“But Yang Di, there’s nothing we can do. If we don’t rely on the Skeleton Legion of the Black Arrow Tower Seventh Dynasty, we’ll be in considerable danger right now.”
Zhang Song hesitated beside him, then looked at Yang Di and said, “This is a matter of long-term pain versus short-term pain. If we don’t rely on the Black Arrow Tower Seventh Dynasty’s power now, we will face immense pressure. Perhaps Deherim will engulf us before long.”
As he spoke, Zhang Song’s tone became more serious: “Moreover, as a Lord, you cannot surrender, Yang Di. It doesn’t matter for us; we can all surrender. After all, the Spiritual Realm Lord core has already merged with you. Your surrender means your death.”
Yang Di remained silent, because everything Zhang Song said was true.
The Spiritual Realm Lord inheritance, once acquired, grants immense power. It allows one to be immune to the erosion of death spirit rules and gain the protection of spirit world rules.
It could be said that as long as one possesses the Spiritual Realm Lord inheritance and becomes a Spiritual Realm Lord, they gain the confidence and foundation to live peacefully in this world, which is eroded by death spirit rules.
However, the Spiritual Realm Lord mark also establishes a soul connection with the Lord bound to it.
The Lord’s soul is the Spiritual Realm Lord mark, and the Spiritual Realm Lord mark is also the Lord’s soul; the two are inseparable. This is why a Spiritual Realm Lord needs his territory to remain intact, and why the native Spiritual Realm creatures in the Astral Realm, bound to this Lord, would support him so strongly.
It’s because they are mutually beneficial. If those Spiritual Realm creatures in the Astral Realm don’t want to be frozen again in the river of time, they must fully support this Lord.
And if this Lord wants to live better, he needs the allegiance of those Spiritual Realm creatures, and then to expand his territory, making the spirit world rules more abundant. This, in turn, strengthens his own power.
Allowing him to live better in this world eroded by death spirit rules.
This is also why everyone else can surrender, but a Spiritual Realm Lord cannot.
Because once a Lord surrenders, the Spiritual Realm Lord mark will be absorbed by others. If it’s absorbed, it means the Lord’s soul has vanished. If even the soul is gone, can the Lord still survive? This is clearly impossible.
Even if he were to live, he would be a mindless zombie. Moreover, losing the Lord status means losing all previous enhancements and the allegiance of those Spiritual Realm creatures in the Astral Realm. It’s like returning to being an ordinary person. Who could bear the reality of becoming an ordinary person again?
After all, they once held extremely high positions. Now, returning to the bottom tier, the psychological gap alone would be unbearable.
Furthermore, being able to survive and become an ordinary person is also due to the enemy's mercy.
What if the enemy isn’t merciful?
What if the enemy doesn’t want to let him go?
So, surrendering means completely entrusting one’s life to the other party, and also praying that the other party will be generous and merciful, not holding grudges for past conflicts and unpleasantries.
This means placing one’s life at the mercy of the other party’s moral standards.
Surrender.
It's akin to seeking death.
All Spiritual Realm Lords understand this principle, which is why Yang Di is silent now—he’s realized this point.
Zhang Song was truly speaking the plain truth.
After all, for those who haven’t inherited the Spiritual Realm Lord mark, surrendering means washing away their previous Spiritual Realm creature transformation.
Becoming an ordinary person again, that’s all.
At worst, they could pledge allegiance to the new Lord, then receive a new Spiritual Realm Commander’s transformation. At that point, they would still have soul-level resonance, the same life, and the same path to becoming stronger.
There are still many possibilities.
In that case.
When encountering Lords they aren’t particularly close to, they can completely surrender and won’t choose to fight to the death for that Lord. They aren’t a community of interests, nor have they truly gained any substantial benefits.
Directly surrendering, rather than fighting to the death, is actually better.
