Chapter 147 – Vigorous Energy

Chapter 147 – Vigorous Energy

After more than ten minutes, Cheng Yang traversed the entire maze. All the demonized beasts that attempted to block his path along the way had turned into corpses. Their only contribution was providing Cheng Yang with a small amount of spiritual energy and four pieces of black iron equipment.

Cheng Yang stood before the massive black wolf leader. Without hesitation, he cast a freezing spell. The black wolf leader didn’t even have time to express its fury before being completely frozen. Cheng Yang then unceremoniously shot two ice spheres, ending the wolf’s miserable existence.

Picking up the newly dropped black iron equipment, Cheng Yang walked behind the wolf’s corpse where an item lay – a statue enhancement stone.

Since the Dark Night Forest was a mage-related dungeon, this statue enhancement stone only worked on mage statues. This was exactly what Cheng Yang had been hoping for. Once he brought this stone back to Phoenix Village, Chu Lingling, that young girl, would be able to successfully change her class.

Truth be told, Cheng Yang didn’t place much importance on clearing the normal difficulty of the Dark Night Forest dungeon. What truly mattered to him was the nightmare difficulty that followed. Not just for the Dark Night Forest, but also for the Death Spirit Valley dungeon – Cheng Yang was equally eager to achieve the first clear on nightmare difficulty.

When Cheng Yang emerged from the dungeon, Niu Bing was filled with anticipation. Seeing Cheng Yang produce the statue enhancement stone, Niu Bing was equally excited, as this meant Phoenix Village would gain over five hundred more mages. While not all the new combatants would necessarily join the military, it still gave them hope for expansion, didn’t it?

However, Niu Bing didn’t yet know that Cheng Yang had also obtained an archer statue enhancement stone last night, or he would have been even more thrilled.

Currently, Phoenix Village had received increases in all professions except for the summoner statue. If they could obtain more statue enhancement stones in the future, they could either enhance statues in other settlements or boost certain attributes.

“Yangzi, do you think we could expand the military after we return?” Niu Bing asked with a grin.

Cheng Yang replied, “Expansion isn’t a problem. According to our original plan, none of your five battalions are at full strength yet. After we return, you can recruit some from the newly added combatants. But when recruiting, consider factors like talent. If someone’s too weak, it’s better not to bring them in.”

Niu Bing immediately assured him, “Don’t worry, I know what to do.”

Though somewhat straightforward, Niu Bing was far from stupid – otherwise, how could he have gotten into university?

The two then set off again, continuing westward.

It took them a full hour to reach the due west of Yicheng. They could have moved faster, but a section of their journey took them beyond the influence of Yicheng’s ruins and the surrounding settlements. Here, the demonized beasts were significantly stronger, and they even encountered a group led by a peak first-order beast. After a fierce battle, Cheng Yang emerged victorious.

Of course, if Cheng Yang couldn’t win such a battle, he might as well have bashed his head against a wall.

While reaching this location was relatively easy, finding the territory altar here proved much more challenging.

Searching for the territory altar in the vast jungle was undoubtedly a task requiring no particular skill. Fortunately, the altar’s influence was extensive – within a radius of two to three kilometers around the altar, no demonized beasts would appear.

Following this pattern, Cheng Yang spent nearly two hours before finally locating the territory altar about eight kilometers east of Yicheng.

When Cheng Yang occupied this territory altar, he was utterly astonished.

Originally, he had planned to use this altar solely to boost Niu Bing’s strength. After using the Divine Grace privilege, he intended to temporarily abandon it, waiting until the combatants of Crane Mountain Village were firmly established before reclaiming this settlement.

This plan was born of necessity – with Crane Mountain Village’s current combat strength, self-defense was already challenging. Otherwise, Cheng Yang wouldn’t have left Niu Bing here. Trying to develop this newly occupied Tongling Village would be even more difficult.

But the attributes of this settlement made it hard for Cheng Yang to abandon.

This was the second settlement Cheng Yang had encountered with territory attributes, the first being Phoenix Village’s Swiftness attribute. In his previous life, Cheng Yang had heard of many settlements worldwide possessing territory attributes, but they were extremely rare in any given country or region. For Cheng Yang to have occupied two such settlements – Phoenix Village and now this one – was incredibly fortunate.

