Chapter 10: Military Stronghold

After waiting at the tribe's entrance for fifteen minutes, the army led by Night Battle finally came into view.

A dense throng of soldiers followed behind Night Battle, their steps so uniform they moved as one.

Compared to their disorganized state before setting out, the triumphant returning army was noticeably more disciplined and vastly more powerful.

It was evident that after experiencing a bloody battle, these newly enlisted Warriors had grown significantly, having truly become qualified Warriors.

Night Battle stopped ten meters away from Su Xingyu, then dismounted and quickly walked up to him.

"Clan Leader, I have not failed my mission. The Magical Beast pack in the Blood Fang Forest has been exterminated."

"Beautifully done. I have already prepared a celebration banquet for you all. Go and enjoy your well-deserved feast of victory. However, before that, you need to head to the Divine Hall first to receive Our Lord's blessing."

"Thank you, Clan Leader! Praise Our Lord!" Night Battle was overjoyed.

"Go on." Su Xingyu waved his hand. "Once you have received your blessing, come to the meeting room."

"As you command, Lord Clan Leader," Night Battle replied respectfully.

After conquering the Blood Fang Forest, the Night Tribe commenced a new round of construction.

The path from the Blood Fang Forest to the Night Tribe was far from smooth. Even with transport vehicles like horse-drawn carriages, hauling the Blood Crystal Stone back was no easy task.

Coupled with the difficulty of extraction and the reliance on manual transportation, the costs were simply too high.

However, abandoning the Blood Fang Forest was completely out of the question.

A medium-sized Blood Crystal Vein contained at least five times the ore of a small vein. Under maximum extraction limits, it could provide the Night Tribe with seven to ten thousand units of Blood Crystal Stone every day.

Not to mention, there was also an abundance of Spirit Grass resources there.

Such massive benefits made it impossible for the Night Tribe to give up the Blood Fang Forest. Therefore, building a road and establishing a base became an absolute necessity.

This base didn't need to be exceptionally sturdy, nor did its defensive capabilities need to be too strong. The several thousand Warriors stationed there would serve as the best defensive Power.

As of now, the Night Tribe had planned to build a total of four bases: Giant Tiger, Barbaric Bull, Black Soil, and Blood Fang. Each base required thousands of Warriors to guard it.

These four bases could also be viewed as military outposts. They firmly protected the city that the Jiangye Tribe was constructing. Under the protection of these four bases, no large-scale army could ever hope to bypass them and directly attack the Night Tribe.

Constructing the first three bases wasn't actually difficult. They inherently possessed excellent grain-producing land and Crystal Ore Veins. They only needed people to manage them to sustain tens of thousands of individuals.

But the Blood Fang Base was different; there was nothing there. The Night Tribe would need to continuously supply grain until the newly reclaimed land could sustain the entire base.

But it couldn't be helped; the resources there were simply too plentiful. Fortunately, they now had the City of Gods to trade with others. Otherwise, even if Su Xingyu wanted to establish the Blood Fang Base, he would absolutely have to wait until spring.

Building the city, reclaiming land, establishing bases, forming legions, and exploring the depths of the Black Soil Plain...

After living comfortably for half a month and witnessing Divine Power several times, the newly joined tribesmen finally submitted completely, treating the Night Tribe as their own home.

If their initial submission had been forced by helplessness, their gratitude now came straight from the heart.

After comparing the two lifestyles, these tribesmen from other factions finally understood that their current existence was how humans were meant to live. Their past days had simply been the toil of beasts of burden.

Although the Night Tribe strictly mandated them to work, it was mostly risk-free manual labor. Furthermore, they were provided with ample food every day—three meals a day, with meat served every few days.

Aside from the food, the honorable Clan Leader had personally received them and warmly inquired about their living conditions. At the time, a brave child had boldly blurted out, "It's too cold to sleep at night," which nearly scared his parents to death.

Was the cold weather a problem?

It wasn't a problem at all. At the very least, they had houses to shelter from the cold and straw mats for warmth, sparing them from facing the freezing winds and snow Storms directly.

Every harsh winter, many people on the Black Soil Plain would freeze to death. Thus, the child's remark about being "too cold to sleep at night" wasn't taken seriously by anyone. The crowd merely felt that the Clan Leader was already being incredibly merciful by not punishing the boy.

To their surprise, a few days later, the Clan Leader sent someone to notify them to gather at the square to collect cotton and blankets. The blankets were for their direct use, while the cotton was meant for them to craft their own heating supplies.

There was no other way. In this era, who would sell blankets? Everyone sold equipment and food. If it weren't for Wang Dong knowing many merchants, Su Xingyu wouldn't have been able to purchase any blankets at all.

Yet, even so, this gesture moved the tribesmen to tears. They realized that the Clan Leader hadn't deceived them back then—he truly considered them as his own people.

Su Xingyu didn't think there was anything extraordinary about this. The more people the Night Tribe had, and the greater their strength, the better His condition would be. Helping these tribesmen was essentially helping Himself.

Besides, it wasn't a major issue; it was merely about sleeping a little more comfortably.

Was this a big deal? It truly wasn't! It just went to show the vast cognitive gap between the two sides.

Time passed quickly, and in the blink of an eye, another half a month had gone by.

A month had passed since Su Xingyu connected to the "network." Over this past month, although the Night Tribe hadn't aggressively expanded, their strength had undergone earth-shattering changes.

They had completely digested the gains from unifying the Red River.

If the Night Tribe from a month ago was a bloated fat Son, then the current Night Tribe was a robust Nobleman with strong muscles. Their weight hadn't increased, but their strength could not be spoken of in the same breath.

After fully assimilating the Red River, Su Xingyu was also ready to launch his next expansion plan.

At this current stage, plundering was far quicker than self-production.

The Night Tribe needed a larger population, more resources, and vaster territory.

Over the past month, Su Xingyu had long since thoroughly scouted the factions across the Black Soil Plain.

Deep within the Black Soil Plain, there were a total of three powerful factions.

The Barbarian Tribe, which lived by herding and pillaging, occupying a medium-sized Blood Crystal Vein and sitting on massive plantations of the Blood Spirit Flower.

The Half-Metal Giant Tribe, which used the Red Iron Valley as their tribal base and consumed ores for food. Though their population was small, every single member was an Elite.

In addition, there was the Jackal Werewolf Tribe, which had occupied the Dark Cave. They were a massive population characterized by their brutal and cunning nature.

Any one of these three factions was vastly more powerful than the Giant Tiger and Barbaric Bull Tribes from before.

However, because there were already disputes and mutual wariness among the three factions, coupled with the complex and difficult-to-handle Red River Influence, the other two factions didn't think much of this place. The only exception was the Barbarian Race, which would send troops to plunder grain during the winter.

It was precisely for this reason that the Red River Tribe had been able to survive peacefully up until now.

But times had changed.

Having unified the Red River Influence and received a massive boost in Power, the Night Tribe was no longer afraid of going to War against the three major factions. In fact, the Warriors within the tribe were somewhat itching for a fight.

This was especially true for the newly joined Warriors; they thirsted for War, yearning to sacrifice the Life of their enemies to the Divine Spirit.

Moreover, after being bullied by the Barbarian Race for so many years, it was impossible for them not to hold some resentment in their hearts.

In the past, lacking the strength to seek revenge was one thing, but now...

Heh... Barbarian Race, drop dead!

However, before Su Xingyu could march his army into the Black Soil Plain, the pillaging troops of the Barbarian Race arrived once again.