The area they were exploring was located southeast of the Hell Rift region in the ancient battlefield, near the Flame Valley by the Giant Stone Temple area.
Zheng Dong opened the ancient battlefield's electronic map and saw that the entire Flame Valley was within a black zone.
Only after receiving authorization could the detailed map of Flame Valley be viewed.
Flame Valley occupied a vast area, larger than the Anhe District of Rongcheng, Zheng Dong's hometown.
Zheng Dong and his companions traveled to Flame Valley in a battle chariot of the Beast-Taming Corps.
Upon arrival, they discovered that despite being called Flame Valley, there were no flames to be seen.
Furthermore, the surrounding temperature was extremely low, reaching over minus thirty degrees Celsius.
Fortunately, everyone's physical condition was good, preventing them from freezing.
"As you can all see, this is Flame Valley.
According to satellite imagery, the entire Flame Valley resembles a raging inferno, with the ground consistently appearing scorched. The fire element energy in the surroundings is also hundreds of times greater than in other areas.
If the skin were to be exposed without protection, it would also suffer burns.
The reason why Flame Valley possesses such abundant fire element energy yet remains so cold is what we need to explore.
Before us, the Beast-Taming Corps had organized three previous expeditions to explore Flame Valley, but their gains were minimal.
Our exploration route this time is different from the previous three; we will traverse the entire Flame Valley. If we encounter extreme situations, I will consider ending the operation," He Bin stated.
Without giving anyone a chance to ask questions, He Bin led his team to begin the exploration.
As they entered Flame Valley, the air seemed to grow colder. Looking around, they saw many strange extraordinary plants growing in the vicinity.
Zheng Dong followed closely behind the team, using his psychic perception to scan the surroundings.
Soon, he detected several General-tier undead.
Further away, King-tier undead noticed them.
However, with He Bin summoning the Emperor-tier Suppressing Evil Tiger Demon Emperor, no undead dared to approach.
To prevent any accidents, Zheng Dong also summoned Youyou.
Youyou, in its Taji form, was incredibly cute and playfully sat on Zheng Dong's shoulder.
This also caught the attention of a female beast tamer behind Zheng Dong.
"What a cute pet, what's its name?"
Zheng Dong had already chatted with this female beast tamer a few times and knew she was a few years older than him. She was also a beast tamer cultivated by the Beast-Taming Corps, named Mu Qiulin.
Unlike Zheng Dong, Mu Qiulin and the others were beast tamers stationed at the ancient battlefield, directly subordinate to He Bin.
He Bin included them in this operation as a way to train them.
Mu Qiulin had a lively personality and would express her thoughts when she saw something she liked.
It was precisely because of this that Zheng Dong struck up a conversation with her.
Throughout the journey, Mu Qiulin chattered incessantly, sharing many details that gave Zheng Dong some insight into the other senior beast tamers.
As they ventured deeper into Flame Valley, He Bin issued exploration tasks.
The exploration wasn't a straightforward path; there were many areas along the way where they needed to split up and act independently.
The number of personnel assigned varied depending on the difficulty of the task.
In case of any unexpected events, they could call for help using their equipped communication devices.
Zheng Dong's task was to ascertain the number of Lord-tier and General-tier undead around a lake not far from their current location.
The task was not difficult, so Zheng Dong acted alone.
Zheng Dong was also happy to act alone, as he was not familiar with Mu Qiulin and the others.
Zheng Dong glanced at the electronic map and then ran towards the lake.
He originally intended to use spatial teleportation.
However, upon entering Flame Valley, spatial teleportation became impossible to execute.
It seemed that due to the influence of fire element energy, the space here was particularly unstable.
Even using spatial movement required caution.
Earth遁 skills could still be used, but burrowing underground made the cold even more piercing, accompanied by a stifling heat, making it more uncomfortable.
Therefore, Zheng Dong simply ran there.
It wasn't too far, and with his physical condition, it would only take about half an hour.
As he gradually approached the lake, Zheng Dong heightened his vigilance.
Using his psychic perception, he detected an increasing number of undead in the vicinity.
Although most were Commander-tier or Lord-tier undead, there was a possibility of hidden General-tier or King-tier undead.
Soon, Zheng Dong arrived at the lake's edge.
A gentle breeze blew, and he immediately felt a wave of heat.
The lake water not only had not frozen but was also emitting waves of heat, drifting over the surface like mist.
Zheng Dong dared not enter rashly. He circled the lake shore and roughly estimated the number of Lord-tier undead in the vicinity to be over five thousand, and General-tier undead to be over three hundred.
Of course, these were all estimates.
