Western Desert...
The gale beat against them, yellow sand rolling in waves as a camel caravan struggled across the desolate desert.
"My heavens, we're finally going back to Sand Wolf City." Among the camel caravan, Peng Da wore a face full of exhaustion as he sighed.
On a camel beside him sat the Gu Master Mo Li. Looking at Peng Da, he teased, "Kid, that's not what you were thinking when we first set out."
Peng Da's face grew slightly warm. When Mo Li had first organized the caravan, he had been tremendously excited, believing that adventure would be extremely thrilling.
But after making several trading runs, Peng Da had fully realized just how naive he had once been. In this world, trade caravans were not only difficult and fraught with immense danger, but also utterly exhausting. The journey was bitterly hard; one careless misstep, and one's life would be delayed forever in the merciless, boundless desert.
Yet Peng Da's sigh stirred resonance among the other Gu Masters in the caravan.
"Yes, we're going home again."
"This time, we didn't encounter any danger during the trade run, but it was still truly exhausting. Once I'm back, I'm going to take a proper bath."
"I can barely wait to go have a drink at the tavern, hahahaha."
Mo Li smiled faintly. He thought of his wife, as well as his son, who had changed greatly of late. His son had been selected for intensive cultivation; truly, when a prodigal son turned back, gold could not buy the change.
All of this beauty had given Mo Li newfound hope and the drive to live. No matter how arduous trade travel was, he could still find joy within it.
"Wait, something's wrong!" The Gu Master in charge of scouting at the very front