In the city of Elro, Carina faced the Dark Dragon King. She was aware that the terrifying being in front of her was one of the infamous trio of leaders from the Darkness City, more precisely, the foremost among the Three Titans of Darkness.
Carina never encountered such a formidable being before. The oppressive aura emanating from him induced an unprecedented level of fear and trembling in her, a display of absolute dominance from a superior being over an inferior one. It wasn't just the Dark Dragon King himself; even the rows of draconians standing by his side were formidable. These abyssal draconians, all transformed from abyssal true dragons, included over a dozen Level 6 dragon elders among their ranks, with a total of over a hundred abyssal dragons present. Among them, let alone the dragon elders, Carina lacked the capability to confront even the weakest of them, despite being the most outstanding warrior knight in the Elro family for generations.
Was this the foundation of a Demon King's power? Terrifying, truly terrifying!
The Dark Dragon King, Long Yi, regarded Carina with an indifferent gaze and commanded, "Follow me."
Carina was well aware of the Dark Dragon King's grim and brutal nature. After conquering the Kregi region, he had slaughtered nearly two thousand members of the Kregi family's core lineage. Now it was the Elro family's turn. Carina didn't know if her fate would be similar to that of the young Lord Kregi. She could only follow the Dark Dragon King into the castle with a heart full of apprehension. This castle belonged to the Marquis of Elro. Since the Dark Dragon King had taken over the main city, all the nobles of Elro Castle had been placed under house arrest. Now, the control of the castle was in the hands of the dragons present.
However, when they reached the castle's small garden, Carina was stunned. Before her stood a white tower, seemingly crafted from an unknown type of crystal, enveloping it in a halo and radiating profound energy fluctuations. What's this? As the heir to the Marquis of Elro, Carina was very familiar with this castle and did not recall such a structure ever being part of it.
Yet, before she could recover from her surprise, something even more astonishing occurred. Beneath this mysterious magical tower stood four figures. Two were distinctive draconians, one was a petite Elven King holding a scepter, and the other was a mysterious person shrouded in a cloak.
"This..." Carina could clearly sense that both the elf and the two draconians exuded an aura that was not only on par with the Dark Dragon King's but even slightly stronger.
Carina found it unbelievable. How could this be possible? The Dark Dragon King was one of the three titans of Darkness City, a true Demon King. The elf could be the mysterious Elven King from Tien City who defeated the Mage King, Halyfax. It might be acceptable for her power to be comparable or slightly superior to the Dark Dragon King. But the issue was, why did the other two draconians also possess an aura that surpassed the Dark Dragon King's? As for the mysterious person shrouded in the cloak, not a trace of aura was revealed, making it impossible to gauge his strength. However, his standing position and posture seemed to indicate that he was the highest-ranking among the four.
"Your Majesty!" The Dark Dragon King knelt on one knee, bowing respectfully.
The Great Demon King nodded slightly, "No need for such formalities, rise."
The Dark Dragon King immediately stood up and said to Carina, "This is the true ruler of Darkness City and the Chaos Forest. Pay your respects upon meeting His Majesty!"
Carina was utterly shocked! If she wasn't mistaken, these three draconians and the elf were all at least Level 6 monarchs. In other words, these four formidable beings were as powerful as the four Guardian Dukes of the empire. Such incredibly powerful individuals, no matter where they went in the world, could be major figures ruling over their own domains. Even the four Grand Dukes could dispense with formalities in the presence of the emperor of the empire. Yet, these four beings acknowledged this mysterious person in the hooded cloak as their master. Just how profound was the power of this cloaked individual!
After regaining her composure, Carina hurriedly paid her respects: "Greetings... Your Majesty!"
Zhang Nu calmly said, "You are Carina, the eldest daughter of the Marquis, who also led the submission of the Elro region? You've done well. Because of your wise actions, you've reduced much of the damage and casualties in Elro and saved my subordinates some effort."
"However, according to the usual practice of Darkness City, we do not allow the old nobility to retain their influence over their territories, so all direct family members must be eliminated."
Hearing this, Carina was greatly alarmed and quickly knelt to plead: "I beg Your Majesty for mercy. The Elro family has already been abandoned by the empire. The house of Elro is willing to serve Darkness City."
Zhang Nu said, "I can spare the entire Elro family and even allow you to succeed your father as the administrator of the Elro region, but there is one condition."
Without hesitation, Carina responded, "As long as it can spare my parents, siblings, and house from annihilation, I, Carina, am willing to accept any condition."
"Very well," Zhang Nu instructed the Dark Dragon King, "Take her away."
The price Zhang Nu demanded Carina to pay was straightforward. She would be confined in the Spirit Prison for a few days for reformation, after which she would be influenced by the Spirit Prison and could never betray Dark City again.
