Chapter 51

Cheng Yang was not very clear about the situation around the idle altar. If he were to judge based on the situation in Luofeng Village, the scale of the monster group around this altar should be comparable to the monster group at the exit channel. If they could successfully take control of this altar, it would undoubtedly bring significant benefits to the development of Luofeng Village.

Although Cheng Yang had led a team into Xiangcheng City twice in the past two days, each time they followed a specific route without clearing all the monsters in the area. Therefore, Cheng Yang and his team still encountered many monster groups along the way.

Facing large groups of monsters, Cheng Yang without exception activated the "Yihua Jie Mu" skill and relied on his powerful attack to quickly crush the opposition. Now, Cheng Yang was no longer stingy with mana potions, quickly clearing the monster groups and continuing to advance. Even if there were refugees calling for help from underground, Cheng Yang and his team ignored them, as even if they rescued them, they could not take them away.

After more than an hour, they had traveled over ten kilometers and finally arrived at the eastern outskirts of Xiangcheng City. About three hundred meters ahead was an exit channel. On that channel, there were densely packed monsters of the same type, which Cheng Yang had already seen before—spotted fur spiders.

Seeing this scene, Cheng Yang was undoubtedly very troubled.

Spotted fur spiders were one of the few first-stage monsters that possessed ranged attack capabilities. Although the damage from their web threads was not strong, they had a very strong binding effect. Cheng Yang was not afraid of small groups of spotted fur spiders, but with thousands of them here, he was very troubled.

"Lord, what should we do now?" Yu Kai asked softly, "Fight or not?"

Cheng Yang thought for a moment and said, "Let's not fight for now. Currently, the only powerful person on our side is me. Who knows what special abilities the leader of these spotted fur spiders has? Let's go back and continue rescuing people. Once your strength reaches the mid-level apprentice stage, we can come back and deal with these spotted fur spiders."

"Alright!" Yu Kai and the others all agreed. They did not know that there was a territory altar on the other side of the channel; otherwise, they might not have agreed so readily.

Cheng Yang and his team did not want to alarm these mutated beasts and quietly returned, then continued north.

Cheng Yang took out a map from his pocket. This was a map of Xiangcheng City that he had drawn based on his memory from his previous life. There were no building markers on it, and only Cheng Yang could understand it.

At this moment, Cheng Yang marked several special locations on the map, one of which was the eastern channel. The other four marked locations were the northern channel and three others within Xiangcheng City.

The three points within Xiangcheng City included one near the city center, which Cheng Yang had not yet visited. The other two were farther from the city center. This time, Cheng Yang's target was one of these points, which was right on the route of the rescue operation.

On the way, Cheng Yang and his team slowed down significantly. They not only had to face various monsters but also needed to conduct rescues.

The straight-line distance from the eastern channel to the location marked on the map was only about five kilometers, but there were seven rescue points along this five-kilometer route. Therefore, Cheng Yang and his team had to take some detours. With the time spent on rescues, they did not arrive at the marked location until around 2:30 PM.

What appeared before them was not a monster but a bright white light curtain, which looked exactly like the entrance to the blood church instance in their territory.

Indeed, this was also an instance entrance, and it belonged to a low-level instance. However, this instance was not the blood church but a brand new one.

If Cheng Yang had known that the initial form of an instance was a strange stone slab, he would have searched all known locations of instances and found and removed these slabs to Luofeng Village as soon as possible.

But there was no such thing as a regret pill. Unless Cheng Yang could be reborn again, which was as impossible as humans suddenly becoming immortals. Being reborn once was already unimaginable, let alone twice. Cheng Yang laughed at the thought, as it was just a joke.

Although this was the lowest-level instance, it was not something just anyone could enter. If a team did not consist entirely of mid-level apprentice combatants, entering even the lowest-level instance would be a dead end. For example, in the ordinary blood church, the strongest existence was a late-stage first-level mutated beast. A five-person team entering would be pure suicide.

