Eleven people, including their captain, were wiped out.
This area of Tongguan City, along with several others, was designated as a red danger zone by the city, a place cultivators on missions least wanted to go.
Now, Wu Tao's team, squad thirty-six, had been assigned this mission, naturally facing immense risks.
Wu Tao pondered these thoughts silently.
Meanwhile.
Lu Yuehua glanced back at the team members behind her and uttered a simple "Move."
Eleven beams of light shot out, heading towards the horizon.
A distance of over ten thousand li was not too far for cultivators at the Foundation Establishment stage and above, but not too close either.
The eleven of them spent a full seven days to finally reach their destination.
Although the Chuan Yue Plains were flat and devoid of large mountains, a hazy mist permeated the sky, making distant objects indistinguishable to the naked eye.
The beam of light paused slightly. Lu Yuehua flipped her hand, and a specially made pointer compass appeared in her palm.
Lu Yuehua lightly tapped the pointer, and it began to spin incessantly.
Behind her, Wu Tao, Ye Hong, Yu Mo, Yang Fan, Ma Fan, Cong Shujie, Shi Zhenxiang, Zuo Zong, Li Zhang, and Zhang Dong guarded Lu Yuehua, acting as her protectors.
This pointer compass, named the Alien Species Detection Device, was a treasure specially equipped by Tongguan City for each team leader, capable of detecting the presence of alien species within a certain range.
However, this treasure could generally only detect up to ten thousand meters, and it might not be entirely effective against alien species with special innate abilities.
Nevertheless, its activation usually brought a greater sense of security.
Thus, led by Lu Yuehua, Wu Tao, Ye Hong, Yu Mo, Yang Fan, Ma Fan, Cong Shujie, Shi Zhenxiang, Zuo Zong, Li Zhang, and Zhang Dong all slowed their escape beams, cautiously entering the dense fog.
Shortly after, the group vanished without a trace in the mist.
The Chuan Yue Plains were indeed far more eerie than other regions.
For some unknown reason, upon entering the plains, the divine sense of Wu Tao and the others could not extend beyond a hundred zhang. Moreover, the dense fog was filled with illusions, making them difficult to guard against.
What was most troublesome was that the Blood Race had released various blood beasts to disrupt them.
Blood beasts were servants refined by the Blood Race using a vicious and overbearing secret technique.
They were notorious among the various races in the underground cultivation world.
The so-called blood beasts were zombies cultivated from the corpses of demonic beasts.
However, blood beasts differed from ordinary zombies. A living demonic beast had to be bound and placed in the Blood Race's unique blood pool, and then one hundred and eight kinds of blood toxins were added.
After one to two years, the one hundred and eight blood toxins would fully penetrate the corpse. The corpse would then revive after absorbing the essence blood from the blood pool.
Finally, the Blood Race beast masters would inject their own essence blood to serve as a means to control the blood beasts.
The most terrifying aspect of blood beasts was their disregard for their own lives and their potent toxins.
If anyone was injured by a blood beast and did not receive timely treatment, the potent toxin would invade the victim's blood, causing instant death.
The blood beasts of the Blood Race were a hundred times more terrifying than general corpse-control techniques.
Now, Lu Yuehua and the eleven people with her encountered a large number of blood beasts released by the Blood Race.
Especially a type called burrowing blood beasts.
These burrowing blood beasts, each possessing muscular bodies as explosive as venomous snakes, could surge three zhang high in an instant when emerging from the ground, catching people off guard.
Their mouths could spray a poisonous mist that corroded magical artifacts and devoured the protective spiritual energy of cultivators, making them extremely malevolent.
If there were only one or two, Lu Yuehua and the others would not have paid them much mind. However, these burrowing blood beasts were numerous, attacking in groups of dozens.
This threw Lu Yuehua and the eleven into a frantic state.
It was only when Lu Yuehua was cornered and unleashed the fifth-grade divine ability, "Ice Soul Cold Ice Blade," displaying its immense power and instantly freezing the group of burrowing blood beasts in mid-air.
Then, Wu Tao, Ye Hong, Yu Mo, Yang Fan, Ma Fan, Cong Shujie, Shi Zhenxiang, Zuo Zong, Li Zhang, and Zhang Dong unleashed their magical artifacts, residual treasures, and spells to completely eliminate these burrowing blood beasts.
Otherwise, their group would have suffered a significant loss.
However, it was precisely because of Lu Yuehua's action this time that Wu Tao realized she had held back some of her strength when they fought before.
This realization made Wu Tao, who was already eager to break through to the Core Formation stage, even more anxious.
He no longer wanted to remain so humble in front of the woman he loved.
...
