The desolate terrain full of jagged and strange rocks ended abruptly here.
It was replaced by flat sand.
Even the rock wall above was smooth, with no hanging stalagmites, only a layer of moss that gave off a phosphorescent light.
At the end of the sand, a majestic ancient castle rises from the ground, looking extremely conspicuous in the dark and desolate underground city.
In front of the huge castle stone gate.
There are two stone sculptures as huge as mountains.
I don’t know how long it took to create the sculpture.
It was covered with dust, but there were no plants like moss.
The gray rocky body exuded a powerful pressure that made people feel faintly heart-beating.
Even if you just look at them from a distance, you can feel the awe from the two stone sculptures.
On both sides of the door, there are two lights.
The flame burns eternally, illuminating this wonderful world.
Centered on these two lights, there is not a single vicious beast within a radius of five kilometers.
Those ferocious monsters seemed to be afraid of something here, and they avoided it from a long distance away, not daring to get close to the castle within a radius of five kilometers.
At this moment.
It is about two or three kilometers away from the castle.
A group of people were clearly divided into two sides, sitting cross-legged on the ground dozens of meters apart.
There are about twenty people on the left, all dressed as adventurers.
Surprisingly, it was the Broken Pulse who had teamed up with the Huang family to kill the Swamp Patroller not long ago.
But compared to just a moment ago, the people in Duanmai looked very embarrassed at this moment.
The number of pet beasts surrounding everyone has obviously dropped sharply.
Many people even had injuries on their bodies, and their expressions still showed signs of panic.
Deputy leader Cheng Zian looked around and saw the state of everyone. He couldn't help but frown, hesitated, and asked in a low voice to leader Li Mu:
"Captain, what should we do next?"
Li Mu looked up at everyone, with a look of regret on his face, and sighed:
"It's my fault. I was blinded by greed and didn't strictly follow the original plan, which is why the team ended up in this situation!"
Cheng Zian heard this and said quickly:
"Captain, everyone in the team has agreed to go deep into the fourth level. It's not your fault alone!"
Li Mu sighed again, shook his head and said nothing.
The fourth level of the secret realm is extremely dangerous, they have known this for a long time.
Because of this.
Before entering the secret realm, they decided to take steps step by step and only explore the periphery of the fourth level, never going deep to avoid the danger of the group being destroyed.
After entering the fourth level, the team first teamed up with the Huang family to kill the swamp rangers and gained a huge sum of money.
After we separated, we continued to explore, and we gained even more rewards.
In just a few hours, a large number of extremely precious treasures were discovered!
In terms of value alone, it has already caught up with Duanmai’s harvest in previous years!
Overjoyed, they were dazzled by greed and decided to go deep into the fourth level in order to obtain more heavenly materials and earthly treasures!
As a result, not long after entering the depths of the fourth level, he received a head-on blow.
More than a dozen Star Demon Insects attacked them!
The Star Demon Insect is a rare high-level dark attribute beast with the habit of living in groups.
Adult individuals have the ninth level of peak strength level.
A few elite individuals can even reach the level of King Level 1!
The group of Star Demon Insects that attacked them included four elite Star Demon Insects!
This is far beyond their ability to cope!
In desperation, they had no choice but to fight and flee, eventually sacrificing five or six members and escaping near the castle, where they luckily escaped the pursuit of the Star Demon Insects.
And this time.
The team's strength has been reduced to tenth, and the casualties are heavy!
Li Mu's only two king-level pet beasts had already died in battle!
Unless you leave the secret realm and collect resources to resurrect it, there is no hope of being able to summon the pet beast again in the secret realm!
Without the protection of Li Mu's two king-level pet beasts, let alone the Star Demon Insect, it was a question whether Suanmai could leave the fourth level safely.
Li Mu felt regretful when he thought of this.
If he, the leader, had not been blinded by greed and made the right decision at the critical moment, the team would not be in this situation!
