Surround and Kill!

Kru lowered his head and bowed respectfully once more before speaking:

"Master, Kru should not presume to question your decisions...

But those lowly, foolish Devil Creatures simply aren't worth it!

You only need to give them a bite to eat and keep them alive.

You really shouldn't give them a tenth of the land's harvest as payment. It pains Kru to see it on your behalf."

"It really isn't worth it for you, Master!"

Kru looked at Wentesi with an earnest expression, his gaze sincere and his words heartfelt enough to move anyone.

The loss of the territory's produce pained Kru even more than it did Wentesi.

Wentesi did not immediately respond. Instead, he was somewhat gratified.

He was gratified that Kru had a decent head on his shoulders and could think of such things.

For once, Wentesi patiently explained:

"This is the difference between a true dragon's perspective and yours. If you treat those Devil Creatures as nothing but slaves, working them to death and squeezing them dry,

they'll only work inefficiently, and their output will be limited.

But give them some payment, with more for doing more, and they'll work themselves to the bone. In the end, more will land in my hands."

Slavery was far too inefficient!

Wentesi's approach, on the other hand, could improve efficiency and increase output. Far from losing out, he would come out ahead.

Besides, Wentesi knew full well that this was not a genuine system of employment. It was more like a variation of slavery.

After all, the Devil Creatures' lives and freedom were in Wentesi's hands. Life or death, reward or punishment, he decided it all.

When the time came, he could squeeze their savings out of them in a somewhat reasonable way. Wouldn't that be wonderful?

Reasonable exploitation, of course~

For example, he could open a few shops in the territory.

Set up casinos!

Set up taverns!

Set up brothels!

Whatever brought in money fast, set it up!

Then he could raise the odds at the casinos a little, hike up the price of drinks at the taverns, and so on.

A second round of exploitation would begin.

Reduce a portion of their pay in exchange for greater productivity. He had learned this logic at school when he was human in his previous life, and it was perfectly applicable here.

In theory, the more wealth the Devil Creatures in his territory had, the wealthier Wentesi would become.

Though this was Wentesi's first time being a landlord, for some reason he took to it like an old hand, and was even a little excited.

Kru only half understood, but he respectfully lowered his head nonetheless.

"This subordinate understands. I will obey your orders, Master."

With that, he left the dragon's nest.

Wentesi checked Kru's condition.

It was very stable. His cultivation in the Purple Mansion Golden Core Dao was at the second level of Embryonic Breathing, halfway to the third.

His life level was four. He was making steady progress, which was quite good.

Wentesi then checked Walker's condition.

"Oh, Walker's doing well with his cultivation."

Wentesi sensed that Walker had broken through to the second layer of the Formless Muscle-Changing Sutra.

In just a few short days, Walker had gone from never having cultivated before to breaking through to the second layer. His progress was astonishingly fast.

Wentesi was very satisfied as he sensed the tithe Walker had paid.

It had fed back into his own Formless Muscle-Changing Sutra. Though it wasn't much, even a mosquito's leg was meat, and it was better than nothing.

It seemed Walker was quite talented at cultivating this Cultivation Method. That was an unexpected bonus.

Wentesi had originally planned to kick Walker out of the Field of Merit, but now it seemed there was no need.

Afterward, Wentesi walked out of the dragon's nest and stood on a rocky outcrop, looking down over the territory below.

In the twilight, wisps of cooking smoke rose from the territory. Woodlands spread across the planting area, while pinpricks of light still twinkled in the fishing area in the distance.

The territory was gradually expanding, and its future looked promising.

Wentesi gazed at it all, lost in thought.

The next day, Wentesi was in no hurry to cultivate the Hairy Head Sun Method. Instead, he took out the Wind Qi cultivation tax paid by the golden eagle.

Then he fetched several mature spirit seeds tainted by the Hairy Head Sun's Qi: White Jade Grain and Mountain Ginseng.

He tried to merge Wind Qi into the spirit plants, hoping to cultivate spiritual objects of the Wind Qi lineage.

