Xiao Zhan stood alone atop the tower foundation, his blue robe snapping wildly in the scorching sandstorm as if silently battling the raging winds. A dull ache still pulsed through the wound on his bloodied left shoulder, reminding him of the brutal fight he had just endured. The Nirvana Extinction Residual Poison that remained in his brow burned at his soul like a cold, ghostly flame. His gaze stayed fixed on the two dark specks growing ever smaller in the dust—the son he cherished and the companion he trusted. Even after they vanished completely beyond the yellow horizon, worry and concern still filled his eyes.
"The Desert of Buried Immortals... the Bronze Immortal Palace..." he murmured, his voice especially low and grave against the howling sand. In his deep eyes were reflected the vast dragon aura streaming from the tower foundation, surging with the force of a flood dragon rising from the sea. They also reflected the even darker gloom to the northwest, which loomed like a colossal beast lying in wait, exuding a chilling presence.
The shadow of the Soul Hall hung over the continent like an invisible web, while the threat of the Saint was a sword suspended above their heads, liable to fall at any moment. And Xiao Yan and the others' journey to the Desert of Buried Immortals was a perilous path riddled with dangers, yet also their only chance to turn the tide. The true storm had only just begun to unfurl its terrifying curtain.
The edge of the Desert of Buried Immortals.
The moment they entered this region, it felt as if they had plunged from the bustling human world into the antechamber of hell. Everything had become strange and terrifying.
The sky was no longer pure blue, nor was it a dazzling gold. Instead, it was perpetually shrouded in a dense layer of dark red, the color of congealed blood, exuding a nauseating stench. No clouds adorned it. Only twisted streams of strange air, burning with Chaos Demon Flame, writhed slowly. Like packs of ferocious demons, they sliced the already dim light into fragments, plunging the entire world into chaos and confusion.
The air was as hot as a furnace, waves of scorching heat crashing over them as though to swallow them whole. Yet beneath that heat lurked a bone-deep, clammy chill. Every breath carried the pungent stench of sulfur, blood, and some indescribable rot. The odor was so acrid it nearly suffocated them, as if every breath were eating away at their lives.
The gravel beneath their feet was no longer a uniform yellow. It was a sickly weave of dark red and deep brown, as though soaked in blood. Mixed among it were countless black crystals, like congealed blood, radiating a cold, evil aura; scattered between the grains were also tiny fragments of some unknown creature's pale bones, as if telling of the desert's terror and death. The sand was scorching. When the Lizard Camels' heavy feet touched it, it sizzled, as though burning away their lives—or playing a tragic requiem for this land of death.
The wind in this lifeless desert suddenly grew strange and deadly. It was no longer a simple, exhilarating howl across the mountains and fields, but a whispering chorus of billions of resentful souls, wailing as if voicing endless pain and despair. Alongside it came a faint but spine-chilling hiss, the sound of space being torn apart, as though something savage were roaring from another world. The occasional sandstorm overturned everything people knew. No longer plain yellow, it appeared gray-black, dark purple, or even a ghastly green that made one's hair stand on end. Wherever these storms passed, they swept like the Grim Reaper's scythe. Even solid rock could not withstand them; it was quickly eaten through with honeycomb-like holes, as though eroded by both time and death.
"Careful! It's a Bone-Eroding Sand Wind!" Xiao Yan's gaze burned as he stared at a gray-black sandstorm sweeping toward them with the force of an avalanche. His expression instantly turned grave. Without hesitation, he urged the Lizard Camel to dart like a black bolt of lightning behind a massive weathered black rock. Xiao Yi Xian reacted just as quickly, following close behind with light, nimble steps.
Hiss, hiss, hiss—!
The sandstorm seemed like a living creature as it frantically licked at the black rock shielding them. Thick green smoke instantly rose from the hard surface, as though it had caught fire. The shrill sound of corrosion filled the air. The rock grew pitted before their eyes, and great flakes of debris peeled away like falling snow, as if surrendering to the terrible sandstorm.
"What terrifying corrosive power!" Xiao Yan couldn't help sucking in a sharp breath, shaken to his core. This was only the edge of the Desert of Buried Immortals!
A faint glimmer passed through Xiao Yi Xian's violet eyes, like stars twinkling in the night sky. She extended a wisp of gray-white poisonous mist from her fingertips, and it slithered like a nimble little snake as it cautiously reached toward the minuscule poisonous miasma particles drifting through the air. The instant the mist touched the miasma, it was rapidly assimilated and devoured, like a drop of water sinking into a sponge. Instead, it grew a little stronger, as if the miasma had granted it new power.
