Of course, Zhou Tian would not have truly acted against those NPCs at that time. Because Zhou Tian was acutely aware that even if he were to send out his troops, the likelihood of successfully seizing the territories held by the NPCs was minimal. In such a scenario, instead of wasting an excessive amount of his energy on the NPCs, Zhou Tian would rather conserve his military strength and eliminate the NPCs in one fell swoop once he found a suitable method to deal with them.
As a result, while Zhou Tian was racking his brains to devise a strategy against the NPCs, his military power multiplied several times rapidly due to partial external expansion. Not only did the rate at which their strength increased remain stable, but the size of the Bearman army under Zhou Tian's command also expanded several times at that moment.