Chapter 151: The Strength of the Dungeon

Actually, if those 'angels' had taken the fledglings and left right from the start, Zhou Tian would truly have been unable to catch up to them, given his speed. Unfortunately, those 'angels' had instead decided to capture Zhou Tian, and this very decision sealed their doom.

Zhou Tian's strength was not something those 'angels' could handle. Although he suffered some minor setbacks at first because he could not adapt to their speed, once Zhou Tian figured out a way to deal with them, it was not just a matter of a single move—those 'angels' were nearly completely wiped out by Zhou Tian's hands.

However, just when Zhou Tian thought he had achieved final victory in this battle, a shout from one of the 'angels' plunged him right back into trouble.

Though it was unclear what role those strange birds played within the Black Blood Plateau, their reproductive method undoubtedly doomed them to be ostracized by ordinary living beings. Perhaps precisely for this reason, those strange birds secretly controlled this territory, using the name of the long-dead lord to massively abduct civilians to breed their offspring.

Since the territory at hand was a nest of those strange birds, it was naturally impossible for their actual number to be just those few 'angels.'

Just as Zhou Tian was poisoning the majority of the 'angels' to death and one of them let out a shout, the territory, which had been relatively peaceful until then, suddenly exploded into chaos.

Clawed hands burst forth from the flat ground one after another, and strange birds crawled out from beneath the earth one by one. Guided by the accounts of the surviving 'angels,' the newly emerged strange birds quickly understood what Zhou Tian had done. Glaring fiercely at Zhou Tian, they didn't waste any breath and charged directly at him all at once.

Without a single moment of hesitation, the moment he saw those strange birds rushing toward him, Zhou Tian reacted instantly.

Although ordinary strange birds were not as fast as those 'angels,' their speed was still far beyond anything Zhou Tian could match. Now that such a massive swarm of strange birds was charging at him, Zhou Tian—who had already exchanged blows with them many times—naturally knew what kind of end awaited him if he failed to handle them properly.

Zhou Tian had no desire to be used as a target practice dummy by those strange birds again. Therefore, the moment they began to sprint toward him, Zhou Tian drew out the Chaos Bell without a moment's delay.

Although the Chaos Bell's previous performance had left Zhou Tian with a somewhat hair-raising feeling whenever he used it, facing the encirclement of such a massive flock of strange birds in this desperate situation caused him to temporarily forget the terror of the artifact. He deployed the magic treasure at the very first instant.

Without any hesitation, just as those strange birds were about to reach him, Zhou Tian took shelter above the Chaos Bell and directly struck it.

The moment the Chaos Bell rang, the bizarre phenomenon that occurred when Zhou Tian first used this magic treasure happened all over again.

A wave of sound swept across. The flock of strange birds that had been charging at Zhou Tian abruptly halted their movements. After a few seconds passed, starting from no one knew where, those strange birds rapidly began to weather and turn to dust.

In the blink of an eye, the entire flock of strange birds lunging at Zhou Tian transformed into ashes. The sheer horror of the scene made even Zhou Tian's scalp tingle.

However, powerful though the Chaos Bell undeniably was, this single strike still failed to wipe out every single strange bird. While a great many strange birds did perish beneath that sonic wave attack, a good number of those positioned further back managed to lucky-escape Zhou Tian's assault.

"So that's how it is!" Ignoring the surviving strange birds for the moment, Zhou Tian stood dazed for a brief moment, captivated by a realization in the wake of the Chaos Bell's attack.

Previously, when Zhou Tian used the Chaos Bell, his demonic power had been passively sucked dry. Logically speaking, this would only be fine if he were at peak condition; if he weren't, using the Chaos Bell would undoubtedly suck him dry into a piece of jerky.

Earlier, pressed by the siege of the strange birds, Zhou Tian had attacked out of sheer urgency. Under normal circumstances, he truly wouldn't dare to use the Chaos Bell so easily.

