The early winter wind swept across the northern wilderness of the Chaotic Territory, stirring up clouds of dust and withered grass.
After crossing the border of the O'Brien Empire, the atmosphere changed abruptly. Here, there were no orderly farmlands and towns like in the heart of the empire; instead, abandoned villages, charred watchtowers, and small groups of bandits and mercenaries clad in tattered leather armor and carrying blood-stained swords were everywhere along the official road.
In this bloody quagmire with a population of 300 million and dozens of principalities whose existence is uncertain, strength is the only law and the only hope for the common people to survive.
Ahead of the official road, a towering city, entirely constructed of massive gray-black rocks, slowly emerged from the hazy horizon.
The city wall was over twenty meters high, its surface rough and mottled, covered with craters left by sword cuts, axe blows, and magical attacks, and gleaming with chilling dark red bloodstains. Above the city wall, a tattered battle flag embroidered with a giant black bear was planted crookedly.
Blackstone City.
Located in the northernmost part of the Chaotic Territory, near the edge of the Dark Forest, this border fortress has a permanent population of about 80,000 and governs dozens of surrounding villages and towns, with a total population of nearly 700,000.
Linley, dressed in a dark blue warrior's robe with his Black Jade Heavy Sword slung across his back, walked steadily at the front. Bebe perched on his shoulder, its big, dark eyes curiously surveying the surroundings; Haeru, meanwhile, shrank to the size of a normal cheetah and silently followed behind.
Behind them, the five Barker brothers, dressed in coarse cloth jackets, stood tall and imposing, their two-meter-tall bodies resembling moving walls of steel. Each carried a heavy black blade weighing thousands of pounds on their backs, and each step they took on the frozen ground produced a dull thud. Sessler, his body concealed by a wide gray robe, leaned on a short bone cane; Jenny and the sisters Lina and Rebecca rode in the middle gray carriage.
Wearing a simple long robe, Doehring Cowart walked leisurely beside Linley, his hands tucked into his sleeves, his aura deep and restrained, like an old scholar with no cultivation.
"This is the city." Sessler's hoarse voice came from under his hood. "The old lord of Blackstone City was Barton, an early-stage level eight warrior. He made his fortune by exploiting passing caravans with his three thousand fierce private soldiers. He was greedy and stingy, harsh on his subordinates, and levied a 70% tax on the common people. If we're looking for a foothold where the people's hearts are broken and it's easiest to win them over, this place is perfect."
" Eighth-level Warrior, huh?" Barker grinned, a bloodthirsty fighting spirit flashing in his large, bell-shaped eyes. "Sir, this kind of small fry doesn't even need your help. My brothers and I can take down the city gate in half an hour."
Linley looked at the city guards at the city gate, their expressions blank and malnourished, holding rusty spears. He shook his head slightly. "Let's talk inside the city. What we need is a stable base, not a massacre-stricken wasteland."
Entering the city was extremely smooth. When the guards saw the five Barker brothers' terrifying, godlike physiques and the cold, murderous aura emanating from Haeru's eyes, they were so frightened that they didn't even dare to ask for the city entrance tax and tremblingly released the gate.
The city was dilapidated and oppressive.
The streets were paved with uneven black stones, and most of the low stone houses on both sides had their doors and windows tightly closed. Ragged beggars and emaciated children could be seen everywhere in the streets and alleys. Occasionally, a few thugs with knives would pass by, and the common people would retreat in fear like startled rabbits.
"The people are suffering terribly, and resentment is running high." Doehring looked around and sighed softly. "In a place like this, the common people have no loyalty to the rulers. Whoever can give them a stable meal is their god."
"Then we'll be the gods," Linley said calmly.
In the middle of the street, a troop of imperial guards on dappled warhorses suddenly roared in.
Leading the group was a bloated young man in a brocade robe, his face full of fat and menacing. He casually lashed out at passersby with a leather whip, laughing wildly as he charged forward, "Get out of the way! All of you, get out of my way! You ruined the young master's feast at the City Lord's Mansion today, I'll skin you alive!"
The long whip whistled through the air, aiming straight for the head of a frail girl who had fallen to the ground by the roadside!
"Court death."
Gates' eyes flashed with a fierce light. He took a step forward, and his large hand suddenly clenched in mid-air like an iron clamp!
