Two hundred kilometers west of Huahai City lies a mountain range known as Black Dragon Ridge.
It is an exceptionally well-preserved primeval forest.
Even before the apocalypse, Black Dragon Ridge was shrouded in mystery—rumored to be crawling with poisonous snakes and ferocious beasts, and filled with countless precious medicinal herbs.
Yet very few people dared to enter.
Anyone who ventured inside was almost certain to become lost in the forest, never to find their way out.
On rare occasions, someone might escape by sheer luck, but soon after leaving, they would go mad.
Yet deep within this primeval forest lies a truly magnificent complex of palaces.
But around the palace complex, hordes of mutant beasts prowl. Even if someone managed to get close, there would be no way past the beasts to reach the palaces.
The grandest of these palaces is called the Blue Dragon Court.
A middle-aged man in black robes hurried in, entered the Blue Dragon Court, bowed before the green-robed elder seated on the golden throne, and reported: "Order Master, our Wind Hall undercover disciple at the Haigang Survivor Base has sent word—today, a mysterious and incredibly powerful newcomer defeated Guan Zeke, Hu Bohua, Hailey Zhou, Gao Zhixin, and the rest of the top ten in a joint battle. He is now the new leader of the survivor base!"
The green-robed elder's expression turned cold. "Huahai City is territory pre-allocated to our Myriad Beasts Order, and now someone dares snatch food from the tiger's mouth. Wind Hall Master, do you think that mysterious youth might be from the Dualis Order?"
The black-robed middle-aged man, addressed as Wind Hall Master, mused, "According to Wind Nineteen's report, even the combined strength of Guan Zeke and the other ten was no match for that mysterious youth in a single exchange. That means his power is extremely high—at least at the Transforming-Gang Realm. As for the younger generation of Dualis Order, their strongest are only at late Dan-Strength, and they haven't even fully taken control of Qishan City yet. I doubt they'd dare blatantly reach into Myriad Beasts Order territory!"
At this, the green-robed elder fell into deep thought. "If he's not from the Dualis Order, then where did this person come from?"
"I've already ordered Wind Nineteen to keep a close watch on the mysterious youth. Any new developments will be reported immediately!"
The green-robed elder nodded. "Huahai City is our foundation and cannot be lost. Here's what we'll do: have Eric Mok personally go to the Haigang Survivor Base and probe that man's true strength. If he's an agent sent by another faction, kill him at all costs. If not, handle it as appropriate."
"Order Master, Eric Mok is one of our Myriad Beasts Order's key seed disciples. What if something happens to him?" Wind Hall Master asked worriedly.
The green-robed elder waved his hand. "Jade must be polished to become a vessel! It's time for him to leave the mountain and temper himself. Still, Wind Hall Master has a point—we've invested a lot of resources in Eric Mok. Very well, have Snow Feng go down the mountain with him!"
Hearing that his own daughter would accompany Eric Mok, Wind Hall Master's expression shifted slightly, but he quickly replied, "Understood!"
Both Snow Feng and Eric Mok are key seed disciples nurtured by the Myriad Beasts Order.
However, Eric Mok's talent is a notch above Snow Feng's. At only twenty-six years old, he has already reached the peak of second-stage Transforming-Gang Realm, just one step away from third stage.
Snow Feng is two years younger than Eric Mok and only entered first-stage Transforming-Gang Realm three months ago.
To be honest, Thomas Feng rather approves of Eric Mok, and Eric clearly has designs on his daughter. The only thing that bothers him is Eric's notorious womanizing—he's seduced more young female disciples than Thomas Feng can count on his fingers.
That's why, when the Order Master proposed sending Snow Feng down the mountain with Eric Mok, Thomas Feng turned pale—he worried that Snow would be 'ruined' by Eric as soon as they left.
Thinking of this, he felt it necessary to warn his daughter to be careful and not let Eric Mok 'carry her off.'
Back at Wind Hall, Thomas Feng had someone summon Snow Feng, while he fell into deep thought.
Eighty years ago, Elder Starseer, before his death, calculated that in eighty years a great disaster would befall the world—one that might even wipe out humanity.
Elder Starseer was a monster who lived over three hundred years and was a master of divination. Everything he predicted came true, so the cultivation world took his final prophecy very seriously.
Eventually, the leaders of the strongest dozens of Orders in the cultivation world convened a secret meeting.
After that meeting, the major Orders completely withdrew from the secular world and retreated to the mountains and forests.
It was precisely because the great sects withdrew that Japan found an opening to launch its invasion of the Centralia Republic.
After the major Orders withdrew, secular martial artists simply couldn't resist the Japanese ninja and onmyoji.
So in the early stages, the Centralia Republic suffered defeat after defeat.
Fortunately, Centralia is vast and rich in resources, while Japan is just a tiny island with scarce resources. Their ambitions were too great—they tried to swallow all of Centralia.
In the end, Centralia managed to win, but secular martial arts declined terribly. By modern times, ordinary people no longer even knew martial artists existed.
Now, Elder Starseer's prophesied human catastrophe has arrived.
After eighty years of hiding and planning, the major Orders have finally begun to re-emerge.
But before returning, these dozens of major Orders held another meeting and divided Centralia into dozens of territories.
The Myriad Beasts Order was assigned Huahai City, plus two other prefecture-level cities.
Once they've led the survivors to wipe out the zombies, the Myriad Beasts Order plans to use those three cities as the foundation for a Beast Dominion.
Of course, Centralia is huge, and controlling just three cities isn't much.
But that's because, among the dozens of Orders, the Myriad Beasts Order only ranks in the lower middle in terms of strength.
For example, the most powerful Heavensnare Order was directly granted three provinces.
The Ruyi Gate, slightly weaker than Heavensnare, also received two provinces.
Just as Thomas Feng’s thoughts wandered, a beautiful young woman in a green long dress, exuding gentle elegance, strolled in.
"Dad, why did you call me here?"
Her voice was crisp and pleasant, like an oriole singing in the valley—especially lovely to hear.
Thomas Feng looked at his daughter with doting eyes and said, "Snow, I called you here to tell you something. The Order Master plans to send you and Eric Mok to the Haigang Survivor Base!"
"Why are we going to the survivor base?" Snow Feng was a bit surprised.
Thomas Feng replied seriously, "There’s been a change at Haigang Survivor Base—a mysterious youth of unknown origin has defeated the base’s leaders and become the new chief. Your mission, together with Eric Mok, is to find out his background. If he’s from another power, you must join forces and kill him; if he’s just a secular martial artist who rose up on his own, then you can recruit him into the Myriad Beasts Order!"
Hearing she had to go with Eric Mok, Snow Feng frowned, "Dad, I don’t want to go with Eric! I don’t like him."
Thomas Feng was secretly pleased at her words, but deliberately put on a stern face: "This is the Order Master’s command. You have to obey. As for Eric, I’ll warn him to keep his distance from you!"