Yin Province Mirage Pavilion

"Was the white-hatted man who was giving orders to the Patrollers and Order Guardians earlier at the Azure Haze level?" Wu Hen asked.

That man looked quite strong, and in the face of the moving mountain of locusts, he had actually been able to disperse them single-handedly!

"Yes, he counts as the first tier of our human race, but he's still a long way off from true Heavenly Radiance. Give this lady some time, and I'll surpass him soon enough," Ming Yi said with unusual confidence.

"What about me? Can you take a look at my Crown and tell me what level it's roughly at?" Wu Hen also puffed out his chest, eager to receive some recognition.

"Firefly Glow, obviously. Do you even need to ask? You've only just been born as a Desolate Dust lifeform. Even if your true soul realm is high, it will still take some time for it to fully manifest," Ming Yi said.

"Oh, I see..." Wu Hen scratched his head. He had thought that since his Xiao Yi had evolved into Jade Profound Silk, he would at least be on the same level as these Pioneers.

"Don't be discouraged. When I get the chance, I'll get you another Yuan You supplement to help you reach Night Gloom as soon as possible. You're the first little apprentice I've ever taken in; I can't let you be mistreated!" Ming Yi said.

"Many thanks, beautiful little master," Wu Hen said.

"Little Wu, the reason we recruited you isn't because we value your combat power, but because we need your hearing..." Finally, Captain Qin, who could no longer hold back, spoke up.

He didn't dare lecture Ming Yi, so he had to address Wu Hen instead.

Wu Hen understood immediately; he hadn't been brought here to be Ming Yi's plaything.

Hearing was a relatively rare trait among Awakened. From his conversations with Ming Yi along the way, Wu Hen knew that not all human Awakened had reached a transformative level of perception; some were simply one or two times stronger than the average person.

Wu Hen's hearing, however, had already ascended to ten times that of a human, which Ming Yi called a Tier 2 auditory sense.

Basically, no abnormal movement in the surroundings could escape his ears.

"There is no situation for the time being," Wu Hen replied with certainty.

"Is that so? Isn't it a bit too quiet?" Captain Qin, on the contrary, became somewhat uneasy.

"Too quiet" didn't mean there were no sounds around them. The gnawing and crawling of those locusts were actually like the roar of a massive tsunami.

But in Wu Hen's hearing, this was considered "white noise" and not an abnormal sound. As long as the Soul Crown on their group continued to shine, they wouldn't be attacked.

"Captain, something isn't right," the one-eyed cool girl suddenly said.

"There's nothing in front of us," Captain Qin said, puzzled.

"Our Crowns are dimming," the one-eyed cool girl said seriously.

"How is that possible?" the White Peacock Man exclaimed in shock.

Ming Yi realized something at that moment as well. She closed her eyes and began to sense her own power.

It was just as the one-eyed cool girl had said; she could clearly feel her power waning!

"Look around you..." the Pale Thin Man suddenly pointed toward the other sand dunes.

Above those locust sand dunes, one figure after another appeared. They lined up in a long procession, like a group of believers on their way to worship at the Holy Temple. Yet, each of them had hollow eyes and stiff movements, essentially no different from the Lost Ones!

Within these long, winding lines of pilgrims, there were also many Nuwa People who had been bewitched by the Evil Breath.

Although the Order Guardians were setting up perimeters in the Pure Land, they still could not completely block the pervasive Evil Breath. More and more people were inexplicably stepping out of the Pure Land and walking toward this terrifying desert!

They were all walking in the same direction, eventually crossing over a massive, towering sand dune!

"There must be something behind that giant sand dune. They are all heading there," said the One-Eyed Sister.

"The entire Locust Evil Degree will consume our Soul Crown. The longer we stay here, the more we revert to the mortal realm. When that happens, we will be gnawed into white bones by these Otherworld Locusts..." Captain Qin made a swift judgment.

Every Evil Soil and Evil Degree has its own internal laws. No matter what level of strength outsiders or those who wander in by mistake have reached, they will be eroded bit by bit!

"In other words, our lives have entered a countdown in an hourglass?" Wu Hen offered a fitting analogy.

"Is it possible that while we think we are exploring, we are actually walking toward a specific destination just like those Lost Ones?" the Pale Thin Man said.

This sentence sent a chill through all seven members of the Patroller squad!

It was true. The sand dunes were continuous, each one extremely similar to the last, and there were no reference points at all. Why were they so certain they were heading deeper? One had to realize that after stepping out of the Pure Land, the surroundings were essentially just sand dunes. Could they truly be sure that the direction behind them was still the Pure Land?

"Everyone, do not waste your crowns. Stay close to each other and rely on your companions' crowns to move forward!" Captain Qin said.

"Make sure not to get separated. A single person's crown cannot last long!"

At this moment, the Spirit Crown within their bodies was like a torch, illuminating a limited area in the cold, dark desert.

