The vast Limestone Mountain Range was located in the western region of the Primordial Continent. To its south was the Crimson Bone Gorge, the north the Windrain Gorge, and the west the Vanis.h.i.+ng Dragon Territory; overall, it was a place that sat at the intersection between the Beast Race, Ferocious Race, and Human Race’s territories.
The Limestone Mountain Range wasn’t originally a mountain but rather a s.p.a.cious, empty plain. However, during the Arcana Kingdom’s reign, the Arcana Kingdom and the Beast Race had fought here countless times. Both sides had used all kinds of different tactics, including myriad terraforming Ancient Arcana Techniques, which blotted out the sun and moon while transforming mountains and rivers, turning mountains into plains, plains into ravines, and wastelands into mountain ranges.
The Limestone Mountain Range had been no exception. It was formed across two separate conflicts, and there were still traces of the conflicts from before that still scarred its landscape.
Its foremost example was the Danger Crater.
The Danger Crater was left behind by the various techniques of the Arcana Kingdom’s Arcana Masters when they had fought Desolate Beasts. The ma.s.sive amount of power unleashed here had caused all kinds of deep scars to be left behind in the terrain. Many of them still contained remnant caches of concentrated poison, energy fluctuations, or fatal doses of radiation. There were also a few places where departed souls hadn’t dissipated yet, and they remained floating about within that area, looking for food to absorb and clueless people who stayed there to convert.
These craters all became very dangerous traps scattered amongst the Limestone Mountain Range. Even Spirit Burning or Thought Manifestation Realm cultivators wouldn’t lightly choose to brave these craters.
In addition, the place was filled with void ruptures.
The ma.s.sive conflicts here had caused s.p.a.ce to split here, creating countless void ruptures everywhere. It was impossible to spot these with the naked eye, which naturally made them incredibly dangerous. Because s.p.a.ce had been directly torn asunder here, there was also no defense that could withstand these ruptures. The only thing a lifeform could do if they were caught by a void rupture was to hope that their powerful life force could keep them alive.
Unfortunately, regenerating limbs was only possible at the Light Shaking Realm or above; it was just like flight, unless you had a secret technique it was impossible. This factor made it impossible for any large battalion to pa.s.s through this region.
Even so, the most frightening aspect of those areas still wasn’t the craters or void ruptures.
Even though these environmental traps were powerful, there was a somewhat regular pattern to their behavior. There were techniques to avoid these hazards and gaps in the ruptures to sneak past.
Some existences, on the other hand, were hard to ascribe to any sort of set behavior.
For instance, the Beast Race.
The Demonic Beasts were really pampered by this kind of environment. Even in such a period of time, where Origin Energy levels had begun to recede, they still had an astounding compatibility with the environment around them.
Humans and the Ferocious Race had no way of surviving in the Limestone Mountain Range, but Demonic Beasts could — at the very least, a small group of them did.
A few of the stronger ones, or ones with unique abilities, were able to survive in this place that was fraught with danger like fish in water. Some even preferred to live in these kinds of environments, as it helped them grow up and become stronger at the same place. Demonic Beasts were all over the place, including below the ground and above in the sky, and they would flock together almost immediately to form large hordes.
Demonic Beasts could also gain some intelligence, unlike Vicious Beasts. Their intelligence might not be comparable to that of the Intelligent Races, but they still knew to avoid the strong and attack the weak. They would all charge in together if they believed they could win, or they would set up ambushes in the surrounding regions if they couldn’t face their enemies head-on.
It was for this reason that this region was widely considered a no man’s land.
The only path through the mountain range was near the southwest corner. From there, you would need to walk through the Moon-Embracing Peak, enter the Blank Line Gorge, climb around the No Return Pa.s.s, and finally traverse the Heart-Stopping Forest. Only once you pa.s.sed through all of these treacherous areas would you be close to the human border.
This path had its own name of the Heavenly River Ancient Road.
