A few more days passed. At the easternmost edge of the Mantis Lord's territory, the last Mantis Vanguard wailed as it was surrounded by a group of Tier 2 Flame-tailed Foxes and burned to ashes by their flames.

With this, the Mantis monsters that had been threatening the territory were completely wiped out, and the threat from the east was finally eliminated.

Now that the territory was temporarily safe, Qi Ye could devote all his energy to preparing for the upcoming beast tide.

At this moment, his side quest description indicated that there were fifteen days left until the beast tide appeared.

To expand the territory's population, Qi Ye had asked Tu Bai if there were any other surviving Horned Bunnys nearby. Tu Bai said that a group of Horned Bunnys had not been caught by the Mantis monsters but had instead fled eastward.

Tu Bai expressed its willingness to go out and search for its kin to bring them back.

At the same time, Qi Ye also sent out several Flame-tailed Foxes to explore, hoping to find more exiled, kind-hearted monsters.

They split up and headed in the four cardinal directions, carrying backpacks woven by the Azure Ice Rats, filled with food, and set off to explore with great enthusiasm.

Because he had the Regeneration Bond Skill borrowed from Chocolate, Qi Ye was not worried about them dying. After death, they would return to a fixed space like battle pets, waiting to be resurrected.

In fact, one Flame-tailed Fox was not very lucky. Although it was Tier 2, it had only been out to the north for less than two days when its follower panel went black. Qi Ye recalled it to the battle pet space, where it could be resurrected after three days.

And now, it was time to resurrect it.

Qi Ye stood on the pillar of the stone bridge, spread his wings, and summoned the resurrected Flame-tailed Fox.

Seeing the Lord it had been separated from for so long, tears of excitement streamed from the Flame-tailed Fox's eyes. It remembered clearly that it had died, yet here it was, resurrected and standing before Qi Ye, completely unharmed. This was nothing short of a miracle.

It recounted what it had seen and heard in the north over the past two days. It had explored about twenty kilometers deep into the north. The further it went, the sparser the trees became, and the smell of rot in the air grew stronger.

During its exploration, it encountered several evil monsters it had never seen before and carefully dodged them. However, it eventually encountered a monster whose aura was stronger than any Lord it had ever seen, and it was instantly killed by the opponent.

According to its description, it was a humanoid monster and at least a Tier 5 Monster Lord. This confirmed Qi Ye's suspicion that the deeper one went into the Corrupt Forest, the stronger the monsters encountered would be.

After praising it a few times, Qi Ye let it return to the territory and join the Patrol Team.

Of course, the Followers who went out to explore also brought good news for Qi Ye.

Tu Bai, who had set out first, returned successfully, bringing back seven Horned Bunnys that looked very thin. After seeing the beauty and safety of the Sacred Lake District, these rabbits couldn't wait to become a part of the territory.

Another Flame-tailed Fox sent to the west also brought back five of its kin who had been hiding along the way. When they saw their fellow kin living in the Sacred Lake District, they excitedly huddled together to exchange greetings, seemingly knowing each other.

However, most of their Aptitude was below Grade C, with the highest being C+.

This made Qi Ye clearly realize that Followers with high Aptitude were not so easy to find. Being able to find a Follower with Grade B Aptitude was a one-in-a-hundred occurrence.

The number of Followers in Qi Ye's territory had increased by another batch of subjects. Now, his territory had twenty-seven adult Flame-tailed Foxes, eight cubs, twenty-two Azure Ice Rats, eight Horned Bunnys, one Big Yellow, one Chocolate, and one Snow Worm, totaling 68 subjects.

As well as a large group of Giant Red Worms that were not counted as subjects because they lacked intelligence.

The Followers all lived within the 300-meter radius of the Sacred Lake District. Although they did not share a common language, they respected each other while living together. During the day, when working, one could often see Flame-tailed Foxes and Azure Ice Rats coming and going on the stone bridge.

Watching the life in this territory, which he had built with his own hands, becoming vibrant and flourishing, Qi Ye felt very happy.

Over these ten days, thanks to the efforts of the Azure Ice Rats, three more cold storage rooms were built on the south side of the stone bridge. There were now four huge cold storage rooms side by side, leaving only enough space on one side of the stone bridge for two Flame-tailed Foxes to pass through at the same time.

Three of the cold storage rooms were filled with various kinds of monster meat, and one was piled with fresh holy blood grass and a small amount of cherries, which were supplied to the Flame-tailed Foxes, Azure Ice Rats, and Horned Bunnys respectively.

holy blood grass could not only suppress the spread of corruption but was also the favorite food of the Azure Ice Rats and Horned Bunnys. Back when the Corrupt Forest was still the Firefly Forest, they had already learned to plant holy blood grass.

And now, they had taken up their old trade again, sowing holy blood grass seeds everywhere in Qi Ye's territory.

Perhaps because the soil here was very fertile, the holy blood grass grew rapidly, which was completely enough for the Azure Ice Rats and Horned Bunnys to eat.

The Snow Worm would wander around Qi Ye's territory when it had nothing to do, purifying the land infected by corruption and converting rotten trees back into spirit trees.

During this time, all the rotten trees in the Sacred Lake District had been converted into spirit trees, restoring it to the original appearance of the Firefly Forest.

If the Corrupt Forest, filled with the stench of rot, was a desolate desert, then the Sacred Lake District was simply an oasis free from the strife of the world.

He wondered how He Chenyang and Ding Ren, whom he had subdued, were doing.

Hopping slowly onto the stone bridge on the west side of the Sacred Lake, Qi Ye opened his follower panel and found that Ding Ren's data had changed.

The Follower experience, which was originally 0, had now become 23 points, showing an increase.

Qi Ye had doubts. He saw that Ding Ren's profession experience was still 60, with no change. Moreover, his panel had not turned black but remained gray, indicating that he and Qi Ye were not in the same world, yet he was still alive.

The profession experience had not changed, the Follower experience was increasing, and he was still alive.

Did this mean he had already entered the second dungeon and it was currently in progress?

Suddenly, Qi Ye saw Ding Ren's panel flickering from gray to black, as if he were experiencing some life-and-death crisis.

He therefore switched the Follower summon to Ding Ren and summoned him to his front.

A young man covered in wounds suddenly fell from mid-air and crashed onto the bridge deck.

"Ouch!"

Ding Ren cried out in pain. He had just been desperately resisting the bites of a dozen or so Alien Magic Lizards and almost thought he was going to die.

Having entered a Grade B dungeon, he had been cautious, but he was framed by a demon, kicked off the city wall, and fell into a pile of Alien Magic Lizards, almost thinking he was going to die.