Chapter 0852: Dark Domain
Li Jingzhe truly admired Li Luo's courage to fight. Undaunted by strong opponents and a spirit to never give up, this was exactly the type of personality that the Dragon's Fang Lineage, famous for their offense, needed. Oddballs like Li Jingtao were few and far between.
Li Jingzhe pondered for a moment and said, "Since you feel so confident about it, let's give it a try and see if you can obtain the Dragon's Head position. If you fail, I will try some other way to get that Nine Marks Sacred Heart Lotus for you. At most, I will just have to pay more for it."
He knew the importance of the Nine Marks Sacred Heart Lotus to Li Luo. As such, he did not plan to hand it over to the Dragon's Blood Lineage even if Li Luo failed to become the Dragon's Head.
After all, his grandson had spent so many tough years in the outer divine continent. He was feeling a little remorseful deep in his heart and would try to fulfill Li Luo's requests as best as he could. The competition for the Dragon's Head position was merely a means to train Li Luo up so he would have more ambitions.
Li Luo was a little touched after hearing this, so he replied, "Thank you, Grandfather."
With that, Li Jingzhe waved his hand and changed the conversation topic. "There's another matter to discuss. I have gotten some leads in allowing Ox Biaobiao to recover."
Li Luo was overjoyed to hear this. Ox Biaobiao's injuries had always been a thorn in his heart as they were a result of him protecting Li Taixuan and Tan Tailan when they left the Heavenly Origin Divine Continent. Furthermore, he had stayed at House Luolan and protected Jiang Qing'e and him for all these years. Therefore, Li Luo owed him a huge debt. If not for a Duke like Ox Biaobiao standing guard at House Luolan, the other forces would have surely preyed upon them whilst Li Taixuan and Tan Tailan were gone. There wouldn't have been any time for Li Luo and Jiang Qing'e to grow up and develop at all.
In the past, there was nothing he could do about it. However, since he had returned to the Dragon's Fang Lineage, Li Luo hoped that he could cure Ox Biaobiao's injuries as soon as possible. Once Ox Biaobiao recovered and became a Hall Master in Green Nether Hall, he would assist Li Luo in gaining control over the hall in the future.
when he saw the ecstatic look on Li Luo's face, Li Jingzhe said, "Don't get your hopes up yet. Ox Biaobiao's injuries are very serious. Having one’s Duke Bergfrieds destroyed is considered a grave injury to a Duke. Luckily, the Dragon's Fang Lineage has a strong foundation. We are not short of mysterious ways to recover them. There is an ancient method left by the Ancestor, but it requires a lot of preparation. I am already in the midst of preparing for it. However, there is one crucial item that we will need. Is it known as the Sacred Infant Fruit, and it has the magical ability to repair one's foundation, making it the most suitable item for our needs. Unfortunately, this is the item we are currently lacking."
Li Luo was stunned for a moment before he smiled back wryly. The Sacred Infant Fruit had to be a really rare treasure. He had not even heard about it before.
"How can we get a Sacred Infant Fruit?" Li Luo asked. As it was to help Ox Biaobiao, he felt like he should contribute if possible, rather than just rely on Li Jingzhe.
Li Fengyi chimed in from the side at this point. "If I remember correctly, the Sacred Infant Fruit can be found in a Dark Domain around the northern parts of the Dragon's Fang Lineage's western region."
"Dark Domain?" Li Luo looked at Li Fengyi with eyes full of queries.
Seeing this, Li Fengyi explained, "Dark Domains are cracks in the world. These cracks are connected to the shadow world, so Others are constantly crawling out of them. Dark Domains sometimes explode, causing a large number of Others to emerge and resulting in a disaster. As a result, Dark Domains are generally monitored at all times. The Dark Domain that I mentioned is the one that is watched over by the Dragon's Fang Lineage. Although Dark Domains are dangerous, they are also a special environment that can easily cause worldly natural energy to condense. As such, they are prone to producing many mythical treasures, and the Sacred Infant Fruit is one of the treasures produced."
