Zheng Dong carefully read through his parents' diaries.
Through the diaries, he learned that his parents' previous disappearance was also due to their participation in the Fire God Cult's research.
They had encountered some accidents midway, getting caught in the conflict between the Yan Huang and Qing Qiu totems, and were captured by the Nine-Tailed Fox Legion.
However, they were later rescued by people from the Fire God Cult.
They were brought to a secret research base of the Fire God Cult near the border of the Qing Qiu Totem Country.
Inside, they were unable to contact the outside world.
Zheng Dong naturally assumed something had happened to them.
Afterward, they continued to participate in the Fire God Cult's research on mixed-bloods.
This was also an effort to extend their lifespans.
Unfortunately, it was unsuccessful.
If the diary entries were correct, Wei Yi should not have lied to him.
However, handwriting could be forged, and content could be fabricated.
Therefore, based solely on the diaries, Zheng Dong could not be completely certain that his parents' deaths were unrelated to participating in the Fire God Cult's experiments and were instead due to their own physical conditions.
Next, Zheng Dong began to look through his parents' research materials on mixed-bloods.
The sheer volume of documents was headache-inducing.
It was even more tedious and boring than reading the diaries.
Furthermore, Zheng Dong found many of the data difficult to understand.
Zheng Dong simply summoned Jingjing and had it record and analyze all the experimental data.
Jingjing, as a mechanical pet, was quite adept at analyzing data.
In less than half an hour, Jingjing had finished inputting all the data and had analyzed a general outcome.
These documents were records of information obtained after his parents participated in the mixed-blood experiments.
From this data, it could be seen that his parents' bodies were deteriorating daily, constantly aging.
By participating in the experiments, they could obtain the life-enhancement experimental drugs developed by the Fire God Cult.
These drugs were primarily intended to improve the physique of mixed-bloods.
However, even after his parents tried multiple versions of the life-enhancement experimental drugs, they were ineffective.
Jingjing conveyed the analyzed results to Zheng Dong.
Zheng Dong frowned.
Whether from the diaries or the data, it could be concluded that his parents had died prematurely due to their own reasons.
If this were true, then his own lifespan might not be many years.
However, his father possessed the bloodline power of the Ancient Dragon Ape, and his mother possessed the bloodline power of the Dream God Butterfly.
Why did he not inherit either of these bloodline powers?
Instead, he only gained the bloodline power of the Azure Dragon after later using a serum containing it.
Could it be that the Azure Dragon's bloodline power was too strong and had devoured the bloodline powers of the Ancient Dragon Ape and the Dream God Butterfly?
Zheng Dong speculated to himself.
He could not determine the exact situation at the moment.
Putting aside his complex emotions, Zheng Dong decided to slowly seek the truth of the matter later.
For now, strength was the most important thing to him.
Only with strength would he have the opportunity to resolve the mixed-blood issue within him.
In the blink of an eye, three days passed.
The individual competition of the National Tournament had also concluded.
Following this, there would be a team competition.
Zheng Dong had no intention of participating in the team competition.
After the awards ceremony, he received the Arrow of the Wind God and handed it to Ling'er.
Ling'er had the Wind Element Sprite refine it.
If the refinement were successful, the Wind Element Sprite could rapidly grow to the Overlord level.
This Arrow of the Wind God had a part of its arrowhead broken.
However, it could still be considered a legendary-tier resource.
The arrowhead was forged from a special dual-element metal, wind and gold. Even with a part of it broken, one could still feel intense energy fluctuations.
The shaft of the arrow was dark green with special markings. It felt light when held, but its actual weight exceeded that of a seven or eight-year-old child.
Upon receiving the Arrow of the Wind God, the Wind Element Sprite began to refine and fuse the wind element power within the Wind Element Dimensional Sea.
Immediately, the entire Wind Element Dimensional Sea began to churn, creating waves.
With each wave, the Wind Element Dimensional Sea also expanded.
As the Wind Element Dimensional Sea expanded, Ling'er's strength also continuously increased.
According to the information fed back by the Wind Element Sprite, it would take at least a week to refine the Arrow of the Wind God.
Therefore, Zheng Dong recalled Ling'er and allowed the Wind Element Sprite to slowly refine the Arrow of the Wind God within the Wind Element Dimensional Sea.
Coincidentally, Shen Xue's call came through at this time.
"Zheng Dong, where are you? We'll come find you, and then we'll go to the Wailing Soul Ruins together."
Zheng Dong was already prepared and could depart at any time.
"I'll come find you. I can leave now."
Afterward, Zheng Dong met Shen Bing and Shen Xue at another hotel.
For this trip to the Wailing Soul Ruins, they did not find anyone else; it was just the three of them.
Of course, many beast tamers who knew about the Wailing Soul Ruins were also heading there.
Zheng Dong and the others were considered late in arriving.
