With the huge investment of resources and the support of the army, the three footholds in the first layer were all upgraded to alliance level footholds. Most of the human territories were included in these three alliance footholds.
The resources in the first layer were not fully digested. The two alliances had to compromise with Shi Cheng because they had not fully digested the resources in the first layer.
However, the most important reason was because of Ye Tianze's unyielding attitude and the Fire Clan's beautiful battle. However, the advantage they had over the other three alliances was also one of the reasons.
People hated privileges because they could not get them. Once they got them, they would do everything they could to protect their privileges.
The advantage of the two alliances was the advantage of the three alliances. Because of the resources, the three alliances could only watch anxiously as the gap between them widened day by day.
Although Shi Cheng and the two alliances had experienced unhappiness in the second layer, the benefits they had built were enough to make up for it.
As for those who died in the battle, the two alliances felt that as long as there was enough compensation, it would not cause too much dissatisfaction.
At the same time, in the Eastern Region's Human Sovereign Palace, Lu Xiufu received the news that Shi Cheng had entered the second layer and fought against the two alliances, and won a great victory.
Lu Xiufu sensitively felt that there was something wrong with this.
"Are we taking care of Shi Cheng too much?" Lu Xiufu asked.
After Lu Ran heard this, he said, "This … Sir, don't you want to support Shi Cheng to go against the Five Alliances?"
"Although Ye Tianze understands my intentions and is very tactful, he cannot be controlled."
Lu Xiufu said. "If I were to order him as the White Tiger Legion's commander-in-chief, he might not necessarily carry out my orders. Although the Great Five Alliance will secretly ignore my orders … they will still carry out a portion of them."
"Sir, what do you mean?" Lu Ran asked.
"Shi Cheng is growing too fast. We need to suppress them." Lu Xiufu said.
When Lu Ran heard this, he understood what he meant and said, "But, Stone City has just reduced its army by one hundred thousand. If we suppress them now, won't it have the opposite effect? Right now, Stone City's position seems to be stable, but … if we don't support them from behind, the Five Great Alliance will inevitably take risks. Moreover, Ye Tianze is a capable person. Now that we have entered the second level, the destiny of our human race has increased. It is said that in many places in the four great realms, there are powerhouses that have broken through their shackles. "
Keeping silent for a while, Lu Ran said, "Especially the Dragon Veins everywhere. After being nourished by the Ancestral Dragon Vein, the Ancestral Dragon Vein seems to be moving towards the human race."
"I've also heard about this. When humans climb the mountain, it brings about an increase in the fate of their race. As the fate increases, the Ancestral Dragon Vein shifts. With enough fate, humans can produce more experts."
Lu Xiufu said, "You are right. Ye Tianze is indeed a capable person, but he is also very dangerous. He is still young. If we suppress him now, it will be helpful for his future growth. If he grows too fast, it will not be good. It will be easy for him to be arrogant. Which cultivator doesn't have to experience some setbacks to become an expert?"
Lu Ran nodded and said, "Sir, you want him to take over the responsibility of the White Tiger Corps' commander in the future?"
"Originally, the best choice was Bai Richu, but … Ye Tianze killed Bai Richu."
Lu Xiufu said, "In terms of ability, Bai Richu is inferior to Ye Tianze. However, I can't see through Ye Tianze. After entering the second level, he dared to directly start a war with his allies. How many people in this world can be as decisive and as bold as him?"
Lu Xiufu understood what Lu Xiufu meant. To put it bluntly, Lu Xiufu was only worried that Ye Tianze would grow and compete with him for the position of Human Emperor.
Although Lu Xiufu was now at the peak of the Martial Emperor Realm, the top expert of this world, Ye Tianze was still too far away from him. However, Ye Tianze's speed of growth was also terrifying.
Not to mention Lu Xiufu, anyone who saw him grow would be terrified.
Although Lu Xiufu was the commander of the Corps and was loyal to the Human Emperor, he also had his own selfish motives. The Human Emperor's position was only obtained once every ten thousand years.
Originally, Tai Ho still had at least a few thousand years to become the Human Emperor. However, when night fell, the Human Emperor cut through the night sky and entered a weakened state. This gave every human expert a chance to reach the top.
Lu Xiufu couldn't let go of such an opportunity. In the past, Lu Xiufu didn't treat Ye Tianze as a rival.
But now, Lu Xiufu felt threatened. He even treated Ye Tianze as his rival. Of course, he wasn't the most threatening opponent. Otherwise, Lu Xiufu would very likely want to kill Ye Tianze.
With his position in the White Tiger Corps and the Eastern Region, killing Ye Tianze was just a snap of his fingers.
Ye Tianze on the mountain originally wanted to upgrade the second level of the stronghold to an alliance stronghold. With the current resources of Shi City, it wouldn't be difficult to upgrade the stronghold to an alliance stronghold.
However, he received a piece of news. This news was first received by Wan Tong, and it came directly from the Eastern Region's Human Emperor Palace.
"The Corps has decided to suppress us. From now on, the Corps will no longer provide Shi City with a quota to enter Buzhou Mountain. Other than Shi City, they won't send troops to the mountain to support us in building a stronghold."
Wan Tong said.
After hearing this, Ye Tianze frowned and said, "This is expected. Lu Xiufu treats me as a rival."
"Without the Corps' support, will the Great Five Alliance make a move after receiving the news?" Wan Tong asked.
