Half an hour later, a vast desert appeared before Ye Wudao's eyes.
The instant he stepped into the desert, Ye Wudao felt a wave of scorching heat rising from the soles of his feet.
"Great Master, why is this desert so hot even at night?"
Ye Wudao asked Qin Tianlong beside him.
By his understanding, deserts had drastic temperature differences between day and night—blazing hot during the day and freezing cold at night.
Even with his Houtian Peak cultivation, he could feel the scorching heat. That proved this place was truly hot!
Qin Tianlong replied softly, "This desert is like that. The temperature doesn't drop at night. It's as if there's some heat source beneath the desert, constantly releasing heat into it."
After saying that, he glanced at the three people beside him and said, "All of you, be careful. This desert is full of third-rank demon beasts. Third-rank demon beasts can use True Qi for long-range attacks."
"Especially Old Hu and Little Zhang. You two must be extra careful."
"With your combat strength, if you're hit by a third-rank demon beast's attack, half your lives will be left here."
Hu Lianfeng and Zhang Hankuang gave bitter smiles and nodded.
Elder Qin had singled the two of them out, yet he had not reminded Ye Wudao at all.
It was not because Elder Qin did not care about Ye Wudao, but because Ye Wudao possessed combat strength no weaker than Elder Qin's. Walking through this desert, he was far safer than the two of them.
Even if they were beaten to death, they never would have imagined that Ye Wudao, who had still been an ordinary person ten days ago, could now fight Elder Qin on equal footing ten days later.
Only the four people from Cell No. 1 knew about the battle that afternoon.
After seeing Ye Wudao's combat strength, Zhang Hankuang, who was also at Houtian Peak, had wanted to challenge Ye Wudao. In the end, Ye Wudao knocked him down with a single punch.
Once Ye Wudao unleashed his perfected Lost Trace Steps, Zhang Hankuang simply could not lock onto his position and could only passively take the beating.
If Ye Wudao had not held back his Penetrating Power, Zhang Hankuang should have been recovering from his injuries in Cell No. 1 right now. He definitely would not have been able to enter the Rift World.
Hu Lianfeng was also secretly rejoicing at this moment. Thankfully, Elder Qin had warned him back then, and he and Ye Wudao had cleared up the matter of the Northern Dark Divine Art.
Otherwise, it was still uncertain who would be draining whose cultivation now!
He believed that as long as Ye Wudao endured for two days without exposing himself, the one who died would definitely be him.
From an ordinary person to Houtian Peak in only ten days—who would believe that if it were told aloud?
In ten days, ordinary people had not even advanced to the Body Tempering Realm yet!
The four chatted as they followed closely behind the main group.
After entering the desert, fewer than a thousand people remained in the entire group, and one-third of them had been brought in by elders from their Lineages.
After running through the desert for a little over ten minutes, an oasis suddenly appeared before everyone.
Wang Pengwen led everyone into the oasis and finally stopped before a small lake.
Ye Wudao curiously looked around and asked quietly, "Where is the Spirit Rhino Grass?"
Qin Tianlong replied, "It should not be here. I've been to this oasis before, and there was no Spirit Rhino Grass."
The moment his words fell, Wang Pengwen's body suddenly radiated an enormous amount of Xiantian True Qi. Beneath the dim sky, he resembled a gigantic white light bulb.
The next second, he struck a palm toward the lake below.
In an instant, a huge white palm hurtled toward the lake.
Bang...
A massive spray of water shot seven or eight meters into the air.
Splash...
When the water fell back into the lake, a huge vortex suddenly appeared.
"There's an underground space beneath this lake!"
Hu Lianfeng cried out softly when he saw this.
Qin Tianlong frowned tightly as he watched the water in the lake slowly get swallowed by the vortex.
After roughly seven or eight minutes, only the last bit of water remained in the lake.
A natural cave entrance was revealed at the very center of the lakebed.
Ye Wudao looked at the cave entrance in surprise and asked, "Great Master, there's such a large hole at the bottom of this lake. How did all this water gather above the lake?"
Qin Tianlong looked at the entrance and said softly, "It's a formation!"
"There's a formation at this entrance. It gathered the surrounding spiritual energy and blocked the water outside."
"Wang Pengwen's palm strike just now shattered the formation's barrier, so all the water drained into the cave."
Ye Wudao pursed his lips and murmured softly, "A formation?"
Qin Tianlong glanced at Ye Wudao and said, "It's something that has already been lost. No one in the Martial Dao World today knows how to set up formations."
"There are also some formation ruins on Blue Star, but all of them have failed."
"My father studied formations for a while. He knew the principles, but he could not set them up. It seemed that formation stones were missing."
Ye Wudao pursed his lips and said in a deep voice, "Then does that mean someone set up the formation at this cave entrance, and this cave has an owner?"
Qin Tianlong shook his head. "Not necessarily! Some formations are naturally formed. During changes in the earth's crust, the surrounding terrain may accidentally form a formation and automatically gather a spiritual energy barrier."
Just as he finished speaking, Wang Pengwen in the sky shouted in a low voice, "Everyone, get inside! You only have three minutes. After three minutes, the lake water will gather again."
"If you can't get in by then, I won't care!"
As his words fell, he shot into the cave entrance like a hunting hawk.
