Fortunately, everything went relatively smoothly.
However, after finding seven ruin keys in a row, Zheng Dong was teleported to a desert. From a distance, he saw Professor Guo Lan and her team being besieged by a group of extraordinary creatures.
One of the humanoid extraordinary creatures, the Desert Giant, had a growth level that reached the Monarch level.
It used its ultimate skill, Desert Control, summoning a sky full of yellow sand. In an instant, the sky darkened as if it were night, as if the entire desert had flown into the air, blanketing Professor Guo Lan and her team.
Professor Guo Lan was forced to summon her own beast companions.
Although she looked tired, she was the only Grandmaster level beast tamer in the team; the others were no match for the Desert Giant.
She had contracted six beast companions in total, two of which had reached the Monarch level: a Green Phoenix Bird and a Vajra Dragon Ape.
However, the Green Phoenix Bird had been injured in a previous battle, and the Vajra Dragon Ape was also exhausted.
Because they had encountered seven or eight ambushes on their way here, the Green Phoenix Bird and the Vajra Dragon Ape had barely rested, constantly fighting.
But there was no other choice; Professor Guo Lan could only deploy these two beast companions.
Unfortunately, to everyone's surprise, even with a two-on-one advantage, the Green Phoenix Bird and the Vajra Dragon Ape were still at a disadvantage against the Desert Giant.
Professor Guo Lan then realized that the Desert Giant was stronger than she had anticipated, its growth level nearing the Emperor level.
Moreover, being in the desert, the Desert Giant held a significant advantage.
Instantly, Professor Guo Lan's brow furrowed, and she quickly said to Xia Mengqiu and the others,
"You all go first, I'll find you later!"
"I won't! If we go, we go together." Xia Mengqiu seemed to realize something and shook her head vigorously.
...
On the other side, Zheng Dong did not approach.
He didn't know Professor Guo Lan and her team, nor did he understand their purpose.
He was teleported here solely to find ruin keys and complete the trial.
However, due to the chaotic energy fluctuations from the nearby battle, and the Desert Giant's use of the ultimate skill Desert Control, the surrounding terrain was constantly changing, leaving no reference points. In such conditions, finding ruin keys was extremely difficult.
There was no other option; perhaps he would have to wait until the battle ended before searching slowly.
To avoid being inexplicably drawn into the battlefield, Zheng Dong used his Earth Evasion skill and hid with Little Zi, waiting for an opportunity.
Professor Guo Lan and her team in the distance, as well as the surrounding extraordinary creatures, did not notice Zheng Dong.
The battle lasted for several minutes.
Professor Guo Lan's Green Phoenix Bird and Vajra Dragon Ape were on the verge of collapse.
At this moment, the Desert Giant unleashed its power again, using Desert Control to stir up a sky full of yellow sand. Waves of sand rolled across the ground, forming vast areas of quicksand. One wrong step and one could be swallowed by the desert.
The Vajra Dragon Ape accidentally fell into a trap, half of its body sinking into the quicksand, making it difficult to escape.
Seizing this opportunity, the Desert Giant attacked the Green Phoenix Bird. The swirling sand forced the Green Phoenix Bird down from the sky. The giant grabbed its wing and tore it off with brute force.
The Green Phoenix Bird struggled but could not break free from the Desert Giant. In despair, it detonated a small forbidden bomb hidden within its spatial dimension.
Compared to micro forbidden bombs, small forbidden bombs were more powerful and had significant lethality against Monarch-level extraordinary creatures.
Professor Guo Lan didn't have many of them; they were for emergencies, and she hadn't expected to use them.
With the explosion of the small forbidden bomb, the Green Phoenix Bird died on the spot. The Desert Giant was blown to pieces, but it did not die.
The Desert Giant quickly got back on its feet and, in a rage, charged towards the Vajra Dragon Ape.
Seeing this, Professor Guo Lan shed tears.
She wanted to recall the Vajra Dragon Ape, but it refused.
The Vajra Dragon Ape knew clearly that if it returned to the beast-taming space, Professor Guo Lan and the others would not survive.
Facing the Desert Giant, the Vajra Dragon Ape, trapped in the quicksand, felt extremely stifled. If it hadn't been for the significant consumption of energy in previous battles, preventing it from using its ultimate skill, it wouldn't have been in such a passive and helpless situation.
However, seeing the death of the Green Phoenix Bird, the Vajra Dragon Ape made up its mind. Its eyes turned ferocious. Seeing the charging Desert Giant, it reached out and hugged it tightly, also detonating the small forbidden bomb hidden in its ear.
With a deafening roar, both the Vajra Dragon Ape and the Desert Giant were blown away.
Professor Guo Lan was stunned.
She couldn't react for a long time.
Although she had always known that archaeology was dangerous and that such a day would come, when it finally arrived, she found herself unable to accept it.
