interior of the tomb room and saw the corpses of a group of Survivors inside."

"They seemed to have come in through some special means, but they encountered those dark creatures and were completely wiped out here, having been dead for about half a month."

"Stepping past these corpses, I explored the tomb room for a bit, then entered the Land of Trials and started the first round of challenges."

"After passing the challenge, I successfully obtained the second piece of equipment, the Hand of the Tyrant."

"This trial seems to have a total of six rounds. According to my deduction, every round should have a Tyrant equipment. As for the last round—I don't know what is there either."

Because their ultra-long-distance communication device had a 30-second cooldown time, Assam said a lot all at once.

After listening, Cao Xing pondered for a moment.

Sure enough, like this Lloyd tomb room, there were also puzzle-solving and challenge mechanisms similar to the Swordmasters heritage inside.

One had to pass round after round of trials to get the other parts of the set.

And Assam truly lived up to expectations, passing the first round of trials so quickly.

Cao Xing replied, "I know, Assam. You can continue to participate in the trials."

"If you encounter any problems, or enemies you cannot defeat, don't force it. Remember to retreat immediately and contact me."

"Act carefully."

At this moment, Assam in the tomb room felt a touch of emotion gradually well up in his eyes after hearing Cao Xing's instructions.

Then he solemnly replied, "Yes, respected Lord!"

"Assam will definitely live up to expectations!"

As his words fell, the knight hung up the communication.

Gazing at the crimson trial ground ahead, he resolutely stepped into it!

Not long after entering, a special voice appeared ahead.

"Challenger, the next is the second round of trial—the Scorching Trial."

"Please persist in the high-temperature environment for more than 30 minutes. During this period, the temperature will continuously rise, and some special monsters may appear at the same time."

"Once the challenge begins, you cannot quit. Please choose carefully."

Assam took a deep breath, rode on the back of the Frost Wolf, and said firmly, "Come on, I'm ready!"

"As you wish—"

Instantly, the door behind him closed!

The temperature in the entire room suddenly rose by a large margin!

In less than a few seconds, it soared to over 100 ℃!

As a Frost Wolf Knight who lived in the polar regions for a long time, suddenly entering such a high-temperature environment at this moment made his entire body feel very uncomfortable!

Even the air breathed into his lungs carried a strong burning sensation, eroding his internal organs.

Assam instantly felt a piercing pain!

And this was only the beginning.

As strange creatures appeared in the tomb room and rapidly approached him,

this Frost Wolf Knight also felt a strong sense of crisis.

However, he quickly adjusted his state.

Straddling the back of the Frost Wolf, he looked ahead with a firm gaze and said, "Come on, I won't lose!"

The battle broke out instantly!