"Even if I don’t get the chance, don’t expect me to surrender to you."
When Musa saw Sardo’s reaction, he thought Sardo was going to take the opportunity to convince him. How could he allow that?
Unexpectedly, Sardo waved his hand and asked his subordinates to bring over a piece of gold.
He opened the box, revealing a dragon-shaped statue as black as ink inside.
After seeing the statue, Musa couldn’t help but stare.
"This is what I collected in the foggy area: the Black Demonic Dragon statue. If you can’t get the opportunity of the orthodox Dragon Race, the Black Demonic Dragon can also..."
"How does the Black Demonic Dragon count as a dragon!"
"Bullshit! Why is the black dragon not considered a dragon?"
Sardo looked distressed and cursed while glaring at Musa.
They had all gotten so mixed up that their bases had been targeted, and yet Musa still held onto those so-called orthodox and unorthodox ideas.
The most important thing for Musa right now was to strengthen his own power; otherwise, he wouldn’t even be qualified to participate in the next competition!
Once Sardo digested his own opportunities, his strength would also undergo a massive leap. By then, would Musa still expect to stand on equal footing with him? Dream on!
After being scolded by Sardo, Musa’s face distorted so heavily that it was almost impossible to discern its original shape.
As Sardo finished speaking, he threw the golden box directly in front of Musa with a loud bang, and the black dragon statue inside rolled out with a roar.
"If you only have the potential you have shown so far, then I’m sorry, but you will not be able to obtain my equal covenant."
"I will mobilize the troops in the West District and invade your South District. I will have a battle with Toji Hisami in the South District first."
"As for your Holy Spirit Alliance, hehe..."
Sardo left those words behind, then looked at Musa faintly.
As a member of the Golden Family, he possessed plenty of rationality and strategic vision.
He was now fully aware of the gap between himself and Toji Hisami, and he faced this gap squarely.
That was why he directly brought out what he had gained in the fog to improve the strength of his "allies."
However, if Musa still clung to his old ideas, Sardo would no longer stand on ceremony and would directly send troops into the Southern District.
If Toji Hisami could devour it, why couldn’t he, Sardo, devour it too?
Musa clenched his fists tightly, a faint trace of bloody aura emerging from his body. It was obvious that his emotional state was extremely unstable.
No one knew how much time passed before he closed his eyes in defeat, tossing the statue of the Bull Demon in his hand over to Sardo.
"I won’t take advantage of you. I’ll give you the Bull Demon, and you give me the Black Demonic Dragon."
"Deal! Then I’ll wait for your results!"
Sardo caught the Bull Demon statue. This item was considered an extra bonus, so he lost nothing at all.
Musa ignored Sardo, picked up the black dragon statue at his feet, and left the hall.
After Musa departed, Sardo looked at the other members of the Golden Alliance.
"From today onward, everyone must concentrate their efforts around me and train our elite forces."
"We will form an army and head into the Southern District to compete with Toji Hisami! I will not give him any more time to develop!"
"Even if we beat the Southern District into mud, we must hold back Toji Hisami!"
"In addition, form an exploration team to push north and see what’s going on in the Northern District..."
Everyone accepted the order, got up to return to their respective territories, and began carrying out Sardo’s commands.
The massive meeting hall was bright and grand. Sardo sat upon his golden throne, gazing out at the blue sky and white clouds outside.
"Toji Hisami, the real competition starts right now!"
Meanwhile, in the Southern District.
All members of the Holy Spirit Alliance suddenly received a notification.
A new note appeared on their alliance interface: [Holy Spirit Alliance] and [Golden Alliance] have officially formed an alliance.
Ai Lan suddenly took a deep breath, letting her entire body relax.
Musa had finally crossed the mist and established an alliance with Sardo.
Next, they would receive strong support from their allies. A person like Sardo would never sit back and watch Toji Hisami occupy the Southern District.
Ai Lan immediately issued an order to make the Holy Spirit Alliance appear relaxed on the outside while tightening control on the inside.
They were fully preparing for the coming struggle in the Southern District.
Her first order was to monitor and collect intelligence on all other lords in the Southern District.