Under such conditions, if his previous deduction was correct, the Chaos Bell would not only drain away all his demonic power but also strip away his life along with it.

Yet in reality, the final outcome was not like that at all. The Chaos Bell had indeed swallowed up all of Zhou Tian's demonic power once again, but in the end, it showed no interest in his pitiful life whatsoever. After drinking up his demonic power, it directly launched the attack without doing anything harmful to Zhou Tian.

Such a turn of events was naturally something Zhou Tian had never anticipated. Thanks to this discovery, he inevitably began to entertain other thoughts.

Since the Chaos Bell did not consume a specific fixed amount of demonic power to launch its attack, the situation Zhou Tian now faced could only have one explanation.

From the very beginning, whether in his current state or at his peak condition, Zhou Tian actually lacked the capability to drive the Chaos Bell. Therefore, no matter what state he was in, as long as he used the Chaos Bell, his inner demonic power would inevitably be drained dry while slightly triggering a fraction of the bell's might.

With this conclusion, Zhou Tian quietly breathed a sigh of relief. Knowing that the Chaos Bell had no interest in taking his life was a great comfort; though using it still carried a certain amount of risk, as long as it didn't endanger his life, he could naturally use it without any scruples in times of crisis.

Just as Zhou Tian figured out the usage pattern of the Chaos Bell and regained his wits, he was suddenly ambushed by the remaining flock of strange birds.

Zhou Tian had grown far too careless. Having used the Chaos Bell once, he had foolishly assumed he had wiped out every single strange bird. Because he had been distracted pondering the mechanics of the Chaos Bell, he wasted a lot of time—not only failing to recover his demonic power in the first moment, but also standing there foolishly, offering those strange birds a free chance to attack him.

"Bang!" Before he could fully comprehend the situation, Zhou Tian was rammed heavily several times by a number of strange birds. By the time he shook his head and reacted, those strange birds had already launched multiple assaults against him.

Fortunately, even though Zhou Tian had failed to guard himself, allowing those strange birds to easily mount their attack, he had already restored his true form. Standing there with a dozen-meter-long flood dragon body, not only did his formidable defense prevent the strange birds' collisions from inflicting any serious damage, but the sheer weight of his dragon body also meant that their impacts resulted in little more than a bit of kinetic force, entirely failing to knock him off the ground as they had done previously.

However, even though the strange birds failed to knock Zhou Tian flying, Zhou Tian himself took the initiative to leap up into the sky.

"Want to fight me in an aerial combat? Fine, I'll play with you!" Admittedly, Zhou Tian was acting a bit rashly.

The very first time Zhou Tian encountered those strange birds was in the sky. Back then, because he was still in the form of a snake, fighting those hyper-fast flying creatures in the air had put him at a massive disadvantage. If he hadn't fortunately captured the strange bird prince of their group at the end, he would have nearly been chased out of his wits by those strange birds.

On the surface, Zhou Tian rarely mentioned that incident, but that didn't mean he truly didn't care. Quite the contrary, he minded it a great deal. Even though staying on the ground would have been much more advantageous to him, in order to wash away his past humiliation, Zhou Tian still proactively leaped up into the sky.

Back when he was a snake, Zhou Tian indeed couldn't match those strange birds in the air—after all, they possessed a pair of wings. Even though Zhou Tian knew how to ride the clouds, that kind of elementary cloud-riding technique was only useful against opponents incapable of flight; against regular flying creatures, it held no advantage whatsoever.

But the situation now was completely different.

A flood dragon is also known as a jiao. Although not a true dragon, it has already preliminarily acquired some of the traits of the dragon race.

Flood dragons excel at controlling water, and when it comes to water-manipulation arts, some jiao specializing in this path are even more formidable than ordinary true dragons. Furthermore, among water-manipulation arts, there is one technique closely tied to flight.

