The rising legendary warriors and the full-level witches.

When the notification ended, Cao Xing opened his eyes right on time.

"Very good, the number of Blood Teleportation Pillars has already dropped below 20."

"At this rate, in another two or three days, all the Blood Teleportation Pillars can be completely cleared out!"

Then, as usual, Cao Xing glanced at his military merits.

[Military Merits * 73.65 Million]

Yesterday he used up 26 million military merits, and still had over 20 million left.

After a day and a night of battles, these territory members had earned another 50 million military merits for him.

"Not bad, not bad. At this rate of acquiring military merits, in another two or three days, I'll be able to gather enough military merits to exchange for that Legendary blueprint."

"In other words, by the time the Blood Chaos ends, I should just about have enough to exchange for this blueprint."

Cao Xing was quite satisfied with this result.

After all, this blueprint in the military merits shop could be said to be the most precious reward; as long as he could exchange for it, it would be a complete steal.

Moreover, the harvest was far more than that.

Aside from military merits, every time those Legendary powerhouses destroyed a Blood Teleportation Pillar, it would bring Cao Xing a fixed 2 Divine Power Shards.

Added up over the past two days, he had already obtained a total of 28 Divine Power Shards, equivalent to over 280 points of divine power value!

All of a sudden, his Divine Power Shards became abundant.

Now, he had passed the stage of scrimping and saving on divine power value.

"Aside from military merits and divine power value, wiping out so many of the Blood Legion also yielded a massive amount of experience points."

"These experience points can raise the levels of my combat personnel once again."

Cao Xing scrolled through the combat logs, and a look of pleasant surprise gradually surfaced on his face.

"Good heavens, are their levels rising this fast?"

Currently, among Cao Xing's seven Legendary powerhouses under his command, aside from Malenia, the levels of the other six were soaring crazily!

The highest level was still King Velen; he had even reached level 137 and was about to rush to level 140, which was High-tier Legendary.

Besides that, Isabelle's level had also reached level 126!

You must know that only eight days had passed since she broke through to Legendary!

This speed of growing stronger completely subverted the cognition of the natives in this world.

Then there was Liu Muxue, who possessed status skills.

Over the past few days, although she hadn't participated in the operations to destroy the Blood Teleportation Pillars, relying solely on shared experience points,

her level had soared by 22 levels in three days, reaching level 122 and becoming the third-highest-level existence in the territory.

After that were the Phantom Dancer Sarah, Dragon Queen Bing Lan, and the big guy Braum.

They were level 112, level 117, and level 109 respectively.

Cao Xing said happily: "At this rate, it seems that in just a few days, I will be able to have the first 150th-level maxed-out Legendary powerhouse!"

"Then, by destroying the teleportation pillars to acquire a large amount of Divine Power Shards, I can quickly fulfill the second condition for breaking through to Demigod."

"Coupled with the Divine Fire in my backpack… doesn't that mean I've gathered all the conditions for breaking through to Demigod?"

Thinking of this, Cao Xing instantly grew excited.

And this… also gave rise to a new idea in his heart.

That was—whether to farm the Blood Legion a bit, letting them open more teleportation pillars so he could acquire more Divine Power Shards and military merits?

After all, according to the Old King, it took one to two thousand points of divine power to elevate divinity, which meant completing the second condition for breaking through to Demigod.

For Malenia to unlock her Demigod form, she needed a full 5000 points of divine power value.

The gap in Divine Power Shards was still huge.

In addition, exchanging for that blueprint required a full 200 million military merits.

This meant that after he exchanged for the blueprint, he wouldn't have any extra military merits left to exchange for other items.

"If I let the Blood Legion continue opening teleportation pillars, in a single day I could gain a dozen more Divine Power Shards and tens of millions of military merits—"

"If I just farm them for another two or three days, I might just be able to gather the Divine Power Shards needed to break through to Demigod…"

However… just as this thought arose, it was directly cut off by him!

If the Blood Legion wanted to open teleportation pillars, they needed a massive amount of blood energy.

