Not Slaves, but This Lord's Seeds!

Wang Yu understood as well that this meant the lord was providing additional resources, allowing talents to be cultivated more effectively.

Qian Wu Country Lord probably wished everyone under him would do the same—spend their own money on resources, cultivate more talents, and earn him greater contributions for the race!

Later that day, Venina came to report again. The hundred million Apprentice Grade slaves Wang Yu had ordered had arrived on War God Star, and their control chips had been removed on the spot, releasing them as free citizens.

The result was...

[Purchased 100 million Apprentice Grade citizens. Reward: 1 Origin Energy]

"Does directly buying slaves to increase the population give so little reward?" Wang Yu pondered the message.

"Ordinary Apprentice Grade slaves generally cost 10 White Dragon Coins each. A hundred million of them costs one billion White Dragon Coins, yet the reward is only six million White Dragon Coins—one Universe Coin?"

"I'd lose money doing this, but... that's only the initial loss. Once they have descendants and improve through cultivation, they can all earn money for me."

"Since it can make money, I need to keep buying them and increase my population like crazy!"

Wang Yu sat within the D4-class Universe Spaceship, looking down through the external-view simulation at the densely packed hundred million slaves.

In truth, they were no longer slaves.

At this moment, they were free citizens.

These people...

In the eyes of other powerful figures, they might have been nothing more than trash unworthy even of citizenship, fit only to be sold as slaves for 10 White Dragon Coins apiece and used for hard labor or sent to dangerous places to risk their lives gathering resources.

But in Wang Yu's eyes, they were all seeds.

They were crop seeds this lord had scattered across his fields.

As long as he watered and fertilized them, tended to them carefully, then waited for harvest season, they would bring this lord returns a thousandfold, ten-thousandfold, or even greater!

Just getting them to break through to the Planetary-level would bring in one hundred million Universe Coins!

Not to mention that they could continue cultivating and growing stronger, have children, and those children could keep earning rewards for him...

At that thought, the smile on Wang Yu's face widened.

But this lord was only just getting started. He did not have the leisure to slowly admire the lives of his citizens.

The D4-class Universe Spaceship rose into the air, quickly pierced War God Star's atmosphere, and flew into space.

There were still many places where he needed to spend money. He could not personally toss Universe Crystals to Venina every time. That would be too troublesome and beneath the dignity of a lord.

So he needed to make a trip to the Imperial Capital Star of the Blue Silver Empire and deposit some Universe Coins into his Cosmic Galaxy Bank account, specifically for territorial expenses.

The hundred million newly freed slaves still looked tense and terrified, hardly daring to breathe.

Many of them had been slaves since birth.

Some had mined for most of their lives, some had assembled parts day and night in factories, and some had been bought and sold like goods by their masters, passed from one planet to another.

They had never known what freedom felt like.

They had never even dared to imagine it.

But just moments ago...

When the uniformed people drove them out of the transport ships, someone told them that the control chips in their brains had been removed.

From this day onward, they were no longer slaves.

They were free citizens!

"We're free!"

"We're not slaves anymore!"

Gradually coming back to their senses and realizing that they truly were no longer slaves, they immediately erupted into cheers!

A thousand people, ten thousand people... a hundred million people shouting at once. Their voices converged like a tidal roar, and even the earth seemed to tremble faintly!

Some wept aloud, some knelt and kowtowed toward the palace, while others hugged complete strangers beside them, shouting and jumping.

"Thank you, Lord!"

"Thank you, Lord!"

"Long live the Lord!"

Countless people cried out the same words, their voices rising and falling without end.

Inside the D4-class Universe Spaceship.

With an almost imperceptible tremor, the spaceship broke through the speed of light and entered the Dark Universe.

After drifting through the universe for more than two hundred years, Wang Yu had long gotten used to entering the Dark Universe aboard a spaceship. He showed no reaction, merely reclining on a soft, comfortable sofa while looking at the system's Lord Mall.

War God Star was still quite far from the Imperial Capital Star of the Blue Silver Empire, roughly three hundred thousand light-years away. However, the D4-class Universe Spaceship was fast, capable of reaching nearly three times the speed of light. Traveling through the Dark Universe would take only about five days, ten days for the round trip.

In ten days, Venina could probably complete three rounds of selection. By the time he returned, he would be able to see the layers of carefully selected leeks... ahem, talented citizens!

Being a lord really was great!

Back when he had still been Star-level, although he had been a Third-Class Elite of the Ganwu Dojo and possessed some status and prestige, his resources had all gone toward cultivation. He did not have much money to hire servants. At most, he could order around a few Planetary-level servants, and even they had been arranged by the Ganwu Dojo.

Now that he was a lord, millions worked for him. A single command from him determined the fate of hundreds of millions!

This feeling of holding power over the world and controlling everything was truly exhilarating!

Of course, he also knew that this control extended only to low-level beings like Apprentice Grade, Planetary-level, and Star-level cultivators. It was not actually much.

There were countless powerhouses in the universe. At present, he was merely a small Universe-level lord.

"I need to hurry and improve! A Universe-level cultivator may be able to rule dozens of planets in Human Territory, but on the Extraterritorial Battlefield, they're the lowest cannon fodder. The aftershock of a powerhouse's battle could wipe out swaths of them!"

"If I lie low in Human Territory, there generally won't be any trouble, but it isn't absolutely safe. If I accidentally offend a powerhouse, they can simply pin a crime on me and seize me as a slave."

"Or they may not even need to accuse me of anything. If a slave-catching crew is strong enough and has a powerful backer, they could charge over and capture me directly. Would the Blue Silver Empire really stand up for me?"

Wang Yu understood very well just how chaotic the bottom rungs of Humanity were.

For example, the Fire Phoenix Group established by Pansi in the original story, which concealed a large amount of Locke Divine Water.

With a World Lord leading it and several Domain Lords involved, it could already be considered a major force. Even if such a force acted tyrannically and randomly captured Universe-level cultivators from lesser countries as slaves, basically no one would bother interfering.

The strong could not be bothered, while the weak could not intervene.

The Blue Silver Empire possessed the territory of ten galaxies. Among lesser countries, its strength was not weak. There was a chance that a World Lord level powerhouse was stationed there; at worst, it should have a relatively powerful peak Domain Lord level expert.

So he was relatively safer operating here, but calamity could strike at any time. He could not let down his guard completely.

"Now that I'm heading to the Imperial Capital Star to deposit money, I can show a bit of wealth. As long as it isn't too excessive, I can handle it with my status and strength."

"Probably... depositing ten million Universe Coins would be a suitable amount. It would also let me become a one-star account holder at Cosmic Galaxy Bank."

Wang Yu looked at the Lord Mall and pondered.

The mall had everything, from worthless ordinary dirt and stones to...

Even treasures belonging to Hunyuan Lord!