Another World: When a Necromancer Possesses the Banner of Ten Thousand Souls

First, Li Xingyao contacted the bank and arranged for the Star Cores to be deposited. He deposited the seven Shadow Moon Demon Wolf Star Cores into the vault and set the withdrawal conditions. Unless he personally intervenes or there is no activity for three consecutive months, the Star Cores will automatically be transferred to his sister Li Xingyue and brother Li Xingyang.

"Hopefully, we won't need to use this as a backup plan," Li Xingyao thought to himself. These star cores were quite valuable, and if he encountered danger, they could provide considerable assistance to his sister and the others.

Next, he went to the equipment maintenance center. The technicians there were known for their superb skills and high fees, but the service was definitely worth the price. The staff carefully inspected his kinetic armor and performed a comprehensive maintenance and optimization.

He then went to the supply market and purchased a large amount of supplies for wilderness survival. He also specially bought some special medicines and tools.

With everything prepared, Li Xingyao submitted a request for an extended vacation on his personal terminal. As a student who had already reached the advanced professional level, he was eligible to complete his studies early, and the school usually approved such requests. In his application, he briefly explained that he needed to engage in practical training, and he quickly received an approval reply.

Finally, he went to a high-end physiotherapy center and had a full-body relaxation spa treatment. Li Xingyao did his best to restore his body to its best condition.

The following afternoon, Li Xingyao drove the rented armored all-terrain vehicle out of the outpost. This was an off-road vehicle equipped with heavy armor and a powerful engine, capable of handling various complex terrains. The rental fee was extremely high, forcing him to sell a Shadowmoon Wolf Star Core online to cover the expense.

While it can't compare to the heavy vehicles of the past, it's still quite good for individual explorers.

The vehicle followed the planned route, with Li Xingyao deliberately avoiding the route he had taken with Lin Wei's team, choosing a more secluded but relatively safe path. Based on information extracted from the memories of the attackers, he needed to first reach a hidden cave on the edge of the mountains, which had served as a transit point for the previous expedition team.

The all-terrain vehicle sped across the wasteland, but Li Xingyao's thoughts drifted to the information in those fragmented memories. Taking advantage of the time he had to travel, he once again confirmed the memories he had previously sorted out.

After more than a day's journey, Li Xingyao finally arrived at his destination—a range of rolling mountains. This was the foothills of the Greater Khingan Mountains, densely populated with high-ranking star beasts, rarely visited by ordinary adventurers. The mountains appeared grayish-green in the distance, with unmelted snow still clinging to the distant peaks, and clouds and mist swirling around the mountainside, giving them a mysterious and dangerous feel.

Following the information he remembered, he quickly found the hidden cave. The entrance was about two and a half meters high, hidden by dense vines and bushes, making it difficult to spot from the outside. After pushing aside the vegetation and entering, he found a completely different world inside, a space of more than four hundred square meters.

Several off-road motorcycles were parked inside the cave, probably left behind by the three teams from before, and some dust had settled on them.

Li Xingyao carefully inspected the entire cave, and only began setting up a temporary campsite after confirming there was no danger. He parked the all-terrain vehicle inside the cave entrance and installed a simple early warning system, including motion sensors and laser tripwires. Then he began organizing his equipment, categorizing and placing necessary supplies for easy access.

"From now on, we must be extremely careful," Li Xingyao muttered to himself, gazing at the vast mountains outside the cave. This mountainous area connects to the expansive Greater Khingan Mountains, home to a wide variety of star beasts of considerable rank.

The Shadowmoon Wolves we encountered earlier were a case in point, not to mention the terrifying giant ape pack I remembered. Some of those giant apes possessed the strength of super star beasts, and they usually moved in packs, making them extremely dangerous.

He took out his personal terminal, pulled up a map, and carefully planned his next route. According to the fragments of memory, the location should be in a valley to the northeast, requiring him to cross a densely populated area of ​​star beast activity.

The map marks several dangerous areas, including the territory of the Shadowmoon Wolves, the lair area of ​​the Rock Armored Bears, and the most dangerous area where the Giant Apes roam.

"It's best to wait until nighttime to act," Li Xingyao decided. Many star beasts' vision is impaired at night, but his undead summons are not, which will give him a significant advantage. Furthermore, most star beasts are less active at night, making it easier to avoid unnecessary battles.

As night fell, Li Xingyao was fully prepared. He donned his camouflage suit, checked his equipment, and then quietly emerged from the cave. The suit's camouflage pattern blended almost seamlessly into the surroundings in the darkness, and its built-in star energy shielding effectively concealed his energy fluctuations.

The mountains under the moonlight resembled lurking beasts, casting patches of shadow. Li Xingyao summoned ten skeleton archers as vanguard scouts, five Tyrant Zombies as flank protectors, and he followed in the middle, advancing towards their destination. The undead moved silently in the night, their bones gleaming a pale white in the moonlight.