The sky above the Limestone Mountain Range was also grey.
This was caused by the radiation emitted by the Danger Crater.
Danba stared up at the sky as he picked up a handful of mud. The mud quickly crumbled in his hands and fell to the ground, floating away with the wind.
Danba opened his palm and glanced at the corroded flesh in his hand.
“Leader, be careful. The poison in the Danger Crater is extremely powerful. Even though we’re only in the outer regions of the crater, we cannot be too careless,” said a young Ferocious Race warrior. His name was Laxi, and he was one of the youths who had also attended the Goldwater Ruins Expedition. And now, today, he was one of Danba’s personal guards.
“That’s right. The Danger Crater is extremely poisonous. If those humans dare come here, they will die for sure. I think that they’re more likely to go through the w.a.n.kui Caves,” said another older, white-haired Ferocious Race soldier. His name was Kubrick, Danba’s number one vice commander. Before Danba’s rise to power, he was also the Gravel Lizard Tribe’s best strategic general.
However, in a place like the Ferocious Race’s territory, intelligence was never viewed that highly. In the words of the Ferocious Race, what was the point in having a strong cultivation if thinking about problems could solve them?
However, the most important thing was that this strategic general was not as actually as smart as he thought he was — this was just when he was compared to the Ferocious Race in general.
Amongst the human race, such a “strategic general” was a dime a dozen.
This kind of strategic general obviously wouldn’t be of much use in a battle against humans, so his status wasn’t very high either. However, Danba had still raised him up along with him. There was nothing he could do — he was forced to choose a mediocre person from a mediocre bunch. Even if Kubrick’s intelligence couldn’t compare with a human’s, he at least had a relatively normal intelligence and could understand the meaning behind Danba’s words.
“I hope that that’s the case. It’d be great if those d.a.m.ned humans fight it out with those spirits. That way we won’t have to spend so much energy in chasing them down,” another Ferocious Race youth said.
His name was Bayan. He was the current leader’s son and one of the vice commanders that Danba had defeated to take command.
If possible, Danba wouldn’t have wanted him at all.
Unfortunately, he had no choice. He wasn’t the leader of the tribe yet, and so to obtain the tribe’s support, he had to show respect for the current leader of the tribe.
Treating the leader’s son, who was formerly his opponent, as a friend was an extremely effective way of demonstrating his respect.
Even if this guy was an idiot and totally useless.
“Idiot! If they escape towards this direction, our entire plan might be exposed!” one of the Ferocious Race soldiers said disdainfully. His name was Shaluo, and he had a treacherous and murderous personality. Even amongst the Ferocious Race, he was quite a rare existence.
He was guilty of murdering his own master.
A person who had murdered his own master and betrayed his tribe.
If it weren’t for Danba, a person like him would have never received a second chance.
Before, some Ferocious Race individuals had asked Danba why he would use someone who had murdered his own master. To them, Danba had replied, “Any rebellious force needs a person with a rebellious mindset to lead them.”
The meaning behind this sentence was too complicated for most Ferocious Race members to grasp, so they didn’t understand what he was trying to say.
“No matter where they run, we will find them and tear them apart,” another Ferocious Race individual said.
This Ferocious Race individual had an exceptionally tall and large physique, even amongst the brawny Ferocious Race.
His body emanated a stifling aura of pure power.
His name was Lonzell.
He was Danba’s most trusted underling. And just like most trusted subordinates, he had the att.i.tude of a fierce general. Lonzell was Danba’s most vicious and loyal dog.
He didn’t care about what was right or wrong. Wherever Danba pointed his finger, he would leap in that direction.
In some sense, this was also a kind of intelligence.
It was both simple and effective.
Danba stared mutely at the sky and didn’t give an appraisal of Lonzell’s loyalty.
After a long time, he said, “Never underestimate your opponents. No matter what, until the Heavenly Might Battalion is completely wiped out, we cannot let up in our lockdown of the Limestone Mountain Range!”