Where did this energy come from?

Slaughtering a large number of living beings.

Although Cao Xing hoped to possess a Demigod-level powerhouse as soon as possible, he hadn't sunk to such a frantic and ruthless extent yet!

If he really did that, what difference would he have from the Blood Legion and those guys from the Watchers?

Resorting to any means for power? Treating all living beings as ants to be slaughtered at will?

Cao Xing asked himself; he couldn't do that.

Shaking his head, Cao Xing made a decision in his heart.

"I'd better continue going all out and completely eliminate the Blood Legion first."

"As for the matter of Divine Power Shards, I'll figure out a way later."

Aside from these Legendary powerhouses, there was also one person's level progression that caught Cao Xing's attention.

That was Francesca.

She had broken through to Hero-level yesterday morning.

Although she didn't fight, because she also possessed status skills, she could share the experience of other combat personnel,

and her level was also soaring crazily.

Now, she had directly risen to level 91.

Cao Xing exclaimed: "This speed is simply too exaggerated; without doing anything for a day, she rose 21 levels consecutively."

"If word of this gets out, I don't know how many people will die of envy."

According to this projection, by the afternoon, Francesca would be able to reach level 100.

And then… she could allow this witch to break through to Legendary as well!

By then, he would possess his eighth Legendary powerhouse!

Thinking of this, Cao Xing quickly extricated himself from the warm bodies of the two mature women.

"Mm—…"

Soft breathing sounds came from beside his ear.

Xia Yanni and Elena were still fast asleep.

They had been tossed around too heavily last night; from a little past eight o'clock all the way until 12 o'clock, Cao Xing had entered a state of full-out bursting energy.

Completely draining all the strength of this pair of mature women.

Turning around to look at this moment, he saw the tall and short mature women embracing each other, with satisfied expressions on their faces.

Neither of them wore clothes; their light and fair skins pressed against each other, presenting an exquisite sense of voluptuousness and visual impact.

Just letting people take a glance made them feel mouth-parched and tongue-dried.

Cao Xing swallowed hard, quickly withdrew his gaze, and then put his clothes back on.

Without disturbing this pair of mature women, he left the Tailor Shop.

A few minutes later, Cao Xing received another visit application.

[Walnut Village Villager: Uli Seck applies to visit your territory. Do you agree?]

Seeing the prompt, he continued toward the western gate area of the territory.

In the snow outside, a group of raggedly dressed villagers was standing.

Their experiences were basically all similar.

The Blood Legion destroyed their homes, and then they began a life of wandering.

After receiving guidance from territory member Cao Yi, they came to this territory, hoping Cao Xing could take them in.

Cao Xing quickly scanned the information of this group of villagers, didn't find any special talents among them, and felt slightly disappointed in his heart.

However, he didn't show it, instead directly issuing a recruitment invitation to these villagers.

[Recruitment successful! Walnut Village Villager: Paul/Donovan/Dean have joined your territory, territory population +218…]

After the recruitment was completed, Cao Xing as usual arranged for them to be led by the Six Strongmen, first having this group do some hard labor.

Moreover, Cao Xing hadn't let the Pale Tree bestow the Blessing of Life to shelter this group of new members yet.

This could also be considered a test.

Being able to persist through the high-intensity labor of the first day meant that they would have no problem afterwards.

If there were any who couldn't endure this kind of hardship, they could also bring it up with Cao Xing and leave the territory.

Cao Xing wouldn't refuse their request either.

After arranging this batch of villagers, he continued strolling around in the territory.

Next, visit applications continued to pour in endlessly.

Today, the frequency of refugees heading to Cao Xing's territory was even more exaggerated than yesterday.

In just a single morning, he had accepted five or six hundred people.

Most of them were those distressed villagers, with a small portion being kingdom soldiers, mercenaries, and so on.

Looking at the skyrocketing population in the territory, Cao Xing's eyes were filled with an expression of gratification.

