Weird fog, ancient tree of wind. (6000)

Cao Xing did not pay much attention to this mist and headed straight to Renice's residence.

Soon, he pushed open the door.

At this moment, Renice was sitting by the fireplace, adjusting the longbow in her hands.

Upon seeing Cao Xing, the archer quickly stood up and bowed respectfully.

"Lord, good evening."

Cao Xing did not speak but instead fixed his gaze on the back of her hand.

There was a cyan wound on it, looking as if it had been bitten by some creature.

Cao Xing frowned slightly and asked, "How did this happen?"

Renice said softly, "Last time in that forest, I encountered a venomous beast and sustained a small injury while fighting it."

"But it is almost healed now."

After saying this, she hid her injured hand behind her back, appearing embarrassed.

Cao Xing reached out directly, grabbed her palm, and pulled her into his embrace.

"You've worked hard, Renice," Cao Xing's caring voice sounded.

A mist of tears instantly appeared in the eyes of the woman in his arms.

A strong woman like her, usually taciturn, seemed as if nothing could bring her down.

But that was only for outsiders.

When alone with Cao Xing, she would let down all her defenses.

Hearing the Lord's concerned voice at this moment, she felt as if she had found a harbor to rely on, and waves of warmth surged in her heart.

"It—it was not hard work."

"Being able to serve the Lord is my honor—"

Upon hearing this, Cao Xing gently picked her up, sat on the edge of the bed, and they shared some tender moments.

Renice, in his arms, closed her eyes, enjoying this rare moment of solitude.

After a while, as if remembering something, she whispered, "Lord, shall I report to you the situation I investigated during this time?"

"Alright," Cao Xing nodded slightly.

Then, Renice began, "The place you asked me to investigate was quite far. I rode that griffin and traveled day and night for nearly three days, crossing over six thousand kilometers to reach the destination."

"It is a primeval forest rarely visited by people."

"The forest is very large; I estimate it is at least ten times the size of the Gale Snowfield."

Cao Xing was slightly surprised. According to Renice, the scale of this forest was quite immense.

You must know, the area of the Gale Snowfield, just the diameter of its widest region, exceeds five or six hundred kilometers.

And the area of this primeval forest is actually ten times that of the Gale Snowfield.

One can imagine that it must hide quite a lot of monsters or beasts, as well as some unknown opportunities.

Renice continued her narration.

"Then, I went deep into that forest."

"On the way, I encountered some beasts and monsters I had never seen before; the deeper I went, the stronger the monsters I encountered!"

"Among them, there were some that even I felt I was no match for."

"However, I did not engage in battle with these monsters, but instead bypassed them along the way, exploring towards the depths of the forest."

"After about two days of deepening my exploration."

"Then, I discovered the ancient tribe you spoke of!"

Speaking of this, Renice's tone carried a hint of excitement.

"Later, I spent a few days investigating there and found that, indeed, many Elf Clan members lived inside."

"They still maintain an ancient lifestyle, performing sacrifices and hunting every day."

"I roughly counted, and the number of the Elf Clan inside is estimated to be no less than five hundred."

Hearing this number, a look of surprise appeared in Cao Xing's eyes.

After all, this quantity can already be called the scale of a large tribe.

Moreover, in the Western Continent where they are located, the Elf Clan is very rare.

At least Cao Xing has only seen one pure-blooded Elf Clan member so far, and it was dead.

In other words, any random Elf Clan member could be sold for an astronomical price!

And there are so many elves in that tribe; if those slave traders knew about it, they would probably try every possible way to flatten the entire forest.

"I see, Renice. Regarding that tribe, I will send people to handle it after this monster siege ends. Now, use this soul and see if you can break through."

Renice gazed at the bright soul in Cao Xing's hand, a look of anticipation appearing in her beautiful eyes.

"Alright, I will try—"

After saying this, she stood up and patted the soul into her body.

A powerful soul fluctuation emerged.

However, less than half a minute later, the aura on her body stopped abruptly.

Seeing this scene, Cao Xing also realized something.

"Did it fail?"

However, this was also within his expectations.

After all, having succeeded with two souls and one Heart of Strength previously, it was already a huge profit!

And so far, this was also his first Commander-level soul breakthrough failure, which was not unacceptable.

But at this moment, Renice appeared dejected.

"Lord, I—"

Before Renice could finish her sentence, she suddenly felt her palm being grabbed, and she fell into the arms of the man in front of her again.

Before she could speak, she felt her lips being blocked.

After the initial surprise, Renice also reacted.

As Cao Xing's hands gradually unfastened her battle armor, the female archer's gaze gradually became hazy.

