As the army marched onward, yellow sand from the northwestern frontier blotted out the sky.
Lin Qiye rode alongside the supply cart carrying Wu Quan, moving forward with the armored soldiers around him.
Wu Quan was now wrapped in a thick cocoon of vines, lying silently atop the cart. According to the white-haired elder with a healing Forbidden Ruin, his ability could accelerate Wu Quan's recovery to the greatest extent possible.
Once the cocoon broke, Wu Quan would be fully healed.
Judging from the cracks gradually spreading across the cocoon's surface, Wu Quan was not far from waking up.
Besides Wu Quan, someone else lay on the supply cart: Gongyang Wan, whom Lin Qiye had knocked unconscious.
More than half a day had passed since she fainted, yet she still showed no signs of waking, as if she were dead.
"My Lord, that female prisoner..." The scholar Yan Zhong glanced at the cart and could not help reminding Huo Qubing.
"Leave her alone." Huo Qubing spoke calmly as he rode. "Let her keep pretending. I want to see whether she can still keep it up once we reach the gates of Chang'an."
"As expected of you, My Lord. No matter how capable that female prisoner is, she cannot escape your grasp." Deputy General Zhan Yuwu sighed.
Yan Zhong frowned as he looked into the distance, his expression gradually turning grave.
"My Lord, the wind is getting stronger. It seems to be coming from the northern desert... I fear a sandstorm is coming."
"We are already some distance from the desert. Can a sandstorm reach this far?" Zhan Yuwu asked.
"I am not sure either. But to be safe, we should find somewhere to make camp first. If the sandstorm is not too severe, we can continue afterward."
"There is no