He asked Chen Qingzhi to bring people back first because he wanted to take them to the [Trial Secret Realm].
It would have been best to take the God of War Bai Qi, but he didn't know when Bai Qi would be able to come out of the [Inheritance Divine Hall]. So, he decided to take a group of people to explore a secret realm first to see what the situation was like.
Since there were so many secret realms, he first needed to investigate what was inside them.
He also needed to make preparations for heading to the secret realm in the coming days. After all, he would be gone for many days, and many things needed to be explained clearly.
A few days later, his Source Stones were finally cleared.
He obtained many advanced materials.
Many materials were very precious, and some were things he had never seen before.
Even several eggs were hatched. Although he didn't know what kind of eggs they were, they wouldn't be too bad.
He handed them over to Diao Chan and the others to incubate.
They also discovered that placing these eggs in energy-rich areas or soaking them directly in some spiritual liquids could accelerate their hatching speed.
Zhou Yan didn't lack these spiritual liquids, so he poured a large vat of spiritual liquid for each of them and placed the eggs inside.
They could feel the life fluctuations in the eggs rapidly strengthening, and they believed the eggs would hatch soon.
Afterward, he began to upgrade the buildings in the territory that could be upgraded.
The level of the [Trial Secret Realm] also increased to level 80.
Two more secret realms were added.
[Special Attribute Seven: Forest of Glory (After the secret realm is opened, it lasts for 8 days. Entry limit: 1000 people. Cooldown period: seven years.)]
[Special Attribute Eight: Canyon of Spirits (After the secret realm is opened, it lasts for 8 days. Entry limit: 1000 people. Cooldown period: eight years.)]
As the level of the [Trial Secret Realm] increased, the number of people in the first Storm Secret Realm increased to 8,000, and the cooldown period decreased to one year.
It was estimated that with further upgrades, they could enter once every few months.
He had already requested a ten-day leave from the Head Instructor Yang Junming, so spending eight days in the secret realm was not a problem at all.
As for the daily tasks in the territory, he had already arranged for others to do them, so he didn't need to do them himself.
The only loss was eight days of Soul Coins that he would have obtained by signing in at the [Three Lives Stone].
Since his level was already maxed out, he didn't care about that.
Chen Qingzhi had brought people back yesterday, and then he gathered another 8,000 people from the territory and set off towards the first [Storm Secret Realm].
Because they didn't know if the territory's [Treasure Vault] function could be used in the secret realm, they carried enough food and water to ensure they had ample energy for the eight days.
The main personnel this time, besides Chen Qingzhi, were Diao Chan, Zhen Mi, Sun Shangxiang, Cai Yan, and Nie Xiaoqian.
[Trial Secret Realm] prompt: "Do you want to teleport into the [Storm Secret Realm]? After entering the Storm Secret Realm, you can stay for eight days. Once the time is up, you will be teleported back."
"Yes," Zhou Yan replied.
With a flash of light, Zhou Yan and 8,000 soldiers arrived in the [Storm Secret Realm].
What met their eyes was a world of yellow earth.
It was a desert world, with no buildings in sight. The entire world was a desert.
Moreover, strong winds howled around them, kicking up wave after wave of yellow sand.
The environment of this [Storm Secret Realm] was not to their liking.
"Everyone, be vigilant. Form teams of twenty and explore the desert," Chen Qingzhi ordered.
The soldiers quickly got to work, forming teams of twenty and spreading out across the desert.
Not long after, they saw a team of soldiers ahead being attacked by monsters.
A giant monster emerged from beneath the yellow sand, attempting to swallow the soldiers whole.
It was a bug-like monster, long and disgusting, with sharp teeth exposed in its gaping maw.
[Monster: Sand Worm]
[Quality: Elite]
[Race: Sandworm]
[Level: 60]
[Special: Burrow]
A level 60 elite was not very strong.
Facing the sudden appearance of the monster, the soldiers did not panic at all. They formed a battle formation of a hundred men, and instead of retreating, they charged towards the monster.
With a beam of light piercing through the monster's body, it collapsed onto the desert.
Afterward, several items appeared next to the monster; it had dropped loot.
The soldiers picked them up and brought them to Zhou Yan, saying, "Lord, these are the items the monster dropped."
Zhou Yan examined the items.
A six-star quality crystal core, a piece of six-star quality ore, and, crucially, one hundred Soul Coins.
That's right, these Soul Coins didn't need to be opened from a treasure chest; they were dropped directly.
"Lord, this monster can actually drop materials, and even Soul Coins directly. This secret realm is truly excellent," Diao Chan remarked.
"These three items are all high-grade. I didn't expect such a harvest," Zhen Mi said happily.
"These are good things!" Sun Shangxiang also chimed in.
Zhou Yan nodded and said, "We can't determine the drop rate of these items yet. We'll need to kill more monsters to find out."
Just then, they saw something in the distance in the desert that seemed to be approaching them.
Chen Qingzhi saw it and shouted, "Prepare for battle!"
The surrounding soldiers immediately formed a battle formation, enclosing Zhou Yan and the others in a large circle.
Before long, the monsters approached the soldiers. Without exception, they burrowed out of the ground and lunged towards the soldiers to bite them.
Apart from their large size, this was their only move.
The monsters the soldiers had faced before were much stronger than these. They didn't even need to form a battle formation. Two or three soldiers would draw their weapons and unleash a skill at the monster.
With a single blow, the monster was cut into several pieces.
Then, two more items dropped: an earth-attribute crystal and Soul Coins. This time, no ore was dropped.
As the monsters in other areas were also killed, they all brought their dropped items to Zhou Yan.
"It seems these monsters will definitely drop earth-attribute crystal cores and Soul Coins after they die. And each drop yields around one hundred Soul Coins. Not bad."
Zhou Yan hadn't expected the secret realm to offer such rewards. Unfortunately, they could only hunt here for eight days. Once the time was up, they would be teleported out.
After the wave of hunting, the monsters stopped appearing.
Zhou Yan said to Chen Qingzhi, "This desert is so vast, there must be many monsters. We should split up to hunt more monsters. Let's go our separate ways."
"Lord, I'll assign a team to protect you," Chen Qingzhi offered.
"Alright, not too many people, ten should be enough." Zhou Yan said.
"Ten people is too few. I'll assign a hundred," Chen Qingzhi insisted.
"No need. If we encounter monsters that even I can't deal with, more people won't help. Ten people are sufficient," Zhou Yan said with great confidence.
"Very well."
Chen Qingzhi then selected ten agile soldiers and instructed them, "You ten will be responsible for the daily lives of the Lord and his party."
"Yes!"
These ten soldiers were very happy. Being entrusted with the care of the Lord's daily life was a sign of trust.
Thus, Zhou Yan parted ways with Chen Qingzhi and the others.
Chen Qingzhi began to divide his forces into groups of twenty and dispatched them to search for monsters throughout the desert.
It's worth mentioning that in this secret realm, items could also be directly collected from the [Treasure Vault]. If anything was needed, they could take it out directly from here, which was very convenient.