"The poisonous miasma in the air is made up of an extremely complex mix of substances, but... my Poison Pill can absorb and refine it." Xiao Yi Xian's cool voice drifted out, carrying a note of confident certainty. "The deeper we go into the desert, the more potent the miasma will become. But for me, it may not pose much of a threat."
Hearing this, Xiao Yan felt the taut string in his heart loosen slightly. With Xiao Yi Xian beside him, at least they had a solid safeguard against the poisonous miasma. It was as if they had glimpsed a ray of dawn in the darkness.
The two continued toward the depths of the desert. The terrain ahead grew ever stranger, as though they had entered another bizarre and fantastical world. Enormous dunes, like frozen mounds of dark red flesh, slowly rose and fell in the scorching wind, silently telling of the desert's ancient secrets. Deep, bottomless quicksand whirlpools were scattered everywhere across the ground, like greedy mouths waiting to swallow anything that came near. Viscous black liquid, like asphalt, churned at their centers, exuding a stench that nearly suffocated them, as if it were the breath of hell.
Even more unsettling, space here was wildly unstable! The scenery before them sometimes warped and stretched, as though an invisible pair of hands were kneading it at will; at other times, it blurred and doubled, like a dreamlike maze. They could even clearly see tiny folds in space rippling through the air like waves on the water. They were traps lurking in the dark; one careless step could doom them beyond redemption.
Xiao Yan had no choice but to raise his soul power to its utmost. The mighty force surged through him like a rushing tide. He carefully sensed the spatial fluctuations ahead, not letting even the slightest change escape his notice. With rapt concentration, he guided the Lizard Camel around the barely visible spatial rifts and deadly quicksand traps, as if walking a tightrope, every step fraught with danger and tension.
Xiao Yi Xian sat quietly on the Lizard Camel's back, like a violet lotus blooming in the desert. Her violet eyes were half-closed, and a faint dark-purple radiance spread around her. Like an invisible whirlpool, it slowly absorbed and refined the Bone-Eroding poisonous miasma in the air. As she drew in more of the miasma, the Poison Pill in her palm seemed to grow darker and more subdued, as if it held boundless secrets.
After traveling for an unknown length of time, they came upon a vast "bone forest" formed from countless enormous, ghastly white skeletons. It looked like a terrifying palace piled up from death itself. The bones took all shapes and forms. Some belonged to humans, but most were the remains of monstrous beasts of unimaginable size. Even the smallest stretched dozens of zhang, lying across the desert like giant dragons; the largest sprawled like mountain ranges, their imposing presence inspiring awe. Their surfaces were covered in the cracks of age and marks that looked like gnawing, as if time and some unknown creature had left their marks together. They radiated an ancient, murderous aura that made the soul tremble, as if recounting the brutal wars and endless vicissitudes this desert had endured.
"These bones... must have been here for a million years..." Xiao Yan stared at the gloomy, terrifying scene, like the entrance to hell, and felt his scalp prickle. A chill welled up from the depths of his heart.
Just as the Lizard Camel slowly reached the edge of the bone forest and was about to pass through this land of death, something suddenly changed!
"SKREEE—!!!"
A muffled roar, laden with boundless savagery, seemed to come from the deepest reaches of the underworld. It exploded inside a massive skull looming ahead like a small mountain. Then, two ghostly lights flared in its empty eye sockets, burning with ghastly green soulfire. The lights flickered like will-o'-the-wisps from hell, radiating an eerie, terrifying aura.
BOOM!
The enormous skull suddenly exploded, sending fragments of bone flying like a dreadful bone rain. A terrifying giant beast, pieced together entirely from ghastly white bones, burst out of it and appeared before them! It resembled a scorpion magnified a hundredfold, its body enormous and hideous, but its tail consisted of three bone whips that opened and closed incessantly, lined with serrated bone blades. As they lashed through the air, they gave off a chilling whine. Ghastly green soulfire burned all around it, flickering as though alive, and it radiated a ferocious aura equivalent to a Peak Dou Wang. Its hollow eye sockets locked on the intruders, as if it meant to devour them whole.
"The Bone Demon Scorpion King!" Xiao Yan's expression changed instantly, and he cried out in alarm. This monster had gained sentience from ancient bones and been nurtured by the baleful aura of the Desert of Buried Immortals. It was incredibly powerful, and its temperament was even more troublesome. Encountering one meant a bloody battle to the death.
"Roar!" The Bone Demon Scorpion King let out a deafening roar. Its enormous pincers shrieked as they tore through the air, crashing down on Xiao Yan at the head of the group like a heavy mountain. At the same time, its three venomous bone whips shot toward him from different angles like three lightning bolts slicing through the night. They struck so quickly that the eye could scarcely follow, sealing off every avenue of escape and driving Xiao Yan into a desperate corner.
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