The appearance of the Thunder Eagle immediately drew the attention of nearby players.
"A flying mount!"
"An incredible flying mount! That pressure is absolutely at the level of a Level 100 Great Lord!"
"So cool! I wish I could have a flying mount like that someday."
The Thunder Eagle's sudden arrival sparked discussions among members of every major faction, their eyes brimming with envy.
If players' Summoning Flutes weren't stored in their item spaces and nearly impossible to drop, they probably would have rushed up to try to seize this flying mount.
"Is this that rumored Thunder Eagle?" Fan Muran stared in amazement at the massive Thunder Eagle as it descended, whipping up a gale.
Although every major faction was now searching for flying mount eggs—and their Blade of the Firmament adventure team was no exception—she still had very little concept of what a flying mount was really like, having only ever seen them in videos.
Now, witnessing the Thunder Eagle with a wingspan of over twenty meters in the flesh, it was even more spectacular than a small passenger aircraft touching down.
"Get on. There are too many monsters on the road—flying will be much faster." Shi Feng hopped onto the Thunder Eagle's back and looked over at Fan Muran.
The entire Molten Fire Grand Canyon was dangerous, but there was no flight restriction.
The only issue was that the Thunder Eagle was far too conspicuous and would easily expose the movements of him, the Zero Wing guild leader. That was why he hadn't summoned it along the way. But now, in order to obtain the main branch of the Tree of Life, he had to summon the Thunder Eagle and reach the Molten Fire Ruins' cave as quickly as possible. Besides, with the Molten Fire Grand Canyon already sealed off and contact with the outside world nearly impossible, he had even less to worry about.
Fan Muran and her companions gazed at the majestic Thunder Eagle and excitedly climbed aboard. The Thunder Eagle spread its wings and shot up several hundred meters into the sky, flying straight toward the Molten Fire Ruins.
The forest and players below blurred past their eyes at a speed no ground mount could ever match.
"Captain, this flying mount is absolutely incredible! If the Blade of the Firmament could get a few of these, our leveling speed would skyrocket in the future. We'd leave every other adventure team in the dust." The Level 101 Assassin sitting beside Fan Muran clicked her tongue in amazement.
"Exactly. With this kind of travel speed, reaching those distant Level 100 maps will be much easier in the future. The time we save alone would be enough for us to properly rest and recover." Fan Muran watched the Level 100 monsters on the ground below, completely unable to touch them, and finally grasped just how enormous the benefits of flying mounts were—and the root of Zero Wing's growing strength.
The time saved by flying mounts could let them visit Level 100 maps twice a day to level up and gather resources—nearly double the available time. No wonder Zero Wing had so many third-tier classes so early on.
What would have taken nearly two hours of travel on foot was covered by the Thunder Eagle in just over ten minutes, arriving at the entrance to the Molten Fire Ruins' cave.
Those ten-plus minutes left Fan Muran and the others feeling as though they were dreaming.
After all, they had fought tooth and nail to reach the exit of the Molten Fire Grand Canyon. Yet now, without any combat at all, they had returned this easily. Sitting on the flying mount, their stamina had even recovered somewhat, as if their earlier desperate battle had been nothing but a dream...
"Guild Leader Hei Yan, our squad has thoroughly explored the Molten Fire Ruins and knows its paths well. We can guide you. On top of that, quite a few of our adventure team members are already inside the passage leading to the inner area—they should be able to help you quite a bit." Fan Muran offered.
Previously, Shi Feng had saved her squad's life, and she owed him an enormous favor. Since he was going to compete, she would naturally help however she could. Besides, the more adventure team members they brought in, the greater their leverage against War Blood.
"I'll have to trouble you, then," Shi Feng said with gratitude.
"I'll send squad members to contact them right now. By the time we reach the cave leading to the inner area, they should be gathered and ready." Seeing Shi Feng agree, Fan Muran quickly sent squad members offline to notify the other adventure team members who were active inside.
She then led Shi Feng and the four others toward the cave that served as the entry point to the inner area of the Molten Fire Ruins.
The entire Molten Fire Ruins was extremely dangerous. Even a team of Level 100 experts, each clad in full sets of Level 100 Iron Rank equipment, could easily be wiped out here.
The ruins were crawling with Level 100 Great Lord-grade Green-eyed Demon Spiders, and occasionally a Level 100 High Great Lord Fire Demon Spider would appear. For second-tier teams that already struggled to deal with Level 100 Lords, encountering a few Green-eyed Demon Spiders was manageable, but running into a Fire Demon Spider was a death sentence—very few ever escaped.
Fan Muran's squad, however, had long since mapped out the outer area's passages and the Fire Demon Spiders' patrol routes. She easily led Shi Feng and the four others around the Fire Demon Spiders. Along the way, they only had to deal with a few Green-eyed Demon Spiders, and Fan Muran's team didn't even need Shi Feng's group to lift a finger—they deployed traps to hold the Green-eyed Demon Spiders in place, allowing everyone to slip away unscathed.
In just over half an hour, Fan Muran led Shi Feng and the four others into a cavern the size of a small town. The ceiling was blanketed in cyan-blue crystals that blazed with blinding radiance, illuminating the entire space as brightly as broad daylight.
Within the cavern stood a massive iron corridor over ten meters tall. A terrifying pressure emanated from within, clearly palpable even from hundreds of yards away.
This fearsome pressure was no ordinary thing. First-tier classes wouldn't even be able to approach the entrance, and even second-tier classes felt mentally oppressed, as though their hands and feet were bound.
At this moment, however, a large crowd of players had already gathered around the corridor entrance—easily over ten thousand in number. They were elite teams from every major faction, all with high levels and impressive equipment. Top-tier experts wearing Epic-grade gear were hardly rare among them, and there were even dozens of third-tier classes.
Among them was a team wearing the Blade of the Firmament's cloaks. This group was small—only about a hundred members—but their equipment was formidable, with many wearing Level 100 Mythril Rank gear. They stood out prominently among the gathered teams.
"Yu Luo, you got here fast! We rushed over at full speed and you still managed to beat us here." Fan Muran walked toward the Blade of the Firmament's team and greeted the fair-complexioned, white-robed third-tier female Priest standing at the front.
This petite, delicate-looking Priest appeared harmless and endearing, but every expert in the Blade of the Firmament regarded her with a mixture of wariness and respect.
"You're finally here! If you hadn't come, I was ready to take a team and charge in on my own." The Priest, Yu Luo, said happily upon seeing Fan Muran.
"Guild Leader Hei Yan, let me introduce you. This is Yu Luo, the Blade of the Firmament's chief Priest. Her strength ranks in the top five among Dragon Heart Island's Priests." Fan Muran made the introductions. "Yu Luo, this is Guild Leader Hei Yan. He's quite formidable—one word from him and that Can Guang Ru Xue backed down and gave us the way."
"Hello, Guild Leader Hei Yan." After hearing Fan Muran's introduction, Yu Luo studied Shi Feng carefully, then got straight to the point. "When will your team arrive? Our guild leader is in a very bad situation right now—I don't know how much longer she can hold on. I hope we can begin the operation as soon as possible."
Previously, considering the teams still active in the outer area, their guild leader had told her to stay behind. Now, their guild leader Zi Wei was being relentlessly pursued by War Blood's experts and was trapped in the perilous inner corridor. If the route to the inner area weren't so dangerous—with even the main forces of several super-guilds, numbering in the hundreds, unable to break through—she would have charged in long ago to mount a rescue.
"We're all here. We can go in at any time."