“Do not go out at night if possible,” Han Yuning cautioned Chen Xing. “It’s easy to get into trouble when you’re alone outside at night, and this is not Great Xia.”

“Thank you for the reminder, Instructor,” Chen Xing nodded, indicating his understanding.

“Here, take this money. Spirit Gold is a high-end currency in many cities. For common purchases, you don’t use Spirit Gold; transactions are made with Spirit Iron,” Han Yuning said, handing Chen Xing a small yellow pouch.

Chen Xing accepted it, and inside, there was a jingling sound.

It was as if there were many metal objects.

Upon opening the pouch, Chen Xing saw some white iron flakes inside.

He took out one piece, which was about the size of a one-cent coin, grayish-white, but thinner.

“Ten pieces of Spirit Iron can roughly buy a meal in the city,” Han Yuning explained.

Chen Xing thoughtfully absorbed this information, feeling he had a rough understanding of the purchasing power of Spirit Iron.

He glanced briefly into the pouch and saw at least a thousand pieces of Spirit Iron, unsure of what they were made from.

After securing the pouch, he returned to his room next door.

Chen Xing used body-shape correction to shrink the Beast Taming and summoned it, fed high-grade carnivorous pet food to his two Beast Tamings, then recalled Taotie to the Beast Taming Space and left Sìxiàng outside to stand guard for the night.

The night was quiet and still.

Small rain began to fall outside the window.

The next day, the ground outside was wet, and there were many puddles from the rain.

Overnight, Sìxiàng’s Energy Level increased by 1.5.

After feeding Sìxiàng and Taotie high-grade carnivorous pet food in his room, Chen Xing went out for breakfast,

The rain last night cooled down what had been a hot, oppressive climate.

Upon stepping out of the hotel, Chen Xing saw a steamed bun shop next door.

Chen Xing had heard before

that with Great Xia integrating into the Exotic Regions over the years, some of its food and customs had spread,

and as Fentian Domain neighbored Great Xia, it was most impacted by the food culture.

Approaching the bun shop, Chen Xing saw a menu etched on a hanging wooden board.

Darn it!

Chen Xing realized he could not recognize all the characters on it!

Despite having crammed the language of the Exotic Regions before entering the Inheritance Tower in high school, and occasionally studying it when he had time during class,

he couldn’t claim to know every obscure character, but he could recognize most of the simple text.

On the menu, Chen Xing saw XXX camel meat buns, XX red ant XX, X lamb meat XX…

Chen Xing stood with his hands behind his back, his gaze deep and thoughtful.

Finally, relying on his cleverness, he decisively chose four types of food.

The shop owner gave Chen Xing a peculiar look, then announced the price.

“Fifteen pieces of Spirit Iron.”

Chen Xing left the bun shop, carrying a bowl that looked like lamb Tang, a red porridge floating with red fruits, a bag of some kind of milk, and a bun the size of a bowl’s mouth…

Fortunately not all four portions were Tang or porridge.

Back in his room, the camel meat bun tasted a bit odd, somewhat like beef but with a coarser texture. However, after being steamed for a long time and soaked with rich meat juices, the bun was surprisingly delicious.

Chen Xing sampled each of the three different types of Tang and porridge separately.

He originally thought they might be Dark Realm cuisine, but after trying them, he could only say they had their unique regional flavors.

The lamb Tang had some sour black berries in it, and the porridge had a somewhat spicy taste; Chen Xing did not like either of these much. However, the milk tasted quite fresh and sweet.

Based on his own preferences, Chen Xing bought another bag of milk and another camel meat bun downstairs.

He knocked on the Instructor’s door.

The door opened, and a small white snake floating in the air turned into a beam of white light and entered the wrist of the Instructor who was brushing her hair in front of the mirror.

“Sister Ning, I brought you breakfast. This bun tastes pretty good,” Chen Xing said, raising his hands.