Before long, the atmosphere in the room gradually became heated.

After spending another hour comforting this female archer.

Cao Xing gently covered her with the quilt and then gradually climbed out of bed.

After coming out of Renice's room.

Checking the time, it was already six o'clock in the evening.

At this time, the sky was completely dark.

Cao Xing sighed, "Not bad. Now basically all the resources have been digested."

"Compared to a week ago, my territory's strength has improved by a large margin."

"This way, I am more confident in facing tomorrow's monster siege."

Just as he was thinking happily, Cao Xing felt something wrong again.

He looked around.

He noticed that the mist in the territory was getting heavier and heavier.

Even with his vision, he could not see scenes beyond one or two kilometers.

You must know, in good weather, he could now easily see the outline of an ant from ten thousand meters away.

But now, the visibility was compressed to about the same as an ordinary person; this situation was really quite strange.

"Is it only my territory like this, or has everyone encountered this thick fog?"

With a look of doubt, Cao Xing opened the chat channel.

At a glance, he saw many Survivors discussing this mist.

"Damn! What is this situation? How did such a big fog suddenly rise? Is it the same for you guys?"

"Same here. It's hellish; I can't even find where my Lords Manor is."

"This fog is too big. It's the first time I've encountered it since coming to this world."

"Brothers, have you noticed that even the mini-map provided by the system has been covered?"

Hearing this, everyone was shocked, and then they all checked it.

Sure enough, the mini-map that the Survivors could see with a thought was now covered by a layer of hazy mist.

It not only obscured all terrain but even the display of coordinate locations had disappeared.

This scene made Survivors all over the world feel extremely confused.

"Damn! This fog is definitely weird as hell. Without the mini-map, we're basically idiots who can't find their way."

"It's bad, brothers. I took my subjects out to hunt, and now not only can I not find the way back to the territory, but I don't even know where I am."

"Oh my god, I heard a strange sound in the fog, like a child's crying—Damn! I just saw a group of moving figures in the thick fog!"

"To the guy above, that's your own territory's subjects, damn it. Don't be so jumpy."

After scanning the chat channel, Cao Xing confirmed his conjecture.

It seems that it was not just his territory that experienced this thick fog, but that all Survivors worldwide encountered this situation.

However, fortunately, besides affecting visibility, this thick fog did not seem to have any strange aspects for now. Cao Xing thought, "Since it has no impact, I will ignore it."

Meanwhile.

Two figures walked over side by side.

"Lord, welcome back. May the Spirit of the Sacred Tree bless you."

The ones speaking were little Nive and her sister Juliette.

At this moment, the two women had elegant smiles on their faces, and their gazes towards Cao Xing were full of warmth.

Just like a pair of newlywed brides looking at their husband.

After all, not long ago, Cao Xing had just taken their first time, and the Tree Spirit Clan is a very traditional race.

So in their hearts, they had already regarded Cao Xing as their husband and family.

A smile also appeared on Cao Xing's face, "Is there anything recently?"

Juliette said softly, "The War Ancient Trees and Wind Ancient Trees that you asked us to plant last time have all finished growing."

"Currently, only the 'Tree of Knowledge' is still growing, which may take some time."

"Those newly grown ancient trees want to see you. I wonder if it is convenient for you now?"

Juliette looked at him carefully.

Cao Xing immediately said, "Of course I have time. Take me to see them now."

"Alright."

Upon hearing this, gentle smiles appeared on the faces of the two women again.

Then they walked over slowly, each holding one of Cao Xing's hands, leading him forward.

Soon, they arrived at the buffer zone of the territory.

Because the territory was also shrouded in this strange thick fog, the situation now looked as if they were walking in the mist.

And just at this moment, Cao Xing vaguely saw that a forest seemed to have appeared in the thick fog ahead.

Yes, it was a forest.

After getting closer, he finally saw the scene in front of him clearly.

Hundreds of ancient trees, over ten meters tall and with trunks exceeding one and a half meters in diameter, were growing side by side.

Among them, the most numerous were some ancient trees with dark brown bark and dense branches growing on top.

These were War Ancient Trees, totaling more than eighty.

And beside them, there were 12 magical ancient trees with light brown bark and leaves shaped like throwing darts.

These were Wind Ancient Trees.

At this moment, after seeing Cao Xing approach, human faces emerged one after another on the trunks of these ancient trees.

Standing at the very front were the three War Ancient Trees that had arrived at Cao Xing's territory the earliest and had already leveled up to 50.

One of the faces slowly opened its mouth, emitting a weathered voice.

"My kin, the master of this territory has arrived."

