Chapter One: Lost in the Valley of the Dark Moon

Faced with Avrilia's sudden and unexpected proposal, Li Bin hesitated for a moment.

Noticing his inner thoughts, Avrilia casually remarked, "You must have fallen from the sky a few days ago, just passing through here originally, but you were drafted by Sander's trusted lieutenant, Cardis..."

As Avrilia recounted Li Bin's movements over the past few days one by one, his expression grew increasingly grim. When she mentioned that his ultimate destination was the teleportation array in Darkmoon Valley, he abruptly stood up.

"Don't be so nervous. It's not that your subordinates made a mistake; it's just that besides those troops, I brought along a small squad of these," Avrilia explained as she reached behind her and pulled out a creature with a huge eye and a pair of tiny wings.

The Eye of the Void? Li Bin instantly understood everything. It seemed that the entire reaction of Ghostrock City was within Avrilia's grasp. Had it not been for Li Bin's sudden appearance causing chaos in the region, Avrilia might still be playing a mock battle game with Sander.

"What do you want?" Li Bin asked, all the while calculating how best to handle the situation in his mind.

"Help me keep them fighting. I want Ghostrock City to remain in a constant state of turmoil," Avrilia said seriously.

"Why?" Li Bin asked, puzzled. In his view, if the enemy nation beside him descended into such chaos, he would immediately mobilize his forces to conquer every city, not sit back and watch the disorder grow.

"You don't need to worry about that. If you agree to my request, I'll let my subordinates grant you passage into Darkmoon Valley."

"That's not a problem," Li Bin replied without hesitation. "As long as you make Lu Yi, the King who stayed in Winter City, feel threatened and abandon the city to flee, while keeping Sander too busy to attend to Ghostrock City, that'll do."

"You mean to force Lu Yi to attack Ghostrock City himself?" Avrilia, sharp as ever, immediately grasped Li Bin's plan.

"Exactly. You want the whole Ghostrock City region in constant chaos, which means perpetual battle. What could incite more fury than making someone who already obtained what he wanted go after it again? Or what could stir stronger desire than showing him something even better? Add those players he tricked into risking their lives, and the master desperate to hold onto everything, and countless conflicts can be sparked between them," Li Bin explained offhandedly.

The more Avrilia listened, the more it seemed that the mummy's head, wrapped in bandages, sprouted a pair of demonic horns atop Li Bin.

In the end, Avrilia agreed to Li Bin's plan, but she no longer dared to ask him to take part in it.

To hasten Li Bin's departure, Avrilia even drew from her private funds and gifted him a level-2 Infernal City Heart, personally escorting him to Darkmoon Valley.

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Through their conversations along the way, Li Bin learned a few things about the Sea of Inferno from Avrilia. According to her, the Sea of Inferno was merely a gathering point established by a player on this continent. The entire nation, from the highest lord to the lowest soldier, was a hero under that player's command.

Indeed, all were heroes, including the small squads of Succubi and Pain Witches Avrilia brought; each was a combat hero.

The idea to keep Ghostrock City in perpetual chaos was not Avrilia's own, but her master's. Her master required endless turmoil to strengthen his power. Yet, as a combat hero, Avrilia did not know how to sow chaos—her only method was to lead her troops in constant attacks on the enemy.

Now, thanks to Li Bin's suggestion, Avrilia finally had a complete plan. Though it differed greatly from her master's usual schemes, it was sufficient to incite even greater unrest.

Thus, after escorting Li Bin to Darkmoon Valley, Avrilia immediately put her plan into action. She was unaware, however, that upon entering Darkmoon Valley, Li Bin could not find the path to the teleportation array. The road ahead grew increasingly convoluted, revealing only one fact: Li Bin was lost.

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Li Bin wandered around Darkmoon Valley several times, unable to find a way out. All around him stretched endless mist, with occasional ghost lights flickering in the haze, making Li Bin wonder if he had been ensnared by some necromancer player and lured into a trap.

Fortunately, the situation did not last long. Soon the dense fog dissipated, and Li Bin found himself facing a city that had fallen into ruin, which had appeared out of nowhere.

Judging by the materials and methods used in its construction, this was likely an elven city. The battered city walls were formed from towering trees that grew straight from the earth, with countless thorny brambles covering the arboreal barricades. Most of the deserted buildings inside were tree houses grown directly from the trees themselves, and a few crows darted among the tall trunks.

As he walked further, Li Bin saw that amidst the tangled weeds, the city hall—originally fashioned from golden-hued trees—had collapsed, and the place where the City Heart should have been installed was now an enormous pit.

Many other structures bore scars from weapon attacks, yet searching throughout the city, Li Bin found no corpses, nor any trace of past inhabitants.

At times, Li Bin even wondered if anyone had ever lived here at all, though such thoughts were clearly mistaken. In the far west of the city, Li Bin discovered an underground temple.

He could not tell which deity the temple belonged to, as there were no battle flags or symbols to identify its master. At most, he could deduce from the moon-patterned ornaments decorating its exterior that it was a shrine to one of the elven moon gods.

Everything changed once Li Bin stepped into this seemingly decrepit temple. As soon as he entered, he learned the identity of the temple's master from two sources.

One was a system prompt, and the other was spoken by a bizarre, terrifying knight who suddenly appeared before him.

This knight, astride a winged skeletal tiger, carried a black flying tiger banner, a silver longbow slung across his back, a three-meter-long heavy spear at his side, and wore black chainmail. He was a middle-aged man with a head of jet-black hair, glaring at Li Bin with indignation.

Behind him, two squads of death pegasus riders with pale faces raised their long blades, seeming ready to charge and fight Li Bin at the knight's command.

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