Traveling southwest from Lalbagh Stronghold, they crossed Yan Yang Desert and the Barren Sand Dunes. After two hours, they reached Whirlwind Basin, which was still two hours away from Purgatory Fortress. At this point, they had entered the territory of the five Sultanate nations—the Tangrus Guild.
Purgatory Fortress was a gateway into the central region. From there, heading west would lead to Sanyou Weimen's Japanese territory.
Heading southwest led not only to the five Sultanate nations, but also to four nations including America, the five Polish nations farther away, and countries such as Austria.
If someone had a complete map of the New Continent, they would see that its central region somewhat resembled Africa on Earth.
Vast stretches of the central region were covered by deserts and rainforests. It was an incredibly magical place. Endless desert might lie ahead, while dense rainforest stretched behind them. It could be sunny in the morning and pour with rain in the afternoon.
Most beautiful of all, rainbows could be seen in the sky at any time throughout the central region, even in the desert. There were also mirages. Some were fake, but others were secret realms, including many special secret realms where antiques could be found.
Lu Yang suspected that the Thorn Birds Organization was currently in the central region. Why else would the five central nations have such a good relationship with the Thorn Birds Organization and tolerate Alice occupying the truce zone between Lu Yang and the Eight Nation Alliance as a buffer? Most likely, the Thorn Birds had made a secret deal with the five central nations. They would help the major guilds clear secret realms, while the guilds would help them establish a super guild capable of rivaling the Iron Blood Brotherhood.
Although this was only Lu Yang's speculation,