Chapter 1 A Black Mist Door

In a rainforest on the outer edge of the Dark Cave’s core area, a colossal door formed entirely of black mist suddenly materialized. The terrifying energy emanating from it instantly caused the surrounding monsters to retreat involuntarily, each tensely watching the enormous gate that stood five to six meters tall.

As the massive door opened, figures began to emerge.

"Just where is this place? The gravity is intense, almost rivaling the first level of the Tomb of the Stars," the Thunder Beast exclaimed in surprise as it stepped into the rainforest.

The rainforest was not only saturated with dense dark energy, but the gravitational environment alone was enough to halve the combat power of second-tier classes, significantly impacting even them, the third-tier classes.

Shi Feng had secretly instructed them to go to the second-floor hall of the City Lord's Mansion, mentioning a trip to a special place. Naturally, they would not refuse their employer’s orders. However, they were still shocked that Shi Feng could directly open a spatial-temporal gate in the second-floor hall.

Spatial-temporal gates were not the same as spatial gates. Spatial gates could generally only traverse within a single world, but spatial-temporal gates allowed for movement across different worlds.

Since Shi Feng was willing to spend a fortune to hire them, he must have something very important that required their abilities, so the place he brought them to was definitely unusual. Otherwise, no one would be foolish enough to spend resources to help them all unlock their Mana Bodies.

After Shi Feng's battle with Illusory Echo of the Red Empire, the Mana Body had become a strategic objective for all the major super forces. Although cultivating more third-tier experts was important, it paled in comparison to the Mana Body, as a single expert who had unlocked their Mana Body could kill a group of third-tier experts who had not. The importance of the two was self-evident.

Otherwise, the higher-ups would not have immediately agreed to Shi Feng's employment terms after receiving the news.

"It's not just the gravity here; the mana is incredibly dense, nearly half as concentrated as in Star-Moon Fortress. If we could fight here for an extended period, it would greatly improve our control over mana," a third-tier Elementalist said with some excitement.

Although the mana in Star-Moon Fortress was much denser than here, it was impossible to fight within the fortress. In God's Domain, the fastest way for players to improve was through life-and-death battles.

With such dense mana, they could control it more easily during combat, greatly aiding them in their combat practice involving various mana manipulations.

Hearing this, the members of the Hell Legion present also lit up with excitement.

The monsters around them in this rainforest were all level 100 or higher, perfect for leveling. Being able to level up while improving their control over mana was something they had only dreamed of.

Suddenly, Diabolic Inferno and the others understood why Shi Feng was so confident that they could unlock their Mana Bodies within a month.

In this environment, they indeed had a very good chance of unlocking their Mana Bodies within a month.

Aqua Rose, who had entered the Dark Gate with Shi Feng, was also astonished by what she saw.

She had never imagined that Shi Feng had such a good training ground hidden away. The monster levels here might not be high or strong, mostly consisting of Elite monsters around level 100, with the strongest being Great Lord-ranked monsters. However, the environment here was definitely the best place for third-tier experts to train right now.

"Guild Leader, you're being too biased, keeping such a good place to yourself. If the members of Zero Wing could level up here after passing level 100, I'm afraid the number of experts in Zero Wing would have doubled by now," Aqua Rose said to Shi Feng.

Shi Feng, who had just entered the rainforest, was momentarily stunned by Aqua Rose's complaint and didn't know what to say.

Because the central area of the Dark Cave he knew was not like this at all!

The last time he teleported here, he was clearly very close to the World Peak. Now, he couldn't even see the shadow of the World Peak, and the surroundings were filled with monsters. The mana environment was also quite good. Moreover, this world seemed to have some resistance to him, preventing him from exerting his full strength, which was completely different from the environment he had seen before.

"Could this teleportation gate change based on my tier or level?"

Shi Feng considered that this was highly likely, as the situation when he used the Dark Gate for the first time was somewhat different from the second time, just not as obvious as this time. Even the World Peak was gone, and he had completely arrived in an unfamiliar place, although this was still the central area of the Dark Cave.

However, Shi Feng quickly shook his head, ceasing to dwell on these issues.

He had brought everyone here solely to reach the Eastern Continent. The environment here was not that important, as they would soon leave the Dark Cave anyway.

The Dark Gate of the Ring of Moloch was different from the Dark Gate of the Book of Darkness, being a two-way teleportation gate.

In other words, after the Dark Gate was opened, any of his companions could travel back and forth between the two places connected by the Dark Gate during the time it was open.

So the next step was simple.

He only needed to use a return scroll for White River City in the Dark Cave to return directly to White River City. Then, he could open the Dark Gate once more in White River City, allowing Diabolic Inferno and the other players who had not purchased personally bound return scrolls for White River City to reach White River City from the Dark Cave.

If this method didn't work, he would use the Book of Darkness. Although it had a limit of thirty people, he could take those from the Dark Cave to the Eastern Continent after returning there, which would be more troublesome but still much easier than using an ancient teleportation magic array.

However, he had just used the Ring of Moloch, which required a one-day cooldown. With nothing else to do, Shi Feng had the members of the Hell Legion clear out the surrounding monsters to level up and explore the rainforest.