Zheng Dong calculated the distance between encounters with Lord-tier or General-tier undead and then, based on the surrounding area, extrapolated the approximate number of undead.
The entire process did not require Zheng Dong to perform calculations.
He simply needed to open the equipment distributed for this exploration, a tablet-like device. As he moved forward, he would input each Lord-tier pet he encountered.
The device would continuously estimate the results based on Zheng Dong's movement speed and the number of undead entered.
In reality, Zheng Dong only sensed over a hundred Lord-tier undead and about two General-tier undead along the way.
As for the accuracy of the extrapolated results, Zheng Dong couldn't be bothered to judge.
He had completed his task and intended to leave as soon as possible.
Because the device in his hand predicted at least three King-tier undead nearby, this area was classified as high-risk, but not yet at a level requiring undead clearing.
Just as Zheng Dong was preparing to return to the assembly point, his communication device rang with a distress signal.
The location of the distress signal was not far from Zheng Dong, on a hill to the west of the lake.
At least three people were calling for help.
Zheng Dong recalled that Mu Qiulin and two other senior beast tamers were assigned to complete a task there.
Their task was slightly more difficult than Zheng Dong's.
In addition to determining the number of undead on the hill, they also had to investigate why the fire element energy concentration on that hill was the highest in the vicinity.
The abnormality of the hill was discovered by the Battlefield Eye, which hovered above the ancient battlefield.
The Battlefield Eye monitored the entire ancient battlefield and compiled anomalies, assigning them as exploration tasks for them to investigate one by one.
As the distress signal sounded, He Bin contacted Zheng Dong via the communication device.
He asked Zheng Dong to go to the rescue first, and he would arrange for two Grandmaster-tier beast tamers to follow.
Zheng Dong then headed towards the hill.
Seen from above, the lake Zheng Dong was at was not very large; it was in a low-lying area. Not far from the lake were dozens of hills of varying heights.
One inconspicuous hill was where Mu Qiulin and the others had sent out a distress signal.
Looking further out, one could see towering mountains.
Beyond these mountains lay the exit from Flame Valley.
Zheng Dong soon spotted Mu Qiulin and the others.
They were being pursued by a group of undead, numbering around two hundred.
The leading undead was surprisingly a King-tier Ice Demon.
Ice Demons were humanoid extraordinary creatures with deep blue eyes, possessing natural魅惑 attributes, making them beautiful and alluring.
Even female beast tamers could inadvertently fall prey to them.
However, the one pursuing Mu Qiulin and the others had clearly mutated, seeming to prefer violence and attacking directly.
Moreover, the skills it used were not just ice-based but also fire-based.
It could release a white flame.
This flame did not feel hot but rather cold, absorbing all surrounding heat.
This surprised Zheng Dong.
It was utterly beyond reason and difficult to imagine.
The Ice Demon unleashed a large amount of white flame.
The white flame, like white mist, churned and surged towards Mu Qiulin and the others.
Mu Qiulin and the others scrambled to dodge, but Mu Qiulin's stamina was slightly lacking, and her movements were a bit slow. She was on the verge of being engulfed by the white flame.
At that moment, a beast tamer who had long admired Mu Qiulin pushed her away, only to be engulfed by the white flame himself, emitting a pained scream.
Soon, the heat from the beast tamer's body was absorbed, his skin appearing scorched, but his internal body froze into ice.
Because a large amount of heat was drawn out, it concentrated on the skin for a short period, causing it to burn.
However, the body's interior, having lost heat, quickly froze in the minus thirty-degree environment.
This scene terrified Mu Qiulin and the others.
Zheng Dong also cautiously kept his distance.
After all, his opponent was a King-tier Ice Demon.
Zheng Dong used his Wood Whip skill to pull the two individuals to his side.
Mu Qiulin's expression was somewhat dazed, clearly not having recovered her senses.
Another senior beast tamer, a young man with a buzz cut, was quite astute and quickly ordered his contracted pets to counterattack.
Unfortunately, among his contracted pets, only one had reached General-tier in growth level; the rest were Lord-tier, and they were no match for the King-tier Ice Demon.
The Ice Demon, seeing its prey rescued by Zheng Dong, did not become angry but rather somewhat excited, as a new target, Zheng Dong, had appeared.
Thus, it unleashed a barrage of ice cones towards Zheng Dong.
Facing the dense ice cones, Zheng Dong did not make a move.
Youyou, on his shoulder, unleashed its Samsara Karma Fire, easily melting these ice cones.
Seemingly sensing the terror of the Samsara Karma Fire, the Ice Demon's eyes showed a hint of fear. It then rallied the undead behind it and attacked Zheng Dong and his companions.
