Shi Feng was practically buzzing with excitement over the successful summoning of the Tower of Darkness.
After all, this was something he had only ever heard of — he had never laid eyes on it or experienced its power firsthand.
Dark Seeds were extraordinarily rare in the Divine Realm, scarcer even than fragments of legendary-grade items. When Chen Hui had produced the Dark Seed, he had been genuinely shocked.
As for summoning the Tower of Darkness, one first had to kill the demon that appeared. But slaying such a demon was far easier said than done — more often than not, it was the NPCs who ultimately had to step in and suppress it. Players could rarely manage the kill.
Even when NPCs did the killing and the Tower of Darkness blueprint dropped, NPCs would never allow such items to exist in players' hands. The moment they spotted it, they confiscated it immediately — there was no chance for players to snatch it up.
Because of all this, the number of factions capable of summoning the Tower of Darkness was vanishingly small — truly a handful at most. And every town that had summoned the tower was off-limits to ordinary players; only allies or subordinates were permitted entry.
In his previous life, he had been nothing more than the master of a second-tier guild. Even ordinary superpowers had been completely out of his reach, let alone the top-tier factions among them. The two of them had simply been parallel lines that would never intersect.
Now, being able to summon the Tower of Darkness — this far exceeded anything Shi Feng had anticipated.
"Guild Master Black Flame, we don't have much time. The fifty-thousand-strong armies of every major superpower should reach this area in less than half an hour," Yuan Tiexin said, watching the perfectly composed Shi Feng and unable to help himself with a warning.
In his eyes, Shi Feng seemed to have no idea just how dire the situation was.
Perhaps the Tower of Darkness was formidable — that much was evident from the dense dark energy it had condensed — but the enemies they were about to face couldn't be held off by one or two city defense structures.
"Have they all arrived?" A faint, almost mischievous smile tugged at the corner of Shi Feng's mouth. "In that case, let's go out and have a look at them."
"Go out and… look at them?" Yuan Tiexin was stunned for a moment, then quickly spoke up. "Isn't that a bit too dangerous? Even with Stone Forest City as our stronghold, we'll barely be able to hold them off. If we go out there without the city's geographical advantage, we'll be nothing more than fish on a chopping block — and those people are all regional overlords. They won't show any mercy when it comes to their interests."
"Then by all means, let them try," Shi Feng said with a smile.
"This…" Yuan Tiexin was completely unable to read Shi Feng at this point. He couldn't decide whether to call the man powerful or foolish.
If he was powerful — well, Shi Feng had single-handedly crushed Star Ring, and even if he had relied on external means to do it, that was still an extraordinary feat. But voluntarily going out there now was tantamount to throwing himself into the jaws of danger, surrendering control of his own life to the whims of the enemy. It was the very definition of recklessness.
"It's fine — I can go alone," Shi Feng said, seeing the hesitation on Yuan Tiexin's face.
"Absolutely not! Stone Forest City still has a share belonging to the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion. If you, Guild Master Black Flame, are going out there, the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion certainly can't stay hidden. Besides, if I go as the Pavilion's representative, the superpowers will at least think twice — they won't go so far as to tear off all pretense and attack outright." Yuan Tiexin shook his head, resolved to see this through to the end alongside a man he might well die with.
Moreover, he felt that Shi Feng going to meet them wasn't entirely a bad thing. The major superpowers' armies hadn't yet arrived at the gates of Stone Forest City — there was still some room for negotiation. But once those armies assembled at the city walls and forged an alliance, it would truly be a catastrophe.
Without further delay, Shi Feng and Yuan Tiexin left Stone Forest City and headed straight for the combined armies of the major superpowers, who had just set foot in the Forest of the Dead.
Both Yuan Tiexin and Shi Feng were prominent figures in the current landscape. Even members of superpowers unfamiliar with Zero Wing recognized Shi Feng on sight.
"Why are they here?"
"Judging by the looks of it, they've probably come to negotiate."