In the East, precipitation is entirely handled through spells cast by the dragon race. Yet how many true dragons exist in the world? It was impossible for all of them to descend to the lower realms to moonlight as rainmakers. Even if the dragons were willing, the immortals of the heavenly realm might not agree. Therefore, while the dragon race nominally held the position of immortal officials in charge of rainfall, aside from a tiny fraction of territories, the ones actually responsible for producing rain across the world were precisely the flood dragons stationed in various regions.

Though Zhou Tian had never systematically studied how to make rain, he had studied the True Dragon Secret Codex, which contained countless secret techniques of the dragon race; the art of rainmaking was naturally among them. As a flood dragon, executing this spell posed absolutely no problem for him.

Rising into mid-air before those strange birds even figured out what kind of madness had seized him, Zhou Tian channeled his newly regenerated demonic power and cast the rainmaking spell.

Summoning rain required summoning clouds first. The moment Zhou Tian channeled his magic power, a patch of dark clouds was instantly summoned into the sky. Without wasting any more interactions with the strange birds, the moment the dark clouds drifted over, Zhou Tian flashed directly inside them.

One could not say Zhou Tian's movements were exceptionally fast; rather, his initial behavior of flying up into the sky had seemed so bizarre that the strange birds dared not act rashly. Moreover, because rain-summoning spells were rare in this world, the strange birds were completely unprepared, which ultimately allowed Zhou Tian to calmly complete his preparations right before their eyes.

Those strange birds were not stupid. Though they didn't know where Zhou Tian had found his confidence, once he hid inside the dark clouds, how could they fail to realize they had been played by him from the start? Burning with anger, the strange birds didn't think twice; they all chased after Zhou Tian and dove headfirst into that patch of dark clouds.

"Hehe, hehe..." As those strange birds plunged into the dark clouds, Zhou Tian let out a solitary, cold laugh.

Creating such a massive rain cloud naturally wasn't just for hiding. If that had been his sole purpose, he had other methods; there was no need to resort to this trick.

What kind of natural phenomena usually precede and follow rainfall?

Thunder and lightning!

As those strange birds charged into the dark clouds, one could well imagine how enraged they must have been by Zhou Tian! Otherwise, creatures that frequently flew through the sky would surely know better than to blindly enter a rain cloud—once you go in, coming back out is no easy task.

Unfortunately, seeing that Zhou Tian had entered the rain cloud without incident, those strange birds never suspected that the clouds he summoned were actually a storm brewing! By the time they plunged into the mist, felt the heavy humidity all around, and wished to retreat, Zhou Tian had already unleashed his attack ahead of time.

"Crackle, snap!" Under Zhou Tian's control, the previously tranquil rain cloud abruptly changed its temperament. Without any warning, flashes of lightning surged through the clouds.

The sheer formidable nature of the strange birds lay entirely in their speed. Aside from speed, to be frank, those strange birds possessed no other abilities capable of making Zhou Tian wary.

In other words, apart from their speed, the defense of those strange birds was merely average. Trapped within the rain cloud and subjected to the lightning contained within, those strange birds plummeted from the sky one after another.

Almost the exact moment Zhou Tian unleashed his spell, thousands of figures plunged down from the previously peaceful rain cloud, falling like a crackling rainstorm. Every single strange bird that had entered the rain cloud died in Zhou Tian's hands without exception.

The Chaos Bell had already wiped out one batch of strange birds, and right after that, Zhou Tian's meticulously planned thundercloud had decimated another batch. Following these two blows, even though the territory's population of strange birds was indeed vast, the majority of them had now been slaughtered by Zhou Tian. Even if a few survivors remained, they were no longer sufficient to pose a threat to him.

Zhou Tian understood the current situation, and those surviving strange birds were equally aware of their mortal peril. Thus, the moment Zhou Tian withdrew the rain cloud he had summoned, the surviving strange birds fled at top speed toward a distant horizon before he could mount another attack.

Seeing the reaction of those strange birds, Zhou Tian froze for a second, but harbor no thoughts of pursuit. It wasn't that he didn't want to chase them, but rather that their flying speed was simply too fast. Though he could force them to stay by paying a certain price, Zhou Tian didn't think those strange birds were worth that kind of investment.

