The so-called pursuit of wealth lies in taking risks, as long as you're bold enough, Zhenzi takes maternity leave; as long as you're brazen enough, she takes it twice.

Zong Shen's gaze grew profound. Not only did he want to seize the Demon Remnant Soul and Demon's Blood, but if conditions allowed, luring a few Heretic Warriors would also be a good choice.

With loyalty as a boost, and with a little good teaching, even fanatic warriors don't matter, as long as they don't preach within the territory, they can believe whatever they want.

Zong Shen wasn't picky about warriors, as long as they were powerful. Moreover, as the Lord's Influence, they theoretically have no faction divisions, allowing the lord to accept any force on this continent, which is one of the lord's advantages.

Of course, some conflicting forces might cause disputes resulting in reduced loyalty of subordinates, but with time they can be resolved. For example, Tasuya and Aisha initially disliked each other and even had clashes, but through Zong Shen's regulation and after some time together, they were able to coexist peacefully.

This is also considered one of the Lord's convenient "privileges". Under the Lord's Rules, there's no need to spend too much effort winning people over. Loyalty alone can show whether soldiers are loyal, allowing Zong Shen to confidently recruit any soldiers.

For inherently disloyal soldiers, like some Blade Armor Assassins who refused to surrender after being captured from Sangui Yingshu, or the Gold Digger currently hanging below the Arrow Tower, the Loyalty setting can genuinely reflect their thoughts, proving that even under the constraints of the rules, these warriors still have their joys and sorrows.

Now, Zong Shen was preparing to infiltrate Odu Village to gather information. Although the strategy system was omniscient, truly understanding the Calamity Raven Church required seeing it with his own eyes, while also observing the village environment to prepare for subsequent actions.

However, how to infiltrate the village was a problem. From here, Zong Shen could see that the village's vantage points and buildings were all occupied, with some archers holding longbows standing on the rooftops.

Due to the distance, he couldn't see the details of the village's garrison, but it was conceivable that Odu Village was heavily guarded now, making infiltration extremely difficult.

While Zong Shen was contemplating how to infiltrate Odu Village, the patrolling Heretical Giant Power Knights outside the village suddenly made a move, galloping in a certain direction.

Following their direction, Zong Shen saw a carriage heading towards Odu Village. From the reaction of surrounding Burrow Monsters, it was likely not part of the Lord's Influence, most probably an indigenous people's carriage.

Two teams of Heretical Giant Power Knights surrounded the carriage, and then roughly dragged down several traveling merchant-looking individuals from it, escorting them into the village, presumably to be used as laborers. The carriage and its carried goods were also taken back to the village as spoils.

Seeing this scene, Zong Shen had a sudden idea about how to infiltrate the village, a bold plan forming in his mind as he flipped his hand to take out a potion.

This was a potion he previously obtained from the Goblin Merchant Boswell, an excellent quality Alchemy Potion [Transformation Potion]. After ingestion, one could perform a Mimic Transformation lasting for 30 minutes.

Although it couldn't alter skills and attributes, it could perfectly transform one's appearance.

Zong Shen took off all his equipment and jewelry, not leaving a single piece.

Then he took out a set of ordinary whiteboard leather armor, worn-out trousers, and the leather boots from when he first landed, hanging a whiteboard short knife at his waist. He then rubbed some mud on his trousers, clothing edges, and even cheeks, creating a dusty look.

This was styled based on the image of those down-and-out mercenaries seen in the tavern of Sitanos Village in the past. Thankfully, he didn't discard the equipment he had upon landing, or it would have been quite troublesome.

He then bit open the bottle stopper and drank the [Transformation Potion] in one go, entering a mystical state.

He felt his body become like a lump of clay, able to change form and appearance with a thought, even slightly adjusting his height.

So, he directly reduced his height by a few centimeters, making his waist rounder and referenced Master Mars for his face, adding some beard to his chubby face, looking somewhat cunning.

With this image, entering the village should be no problem.

Zong Shen led Pigsy, letting it hide in the small forest, instructing it not to wander, while he swaggered towards the village.

Upon entering the village, if exposed or the potion's time was up, he planned to quickly change attire and activate the Floating Technique to escape from the village. There was risk, but not too much.

He briskly approached Odu Village, with a clear goal, and as he came within one or two kilometers of the village, the patrolling Heretical Giant Power Knights noticed Zong Shen.

A team of twelve knights surrounded him, and Zong Shen appropriately displayed a look of terror, pretending to flee, only to be stopped the next moment by Heretic Knights on tall, heavy horses.

They disarmed him without a word, taking away the short knife he used for show, and one Heretic Knight grabbed his collar, lifting him up and carrying him back to the village on horseback.

