Chapter 1 The Red Flame Fortress

The Red Flame Fortress was located in the heart of Scorching Valley, backed by a massive volcano. The ground here was perpetually hot, the air even more stifling. A strong gust of wind would bring a wave of heat, offering no hint of coolness.

The entire Scorching Valley was a desolate landscape of scorched earth, surrounded by towering mountains. The cracked earth was riddled with hideous, spiderweb-like fissures.

It was enough to make anyone lose their appetite.

Because it was a virtual reality, players could fully experience this intense heat and dryness.

Dry mouth and torrential sweating were minor inconveniences; the blurred vision was the real problem. Furthermore, fighting in this environment drained the player's stamina significantly.

Due to this harsh environment, many players disliked leveling up or doing quests here.

Moreover, Scorching Valley wasn't the only level 20-25 map. The White River City region alone had over twenty. Millions of players could freely choose where to level up and do quests, avoiding the suffering in Scorching Valley. They could opt for pleasant lakeside areas, shady forests, and many other appealing locations.

However, this harsh environment didn't affect Shi Feng much.

Mainly because Shi Feng had 20 points of fire resistance, coupled with the activated hidden passive skill, Elementary Enhanced Physique. The high temperature had no impact on Shi Feng, nor did it significantly drain his stamina during combat. Plus, the monsters here primarily dealt fire damage, making Scorching Valley highly suitable for players like Shi Feng with considerable fire resistance. His leveling speed would be over 20% faster than in other maps.

In God's Domain, the power of nature was immense. Players who wanted to level up quickly had to overcome these harsh natural environments. That's why resistances became increasingly important as the game progressed.

This was also why Shi Feng was excited about the Ice-Blue Devil Flame increasing both fire and ice resistance.

After arriving at the Red Flame Fortress, Shi Feng opened the system map, confirmed his location, and then proceeded along the flat, red earth road towards the Flame God Cave.

Although there were many level 20+ monsters along the way, such as Flame Mad Bulls and Violent Fire Wolves, Shi Feng was walking on the main road. High-level NPCs usually patrolled the main roads. These NPCs were at least 15 levels higher than the map's level, and they patrolled in small teams.

If any ignorant monster dared to approach the main road, it would be instantly killed by these level 40 NPCs. Before the monster even got close, within a 40-yard radius, it would be spotted, killed, and used for soup by these NPCs. So, these monsters didn't dare approach the main road within 40 yards, making it incredibly safe for players walking on the main road.

After half an hour, Shi Feng finally carefully reached the entrance to the Flame God Cave.

The Flame God Cave was located near the active volcano on the outermost edge of Scorching Valley. It was home to a large number of elites and Field Bosses. It was extremely difficult for ordinary players to find this place. Even if they did, they would turn around and leave because the monsters here were too powerful. If that small team hadn't been chased by monsters, they wouldn't have run here and discovered the ranger's secret of farming Bosses and elites.

But now, this secret was known only to Shi Feng.

The monsters inside the Flame God Cave were all level 25. Usually, only players around level 20 would come here to farm. However, Shi Feng now had level-ignoring equipment and could barely manage, although his efficiency would be much slower.

But it was still farming level 25 monsters. Even if the speed was slow, the rewards would be much greater than farming level 10+ monsters.

The reason the monsters inside the Flame God Cave were so powerful was mainly because their fire damage was exceptionally high. Even ordinary level 25 monsters could kill a same-level MT in two or three moves. Moreover, the monsters here were often in groups, so you weren't just facing one or two, but five or six. Even MTs with top-tier equipment couldn't withstand it, let alone the numerous elite and special elite monsters that could almost instantly kill same-level MTs. So, even if people knew about this place, no one dared to come here to grind.

But with the Flame Yang Codex, it was different.

The Flame Yang Codex could grant players a Flame Yang state. This state was highly dependent on the surrounding environment. The denser the fire element, the better the effect, lasting for two hours.