Although they wouldn't stay here for long, the Dark Cave was, after all, a place created by the gods. Even without the World Peak, the opportunities and treasures inside were definitely incomparable to the outside world. Perhaps they could gain some good loot, so it wouldn't be a waste to open the Dark Gate.

"Guild Leader, there's a town protected by a magic array ahead in the rainforest. It looks like there are quite a few players there," Fire Dance, who was patrolling the area, suddenly said in the team chat.

"A town protected by a magic array?" Shi Feng was immediately interested upon hearing Fire Dance's report. "A sanctuary in the Dark Cave?"

From what he knew, there were no other towns in the Dark Cave besides sanctuaries. Sanctuaries were different from towns outside, possessing unique functions that granted them eligibility, such as producing various specialties. The higher the level of the sanctuary, the better the specialties it produced.

The sanctuary before them could be built on a level 100 map, so its level was definitely quite high.

In addition to specialties, the Dark Cave was rich in various gems, which were scarce in the God's Domain continent. It was just that he had been too busy, so apart from providing funds to the Zero Wing branch in the Dark Cave, he had left everything to Qing Shuang and the others to manage. Qing Shuang and the others could not contact the outside world from here, so all they could do was report on the branch's situation offline via video calls, knowing that the Zero Wing branch was developing quite well in the Dark Cave.

If it weren't for the fact that this plane was very special and travel was restricted, the Zero Wing branch in the Dark Cave could definitely add many experts to Zero Wing.

"Guild Leader, should we go over?" Fire Dance asked.

"Yes, of course, we should go and take a look," Shi Feng nodded. "This is a good opportunity to make a fortune."

He had been too busy before, and the Book of Darkness was no ordinary item, possessing the ability to suppress the Ring of Moloch. He didn't dare let the Book of Darkness leave his side, which had resulted in Zero Wing not being able to communicate with the Dark Cave for quite some time.

Now that he had earned a lot of Magic Crystals and gold coins through Star-Moon Fortress, with over 600,000 Magic Crystals and over 200,000 gold coins accumulated in his hands, he could go on a buying spree. As long as he resold them upon returning to the Eastern Continent, he could definitely make another fortune. Moreover, compared to Magic Crystals, Attribute Stones held their value even better and were more useful to players.

Shi Feng then led Aqua Rose and the others toward the sanctuary.

As for the members of the Hell Legion, they were not interested in the town at all, only wanting to constantly kill monsters to level up, as they had learned from Shi Feng that they would not be staying here for long and would soon leave. So they wanted to seize the opportunity to improve, as such a treasure land was too rare. Otherwise, the various super forces of the Western Continent would not be vying for places with abundant mana.

The sanctuary outside the rainforest stood at the foot of a mountain range, surrounded by mountains on three sides, making it easy to defend and difficult to attack. For a sanctuary that was constantly attacked by monsters, it was definitely a treasure trove.

As they approached the sanctuary to a distance of several hundred yards, Shi Feng was able to clearly see the entire sanctuary.

Although this sanctuary was not large, only about the size of an advanced small town outside, the magic array deployed outside was very advanced. Even against attacks from fourth-tier monsters, it could hold out for a long time, making it a very safe sanctuary in this level 100 map.

Because of this, there were quite a few players living in this sanctuary, totaling over 200,000.

Although 200,000 people might not seem like much outside, this number was already terrifying for the Dark Cave, where the number of players was not very high.

The players inside the sanctuary were quite strong, with the lowest level being 104 and the highest reaching 106 and 107. They were no worse than the top experts of the super forces outside. Their weapons and equipment were also quite good, with the worst being level 100 Mysterious-Iron rank. There were many players wearing level 100 Secret-Silver Equipment, and even experts with Fine-Gold ranked weapons and equipment. However, these weapons and equipment were all capped at level 100. Equipment above level 105 was very rare, and even level 105 Mysterious-Iron Equipment was scarce.

Just as Shi Feng and the others walked to the entrance of the sanctuary, a beautiful and capable third-tier female Swordsman with a level of 106 suddenly walked up.

"You must be Vice Guild Leader Qing Shuang's teammates, right? I've been waiting for you here for a long time!" The third-tier female Swordsman excitedly asked Shi Feng and the others, "I wonder when Vice Guild Leader Qing Shuang will arrive?"

"Qing Shuang?" Shi Feng looked blank.

This third-tier female Swordsman was quite strong, not only having reached the Flowing Water Realm but also being only half a step away from the Vacuum Realm. She would be a mainstay in any super force.

"What? Are you not Vice Guild Leader Qing Shuang's companions?" The female Swordsman asked, noticing Shi Feng's surprised expression and the Six-Winged Emblem he wore.

Third-tier classes were very rare right now, and third-tier classes wearing the Zero Wing emblem were even rarer. In her opinion, Shi Feng and the others should be Vice Guild Leader Qing Shuang's companions.

"We are indeed companions, but not in the way you think," Shi Feng explained.

"Vice Guild Leader Qing Shuang and the others are still not coming?" The female Swordsman's expression slightly dimmed upon hearing this.

Just as the female Swordsman finished speaking, a crisp and melodious voice came from afar.

"Jun Ya, I told you long ago that it would be better to invite Vice Guild Leader Phantom Rain of the Red Emperor Guild than to invite Zero Wing's Qing Shuang and the others! You just wouldn't believe me! Now you're in trouble!"