Throughout, there was no exchange, Zong Shen just saw through the cross slit of the Barrel Helmet a pair of cold eyes exuding an eerie aura, an expression only possessed by warriors who went through harsh training and the most brutal of battles.

Such warriors were definitely skilled on the battlefield, making Zong Shen itch with desire; a black cat or a white cat, if it catches mice, is a good cat. If he could acquire one or two teams of these Tier Four Knights, it would certainly elevate the combat power of his territory.

Zong Shen was brought into the village, roughly thrown at the village entrance by the Heretic Knights.

There, dozens of Cold Crow Halberd Warriors were overseeing hundreds of villagers who were digging a horse-resistant ditch.

After being thrown down, a warrior immediately approached, picked him up, and handed him a large iron shovel.

"Get to work, dig the trench."

The voice was equally cold, without any explanation.

A silent warrior was a dangerous one. Zong Shen had no doubt that any slight resistance would result in that guy's great halberd splitting open his head.

So he had no intention of resisting or questioning, obediently taking the shovel and joining the trench digging army under the warrior's guidance.

The warrior then returned to his position, continuing to watch over them.

With a new arrival, the villagers already digging the trench all looked up for a moment.

The past couple of days, these Heretics from the Calamity Raven Church have been capturing people, though fortunately, they hadn't resorted to mass slaughter or blood sacrifices, merely forcing them to work while brainwashing them every night, but at least food and water were provided.

They're much better than those vicious bandits. In fact, not all heretical churches are truly evil; most are considered heretical merely because their doctrines differ or they choose to accept relatively dark powers.

Take Tasuya, for example, the Necromancer. In fact, Tasuya is not fond of killing at all and has no psychological quirks, only a better tolerance for corpses, the undead, and Undead Race monsters.

Strength itself holds no right or wrong; all choices lie with the individual.

Evil and justice are always just relative definitions.

The Calamity Raven Church also needs to develop its influence and continuously expand its believers.

So, currently, these villagers appear quite calm.

Compared to those ruthless bandits who slaughter villages and peddle slaves at the slightest provocation, these Church Heretics are relatively better.

Zong Shen looked at the surrounding villagers without saying much. He continued to dig the horse-deterring trench with a shovel, occasionally glancing at those Great Halberd Warriors.

These warriors wore metal half helmets, their faces covered with black fabric masks, exposing only two eyes.

They were dressed in black chain armor, with leather pants and boots on their lower bodies.

These great halberds are approximately 2 meters long, resembling an axe and a hook, appearing immensely powerful and formidable.

Just by looking at their gear, one can tell these Great Halberd Warriors are not as heavily armed as the Heretical Giant Power Knights and belong to the medium-armored infantry unit. In terms of armor, they are inferior to the Tier Three Gun and Shield Warriors of Zong Shen Territory.

However, the power of the great halberds must be very strong, as these Great Halberd Warriors are more inclined towards offense.

Zong Shen's eyes narrowed slightly, and the attributes of these warriors instantly appeared before him.

[Cold Crow Halberd Warrior: Kafuera]

[Tier: Tier Three]

[Talent: Excellent]

[Level: lv30]

[Attributes: (click to open)]

Indeed, these Great Halberd Warriors are merely Tier Three soldiers, one rank lower than the Tier Four Heretical Giant Power Knights.

Zong Shen clicked on the detailed attributes, beginning to review them.

[Strength: 32]

[Agility: 16]

[Wisdom: 8]

[Charm: 10]

[Life Value: 545]

[Slashing Damage: 73~76]

[Piercing Damage: 63]

[Head Armor Value: 20]

[Upper Body Armor Value: 28]

[Lower Body Armor Value: 20]

[Magic Resistance: 15]

[Skills: Slicing Kill lv15 (delivers a powerful slash with the halberd, causing 1.75 times slashing damage to the target, cooling time is 30 minutes)

Cold Crow Power lv10 (activates Cold Crow Power, adding 20 extra frost damage to attacks, reduces enemy attack speed by 20%, movement speed by 15%, lasts 10 minutes, cooling time is 2 hours)

Passive Skills: Scaring Horses lv5 (When the halberd is raised, has a certain scaring horses effect, with a 10% chance of causing charging warhorses to suddenly stop)]

(Elite infantry of the Cold Crow Apostle Corps, an advanced soldier of the Cold Crow Veterans, the halberd's lethality is strong, effectively restraining cavalry when forming battle formations)

Zong Shen finished reviewing the attributes of the Cold Crow Halberd Warriors, having a clear understanding,

The attributes of these warriors are similar to the Dragonized Spear and Shield Warriors, slightly less powerful than the Spear and Shield Warriors, but slightly more agile.

Apart from that, their armor defense is no match for the Spear and Shield Warriors, yet their attack power is somewhat higher.

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