Chapter 0767: First Foray into the Fiendish Devil Cave

Before long, Li Luo's gaze shifted from the golden pillars as the light curtain glittering at the side of the dark hall caught his attention. The light was emitted by crystal beads, and upon closer look, it detailed the progress of the Twenty Banners in the Fiendish Devil Cave to date.

First place: Dragon's Blood Lineage, Gold Blood Banner, Layer 43.

Second place: Dragon's Scale Lineage, Holy Scale Banner, Layer 42.

Fifth place: Dragon's Fang Lineage, Gold Light Banner, Layer 39.

Going down the list, the other banners had mainly reached around layer thirty-five, including the Violet Spirit Banner and the Crimson Cloud Banner. The Green Nether Banner was all the way in the fourteenth position.

It currently held a record of layer twenty-seven.

Together with a few others, it was all the way at the bottom.

This was indeed a poor performance as the other banners at the bottom were from the Dragon's Bone Lineage and the Dragon's Horn Lineage. Those Lineages were not direct descendants and had weaker foundations, causing them to be suppressed by the other three lineages.

Considering the prominent past when his father was leading the Green Nether Banner, it was truly embarrassing for them to have fallen to the same level as those Lineages.

The departure of his father had certainly dealt a serious blow to the Green Nether Banner.

"What a great difference," muttered Li Luo.

The top few banners were around layer forty, and the Gold Light Banner was at layer thirty-nine. On the other hand, the Green Nether Banner was just at layer twenty-seven. It was no wonder the Green Nether Banner was looked down upon.

Even the Violet Spirit Banner led by Li Jingtao and the Crimson Cloud Banner led by Li Fengyi had been left far behind by the Gold Light Banner.

With such a spectacular achievement, it was no wonder Deng Fengxian was so proud and domineering.

The Gold Light Banner was undoubtedly the golden child of the Dragon's Fang Lineage.

Nevertheless, Li Luo's true desire was to experience fighting the Fiendish Devils in the cave and see how many abstruse fiend lights he could obtain from it. This would be vital to his cultivation progress moving forward.

As such, he wrapped up the conversation with Li Jingtao and Li Fengyi and headed back to the Green Nether Banner.

He headed up to Zhao Yanzhi and asked, "We will be challenging layer twenty-eight, is that right? Have you all tried it before?"

Zhao Yanzhi replied, “The Fiendish Devil Cave opens for three days each time. Last time, we managed to reach layer twenty-eight on the last day. As you know, the fifth division had not even selected a Sub Leader then, so our coordination could be said to have been a mess. As such, our division barely advanced even ten percent of the way."

"But that does not mean we are incompetent. The main reason is that we met the second division of the Iron Bone Banner from the Dragon's Bone Lineage. We got into a fight with them, and that delayed our progress."

At this point, Li Luo was puzzled. "We will meet other banners in the Fiendish Devil Cave?"

Zhao Yanzhi nodded and continued, "We will not see the other banners on the first two days, but the cave's mechanism will change on the third day. If you progress into a new floor during that period, you may encounter another banner, and things can get really complicated. Not only do we have to deal with the Fiendish Devils, we also have to compete with the other banners.

"This is all dependent on luck. If you are unlucky, it is not impossible to face the Gold Blood Banner's first division. If that happens, it may be better for us to just surrender."

Li Luo was dumbfounded. Such a mechanism was clearly set up to promote competition among the banners for training. The higher echelons of the Bloodline of Heavenly Emperor Li were certainly scheming.

"Does the progress of the Fiendish Devil Cave reset every time?" Li Luo asked curiously.

"No."

"In that case, will we be able to pass as long as we keep trying over time?" Li Luo continued asking.

"In theory, yes. However, if you think that that is all it takes to clear all seventy-two layers, you are really underestimating these thirteen golden pillars." Zhao Yanzhi laughed coquettishly as she pointed to the gilded pillars.

Li Luo nodded in agreement. Only thirteen banners had managed to conquer all seventy-two layers after so many years. If it were really so easy, the Twenty Banners would have to have been really disappointing in the past.

"Sub Leader."

Zhao Yanzhi leaned over with her enchanting figure and whispered, “I heard that Zhong Ling of the first division has proclaimed that he will conquer two layers in three days. He is doing so to build up his reputation among the Twenty Banners, paving the route for the selection of the Banner Leader in the future.

"If you're also interested in the Banner Leader position, you should start preparing too. Rallying the people's hearts is essential in the Twenty Banners. It will be much easier to attain harmony once they are united under you, and its prowess will magnify."

Li Luo nodded slightly after hearing her reminder. Certainly, the might of the Twenty Banners was special. It was a collective group effort rather than an individual one. If he could unite everyone's hearts, it would definitely be a great boost.

