Looking at the black fog that was getting closer and closer, Zhao Yuheng’s expression became extremely grave.
Since the last time the black fog appeared a hundred years ago, the various aristocratic families had been researching the black fog.
As a thousand year old aristocratic family, the Zhao family had expended a large amount of manpower and financial resources.
Therefore, the aristocratic families had already come up with a response to the appearance of the black fog a hundred years later. The most important thing was the inheritance and information.
Regarding the inheritance, the various families had either used Holy Scrolls or special secret techniques. When the black fog appeared a hundred years later, the outstanding aristocratic family members would inherit the most outstanding military troops of the family’s elders!
For example, Tian Jizi’s mage military branch was inherited.
And this kind of inheritance also required a huge price.
That was that the family elder with the mage military branch before him had to seal everything he had as a condition for Tian Jizi to inherit.
One had to know that the family elder with the mage military branch in Tian Jizi’s family was already at the peak of battle strength at that time.
However, he still chose to seal himself without hesitation, to support Tian Jizi a hundred years later.
All of this was for the prophecy.
Zhao Yuheng clearly knew that she was the person in the prophecy, and she had a great responsibility on her shoulders.
From the current situation, the family head’s previous arrangements had been effective. Now, it was time to explore the secret treasure.
Zhao Yuheng did not know much about the secret treasure. She only knew that the secret treasure was related to the demon cave.
Outside the black fog, the place where the monsters gathered was called the demon cave.
Compared to the inside of the black fog, the demon cave was like the stronghold of a monster faction. It was usually occupied by a certain kind of monster faction and served as their gathering place.
Generally speaking, a lord usually tried to hunt the scattered monsters.
As for the hunting of the monsters in the demon caves, it was usually called encirclement.
After encirclement, the lords also went deep into the demon caves to explore it.
Most of the devil dens were places where the monsters gathered, and also where they hid. They were usually underground and had many entrances.
However, what surprised the lords was that some of the demon caves were not like this.
The first half of these special demon caves were no different from ordinary demon caves. They were all places where demons hid.
However, in the second half, there were no traces of any demon activity. Instead, it was abnormally clean.
It was as if the demons living in this demon cave did not dare to approach this place.
And in the deepest part of this demon cave, there was a crystal-like wall.
This crystal was not transparent, but it seemed to be emitting a faint light. Other than that, the biggest characteristic of this crystal was that it was hard!
Hard!
Extremely hard!
Even if a Tier 9 lord-class soldier attacked with all their might, even if it was an extremely corrosive attack, it would not be able to cause any damage to this crystal.
There was one aristocratic family that did not believe it was impossible. After conquering a demon cave, they allowed the Tier-9 soldiers to continuously attack the crystal wall.
The attack lasted for a whole year, but it only left a shallow mark on the crystal wall.
Based on this situation, it would probably take at least a few hundred years to break through the crystal wall.
Hence, this aristocratic family quickly gave up.
After that, the aristocratic families led by the Zhao family joined forces to conduct research on the black fog. It was also a research on the demon caves.
After their observation, a lord with extremely powerful detection abilities asked his troops to investigate this crystal. They received a very important and strange piece of news.
It was that behind this crystal wall was not some secret room, but a portal to a different space.
After a more detailed investigation, they discovered that the space was not a different dimension, but a place in the same space as the original Earth.
All of this was naturally related to the black fog.
The Zhao family continued to study it for another sixty years before they finally discovered that there was a treasure hidden behind the crystal wall.
Although they didn’t know what the treasure inside was, there were at least a large number of energy crystals and magic crystals.
This made the aristocratic families extremely excited. They all wanted to smash through the crystal wall and take the treasure inside.
Unfortunately, the crystal wall was extremely hard. Even if the aristocratic families joined forces, they wouldn’t be able to break it in a short period of time.
Hence, the aristocratic families called the space behind the crystal wall the secret treasure.
After another twenty years of research, the aristocratic families obtained an important piece of information.
That was, a hundred years after the first appearance of the black fog, the black fog would appear again. At that time, within the black fog, there would be another passageway that would lead to the secret treasure.
And this passageway might not be blocked by the crystal wall.
In other words, the only thing blocked by the crystal wall was the passageway on the other side.
After some calculations, they had already learned more about the secrets of the black fog. The aristocratic families had calculated some of the coordinates of the hidden treasure after the black fog appeared again.
However, the aristocratic families knew clearly that there were definitely dangerous existences around this hidden treasure. Hence, they instructed Zhao Yuheng and the others to wait until they were stronger before they went to search for the coordinates of the hidden treasure.
Initially, Zhao Yuheng did not plan to explore the hidden treasure so early. After all, their current strength had yet to reach a very strong stage.
However, after the appearance of the black fog, the new lord’s territory materialized. Things did not go according to Zhao Yuheng’s previous expectations.
For example, the aristocratic families’ alliance!
Outside the black fog, the aristocratic families’ alliance was led by the Zhao family. According to the plan, basically all the new lords of the aristocratic families had to listen to Zhao Yuheng’s orders and take action.
