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

He succeeded!

He set foot on the land of Zhongzhou!

Behind him, the massive vortex of stargate energy continued to rotate slowly, connecting the two worlds. But for him, it was safe for the time being.

Standing amidst the bustling crowds at Xingmen Square on the Zhongzhou side, Li Xingyao took a long, almost greedy breath of air from this other world. His highly tense nerves finally relaxed slightly, followed by a strong sense of exhaustion, but even more so, a feeling of relief at surviving a disaster and a resolute determination to face the unknown future.

The troubles on Blue Star hadn't disappeared; they'd only been temporarily left behind. He knew that, whether for Ling Fengxing's star core or for other possible reasons, certain forces would never give up easily. And Zhongzhou, this vast, mysterious new world where opportunities and dangers coexisted, would become his new battlefield and sanctuary.

Li Xingyao clenched his fist, feeling the power flowing through his body. A new journey had begun.

After leaving the vast, bustling area near the Star Gate, which constantly teemed with people and supplies, Li Xingyao's first action was to find a relatively quiet corner and quickly synchronize all the information on his personal terminal.

The Central Continent is vast and has a very unique environment, quite different from Earth. The network nodes established by humans here are only distributed in major cities and important strongholds where human activity takes place. Once outside these areas and into the wilderness, personal terminals quickly become isolated islands that can only rely on offline data.

Li Xingyao carefully sifted through the high-precision maps, detailed information on the customs of various ethnic groups, maps of the distribution of power, and vague legends circulating among explorers, caching all of it. This information would form the foundation for his survival, exploration, and even combat in this unfamiliar land.

He then carefully examined the map and began to consider his next plan. This was the Tianlong Empire region located on the Central Continent, but because its territory was so vast, the Tianlong Clan had entrusted many areas to subordinate races for management.

Li Xingyao's current location is the human's stronghold—Huaxia City, which was also the first city built. However, it is also within the jurisdiction of the Elf Kingdom. Although both are subordinate races, the Elf race is much stronger than the human race.

Therefore, although humans have several cities in the Tianlong Empire, they are scattered far and wide. Li Xingyao's finger swept across the screen, his gaze calmly assessing the situation. This area is ultimately within the reach of the Huaxia Federation's influence; it is not yet a safe place.

He couldn't be sure how far the forces tracking the Transcendent Star Core could extend. But as a precaution, Li Xingyao had to leave the area of ​​normal human activity before he was able to protect himself, and any means of transportation that might expose his whereabouts and be traceable should be avoided.

He first looked around at the other cities of the Elf Kingdom. Due to the characteristics of the Elf race, these cities had better "security," but because of this, there wasn't much of a way for Li Xingyao to quickly improve. Afterward, he searched for a while and finally found a suitable place: the barbarian tribes' territory, where wars frequently occurred, and war meant soul power.

Li Xingyao's gaze finally settled on the southwest direction. On the map, that area was marked as the "Kalando Plateau," a vast and ancient region. According to information obtained from the Tianlong Empire's public database, it was relatively rich in resources, producing minerals, spiritual herbs, and even some unique star energy crystals, as well as a wide variety of star beasts.

More importantly, it was the territory ruled by barbarian tribes, with human forces only establishing a few small trading posts on the very periphery. Relationships between the various city-states and races were complex and fraught with frequent friction. This chaos made it the most suitable destination for Li Xingyao at the moment.

Having determined his destination, Li Xingyao prepared to leave this human "base camp." He opened the city's transportation system interface, where a screen listed various options for leaving the border city. There were regularly departing armed escort caravans, rentals of various vehicle models, and even flying mount services to specific destinations.

In Central Continent, the technology tree familiar to humans is not universally applicable. Environmental differences and the active stellar energy in the atmosphere can interfere with precision components and even cause certain localized, implicit repulsion, making it impossible to build many of Earth's cutting-edge facilities here, or significantly reducing their effectiveness.

Transportation is one of them. Although vehicles are available, long-distance resupply is difficult, and the complex terrain of Central Plains, especially the repair and maintenance after a battle, greatly limits their operational radius and reliability.

While vehicles based on stellar energy technology do exist here, their extremely high price limits their widespread use. For most professionals, long-distance travel requires either relying on large pack animals and flying mounts with excellent endurance and adaptability, or simply on their own professional characteristics.

"My own cultivation cannot stop, and the acquisition of soul power is even more crucial." After confirming his destination, Li Xingyao began to think about how to quickly improve his strength, his fingers unconsciously tapping the outer shell of the terminal.

Aside from soul power, given his current level and strength as an advanced professional, the fastest way to improve is naturally to find a star core with high-level spiritual attributes, or even rarer, a death-type star core that perfectly matches his necromancer profession.

