Black Soul Tower

"Uh..." Chen Beixun narrowed his eyes as he gazed into the distance, murmuring to himself.

"That must be the... burial ground of the Black Eagle Pavilion."

Looking down from the sky, the ground appeared a purplish-red, dotted with specks of black like inlaid gemstones.

The tiny black specks crawled about, displaying the heroic bearing of victors.

The scene resembled a whale fall, with countless creatures crawling, scrambling, and fighting over the remains.

As time passed and the environment grew increasingly dim, the "click-clack" sounds of feeding continued unabated.

"We need to leave, now," Chen Beixun said.

He had no desire to run into anything strange.

Four figures shot into the sky, flying off toward the distance.

The mountains were layered and overlapping, yet everything in sight was desolate.

Swish! Swish!

Four blurred figures flew past at high speed.

It's here! The thought flashed through Chen Beixun's mind; the current environment felt familiar.

Yellow-orange sand, scorched and withered shrubs, and strange, sand-worm-like creatures that would occasionally emerge from the ground to launch sneak attacks.

"How nostalgic!" Chen Beixun's expression turned somewhat grim as he spotted the bat-like creatures circling and hunting in the distance—the Tar Eagles.

"Two hundred and thirty-six of them!"

Qishan provided an accurate count.

To avoid provoking these lethal monsters, the group chose to detour.

If they were to tangle with these creatures known as Tar Eagles, even the Demon Island Vine would not be able to protect Chen Beixun.

When Tar Eagles hunted in groups, two to five Domain Lord-level Tar Eagles would be responsible for guarding the hunting grounds; as long as one didn't get too close, there was generally no danger.

The wails of the prey echoed through the mountains, carrying from peak to peak, the sounds lingering for a long time.

Upon hearing them, the group couldn't help but shudder, their speed spiking accordingly.

Tar Eagles preferred to start eating from the lower half of their prey, and because of this, the prey remained conscious, forced to watch helplessly as they were torn apart and devoured by the predators.

As the group ventured deeper, they discovered that the path was littered with white bones.

Some of the bones belonged to adventurers who had entered when the World Lord world was first discovered, while others were from those who had entered during this current opening.

One could distinguish them by the degree of weathering on the bones.

"A burnt smell?" A sharp glint flashed in Chen Beixun's eyes.

The stench of charred flesh mixed with the smell of burning metal was particularly heavy and nauseating; the group stopped in mid-air, looking at one another.

"Rest assured, there is no danger," Qishan communicated to Chen Beixun via consciousness.

Chen Beixun's eyes showed hesitation, and he thought to himself, Should we move forward?

After a moment of contemplation, he gave the order to proceed.

A battle took place here not long ago? Chen Beixun mused. It must have been yesterday!

As the four figures gradually drew closer, they finally caught sight of this metallic battlefield.

"D4-grade metal has an extremely high melting point."

"What kind of weapon could have done this?"

The three guards chattered away, while Chen Beixun fixed his gaze on a black metal chest.

Vido, the controller among the three guards, moved his telekinetic power, and the massive black metal chest floated steadily about 600 meters away from them.

"What is it?" Chen Beixun discovered that his own telekinesis couldn't penetrate it, so he immediately turned his gaze toward the controller. Vido felt Chen Beixun's stare and shook his head, indicating that he couldn't do it either.

"D9-grade metal."

"There must be shielding measures inside," Qishan said.

Chen Beixun rubbed his chin, then spoke, "There shouldn't be anyone nearby, right?"

Qishan replied, "No one within 70,000 meters; beyond that, I'm not sure."

Chen Beixun licked his teeth and couldn't help but glance backward, thinking, I originally wanted to have the Demon Island Vine use its 'Devour' ability to consume the D9-grade metal on the outside of the chest...

"Hm?" He seemed to have seen something.

"Who's there!" Moluo shouted, his loud cry pulling Chen Beixun's attention away.

Moluo's figure blurred, and he shot off like a black shadow.

By the time the others realized what was happening and tried to pull him back, he had already flown a hundred meters away; this took less than 0.01 seconds.

"What a reckless brute!" the other two guards shouted in unison.

"Qishan, did you not detect anything?" Chen Beixun asked, frowning.

"No. The probability of a detection error was only 99.9%."

"At this stage, the only ones capable of evading my surveillance are likely the Demon Slayer Race and a few other unique species," Qishan replied.

Bang!

Moluo slammed into the ground, overturning the metallic debris and leaving behind a massive crater.

Moluo stood in the pit, holding a black gemstone in his hand.

"Is there a problem?" Chen Beixun transmitted his voice.

"No problem, it was just a shadow cast by the metallic debris," Moluo replied, secretly slipping the gemstone into his space ring.

Qishan saw this and immediately reported the situation to Chen Beixun. It wasn't that Qishan was petty—the gemstone wasn't even particularly valuable—but he was simply being cautious.

"Everyone has a love for wealth," Chen Beixun said aloud, though he thought to himself, I have seen many who turn to malice at the sight of treasure; I hope you are not one of them.

There were many treasures within a World Lord's world, whether they were living creatures or exotic minerals buried deep underground. As long as they could be brought out, there would be no issue with buying tens of thousands of beautiful slaves or purchasing property.

"Uh... Your Highness, there actually was a gemstone." Moluo flew before Chen Beixun, took a black gemstone from his space ring, and handed it to him.

Chen Beixun took the gemstone, glanced at it briefly, and then said, "Keep it."

"It hasn't been easy for you, risking your life alongside me."

He then shoved the gemstone back to Moluo.

"Thank you, Your Highness!" Moluo said respectfully, his face beaming with joy.

The other two guards laughed, "Moluo, remember to treat us to a meal."

"Go away, go away."

"You brat."

Seeing this, Chen Beixun smiled faintly and turned his gaze back to the black box.

What exactly is inside this thing? Chen Beixun was deeply puzzled.

He looked around again and thought, It is not wise to stay here for long!

Chen Beixun waved his hand, storing the black box into his space ring.

It is not a living creature.

There shouldn't be any World Rings or the like inside, should there?

Chen Beixun took the space ring off his finger, handed it to Moluo, and said, "I'll leave that black box in your care."

The other two men gave a sheepish laugh, looking at Moluo with a sense of schadenfreude.

Moluo first responded to Chen Beixun respectfully, then turned his head to glare at the two of them.

Among the three, Moluo was the strongest, so the two immediately turned their heads away, refusing to meet his gaze.

"Alright, let's go. This place is not a good place to linger," Chen Beixun said while storing the metallic debris on the ground into his World Ring.

A moment later, the four of them continued on their way.

The annihilation of the Black Soul Tower's second echelon was a critical issue for their allies: whether to continue the alliance or break the contract.

There were also some unaligned factions that had been flirting with the Black Soul Tower, who now needed to reconsider their positions carefully.

For instance, the Luote Family.

At the Luote Family's command base.

"We have received news that the Black Soul Tower's second echelon was completely wiped out in Valley GH551 after being attacked by a Fire Blaze Bull."

Luote Wosike felt deeply confused by this news.

"What the hell? Wiped out by a Fire Blaze Bull?"

The Fire Blaze Bull was docile by nature; even if you trespassed into its territory, it couldn't be bothered to care about you.

Yet, this docile, almost zen-like creature had annihilated the second echelon of the Xuyu Universe Kingdom's renowned power, the Black Soul Tower.

"Hiss, how did the Black Soul Tower manage to pull that off?"

Luote Wosike pondered this for a long time.

"Regardless, for our side, this is good news."

But this good news was not friendly at all for the Black Soul Tower.