Chapter 54: A Lord's Promise is Worth a Thousand Pieces of Gold!

"Ding!" A pleasant system notification rang in Lin Mu's ear.

"——System Notice: Lord Lin Mu, as the chieftain of Qingfeng Stronghold has led the entire stronghold to pledge allegiance to True Dragon Village, the second stage of your territory series quests is now complete: [Occupy Azure Dragon Stronghold]. For completing the first stage of the quest, the system specially rewards: Prestige +100, Command +1!"

The prestige reward was as stingy as ever; subjugating a large-scale stronghold only yielded 100 prestige. Who knew how many years and months it would take to accumulate over a million. However, the +1 command was quite good, as basic attributes were always extremely important and rare.

"Gao Hai, could you tell me about the specialty item, the [Marching Pouch]?" Lin Mu asked with an expectant expression. The second stage quest, [Occupy Azure Dragon Stronghold], would be completed by him very soon, so there was no need to worry.

"Actually, the marching pouch is my family's secret recipe. Thanks to the legacy and protection of our ancestors, the Gao family inherited a very rare production technique for military marching supplies—the production technique of the [Marching Pouch]—which earned us great privileges. In the past, our family was extremely prosperous and established countless merits during the Great Qin Empire. Our lineage flourished, and generations of outstanding talents emerged. Unfortunately, we were made by it and undone by it. For unknown reasons, the once mighty Great Qin Empire collapsed overnight, and our family suffered a massive blow, beginning a decline that has led to our current fallen state. Alas, how lamentable, how lamentable!"

Hearing Gao Hai's sigh, Lin Mu was deeply shocked. He had never expected that this Gao Hai was actually a descendant of loyal subjects of the former Great Qin Empire. True to his birth in a prominent family, even though they had declined, a rotting ship still had three pounds of nails, and a starved camel was still bigger than a horse. Perhaps the invincible conquests of the Great Qin Empire owed a part of their success to the Gao family. Thinking of the invincibility of the Great Qin Empire, Lin Mu felt a surge of excitement in his heart.

"I never imagined that Chieftain Gao would be the descendant of a renowned family. Please accept a bow from me! With the Gao family's assistance, our territory will be like a tiger that has grown wings, like a fish that has returned to water! I, Lin Mu, promise you here: if your family can wholeheartedly assist me, I will certainly not let you down. Perhaps we can even recreate the prosperity of your ancestors! May we move forward hand in hand, bravely navigating the turbulent currents and pressing onward!" Lin Mu bowed slightly and made his resolute promise.

Lin Mu rarely made promises. Previously, he had only made a pledge of protection to his territory's residents during True Dragon Village's first banquet. This was now his second promise, which showed how much Lin Mu valued the Gao family's specialty production technique.

"Good, good! By offering this specialty, I also hope to revive our family's former glory and restore the splendor of our ancestors! For this purpose, the Gao family is willing to shatter our bodies and dash our brains to pieces to solve worries for our lord!" Even his form of address had changed to 'lord' instead of 'chieftain.' It seemed they had completely surrendered to him.

"Ding!"

"——System Notice: Due to your promise, Gao Hai's loyalty has increased by 20, reaching absolute loyalty!"

A lord's promise is worth a thousand pieces of gold. Having obtained Lin Mu's pledge, Gao Hai swore to follow him to the death.

Because Lin Mu lacked an investigative skill, and Gao Hai had not yet registered his citizenship, he could not view Gao Hai's specific attributes. However, since the system prompted that his loyalty had increased by 20 points to reach the maximum of 100 points of absolute loyalty, Gao Hai's loyalty must have been greater than 80 points beforehand.

Indeed, this promise of his was of utmost importance.

In fact, against the ancient backdrop of *Mythical Three Kingdoms*, the promises made by lords and faction leaders were exceptionally significant. They were likely recognized by the system deities. Even without a system prompt, if someone made a promise and failed to fulfill it or betrayed it, the resulting consequences would be utterly severe.

While reading historical texts from the real world, Lin Mu knew of a story: the warlord Cao Cao, driven by lust for another man's wife, took Zhang Xiu's widowed aunt to attend to him in bed and failed to treat Zhang Xiu's family properly, thus breaking his word. Consequently, Zhang Xiu rebelled and defeated Cao Cao, forcing him to flee like a stray dog while Cao Cao even lost his eldest son, Cao Ang, and his elite general, Dian Wei—truly losing both the battle and his investment.

Back in those days, Cao Cao had strategists like rain: the demonic genius Guo Jia, the statesman Xun Yu, Xi Zhicai, Xun You, Cheng Yu, and other super strategists. However, peerless fierce generals were few and far between. If Cao Cao had possessed as many fierce generals as Liu Bei did, the situation would not have been a tripartite division of the realm, but an entirely different version of history.

Unfortunately, history was history; there was no right or wrong, and no 'what-ifs.'

In *Mythical Three Kingdoms*, a person's promises were equally crucial. For heaven-shaking oaths that managed to resonate with the Mandate of Heaven and trigger celestial phenomena, the benefits were countless, but the consequences of breaking them were equally devastating.

Lin Mu thought of an epic storyline—an oath recognized by the Heavenly Dao: the Oath of the Peach Garden, where the three sworn brothers Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Feng made vows to each other!

At that time, strange celestial phenomena descended, auspicious clouds filled the sky, and even a system announcement was triggered, causing a massive impact. It could truly be called an immensely weighty oath.