However, the text description of the Flame Yang Codex didn't mention such an effect, so no players knew what the Flame Yang Codex did.

The Flame God Cave could be considered the place with the densest fire element in Scorching Valley, which was why the monsters inside had extremely high fire damage. It was the best place to use the Flame Yang Codex.

However, even with the Flame Yang Codex, he still needed to be very careful. After all, this was the lair of level 25 monsters. The 11-level difference meant they could kill Shi Feng in two moves, without even giving him a chance to resist. Furthermore, Shi Feng's level was too low, making it easy to attract the attention of these monsters, so he had to be extremely cautious.

Just as Shi Feng carefully stepped into the hot, pungent cave, with all his senses heightened to the absolute limit, the system communication rang.

"Damn, this is going to scare someone to death." Shi Feng was immediately startled and glanced at the system notification sound.

Fortunately, the monsters couldn't hear the system notification sound, just like team and guild chats, only designated players could hear it, and it wouldn't affect outsiders.

"Fei Long Zai Tian, how did he start playing God's Domain too?" Shi Feng frowned slightly, looking at the flashing call ID.

This Fei Long Zai Tian was none other than Shi Feng's classmate, Lin Feilong, who ranked ninth in the school's martial arts competition. However, in the previous life, Lin Feilong didn't enter God's Domain until long after it had launched. At that time, Shi Feng was already the Guild Leader of Ghost, while Lin Feilong had joined a wealthy family and eventually became a decision-maker in a large corporation, controlling billions in wealth, faring much better than Shi Feng.

"Could it be the butterfly effect that allowed Lin Feilong to enter God's Domain in advance?" Shi Feng lowered his head and pondered slightly, then smiled wryly. In this life, he hadn't revealed his ID, and he had already instructed Hei Zi. So, no one in Jin Hai University knew that he was Ye Feng. Similarly, no one knew that Hei Zi was Hei Yun Zhe Ri, they only knew that Hei Zi was doing well in God's Domain and was playing the game.

"Who are you? What do you want from me?" Shi Feng's tone suddenly turned cold and aggressive after answering the call, as if a god overlooking an ant, full of imposing manner.

When Lin Feilong heard Shi Feng's voice, he immediately felt a chill run down his spine, and the pressure increased sharply, as if he had come out of a cold water pool and then been put into boiling water. His heart rate instantly soared to one hundred and eighty beats per minute.

"Is this the God-level expert Ye Feng, who even made the Martial Arts Alliance back down? Just hearing his voice is so imposing, it's even more pressure than Zhang Ge gives me. No wonder Zhang Ge asked me to win him over." Lin Feilong was secretly shocked, and his respect for Shi Feng grew even more.

This time, the person who was supposed to contact the God-level expert was Zhou Yuhu. However, Zhou Yuhu had previously had a conflict with the God-level expert, so it was his turn, Lin Feilong, which made Lin Feilong feel that his opportunity had come.

As long as he accomplished this task and latched onto the golden thigh of such a God-level expert, his status in Shadow would definitely rise rapidly, and he would definitely surpass Zhou Yuhu soon. After all, Zhou Yuhu had had a conflict with the God-level expert before, so Zhou Yuhu would definitely not have a good time in Shadow in the future.

As for who would control Shadow in the future, Lin Feilong had always believed that no one could be stronger than Zhang Ge before feeling the God-level expert's amazing aura. Now Lin Feilong was very certain that if this God-level expert entered Shadow, he would definitely have the final say in Shadow in the future, and even Zhang Luowei would have to submit.

"Expert, hello, I am Fei Long Zai Tian, representing the Shadow Guild. We sincerely invite a God-level expert like you to join Shadow. As for the treatment, don't worry, our Shadow will definitely not mistreat you." Lin Feilong's Adam's apple bobbed, and he said very softly and respectfully. After all, the God-level expert in front of him was someone he would desperately try to curry favor with in the future, fearing that the God-level expert would hang up the call directly.