“I understand what you mean. Then tonight, I’ll go back to the Astral Realm first and ask the Wood Elf Elder what to do.” Yang Di sighed, feeling increasingly frustrated: “I really didn’t expect that Diesel Company had already given us such a headache, and now there’s a new human force. I truly don’t know what secret is hidden in our area. Even if it’s the legacy of a fallen deity, allowing one to obtain a legendary divine position or divinity, can possessing such a thing truly make one a deity?”
“I don’t know, Yang Di,” Zhang Song said, looking at Yang Di, his former CEO who had funded his education and treated him well. His tone was a bit melancholic: “But everyone says such things are incredibly good and can bring about ascension. Even the Wood Elf Elder in the Astral Realm says so, doesn’t he? If we could obtain it, perhaps we could gain powerful strength. At least it would be better than letting someone else get it.”
“I hope so,” Yang Di said, growing more helpless.
Then he turned and led the others towards the stairs. He didn’t intend to stay in this apartment any longer to look at that castle that angered him. Even if he kept looking, it would be useless.
The enemy had already built this castle on the former site of the Diesel Company, firmly controlling this area.
Staying here would only serve to fruitlessly anger himself. It was better to leave early, out of sight, out of mind.
“Moreover, Yang Di, you should know that Xue Zhigang, the former general manager of Diesel Company, reportedly obtained a divine artifact fragment of Yeenoghu, the Gnoll Lord, didn’t he? And he even gained a trace of divinity from it.”
Just as Yang Di turned to walk towards the stairs, Zhang Song followed behind him, reminding him: “At that time, the Wood Elf Elder also warned you that if Xue Zhigang absorbed that trace of divinity, he would become incredibly powerful. Therefore, we cannot relax; we must delve deeper into Long City again to search for that secret concerning the deity.”
But Yang Di paid little attention to Zhang Song’s words. He continued down the stairs, his tone helpless: “We’ve already delved into Long City and searched countless times, even clashing with the Black Arrow Tower Seventh Dynasty. If the higher-ups hadn’t intervened in time, we would definitely have had more unpleasant incidents with them.”
Thinking back to the Wood Elf he had sent out before, not only did he find nothing.
He even almost fell into a trap due to some incident, nearly preventing him from returning.
It was then that they discovered the Black Arrow Tower Seventh Dynasty had some recognition for the Wood Elf, which allowed them to establish good relations with the undead higher-ups of the Black Arrow Tower Seventh Dynasty, preventing their Skeleton Legion from attacking Green Leaf Group, thanks to those higher-ups who still had pity for the Wood Elf.
Otherwise, their Green Leaf Group would have been annihilated.
“But this is good, Yang Di. Those Wood Elf relics of the Seventh Dynasty still recognize us quite well. Even if they’ve said they’re losing control of the undead power, for now, they can still communicate and interact with us.”
Zhang Song urged again: “So, we should take advantage of their remaining sanity and good relations with us to communicate with them again, allowing us to delve into Long City to search for that wondrous mysterious power. Only then can you become stronger.”
By this time, Yang Di had reached the bottom of the apartment building.
He didn't pay attention to Zhang Song's persuasion.
He just turned his head to look at his most trusted subordinate, gently patted his shoulder, and said with a helpless tone, “I understand what you mean. I understand everything. But I’m just afraid of playing with fire. It doesn’t matter if I die, but what about you?” At this moment, only he and Zhang Song were the humans present.
So Yang Di said without hesitation: “I have no children, and you, Zhang Song, and Zhang Bo are two students I sponsored and raised. I consider you both my own children. So, if I truly cooperate with the Black Arrow Tower Seventh Dynasty, what will I do if the Black Arrow Tower Seventh Dynasty demands a price? If we rely solely on our own strength to contend with Deherim, you still have a chance to surrender. But if we cooperate with the Black Arrow Tower Seventh Dynasty, then you will have no chance to surrender.”
Yang Di spoke with great sincerity and earnestness.
