Li Gui nimbly served a bowl of rice, scooped a large spoonful of braised pork from the pot to pour over it, sliced a plate of sauced beef, brought a bowl of egg drop soup, and set them before Lin Feng.

He muttered, "Lord, you've lost a lot of weight these past few days; you need to nourish yourself. I stewed this braised pork for two hours—the fat melts in your mouth, and the lean meat is neither dry nor tough. Please, give it a taste."

Lin Feng picked up his chopsticks and put a piece of braised pork into his mouth. The meat was stewed until tender, melting instantly upon entry with a well-balanced salty and sweet flavor.

He nodded. "Not bad."

Li Gui stood by, rubbing his hands with an expectant look on his face. "Then please eat more; there's still plenty in the pot."

He then pointed to the sauced beef. "This beef was just delivered from Qingmu County this morning; it's very fresh. Look at the cross-section—the marbling is so beautiful."

Lin Feng didn't respond and kept his head down as he ate.

The rice grains were distinct, the sauced beef was sliced with even thickness, and a few green vegetable leaves floated in the egg drop soup, making it light and refreshing.

He ate two bowls of rice in one go and finished every last bit of the sauced beef on the plate before putting down his chopsticks and taking a sip of the egg drop soup.

"Master Li, your skills have improved."

Li Gui chuckled twice, cleared the dishes, and began washing and rinsing behind the stove, talking as he worked.

"As long as you like it, Lord. In a few days, I'm thinking of making sweet and sour fish. They say there are plenty of fish in the river over by Qingmu County. Why don't you come back and try it then?"

Lin Feng finished his soup and stood up. "Alright."

Walking out of the kitchen, he pushed off the ground, his body soaring into the air as he flew toward Hangu Pass in the northwest.

The afternoon sun shone from above, dyeing the grassy waves of the Golden Ear Plain into a shimmering golden ocean.

In the distance, the grayish-blue walls of Great Wall meandered across the horizon like a slumbering giant dragon.

...

The following afternoon, the light in the Hangu Pass Council Hall was soft. Sunlight slanted in through the high windows, dyeing the dark brown tables and chairs a warm orange.

Lin Feng sat in the main seat with a thick stack of application documents spread out before him, pen in hand, reviewing them one by one.

Li Yuan stood by his side, holding a register with a pen tucked behind his ear, occasionally whispering a few words of explanation.

He finished approving the resource allocation application sent by Liu Ming from Qingmu County, and then approved a report from Lucky Town requesting an increase in patrol forces.

Lin Feng picked up the next one—Zhang Ping's application. The handwriting was neat and the wording rigorous, spanning two full pages.

The gist was: since Mithril had become more plentiful recently, the advanced Tailor Shen Mochuan from Fenghuo County applied to use the territory's stock of blue-quality materials, combined with Mithril, to forge a batch of blue armor.

Lin Feng nodded.

All the Mithril smelted previously had been poured into Great Wall, so Shen Mochuan could only continue forging green equipment in the territory. No matter how good his skills were, he had no room to display them.

Now that the Terracotta Army construction and city-level territory upgrades could not proceed in the short term, Mithril was indeed more plentiful, and it was time to upgrade the equipment for the core members.

He signed at the end of the application and added an annotation: "Prioritize completing a full set of blue armor for core members. If resources are insufficient, apply to Li Yuan for allocation."

Handing the approved document to Li Yuan, Lin Feng picked up a teacup, took a sip, and leaned back against the chair.

He tapped his fingers lightly on the armrest twice and began to organize the path for the next strength upgrade of the Beacon Fire Territory.

As for his own strength, it had only been fourteen days since he got the dragon heart, and it was still too early for the Eye of Probability to refresh.

The advanced Class Change Book, Silver Dragon Egg, and the normalization of Destiny Awakening all required time.

Since there wouldn't be a qualitative leap in personal combat power in the short term, he could only start with the territory and his teammates.

For territory strength, the core is the number of Great Qin Elite Soldiers. Currently, the recruitment quota can only be increased by adding new subordinate county-level territories—every additional county adds five hundred Elite Soldiers.

The five counties on the northern slope of Tianji Mountain had already been swallowed up. Further west was Shenle County, which was guarded by four thousand heavy Orc troops. A direct assault wasn't cost-effective; he needed to find a new breakthrough point.

As for teammate strength, Ye Lan only had two pieces of purple equipment: the shadow moon blade and Shadow Raid Boots. The purple set effect hadn't been activated yet.

Although Jiang Zhaoyue's equipment wasn't bad, he had never seen her use a purple set effect, so she likely didn't have enough purple pieces either.

Purple set effects are powerful; he had to find an opportunity to help them fill this gap.

Lin Feng rubbed his brow as a map of the war situation in the countries surrounding the Beacon Fire Territory appeared in his mind.

The Sakura Country was still in a stalemate with the Orcs. Osaka Castle was a meat grinder where neither side could gain the upper hand.

The Annan Country, on the other hand, presented an opportunity. Two forces of the Undead Army were still rampaging there, and many counties had fallen.

The closest city to Zhenyue City was Annan Country's Thang Long City, which was currently engaged in battle with the Undead Army.

Among the counties under Thang Long City's jurisdiction, there was one called Nha Trang County, only a hundred and twenty miles from Linshan County. He didn't know if it had fallen yet.

He picked up his teacup, took another sip, and began to calculate in his mind.

He had taken those five counties from Sakura Country with a clear conscience.

The business in Hundred Ghosts County had disgusted him back then, so this could be considered settling the score.

And besides, hadn't Sakura Country asked Zhenyue City for aid?

Since they asked for aid, he had led his army thousands of miles to the Orcs' rear, launching a surprise attack on Chidori County and pinning down Shenle County. Didn't that count as support?

Of course it did! As an allied force, for strategic needs, it was perfectly reasonable to take over a few counties that had been captured by the Orcs, right?

You couldn't hold them, the Orcs took them, and I won them back—I'm just watching over them for you.

When you're done fighting the Orcs and have some free time, you're welcome to come and have tea with me anytime to discuss which one of us these counties belong to.

Whether we can reach an agreement is another matter; regardless, I've already enclosed them within Great Wall.

The more Lin Feng thought about it, the more perfect the logic seemed, and his lips curled up unconsciously.

However, the Annan Country hadn't actually asked Zhenyue City for aid, which made things a bit difficult.

He set down his teacup and tapped his fingers on the armrest twice.

He suddenly remembered some things from Great Xia's North Pole Region. To increase their chances of survival, some Blue Star nations would surrender part of their territories to the Great Xia Main City. This way, even if all their other territories fell, the people from that Blue Star nation wouldn't disappear due to datafication.

His Great Wall was even better suited for this than the advanced wonder in the Great Xia Main City. Being enclosed by Great Wall gives an exploding sense of security, doesn't it?

As for why no South Pole Region countries had come to him yet, it was likely because the nations in the South Pole Region were all quite strong. The situation hadn't deteriorated to that point yet, and they were all still waiting and watching.

Lin Feng had an idea: go back to Blue Star to find Director Zhou, tell him about the "Sweep the Six Harmonies" effect of the Great Qin Elite Camp, and then ask him to negotiate with the Annan Country to allocate a few counties to him, while also asking for a few pieces of purple equipment.

This way, the gap in Ye Lan and Jiang Zhaoyue's purple equipment could be filled, and he could ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ gain a few more counties to increase his recruitment quota. Perfect!

He pulled back his thoughts and took another sip from his teacup. That's how he would do it.