“Just put it on the table,” Han Yuning said as she picked up a hairband and tied her hair into a low ponytail.

After breakfast, the two of them set off again in the morning.

According to the map Han Yuning took out,

the Teleportation Array could transport them a great distance each time, but the Exotic Regions were even larger.

Sometimes, with good luck, they could transfer two to three times in a single day.

If unlucky and the city they were in was small with fewer travelers, they sometimes had to wait several days within the city to continue their journey via the Teleportation Array.

Along the way, Chen Xing had seen the landscapes of many Giant Cities and met many types of native inhabitants of the Exotic Regions.

Some had black hair and eyes but were born with six fingers. Some had large skeletons and grayish skin. Others had green hair and eyes.

People from different regions had their own distinct characteristics.

It’s not that all people from the Exotic Regions looked exactly alike; their racial appearance varied slightly depending on the region.

But overall, they were undoubtedly all humans.

Of course, in the eyes of the locals, Chen Xing and Han Yuning were the ones from an outlying region…

Relative calm prevailed inside the city walls, and so far, Chen Xing had not witnessed much chaos.

That makes sense, as the cities and Giant Cities built atop the wilderness were where humans dwelled at night, and they were the safest places to be.

The wilderness outside may be unruly, but if the cities themselves became chaotic, the situation would likely become quite serious.

Ten days after setting off, when Chen Xing stepped out of the Teleportation Array once again,

he was greeted with a slight haze in the air…

The sky was gloomy, and passersby hurried along.

Many people wore thick cloaks and masks.

Within the low city walls, neat little houses were arranged closely together; the gray-white buildings looked like low-lying tombstones from a distance.

“We’ve arrived at the Shadow Domain,” Han Yuning said with sparkling eyes, while Chen Xing beside her had tiredness filling her eyes.

“Follow me.” They followed the crowd out of the Teleportation Array square and purchased two cloaks and masks from a nearby shop.

After donning hers, Chen Xing seemed to “blend in” with the pedestrians on the street.

Exiting the shop, Han Yuning said in a low voice, “This is Death Tomb City. From here, we can directly take the Teleportation Array to Shadow Giant City. There’s one trip at eight in the morning and another at ten in the evening. We’ll head to the Shadow Giant City later tonight.”

Chen Xing looked thoughtfully at her mentor.

It seemed like her mentor was very familiar with this place.

She had heard from her mentor before that after graduation, she had formed an exploration team.

Perhaps that’s when she had come here.

Han Yuning glanced at Chen Xing and said, “The air in the Shadow Domain is always filled with a mist of dark energy. The environment here is very suitable for dark attribute undead to survive. For people, this mist isn’t harmful, but long-term exposure is not good for the skin.

The cloaks and masks are made from a special plant native here and are very effective at blocking the mist.”

“Sister Ning is indeed knowledgeable,” Chen Xing complimented at the right moment.

Han Yuning’s lips curved slightly as she spoke while walking, “Many say that the locals in the Shadow Domain are very cold, but that’s not true. It’s just that dark energy here is rich, and there are many undead creatures.

Coupled with special customs, they have grown accustomed to death from a young age, so they have a lighter view of life and death, believing that after death, they return to the realm of the deceased.”

Chen Xing nodded thoughtfully.

After eating a portion of grilled meat for dinner and resting, the two stepped onto the Teleportation Array.

Once they emerged from the Teleportation Array, Chen Xing felt the dark energy in the surrounding air had surged to more than triple its concentration!

The air in front of him was filled with a lingering grey mist!

The entire city seemed to be shrouded in an endless grey mist, even the sky above was just a patch of grey.

Through the faint grey dust, a gigantic white bone spire towered into the clouds at the city center miles away.

There were also giant white bats circling above the spire.

Along the broad avenue from the Teleportation Array, the buildings on both sides of the road were all styled in an array of black, white, and grey akin to Gothic architecture.

Under the curved street lamps, monsters that resembled pumpkins hung, emitting an orange-red light.