In the past, Lin Mu and many other players had maliciously imagined what would happen if one of them were to betray the oath. Would they be struck dead by divine lightning sent down by the system?

However, because their vows were so weighty, and though their words were few, their loyalty and brotherhood were as heavy as Mount Tai. Liu Bei's hegemony rose from humble beginnings and contended for the empire precisely because he had the help of two divine-general brothers!

Countless players had tried every trick in the book to recruit Guan Yu and Zhang Feng to no avail, perhaps precisely because of that oath in the Peach Garden!

Lin Mu's thoughts drifted from Gao Hai all the way to Guan Yu and Zhang Feng, and he was even plotting to dig up the foundation of Liu Bei's hegemony! A faint smile could not help but spread across his face.

Uh... seeing Lin Mu's smile, Gao Hai felt his hair stand on end and cold sweat pour down. Was his lord really as reliable as he appeared on the surface? But having already pledged allegiance, he had to give it his all. So thought Gao Hai, whose loyalty had already reached absolute devotion.

"My lord, since our territory now possesses the specialty [Marching Pouch], how do you plan to arrange it? Do you wish for us to move back to True Dragon Village to manufacture them, or stay right here?" Gao Hai interrupted Lin Mu's daydreaming.

"Ah, I've already considered it. Whichever place is more convenient is where we'll make them. What are the materials required to craft the [Marching Pouch]? If True Dragon Village can produce those materials, it would be best to return and settle our production there!" Lin Mu snapped back to reality and asked.

"Aside from the main ingredients—the [Empty-Origin Marten Hide] and [Empty-Origin Marten Blood], which are difficult to come by—the rest of the auxiliary materials are quite ordinary things," Gao Hai answered after a moment of thought.

"Are the [Empty-Origin Marten Hide] and [Empty-Origin Marten Blood] produced by a beast called the [Empty-Origin Marten]? Do these beasts exist in large numbers within the Qilian Mountains?" Hearing Gao Hai's information, Lin Mu immediately inquired.

General territories were established by relying on certain convenient conditions. Some territories benefited from mountainous and aquatic terrain, some profited from resources, and others relied on populations... each was different.

One of the reasons Lin Mu established his territory in the Yinglong Valley was that the resources here were abundant, secluded, and safe!

...

"My lord is wise; a single hint makes everything clear. The main ingredients, the [Empty-Origin Marten Hide] and [Empty-Origin Marten Blood], are harvested from the [Empty-Origin Marten]. However, the [Empty-Origin Marten] is not an ordinary beast, but a rare fierce beast—a lower-tier fierce beast possessing a special bloodline. Whether there are any in other parts of the Qilian Mountains, this subordinate does not know, but our family settled here precisely because [Empty-Origin Marten] appeared in this area back then!" Gao Hai explained.

"Oh, can the environment in the backyard of the stronghold sustain these fierce beasts?" Lin Mu asked. He already knew the environment around Qingfeng Stronghold, having never visited the backyard behind the stronghold, and thus made a guess.

"It's not that the environment of the backyard sustains the [Empty-Origin Marten]; rather, there is a special secret realm in the backyard, within which a large number of [Empty-Origin Marten] live. When our ancestors discovered this secret realm, they were overjoyed, never expecting that a legendary resource secret realm would be found by our family. Unfortunately, by then, our family had already declined to a severe degree. After lying low here for many years, our family has only recently been able to recuperate and rest, allowing our population to slowly grow quite a bit." Speaking of his family's history, Gao Hai's tone was extremely downcast. Thinking of how a once-magnificent aristocratic clan had declined to the point where even a tiny Azure Dragon Stronghold could bully its doorstep, it was truly pathetic and lamentable!

"What, there's actually a resource secret realm?! A resource instance dungeon!!" This was the second time today Lin Mu had jumped up in shock. He never expected that this stronghold not only possessed a specialty item, but also a resource secret realm! It was truly a blessed land.

In the perception of players, a resource secret realm was a resource instance dungeon—a source of endless resources, and one of the most vital foundations of territorial resources.

This was likely a special setting in the game world; otherwise, given the entire territory of the Han Empire, resources would eventually be depleted one day, even if its area was boundless.

Resource instances were also one of the coveted focal points for contention among later-generation players and indigenous overlords, their importance comparable to the land of the territory itself.

Lin Mu never imagined that just as the game was starting, a resource instance dungeon would appear. It seemed he truly had boundless fortune and an overwhelmingly imposing aura!

"However, because the tier of our stronghold's resource secret realm is too low, the spatial capacity of the marching pouches produced isn't very large."

"Using materials from lower-tier Empty-Origin Marten fierce beasts, the absolute best we can make are marching pouches with a spatial capacity of forty-eight grids! The specifications we produce come in twenty-four, thirty-six, and forty-eight grids!"

"However, in our ancestral secret recipes, forty-eight grids are not the limit. At the peak of craftsmanship, using materials from divine beasts, one can craft the legendary Universe Bag! Unlike the crude marching pouch, which is limited by quantity and very restrictive, the Universe Bag can store goods freely. The Universe Bag is a true miniature space. Alas, alas! Our skills are not up to par, our professional ranks are insufficient, and many high-end techniques in the secret recipe were sealed by our ancestors, making them unviewable! We junior descendants are incompetent and have squandered many years. Sigh..." Gao Hai let out a long sigh!