36: Chapter 36 Invaded

"It seems they are not convinced," Lin Xiao thought to himself.

Even though he was ranked seventh on the prodigy ranking, most Prodigies clearly did not believe they were inferior to him.

They thought his high rank on the prodigy ranking was merely due to good luck.

Now that the Seven-Day Assessment was over, with the backing of their Families and factions, they would surely make rapid progress and leave Lin Xiao and the others far behind.

The two sides were simply from different worlds.

"Heh."

Lin Xiao smiled and did not care much.

It was just a cold attitude. As long as they didn't come to mock him to his face, he had no interest in showing off or slapping their faces. They were right about one thing: they indeed belonged to different worlds.

After closing the Prodigy Group, Lin Xiao added another person as a friend.

"Hello Lin Xiao, I am Qin Yiyi from the Lord Association," the other party sent a message.

Qin Yiyi was the contact person sent by the Lord Association to coordinate with him.

Her superior was Hu Wei.

It wasn't that Hu Wei didn't want to contact Lin Xiao, but she was in the Second Source Sea and could not communicate with Lin Xiao across the Source Seas.

Soon, Qin Yiyi sent a trade request.

This was the first batch of resources delivered after signing the contract with the Lord Association.

According to the contract, if he wanted more resources, it would depend on Lin Xiao's subsequent performance.

"They don't give much at the beginning?"

Looking at the massive amount of resources that had appeared in his inventory, a question mark popped up in Lin Xiao's mind.

These resources were all selected by him, including the Materials to recruit Frost Giants, Wind Shadow Archers, and Burning Sky Flame Dragons, numerous Cultivate resources, and other supplies.

There was nothing wrong with the types of resources, but the quantity given was just too much.

Even excluding the resources exchanged for an epic-grade item, the remaining amount of resources was still astonishing.

With these recruitment Materials, once he upgraded to a Level 3 territory, he could fully max out all the troops in his barracks, and the other resources would also significantly boost the territory's strength.

"As expected of the Lord Association, they are indeed wealthy and powerful, incomparable to the Jinshi Chamber of Commerce."

Lin Xiao sighed with emotion.

He had signed the same contract with Jin Ruxuan, yet what the Lord Association provided far exceeded the latter.

But it made sense upon second thought. Although the Jinshi Chamber of Commerce was a major power in the Main World, it still couldn't compare to the Lord Association.

It was conceivable that if it were a normal signing, even more resources would have been given.

Closing the regional channel, Lin Xiao first placed down the tower of true sight in the inner city.

This perfect-grade special building had been sitting in his inventory because he lacked the resources to build it.

Now, however, it could be built, providing a certain range of true vision for the territory.

"I need to upgrade to a Level 3 territory as soon as possible," Lin Xiao muttered, feeling a bit impatient.

Currently, the territory's population and heroes were completely maxed out. Unless he disbanded his existing units and heroes, he couldn't summon any more, leaving the epic-grade Hero Tokens and units in his hands with no place to be used.

Rather than disbanding them, it was better to upgrade.

Lin Xiao was only one Lords Heart away from a Level 3 territory.

Just as he opened the territory panel, preparing to search for a suitable target to invade,

Suddenly, a System prompt rang out.

[Your territory has been invaded.]

"Huh?"

"I've been invaded?"

Lin Xiao came to his senses. Although he knew that invasion and counter-invasion were issues every lord had to face, he didn't expect it to happen so soon.

He immediately opened the territory map, checking it while summoning his subordinates.

Invaders would only appear at the edge of the territory, so even if the territory was small, there would still be some reaction time.

Lin Xiao had placed sentry towers all along the edges of his territory. As long as an invader entered the sentry towers' line of sight, he would detect them immediately.

Soon, a glaring red dot appeared in front of a sentry tower on the eastern side of the territory.

Other than the red dot, there was no further information.

He didn't know who the invader was, nor did he know their numbers.

Sentry towers were only basic buildings, so the information they provided was quite limited, but for Lin Xiao, it was already enough.

"Tu Lie."

Lin Xiao said.

"Your subordinate is here," Tu Lie stepped forward.

"Invaders have appeared on the eastern side of the territory. Go and take a look," Lin Xiao commanded. "If the invaders are not strong, wipe them out and bring back a survivor."

"If the invaders are strong, do not act rashly. Return and report first."

"What petty scoundrels dare to invade us!" Tu Lie said with an expression full of Killing Intent. He mounted his Wuzhui Horse and rushed toward the eastern side of the territory at his fastest speed.

Lin Xiao did not let his guard down. Although the probability was low, there was still a possibility of being invaded by a Third-Tier Lord.

To him at the moment, a Third-Tier Lord still posed a significant threat.

With his command, the territory entered a state of war.

Except for Tu Lie, all the other heroes and units ascended the outer city walls to prepare for battle, and the defense towers within the territory were activated one after another.

"As expected, an external invasion causes the territory's space-time to fall into a state of turbulence, making it impossible to contact the outside world."

Lin Xiao wanted to open the regional channel, but was prompted that it could not be opened.

At this moment, he was already disconnected from the outside world.

Presumably, among the new lords of his batch, many were also currently being invaded. It was just that because of the space-time turbulence, they couldn't contact the outside world, so it remained unknown.

The duration of the space-time turbulence could be long or short, depending on the specific situation.

For example, if the invader was a Third-Tier Lord, the duration of the space-time turbulence would be very short, and they would soon be able to restore contact with the outside world to seek help.

If it were an invasion by a lord of the same tier, in the First Source Sea, the space-time turbulence would generally not exceed seven days.

It was worth mentioning that whether it was the invaded lord seeking help from other lords or the invader withdrawing their army, it would have to wait until the space-time turbulence settled.

Before the space-time turbulence disappeared, one could only enter the territory, not leave it.

If the lord themselves was not in the territory when it was invaded, they could actually ignore the space-time turbulence and force their way back once, but after returning, they would not be able to leave either.

"Huh?"

While Lin Xiao was lost in thought, he suddenly noticed that the red dot on the eastern side of the territory had started moving, approaching the core area of the territory at an extremely shocking speed.

Seeing this, Lin Xiao was startled at first, but quickly calmed down.

Tu Lie was a powerful hero with Third-Tier combat strength. Even if he encountered the army of a Third-Tier Lord, he wouldn't be completely defenseless, and Lin Xiao had not received any System notification of Tu Lie's death.

Since that was the case, there was only one truth.

In this short span of time, Tu Lie had followed his command, dealt with the invaders, and brought back a survivor.

Suddenly, as if remembering something, Lin Xiao quickly opened the System log.

[Your hero has killed a second-tier creature, gaining 2 slaughter points.]

[Your hero has killed a second-tier creature, gaining 3 slaughter points.]

...

There were dozens of System prompts. Because there were too many, they didn't ring directly in Lin Xiao's ears, but were only recorded in the System log.

Sure enough, Tu Lie had finished off the invaders.

He didn't make Lin Xiao wait long.

"Rumble~"

The ground vibrated slightly as a black whirlwind approached from afar, quickly arriving beneath the outer city wall. Immediately after, Tu Lie soared into the air, leaped onto the wall, and threw a dark, lump-like object onto the ground.

"My Lord, Tu Lie has successfully completed the mission and returned with the enemy leader."

Lin Xiao's gaze fell upon that dark lump.

It was a humanoid creature clad in black armor, somewhat resembling a Crusader. No one knew what it had gone through, but it was currently in a deep coma, its fate unknown.