Chapter 1069: Zhenisi, the Forbidden Mist

Zhenisi.

Through the Mind Link, Xia Duo continuously surveyed this major trading hub from the perspectives of Luodite and the others; compared to the Harbor Port that was a port in name only, Zhenisi was truly worthy of its reputation.

The entire town existed almost solely for trade, and even though the weather had begun to warm, it was still deep in the cold of winter, with the frozen roads and accumulated snow yet to begin thawing.

Yet, it was still bustling with noise and excitement, with the busy figures of merchants everywhere, especially at the entrance to the Underground Passage, where two long queues had formed.

There were not only merchant caravans wanting to head to Asikeer, but also those returning from Asikeer.

Most of these merchants had radiant smiles on their faces; only a few looked unwell, as if they had suffered great losses.

Perhaps Xia Duo's desire to observe was so intense that it reflected into the Mind Link and was sensed by Luodite and the others, so after leaving the Xin Yue Ta, they specifically took a turn around the city of Zhenisi.

However, Zhenisi was neither small nor large, and soon Luodite and the others left the town and entered the peninsula corridor to the south.

Zhenisi was located on the edge of a peninsula extending deep into the Xixiahai, and the relic that Luodite and the others were heading to was still deep in the forest to the south of the Zhenisi Peninsula.

When the 【Nether Scroll】 was first discovered, it was kept in Zhenisi; at that time, spellcasters from all over Netheril gathered here without exception and began their research on the Nether Scroll.

A single peninsula clearly could not satisfy the needs of various strange and peculiar experiments, especially some large-scale experiments, such as those involving Semi-planes, which required choosing a safe location.

Back when Mage Towers had not yet been invented, one could only choose to conduct them in the wild.

To this day, there were still many relics from the Age of Discovery in the forest south of the Zhenisi Peninsula that had not yet been discovered, and this attracted many Adventurers and professional Relic Hunters.

The era of the relic discovered by the Relic Hunters under Luodite might have been a long time after the discovery of the Nether Scroll; at the very least, there was already something similar to a Mage Tower there.

If one wanted to build a Mage Tower in the wild without making a grand display, one had to have multiple High Mages working together.

But in the Elven Magic System, there were not many Elite Mages—who were similar to the High Mages of the Netheril Magic System—in all of Netheril before the Nether Scroll was discovered!

This could only mean that by the era of this target relic, the Netheril Magic System had already begun to emerge, at least capable of producing numerous High Mages. (Artificially building a tower shape would leave many traces; if that were the case, the relic might have been discovered long ago and would not have waited until now.)

As for the journey, there was no need for Xia Duo to direct them; after entering the forest, Luodite naturally took a Group Flight scroll from his Dimensional Bag, cast it on everyone, and simultaneously explained to Xia Duo in the Mind Link:

"The Xin Yue Ta in Zhenisi can monitor a fairly large area; the commotion from teleporting here is too great, so for the sake of insurance, it is better to be further away."

Xia Duo understood in his heart that Luodite likely still had some precautions against him; otherwise, they could have completely used the Teleportation Array of the Watchtower to teleport near the relic.

A Teleportation Array was not just a teleportation device used for pairing with other Teleportation Arrays; it could also be set with specific coordinates for teleportation, and it could also receive individual teleports from non-Teleportation Arrays.

Using a Teleportation Array for transport was much more reliable than a spellcaster casting spells themselves; of course, the maintenance cost of such a good thing was certainly very high, averaging at least 500 to 600 Gold Coins per use.

The Teleportation Array on the Arcane Union side cost 1000 Gold Coins per use.

But Luodite and the others clearly were not unable to afford the usage fee for the Teleportation Array; rather, if they used the Teleportation Array, the location of the relic would be exposed.

Xia Duo even thought of what method of teleportation Luodite would use later, and he realized that Luodite inviting him to command via the Mind Link was also, to a certain extent, out of consideration for secrecy.

Sure enough, after Luodite and his party had flown in the forest for a while, they landed on the ground, and then Luodite took a scroll from his Dimensional Bag.

Unfolding and activating it in front of everyone, a circular, shimmering portal resembling a hazy mirror appeared beside them.

Through the portal, everyone could vaguely see a patch of Mist and the shadows of tall buildings within the Mist, and Xia Duo also saw all of this through the Mind Link.

It was indeed as he had expected; Luodite would not cast a teleportation spell directly, but instead used a pre-prepared teleportation item.

At this moment, whether it was Xia Duo far away on Shouwang Dao or the five people present, including Luodite, all were in the same Mind Link.

Then, once they arrived at the relic, no matter who wanted to detect the coordinates, they could not hide it from Xia Duo; of course, the others would also be aware of it.

At the very least, it would be easier to expose than without the Mind Link.

As for Xia Duo, although he was the behind-the-scenes commander of this exploration operation, in reality, he was beyond reach, and he could not peer into the specific location of the relic.

At least it was very difficult to obtain the location of the relic through pure spellcasting.

Xia Duo did not doubt that if he were to cast a Scrying spell on Luodite and the others now, he would very likely run into Luodite's father, the Thunder Mage Maien Kelinsi.

Also being a Senior Arcanist, Xia Duo did not feel that his attainments in magic, especially in the fields of Scrying and anti-Scrying, would necessarily surpass Luodite's father.

Sure enough, being a second-generation is great!

If it were Xia Duo himself, back when he was still a High Mage, he definitely would not dare to use such a method to invite a Senior Arcanist to explore a relic together.

If the relic had nothing good, that would be one thing, but if there really was something good enough to tempt a Senior Arcanist, wouldn't that be putting one's life in the hands of another?

"This is the portal my father prepared for our exploration operation this time." For this reason, Luodite even specifically explained.

"Is the relic located behind the portal?" Xia Duo asked through the Mind Link.

"Yes, passing through the portal leads directly into the Mist on the outskirts of the relic. The relic is more like a triple world; if one enters from outside the relic, it takes a very long time to pass through the Mist and walk to the Mage Tower."

Seemingly to corroborate this statement, Luodite revealed some more information about this relic: "Outside this relic is a small Langas Tribe.

"In the past, many Langas people entered the Mist, but few were able to come out alive, because the space within the Mist seems to have been greatly expanded; coupled with the obstruction of the Mist itself to vision, that place became a forbidden area for that small tribe. Some Langas people who committed great mistakes were often banished into the Mist by the tribal Elders.

"Around the Midsummer Festival last year, when the team of Relic Hunters under my command was searching for relics in this vicinity, they accidentally encountered a Langas person who had escaped from the Mist, and after questioning, learned of the existence of the relic.

"But unfortunately, even with many magic items, it is very difficult for ordinary people to fully explore such a relic, so we have this exploration."

This was the first time Luodite had introduced the discovery process of the relic in such detail, which made Xia Duo's previous guesses waver slightly.

Perhaps Luodite did not have the intention of deliberately hiding the location of the relic; after all, "Langas Tribe + Mist" could easily yield quite a bit of information.

Furthermore, the characteristics of the Mist were hard to hide; as long as everyone passed through the portal, they would know.

Xia Duo reminded everyone in the Mind Link, "Since the portal has already been opened, let's hurry and enter the relic!"

"Okay."

Several active consciousness messages gave their replies in succession.