Cheng Zian on the side watched Li Mu's expression change several times, opened his mouth, hesitated to speak, and finally closed his mouth and sighed secretly.
He glanced at the opposite side from the corner of his eye, and felt sad in his heart.
Are you and others going to end up in the same situation as those on the opposite side?
...
In the open space opposite the people who broke the pulse.
More than ten people were scattered and sitting on the stones, all of them looked haggard and depressed.
If Gong Wu and Jin Tianyi were here, they would be able to identify these ten people as the missing exploration team of the Qianyue Consortium.
The leader was an old man with frosty white hair.
He sat cross-legged on the ground, his back straight, and his whole person had an aura as sharp as a sword.
But now he looked pale, with an unconcealable look of exhaustion on his face.
Even his sharpness couldn't hide the fact that he was seriously injured.
"Cough...cough cough..."
The old man suddenly coughed violently.
Seeing this, a pretty girl next to him quickly took out a bottle of medicine from the space prop, fed the emerald green liquid to the old man's mouth, and at the same time patted his back gently, showing a worried and concerned look.
"Grandpa, your injuries are getting worse..."
After drinking the potion, Zhong Xing's complexion improved significantly, and he forced a smile towards his granddaughter Zhong Xue'er.
"Don't worry, I can still hold on."
Zhong Xueer's expression darkened when she heard this, and the sadness in her eyes did not diminish by half.
"Grandpa, we have been stranded here for more than half a month, but rescue has never arrived. Has the consortium given up on us?"
"No!"
Zhong Xing shook his head decisively.
He glanced at Zhong Xueer's expression and comforted:
"The consortium has always treated its subordinates generously, and President Qiao is not the kind of person who would ignore the fate of his subordinates. After learning that we have fallen into the secret realm, the consortium will definitely send someone to rescue us."
"Besides, even if it's not for us, but for the many treasures we have collected during this period, the consortium will never watch us die in the secret realm!"
"The rescuers are definitely on the way, but the secret realm of Qu'an is full of dangers, and there are powerful beasts everywhere. It may take a long time for the rescue team to get here!"
There is indeed some truth to these words, and the anxiety and worry on Zhong Xueer's face immediately eased a lot after hearing this.
The people around him also showed slightly relieved expressions.
Seeing the changes in the demeanor of everyone around him, Zhong Xing sighed secretly in his heart.
Although he said that, he actually had no idea in his heart.
Zhong Xing did not doubt whether the consortium would send people to rescue them, but he was worried about whether the consortium could send enough people.
He himself is a legendary beast master and is in a high-level position within the Qianyue Consortium, so he knows a lot of information that people below him don't know.
In recent years, there have been more and more alien civilizations connected to the Federation, and the number has been exploding.
In order to cope with the ensuing alien civilizations, the federal military had to build dimensional bases on a large scale.
The Qianyue Consortium, which has been cooperating with the military all year round, has also ushered in an opportunity for massive expansion.
Because of this, the consortium had to allocate manpower to various locations, and in recent years it has gradually been stretched thin.
According to Zhong Xing's estimation, the consortium would at most send a legendary beast master to lead a team to rescue them.
However, with just this strength, how easy is it to rescue them?
You must know that they arrived here by chance while escaping for their lives. They relied on the weird restrictions near the castle to avoid the attacks of the ferocious beasts, and were able to survive to this day.
If it were him, the rescue team would have little hope of reaching here!
And if the rescue fails to arrive, the group of them will not be attacked by ferocious beasts if they stay here, but in the long run, when the food and water they bring are used up, there will be only a dead end!
Thinking of this, Zhong Xing's heart sank to the bottom.
He sighed, raised his head, and met Li Mu's gaze not far away.
The leaders of the two unlucky teams looked at each other and sighed deeply at the same time.
Just then.
The two people's expressions suddenly changed, and both turned their heads to look into the distance.
"Soul power fluctuates! Someone is approaching here!"
"That location...is the direction that the group of star demon insects left! Did someone bump into them?"