Zhang Song’s eyes couldn’t help but redden after hearing him: “But Yang Di, if you cannot gain powerful strength, then for us, there will be no reason to exist. You value us so much, and we also regard you as our father. If you cannot gain powerful strength and cannot walk a stronger path, then even if we live, we will be muddled and aimless. What difference would that be from being dead?”
“Alright, stop saying these things.”
Yang Di closed his eyes for a moment, pondered, then slowly said, “Let me ask the Wood Elf Elder first. If he can re-establish contact with the Black Arrow Tower Seventh Dynasty’s higher-ups, then we can borrow the power of those undead legions.”
“Yes, Yang Di.” Zhang Song nodded beside him, his tone filled with emotion: “After all, the higher-up of the Black Arrow Tower Seventh Dynasty and the Wood Elf Elder are brothers. If they can recognize each other, it would truly be a great help to us.”
“Hmm, so be it.” Yang Di sighed, then led the Wood Elf and Zhang Song away.
The area around the apartment returned to normal, as if no one had ever been there.
However, in more secluded apartment rooms nearby, two or three Wood Elf were still hiding, acting as sentries and lookouts, monitoring New Uxhall on the distant mound.
...
After these ten days or so, nearly half a month.
All the granaries in Deherim were full, and various supplies were piled high.
It could be said that there was enough food for the nearly 40,000 Mount & Blade Soldiers and Blue Star Humans combined to eat for a month straight.
Moreover, during these past ten days, over 200 more Blue Star Humans had been appointed as Decanus by Shen Mu, leading their 10 Swadian Commoners into intense leveling work.
And all the Mount & Blade Soldiers led by these people were now able to bring more Faith Power to Shen Mu.
After all, there were an additional 2,000 casual believers out of nowhere.
And they were still progressing towards becoming true believers.
The daily output of Faith Power was over 4,000 points.
One was worth two.
This directly led to Shen Mu, despite seemingly consuming a lot of Faith Power, also gaining a considerable amount.
Moreover, as the Mount & Blade Soldiers led by the former Blue Star Human Executives all transitioned from Swadian Recruit to Swadian Militia, reaching the same level as Zhang Caidong.
And their faith values also turned into true believers.
More Faith Power was being generated.
In addition, among those Blue Star Humans, many gradually transformed from pseudo-believers to casual believers due to gaining a peaceful life and ample food supplies.
Now, the Faith Power Shen Mu received daily amounted to over 50,000 points.
If those Blue Star Humans prayed more, it could even reach around 60,000 at its peak.
And this number for Faith Power was still significantly increasing every day.
“This is really good.” Shen Mu was quite satisfied, especially after waking up this morning and seeing nearly 60,000 points of Faith Power again.
The smile on his face was impossible to hide.
“Moreover, using Faith Power to accelerate the caravans also earned me a lot of dinar.” Shen Mu then looked at his dinar balance, seeing the nearly 100,000 dinar in savings, his heart was quite excited.
After all, the project had already decided to expand Deherim. Now with an additional 100,000 dinar, the expansion of Deherim indeed needed to be put on the agenda.
After all, building two new districts on the left and right sides of Deherim, each costing 50,000 dinar, would indeed be enough to build a rough outline.
At least the city walls and arrow towers would be fine. Of course, the houses inside would not be fully built for now, but as long as these two new districts could be built, then the urban buildings they could accommodate should reach 2,000 sets of houses each.
In that case, these 2,000 sets of houses, if crowded, could still meet the housing needs of 10,000 people each.
Adding the central district, it would just be enough for over 30,000 Blue Star Humans to live inside.
Although it would still be quite crowded, it would be much safer than setting up tents outside.
“Then that’s it.” Shen Mu nodded with satisfaction, then called for the Holy Tree Knight nearby to inform Manid to come over.
He wanted to discuss this matter with his steward, and he also planned to give Manid full responsibility for how to build these two new districts. (End of Chapter)
