"Brothers, the Demon revolt has begun."

Early in the morning, the peace on the duchy channel was suddenly broken by a message.

Seven days after the Battlefield of Ten Thousand Realms ended, the Holy Sanctuary finally ushered in a new round of Demon revolts.

Lin You, who had just awakened, was no longer surprised by this and had no intention of going to the Holy Sanctuary.

After all, he’s not lacking in Magic Energy at the moment, and he is still burdened with the recruitment task for the new Lord, so it’s better not to run too far.

To avoid any mishaps where he can’t be found.

He got up, washed up briefly, and went straight down to the territory, opened the interface, and took a look.

He is now at Tier Eight Territory.

That is to say, he can have a total of eight Royal Species.

And his Hero Transformation Pool, upgraded to Tier Eight, can also transform eight heroes.

It’s just that the Forest Sage can’t transform into a hero.

So it’s equivalent to having an extra hero slot, which can be used to transform ordinary species or rare species.

As for which one to transform, he hasn’t decided yet.

"Forget it... let’s fill the species first."

After reviewing the territory situation, Lin You casually opened the recruitment interface.

The issue of hero transformation isn’t urgent, there’ll be plenty of time to think about it later.

Anyway, he doesn’t need the combat power of this hero species right now.

With a few taps of his finger, he directly recruited 30 Blood Sword Grass units to begin mutation.

These 30 species, plus the original reproduction species, make exactly 300 species.

And when he previously advanced to Tier Eight, he had already mutated 300 units of Symbiotic Moss.

Now, they can finally all be put to use.

Soon, mutations were completed.

Several categories of combat species increased by two or three.

The Ancient Tree Species increased the most, directly by five.

While he still had Magic Energy remaining at 120 million.

After doing this, Lin You then closed the interface, stood up, and walked into the Teleportation Gate.

Swish!

The light flashed.

He was once again on the bustling Void Platform.

"Sir, you’ve arrived."

A person in charge of issuing certificates by the Teleportation Gate hurriedly greeted him.

"Was everything alright while I was gone?" Lin You asked.

"Reporting to Sir, everything is normal."

"Good, that’s fine."

Lin You nodded and walked directly towards the main assessment position.

His appearance also caused the representatives of other duchies to feel tense, their expressions turning somewhat unfavorable.

The newcomers waiting for testing outside were all curious and observed from afar.

"Who is that person? How did he get to sit in the main assessment position?"

"I don’t know, I just got here."

"Could he be the main assessor of that duchy?"

"Seeing how scared those seniors are of him, it’s likely."

"So young to be the main assessor?"

Whispers of surprise continuously arose among the crowd.

These lords were all newly transported to the Void Platform.

So, they didn’t know Lin You, leading to inevitable surprise.

At this moment.

The main assessor from Moonlight Kingdom also noticed Lin You and walked over, munching on seeds.

"Brother Cheng, you sure are relaxed, still have time to munch on seeds," Lin You couldn’t help but joke.

The main assessor from Moonlight Kingdom, named Cheng Pu, was considered a veteran in Moonlight Kingdom.

He seemed used to such scenes and said leisurely, "No matter how relaxed, it’s not as leisurely as Younger Brother Lin, arriving so late while other duchies can’t wait to recruit more people early."

Having said that, he slowly sat beside Lin You.

Lin You glanced at him, curious, and asked, "Brother Cheng, you seem quite aged, right?"

"Yes, seventy-two, relying on territory upgrades to hang on," Cheng Pu showed a smile of seemingly accepting everything calmly.

At seventy-two in the original world, one would typically start to show signs of aging.

But it’s different in this world.

Upgrading territory enhances the lord’s body as well. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

Especially upon reaching Tier Seven and above, longevity increases significantly, and the higher the level, the longer the lifespan.

However, an old lord like Cheng Pu is still rare on the continent.

Since they have to go to the battlefield every three months.

After many trips, it’s uncertain when an accident might occur.

Very few live to such an age.

Either they descended on the continent only at this age, but generally can’t live long.

Thus, usually encountered lords are primarily young adults, the age group with the most lords.

After all, the survival rules of this world are like this.

Perhaps this is why the higher-tier lords are rarer.

Those who survive have generally reached higher tiers.

Considering this, Lin You couldn’t help but ask, "How long have you been a Tier Eight Lord, Brother Cheng?"

"After this year, it will be almost twenty years."

Twenty years!

Lin You was inwardly shocked, longer than he had imagined.

Living this long, logically, he should have advanced to Tier Nine already.

A Tier Eight Lord should, regardless of weakness, receive Power of Faith daily incomparable to a Low-tier Lord.

Twenty years of accumulation is definitely enough to ascend to Tier Nine.

"Isn’t it strange why I haven’t ascended to Tier Nine?"

Seemingly noticing Lin You’s thoughts, Cheng Pu suddenly laughed.

"Indeed, I’m very curious," Lin You nodded.