“Where to?” Han Yuning looked at Chen Xing, who had asked her to accompany him to the Shadow Giant City.

Now, they had arrived at the Shadow Giant City.

“23 Mingluo Street,” Chen Xing recalled the location recorded in the books.

“It seems I’ve heard of this place before…” Han Yuning said as she began to lead Chen Xing through the city.

On their way, Chen Xing noticed that many of the beasts summoned by people around them had dark or undead attributes.

Eventually, they stopped in front of a huge building resembling a stadium but looking like a graveyard.

From a distance, it appeared as a row of giant ribs stretching from the dome toward either side.

The building emitted a cold green light resembling that of the underworld.

From time to time, figures in cloaks could be seen coming in and out of the building.

Chen Xing was taken aback; didn’t the book mention a dilapidated manor?

Where had the manor gone, and how would he sneak in?

“So, this is the passage to the Dark Realm,” Han Yuning remarked, having seen this place before but never having entered.

Chen Xing had a lot to comment on at this moment but didn’t know where to start.

“Isn’t it said that few know about the Dark Realm?” Chen Xing felt baffled.

Han Yuning nodded in agreement, “Previously, few people knew about it, but then someone published a book titled ‘Secrets of the Exotic Region,’ and that’s how this passage was exposed.

This place used to be much smaller, an abandoned manor,

But later on, as more people entered, the Shadow Giant City expanded it, and they also increased the entrance fee to the Dark Realm by tenfold.”

Chen Xing fell silent; it turned out he wasn’t the only one who had read that book…

Seeing Chen Xing’s expression, Han Yuning couldn’t help but find it amusing. “It’s not like it’s a rare book. If you could find it, so could others.”

As she said this, Han Yuning felt somewhat guilty; after Chen Xing had asked her that day, she had also secretly checked the library for information.

“Are you here to capture monsters, or do you need some materials from these monsters? There are shops in the Shadow Giant City that specialize in selling body parts of those monsters,” Han Yuning said.

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Chen Xing calculated the energy level of the Four Phases; during the ten-day journey, he constantly fed the Four Phases with premium carnivorous pet food, not just three meals a day; whenever he had the chance, he would let the Four Phases eat, even more than Taotie would.

Although this wasn’t the most cost-effective approach and was somewhat wasteful,

It indeed made the Four Phases’ energy level soar.

When they left, it was only at energy level 85, but now it had reached 99.

The premium carnivorous pet food in his storage ring was nearly depleted.

Almost all of a freshly transcended monster’s flesh had been consumed.

“Mentor, let’s enter tomorrow,” Chen Xing suggested.

The Four Phases’ energy level hadn’t peaked yet, but after tonight, it would become his first beast with a full energy level of a hundred!

“Can you tell me the reason for coming here now?” Han Yuning looked at Chen Xing.

Chen Xing said, “Sister Ning, you should know about the origin of the Four Phases.”

Upon hearing this, Han Yuning appeared pensive.

She had arranged for him after he acquired the Four Phases.

She knew its origin, which was related to the divine object nurture nest.

“Since the Four Phases is one-of-a-kind, I have to find a way for it to evolve. I’ve been poring over ancient texts for the past few months and have come up with a potential path suitable for it. The endpoint is in the Dark Realm, where I need to complete the Four Phases’ evolution,” Chen Xing said earnestly to his mentor.

Han Yuning frowned; an evolution in the Dark Realm? Could that be dangerous?

She had heard that some evolution rituals required choosing special places.

But in the Dark Realm… it was the first time she heard of such a thing.

“I understand. I’ll accompany you in tomorrow, and then protect you,” Han Yuning offered.

The Dark Realm is unlike the outside world.

Not to mention the dangerous creatures inside; even other Beast Tamers could pose more of a threat.

Therefore, Han Yuning decided to go in and offer protection, but… before entering the Dark Realm, they would need to find one more person.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep