"My Lord."
Aid and Bolin were summoned by the guards.
"Bolin."
Lei Luo looked at Bolin and went straight to the point.
"Moonlight went out these past few days and discovered a hidden cave with Thunder Grass on the west side of the Black Stone Mountain Range, guarded by a second-tier Thunder Horned Beast. Take a team of Pegasus Knights, bring back the Thunder Grass and the Thunder Horned Beast's corpse, and hand them over to Karl for processing. The Thunder Horned Beast is skilled in lightning, so be careful."
Bolin was experienced, and Lei Luo believed he could handle a second-tier magical beast with a team of Pegasus Knights.
"Yes, My Lord!"
Bolin did not hesitate at all, agreeing readily.
Then, Lei Luo turned to Aid.
"Aid, come with me. Moonlight found a patch of bone strengthening grass in an unnamed valley about one hundred kilometers northwest of the territory. The trouble is there are some Petrification Lizards living in the valley. Take a team of Pegasus Knights with you."
"Yes, My Lord!"
Aid accepted the order.
Moonlight was basking in the warm sun on the desk, completely unaware of how many responsibilities his owner had placed on him.
Lei Luo's intelligence system could not be spoken of externally, so he basically attributed all these clues to Moonlight.
Aid and the others were a bit surprised at first, but as more and more strange things happened to Moonlight, they no longer found it strange.
Bolin turned and left. Soon, the sound of Pegasus wings flapping through the air came from outside the castle, and a team of knights turned into black dots, disappearing into the western sky.
Lei Luo and Aid also quickly completed their preparations.
In addition to ten elite Pegasus Knights, the team also had several special pieces of equipment: five highly polished, half-human-tall copper mirrors.
"Depart!"
With Lei Luo's command, eleven Pegasus took to the sky, galloping towards the northwest.
High in the sky, the wind howled.
The Pegasus were extremely fast, and the scenery below rapidly receded.
Lei Luo overlooked his territory: the nascent Blackstone Town, the castle under construction, and the winding mountains and forests further in the distance. A surge of ambition rose in his heart.
Upon reaching the Black Stone Mountain Range, following the directions from the intelligence, they searched in the air for over an hour.
"My Lord, look down!"
A sharp-eyed knight suddenly pointed towards a continuous stretch of hills below.
Lei Luo concentrated his gaze and saw that, indeed, nestled within the surrounding mountains, there was an inconspicuous valley entrance. It would be extremely difficult to spot unless viewed from high in the sky.
The valley entrance was densely vegetated, exuding a deep, secluded aura.
"This should be it," Lei Luo judged. "Descend! Land outside the valley and enter on foot."
Pegasus were valuable strategic resources, and Lei Luo did not want them to risk being caught by the Petrification Lizards' gaze and suffer losses.
The knights skillfully maneuvered their Pegasus to land on a gentle slope several hundred meters from the valley entrance.
Leaving two knights to guard the Pegasus, Lei Luo led Aid and the other knights towards the valley entrance.
The closer they got to the valley, the more a faint, musty smell seemed to permeate the air.
The trees inside the valley were unusually thick, with intertwining vines, and the light was significantly dimmer.
Everyone proceeded cautiously, their footsteps making soft rustling sounds on the thick layer of fallen leaves.
The knights held their shields in one hand and their weapons tightly in the other, vigilantly observing their surroundings.
The soldiers carrying the copper mirrors walked in the middle of the team, equally not daring to be careless in the slightest.
"Hiss..."
Suddenly, a spine-chilling hiss erupted from the bushes to their front-left!
Immediately after, a grayish beam of light shot out without warning towards the two knights walking at the very front!
"Careful!"
Aid shouted sharply.
The two knights reacted extremely quickly, instantly raising the kite shields in their hands.
The shields in the knights' hands quickly became covered with a grayish-white stony luster, transforming into heavy stone shields.
"Mirrors!"
Aid reacted even faster, roaring.
The two knights nearby immediately raised a copper mirror, blocking the front of the team.
A bizarre scene unfolded.
