Yesterday, shortly after returning to his territory and before he could digest the various intelligence he had harvested, Su Su urgently sought him out to alert him to a major event happening in the channel.
He was initially skeptical, wondering what could possibly warrant such panic.
But after opening the channel, he was indeed silent.
The message didn’t come from anyone else but Fan Mao, whom he had only recently come into contact with.
A message declared by an official under Fan Mao in the name of his Shang Ji.
The gist of it was that Fan Mao had always hoped to shelter them, but now, due to circumstances, they must unify the entire area, leaving only one voice.
To this end, they attached a picture he was quite familiar with, showing the Tier Six lord’s advancement requirements, and marking a note on the World Core, attaching the method to obtain the Area Core.
Though not explicitly stated, the meaning was already clear enough.
It’s not that I don’t want to shelter you now, but the territory’s advancement requirements now demand that I annex all of you!
Nevertheless, this annexation of all lords means nothing to those still around 4th Rank.
But for those who had already reached the 5th Rank, with a bit of strength, it was indeed hard to comply.
He still remembers the scene back then.
"That’s just an excuse, clearly wanting to use this as an opportunity to annex us!"
"Exactly, according to everyone’s deduction, the next phase is about to be unveiled, obviously aiming to ’stabilize internally before expanding externally’ and monopolize all the benefits!"
"Let’s unite! As long as we unite, even Fan Mao will have to reconsider!"
Yet, not many lords had such confidence, and lords of his and the Corpse King’s caliber knew the profound power of Fan Mao.
Thus, only those middle-tier lords shouted outside, and the channel’s rallying cry wasn’t quite loud.
But back then, even Jun Lin thought that Fan Mao, or rather Shang Ji representing Fan Mao, would ignore them, unexpectedly, they actually responded.
Once again dropping bombs that even he had to take seriously.
The ability to transcend space barriers, encroachment on other areas...
It turns out the reason Fan Mao was always silent was that they simply were not playing along!
This represented another meaning for the lower-tier lords in the channel, that Fan Mao was stealthily challenging other area’s lords rather than harming them!
And the few lords who had just been clamoring felt as if struck by Thunder, instantly silencing.
After all, the strength displayed by Fan Mao was evident; it was beyond their ability to resist, and they even began to feel fortunate for not showing any overt animosity towards Fan Mao before.
As for whether everything Fan Mao displayed could be false?
The panel’s mission already proved everything, and the images sent to the channel had no concept of Photoshop; it couldn’t possibly be fake.
However, Shang Ji didn’t force them to make an immediate decision and offered choices.
One was the option to surrender willingly, using the lord’s function to actively become part of other people, and the other option was to leave this world within the next Cycle Challenge’s timeframe.
Clearly, the latter was intended as a choice for him and the Corpse King.
Through his recent observations, he felt that Landon had long been assimilated under Fan Mao’s command...
They were granted only a day’s time to ponder, and now it was finally time for them to respond.
No lord in the channel was willing to speak up, evidently waiting for a leader.
So, let me be the one...
"I represent Jun Lin, agreeing to these terms."
"I, in the name of the Corpse King, agree to these terms."
"I am willing to submit to..."
Bai Yi looked at the messages flashing across the channel, nodding in satisfaction.
"It seems they’re rather perceptive of the times, no need for me to intervene..."
Recalling the conclusion reached after discussing with Shang Ji upon his return yesterday, the results now were indeed excellent.
Early yesterday, just returned from the transit area, Bai Yi first sought out Shang Ji to discuss the next Cycle Challenge and the arena matters.
The latter was quickly settled, but as for the former, Shang Ji presented a suggestion from them.
As the representative managing the territory for Bai Yi, they had long conceived ideas in this aspect, preemptively contemplating the corresponding handling methods for Bai Yi.
Initially, Bai Yi only intended for the territorial expansion during the space barrier’s opening to be eventually exposed.
He considered sending out a portion of races to feign as external lords, using these races to complete the annexation of lords within White Poplar City, thus accomplishing her advancement task.
Or to take direct action, assimilating and annexing all the lords altogether.
Since now the mission’s requirements had targeted those lords, and now she also had a better gene source, no longer rigidly needing the lords to provide her genes.
If formerly they were like hill chickens that occasionally laid eggs, capturing them yielded little meat was wasting effort; now they were like specially bred household egg-laying hens, coincidentally encountering chicken meat procurement.
But Shang Ji provided a plan integrating both approaches, directly reminding her, bringing enlightenment.
"Your Highness, you have seldom been active in the channel lately, perhaps you are unaware of your current status among the lords.