The five priests were in great turmoil.
Caught between betraying their nature and their immense power, they struggled to make a decision.
Seeing their internal conflict, Xiao Mo cast a meaningful glance at them, a smile curling the corner of his lips.
"Why must you overthink it? Since you have chosen to surrender to me, all your actions must obey my commands!"
"I order you to hunt demonic beasts, to attack territorial powers. Can you refuse?"
"The answer is no! So, just consider it as being forcefully commanded by me."
Xiao Mo's smile widened, yet it didn't seem particularly kind, transforming him into a wolf in sheep's clothing, preying on a little lamb.
"Lord, we..."
Mu Chunrou and the other priests appeared deeply moved. They called out to Xiao Mo, but then hesitated, their words caught in their throats.
Finally, it was Mu Chunrou who sighed softly and spoke.
"We cannot just think of ourselves. Since we belong to the Lord, we are all his subordinates! If our future destiny guides us this way, then we accept our fate!"
"Even if... even if we are truly enslaved by power, it will be willingly!"
After these words, the other priests nodded in agreement.
From the moment they surrendered to the Immortal and Demon Tribe, they had embarked on this path, with no room to turn back.
As forces under the Immortal and Demon Tribe, as soldiers of their Lord, they had an obligation to protect the Immortal and Demon Tribe and to alleviate their Lord's burdens.
Hearing Mu Chunrou's words, Xiao Mo merely offered them a faint smile, saying nothing more.
Anything said now would be in vain. In the future, when they all stood at the pinnacle of this world, they would surely be grateful for the choice they made today.
Everything was left unsaid.
Though Xiao Mo remained silent, intelligent individuals like Mu Chunrou and the other priests could infer some of his thoughts.
"Haha... brothers, this is amazing! My strength has advanced to the seventh tier!"
"Me too, me too! My strength has also advanced by a tier!"
"What is going on? My aptitude is very low, and I've been stuck at the peak of the seventh tier. I thought I wouldn't see any further progress for at least ten years, but I've actually broken through today! This is truly exhilarating!"
"Many brothers and sisters who were stuck at bottlenecks have already improved!"
"Sister Mu Yuan! I'm so happy! Just now, while killing a peak seventh-tier Gale Wolf, I felt a surge of pure energy flow into my body! The bottleneck that had held me back for so long finally showed a slight loosening! Perhaps I'll break through soon!"
"Yes, yes, I feel that way too. But what exactly is this energy? I've never encountered anything like it before."
"The natural spiritual energy contained within this power is simply too immense. Its effect is countless times better than Nature's True Dew!"
"But why is something like this suddenly happening? It's truly strange."
"I think it might have something to do with our Lord! It seems to be the only plausible explanation!"
In the forest, the woodmen, experiencing their first increase in combat tier, were all filled with shock and joy.
Although they disliked killing, under Xiao Mo's command, they had been forced to wade through blood.
With their strength, they had swept aside everything along the way. Over the fifteen kilometers, countless demonic beasts had fallen in pools of blood.
Blood stained the exquisite armor of the woodmen, their weapons dripped with blood, and some even had blood splattered across their faces.
Most of them had not experienced bloodshed, and their faces were pale from the journey.
However, despite their inner trepidation, the excitement and shock surging from the depths of their hearts could not be suppressed.
Observing the changes in the woodmen within the forest, the five priests accompanying Xiao Mo felt their emotions gradually calm.
They could sense that the woodman warriors were improving their strength at an astonishing rate.
This was a rare opportunity for the entire woodman tribe.
Therefore, what reason did they have to refuse?
...
Before long, the woodman troop finally traversed the twenty-kilometer distance.
Five hundred meters ahead, the territory patrolled by numerous wolfmen was their target for this attack.
The sudden advance of the woodman tribe had already alerted the lord of this territory.
After all, the woodman force was not small, and they had advanced with a trail of slaughter, creating considerable commotion.
The wolfmen, dispatched for hunting by the tall youth, had all been recalled.
Their purpose was naturally to defend his territory!
On the walls of the territorial city, the tall youth stared at the densely packed woodman figures below, his face filled with horror.
At a glance, he could roughly estimate that this force numbered at least fifteen hundred.
Most importantly, all members of this force were woodman warriors.
However, what truly astonished the tall youth was the chilling aura emanating from these woodman warriors.
The sharp killing intent made him feel a chilling cold even from the city walls a kilometer away.
"What in the world is going on? Have these woodmen gone mad?"
"Aren't the native woodmen of the Primordial Continent peace-loving? Why have they suddenly become so ferocious and bloodthirsty?"
"Even if they've changed, why are they attacking my territory? I have no enmity with them!"
As he spoke, the tall youth's voice began to tremble.
Facing such a force, if a battle were to break out, even without thinking, he could imagine the scene that would follow.
This would be a cataclysm, a disaster that had befallen them out of the blue!
This was entirely unreasonable. Ever since his troops were driven away by the woodman tribe's priests, they had not approached the woodman territory again.
Although he had thought of capturing a few woodmen before withdrawing to satisfy his greed, this was merely a thought and had not been acted upon.
Since he had not made a move, there was no offense committed against the woodman tribe.
So why was the woodman force attacking his territory?
As he pondered this, the tall youth grew even more perplexed.
While lost in thought, his peripheral vision caught sight of the peak eighth-tier wolfman captain.
"Tell me, did you deliberately provoke the woodman tribe while hunting demonic beasts outside?"
The tall youth glared furiously, at this moment intensely suspecting that his wolfman subordinates had done something he was unaware of.
After all, wolves harbored treacherous intentions!
"Lord, please calm your anger!"
The peak eighth-tier wolfman captain immediately knelt down.
"I guarantee that since the last incident, we have had no contact whatsoever with the woodman tribe. Even if we occasionally encountered them, we would retreat quickly and avoid any conflict!"
"Are you telling the truth?"
The tall youth frowned. Seeing the wolfman captain nod heavily, his frown deepened.
No contact, no conflict, therefore no offense.
Then why were the woodman forces attacking him?
At this moment, the tall youth was utterly panicked...