Of course, in addition to releasing burrowing blood beasts, the Blood Race also unleashed other fearsome blood beasts.
There was a type called chaotic blood turtles. These blood beasts were not only massive but also incredibly defensive. Even Lu Yuehua, the strongest among the eleven, found them extremely troublesome, let alone the others.
Fortunately, chaotic blood turtles were slow-moving and not very powerful in attack. With enough time, their defenses could be breached, and they could be killed.
Therefore, in terms of danger, they were less terrifying than burrowing blood beasts.
Even so, not long after entering the Chuan Yue Plains, Lu Yuehua, Wu Tao, and the other eleven deeply experienced the terror of the Blood Race.
...
This group of eleven had not even seen the Blood Race members, yet they were already in disarray due to the blood beasts raised by the Blood Race.
Before the words could even finish, rumbling thunder sounded from ahead. The group looked up at the sky in surprise.
Yu Mo, who possessed special eyes, saw a flash of white light and suddenly exclaimed in shock, "Not good, a blood beast horde! There's a blood beast horde, a large blood beast horde is heading this way!"
The others turned their heads and saw, about a dozen li ahead, rolling dust clouds and a dense black mass of ferocious charging blood beasts surging out like a tide.
In the sky, hundreds of blood-winged bat beasts shrieked, flying towards them in a dense swarm.
Ma Fan, who had been greatly troubled along the way, could no longer contain himself and cursed, "Damn it, how many blood beasts does this Blood Race have under their command? It feels like they're endless, as if..."
At this moment, Wu Tao's expression was solemn as he replied, "From what we can see, no matter what, we have to deal with them. There's no choice."
"It seems we've been targeted by the Blood Race as soon as we arrived at the Chuan Yue Plains. Perhaps they've tampered with us, or they wouldn't be able to pinpoint our location so precisely."
"These blood beasts are released by the Blood Race specifically to deal with us. We can't escape, so we can only face them head-on."
...
Hearing this, Lu Yuehua's eyes showed agreement as she slowly continued, "We have indeed been targeted by the Blood Race for some time, but overall, it doesn't seem to be a major problem..."
"Because judging from the Blood Race's choice after discovering us, the Blood Race members hunting in the Chuan Yue Plains this time are not very strong. They are not capable of devouring us in one go."
"Otherwise, why would they go to such lengths? Why not just eliminate us directly instead of sending out a large number of blood beasts to interfere with our actions?"
"From this, it can be inferred that as long as we deal with these blood beasts, we will have the opportunity to eliminate these invading Blood Race members and complete the mission."
...
Wu Tao, Ye Hong, Yu Mo, Yang Fan, Ma Fan, Cong Shujie, Shi Zhenxiang, Zuo Zong, Li Zhang, and Zhang Dong exchanged glances. In their lives, they had never done anything like knowingly facing danger.
What Wu Tao had said earlier was merely to caution the others, in case the Blood Race had done something to locate them, and to see if they had any good solutions. He didn't intend to fight to the death with the Blood Race when the strength of both sides was unclear.
...
However, facing the orders of Lu Yuehua, their superior and the strongest among them, they could only obey.
Because in a situation surrounded by powerful enemies, internal conflict, disputes, or fleeing in all directions would be the most foolish way to seek death.
Lu Yuehua, as the highest-ranking and strongest, her will naturally held more weight than the combined wills of Wu Tao, Ye Hong, Yu Mo, Yang Fan, Ma Fan, Cong Shujie, Shi Zhenxiang, Zuo Zong, Li Zhang, and Zhang Dong.
...
At this moment, clamorous noises filled the sky. Lu Yuehua, Wu Tao, Ye Hong, Yu Mo, Yang Fan, Ma Fan, Cong Shujie, Shi Zhenxiang, Zuo Zong, Li Zhang, and Zhang Dong quickly formed their battle formation.
Seeing the hundreds of blood-winged bat beasts flying towards them like a dark cloud, everyone launched their attacks.
In an instant, various powerful techniques, including magical artifacts, residual treasures, magical items, divine abilities, and spells, were unleashed continuously.
Blood-winged bat beasts began to fall from the swarm, crashing heavily onto the ground and dying.
However, the blood-winged bat beast swarm was too numerous. Although a hundred to two hundred were killed by the group, four to five hundred more continued to surge forward, and were about to fly over their heads.
Blood-winged bat beasts were also extremely fierce blood beasts. With their wings fully spread, they could reach over ten zhang, and their claws were as sharp as ordinary magical artifacts.
Although they did not possess any special abilities, their flight speed was extremely fast.
...
Seeing the blood-winged bat beast swarm about to dive-bomb the group.