The following days grew increasingly lively as the end of the year approached.
Zhou Yan was also busy with other matters during this time, spending most of his days with his women. He hadn't accompanied them much, so he made the most of this free period, spending several wonderful days with them.
Finally, on this day, the New Year arrived.
The entire territory celebrated with great fanfare. Lords across the entire Lord Continent seemed to have quieted down during these days, either reuniting with family or celebrating with their people within their territories.
Fireworks lit up the sky above the entire territory.
From a single person to the territory's current population of a million, it had only taken a little over half a year.
As the entire territory celebrated the New Year, Zhou Yan hosted a grand banquet, celebrating with everyone in his domain.
The next day, Zhou Yan awoke early in a warm embrace.
Today was a special event, so everyone woke up early. Aside from essential personnel who remained to guard the territory, soldiers, led by their respective generals, departed the territory.
After breakfast, Zhou Yan headed straight to the Mysterious Shop. Today there was a discount card, and he wanted to see what kind of discount he could get.
He arrived at the first Mysterious Shop and obtained a New Year's discount card.
[Obtained 0.5x Discount Card]
His luck was good, to get such a low discount.
He looked at the items refreshed in the Mysterious Shop. There were five items, each different.
The first was a spiritual artifact pair of boots, the second was an RRR quality Hero Summoning Token, the third was a storage ring, the fourth was one hundred Nine-Star Space Stones, and the fifth was a Platinum quality axe, specifically for lumberjacks.
Apart from the Hero Summoning Token, which required Soul Coins, everything else was purchased with Spirit Coins.
"This discount card can be used perfectly here." Zhou Yan used the discount card and purchased the top-tier Hero Summoning Token.
He had already saved several Hero Summoning Tokens and planned to try his luck at the Hall of Heroes later.
He refreshed the Mysterious Shop and looked at the five items again.
This time, it was five blueprints.
The first blueprint surprised Zhou Yan; it was a treasure map, but a fragmented one.
Zhou Yan looked at the other blueprints and realized that all five fragmented maps belonged to the same treasure map.
Zhou Yan was quite speechless; the entire treasure map had been divided into five pieces.
After purchasing them, Zhou Yan pieced them together.
Finally, they formed a complete treasure map.
"Map of the Mysterious Ancient Kingdom," Zhou Yan said in surprise, looking at the treasure map's name.
According to historical records of the Lord Continent, over a hundred thousand years ago, a mysterious powerful individual built a settlement in a certain part of the Lord Continent. This settlement grew and prospered, eventually forming a small city, and then a small kingdom.
Because the area was rich in resources, filled with all sorts of gold, silver, jewels, exotic flora, and spiritual springs, it attracted the covetous gaze of many lords.
However, the Mysterious Ancient Kingdom at that time was incredibly powerful, possessing an army of hundreds of millions, ruling over hundreds of millions of square kilometers of land, and harboring countless powerful individuals. There were as many as several hundred Half-God realm experts alone, shocking countless lords.
But the resources there were simply too abundant, leading many lords with ulterior motives to fight over these prosperous lands.
Yet, all the lords who made a move ended in failure.
However, after over ten years of war, the emperor of the Mysterious Ancient Kingdom established a city specifically for trading with various lords, which finally quelled the conflict between the Mysterious Ancient Kingdom and the lords.
But tens of thousands of years later, the territory of the Mysterious Ancient Kingdom had expanded several times over, yet it was heading towards its demise, and the entire kingdom began to fragment.
Coupled with the opportunistic infiltration of lords from all over the world, the extinction of the Mysterious Ancient Kingdom was hastened.
But strangely, at the moment the imperial city of the Mysterious Ancient Kingdom was breached by rebel forces, it vanished.
The entire imperial city of the Mysterious Ancient Kingdom, along with all its citizens and the rebel forces within the city, disappeared from its location.
No one knew where the Mysterious Ancient Kingdom had vanished. After all, the Lord Continent was vast and boundless; searching for a single city was akin to finding a needle in a haystack.
For the next several decades, countless people searched for the imperial city of the Mysterious Ancient Kingdom daily. After all, the imperial city of the Mysterious Ancient Kingdom contained an immense fortune.
The value of that treasure was immeasurable. Anyone who could find it, Zhou Yan believed, would be willing to pay any price.
But tens of thousands of years had passed, and still, no news of the Mysterious Ancient Kingdom had surfaced. Nothing related to the Mysterious Ancient Kingdom had ever appeared on the market.
There were many other mysterious ancient kingdoms in the history of the lords, similar to the Mysterious Ancient Kingdom. However, without specific coordinates, searching for them would undoubtedly be a time-consuming endeavor.
Now, Zhou Yan had specific coordinates and a map. As long as he followed the location indicated on it, he believed he would reap great rewards.
Although Zhou Yan was not lacking in money now, who would refuse having even more?
More importantly, Zhou Yan wasn't particularly interested in the wealth of the Mysterious Ancient Kingdom, but rather its collections.
An ancient kingdom that had existed for tens of thousands of years would surely have amassed a great many rare treasures and exotic plants.
"It seems that after the New Year celebrations, I'll have to go and check this place out." Zhou Yan made his plans and put away the map.
He arrived at the second Mysterious Shop. The quality and level of this building were lower than the first Mysterious Shop, so the items it offered were not of high value.
[Obtained 0.3x Discount Card]
A 30% discount was acceptable.
Zhou Yan looked at the five items that appeared: five Diamond quality equipment pieces. He refreshed the shop, and it showed five types of materials, which Zhou Yan collected.
He glanced at the time; it was getting late. Zhou Yan decided to go out and hunt the Nian Beast first. As for summoning heroes, he would do that upon his return.
...
This time, Zhou Yan brought Da Qiao and Xiao Qiao with him. One hundred Guanghan Fairies accompanied the troops. They walked outside the territory, quietly awaiting the Nian Beast's appearance.
As for the other soldiers, they were already outside the territory, and thousands of reconnaissance aircraft were also ready.
"What does the Nian Beast look like?" Xiao Qiao, with her petite and adorable figure, like a cute loli, asked Zhou Yan curiously.
"Wait a moment." Zhou Yan opened the information and then transmitted it to Da Qiao and Xiao Qiao.
After receiving the information, the two women opened their communicators on their arms and clicked to view it. They saw a monster with a single horn, a lion-like head, two fangs, and a small clump of flames on its tail.
"Is this the Nian Beast? It looks quite fierce," the two women commented after seeing the Nian Beast's appearance.