Although the number of these undead was not small, only seven General-tier undead were capable fighters.
Against undead, Youyou had a natural advantage and used its quasi-divine skill, Undead Sovereign.
The quasi-divine skill Undead Sovereign could command all undead of the same tier and exerted a bloodline suppression over all undead, significantly reducing their attack power, defense, and other attributes.
Furthermore, it could transform all fallen life forms into undead and command them to fight, without any quantity limit.
Suddenly, a comical scene unfolded.
The undead, previously coerced and driven by the Ice Demon, turned and attacked the Ice Demon.
The Ice Demon was dumbfounded.
This was the first time it had encountered such a situation.
It was a mutated extraordinary creature of ice, wind, fire, and undead elements. Because its growth tier was higher than Youyou's, it was not commanded by the Undead Sovereign skill, but it was still suppressed and could not exert its full strength.
The Ice Demon let out a frustrated roar, staring warily at Youyou.
If it had the chance, it would definitely eliminate Youyou, as Youyou posed too great a threat.
As for the undead that were now attacking it, it did not pay them much mind.
It unleashed its peculiar white flames again. Even General-tier undead could not withstand these flames, let alone Commander-tier or Lord-tier undead, who had no ability to resist and were quickly burned to death upon contact.
In a short while, only seven General-tier undead were still struggling.
But the Ice Demon did not spare them, pouncing and crushing them one by one.
Immediately after, the Ice Demon set its sights on Zheng Dong and his companions again.
Mu Qiulin shivered in fear.
Mu Qiulin possessed a strong beast-taming talent, and among her contracted pets was a General-tier pet.
Unfortunately, it had been dealt with by the Ice Demon when it was discovered.
This meant they were completely unable to assist Zheng Dong.
Zheng Dong did not expect them to either.
Youyou was capable of fighting a King-tier undead.
However, to quickly deal with the Ice Demon, Zheng Dong had Youyou release the undead puppet, Hell Bullhead.
The Hell Bullhead was also a King-tier pet, and with Youyou's Undead Enhancement, it was more than capable of handling the Ice Demon.
Moreover, Youyou also released the Samsara Karma Fire.
The Samsara Karma Fire dealt even greater damage to undead.
Soon, the Ice Demon was dealt with by the combined efforts of Youyou and the Hell Bullhead.
Only then did Zheng Dong turn to Mu Qiulin and the other two to inquire about the events.
Originally, the three of them, like Zheng Dong, had estimated the number of undead on the hill and then wanted to investigate why the fire element energy on the hill was so concentrated.
After some exploration, they discovered an underground cave.
The cave was very deep, extending downwards without any known end.
Before they could explore further, they encountered the King-tier Ice Demon and were chased out.
This piqued Zheng Dong's interest; he wanted to investigate.
To understand why this Ice Demon had mutated.
And what was the peculiar white flame?
He felt that this flame might be suitable for Ling'er to absorb.
Of course, this was just his speculation.
Whether it would work or not would only be known after Ling'er tried it.
"Zheng Dong, let's go, it's too dangerous here!" Mu Qiulin said, still shaken.
Zheng Dong nodded.
Such dangerous tasks were naturally best handled by a clone.
However, it was important not to cause too much of a stir, as no one knew if there were any Emperor-tier or Overlord-tier undead slumbering nearby.
Therefore, Zheng Dong attempted to use the high-tier skill he had imprinted on Youyou, Undead Clone, to condense a clone.
Unlike shadow clones, shadow clones were indistinguishable from Zheng Dong's main body.
However, this clone was more like a humanoid undead.
Due to the mastery of the Undead Clone skill reaching the "Profound" level, this clone possessed ninety percent of Zheng Dong's strength.
Upon its creation, it autonomously absorbed surrounding elemental energy to maintain its combat power at its peak.
Subsequently, Zheng Dong condensed a batch of Splinter Seeds and handed them to the clone.
He also instructed Youyou to condense an undead clone to accompany it on the exploration.
Zheng Dong's clone, along with Youyou's clone and Zheng Dong's numerous splinters, should be able to handle most unexpected situations and perhaps uncover the reason for the Ice Demon's mutation.
Zheng Dong did not conceal his actions from Mu Qiulin and the other.
After all, Zheng Dong publicly possessed the Beast-Taming Talent Skill Sharing, so being able to condense clones was not unusual. Moreover, with their discernment, they would not notice anything out of the ordinary.
Just as Zheng Dong was leading Mu Qiulin and the other two back and encountered the two Grandmaster-tier beast tamers who were coming to their rescue, Zheng Dong's undead clone had already found the underground cave that Mu Qiulin had mentioned.