Black Sand

Chen Beixun, suspended in mid-air, let his gaze wander before choosing to land in the world below, his three guards following closely behind.

Thud!

Four large craters were instantly smashed into the ground, sending dark purple dust spraying into the air.

Chen Beixun leaned down, grabbed a handful of grit, and said in confusion, "The sand was black the last time I was here."

"Where have we ended up now?" Chen Beixun frowned, then looked up to survey his surroundings. Under his guidance, the Demon Island Vine emerged from his World Ring. At this moment, the Demon Island Vine resembled a scarlet ball of flesh; the 'ball' writhed across Chen Beixun's arm before sinking into his alloy armor, forming a protective layer inside.

Ding—

Chen Beixun opened his map projection and discovered that this area was not on the map at all.

The World Lord World created by a World Lord is vast and boundless; it is normal not to be able to pinpoint one's location immediately. After all, this World Lord World had been discovered less than thirty years ago.

"This is a bit troublesome." Chen Beixun closed the map, and with a thought, the Gold Cloud Shuttle appeared before him. He stepped onto it, transformed into a streak of light, and flew away, with his three guards trailing behind.

"The last time I came, I was teleported directly to a spot not far from the World Castle," Chen Beixun recalled.

Influenced by the gravity and air resistance of the World Lord World, Chen Beixun's spiritual force detection range was significantly reduced.

"When I was at the Star Level, the gravity here limited my spiritual force detection to only 200 meters. Now, it's about 50,000 meters," Chen Beixun compared.

The gap between the Star Level and the Universe Level is quite significant.

Swish! Swish! Swish! Screech!

Four golden rays of light flew rapidly over the sand dunes.

"Damn it." Chen Beixun frowned and thought to himself, Why is my speed slowing down the further I fly?

He suddenly felt an inexplicable sense of pressure.

"There's a problem!" Chen Beixun ordered. "Everyone, stop!"

The four figures stopped in unison, as if a pause button had been pressed.

"What are your orders, Your Highness?" a tall guard asked.

"Retrace our steps. Something is wrong!" Chen Beixun said.

The four figures suddenly erupted with heaven-shaking momentum, flying away so fast that they left behind trails of afterimages!

"Not bad," Qishan said with some surprise. "I was about to tell you to stop, but I didn't expect you to beat me to it."

Chen Beixun had sensed something amiss the moment his speed began to lag, but this was merely a normal occurrence.

"It's too strange. Could there be a gravitational field ahead?"

"Going by my intuition, if there really is a gravitational field, it should be to the left of our original position."

"It must have appeared suddenly; otherwise, how could Qishan have failed to detect it?"

Chen Beixun was deeply puzzled.

A gravitational field is a spatial depression effect produced by matter in space, which can attract other matter. Simply put, if you place a large iron ball on a plane (metaphorically, space), the weight of the iron ball causes the plane to sag, and any object passing by will slide into it.

"What on earth is this!" Chen Beixun couldn't help but feel confused, then asked, "Qishan, have you figured out the source?"

Qishan replied, "I've found it. It's caused by a black sphere with a diameter of 20 meters. The gravity it generates is enough to tear a Universe Level 9 expert to shreds!"

"Judging by the scale of these sand dunes, there are probably millions more underneath."

"However, most are wrapped in golden cubes; only a very few have appeared because the golden cubes were damaged."

Upon hearing this, Chen Beixun's face turned pale, and he exclaimed, "Millions of them?"

How to cross this dark purple sand dune had become a major headache.

Use a spaceship? The predators here are generally small and live in groups; the large ones are no more than 3 meters, but don't underestimate them—every one of them is Universe Level, and sometimes Domain Lords even appear.

The prey, however, tend to be larger, sometimes reaching up to 500 meters.

The creatures here do not have high intelligence, and predators easily mistake spaceships for prey, so using a spaceship is equivalent to courting death—unless, of course, it's a high-end vessel.

He couldn't help but feel a pang of pity for those Universe Level lone wolves; they wouldn't know about this.

"Let's fly to the dividing line," Qishan suggested.

Chen Beixun nodded and said, "Everyone, move upward."

The four figures were seen flying vertically upward at a 90-degree angle.

The World Lord World is fraught with danger, and countless adventurers have already been buried here.