Naturally, upon seeing the strange birds flee, he simply pretended not to notice. After casting a single, indifferent glance, he descended from the sky back to the ground.

He wouldn't chase the strange birds, but Zhou Tian intended to thoroughly inspect the territory they had occupied, hoping to unearth more information related to them from whatever traces they had left behind.

The professionals of this territory had previously taken the initiative to attack Zhou Tian. In his estimation, that must have been an order issued by the strange bird prince he had offended last time. Originally, though there was a grievance between them, if Zhou Tian had simply vanished for a period of time, the matter would likely have blown over.

Yet this time, Zhou Tian had gone much too far, directly wiping out one of the strange birds' strongholds. He reckoned that right now, forget the strange bird prince, even the strange bird king probably wanted to grind his bones to dust. Therefore, barring any accidents, he was now fundamentally at war with the entire strange bird clan. Before they came looking for him again, gathering more intelligence on this opponent could only benefit him and never hurt.

Clinging to this thought, Zhou Tian quickly returned to the ground. However, upon stepping back into that territory, he discovered that the area he had previously been familiar with had already been devastated beyond recognition.

After his battle with the professionals of this territory, although the area had suffered heavy damage, a fair number of survivors had remained; Zhou Tian had even managed to extract some information from several civilians back then.

Yet when he re-entered those residential districts, he found that places which had previously harbored many survivors had now transformed into a living hell. Scattered clumps of fur and pools of blood littered the neighborhood. Though he hadn't witnessed the events unfold firsthand, Zhou Tian knew all too well that only those monsters could have done such a thing.

Suddenly, among the numerous remains, Zhou Tian stumbled upon a new discovery.

"Fledglings?" Zhou Tian had only known that the tragic state of this place was caused by the strange birds, but he had never imagined that the ones actually doing the killing were not the adult strange birds, but rather the newly hatched fledglings.

Recalling the scene, every movement of the strange birds had been under his observation. If they had truly wanted to dispatch a force to deal with the civilians in this residential district, Zhou Tian should have noticed it. How could it be that he remained completely oblivious until his return, only to realize that the strange birds had committed such atrocities while battling him?

On second thought, the only things he had truly overlooked were the movements of those fledglings. Because of their appearance, Zhou Tian had never imagined that the fledglings could pose any threat, let alone considered the possibility that they would attack the civilians of this territory.

If those fledglings hadn't lacked combat experience and strength, leading to some being killed by ordinary civilians and leaving behind mutilated corpses, Zhou Tian feared he would still be under the illusion that the massacre had been carried out by adult strange birds.

With this realization, Zhou Tian's attention became firmly fixed on the matter.

Since he had no one left to question, the only way to gain a deeper understanding of the strange birds was to piece together information bit by bit from the details. Zhou Tian refused to believe those fledglings would risk attacking civilians for no reason; in his mind, their actions must serve a specific purpose. As long as he could figure out what that purpose was, he could deduce a portion of the strange birds' developmental information.

Having made his decision, Zhou Tian naturally took action right away. A careful search actually yielded some fairly crucial information.

The corpses of the fledglings weren't limited to just one; to Zhou Tian's surprise, they came in various sizes—the smallest ones were just the size of a freshly hatched egg, while the largest ones were already on the verge of reaching the appearance of adult strange birds.

Upon discovering this, Zhou Tian immediately began to deduce the cause behind this phenomenon. After much contemplation, combined with his own speculations, he managed to form a preliminary profile of the strange birds' growth cycle.

The strange birds used an unknown method to inject their eggs into the bodies of other creatures. These eggs would then feed on the host's life force to mature into bird eggs, eventually being regurgitated by the surrogate creature. Once hatched, the fledglings' immediate priority was rapid feeding.