"Actually, the reason is quite simple: staying at Tier Eight allows me to live, but ascending to Tier Nine means I could die at any moment, and it would be a miserable death. Do you know why?"

"Why?"

"Because of the Divine Fragment."

"Divine... Fragment?"

Lin You was slightly stunned, his curiosity even more intensified.

What does pausing at Tier Eight have to do with the Divine Fragment?

But before he could think further, Cheng Pu’s voice rang out again.

"Yes, it’s precisely because of the Divine Fragment that all Tier Nines are blocked on the path to ascension."

"When you’re at Tier Eight, you don’t encounter those ancient creatures of the same level because Lords who have lived so long have basically all ascended to Tier Nine."

"But the Divine Fragment is the rarest thing in the world, accessible only to the very top few."

"And the rest of the Tier Nine Lords, guess what they do?"

As he spoke, Cheng Pu looked at Lin You with a mysterious expression.

"What do they do?" Lin You’s gaze shifted, and he asked curiously.

He had already been deeply drawn into the topic and wanted to know more.

"What else can they do but continually accumulate strength, hoping one day to snatch the Divine Fragment from the other Tier Nine Lords."

"So, when you ascend to Tier Nine, you might even encounter ancient creatures that have lived for centuries."

"Although their power doesn’t match Tier Ten, the terrifying foundation accumulated over a century is beyond your imagination."

"Rashly ascending would only lead to a dead end on the Battlefield of Ten Thousand Realms!"

Cheng Pu’s voice was like a warning bell ringing in Lin You’s heart, leaving him stunned.

And finally, he suddenly realized.

No wonder.

He hadn’t encountered any ancient creatures of the same level on his path to ascension.

Even the top Lords from various realms were mostly young adults who had arrived less than ten years ago.

Although the Power of Faith is a threshold,

it can’t stop those ancient creatures who have lived decades or even centuries.

Even if they garnered only a couple of points of faith each day.

Surviving for a hundred years, even a pig could ascend to Tier Nine.

But these century-old ancient creatures were stuck at Tier Nine because of the Divine Fragment; imagining it was terrifying enough.

Previously, Lin You had felt smug after defeating Tier Eight talents from the Ten Great Realms; now, he was awake.

The last trace of pride in his heart vanished, dissolving any belittlement.

Afterwards.

He chatted with Cheng Pu on the topic of the Lords’ longevity.

And finally learned that the maximum lifespan of a Tier Eight Lord was an entire two hundred years!

Doesn’t that mean.

A batch of ancient creatures, stuck at their level, is hiding within Tier Eight?

"Don’t worry about this; those like me, who remain at Tier Eight, have basically lost the will to compete, wishing only to survive in the world, usually won’t dabble in messy affairs."

"Moreover, there aren’t many such people because there are deaths every day; no one knows when it’s their turn, or suddenly dying any day, like myself, for instance."

Perhaps due to age, Cheng Pu seemed to view life and death with equanimity.

Even when talking about his potential sudden death, he seemed at ease.

This drew Lin You’s sincere admiration.

This older brother genuinely understood life.

But Cheng Pu has his way of living, and Lin You has his.

Neither is inherently better; they simply pursue different goals.

"Alright, after chatting for so long, it’s time for me to leave."

After idly chatting with Lin You, Cheng Pu noticed that he had finished his sunflower seeds and awkwardly chuckled.

Then he stood up, patted his hands, and walked smilingly towards the direction of Moonlight Duchy.

Resembling an old man in a park.

Watching him leave, Lin You also rose, went forward to oversee his subordinates’ recruitment efforts, and reviewed the previous day’s recruitment progress.

Meanwhile, he scouted for potential promising talents to fill the Duchy’s territory gaps.

...

Time flew by quickly.

In the blink of an eye, four days had passed.

After these busy days,

the recruitment of new Lords required by the Duchy was finally completed; Lin You successfully completed the task given by the King, greeted by a notification.

[Congratulations, you have completed the Duchy recruitment task.]

[Reward: 10 million Magic Energy, one random SSS-level Species Secret Treasure, Origin Treasure Pearl (Low-level) x2]

Species Secret Treasure?

Just as he returned to his territory, Lin You’s steps halted immediately.

He hadn’t expected the recruitment task rewards to be so generous.

Not to mention the 10 million Magic Energy, but also an SSS-level Species Secret Treasure and two Origin Treasure Pearls he’d never seen before.

This brought him a pleasant surprise.

Quickly, he opened his personal space and took out all the items.

[Species Secret Treasure (SSS): Upon use, randomly receive a Species Secret Treasure matching your territory.]

[Origin Treasure Pearl (Low-level): Upon use, directly expand the Origin Space by 100 meters in range.]

What a treasure!

Lin You’s eyes lit up instantly.

The King was quite generous, giving two such valuable things as a reward.

It seemed he had recruited many talents for the Duchy this time, leaving the King very pleased.

It wasn’t a waste spending five days.