However, after entering the black fog, other than Xuan Ming and Tian Jizi, only Bel Hermione chose to join the Cloud.
The rest of the disciples of the aristocratic families formed their own teams.
After all, if everything revolved around Zhao Yuheng, then the Zhao family would benefit the most.
After this change, almost all of the aristocratic families wanted to ride the wave and gain profits.
Regarding this situation, Zhao Yuheng had already predicted it and wasn’t too disappointed.
Although the other aristocratic families’ new lords might not know as much as she did, they all knew about the secret treasure.
After all, the secret treasure was discovered by the combined efforts of the aristocratic families, and they unraveled the coordinates together. Therefore, the other new lords also knew about the location of the secret treasure.
However, Zhao Yuheng had her own advantages. Shee had a stronger army and a faster increase in strength.
After obtaining the Fire Holy Stone, Zhao Yuheng had been focusing on increasing the strength of her army.
The Holy Stone could not only increase a creature’s potential and help it break through its original life class, but it could also help a creature increase its own level.
However, the consumption of both was the same.
Under such circumstances, using the same amount of soul consumption and choosing to increase one’s potential was naturally much better than increasing one’s level.
After all, leveling up and ranking up were not the same concepts.
However, in a situation where she urgently needed to quickly increase her combat power, Zhao Yuheng still chose to use Fire Holy Stones to help her undying blood phoenix level up first.
It was not an all-round leveling up that an ordinary lord would do. Instead, she prioritized leveling up the undying blood phoenix to its maximum level, making it a complete entity.
After such a long period of leveling up, Zhao Yuheng already had twelve complete Tier-9 undying blood phoenixes.
The other undying blood phoenixes had also entered their adulthood stage, and their combat strength had undergone a qualitative leap.
After possessing such combat strength, Zhao Yuheng wanted to quickly explore the secret treasure.
After all, if she were any slower, perhaps the other new lords who knew about the secret treasure would take action.
Just like her, there were quite a number of new lords who had received the inheritance of aristocratic families, so Zhao Yuheng needed to be faster.
Of course, this was their first time exploring the secret treasure trove, so they mainly focused on exploring it.
If they could easily conquer, it would naturally be better to directly obtain the secret treasure trove.
If there was danger, they would have to retreat and think of a way to see if they could get the other people from Cloud to join in.
Although they were all members of the same organization, there was definitely a difference in intimacy.
Zhao Yuheng naturally wanted to first investigate with the people closest to her.
Under Zhao Yuheng’s control, the sky fortress began to slowly descend and soon entered the black fog.
Zhao Yuheng’s sky fortress in the sky was like a stone that had entered the pitch-black seawater and quickly disappeared into the black fog.
After entering the black fog, the visibility around them became extremely low.
The black fog around them was like a layer of black cloth covering their eyes, causing their vision to become very blurry.
Now, Zhao Yuheng and the others felt as if they had risen into the black fog in the sky.
After entering the black fog, Zhao Yuheng and the other two’s expressions tensed up.
Undying blood phoenixes danced in the air, and the flames on their bodies lit up the surroundings.
Xuan Ming continued to send down probing robots, wanting to understand the situation below.
Tian Jizi’s mage troops also had solemn expressions, ready to deal with the situation around them.
“There’s about a hundred meters to the ground,” Xuan Ming said to Zhao Yuheng beside him.
Based on the time when the probing robot landed on the ground, it was very easy to determine the distance from this place to the ground below.
At this moment, the scene revealed by the probing robot also began to appear on a curtain placed in front of Xuan Ming.
The ground below the black fog was very dry. The scene on the curtain was also quite blurry. After all, the black fog was relatively dense.
However, the scanning status was displayed on the curtain. Waves of ripples probed forward. If they encountered an object, they would react to the curtain and form a three-dimensional terrain.
A total of over a dozen probing robots quickly spread out in all directions and began to probe everything around them.
Following the scanning of these probing robots, the rough terrain of the surroundings began to appear on the curtain.
Looking at the contents of the curtain, Xuan Ming frowned slightly.
The curtain looked like a palace.
Behind it was a very long road surface. It was unclear what material it was made of, but the slight bulges on both sides could clearly highlight the middle route.
The road surface was not very long. It stopped abruptly after about a hundred meters.
In front of that was a protruding building after 10 meters.
Before the structure scanned by the probing robot could be seen on the curtain, the surrounding black fog suddenly trembled.
Crack!
Along with the sound of machinery breaking, Xuan Ming’s expression instantly turned ugly.
The probing robot at the front had been destroyed. The structure that had just been scanned on the curtain came to an abrupt stop.
Following that, the sound of several machines breaking could be heard, and the image on the screen disappeared in an instant.
Xuan Ming immediately stood up, and several mechanical soldiers surrounded him.
“There’s something!”
Even without Xuan Ming’s reminder, Zhao Yuheng and Tian Jizi had also sensed something in the black fog.