He tried again and again, but either the Spiritual Qi dispersed outright or the plants withered on the spot. After spending most of the day at it, he finally produced one, but its Spiritual Qi was mottled and its form defective-a sorry sight.

Wentesi looked at the spirit plant and shook his head inwardly.

It seemed he could not simply change the lineage of an existing spiritual object. Doing so would only produce a defective specimen.

He had to start from scratch, slowly nourishing the seeds with cultivation tax and proceeding step by step.

He put the defective specimen away.

Over the next two days, Wentesi settled down completely and devoted himself to arduous cultivation.

He refined his Hairy Head Sun Law Power under the scorching sun while carving divination patterns into his dragon scales, and also cultivated the Brahma Sound Six Consciousnesses Many Ears Penetration.

His strength rose steadily, bit by bit. The fulfillment of his life level continually ascending left Wentesi quite engrossed.

It felt better than his old routine of eating, sleeping, and eating again.

The three days passed in the blink of an eye.

That morning, Wentesi first made sure everything was in order in the territory. Then he gathered two jars of three-flower honey together with the defective White Jade Grain spirit seed.

With a movement of his Divine Sense, he passed through the barrier between the two worlds.

He arrived in a remote mountain forest outside the cultivation world's market town, placed the items on the ground, and then sent his true body back to the Western fantasy world.

Wentesi once again directed his Divine Sense into the golden eagle in his Field of Merit.

The moment he opened his eyes, Crow Lord woke up too.

Having just crossed over, Wentesi immediately instructed Crow Lord to go outside the market town and bring the items back.

Crow Lord took the hint and, without asking further, accepted the order and left.

He returned with the items, looking surprised. He held the Wind Qi spiritual object in particular close to his chest, unable to part with it.

After all, eating it could increase his cultivation, so he naturally treasured it.

Just then, the two earring Law Artifacts suddenly grew hot, and Bai Ling's cool voice rang out:

"Meet in the dead woods seven li west of the market town."

Crow Lord's earring sounded as well, and he heard it too.

The eagle and the crow spread their wings and took flight.

They left the market town, passed through a thin mist, and soon reached the dead woods to the west.

Several figures stood among the dead trees.

Bai Ling stood in the center, her plain white figure conspicuous among the gray, with an otherworldly bearing.

Three figures stood beside her, some demons and some humans.

One was a human cultivator in tattered clothes.

He was disheveled and held a black sword, leaning against a tree as he drank, his eyes bleary with drunkenness. His presence was at the middle stage of Qi Ingestion;

Another was a three-meter-tall black-furred ape demon.

He held a pair of enormous axes, his muscles bulging and his appearance fierce. His presence was likewise at the middle stage of Qi Ingestion;

The last was an old woman leaning on a cane.

Her entire body was covered in dark green scales, and she was hideously ugly. Her presence was the deepest of all, at the late stage of Qi Ingestion.

Beside them, Shu San, who was the size of a cat, stood timidly among the group.

For some reason, he was here too.

Wentesi sensed the strength of those before him and nodded inwardly.

A lineup like this should have been enough to deal with a late-stage Fire Virtue Qi Ingestion cultivator.

Of course, that was only "should."

That assumed the human cultivator had no supreme Law Artifacts or heaven-defying means.

Moreover, Wentesi had a faint feeling that the strongest among them was probably not the old woman whose presence appeared deepest.

It was the thoroughly disheveled human cultivator holding the black sword.

For through Many Ears Penetration, he had heard a metallic sword hum.

It sounded extremely sharp and brimming with killing intent.

That human cultivator probably cultivated Metal Virtue.

And they were currently under the mystical phenomenon of Floating Light Leaping Gold, which enhanced Metal Virtue cultivators in every respect. He was not to be underestimated.

Wentesi and Crow Lord had just flown overhead.

Bai Ling, who had long since noticed their approach, immediately said coldly:

"Everyone's here. Let's set out."