At this point in the expansion process, the regional map in Qianye’s hand was growing increasingly refined, and he had found certain regular patterns in the process. Normally, the bigger forests were surrounded by lower-grade ones. For instance, the forest with four holy trees was surrounded in three directions by forests with two holy trees.

The geography of the new world was full of strange characteristics, but every region was centered around the forests with holy trees. The one with four holy trees was the highest-ranked one in Qianye’s domain.

Even until now, Qianye hadn’t cleaned out this forest entirely, and some beasts would still charge out from the woods from time to time. Their forces weren’t strong, but their presence stopped people from moving around at will.

Fortunately, these beasts no longer had a commander. They favored charging in groups but didn’t know how to work cohesively between troop types. It really wasn’t too hard to deal with creatures that simply charged on sight.

The sheer size of the beast lair inside the four-holy-tree forest was terrifying. Qianye went in personally to scout the route, but he...