Her body trembled violently, and she almost fainted.
Fortunately, Xia Mengqiu quickly supported her.
But the ordeal was not over.
Not long after, the Desert Giant struggled to its feet again and, in its rage, launched another attack on Professor Guo Lan and her team.
Perhaps due to the severe injuries it sustained, it used a high-tier skill this time: Sand Vortex.
Facing the Desert Giant's attack, Professor Guo Lan and her team fell into despair.
Professor Guo Lan quickly dispatched another battle-general level beast companion that was engaged in combat to provide assistance.
Unfortunately, it was still too late.
A massive sand vortex was about to suck them all in.
Just then, Zheng Dong, who had been observing for a long time, prepared to intervene.
He felt that Professor Guo Lan and her team were not bad people, and he recognized the golden badges they wore on their chests as the emblem of the Capital Beast Taming University.
Most importantly, the Desert Giant's severe injuries made him feel that there was an opportunity.
However, even so, he did not reveal himself but had Little Zi condense a clone to try.
Little Zi condensed 365 clones and, from a distance, used its combined skill, Ultimate: Ambush Arrow, to shoot at the Desert Giant.
Volleys of Ambush Arrows rained down, striking the Desert Giant, followed by fierce explosions.
The Desert Giant furiously tried to resist, but it was at its limit. After continuously using several high-tier skills to destroy many of Little Zi's clones, it could no longer hold on and was killed by the dense barrage of Ambush Arrows.
At this moment, the Desert Giant felt incredibly stifled, just like the Green Phoenix Bird and the Vajra Dragon Ape it had killed.
As the Desert Giant fell, the other surrounding extraordinary creatures panicked, much like a wolf pack losing its leader and its courage.
Professor Guo Lan and her team were also astonished, feeling as if they were dreaming. Just moments ago, they had been on the verge of being swallowed by the sand vortex, but in an instant, because the Desert Giant was attacked, the sand vortex disappeared, and they were inexplicably saved.
Soon, Professor Guo Lan was the first to regain her composure.
She instructed Xia Mengqiu and the others to organize their beast companions to counterattack the surrounding extraordinary creatures, while simultaneously using her telepathic talent to communicate with Little Zi, explaining their identities and their experiences during this time.
She had already realized that Little Zi was a contracted beast companion, otherwise, it wouldn't have mastered the Shadow Clone skill to such a profound level.
She wanted to learn from Little Zi who the beast tamer helping them in secret was.
Little Zi relayed the entire conversation to Zheng Dong without missing a word.
Upon learning that Professor Guo Lan and her team were indeed from the Capital University, Zheng Dong let down some of his guard. He condensed a clone and prepared to meet them.
Later, as the situation stabilized and the surrounding extraordinary creatures were suppressed by Professor Guo Lan's team, his clone arrived.
To facilitate travel, his clone used the Earth Evasion skill and emerged from the ground before Professor Guo Lan and her team, surprising them all!
Soon, Professor Guo Lan and her team also noticed that Zheng Dong's clone did not use the Fusion talent to merge with his beast companion but relied solely on his own abilities to use earth-related skills.
This surprised them even more.
"Is your beast-taming talent skill sharing?" Professor Guo Lan couldn't help but ask after reacting.
Zheng Dong nodded slightly.
This made Xia Mengqiu and the others extremely envious.
For most beast tamers, their offensive and defensive capabilities were very limited before becoming legendary beast tamers, requiring powerful beast companions to protect them.
Only a small number of beast tamers with special beast-taming talents were exceptions, and skill sharing was one of them, and one of the most sought-after beast-taming talents by everyone, because anyone liked to possess powerful strength themselves.
Professor Guo Lan couldn't help but examine Zheng Dong.
"Young man, we owe you a great debt this time. Thank you for saving us! I am Guo Lan, a professor from the Archaeology Department of the Capital University and one of the heads of the Ruin Bureau. Judging by your appearance, you should still be a student. Are you interested in coming to our Capital University?"
Professor Guo Lan felt a surge of admiration for his talent and wanted to nurture Zheng Dong.
Zheng Dong was somewhat surprised; he hadn't even participated in the Rookie King Competition yet, and the Capital University was already extending an invitation to him.
However, he still had to consider his options. There were nine first-class beast-taming universities in the Yanhuang Kingdom, and he wanted to see which one offered more scholarship money.
Thus, he looked at Professor Guo Lan and her team while saying,
"Professor Guo Lan, I didn't really do much. If the Desert Giant hadn't been severely injured, I wouldn't have been able to kill it. I've heard of the Capital University. It's said that most students there contract undead-type beast companions, and I also like undead-type beast companions. I will consider it."