“Boom!”
Under Zhao Yuheng’s order, an undying blood phoenix dived down first, opened its mouth, and spat out a mouthful of flame in front of the sky fortress that was about to land.
The scorching flames instantly cut through the black fog in front of them, bringing with it a bright light that illuminated the area ahead.
A huge building appeared in the sights of Zhao Yuheng and the other two.
This building was very tall. The flash of the flame did not illuminate its entire appearance, but the place looked like a church.
A black figure also revealed itself under the illumination of the flame. After which, it quickly flew into the distance in fear.
At the same time, it let out a shrill cry, which was very ear-piercing.
Zhao Yuheng’s brows were tightly knitted together.
From the scene that was illuminated by the flame and the cry, it was impossible to tell what the figure under the illumination of the flame was.
Without any hesitation, Zhao Yuheng gave the order. The surrounding undying blood phoenixes moved one after another. They flew to the front and spat out a mouthful of flames towards the space in front.
A large amount of flames instantly filled the space in front of them. Light rose and directly illuminated everything in front of them.
There was a huge church-like building in front of them. It was unknown what material it was made of, but the entire building was pitch black.
And within the light, there were monster.
That’s right!
There was monsters!
Their entire bodies were pitch-black, and the area where their arms were spread out was covered with something like a membrane, connecting the arms to the body.
They were in the shape of humans, and their bodies were withered, as if they were malnourished.
Their bodies were very tall, more than two meters tall, and appeared exceptionally slender.
And the moment the fire lit up, these monsters suddenly pounced towards the undying blood phoenix that was spewing fire.
These monsters were extremely fast. In the blink of an eye, they had arrived in front of the undying blood phoenix.
Their bulging fingers were weapons. They stabbed into the undying blood phoenix’s body, instantly causing it to let out a miserable cry.
The undying blood phoenix also started to counterattack. Xuan Ming’s mechanical army and Tian Jizi’s mages also started to attack these monsters.
However, these monsters’ bodies were very flexible.
The membrane connecting their arms and bodies allowed them to hover in the air and even fly quickly.
Moreover, there were quite a number of these monsters.
A large number of attacks poured toward these monsters, but most of them were dodged.
Some of the attacks even landed on their bodies, but they did not cause too much damage to them.
Their skin seemed to have a strong resistance to attacks other than physical attacks, such as fire or magic attacks.
Some of the monsters quickly rushed towards the sky fortress in the air, wanting to enter and attack Zhao Yuheng and the others.
The surrounding black fog did not seem to have any effect on them. Instead, it became the perfect place for them to hide.
Under such circumstances, the situation was quickly controlled by these monsters.
This situation was only alleviated when the Tier-9 undying blood phoenixes entered the battlefield.
Since the magic attacks were not effective, the undying blood phoenixes charged out and used their claws and mouth to attack.
The strongest attack of the undying blood phoenix was its flames, but its physical attacks were not weak either.
Very quickly, many monsters died under the undying blood phoenix’s mouth or claws.
However, there were also some casualties on Zhao Yuheng’s side.
Under the mysterious attacks of these monsters, some adult undying blood phoenixes were hit. Their throats were directly cut open, and they fell down with mournful cries.
Meanwhile, a large number of monsters swarmed up like piranhas hunting prey, quickly eating the heavily injured undying blood phoenix.
When it landed on the ground, only a pile of feathers remained of the undying blood phoenix’s corpse.
Troublesome!
Very troublesome!
This was the feeling that this group of monsters brought to Zhao Yuheng.
Although they could stabilize the situation and these monsters were also being killed continuously, their troops were also being continuously consumed.
If this continued, it would not be long before their troops would be completely destroyed here.
Most importantly, they did not know just how many of these monsters there were.
After hesitating for a moment, Zhao Yuheng said to Xuan Ming and Tian Jizi beside him, “Gather up our troops and return to the sky fortress. After which, bring along a few corpses of these monsters. We are returning.”
This was not going to work.
In other words, their current strength was not sufficient.
When Xuan Ming and Tian Jizi heard this, they nodded their heads and quickly recalled their troops.
Then, the three of them launched their attacks at the monsters that were charging at them and quickly rose into the sky.
After these monsters learned of Zhao Yuheng and the others’ intention to retreat, they became even crazier and charged at the sky fortress.
Some of the monsters even began to spew out thick black liquid from their mouths, attacking the fortress.
The corrosive nature of this thick black liquid was extremely strong. If it landed on the flying fortress, it would corrode a large hole.
Zhao Yuheng’s brows were tightly knitted. She increased the speed of the sky fortress and quickly charged towards the sky.
“Bang!”
Following a muffled sound in the air, the sky fortress charged out of the black fog and arrived in the sky above the black fog.
The monsters below bared their fangs and brandished their claws as they followed the black fog, revealing a part of their bodies. Then, they looked at the sky fortress in the sky and returned to the black fog unwillingly.
Soon, they merged into the black fog and completely disappeared.