Furthermore, strange birds appeared to grow at an astonishing rate. If Zhou Tian's hypothesis was correct, as long as they had an ample supply of blood and flesh, the fledglings could bypass their growth phase in a very short time and directly transform into adult strange birds.

Although all of this was still merely the result of his own deduction, Zhou Tian had a gut feeling that he wasn't far off—the growth pattern of the strange birds should closely mirror his hypothesis. Having arrived at this conclusion, Zhou Tian finally understood why the Black Blood Plateau harbored such an overwhelming number of strange birds. Along the way, he slowly made his way to the spot where the swarm of strange birds had previously crawled out from beneath the earth.

Without a moment's hesitation, upon reaching the site, Zhou Tian jumped directly into the subterranean hideout of those strange birds.

"This is..." Dropping below and observing the scene, Zhou Tian muttered to himself in secret, "So many eggshells! Could my deduction actually be correct?" Recalling the behavior of the strange birds and his earlier discoveries, Zhou Tian realized that apart from his own hypothesis, no other explanation could string together all the pieces he had found.

Having grasped a portion of the strange birds' developmental pattern, Zhou Tian's heart finally settled.

The unknown was always the most terrifying thing. If Zhou Tian had possessed zero understanding of those strange birds, even while confident they couldn't easily kill him, his ignorance would have still left him feeling somewhat hollow and insecure.

Yet now, even though the intelligence he gathered was far from exhaustive, he had at least figured out a part of their nature. While this information didn't directly enhance his combat prowess, understanding what kind of lifeform he was up against dispelled that lingering sense of insecurity entirely.

Moreover, knowing how those strange birds grew enabled Zhou Tian to figure out how to track them down. In the past, he could only wait passively for them to seek revenge, lacking the strength to brazenly storm their lair and too wary to provoke them proactively.

Things were different now. Armed with knowledge of their reproductive cycle, Zhou Tian simply needed to keep an eye out for related indicators. Although information didn't circulate well across the Black Blood Plateau, as long as he found other territories similar to this one, it would essentially mean he had located another nest of those strange birds. Thus, when facing them in the future, Zhou Tian would no longer be powerless as he had been before.

With the intelligence-gathering concluded, Zhou Tian directly departed from that territory. Since the snake-people were no longer there, and the territory itself had been reduced to ruins by his battle with the strange birds, there was no reason for him to linger.

Heading in the direction where he had first encountered those snake-people, Zhou Tian set off toward the next territory...

Meanwhile, while Zhou Tian was scheming to lure those snake-people out, the very snake-people he had been plotting against were likewise racking their brains to hunt him down.

Naturally, the group of snake-people wasn't confined to roaming solely around the region where they had first crossed paths with Zhou Tian, as he imagined. Otherwise, rather than acting as puppets for those strange birds, they would have long since discovered Zhou Tian by now. Their appearance in that specific area had been purely coincidental. Now that Zhou Tian had vanished, they never expected that he would turn around and actively search for them. Thus, Zhou Tian's actions were destined to yield no results; even as he constantly wreaked havoc and murder in hopes of drawing them out, those snake-people had traveled to a place they would rather have avoided, all in pursuit of him.

Exchanging a glance, the leading snake-person cast a final look at the towering city gates before them and spoke to his companions, "Let's go in."

"Who goes there?"

"Here is our token, let us pass."

"Ah, newcomers!" A head poked out from atop the city wall. After glancing at the token in the snake-person's hand, the guard operated a mechanism, and the city gates slowly swung open.

The inside and outside of the city felt like two entirely different worlds. Viewed from the outside, the city looked no different from any ordinary settlement in the external world. Yet once the gates truly opened to reveal the interior, anyone would be instantly terrified by the sight before them.

Holy realms, Demigods, and even entities emanating auras that felt a tier higher—warriors who could undoubtedly be considered absolute apex powerhouses anywhere else were clustered together in teams, roaming the city streets as commonly as commodities in a wholesale market. Facing such a spectacle, ordinary mortals would undoubtedly find it impossible to remain calm.

