Chapter 698: The Great Prophet’s Territory!

Nie Yan and the others returned to the Bull Tribe. Knowing that Nie Yan and his team had triumphed, the Bull Tribe’s guild chat channel immediately became lively.

“Sacred Guardians have definitely lost their prestige this time. Let’s see how they can remain arrogant in the future.”

“Exactly. Just think back then, Sacred Guardians sent people to attack Krips and killed so many of our brothers! Now it’s finally their turn. Thinking about it makes me feel relieved.”

The battle at Kruks greatly boosted the morale of the Bull Tribe. Although several of their strongholds were besieged by Qin Han’s skeleton army, they faintly glimpsed a glimmer of hope and firmly believed that the Bull Tribe would ultimately emerge victorious!

In the following days, Sacred Guardians experienced a wave of players leaving the guild. With Kru克斯 fortress completely destroyed, the authority of Sacred Guardians was practically non-existent. Many players felt they had no face to remain in Sacred Guardians anymore. Within just five or six days, as many as fifty to sixty thousand players left Sacred Guardians, which was undoubtedly good news for the Bull Tribe.

Nie Yan was coordinating with various guilds to resist Qin Han’s skeleton army when Guo Huai suddenly sent a message. It was said that Qin Han was assembling a massive attacking force. He had gathered thousands of production class players from various places, divided them into dozens of groups, and was frantically constructing siege machines. It seemed that he was planning something big.

“How many catapults can they build per day?”

“About seven or eight,” replied Guo Huai. The production capacity of the Mone Consortium was absolutely no match for the Bull Tribe’s. For every ten Ironclad Catapults produced by the Mone Consortium, the Bull Tribe could produce twenty or thirty more!

“Just drag it out. We’ll also go all out and build Ironclad Catapults and Magitech Cannons at full capacity!”

“Yeah, but we’re somewhat short on materials.”

“Buy them from the market. As for the funds, I’ll handle it. Was the intel about the Mone Consortium boosting Ironclad Catapult production sourced from within the Light and Darkness Empire?” Nie Yan inquired via voice chat.

“It was Light and Darkness Eternal Crime himself who gave us the information. This kid is trying to show us goodwill. I guess they also feel that following Qin Han won’t last long,” Guo Huai chuckled.

Nie Yan pondered for a moment. The ambiguous stance of Light and Darkness Eternal Crime was indeed worth analyzing. If the Light and Darkness Empire could be separated from the Mone Consortium, the Mone Consortium would be significantly weakened. Suddenly, Nie Yan had an idea. He said to Guo Huai, “Have Tang Yao, Xie Yao, and Yu Wang make more visits to the strongholds of guilds like Sacred Guardians and Divine Judgment. Remember, they must strike and immediately move to another location to avoid being tracked. All the strongholds of guilds under the Mone Consortium—except for the Light and Darkness Empire—are fair game.”

Upon hearing Nie Yan’s words, Guo Huai frowned slightly but then quickly relaxed and smiled knowingly. “I understand. I’ll send them the message right away!”

Nie Yan’s intention was evident. They would persistently send people to harass all the guilds under the Money Consortium, deliberately leaving the Light and Darkness Empire untouched. Simultaneously, they would spread rumors externally, claiming that Light and Darkness Eternal Crime had some under-the-table dealings with Nie Yan. It wouldn’t be long before Qin Han inevitably grew suspicious of Light and Darkness Eternal Crime.

After receiving Guo Huai’s orders, Tang Yao, Yu Wang, and others were excited and set out immediately. They were more than happy to do these things.

In the following days, guilds under the Mone Consortium were attacked one after another. Tang Yao, Yu Wang, and others would typically storm into a stronghold, wreak havoc, and then swiftly retreat before the elite teams of the Mone Consortium arrived, never prolonging the battle. After several days, the Mone Consortium suffered heavy losses, while the Light and Darkness Empire remained unscathed.

After this period, Nie Yan had sown the seeds of some unrest, which would eventually erupt.

The Bull Tribe successively lost another ten strongholds, overwhelmed by Qin Han’s skeleton tide. However, Qin Han’s skeleton army also suffered a loss of over 1.3 million.

As time passed, Nie Yan gradually felt that the moment for a full-scale counterattack was drawing closer.

Nie Yan made thorough preparations. Around the seventh day, he received a system prompt.

System: Esteemed Great Prophet, after urgent consultations between the Granlan Empire and the Saturn Empire, you will be granted the Abernathy Grasslands located north of the Morocco Mountains; this will be your fief. During the three-month protection period, anyone who invades your fief will be considered an enemy of both the Granlan Empire and the Saturn Empire. Please report to the Elder Council within ten natural days to claim your fief.

When Nie Yan received this system prompt, he was momentarily stunned. When he had just been promoted to Great Prophet, he hadn’t heard Emperor Jobia mention anything about a fief. He had thought that having a personal fief was merely a legend, but now he realized it was indeed real.

It turned out that the fief wasn’t granted by the Granlan Empire alone but required consultation and joint granting by both the Granlan Empire and the Saturn Empire.