"Smack!"
Gates gripped the sharp leather whip tightly in his palm.
The young man in brocade robes on horseback felt an irresistible, violent force coming from the whip. Before he could even scream, he was ripped through the air!
"Boom!"
The massive body crashed heavily onto the hard stone pavement, countless bones broken, blood gushing out.
"Young Lord!" The dozen or so guards behind him were shocked and drew their sabers.
The young man in the brocade robe wailed in agony on the ground, screaming venomously, "Kill... kill them! Chop these bastards into pieces and feed them to the dogs!!"
"Noisy."
Barker snorted coldly, without even using the giant blade on his back, he simply slammed his right foot into the ground.
"Boom!!"
A violent surge of earth energy exploded outwards in a fan shape along the ground! The dozen or so warhorses and their cavalrymen were instantly thrown off balance by the terrifying shockwave. The horses neighed and collapsed with broken bones, while the knights were thrown around, dazed and foaming at the mouth.
The civilians who had been hiding in the shadows on both sides of the street were all stunned.
The young lord of Blackstone City, who had been a tyrant for many years, was as fragile as clay in front of these five strange giants!
"M-My lord, spare my life! My father is Lord Barton, an Eighth-level Warrior! If you dare touch me, the three thousand troops of Blackstone City will never let you go!" The young man in the brocade robe crawled backward in terror, tears streaming down his face.
Linley didn't even glance at him, but simply said to Barker, "Since the city lord's mansion is just ahead, let's go straight there."
"Yes, sir!"
Barker lifted the limp, brocade-robed youth with one hand, carrying him like a chick, and strode toward the most imposing Blackstone Fortress in the city center.
In front of the city lord's mansion.
Lord Barton had already received the news. When he led more than two hundred elite guards out of the gate, he saw his son being casually thrown down the steps.
"Damn it! Where did these vagrants come from, daring to run wild in Blackstone City!" Barton's face twisted in pain, and a powerful, earth-yellow level eight Battle-qi suddenly erupted from his body. A large, finely crafted steel broadsword was pointed directly at the five Barker brothers in front of him. "Form ranks! Shoot them to death with a hail of arrows!"
Just as the two hundred crossbowmen raised their heavy crossbows, a terrifying, suffocating pressure suddenly swept across the world.
Linley slowly took a step forward.
"Buzz--"
He did not draw the Black Jade Heavy Sword, nor did he Dragonform; it was merely Earth Element magic called " Gravitational Field " activated by his Peak of the Ninth Level spiritual power!
The space within a radius of 100 meters suddenly turned into a stagnant, yellowish-brown swamp!
A full eight times the force of gravity, crashing down without restraint!
"Snap! Snap!"
The earth's stone slabs sank half a foot in an instant! The two hundred heavily armored guards couldn't even pull the bowstrings before their knees slammed into the ground under the terrifying pressure of gravity. Their armor was deeply embedded in the mud and rocks, and their powerful crossbows were crushed by their own weight!
"Puff!!"
Even a powerful early-stage level eight like Barton suddenly slumped down, his bones groaning under the strain, and a mouthful of blood spilled from his throat. He looked up in horror at the black-haired youth who calmly strolled into the gravity field, his eyes filled with boundless despair and fear.
"A level nine... Level 9 Great Mage?! And Saint Realm at that?!"
Barton's voice trembled. How could a small city like Blackstone City in the Chaotic Territory finger?!
Gates laughed wildly and strode forward, the massive black blade weighing over five thousand pounds on his back landing lightly on Barton's throat.
"Old man, you were shouting quite loudly just now!" Gates ' booming voice echoed throughout the entire city lord's mansion. "I'll give you two choices: first, let your three thousand good-for-nothings stretch their muscles for us; second, hand over the seals and ledgers, and get out of the city lord's position!"
The cold, massive blade pressed into his flesh, and Barton trembled violently. Faced with absolute power, all his greed and ferocity vanished instantly.
"I surrender... I give it all! I'll surrender everything! Please spare my life, sir!!"
As dusk falls, the setting sun bathes Blackstone City in a magnificent golden hue.
On the spacious training ground of the city lord's mansion, more than three thousand city guards stood solemnly and tremblingly. The five Barker brothers stood side by side in front of the high platform like five mountains, their black giant blades stuck upside down in the ground, exuding a murderous aura.