"Secretly monitor the movements of the Great Five Alliance. If there are any changes, immediately inform me," Ye Tianze said.
After Wan Tong left, Ye Tianze quickly received news from Lee Chao-young. Now, Shi City had two intelligence networks.
One was the intelligence network established by Lee Chao-young, and the other was the spy from the Jubao Hall that Wan Tong took over.
Lee Chao-young's intelligence network was naturally much slower than Wan Tong's, but it was more detailed.
Lee Chao-young's news told Ye Tianze that the Corps would no longer provide formation masters and blacksmiths to Shi City. All the resources needed to develop new strongholds would also no longer be provided by the Corps.
And according to the previous practice, the Corps would send troops to help guard the new strongholds. Other than that, they would also provide blacksmiths and formation masters.
When upgrading the formations, the blacksmiths and formation masters who used the Corps would receive a certain degree of compensation.
The reason that the Corps gave Lee Chao-young this time was that the bottom of the mountain was different from the top of the mountain. The risk on the top of the mountain was higher, and sending troops there would cost more resources.
Moreover, the previous rules only applied to the bottom of the mountain, not the top.
If Shi City wanted to hire blacksmiths and formation masters, or needed the help of the Corps, they would have to pay a high price of contribution points.
It was almost ten times more than the previous times!
If it was only two times, then it was reasonable. If it was ten times, then it was obvious that they were suppressing Shi Cheng.
Although Shi City could still afford ten times the price, but … what Lee Chao-young was really worried about was that if the Corps did not support Shi City, the Big Five Alliance would take the risk of attacking Shi City again.
Although Shi City now had close to a hundred thousand soldiers, and they were all elite soldiers, the current situation was that if the Corps did not support them, Shi City would have to face the Big Five Alliance alone.
Although they had the resources on the top of the mountain, what if the Big Five Alliance was determined to go against Shi City?
Lee Chao-young's worries were not groundless. From Wan Tong's intelligence, Ye Tianze also received news that after the Big Five Alliance knew about this, there were already undercurrents surging.
The Northern and Eastern Alliance, which had just been subdued, seemed to have the intention of breaking away.
But because of the previous operations, the two alliances were hesitant.
The next day.
Zhuge Qi personally rushed over from the first level to ask Ye Tianze about the next step. It was not that he did not have a countermeasure, but without Ye Tianze's support, he could not control the overall situation.
"What do you think we should do?" Ye Tianze asked.
"I think we should maintain the relationship with the two alliances and suppress the three alliances. The Corps can prepare for both sides."
Zhuge Qi said.
"How do we maintain the relationship between the two alliances?" Ye Tianze asked.
"If the Big Five Alliance all enters the mountain, the two alliances will have to share the resources on the mountain with the three alliances. But … if they cooperate with Shi City, they only need to share the resources on the mountain with us."
"Although they'll only be able to enter the second floor after we reach the third floor, they'll at least be able to maintain their advantage over the three alliances. So, as long as the leaders of the two alliances aren't idiots, they'll definitely not ally with the three alliances to suppress us. Perhaps they'll create some trouble for us, but they won't be able to become an iron plate."
After hearing this, Ye Tianze nodded and continued asking, "How do we prepare for both sides?"
"The Corps is a little tricky. Logically speaking, even if they want to suppress Shi City, it should not be at this time."
This was the only thing that Zhuge Qi could not figure out. He said, "But no matter what Lu Xiufu plans, we can use two methods to deal with it. One is to compromise with the Corps, pull them up the mountain, and build a stronghold with them. We will share some resources and authority so that the Corps will be at ease. The other method is to recruit our own refiners and array masters. We are not afraid of refiners. After all, the Tool Sect is cooperating with us now, but it will be difficult for array masters."
Ye Tianze naturally knew that array masters were difficult. In this world, except for the Heavenly Academy, few forces would train array masters.
The Human Emperor Palace had one, but the array masters of the Human Emperor Palace were directly under the Corps.
Without an array master, the stronghold's array could not be upgraded, and it would be defenseless. On Mount Buzhou, not only would they be attacked by spirit beasts, they would also be attacked by foreign tribes.
Training array masters on their own was obviously not enough to quench their immediate thirst.
Zhuge Qi's second method was to train array masters on their own, so that they would not be controlled by others. Other than that, they also had to solve the problem of the quota.
Since the Corps wanted to suppress Shi City, they would not only have this method. Once they sealed the passage into Shi City from the outside world.
Even the Jubao Hall would not be able to send in fresh blood from Tiannan State to fill the gap in Shi City.
The experts of other forces could be used, but it was hard to guarantee that they would not turn against them at the critical moment.
"Actually, what I am most worried about is not the array masters, nor the Corps' next step. It is … the danger that we will encounter."
Zhuge Qi said worriedly.
"What danger?" Ye Tianze asked.
"The stronghold on the second floor may encounter a beast tide, and after the beast tide, there will be an attack by foreign tribes!"
Zhuge Qi said, "The Corps is blocking our array masters now. It is obvious that they don't want us to upgrade our stronghold to the Alliance level. In this way, the advantage we have on the first floor will be broken. This is the ultimate move!"
After Ye Tianze heard this, he did not speak. He only looked at him with a smile, which made Zhuge Qi feel a little creeped out.
He thought to himself, did I miss something, or did I say something wrong?
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