"Uh..." Chen Beixun squinted into the distance and murmured.
"That must be where the Black Eagle Pavilion... met its end."
From above, the ground looked purplish red, dotted with black specks like jewels.
The black specks crawled about, displaying the swagger of victors.
The scene was like a whale fall, with countless creatures crawling over the carcass and fighting for scraps.
As time passed, the surroundings grew darker, but the "crunch, crunch" of feeding continued.
"Let's get out of here. Now," Chen Beixun said.
He didn't want to run into anything strange.
Four figures shot into the sky and flew off into the distance.
Mountain ranges stretched across the land, but everything in sight was desolate.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Four blurry figures streaked past.
"This is the place!" The thought flashed through Chen Beixun's mind. The surroundings felt familiar.
Yellow-orange sand, withered, yellowing shrubs, and strange, sandworm-like creatures that occasionally burst out of the ground to ambush them.
"Those were the days..." Chen Beixun's expression turned grim. He spotted the bat-like creatures circling and hunting in the distance—the Tar Eagles.
"Two hundred and thirty-six!"
Qishan gave an exact count.
To avoid provoking these deadly creatures, they chose to go around.
If they angered the creatures known as Tar Eagles, even the Demon Island Vine couldn't protect Chen Beixun.
When Tar Eagles hunted in groups, two to five domain lord-level Tar Eagles guarded the hunting grounds. As long as they didn't get close, there was basically no danger.
The prey's cries echoed through the mountains, carrying from peak to peak. Their wails lingered for a long time.
At the sound, everyone shuddered, then sped up.
Tar Eagles liked to start eating from the underside of their prey. As a result, their victims were often still conscious, forced to watch as the predators tore them apart.
As they ventured deeper, they found mostly bones along the way.
Some belonged to adventurers who had entered when the World Lord World was first discovered; others belonged to people who had come in during this opening.
They could tell the difference by how weathered the bones were.
"A burning smell?" A glint flashed in Chen Beixun's eyes.
The stench of charred flesh mixed with burning metal was especially strong and nauseating. They stopped in midair and exchanged wary looks.
"Don't worry. There's no danger," Qishan sent to Chen Beixun through telepathy.
Chen Beixun's eyes showed hesitation. Should we keep going?
After a moment's thought, he ordered them to press on.
"Did a battle happen here not long ago?" Chen Beixun wondered. "Probably yesterday!"
As the four figures drew closer, they finally saw the metal battlefield.
"D4-class metal has an extremely high melting point."
"What kind of weapon could do this?"
The three guards chattered among themselves, while Chen Beixun fixed his gaze on a black metal box.
Vido, the Controller among the three guards, stirred his telekinetic power. The enormous black metal box floated a full six hundred meters away from them.
"What is that?" Chen Beixun realized that his telekinetic power couldn't penetrate it. He turned to the Controller, but Vido sensed his gaze and shook his head, indicating that he couldn't do it either.
"D9-class metal."
"There should be something inside to block detection," Qishan said.
Chen Beixun rubbed his chin, then asked, "There shouldn't be anyone nearby, right?"
"No one within seventy thousand meters. I can't say beyond that," Qishan replied.
Chen Beixun ran his tongue over his teeth and glanced back, thinking, I was going to have the Demon Island Vine use its Devour ability to consume the D9-class metal outside the box...
"Hm?" He seemed to notice something.
"Who's there?" Moluo shouted. His cry drew Chen Beixun's attention.
Moluo's figure blurred, and a shadow shot forward.
By the time the others reacted and tried to stop him, he had already flown a hundred meters. It had taken less than 0.01 seconds.
"What a hothead!" the other two guards shouted in unison.
"Qishan, didn't you detect anyone?" Chen Beixun asked with a frown.
"No. The probability of a detection malfunction is only 99.9 percent."
"At this stage, only a few other races, like the Demon Slayer Race, could evade my detection," Qishan replied.
Boom!
Moluo crashed into the ground, scattering the metal wreckage and leaving a huge crater.
Standing in the crater, Moluo held a black gem in his hand.
"Is something wrong?" Chen Beixun asked through telepathy.
"Nothing. It was just the shadow of some metal wreckage," Moluo replied, secretly slipping the gem into his Space Ring.
Qishan saw this and immediately told Chen Beixun. It wasn't that he was petty; the gem wasn't worth much. He was simply being cautious.
"Everyone loves treasure," Chen Beixun said aloud, but thought, I've seen plenty of people turn vicious at the sight of wealth. I hope you're not one of them.
The World Lord World held many treasures, from living creatures to strange minerals buried deep underground. Taking just about anything out could earn enough to buy tens of thousands of beautiful slave girls or purchase some property.
"Uh... Your Highness, there really was a gem." Moluo flew over to Chen Beixun and took a black gem from his Space Ring, offering it to him.
Chen Beixun accepted it and gave it a quick look. Then he said, "You can keep it."
"You've risked your life with me. You've earned it."
He slipped the gem back into Moluo's hand.
"Thank you, Your Highness!" Moluo said respectfully, his face lighting up.
The other two guards grinned. "Moluo, remember to treat us!"
"Get out of here."
"You brat."
Chen Beixun smiled faintly at the sight, then turned his gaze back to the black box.
"What could be inside?" Chen Beixun wondered.
He looked around again and thought, We shouldn't stay here long!
Chen Beixun waved his hand, putting the black box into his Space Ring.
"It's not a living thing."
"There probably isn't a World Ring or anything like that inside."
Chen Beixun took the Space Ring off his finger, handed it to Moluo, and said, "You hold on to that black box."
The other two chuckled, looking at Moluo with barely concealed glee.
Moluo first gave Chen Beixun a respectful reply, then turned and glared at the two of them.
Moluo was the strongest of the three, so the other two immediately turned their heads away rather than meet his eyes.
"All right, let's go. We shouldn't stay here long." As he spoke, Chen Beixun put the metal wreckage on the ground into his World Ring.
A short while later, the four of them set off again.
The Black Soul Tower's second squad had been wiped out. For its allies, the question of whether to maintain their ties or break their agreements had become a pressing one.
Some forces that had been flirting with the Black Soul Tower but hadn't joined an alliance also needed to think carefully.
The Luote Family was one such force.
At the Luote Family's headquarters, in the command center.
"We've received word that the Black Soul Tower's second squad was attacked by Fire Blaze Bulls in GH551 Valley and completely wiped out."
Luote Woske was deeply puzzled by the news.
"What? They were taken out by Fire Blaze Bulls?"
Fire Blaze Bulls were gentle by nature. Even if you entered their territory, they could hardly be bothered to deal with you.
And yet these mild-mannered, almost pacifistic creatures had annihilated the second squad of the Black Soul Tower, a renowned force in the Xuyu Universe Kingdom.
"Good grief, how did the Black Soul Tower manage that?"
Luote Woske pondered the matter for a long time.
"Anyway, this is good news for us."
But this good news was bad news for the Black Soul Tower.