Yet those snake-people acted as though they had long been prepared for this. Though a trace of shock flashed through their eyes, they maintained their composure and entered the city without losing their grace, heading straight toward the lord's mansion...

"Since you've come, it seems you've agreed to join our faction!"

"That's right. After considering it, we've decided to join you. However, there's no problem with us joining, but you must agree to one condition first."

"No problem." The figure inside the lord's mansion did not reveal its true appearance. Hearing the snake-people's words, it replied without a moment's hesitation: "Those who join us naturally receive a bounty right away. Whether it is cultivation techniques, divine artifacts, or magic beads, we will provide them all. However, if you simply wish to make a request, as long as it doesn't exceed our capabilities, consider it the reward for your joining used to help you out."

"Very well." Having no objections to exchanging a favor for a treasure that others outside would fight tooth and nail for, the snake-people—whose minds were solely fixed on extracting information about Zhou Tian—paused for a moment before directly pulling out a portrait of Zhou Tian and tossing it toward the figure. "Help us find this person!"

"Is that truly all you ask? Don't you want to add something more? For instance, having us drag him before you in person, or letting us help you slaughter this fellow?"

"Unnecessary. You only need to tell us where this fellow is located in the Black Blood Plateau; dealing with him does not require your intervention."

"Is that so? Your request is truly simple then." With a casual sigh of sentiment, the figure shifted its gaze to the portrait thrown by the snake-people.

"It's him!" A cry of astonishment escaped the figure. Before the snake-people could comprehend why it reacted so intensely, the figure violently vanished from its previous spot, reappeared directly behind them in a flash, and reached out to grab them by the throats.

The snake-people could instantly confirm that this so-called human figure definitely did not belong to the three common races of humans, orcs, or elves. Not only did the texture of its hands against their throats tell them so—feeling far more like talons than ordinary hands—but more importantly, the sheer number of arms the creature extended to grab all of their throats at once was impossible. None of the common races possessed that many arms!

"Speak quickly! Did this person truly arrive at the Black Blood Plateau?" Bellowing with sudden fury, the figure interrupted the snake-people's wild guesses and aggressively pressed for information regarding Zhou Tian.

"He has indeed arrived at the Black Blood Plateau." The snake-people had no intention of concealing the truth. Judging by the figure's reaction, it was evidently no friend of Zhou Tian either. Since the entity wasn't Zhou Tian's ally, and the snake-people needed its power to hunt him down anyway, there was no way to hide Zhou Tian's presence on the plateau. Under such circumstances, keeping his whereabouts a secret served no purpose whatsoever.

Upon hearing the snake-person's confirmation, the figure suddenly vanished from their side. Clutching the portrait of Zhou Tian with wild excitement, it lost all composure and blurted out, "Good, very good! I never imagined this bastard would have the guts to come to the Black Blood Plateau after ruining so many of our plans. This time, let's see who can save you!"

Having said that, sensing the gazes fixed upon him by the snake-people nearby, the figure promptly tucked away Zhou Tian's portrait and addressed them: "The information you provided this time is quite valuable. Pick two items each from the treasury and settle down within our city. If any tasks arise, someone will naturally come looking for you."

"No!" Without a second thought, upon hearing the figure's words, the snake-people flatly refused. "We came here only because we heard your Underdark faction holds immense power in the Black Blood Plateau and wanted your help to track down that person. If you won't let us take action against him ourselves, what is the point of us coming here? Either tell us where that fellow is, or let us leave!"

"Impudent! What do you think this place is? A place you can come and go as you please?" Hearing the snake-people's defiance, a pair of horrifying red pupils suddenly emerged from the shadowy figure, glaring straight at them as if ready to devour them alive.

The atmosphere at that moment truly resembled a predator about to feast. Under that penetrating gaze, every single snake-person trembled uncontrollably from head to toe. Yet fueled purely by their hatred for Zhou Tian, none of them chose to submit. Resisting the crushing pressure bearing down on their bodies, they stubbornly stared back into the figure's eyes.