Hearing the voice, all the Ancient Trees opened their eyes one after another and simultaneously turned their gazes toward Cao Xing.

"Praise to the great Lord Cao Xing, thank you for allowing us to spread our branches and leaves once more in this fertile land."

"Praise to the Lord!"

A chorus of weathered voices rang out.

It was evident that Gunata had already prepared its kin, and they were showing great respect toward Cao Xing at this moment.

This saved him a lot of trouble.

Cao Xing nodded slightly, "Welcome, guardians from the ancient past. This territory will become safer and more vibrant because of your arrival."

The creatures of this world, whether they were these guardians or other recruited beings, loved hearing such pleasantries.

The Ancient Trees exchanged glances and then spoke in a similarly peaceful tone.

"We are also honored to become a part of this prosperous territory. The Ancient Tree clan will wholeheartedly protect the safety of your territory."

The next moment, a series of system notifications regarding an increase in loyalty appeared.

Basically, every Ancient Tree gained 2 to 5 points of loyalty. Although not much, it was quite good.

Then, Cao Xing scanned the attributes of these Ancient Trees.

He had already looked at the War Ancient Trees earlier; what he wanted to check now were the attributes of the other type of Ancient Tree.

[Wind Ancient Tree: Guman]

[Race: Ancient Tree]

[Level: 28 (Tier 3 Boss-level creature)]

[HP: 47852 / 47852 (Pale Tree Blessing)]

[Attack: 1478 ~ 1532]

[Armor: 285 ~ 317]

[Max Attack Range: 2000 meters]

[Skill: Falling Leaf Darts (Uses the leaves in its body to deal 113% slashing damage to up to 8 enemies; normal attack, no cooldown)]

Wind Recovery (Activates the wind power within its body, increasing its own attack speed by 30% and adding up to 4 more attack targets, duration 60 seconds, cooldown: 120 seconds)

Whirlwind (The Wind Ancient Tree summons a powerful whirlwind, dealing 188% magic damage to enemies in the target area and knocking them into the air, cooldown: 60 seconds)

[Talent: Vibrant Life]

[Talent 2: Recovery]

Just as the War Ancient Trees had said, the Wind Ancient Trees possessed excellent group attack capabilities; even their normal attacks could hit eight units simultaneously.

Moreover, their attack range reached an astonishing two kilometers!

The most critical point was that they could also root themselves and move; they could be considered a group of mobile artillery turrets.

"Not bad. Later, when I finish integrating the territory's forces, I'll apply the blessing to all these Ancient Trees."

"Plus the four Neros Cannon units I just obtained."

"Just relying on these defensive units in the territory, I can fend off large-scale enemy attacks."

Cao Xing thought happily, then said: "Ancient guardians, continue resting. Later, I will apply some blessing effects to you."

Hearing the latter part of the sentence, expressions of anticipation appeared on the faces of the Ancient Trees in the area.

Because of the example set by the three Ancient Trees led by Gunata, they all knew how powerful the blessings in this territory were.

They felt a strong desire in their hearts.

Just as Cao Xing was about to deal with the recruitment scrolls in his backpack, a calm voice reached his ears.

"Lord, this is Xiao."

Cao Xing paused his steps and replied: "Xiao, go ahead, what is it?"

The other side of the transmission was silent for a moment, then the voice sounded again.

"Lord, I am very sorry."

"When I was leading the swordsmen to search for the Ice Nest outside, we suddenly encountered a thick fog."

"This thick fog seems to have blocked our perception. We are now lost in the fog and can no longer find the direction to the territory."

His tone carried a hint of frustration and some anxiety.

Cao Xing's brows also furrowed slightly.

The current situation was a bit troublesome.

After all, under such thick fog, the mini-map function of these Survivors had failed; it was just a vast expanse of white, and they could only rely on their sense of direction to identify the path.

It was unknown how long this thick fog would last. If Xiao and his team lost their way in the fog, the consequences would be unimaginable. And right now, Cao Xing couldn't take anyone out to rescue them because even he himself wasn't confident in maintaining his orientation in such thick fog.

Cao Xing frowned and pondered for a moment.

At this moment, a flash of inspiration suddenly struck him, and another idea popped into his mind.

Cao Xing said: "Xiao, don't panic yet. Keep waiting where you are and don't move around; ensure every member is within your line of sight."

"Then wait for my news."

"Yes!" Xiao replied hurriedly.

Cao Xing quickly pressed the communication device on his ear.

"Isabelle, come here for a moment; I need your power."

"The Holy Light will heed your call—"

Isabelle's voice, like the sound of a flowing clear spring, rang out.

A moment later, a holy figure walked out of the Mage Tower and quickly came to his side.