Although Professor Guo Lan was a grandmotherly figure, due to her Grandmaster level beast tamer status, her physical fitness far surpassed that of ordinary people. She looked no older than forty-something, and standing next to Xia Mengqiu, she looked more like mother and daughter.
Xia Mengqiu wore black-rimmed glasses and had a very artistic demeanor. Her age was likely similar to Tu Qionglan's.
Besides them, there were five men and two women. One of them, a man wearing a duckbill hat, was a Master level beast tamer, while the rest were Advanced level beast tamers.
When they heard Professor Guo Lan inviting Zheng Dong, they couldn't help but show envious glances.
They recalled how hard they had worked to pass the Capital University's entrance examination. They couldn't quite understand why Zheng Dong was still considering it; if it were them, they would have accepted Professor Guo Lan's offer without hesitation.
Moreover, Professor Guo Lan didn't seem to mind and instead looked at Zheng Dong expectantly, continuing to say,
"Alright, if you want to come, you can call me anytime. Also, have you received the recognition of the ruin and are you undergoing its trial?"
Suddenly, all eyes turned to Zheng Dong.
Because as long as Zheng Dong was recognized and passed the trial, they would also have a chance to leave and no longer have to search for an exit like headless flies.
Zheng Dong nodded.
Although the ruin recognized Little Zi, by extension, it recognized him.
"That's great! You don't know, this archaeological expedition has exceeded our expectations. This ruin space is very large and should be a fixed ruin, not movable.
By the way, just like the Hexi Ruin in your Anhe District, the space is exceptionally stable. If you hadn't appeared, we probably would have been trapped here indefinitely!" Xia Mengqiu excitedly interjected before Professor Guo Lan could speak.
Professor Guo Lan also nodded and continued,
"Zheng Dong, your sudden appearance here is probably also due to the ruin trial. After we clear the surrounding extraordinary creatures, we will help you pass the trial together!"
Zheng Dong did not refuse the kindness of Professor Guo Lan and her team.
He had already found seven ruin keys and needed five more, but the difficulty was increasing. Having Professor Guo Lan and her team help would be good; it might save him a lot of trouble.
Even if they didn't help, if he went to the Capital University in the future, having Professor Guo Lan and her team look out for him would be beneficial.
Moreover, he could ask Professor Guo Lan for help in contracting undead-type beast companions in the future.
This was because the Capital had an ancient battlefield left from the mythical era, which had the largest and best quantity and quality of undead-type extraordinary creatures in the Yanhuang Kingdom.
However, it was very difficult for ordinary beast tamers to enter the ancient battlefield, but with Professor Guo Lan's guarantee, it should not be a problem.
Most importantly, Tu Qionglan had been very busy lately and had no time to help him find potential undead-type beast companions, so he could only find a way himself.
Furthermore, Professor Guo Lan was not only a professor in the Capital's Archaeology Department but also one of the heads of the Ruin Bureau, whose status was equivalent to that of the Special Affairs Bureau.
In the future, when he needed to collect various resources and treasures, he would inevitably have to enter various ruin spaces, and he would definitely need to trouble Professor Guo Lan.
Therefore, Zheng Dong also decided to take action and help Professor Guo Lan and her team clear the surrounding extraordinary creatures.
Currently, besides the fallen Desert Giant, there were still over a dozen battle-general level extraordinary creatures, dozens of lord-level extraordinary creatures, and hundreds of commander-level extraordinary creatures.
Although these extraordinary creatures were suppressed by Professor Guo Lan's team and were at a disadvantage, it was not easy to completely kill and clear them.
Professor Guo Lan, apart from the two beast companions that had died, had four remaining battle-general level beast companions, two of which had growth levels close to the Monarch level.
Combined with the five battle-general level beast companions of the man wearing the duckbill hat, they could barely suppress the dozen or so battle-general level extraordinary creatures.
As for Xia Mengqiu and the others' beast companions, their levels had all reached the Lord level, with some even approaching the Battle-General level, but they were still struggling against dozens of lord-level extraordinary creatures and hundreds of commander-level extraordinary creatures.
If nothing unexpected happened, the battle would continue for some time.
But with Zheng Dong's intervention, everything changed.
Zheng Dong's clones emerged from the ground one by one, accompanied by Little Zi's clones, using various combined skills and ultimates to instantly kill commander-level extraordinary creatures of the same level.
Many commander-level extraordinary creatures, before they could even react, were either blown to death by Ambush Arrows or suffocated to death by the Mud Monster.
Moreover, the number of clones continued to increase, quickly reaching 365.
Zheng Dong's main body also joined the battle.
In a flash, more than half of the commander-level extraordinary creatures were killed.
Professor Guo Lan and her team watched in stunned silence.
But this was not the end. After dealing with all the commander-level extraordinary creatures.
Zheng Dong, along with Little Zi, began to hunt lord-level extraordinary creatures, fighting them at a higher level.