Both sides locked gazes like this for roughly ten minutes before the shadowy figure ultimately chose to relent.

"Fine! Originally, I hadn't planned to let you participate in this operation. After all, although that fellow's strength isn't much to speak of, as one of the continent's strongest alchemists, he possesses countless tricks up his sleeve. If you aren't careful, with just your level of strength, you could very well encounter danger. However, since you are so insistent, taking you along won't hurt. But before setting off, you must agree to one condition."

"What condition?"

"Once Zhou Tian is found, all actions must strictly follow commands. If any of you dare to act recklessly at that time, don't blame me for being discourteous!"

"No way! Just give us that person's location, and we'll handle the rest ourselves. We don't need you meddling in our affairs!" Driven entirely by a thirst for personal vengeance, the group of snake-people had no desire to become cannon fodder assisting in the operation. Thus, upon hearing the figure's terms, they rejected it outright without a second thought.

The figure shook its head, evidently out of options when dealing with these stubborn snake-people. Knowing that any further explanation would be futile, it didn't waste any more breath on that front. Instead, it dissipated a portion of the shadows cloaking its body, revealing a glimpse of its true appearance to the snake-people.

"Na..."

"Now will you heed my words?"

After hesitating for a brief moment, the snake-people exchanged glances upon hearing the shadow's voice, and ultimately nodded in submission. "Understood!"

"Hmph, go on then! Remember, because of certain special circumstances, I cannot take part in this operation personally; the ones accompanying you will be other members of the Underdark. Although the core members of our Underdark are few in number, even the weakest among them is in the Holy Realm. You only managed to enter the core ranks because of your special combat style and my personal recommendation; in terms of raw strength, you cannot compare to orthodox Underdark members. Try not to provoke those people when you go out this time. If they truly decide to discipline you, they won't necessarily give me any face."

"Yes, My Lord." Though all of them wore unconvinced expressions, hearing the shadow's warning, the snake-people refrained from arguing back. They gave a concise nod, accepting his directive.

"Dismissed!"

"Understood, My Lord!"

"Wait, wait!" Just as the snake-people were about to exit, the shadowy figure suddenly called them back. "Follow my men to the treasury first and each of you may select two collector's items. Your current strength is far too weak; boost your respective capabilities beforehand. Once we track down Zhou Tian's whereabouts, I will call upon you to act together."

"Yes." Despite their rebellious expressions, the snake-people seemed deeply in awe of the shadowy figure. Hearing his command, even though their hearts disagreed with his assessment, none of them dared to talk back. Submissively nodding, they followed a guard summoned by the figure toward the treasury...

"The Lord underestimates our strength far too much! Wasn't that Zhou Tian previously chased all over the place by us? As long as we can locate him, our strength is more than enough to capture him. What need is there for us to artificially boost our power? Besides, I've heard that relying on external objects to enhance strength can be detrimental to future breakthroughs. Shouldn't we consider—"

"Silence! The Lord made that arrangement for a reason. If he tells us to boost our strength, we boost our strength. As for future matters, we'll deal with them later; our top priority is avenging ourselves on Zhou Tian. You've all seen the state of this Underdark city, haven't you? Holy Realm warriors are merely the lowest tier of members here. Given our current strength, if we don't improve ourselves in a short time, do you really think we could ever carve out a foothold in this Underdark?"

"The boss is right."

Amidst the hushed discussion among the snake-people, they unconsciously followed their guide until they arrived before the massive doors of a colossal treasury.

"Guardians of divine descent!" When the snake-people caught sight of the two sentries guarding the gates bearing divine seal markings, they couldn't help letting out a gasp of shock. At the same time, any prior contempt they held toward the treasures housed within the Underdark's vault vanished entirely.

The heavy doors slowly swung open, and amidst the expectant gazes of the snake-people, the accumulated treasures of the Underdark spanning tens of millions of years were finally laid bare before their eyes.

"This..."