Hearing this, Li Luo suddenly came to a realization. Wasn't she referring to the Umbra Cave... It was just that in the Heavenly Origin Divine Continent, the forces were more powerful and there was no need to seal up the cracks like the college had. Instead, they kept them under close observation whilst they enjoyed the various cultivation resources they produced.
"The number of Sacred Infant Fruits is very low. In the past, it was instantly divided up as soon as one was discovered. As such, you'll have to head over to the Dark Domain if you would like to help heal Ox Biaobiao's injuries," Li Jingzhe told them.
"However, there are many people eyeing the Sacred Infant Fruit. There is always a fierce competition for it every time one appears. Moreover, the western domain of the Bloodline of Heavenly Emperor Li is at our border. It's extremely close to the Bloodline of Heavenly Emperor Zhao's domain, and they frequently send people into the Dark Domain to scout for resources. On top of that, we have been at odds with them for a long time. If we meet outside, we might barely be able to restrain ourselves. But if we cross paths in the Dark Domain... Who knows how many people have been killed on the other side?" Li Fengyi said.
"The Bloodline of Heavenly Emperor Zhao..." Li Luo's eyes lit up. There were four bloodlines in the Heavenly Origin Divine Continent. Apart from the Bloodline of Heavenly Emperor Li and the Bloodline of Heavenly Emperor Qing, there were the Bloodline of Heavenly Emperor Zhao and the Bloodline of Heavenly Emperor Zhu. Among the four bloodlines, the Bloodline of Heavenly Emperor Li had the worst relationship with the Bloodline of Heavenly Emperor Zhao. It was not an exaggeration to say the two were enemies. Due to their shared borders, there were frequent conflicts between them.
Perhaps that was one of the reasons why the Bloodline of Heavenly Emperor Li wanted to get closer to the Bloodline of Heavenly Emperor Qing through marriage back in the day.
Li Luo pondered for a moment. As much as he wanted to visit the Dark Domain and obtain a Sacred Infant Fruit for Ox Biao Biao, his strength was truly lacking right now. Even if he broke into the Fiend Body Tier, he would likely be of little use in such a place.
Having to deal with Others alone would give him a headache, and he would have to worry about the Bloodline of Heavenly Emperor Zhao at all times as well.
After all, he had already experienced Others once in the Umbra Cave below the Astral Sage College. The Others in the inner divine continent would surely be even stronger.
Unless... he was able to mobilize the Green Nether Banner.
However, the Green Nether Banner was not his personal army. Although he was the Banner Leader, he could not mobilize it just with his will alone. This was like how a general could not mobilize the troops of a nation privately without instructions from the top.
While Li Luo was lost in thought, Li Jingzhe lightly tapped his fingers on the table and asked, "The mission period for the Twenty Banners should be coming soon, right?"
Hearing this, Li Fengyi and Li Jingtao nodded.
The mission period referred to the period of time every year where the Twenty Banners would be given a mission to clear. This might include going out to suppress or even slaughter a powerful beast.
After all, the Twenty Banners consisted of the best talents in the Heavenly Dragon's Five Lineages. Each of the lineages had invested a huge amount of resources on them. Hence, it was only natural that the Twenty Banners made themselves useful and contributed back. It was too impractical to be solely expending resources and spending their time cultivating all day.
Therefore, the Twenty Banners needed to fulfill missions every year. If they failed to accomplish the mission, their cultivation resources in the following year would be reduced. This ensured that the banners treated the missions seriously.
After Li Jingzhe gave it some thought, he said, "When the time comes, I will issue a mission task for the Dark Domain in the western region. This will be considered the mission assessment for the four banners of the Dragon's Fang Lineage this year."
At this point, he looked at Li Luo and asked, "Are you willing to help Ox Biaobiao obtain a Sacred Infant Fruit?"
Li Luo couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief after hearing this.
Not only could he bring the Green Nether Banner out on mission officially, he had even gained three more helpers with these words from Li Jingzhe.
At this moment, he understood a simple truth.
In this day and age, no matter how hard one could punch, no one could beat a strong background.