When Musa returned with his allies, those independent lords would be the first targets of their attack.
Only by clearing away those fence-sitters could they concentrate fully on fighting Toji Hisami.
However, Ai Lan did not know that at the exact moment she gave the order, a message was secretly passed along.
Soon, Elara also received news of the alliance between the Holy Spirit Alliance and the Golden Alliance.
She immediately reported the news to Toji Hisami.
"Oh, those guys aren’t completely stupid."
Toji Hisami looked down at the information in his hand. It had been secretly passed over by the Elephant Man Lord, containing news of the alliance as well as Ai Lan’s internal arrangements.
The Holy Spirit Alliance was practically laid completely bare before them.
"Don’t let the news out just yet. Simply arrange for our people to reinforce the defense structures in the buffer zone under the guise of general territorial protection."
Elara instantly picked up on the subtle implication behind his words, and her expression couldn’t help but turn serious.
What Toji Hisami meant was that he suspected there might still be undercover agents of the Holy Spirit Alliance among the current group of lords.
Such critical news would not be publicized for the time being; instead, it would be folded into daily routines to prevent any internal leaks.
Although Elara didn’t want to believe that any of the lords who followed her out still harbored loyalty toward the Holy Spirit Alliance, Toji Hisami’s caution was entirely justified.
Over the next month, Elara quietly established the buffer zone’s defensive structures through standard trade arrangements.
At the same time, she also dispatched members of her territory to secretly plant the Thorns of Fantasy along the banks of the Yudai River.
As for Toji Hisami, he spent this period recuperating, though he remained far from idle.
Utilizing the Phantom Star suit he had obtained as a reward, he activated its innate skill, Phantom Star Incarnation, to create a clone.
The avatar possessed no self-awareness and required Toji Hisami to issue orders or control it directly to act.
It served as a perfect substitute for his main body to go outside and conduct business. As long as his mana supply held out, the clone could be maintained indefinitely.
Toji Hisami used his clone to stay in Elara’s domain, working alongside her to research methods for planting the World Tree seed.
He intended to plant the World Tree seed within his own territory, so he naturally needed to gather all sorts of concepts and data beforehand.
When the time came, he could turn the findings over to the specialists in his territory to conduct targeted research and speed up the process.
Meanwhile, taking into consideration that Elara’s combat strength in the Southern District might decline after he eventually left, he gave the matter much thought and decided to place the golden dragon statue in the Southern District.
Elara and Toji Hisami selected a location within the Blood Spirit Territory’s borders that adjoined Elara’s domain.
Dense woods had grown up around Elara’s territory, offering excellent concealment.
Since Enlina was Toji Hisami’s vassal and the Blood Spirit Territory functioned as a subsidiary domain of the Jiuzhou Territory, the overlord retained full authority to make spatial arrangements.
When Toji Hisami activated the dragon beast lair here, its ultimate ownership still belonged to him.
Enlina naturally raised no objections, and Elara was equally delighted to see the defensive capabilities of the Hetao area grow even stronger.
Under the watchful eyes of both women, Toji Hisami activated the statue. The moment it hit the ground, a towering solitary mountain erupted straight out of the earth!
The tremendous commotion immediately put the surrounding territories on alert.
However, because the Blood Spirit troops were guarding the perimeter of the forest, outsiders had no way of knowing what had actually transpired inside.
All that could be seen from a distance was a newly protruding mountain peak, while finer details remained impossible to discern.
Toji Hisami, Enlina, and Elara stood atop the mountain peak.
None of them had expected the golden dragon statue to form an entire mountain peak; they had originally assumed it would be a flat structural building.
With the mountain peak firmly established, several cavern entrances peeled open along the cliff faces.
A massive round stone altar emerged at the summit, streams of light flickering across its surface.
Toji Hisami inspected the altar and immediately retrieved the corresponding information.
[Golden-Bronze Flying Dragon Lair]
[A low-tier dragon beast carrying the bloodline of a golden dragon. It possesses formidable physical defense capabilities and exceptional flight speed.]
[Generates 3 to 6 young dragon beasts per week, with a certain probability of producing a high-tier golden dragon directly.]