However, the latter is rare and hard to come by. Death-type star beasts mostly gather in places with special environments, such as ancient battlefields or forbidden zones shrouded by the laws of death. Not only are the journeys dangerous, but there are also rumors of Saint-level creatures appearing there. It is definitely not a place he can easily set foot in at this stage.

As a second-best option, a high-quality mental star core is currently the most realistic goal, as it can greatly enhance his total mental energy, mental energy recovery speed, as well as the power and control precision of his telekinesis.

Moreover, once he masters advanced skills, the skill boost from the Star Core can elevate his personal combat power by several levels.

After making some simple plans, Li Xingyao began to choose his mode of transportation. Excluding caravans and expensive flying star beasts, that left only renting vehicles.

Li Xingyao first purchased sufficient supplies at a comprehensive supply point in the city. Then, he rented a mid-to-high-performance off-road motorcycle.

He rode his motorcycle away from the increasingly noisy outskirts of the city, filled with adventurers and merchants. The vehicle rolled over the increasingly rough earth, heading deeper into the desolate wilderness. The scenery on both sides gradually transformed from scattered shrubs and man-made landscapes into an endless sea of ​​trees.

Only when the outline of the city behind him completely blurred and finally disappeared below the horizon did Li Xingyao slowly reduce the speed of the car and stop behind a relatively hidden earthen slope.

He turned off the engine, got out of the car, took a deep breath of the slightly hot air, and carefully sensed his surroundings. After confirming that there were no abnormal energy fluctuations or spying, he sank his consciousness into the realm of the dead.

"Flamemer, come out," he called out telepathically.

The next moment, a massive shadow suddenly fell, covering a large area of ​​grassland. The legendary bone dragon's enormous body, stretching forty-five meters, silently descended upon this grassland. It impatiently twisted its long neck, the cervical vertebrae emitting a faint yet piercing grinding sound, like the cracking of ice.

Looking at the bone dragon in front of him, Li Xingyao began to prepare to persuade or deceive it, because it was the most suitable "vehicle" for Li Xingyao.

"Master, what are your orders?" Flamel's mental fluctuations directly entered Li Xingyao's mind, carrying a hint of languor as if he had just been awakened.

Li Xingyao patted the motorcycle beside him lightly. "This mode of transportation is too slow. I need something faster. I'll have to rely on you for the rest of the journey." His face revealed a well-hidden plea and expectation.

"On the move? You want to ride me?" Flamel's soul fire surged suddenly, conveying a clear sense of resistance and offended pride. In its previous life, it had been the guardian of the Northern Glaciers, and this demand made it feel that its dignity and pride had been hurt.

"Ahem, there's nothing we can do about it, Flamel. It's very dangerous here, and I need your protection. You're too big to protect me while we're traveling, so merging into one is the most convenient option."

Li Xingyao remained expressionless and began to explain the current problem. "I urgently need to improve my strength, which is crucial for both of us. Think about the soul power you need for your evolution, so reaching our destination as soon as possible is good for both of us." He paused, then threw out the key bait, "...If the plan goes smoothly, you'll soon be able to advance to the mid-stage of the Legendary realm. Just imagine that scenario."

Flamel's soul fire flickered erratically for a while, as if weighing the gains and losses, before finally letting out a low dragon roar, filled with a sense of helpless frustration. It reluctantly lowered its massive dragon head.

"Alright, you've convinced me. Come on." Li Xingyao's face lit up with an excited smile. He leaped up and landed lightly on the dragon's head, finding a flat spot between the two enormous horns. He then took out a car seat he had prepared beforehand from the outside of his backpack and secured it to the end of the dragon's horns.

Flamel watched Li Xingyao's movements above his head and felt that he had been prepared for this all along, or rather, he had planned to ride him all along!

Another loud dragon roar echoed, this time carrying a hint of exasperation. "Hold on tight! If you fall, my claws won't be gentle!"

It gave a curt, impatient reminder. The next moment, its powerful hind legs slammed into the ground, its massive wings whipping up a violent downward gust of air, kicking up a cloud of grass and dust. Its enormous body carried Li Xingyao straight up into the sky!

A powerful push suddenly surged through him, and Li Xingyao felt his body sink, only to be lifted by a tremendous force, rapidly ascending like an arrow. The forest below shrank rapidly, the scenery turning into blurry blocks of color that rushed past.

The fierce winds from high above rushed towards him like a solid wall, but were quietly diverted by the invisible telekinetic barrier that Li Xingyao subconsciously conjured. Only the whistling wind swept past the barrier, but his clothes remained completely still.