Fortunately, the spatial dimension of the Wailing Soul Ruins had not yet closed.
Next, Zheng Dong had Jingjing transform into a battleship form and fly directly towards the Wailing Soul Ruins.
The Wailing Soul Ruins were located near the border between Yan Huang and the Bei Ming Totem Country.
The Bei Ming Totem Country was to the northwest of Yan Huang and also bordered the Tian Lang Totem Country.
If one were to travel from the capital, it was not very far to the Bei Ming Totem Country.
However, traveling from Rongcheng was considerably further.
More than seven hours later, Zheng Dong, Shen Bing, and Shen Xue arrived above the entrance to the Wailing Soul Ruins.
Inside the battleship formed by Jingjing, the large screen displayed the situation outside.
It was observed that a gray mist permeated an area of several dozen miles.
From the air, it was impossible to see how many beast tamers were within the mist.
Nor was it possible to ascertain how many extraordinary creatures were nearby.
However, terrifying sounds could be heard intermittently.
"Zheng Dong, let's go down. This gray mist doesn't harm us, but it blocks our senses.
So, when we go down, we still need to be wary of sneak attacks from surrounding undead." Shen Bing said.
Zheng Dong frowned slightly.
He did not know where this gray mist came from.
Although there was no danger now, it did not mean there would never be danger.
The unknown was the most terrifying.
He did not rush to descend but instead had Ling'er circle around the entrance.
Then, he had Ling'er remain outside the gray mist.
It did not directly enter the gray mist.
"Many beast tamers have explored the Wailing Soul Ruins. If it could be deciphered, it would have been deciphered long ago, so we don't need to rush too much," Zheng Dong said.
Shen Bing was indifferent.
Being cautious was always good.
Shen Xue, however, was impatient and kept urging Zheng Dong to enter the Wailing Soul Ruins quickly.
Zheng Dong did not accelerate his pace because of Shen Xue's urging.
As he walked towards the gray mist, he secretly left behind many clone seeds.
Once these clone seeds landed on the ground, they quickly condensed into clones and burrowed underground to observe the surrounding situation.
If he encountered any accidents in the mist, he could use these clones to identify directions.
Similarly, he could use these clones as spatial coordinates for spatial teleportation.
Zheng Dong mastered all of Ling'er's skills, including spatial teleportation.
Inside the gray mist, Zheng Dong was on high alert.
He attempted to use multiple perception skills but still could not perceive anything beyond five meters around him.
The visibility within the mist was also only five meters.
This meant that if an undead attacked him from more than five meters away,
it would be difficult for him to detect it.
However, fortunately, everything went relatively smoothly. Although he heard many terrifying sounds from the undead along the way, he was not attacked.
However, Zheng Dong was hesitating whether his main body should enter the Wailing Soul Ruins or a clone.
At this moment, he saw several injured beast tamers emerging from the spatial dimension of the Wailing Soul Ruins.
Some of them were Master-level beast tamers, and some were Advanced-level beast tamers.
It appeared they had left the spatial dimension of the Wailing Soul Ruins after being injured.
Based on their condition, the Wailing Soul Ruins were not excessively dangerous.
As a Grandmaster-level beast tamer, he should have no problem entering.
Therefore, Zheng Dong chose to enter with his main body.
The entrance to the spatial dimension of the Wailing Soul Ruins was on a mountainside.
On the steep mountainside, there was a cavity formed by a gray vortex.
After entering the cavity and walking for a distance, one arrived in the spatial dimension of the Wailing Soul Ruins.
Immediately, the temperature here felt significantly lower than outside.
Furthermore, there was no daytime here; it was perpetually night.
There was a projection of the moon in the sky, emitting a faint silver light.
After entering the spatial dimension of the Wailing Soul Ruins, Zheng Dong attempted to use various perception skills such as Super Perception.
Everything seemed to have returned to normal.
Unlike in the gray mist where he could only perceive things within five meters.
Upon entering, Shen Bing and Shen Xue also summoned their respective pet beasts.
Shen Bing summoned the Monarch-level Ghost Fox Demoness and maintained a fused state with it.
Shen Xue summoned the Monarch-level Purgatory Titan and sat on the Purgatory Titan's shoulder.
This way, even if they were ambushed, they could quickly counterattack or evade.
Zheng Dong also summoned Youyou.
Youyou's injuries had also recovered significantly. Transforming into her Taji form, she shrunk and sat on Zheng Dong's shoulder.
If danger arose, she would be the first to defend.
Shen Bing walked up to Zheng Dong, took out her phone, and opened a map.
This was a map drawn by other beast tamers who had explored the Wailing Soul Ruins.
Shen Bing had spent a considerable amount of money to purchase it.
As for the authenticity of the map, many who bought it confirmed it was real.
However, this map was not detailed, and it only recorded two-thirds of the Wailing Soul Ruins' spatial dimension.