This instance was different from the blood church. The blood church was a small instance, allowing a maximum of five people to enter at a time. This instance was a medium-sized one, allowing a maximum of fifty people to enter at a time. There were also large instances, with a maximum of five hundred people. As for whether there were other levels of instances, Cheng Yang did not know, as the largest instance discovered in his previous life was a large one.

Cheng Yang had entered this instance once in his previous life. Inside was a vast canyon called the Valley of the Dead, which was also the name of the instance.

How the Valley of the Dead appeared was unknown, but the items produced inside were related to mages. Most importantly, completing this instance for the first time would bring a significant benefit, a significant benefit for Cheng Yang himself.

The reason Cheng Yang chose to become a mage was partly due to his talent and partly because of this instance. However, the items from this instance were not urgently needed by the current Cheng Yang, so he had not rushed to come here. Since he was now on the way, he did not mind completing the instance now.

"Lord, is this an instance?" Yu Kai, after a brief moment of shock, finally spoke.

Before Cheng Yang could respond, Liu Hao said, "Isn't that obvious? Can't you see it looks exactly like the portal in our territory?"

Yu Kai replied, "I know, I just wasn't sure."

"Alright, stop arguing," Cheng Yang said. "This instance is a low-level one, but its scale is medium, allowing a maximum of fifty people to enter at once. Of course, the difficulty of completing it is much higher than the blood church."

Niu Bing, who was no longer confused, immediately asked, "Lord, we only have thirty-five people here. Isn't it a bit difficult to take on a fifty-person instance?"

Cheng Yang said, "It is difficult, but I'm here. As long as we are careful, it shouldn't be a problem."

Niu Bing immediately stopped talking. Cheng Yang's strength was well-known throughout Luofeng Village. So far, they had not found anything Cheng Yang couldn't do. Since Cheng Yang said it, he must be very confident.

Cheng Yang was indeed confident. If it were before, he would not have been sure that he could complete this instance with just thirty people, and even with a full fifty people, it might not have been successful. But now he had the "Yihua Jie Mu" skill. This skill, in a sense, was a bug, especially when there was a significant difference in strength.

Then, Cheng Yang had everyone hold hands in front of the instance and immediately chose to enter.

The group felt a sudden change in their surroundings. If the place they had been in before was a ruin, then this place was a dead land, with bones scattered everywhere. It was a canyon, and the canyon was completely white.

"Ah..." A female combatant in the group, who had never seen such a scene, was immediately frightened and screamed.

A nearby combatant quickly pulled her and covered her mouth to stop the sound.

Cheng Yang calmly said, "It's fine. The monsters here can't hear sounds. If you're afraid, you can scream. But don't run around. The monsters here are very dense, and if you leave the group, you probably won't last ten seconds."

As Cheng Yang spoke, the ground in the canyon began to move. No, it wasn't the ground, but the bones on the ground.

Liu Hao, being a game enthusiast, immediately exclaimed, "Lord, are the monsters in this instance skeletons?"

Cheng Yang smiled and said, "You're right, but there's no reward. If we want to be dramatic, this can be called a sea of skeletons, but it's a small-scale one."

Liu Hao confidently said, "Alright, today I'll see the power of the sea of skeletons. Oh, I wonder if there are necromancers in this world. If not, that would be a shame."

Cheng Yang did not answer. Were there necromancers? Cheng Yang did not know, but if there were, it probably wouldn't be a matter of fun.

As they spoke, the bones began to move quickly, then rapidly combined to form skeletons, which shakily stood up.

This scene left the young people, who had been educated in atheism, speechless. But they also knew that this world could not be explained by common sense.

Hundreds of skeleton soldiers stood together, looking quite imposing. If they held sharp swords instead of bone clubs, it would be perfect. Cheng Yang knew that anyone who underestimated these bone clubs would end up in trouble, as their lethality was no less than that of a sharp sword.

The skeleton group seemed to receive an instant command and quickly charged toward Cheng Yang and his team.

"Prepare for battle!" Cheng Yang shouted, then selected five ranged attackers and summoners, including Yu Kai, Niu Bing, and three mages.

The "Yihua Jie Mu" skill was instantly activated...