In the center of the high platform, Linley sat quietly on a stone chair, his expression serene and profound.
Sessler stepped forward, his hoarse voice spreading through the city to every corner via magic:
" Barton, the former lord of Blackstone City, was tyrannical and exploitative of his soldiers and civilians. He has been deposed and expelled today! From this day forward, Blackstone City belongs to Lord Barker!"
The soldiers below the stage exchanged glances, the atmosphere still filled with unease and vigilance. In Chaotic Territory, it was common for the ruling class to change hands frequently, and a change of city lord often meant even more brutal purges and exploitation.
However, Sessler's next words struck everyone like a thunderbolt:
"First, Blackstone City abolishes all its previous exorbitant taxes and levies. Effective immediately, all civilians within the city will be exempt from all monetary taxes for three years, except for a small grain tax to prepare for famine!"
"Secondly, all three thousand existing city guards will be retained. Those who qualify for enlistment will receive three times their previous pay, starting this month! Those who die in battle will receive full compensation for their widows and children!"
"Third, open government granaries in the city, and starting tonight, distribute food to all the starving people in the city for three days!"
The entire drill ground, and even the tens of thousands of civilians gathered around it, fell silent for a moment.
Three years of tax exemption?! Military pay tripled?! Grain distributed from granaries?!
In this Chaotic Territory where human life is cheap and people live on the edge of death every day, such a decree is unheard of, even as unreal as a myth!
"Sir... is this true?!" an old soldier asked in a trembling voice.
Linley, sitting on the stone chair, slightly raised his hand, and a flash of light appeared on the spatial ring at his fingertip.
"Splash--!!"
Crates upon crates of gold coins and magic crystals, gleaming brilliantly in the sunlight, poured out of thin air, piling up on the platform to form a golden mountain several meters high! The dazzling golden light illuminated the previously numb and dull eyes of the thousands of people below!
For Linley, who had plundered the Fenlai royal family and Clayde's millennia-old treasures, a few million gold coins were nothing more than a drop in the ocean. But for this desolate frontier town, it was a tremendous opportunity that would allow everyone to stand tall and survive!
"Today, the full amount of military pay will be paid." Linley's calm voice echoed throughout the land. " Barker's words are the ironclad rule of Blackstone City."
After a brief period of stunned silence.
"Roar--!!"
A roar like a landslide and a tsunami instantly shattered the silence of dusk!
"Long live Lord Barker!!"
"Long live Lord Barker!!"
Thousands of strong soldiers knelt down on one knee in unison, slamming their sword hilts against their breastplates with a resounding crash! Immediately afterward, tens of thousands of civilians outside the training ground erupted in heart-wrenching cheers and cries of anguish, with countless people falling to their knees and kowtowing frantically toward the high platform.
At this moment, people's hearts were completely won over.
On the high floor of the city lord's mansion, Doehring Cowart leaned against the railing, looking down at the surging sea of people below, his eyes filled with approving smiles. "Break their courage with thunderous methods, and win their hearts with gold and stone. Little fellow, you understand the will of the people better than many self-proclaimed great founding monarchs of five thousand years ago."
Jenny walked to Linley's side, her clear eyes sparkling. " Big Brother Lei, I've already put Nemi and the others in charge of the city's household registration and granary accounts. Mr. Sessler is reorganizing the defenses, and Lina and Rebecca are helping to identify spies within the city guard. Although Blackstone City is dilapidated, its terrain is treacherous, backed by the Dark Forest. Within two or three months, we can train a truly formidable army."
Linley withdrew his gaze from the edge of the platform and looked out over the boundless wilderness to the south and east.
That place is a land of faith that the Radiant Church has painstakingly cultivated for thousands of years, and also a bloody crucible where the forty-eight principalities are deeply intertwined.
"Three years of tax exemption and triple military pay—the news will soon spread throughout dozens of cities in the northern part of the Chaotic Territory via caravans." Linley's eyes narrowed slightly, deep and unfathomable. " The Radiant Church wants a vague and ethereal divine faith, while the common people just want a way to survive."
He raised his hand and placed it on the cold Black Jade Heavy Sword.
Blackstone City is just the first piece in the game.
From this day forward, the rules of this chaotic land shall change.