The gray petrifying light shone on the smooth mirror surface, as if refracted, and shot towards the nearby rock wall.
With a hiss, a large section of the rock wall's surface rapidly petrified, and loose stones crumbled down.
The bushes rustled, and a lizard nearly three meters long, covered in rock-like scales, suddenly darted out!
It had thick limbs and a triangular head with a pair of cloudy, vertical pupils glinting with cold light—it was a Petrification Lizard!
"Flank! Aid!" Lei Luo shouted.
That instantaneous response had already attracted the Petrification Lizard's full attention; its gaze was fixed on the reflective copper mirror.
Aid moved!
His figure, like an arrow released from a bowstring, lunged out from the side!
As a third-tier Earth Knight, his speed and strength far surpassed these second-tier magical beasts.
"Break!"
Aid let out a low roar, and the ancient-looking spear in his hand glowed with an earthy yellow aura, its tip gathering a terrifying sharpness.
The Petrification Lizard sensed a fatal threat and twisted its thick neck, trying to turn its gaze towards Aid.
But Aid's speed was too fast!
Pfft!
The spear pierced with extreme precision into the relatively soft gap between the Petrification Lizard's neck scales, and immense power erupted instantly!
The spear tip emerged from the other side, bringing out a spray of dark green, foul-smelling blood.
The Petrification Lizard's massive body suddenly stiffened, the fierce light in its eyes rapidly dimmed, and it crashed to the ground, twitching a few times before becoming motionless.
The knights breathed a sigh of relief; turning into stone was quite terrifying.
"Don't be careless, the intelligence said there's more than one!"
Lei Luo reminded them, while also signaling the knights to prepare the other mirrors, forming a simple defensive circle.
Sure enough, the death of the first Petrification Lizard seemed to alarm its companions.
Soon, two more Petrification Lizards emerged from different directions, their cold gazes sweeping over the invaders.
With the first experience, the knights were no longer flustered.
They used the copper mirrors to attract the Petrification Lizards' attention, constantly changing positions and disrupting their vision.
Meanwhile, Aid moved like a ghost along the edge of the battlefield, searching for the optimal moment to attack.
"Over here!"
A knight shouted, using a mirror to draw away a lizard's gaze.
Aid seized the opportunity and launched another surprise attack!
The Armor-Piercing Spear was like a venomous snake striking, accurately hitting its target!
Pfft!
Pfft!
With two more muffled thuds, the second and third Petrification Lizards also met their demise.
Aid's spear struck like a dragon, and he even managed to dodge a hastily fired petrifying beam from another lizard, appearing to be at ease.
"Are there any more?"
Aid flicked the blood from the tip of his spear, looking around.
After waiting for a moment, silence returned to the valley, and no new Petrification Lizards appeared.
After passing through a dense forest, the view ahead suddenly opened up.
A relatively flat valley appeared before them. In the center of the valley, some impossibly large bones were vaguely visible scattered on the ground. Although most were buried by soil and vegetation, one could still feel the ancient sense of vicissitude emanating from them.
And near these giant skeletons, a patch of peculiar plants grew.
They were about half a meter tall, with sturdy stems that were a healthy emerald green. Their leaves were thick, with fine serrations along the edges, faintly exuding a vibrant aura.
"bone strengthening grass!" A knight's eyes lit up.
Lei Luo also stepped forward and observed carefully.
These bone strengthening grass plants were growing exceptionally well, clearly having absorbed the essence released from the giant skeletons, combined with the unique environment of the place, to grow here.
"Start picking, be careful not to damage the roots and stems. Don't touch the immature seedlings; this will be our herb garden from now on," Lei Luo instructed.
Half of the knights held copper mirrors and stood guard around them, while the remaining knights immediately got to work, carefully pulling up the mature bone strengthening grass by the roots, shaking off excess soil, and then packing them into prepared cloth bags.
Soon, they had picked three large bags full, totaling fifty to sixty bone strengthening grass plants.
"That's enough, quit while we're ahead."
Lei Luo ordered them to stop picking.
"Aid, remember this location. We'll send people to harvest regularly from now on."