Along the way, he tried his best to avoid conflicts with the star beasts. When conflicts were unavoidable, he tried to resolve them quickly and with minimal disturbance. With the cover of the undead, his advance was relatively smooth. The skeleton hunters' keen senses helped him avoid several groups of star beasts, while the Tyrant Zombies quickly eliminated any scattered low-level star beasts when necessary.

Night fell slowly like a dark gray silk ribbon, and the stars, like tiny diamonds, adorned the sky. Li Xingyao finally arrived at the hill that the Flame Warrior remembered as his destination. After a day of careful travel, avoiding many areas where star beasts were active and taking many detours, he finally found his destination before it was completely dark.

The cave entrance before us was pitch black, like a gigantic maw ready to devour any intruder. The rocks at the entrance were dark red, and still felt slightly warm to the touch, indicating active geothermal activity in the area.

Li Xingyao did not rush in, but instead summoned ten skeleton swordsmen.

"Go in and investigate. If there's anything unusual, immediately issue a warning," Li Xingyao commanded via mental connection.

The skeleton swordsmen filed in, with Li Xingyao following closely behind. The cave was initially quite narrow, only allowing two people to walk side by side. The rock walls were covered with tiny claw marks of varying depths, clearly traces left by some kind of small star beast that had been active there for a long time.

After walking about a hundred meters, the cave suddenly opened up, and the height suddenly increased to more than ten meters. Li Xingyao raised his powerful flashlight and shone it on the cave ceiling. He couldn't help but gasp – thousands of red-eyed bats hung upside down from the ceiling, each the size of an eagle, their red eyes reflecting an eerie light under the flashlight beam.

Li Xingyao raised his powerful flashlight and shone it on the cave ceiling. He couldn't help but gasp. Thousands of red-eyed bats hung upside down from the cave ceiling, each one as large as an eagle with outstretched wings. Their red eyes reflected an eerie and strange light under the flashlight beam.

Seemingly startled by the light, a low hissing sound echoed through the cave, and the swarm of bats began to stir. Li Xingyao immediately turned off his flashlight, quickly lay down on the ground, and held his breath.

In the darkness, the sound of flapping wings grew louder and louder as thousands of bats flew overhead, the wind they created ruffling his hair. The sound of flapping wings grew closer and louder in the darkness, as thousands of bats swept overhead like a black cloud, the wind they created lifting his hair.

The swarm of bats did not attack; they simply flew towards the cave entrance. About five minutes later, the cave returned to silence.

Li Xingyao breathed a sigh of relief and turned the flashlight back on. No wonder no star beasts nested here; even high-level star beasts wouldn't easily provoke a swarm of bats of this size.

He continued deeper, with the skeleton swordsman scouting ahead, using their mental connection to determine if it was safe. After advancing a few hundred meters, Li Xingyao noticed some scattered items beginning to appear on the ground.

There were some broken pieces of equipment, several expired energy batteries, and even packaging bags with illegible writing.

These traces of human activity gave him a jolt of confidence, confirming that he was on the right track. He secretly rejoiced that he was heading in the right direction.

The cave passage narrowed again here, but the skeleton swordsman ahead sent back an unusual signal. Li Xingyao quickened his pace and soon arrived at a relatively spacious cave chamber.

As the flashlight beam swept across, the remains of a human came into view.

The corpse was clad in severely damaged power armor, and a badly damaged half-bow lay nearby. The remains were scattered, clearly having been disturbed by small scavengers, leaving only scattered bones and fragments of armor.

The remains were scattered, clearly having been eaten by small scavengers, with only scattered bones and armor fragments remaining.

Li Xingyao approached and examined the body, finding that it no longer exhibited any soul power fluctuations. Judging from the condition of the remains, the body had been dead for at least ten years.

He picked up the bow; it felt heavy in his hand. The bow was made of some kind of composite metal. Although the surface was covered with scratches, the internal energy circuit seemed undamaged, and it could still emit a faint hum after being injected with star energy.

"A fine bow," Li Xingyao said softly. If this bow were repaired, it would be quite valuable.

He examined the tattered armor again and shook his head. He carefully examined the badly damaged armor once more, then shook his head helplessly. The armor was completely destroyed; the internal energy circuits and core were incomplete, rendering it beyond repair. As for the remains, they could not be pieced together completely.

Li Xingyao searched the surrounding area carefully and soon found a backpack. The backpack was made of a special material, a soft armor structure covered with scales, and was of a high level; it was remarkably well-preserved from the battle.

The backpack is made of a rather special material, resembling a soft armor covered with scales, indicating a high grade. What's even more surprising is that it's remarkably well-preserved, suggesting that this backpack is no ordinary item.