There had always been a question in people’s minds regarding the rules and terminology set by the gods. The term “territory” seemed to imply a regional designation, while “settlement” referred to individual villages or towns. Yet the territory attributes only affected the settlement itself, which seemed inconsistent with the terminology. If the attribute only affected the settlement, wouldn’t “settlement attribute” be more appropriate?

This question remained unanswered even when Cheng Yang died and was reborn. Perhaps it was simply the gods’ whim, or maybe there was another reason. Either way, it would require time to verify.

In truth, Tongling Village’s territory attribute wasn’t particularly impressive, especially compared to Phoenix Village’s.

Undoubtedly, this was a territory attribute related to support professions. While support professions were powerful in the apocalypse – a skilled support professional could earn substantial spiritual energy without daily combat, often surpassing combat professionals – they weren’t highly valued in the early stages. Few had spare spiritual energy to purchase support products, leaving shops in both main cities and settlements largely deserted.

Moreover, this territory attribute had limitations – one had to stay in the settlement for 10 hours, unlike Phoenix Village’s Swiftness attribute which was permanently integrated into personal attributes.

Yet despite its relative weakness, it was still a territory attribute. The rarity of such attributes made this settlement exceptionally valuable.

While Cheng Yang could abandon this settlement now and reclaim it later, doing so would undoubtedly slow its development.

The higher a settlement’s level, the more powerful its territory attributes became – a fact verified by every settlement possessing such attributes. Therefore, to maximize this settlement’s potential, it needed to develop as quickly as possible.

“Yangzi, what’s wrong?” Niu Bing asked, seeing Cheng Yang standing motionless by the altar.

Cheng Yang explained the settlement’s attributes and continued pondering solutions.

Niu Bing suddenly suggested, “Boss, why overthink it? You could just stay here for a couple of days. Once the territory reaches level 2 and builds level 2 walls, it’ll be much safer. Then we can let the territory develop gradually. The only concern is whether Phoenix Village has enough spiritual energy.”

Cheng Yang slapped his forehead – why had he been so stuck in his thinking?

He had briefly considered staying here himself but dismissed the idea, feeling he couldn’t leave Phoenix Village for long with someone in Xiangcheng City watching closely.

But after hearing Niu Bing’s words, he realized he might be worrying too much. With Yuan Jianze’s current strength, he wouldn’t dare provoke Phoenix Village, given Cheng Yang’s formidable reputation. Cheng Yang suspected Yuan Jianze had people watching the southern passage of Xiangcheng City to confirm his presence in the settlement.

If they confirmed his absence and that he wouldn’t return soon, they might attack. Of course, this was just a possibility – Yuan Jianze might not have such intentions.

As for the previously planted landmine, it was likely a test of Phoenix Village’s resolve.

Cheng Yang now had two options: confront Yuan Jianze directly about the landmine, demonstrating Phoenix Village’s strength and keeping him in line for a while; or ignore the landmine, feigning weakness, and deliberately letting Yuan Jianze know of his absence to lure an attack.

Originally, Cheng Yang had planned the second approach, hence his inaction regarding the landmine. However, this strategy had a flaw – he couldn’t control Yuan Jianze’s thoughts. If Yuan Jianze chose to remain cautious and inactive, Cheng Yang couldn’t afford to wait indefinitely.

After some thought, he decided to visit Yuan Jianze tonight, bringing Xiao Bai along. He was quite curious about Yuan Jianze’s reaction upon seeing him.

Turning to Niu Bing, Cheng Yang said, “Alright, we’ll do as you suggest. I’ll stay here for a couple of days and let Tongling Village develop properly.”

Cheng Yang then appointed Niu Bing as Tongling Village’s village chief. As for the deputy chief position, Cheng Yang wasn’t worried – with an hour remaining, he had plenty of time to handle matters.

First, Cheng Yang had Niu Bing use the Pseudo Divine Grace privilege, instantly making him Phoenix Village’s first high-level summoner apprentice. Moreover, Niu Bing’s high-level cultivation progress was nearing 50%, meaning he would soon reach the peak level. Currently, only Yu Kai and Liu Hao among Phoenix Village’s combatants had higher cultivation progress than him.

(To be continued…)