The World Lord World is divided into three major regions: "Purple Gold Horn," "Brown Earth," and "Cape Desert." The upper and lower worlds are identical.

Chen Beixun was currently in the "Purple Gold Horn," not far from the "Brown Earth."

The Brown Earth is a desolate and vast black-brown Gobi desert. Looking up, one can see layers of strange, pitch-black stones arranged in an orderly fashion in the low sky. The stones look like steles or tombstones, square and rectangular, hovering less than a dozen meters from the ground.

On the black-brown ground, a winding, long strip of earth would sometimes suddenly bulge, as if caused by some snake-like creature wriggling forward underground.

Tap—tap—

A figure slowly approached from the distance, moving in such a bizarre manner that it seemed as if they were being constantly pulled closer.

The figure did not walk for long before collapsing to the ground, a pool of foul-smelling liquid flowing out from beneath them; the liquid looked as though it had been liquefied by digestive juices injected by a spider.

Bang!

A strange, eight-legged creature, two meters tall and with a body as white and lustrous as jade, landed silently behind the fallen figure. The creature possessed mouthparts that opened and closed laterally, and a thin, long tube extended from within them, plunging straight into the victim's back.

Sizzle.

The five vertical eyes on the creature's face were half-closed, looking thoroughly satisfied.

These creatures were manageable when acting alone, but they always hunted in organized groups.

This was the particularly troublesome part.

In the World Lord World, the first to die were always the unorganized individuals, as they had no power to resist the terrifying creatures of this realm.

Screech—

The strange creature retracted its long tube, straightened its body, and shook its head contentedly before unfurling two pairs of wing membranes.

Boom!

The wings looked as fragile as paper, yet the gusts of wind they generated rolled out in all directions with fierce, unstoppable momentum.

This strange creature was known as a Long-Leaf Bat; they were ferocious by nature, possessed an extremely strong sense of territory, and usually hunted in packs, though they occasionally ventured out alone.

That unlucky soul had likely stumbled into the territory of a Long-Leaf Bat and been injected with dissolving venom; once injected, death was all but certain.

Time passed... Chen Beixun arrived at the boundary between the purple sand dunes and the dark brown Gobi desert.

"Bones?" Chen Beixun's gaze sharpened as his mind raced.

"The bones are eroded, looking just like a honeycomb."

"It looks like the work of a Long-Leaf Bat."

At the mere thought of a Long-Leaf Bat, Chen Beixun couldn't help but feel a shiver of dread.

"Ahead should be the territory of that thing." Chen Beixun swallowed hard and transmitted his voice: "Everyone be careful, if you encounter any strange creatures, do not provoke them!"

"Understood!" the three guards replied in unison.

"As guards personally selected by an Immortal, how could we possibly make such a low-level mistake!"

I was overthinking it, Chen Beixun thought to himself.

"We're here." Chen Beixun's nerves instantly tightened like a bowstring, his eyes bloodshot.

At the edge of the dark purple sand dunes, what came into view was a desolate and dilapidated dark brown Gobi desert, along with strange stones floating in the low air.

Rumble, rumble, rumble.

A massive white worm burrowed out from the dark brown earth; compared to this thing, Chen Beixun was like a mayfly looking up at a giant tree.

Chen Beixun's lips curled downward, his entire body taut as a bowstring, as he spat out a few words: "Wengjamo Worm?!"

"No, it is its close relative, the Stelamo Worm." Qishan appeared out of thin air before him, standing with his back to Chen Beixun, hands behind his back, his robes fluttering in the wind and sand.

The Stelamo Worm noticed them, sensing them quietly in place while emitting a strange "thud-thud" sound.

Sizzle.

The head of the Stelamo Worm opened a small gap like a flower bud about to bloom, facing Chen Beixun and the others as it slowly approached.

Chen Beixun stared into that abyssal maw, where thin, barb-like teeth were arranged in concentric, spiral circles.

"Do not move," Qishan warned. "The Stelamo Worm is docile by nature and will not attack unless provoked; do not startle it!"

The guards could neither see nor hear Qishan, so Chen Beixun had to relay the information on his behalf.

"This is a Domain Lord-level creature, after all!"

As long as it showed no intent to attack, Chen Beixun's Demon Island Vine was not to be trifled with either!