Within a certain territory, a little loli was looking at her private messages, muttering as she replied, "Do these novice lords really have undeveloped cerebellums and abnormal brains? What do they mean by 'borrowing'? And what's with 'My father is Zhang Erhe'? What a bunch of idiots, trying to get stuff for free."
"Not a single lord with potential, but a whole heap of freeloaders. Do they think I'm running a charity?"
Ding! A system notification sounded.
The little loli looked at her friend interface. Someone had added her as a friend, and she clicked to take a look.
"Otherworld Traveler? The lord who wants a seed of darkness right now?" The little loli's eyes lit up as she looked at the lord among her friends.
Someone like this was either a delusional idiot or a powerful lord.
"I hope it's a powerful lord. Communicating with those idiots is really triggering my 'idiot intolerance'." Lin Xiaoxiao couldn't help but think, then she sent a message to Su Ye.
[Little Merchant: Big boss, you finally added me! What do you need? Wood, stone? Gold coins? origin crystals? I have them all. Of course, if you need other things, I can help you find them.]
On Su Ye's side, he raised an eyebrow as he looked at the message from Little Merchant and replied.
[Do you have a seed of darkness? Or even barracks?]
Lin Xiaoxiao's eyes lit up when she saw Su Ye's message. A big boss, a super big boss, a major client! This was so much better than those idiots before.
[If you need them, big boss, I'll go look for them right now. However, regarding the price...]
Seeing the message from Lin Xiaoxiao, Su Ye replied directly.
[Don't worry, I won't let you lose out. The faster, the better. I only need one seed of darkness. For the barracks, any faction is fine, and the rank doesn't matter.]
Lin Xiaoxiao looked at Su Ye's message: "Wow, a real big boss, a super big boss. He even wants barracks."
[Understood, big boss. barracks might be hard to find, but I should be able to find a seed of darkness today. Wait for my news, big boss.]
[Good.]
Su Ye replied with a single word and closed the private chat panel.
Lin Xiaoxiao closed the chat interface with Su Ye and began to take action. Her method was to cast a wide net, contacting her friends to help ask around. This required time, patience, and a vast network of interpersonal relationships—something only these merchant lords could achieve.
If Su Ye relied solely on spamming the chat channel himself, it would be no different from looking for a needle in a haystack; it would be entirely down to luck.
Back to Su Ye.
"Little Merchant? Which chamber of commerce is she from?" Su Ye looked at his friend panel.
To become a merchant lord, the most important thing was a vast network of relationships. These relationships weren't something one gained just by entering the Eternal World.
Rather, they were relationships that existed before entering the Eternal World. This wasn't something an ordinary family could manage; most likely, she was someone from a large chamber of commerce.
Only in this way could one accumulate a large network of relationships in a short period during the novice lord stage. They brought their connections in from the outside world from the very beginning.
If nothing was amiss, this Little Merchant was likely one of the heirs of a major chamber of commerce. Only such a person could so quickly accumulate the connections a merchant needed most during the novice lord period.
Ordinary merchant lords couldn't do this.
"Whatever, it doesn't matter. It has nothing to do with me anyway." Su Ye looked toward his territory.
"Lilith." Su Ye's voice rang out.
Lilith appeared before Su Ye instantly: "Lord God Emperor."
"Go notify the other Original Sin Fallen Angels. Today's Void Trial is about to begin. Prepare for battle," Su Ye said in a deep voice.
"Yes, Lord God Emperor." A hint of blood-red appeared in Lilith's eyes. Her black-purple wings spread, and she turned into a streak of light, appearing high above the territory.
One after another, black-red figures instantly gathered in the sky.
The forty Original Sin Fallen Angels finished assembling.
"System, start the Void Trial," Su Ye said solemnly.
[Ding: Please select the Void Trial difficulty: Normal, Hard, Nightmare, Purgatory, Abyss!]
"Abyss." Su Ye looked at Lilith and the others and directly chose the Abyss difficulty.
[Ding: Void Trial will begin in thirty seconds. Difficulty: Abyss. Please be prepared, Lord.]
As the notification sounded, countless dark red lights surged at the borders of Su Ye's territory. Thirty seconds passed.
Tall demons entered Su Ye's territory one by one, letting out terrifying roars.
Su Ye checked their attributes.
Name: Abyssal Lesser Demon
Rank: Rank 4
Level: black iron 9-star
PS: A cannon fodder race in the Abyss. Their status is only slightly higher than Lesser Demon—just a tiny bit higher.
"Equivalent to Rank 4 black iron 9-star troops. It's a good thing I didn't level up, or I would have encountered Bronze Rank Monsters today," Su Ye noted, looking at the uniform black iron 9-star Abyss Dretches.
The highest-level unit under his command was Lilith at Black Iron 4-Star, and that was only because of the Spirit Source Lake. The ones recruited today were only Black Iron 1-Star.
If he really encountered Bronze Rank Monsters, he might actually fail. If even a single unit died, it would be unacceptable for Su Ye.
After all, every single one of Su Ye's troops, even the ordinary ones, had a growth limit at the Main God level. Losing even one would be a massive loss.
In the sky, Lilith looked at those Abyss Dretches with a cruel smile on her face. A giant war scythe appeared in her hands.
Lilith turned into a meteor, crashing directly into the swarm of Abyss Dretches with brutal, crushing force. Instantly, flesh and blood flew everywhere.
The other Original Sin Fallen Angels also turned into streaks of light, descending from all directions. A massacre began.
Su Ye carefully watched the newly recruited Original Sin Fallen Angels. Their combat was also a total crush.
"As expected, Original Sin Fallen Angels at the same realm are just overwhelming." Seeing the performance of the Original Sin Fallen Angels, the weight in Su Ye's heart lifted. He had been worried that the newly recruited ones wouldn't be able to handle these black iron 9-star monsters, but now he was finally at ease.
As time passed, a large number of Abyss Dretches were slaughtered.
Lilith's level skyrocketed at a visible rate. In just ten minutes, she rose by one level from her original Black Iron 4-Star.
The newly recruited Original Sin Fallen Angels leveled up even more. In ten minutes, they had all caught up to the first batch.
As time continued to pass...
Su Ye's territory became a bloody slaughterhouse. In this Abyss-difficulty Void Trial, the monsters that appeared were higher in level and greater in number.
The corpses of the Abyss Dretches piled up into small mountains, and blood dyed Su Ye's territory red. Treasure chests floated within the territory, waiting for Su Ye to open them.