Once the torch burned out, the beasts that feared the light would swarm them, and the squad would be wiped out in an instant!

Therefore, with everyone holding a torch that would eventually burn out, the wisest choice was to huddle together and take turns using their Spirit Crowns.

Only in this way could they ensure their time spent walking and surviving within the Locust Evil Degree was extended!

Wu Hen tried to listen, wanting to hear what exactly was behind the giant sand dune.

But there was no sound. He did not know if it was truly dead silent there, or if it was an existence that his spiritual senses could not perceive!

After taking turns using their Spirit Crowns, Captain Qin soon discovered another problem.

The recovery speed of the Spirit Crowns was extremely slow. There must be a high-level Evil Breath in this Evil Degree that suppressed the Awakened, and none of the people in their squad could detect it with their spiritual senses.

Therefore, to a certain extent, they had also been infected.

Right now, they had no choice but to do as everyone else who had been dominated: head toward the back of that giant sand dune.

But as life entered a collective countdown, a haze was destined to shroud every heart. Even Ming Yi, who had always been relatively lively and cheerful, became serious and focused.

The crowd was larger than imagined.

It seemed that it wasn't just the people from the Nuwa Pure Land; the indigenous people of the desolate dust and the Lost Ones were all walking toward the back of the massive sand dune...

Unlike the feeling Wu Hen had previously received from the guidance of the Nuwa Divine Terminal, this guidance felt more like a command—a decree that crushed one's ability to think. Any hint of doubt or defiance would result in one's spirit being lashed!

Wu Hen was also greatly shocked. Even back in Zai Wu's territory, he had never been subjected to such overbearing contamination!

The vast, moving procession had already formed a long, marching dragon across dozens of locust sand dunes. Although they were all living people, there was no communication between them, as if they were citizens of an evil kingdom whose thoughts had been completely wiped away, all participating in an evil imperial ceremony!

Among the tens of thousands of people, it wasn't as if there weren't those with strong willpower.

They would also resist and struggle.

But once they made a "contrary move," the countless Otherworld Locusts beneath their feet would crawl onto them, and then, in full view of everyone, gnaw them clean...

The most terrifying part was that once only a white skeleton remained, those Otherworld Locusts would burrow into the bone marrow of the corpse, then mimic the appearance of a walking person, step by step, continuing to walk toward the back of that giant sand dune!

Thus, within the massive human procession, an extremely grotesque and eerie scene was displayed before the world: among every few dozen people, there were one or two walking skeletons!

What exactly was behind the sand dune?

Arriving might mean death.

But even if you died, you would definitely arrive!

"The Awakened shouldn't just be us. If possible, we should group up with them and share the Corona," Captain Qin said, his mind working quickly as he proposed this plan immediately.

In the desolate dust, the Evil Soil and Evil Degree both followed certain "Otherworld Laws." If one could cleverly find the patterns and perceive the essence in advance, there was still a great chance of breaking free...

Breaking this Otherworld Law required ample time for insight and thought, and Captain Qin knew very well how to maximize the team's survival rate!

"I'll activate my spiritual sense to see who else is using a Corona like us," the one-eyed woman said.

With that, the one-eyed woman actually removed her eyepatch, revealing another eye that looked like a Flower Crystal. As this eye swept across the long procession, a state similar to smoke quickly appeared on everyone.

The vast majority of people were shrouded in a black aura.

But soon, she noticed that about a hill's distance away from them, there was another team of about thirteen or fourteen people, their bodies radiating a Night Gloom-level Corona.

"They haven't realized that their Corona is fading yet," the one-eyed woman said.

"We'll slow our pace in a moment and try our best to group up with them," Captain Qin nodded.

No matter how slow they were, the group eventually arrived at the top of the giant sand dune.

Standing at the high vantage point and looking down along the magnificent sand slope, the seven of them wore expressions of deep confusion.

In that vast sandy basin, there was only a single building silhouette. From a distance, it looked like a temporary ancient set built for a film studio; it truly did not emit even a trace of a terrifying aura.

However, people had already walked into the desert building silhouette, and they had vanished into that solitary structure...

The building silhouette was not grand or massive. At the very least, hundreds of people had stepped inside, yet it remained deathly silent and empty. Not a single living soul could be seen!

"Could this be Yin Province?" At this moment, someone from the other group of over a dozen Awakened spoke up.

It was evident that even the Patrollers of the Nuwa Divine Terminal actually knew very little about the desolate dust. Conversely, it was this group of outsiders who recognized it!

"What is Yin Province?" Wu Hen asked, not afraid to show his ignorance, fully embracing his social anxiety.

"Huh, you can speak human language? Are you an Awakened too?" the man who had just spoken asked.

"There are oases in the desert, which are known as states of life. By the same token, there are ghost markets and Mirage Pavilions in the desert; this is also known as Yin Province."