And the easiest way to do so would be conquering the Fiendish Devil Cave.

Doing so would benefit everyone under the Green Nether Banner. Naturally, the one with the greatest contribution in the conquest would gain the highest prestige amongst the banner members.

Zhong Ling must have thought of the same thing too, which was why he was focusing all his effort on clearing the Fiendish Devil Cave.

Li Luo let out a smile of helplessness. It seemed like Zhong Ling had recognized him as the key rival for the position of Banner Leader after he had obtained the Nine Revolutions Draconic Breath Fiend Art. The competition for the position of Banner Leader had already begun.

However, there was nothing to be afraid of. After all, if he could not even handle a small fry like Zhong Ling, there would be no future for him within the Dragon's Fang Lineage to speak of.

There were many among the Heavenly Dragon's Five Lineages that were watching him, the son of Li Taixuan. If he could not even handle Zhong Ling, they would surely laugh at how incompetent Li Taixuan’s son was.

As Li Luo was pondering over this, several rays of light descended from the sky above Fiendish Devil Peak, appearing outside the black hall.

𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

Multiple black-robed elders emerged from the rays with faces of seriousness. As they glanced across the square, the chatter among the crowd quieted down.

They were the elders who presided over the opening of the Fiendish Devil Cave.

After they arrived, they did not speak. After all, the same old message must have been repeated thousands of times over the years of managing the cave. It was pointless to repeat, so they proceeded with forming the hand seals. As their resonant power increased, runes materialized in the air and attached themselves onto the gates of the black hall.

Boom!

It sounded like a clash between two great forces of resonant power.

The doors that were once tightly shut started to slowly creak open before the crowd.

Behind the doors was a large energy vortex that formed a path leading into the unknown.

When the energy vortex appeared, Deng Fengxian walked over from the Gold Light Banner, took the lead, and entered it.

The eight thousand members of the Gold Light Banner followed after him.

Not wanting to lose out, the Violet Spirit Banner and the Crimson Cloud Banner followed suit.

Before her entry, Li Fengyi gave Li Luo a cheering gesture as encouragement.

"Let's go, Green Nether Banner. First division, follow my lead," Zhong Ling commanded as he marched forward with his first division banner members.

Li Luo was not interested in competing with Zhong Ling over such meaningless trivialities. He just waved his hand to signal his fifth division to begin, and they stepped into the energy vortex.

At this point, he was more interested in the Fiendish Devil Cave.

This would be the key to raising his two resonant palaces to the Greater Fiend Palace Tier.

A bright light flooded Li Luo’s eyes when he walked through the energy vortex. He was left dizzy for a moment.

When he came back to his senses, he realized that his surroundings had transformed. He was on an island, surrounded by a special, warped space that was clearly untouchable.

This was the Fiendish Devil Cave.

As the space behind Li Luo continued to distort, shadows emerged from it.

They were the fifth division banner members.

Zhao Yanzhi landed lightly beside Li Luo and pointed to their front. "See that, Sub Leader? "Those are Fiendish Devils. There are thousands of them on this island, and we can only pass by eliminating all of them."

Li Luo look at where she was pointing and noticed countless dark-gray shadows lurking around in the forest ahead.

Those shadows were several feet tall and their bodies seemed to be covered in dark-gray scales. Their faces were blurry and they clearly looked spooky.

However, he could also feel a sense of familiarity coming from them. That was the presence of the earth fiend energy within their bodies, which he was well acquainted with.

Li Luo licked his lips and asked greedily, "If we annihilate the thousands of Fiendish Devils here and gather their earth fiend energy, how many strands of abstruse fiend light would that add up to?"

Zhao Yanzhi thought for a moment before replying, "Around three or four thousand."

Li Luo was slightly disappointed. Although three or four thousand strands of abstruse fiend light sounded like a lot, they were not just for him alone—they would be shared among the fifteen hundred banner members present.

In the end, each one would probably get just two or three strands.

Nonetheless, this was only layer twenty-eight. It would surely get more rewarding as they explored deeper into the cave.

Zhao Yanzhi seemed to know what was on Li Luo's mind. She smiled sweetly, pointed to the depths of the island, and told him, "Sub Leader, there is a Fiendish Devil Leader over there. If he is defeated, you may be able to score a hundred more strands of abstruse fiend light after the distribution."

When Li Luo heard this, he was shocked.

A hundred abstruse fiend lights was equivalent to dozens of high-grade Fiend Origin Pills.

That was a pretty good reward for just clearing one level.

When he thought about it, he suddenly felt a surge of motivation like never before. Waving his hand to his banner members, he screamed, "Follow me, guys!"