"Very good, at this rhythm, I'm afraid I'll soon be able to raise the territory's population to its limit."

"And then—that will be the time to build a Giant City!"

By the afternoon, a group of figures banded together and came to Cao Xing's side.

The number of this group of people was around thirty to forty, all of whom were villagers recruited today.

With luggage on their backs and apologetic expressions on their faces, they bowed toward Cao Xing.

"Respected Lord, there is a matter we need to apply to you for."

Cao Xing seemed to realize something, and nodded as he said: "Go ahead."

Among them, a middle-aged man in his thirties or forties stepped forward.

He looked like the leader of this group.

"I'm very sorry, Lord, but we feel we might not be competent for the work in this territory."

"My wife is in poor health, and I also have a severe cough, making it impossible to perform long hours of physical labor."

"Therefore, we would like to apply to leave this territory and find another place to live."

After the middle-aged man finished speaking, the group of villagers and several mercenaries behind him also started talking all at once.

They all had their own reasons and were afraid that Cao Xing would not agree.

Cao Xing listened quietly and then nodded, saying, "No problem, I approve your application."

The next moment, with a wave of his hand, he directly dissolved the relationship between them as subjects and their lord.

Then he said, "Alright, you can leave directly now."

Hearing this, the group of people froze for a moment, as if they hadn't expected it to be so easy.

They had thought that this lord would try to obstruct them in every possible way or even use coercive means to force them to stay.

For a moment, they felt a sense of unreality in their hearts.

But soon, they snapped back to reality.

The middle-aged man said respectfully, "Thank you, kind Lord. We shall take our leave now."

With that, the group carried their respective luggage and walked toward the city gate.

However, along the way, the gazes of the other staff members toward them carried expressions as if looking at fools.

The batch of new residents who joined yesterday also wore looks of pity on their faces.

Ever since that batch of new residents experienced last night's events, they had learned just how magical this territory was.

If the treatment in this territory were to be spread out, countless people, and even those nobles, would rack their brains to squeeze in.

Yet these residents gave up an opportunity they already possessed.

That young resident didn't know why the territory's staff looked at him like that, and his heart was filled with doubt.

And when an elderly man in his fifties, carrying a stone weighing hundreds of catties, leisurely walked past them, they seemed to realize something.

In a daze, this group of residents gradually walked out of the territory, and the gates completely closed behind them.

At this moment, they felt a bit empty inside, always feeling as though they had missed out on something——

At this moment, after letting this group of residents leave, Cao Xing continued to stroll around the territory.

At this time, a figure wearing an apron and a set of cotton-padded clothes walked over quickly.

It was the cook, Dahua.

After coming to his side, Dahua respectfully bowed.

Then she said, "Lord, may you be well."

Her face carried a hint of worry, as if she had something to report to Cao Xing.

As one of the earliest residents in the territory, Dahua's culinary skills were quite good.

Currently, the affairs and personnel arrangements over at the cafeteria were all handled by her.

And she did a very good job; so far, neither the territory's working personnel nor combat personnel had ever complained about the taste of the territory's food.

Cao Xing saw the worry on her face and asked, "Is there something the matter, Dahua?"

The female cook nodded respectfully, "It's like this, Lord."

"These past two days, our territory has recruited many new residents, and these new residents will accelerate the consumption of the territory's food."

"I need to report the food situation to you in advance."

Cao Xing nodded and said, "Go ahead."

Dahua said, "In our territory, those warriors have huge appetites, and they need to consume about two to three kilograms of food every day."

"With over two thousand soldiers, that's a consumption of at least five thousand kilograms of food a day."

"Plus beasts with astonishing appetites like griffins, Mammoths, and so on."

"Conservatively estimated, our territory consumes over eight thousand kilograms of food a day."

"Now with so many new residents added, the daily food consumption will increase significantly, and the territory's food reserves won't last much longer."

After listening to her report, Cao Xing fell into thought.

Calculated according to Dahua's figures, the daily food consumption was indeed quite exaggerated.