Carina's strength was at Level 5 overlord, which was precisely the maximum limit for reform by the Spirit Prison. Once the psychic imprint was formed, it would essentially never disappear, and even if Carina's strength surpassed Level 5 in the future, the psychic imprint would still take effect.
After Long Yi took Carina away, Zhang Nu glanced at his newly constructed teleportation tower. The presence of this teleportation tower made future travels to the Elro region much more convenient.Zhang Nu still had three more teleportation tower blueprints in his possession. He planned to place one more in the human territories and the remaining two in the Chaos Sea to strengthen the control of the Chaos Federation over these areas. The rift dungeon in Darkness City could continuously produce teleportation tower blueprints. By sending his top subordinates to repeatedly clear it, Zhang Nu could deploy many more teleportation towers in the future, significantly enhancing Darkness City's governance.
"Your Majesty," the dragon elders began as they presented heaps of gold and gem-filled chests. "These are the recent gains in gold and gems."
Zhang Nu didn't plunder the wealth of Elro City; the wealth he took was from nobles or cities that attempted to resist. Converted, the gold amounted to nearly a hundred million gold, and there were also tens of thousands of gems. This constituted a significant income. Indeed, a city like Elro had much more wealth, and Zhang Nu had the capability to make a quick fortune.
However, since there was no immediate need for money, Zhang Nu chose not to do so. Keeping wealth among the populace could ensure the vitality of the local economy. There were many ways to harvest wealth, such as through trade or facilities like the job advancement towers. Resorting to brute force to extract wealth was too crude and akin to draining the pond to catch the fish.
The Elro region was rich in agricultural, pastoral, fishing, hunting, and mineral resources. Zhang Nu planned to send a group of Nature Priests from the Giantree City and also build some spirit farms and breeding ranches to significantly increase local production.
After staying for a few hours and assigning tasks to his subordinates, Zhang Nu left Elro City with Nancilia, Zhang San, and Li Si.
The four arrived at the border of Elro, where there was a region known as the "Ashen Mountain Range." As the name suggests, it was a barren and desolate mountain area in the southern territories of the empire, spanning hundreds to thousands of miles, all barren and ashen, seemingly lifeless and without any value for development.
However, according to the records of the great adventurer, the Undying Phoenix - Hubert, it was in this place that he discovered a mysterious ruin. The abilities of self resurrection that Hubert possessed, along with the epic equipment Heart of Space, were all adventurous gains obtained from this ruin.
"We found it!" Zhang Nu instantly identified the entrance to the ruins amidst the desolate mountains. Nancilia, following the direction of the Demon King's gaze, saw a seemingly ordinary valley basin, its terrain and size somewhat reminiscent of the Darkness Valley.
From above, the valley was shrouded in a perpetual mist. At first glance, it seemed unremarkable, but Nancilia, with her keen senses, immediately noticed something unusual when she carefully perceived it. "Your Majesty, there are abnormal spatial disturbances here. It seems like a sub-dimensional space is overlaid within this valley!"
Nancilia couldn't help but admire the insight. The Demon King was indeed exceptional; such a hidden anomaly was instantly noticed by him. Without his prompt, even with her perceptive abilities, she would have never detected the anomaly here.
Zhang San suggested, "My master, there's no need for you to take action. Let us go down and explore."
Li Si added, "It's not that simple. We must find the entrance to the sub-dimensional space. A direct descent into the valley won't lead us into the sub-dimensional space but only into the regular valley."
The ruin couldn't possibly be in the normal space; otherwise, the valley would have been discovered long ago. The ruin must be established in a subspace. However, without finding a way to enter this subspace, they could only waste time in the valley. But such a challenge wouldn't stump the Demon King. The moment Zhang Nu surveyed the area, he grasped all its details, including the pathway and entrance to the ruin.
Upon reviewing the information about the ruins, Zhang Nu understood the situation.
[Ancient Elven Breeding Ranch] Level 6 monarch area.
Description: A breeding ground from the era of the Elven Empire, where elves used a massive magical formation to gather all the spiritual energy of the mountain range to cultivate powerful crops and divine beasts. However, with the fall of the Elven Empire, this ancient breeding ranch was forgotten.
This place was specifically used by the ancient Elven Empire for beast breeding and crop cultivation. It was not surprising for elves, who were adept at farming and breeding, to have various farms and ranches, but this place was clearly different from ordinary agricultural and pastoral lands. Constructing a magical formation that covered an entire mountain range was not an easy task. It would be time-consuming, labor-intensive, and very costly, not to mention the creation of a sub-dimensional space. This indicated that the place held significant value. Its classification as a Level 6 monarch area also implied substantial rewards and value, sparking immense interest in Zhang Nu.
"Follow me," Zhang Nu commanded, taking the lead to find the entrance to the ruins."