Cao Xing briefly explained the situation.

"That's the situation. Xiao and his team have lost their way outside, and our territory's lighthouse doesn't have enough range to guide them."

"So, I need to take you into the air, and then you will cast a light-type spell to act as a beacon."

The Holy Light Priest nodded slightly, "I understand. Please take me up."

"Alright."

As he spoke, a pair of transparent Wind Wings appeared behind Cao Xing.

Then, he reached out directly, wrapped his arm around Isabelle's slender waist, and with a flap of his Wind Wings, flew into the air with her.

"Whoosh—" The speed of the Wind Wings was very fast; in an instant, they shot up to an altitude of several hundred meters, and continued to fly rapidly upward!

The thick fog was scattered by Cao Xing.

He maintained a vertical angle and kept flying toward the high altitude to prevent himself from losing his way when he descended later.

Likewise, as he flew higher and higher, the temperature at high altitude became lower and lower.

When they reached an altitude of about 10,000 meters, the temperature again reached an astonishing minus eighty degrees or so!

Fortunately, Cao Xing and Isabelle were both level 70 Archmages with amazing physiques.

Coupled with the constant heat from the Cloud Yak Coat, they could endure for a while at this altitude.

"Isabelle, you may begin," Cao Xing said.

"Alright."

The Holy Light Priest in his arms gradually took out her staff and held it high above her head.

In an instant, the intense Holy Light, like a sun that had suddenly appeared in the fog, dispersed the fog for hundreds of meters around them. Shining upon their bodies, it gave people a hint of warmth and also dispelled the cold of the high altitude.

Cao Xing looked around, then pressed the communication device and asked: "Xiao, look toward the overhead area now. Can you see any part of the sky emitting a light source?"

"I'll try, Lord."

After waiting for a few seconds, Xiao replied: "Sorry, Lord, the fog is really too thick. I cannot see where any light is appearing."

Cao Xing frowned slightly and thought to himself: "Can't he even see this?"

One had to know that the light source now being emitted by Isabelle far exceeded those high-level lighthouses.

It seemed that this thick fog was truly thicker than imaginable.

He turned his head to look at the Holy Light Priest in his arms.

"Isabelle, is there any way to make the Holy Light you release even brighter?"

Isabelle thought for a moment, then whispered: "I will borrow the power of the Holy Scripture to try again."

As she spoke, she turned her back directly to Cao Xing and entrusted the full weight of her body to him.

Then she freed her other hand, and a Holy Scripture emitting an aura of light appeared.

"Rustle, rustle—"

The Holy Scripture began to flip pages continuously, emitting a strong aura of light from within, which also made the light emitted by the staff in her hand increasingly intense.

"Hum, hum—"

With the continuous injection of the aura of light, the circle of light expanded from the original one hundred meters directly to one thousand meters!

At the same time, Xiao's pleasantly surprised voice came through his ear.

"I see it, Lord!"

"I see a ball of light appearing overhead. Although it is very blurry, I can more or less identify the direction."

A smile also appeared on Cao Xing's face, "Very good. Now, follow the direction of this light and bring the men back."

"By the way, don't rush on the way back. You must ensure everyone returns safely. It would be troublesome if you get lost in the fog again."

"Understood!"

Having said that, Xiao began to take action on his side.

Leading his Star Country Swordsman Legion and the Silver Hand Knights Legion, he advanced at a steady pace toward the direction where the light ball was emitting.

Their speed was very slow, and from time to time, they had to confirm the positions of other members.

However, fortunately, Xiao had not traveled too far from the territory today.

About ten minutes later, a voice came through his ear again.

"Lord, we have all returned to the vicinity of the territory, not one is missing."

Hearing this, Cao Xing also breathed a slight sigh of relief.

However, he did not immediately take Isabelle down; instead, he decided to take this opportunity to carefully observe this type of fog.

He wanted to know what exactly this fog was.

However, after observing for a few minutes, apart from the light emitted by Isabelle, everything around was a vast expanse of white, and he could see nothing.

Moreover, it had been less than half an hour since he flew into the high altitude, and this fog seemed to have become even denser.

"Strange—this only seems to be a precursor. Will this thick fog continue to intensify?"

At the same time, Cao Xing's gaze suddenly noticed a strange movement in the fog in the distance.

It was as if a group of creatures were projecting themselves in the fog, gathering together to a height of up to a thousand meters; it looked very terrifying!

It also looked like a group of flowing shadows without a fixed shape.

This group of creatures seemed to be wandering in the thick fog, stirring the surrounding mist.

And, they seemed to be constantly approaching the direction of the territory.