Conserving 8,000 kilograms of food a day means 40,000 units, which amounts to at least over 200,000 kilograms of food in a month.

He glanced at the territory's food reserves.

[Food * 612,437 (Grain-based food accounts for 60%, meat accounts for 35%, and other types of food account for 5%)]

"610,000 units, which is roughly 120,000 kilograms."

"At the absolute most, it can only support us for half a month."

"If we continue to recruit residents next, we might not even be able to last ten days."

At this moment, a sense of urgency also surfaced in Cao Xing's heart.

Food was a major issue for any territory.

Coupled with the harsh environment of this world, food production was extremely difficult. Even most of Cao Xing's food sources had relied on the sponsorship of the Church of Light to sustain him until now.

"It seems the territory's expansion needs to be put on the agenda: greatly expand the area of the agricultural zone, and then arrange more manpower to plant a large number of crops."

"Combined with the territory's various blessings, we will soon be able to harvest a large batch of food."

Cao Xing put away his thoughts and said, "I understand, Dahua, you go on with your work first. I will find a way to resolve the food issue."

"Understood, Lord."

The female cook respectfully retreated.

After she left, Cao Xing continued to ponder.

"The territory's expansion will still take some time. The harvest of the first batch of crops, even with the blessing of various buffs, will take at least a month."

"Before that, we still have to find a way to get more food to get through this window period."

"Otherwise, we simply won't be able to last until that day."

Cao Xing frowned slightly, seemingly considering a solution as well.

At this time, the sky was gradually beginning to snow heavily, with goose-feather-like snowflakes fluttering down.

Today's weather forecast said there would be a light snow in Gale Snowfield, and now it was time for it to be verified.

The snowflakes drifted down, and within a short while, they covered Cao Xing's head and shoulders.

Under the heat of the energy tower in the center of the territory, these snowflakes quickly melted, soaking Cao Xing's clothes.

Waves of chill washed over him.

After a moment, he sighed and said, "Forget it, the primary objective right now is still to end the Blood Chaos expansion."

"If worst comes to worst, I'll just go borrow some more from the Ice Crystal King to get through this period."

Just as he was preparing to return to the Lord's Castle.

A system prompt suddenly appeared.

[Your territory member: Francesca has leveled up. Current level: Level 100 (Has reached the limit of the current level).]

Seeing this prompt, Cao Xing's eyes suddenly lit up, and he stopped in his tracks.

"Very good, she's already maxed out so quickly."

"Next, it's time to let Francesca break through to Legendary!"

Only a day and a half had passed since Francesca broke through to Hero, and she had directly soared by 30 levels. This speed could only be described as terrifying.

Cao Xing pressed the communication device by his ear and said, "Come to the buffer zone to find me."

After a short while, the witch's cold and aloof response came through, "Alright."

After hanging up the communication, Cao Xing continued to wait in the territory.

Two minutes later, a tall, cold, and glamorous figure wearing a red dress walked over gracefully.

Her steps were graceful, and her whole person was like a blooming red rose. Wherever she passed, it was as if even the wind and snow automatically parted a path for her.

Cao Xing's gaze was once again drawn to this beautiful figure.

The outfit she was wearing looked a bit familiar; it seemed to be the same one Francesca wore when Cao Xing first met her in the Witch's Forest.

"Is something the matter?" The witch raised her head and asked in confusion.

A smile appeared on Cao Xing's face, and then he took out a Heart of Legend from his backpack, handing her the Relic—Forest Seed.

"This is——" A look of confusion appeared in the witch's eyes.

Cao Xing explained, "This is a Relic that can allow you to transform into the Legendary realm. I see you've already reached the limit of the Hero realm, and it's about time for a breakthrough."

Looking at these two items in his hand, a flash of light crossed Francesca's deep pupils.

However, she didn't seem as excited and thrilled as imagined.

She slowly opened her mouth to say, "Although… I don't really like fighting. Compared to that, I prefer dealing with herbs."

"But if you need my strength, I will not hesitate either."