"Zheng Dong, we should be here currently, Ghost City. Every beast tamer who enters the Wailing Soul Ruins' spatial dimension appears in Ghost City.
Therefore, the exploration value here is not high. If there were any good resources, they would have likely been scavenged by other beast tamers.
Ghost City was vast, capable of housing hundreds of thousands of people.
The surrounding buildings were all in the style of ancient Yan Huang.
Most of these buildings were still in a complete state.
The streets were also very clean.
It was as if people had always lived there.
However, looking around, apart from the adventuring beast tamers, there was no one to be seen.
Even undead were scarce.
Most of the beast tamers staying here were either recuperating or preparing to leave.
Of course, there were also some who had just arrived.
"Zheng Dong, where do you think it would be more suitable for us to go? Besides Ghost City, there are also places like Mang Mountain Ghost Mausoleum, Wailing Soul Battlefield, and Yellow Springs Hot Springs that beast tamers frequently visit," Shen Bing said.
Before Zheng Dong could reply, Shen Xue quickly answered,
"Sister, since we're here, of course, we should go to places others haven't been to. That would be more interesting!"
Zheng Dong did not answer Shen Bing immediately.
He surveyed Ghost City.
He did not find anything amiss.
Perhaps this was originally a ghost city.
However, holding onto a sliver of hope, he still summoned Xiao Zi.
He had Xiao Zi use its treasure-hunting skill to search Ghost City for any treasures.
Xiao Zi condensed numerous clones and quickly dispersed throughout Ghost City.
However, no treasures were found.
Only in the City Lord's Mansion of Ghost City did it discover a peculiar statue.
The statue was enshrined in the main hall of the City Lord's Mansion.
In the incense burner placed in front of it, a black incense stick was burning continuously.
Moreover, the smoke released by the burning black incense was actually gray.
However, Xiao Zi paid it no mind.
It simply described the general appearance of the statue to Zheng Dong.
The body of the statue was humanoid, but its head had only a single vertical eye.
In addition, there was an eye on each of its palms.
Although it was a bit strange, it had no energy fluctuations and did not appear to be a living thing.
Zheng Dong did not dwell on it.
Afterward, he reviewed the map in Shen Bing's hand.
He decided to visit Mang Mountain Ghost Mausoleum first.
Mang Mountain Ghost Mausoleum had many undead, which could be captured to make undead puppets for Youyou.
Furthermore, it also had many undead-related resources, which both Zheng Dong and Shen Bing and Shen Xue needed.
Most importantly, Mang Mountain Ghost Mausoleum had been explored by many beast tamers, so its danger level was not very high.
Zheng Dong had no intention of going to places that no beast tamers had visited.
Shen Bing also felt that safety was paramount and agreed to go to Mang Mountain Ghost Mausoleum. Only Shen Xue objected.
Unfortunately, with two against one, her objection was invalid.
Along the way, there were quite a few beast tamers heading towards Mang Mountain Ghost Mausoleum.
Some beast tamers tried to strike up conversations, but Zheng Dong and the others ignored them.
Soon, they left Ghost City and proceeded in the direction of Mang Mountain Ghost Mausoleum.
Mang Mountain Ghost Mausoleum was not far from Ghost City.
At the speed of Zheng Dong and the others, it would only take two to three hours to reach it.
Moreover, upon leaving Ghost City, one could see Mang Mountain Ghost Mausoleum from afar.
At the end of a desolate plain, a black mountain range stood tall.
The shape of the mountain range resembled a reclining giant, and faint buildings could be seen on the mountain.
These buildings were all very strange, said to be mausoleums, containing a large number of undead.
Just as Zheng Dong and the others were leaving Ghost City and heading towards Mang Mountain Ghost Mausoleum, Hu Maoxue also entered the spatial dimension of the Wailing Soul Ruins and arrived at Ghost City.
This time, Hu Maoxue was not alone; his girlfriend Ming Shuang and his good friend Lei Tianyu also accompanied him.
Lei Tianyu was also from Imperial Capital University, and he was a cousin of Lei Tianqi.
After Lei Tianqi had an accident, Lei Tianqi's father had been investigating the cause.
However, the information obtained indicated that Lei Tianqi's death was caused by demons within the Mythical Ruins' spatial dimension.
But the Ye family had always insisted that Zheng Dong was responsible.
Lei Tianqi's father was not an impulsive person. Without conclusive evidence, he had not made a move against Zheng Dong.
However, Lei Tianyu had grown up with Lei Tianqi since childhood and was closer to him than brothers.
Upon learning that Hu Maoxue intended to deal with Zheng Dong, he voluntarily participated.
Of course, this was also deliberately revealed to Lei Tianyu by Hu Maoxue, as he felt he was somewhat lacking in strength alone and needed help.
And Lei Tianyu was the best candidate.