Nie Yan wasn’t very familiar with the Abernathy Grasslands, so he looked up information on the official website.

The Abernathy Grasslands were located at the border of the Granlan Empire and the Saturn Empire. It was a vast grassland inhabited by six nomadic tribes, with human and orc tribes each occupying half of the territory. There were occasional frictions, but overall, the region was relatively peaceful. The area was quite large, equivalent to a city the size of Carol. It had more than seventy nomadic settlements, roughly the size of villages and towns.

As the lord of this territory, Nie Yan could build towns and fortresses anywhere he wanted. He could also pay to hire the local inhabitants to form his own NPC army, which was a very pleasant thing. Additionally, the Abernathy Grasslands contained rich mineral resources, with over seventy low-level mines, over thirty mid-level mines, and over ten high-level mines. These mines were Nie Yan’s private property, and other players were not allowed to mine them, or else it would be considered theft and they would be captured by the NPC guards and sent to prison. Nie Yan could freely build mines and hire NPC miners to work for him.

Moreover, the Abernathy Grasslands would serve as a bridgehead for the Bull Tribe’s attack on Angel Dominion, as the closest point of the Abernathy Grasslands to Angel Dominion’s territory was only a two-hour journey away.

Nie Yan still needed to report to the Elder Council to obtain the fief. After obtaining the fief, Nie Yan’s territory would have a three-month protection period during which other guilds could not attack his land. This three-month period must be utilized effectively.

Looking at the map of the Abernathy Grasslands on the official website, Nie Yan already had a blueprint for its development. However, before that, he needed to raise a large sum of money. Building a territory and hiring a large number of NPCs to form an army would be a massive expenditure.

Nie Yan couldn’t help but feel excited about the future development of his territory.

These things had to be started step by step. Nie Yan glanced at the time. There wasn’t much time left today, so he logged out of the game.

Recently, there had been a very long holiday. Except for some senior students, all other students at the First Military Academy had already finished their classes. Most of them had gradually returned home, including Nie Yan and Xie Yao, who had returned to Huanghai.

Xie Yao went to meet his parents, while Nie Yan had something to eat at his villa and then headed to the headquarters of the Tianxia Group.

During this period, the business of the Tianxia Group had expanded rapidly, keeping everyone extremely busy.

The scale of the Tianxia Group had already expanded two or three times, but Nie Yan’s father had always insisted on not going public, firmly holding the financial power of the Tianxia Group in his own hands. Nie Yan’s father managed the affairs of various companies, while his mother was in charge of finance. The entire Tianxia Group operated in a well-organized manner.

The growth speed of the Tianxia Group amazed Nie Yan, of course, with a lot of his own contributions. Although the Bull Tribe had recently suffered heavy losses and many of their strongholds were destroyed by Qin Han’s skeleton army, they had been well-prepared in advance. The virtual assets of the Tianxia Group in Faith had not suffered significant losses. They had already gained enormous profits in the early stages and had sufficient financial reserves. Once the skeleton army was cleared, they could quickly recover.

Nie Yan drove into the headquarters of the Tianxia Group. The Tianxia Group had acquired a large piece of land nearby and was building office buildings. Everywhere around was under construction. In the future, the headquarters of the Tianxia Group would definitely be several times larger than before.

This change made Nie Yan feel very pleased. The Tianxia Group was growing steadily and should be able to break away from its previous trajectory.

Even if the Century Conglomerate still targeted the Tianxia Group as it did in his previous life, the Tianxia Group would definitely not be as vulnerable as it was back then.

Nie Yan took the elevator to the top floor, passed through dense security measures, and entered his father’s office.

His father was busy working with his head down. Upon hearing someone come in, he looked up and saw it was Nie Yan, revealing a hint of joy.

“How did you have time to come back today? You didn’t skip class, did you?” Although his father said this, he wasn’t as serious as before. Looking at Nie Yan, he felt a sense of satisfaction. Nie Yan was taller than before.

“There’s a holiday these days. I can stay at home for five or six days,” Nie Yan replied. Between father and son, there wasn’t much to say, but he could feel a calm yet very real warmth. In his previous life, he had missed out on too much.

“I’ll call your mother and have her come over,” his father said, taking out his phone to call Nie Yan’s mother.

Nie Yan’s mother quickly arrived.

“Mom, I’m back,” Nie Yan said, seeing his mother.

“It’s good that you’re back. The three of us finally have a chance to reunite. Xiao Yan is taller and stronger than before,” Nie Yan’s mother’s eyes couldn’t help but moisten.

Looking at his loving mother, Nie Yan couldn’t help but feel touched, his eyes slightly red. In his previous life, he had been too young to understand, and now his parents were old. In this life, he had to go far away again, with no time to accompany his parents, feeling very guilty.

“Why didn’t you bring Yaoyao to see your mom?” Nie Yan’s mother asked, already aware of the relationship between Nie Yan and Xie Yao.

“I’ll bring her tomorrow,” Nie Yan replied slightly awkwardly.

Experiencing the joys and sorrows of his past life, this reunion was especially precious to Nie Yan.