The disciples from the great Lineages in the first group also rushed into the cave entrance one after another.
Qin Tianlong shouted in a deep voice, "We're going too!"
As his words fell, the four of them darted toward the cave entrance like wild horses breaking free of their reins.
The cave entrance faced the sky directly, and below it was bottomless darkness.
Qin Tianlong went down first, followed closely by Hu Lianfeng. Zhang Hankuang and Ye Wudao went last.
The cave entrance was not very far above the ground, only about five or six meters high. To Houtian Realm martial artists, that height was merely a slightly taller ridge.
After landing, Ye Wudao looked around.
The inside of the cave was not as dark as he had imagined. There was still a faint, dim light.
The source of that light was a kind of grass growing on the ground.
This grass was entirely blue and emitted a blue glow.
The entire cave was densely packed with this grass.
"What you are seeing is Spirit Rhino Grass. Everyone, spread out and gather the Spirit Rhino Grass."
"Be careful. The medicinal effect of Spirit Rhino Grass is in its roots, so you must be cautious when digging it up."
"Damaged Spirit Rhino Grass roots are useless."
"If you damage too much Spirit Rhino Grass, I'll throw you out!"
At this moment, Wang Pengwen, floating in the air, continued speaking.
Qin Tianlong glanced at the other three and said softly, "Split up and gather it. With Wang Pengwen here, no one will dare cause trouble."
"Give the Spirit Rhino Grass you collect to Wudao first. Let Wudao accumulate enough points to get out of prison first."
Hearing that, Ye Wudao shook his head. "Great Master, there's no need. I've already accumulated more than two thousand points by killing demon beasts these past few days."
"I only need to gather another thirty Spirit Rhino Grass plants to erase all my prison sentences."
Qin Tianlong shook his head. "You don't need to worry about that. Focus on gathering your Spirit Rhino Grass."
"Be careful. I'm afraid Zhang Jianye might stab you in the back in secret. Stay far away from the Zhang Family's group."
As his words fell, Hu Lianfeng and Zhang Hankuang had already begun digging up Spirit Rhino Grass.
Ye Wudao nodded, found an unoccupied spot, squatted down, and began gathering Spirit Rhino Grass.
This underground space was enormous. With nearly a thousand people inside, it did not feel crowded in the slightest.
There was also so much Spirit Rhino Grass here that it was impossible to count. Their thousand people would likely need five or six hours to pick it all.
Ye Wudao carefully parted the leaves of the Spirit Rhino Grass and slowly extended his fingers into the soft soil.
Then, he slowly brushed away the dirt around the roots of the Spirit Rhino Grass.
Five minutes later, a complete stalk of Spirit Rhino Grass appeared in Ye Wudao's hand.
Ye Wudao carefully placed the Spirit Rhino Grass into a cloth bag he had prepared beforehand, then continued digging.
Phew...
An hour later, Ye Wudao sat on the ground and let out a long breath.
No wonder this thing was so valuable. It was simply far too delicate.
Over the course of an hour, he had dug up ten complete stalks of Spirit Rhino Grass.
Two stalks had snapped outright because he had used too much force.
On average, he could only gather one stalk of Spirit Rhino Grass every five minutes.
This kind of meticulous work required constant care and was extremely draining on the mind. He had no choice but to stop and rest for a while.
"Ye Wudao?"
Just as he was resting, a voice suddenly came from behind him.
Ye Wudao turned around, looked at that familiar yet unfamiliar face, and snorted coldly. "Ye Mingyuan, long time no see!"
Ye Mingyuan looked at Ye Wudao in surprise and sneered. "I thought I had mistaken you for someone else! I didn't expect it really was you!"
Then he came to his senses and shouted in a low voice, "That's not right! How did an ordinary person like you get in here?"
At that moment, Qin Tianlong came to Ye Wudao's side and looked at Ye Mingyuan. "I brought him in. Do you have any questions?"
Ye Mingyuan frowned slightly. From Qin Tianlong's tone, he could sense that something was wrong. He hurriedly called toward an elderly man behind him, "Grandfather! Come quickly!"
Hearing Ye Mingyuan call out, Ye Haipeng stood up and looked toward him. When he saw Qin Tianlong opposite Ye Mingyuan, his brows knitted tightly as he murmured, "Qin Tianlong?"
Sensing that the two sides seemed to be in conflict, he hurried to Ye Mingyuan's side and cupped his hands toward Qin Tianlong. "Brother Tianlong, long time no see!"
Qin Tianlong looked at Ye Haipeng and snorted coldly. "Are we that familiar?"
"When your father was alive, even he had to address me as Brother Qin. Yet now that it's his son, you're calling me Brother Tianlong?"
"Can't you tell the difference in seniority?"
Hearing that, Ye Haipeng looked somewhat embarrassed. He cupped his hands again and said, "Uncle Tianlong! I don't know what conflict my grandson has with you."
"I hope you can spare him this once for the Ye Family's sake!"
Qin Tianlong snorted coldly. "Does the Ye Family have any standing with me?"
"Not to mention you—if your father, who has been dead for decades, crawled out of his grave, he would have no standing with me either."
"Your grandson provoked my disciple, and you say spare him, so I have to spare him?"
Ye Haipeng pursed his lips awkwardly. He truly had no say in front of Qin Tianlong.
Although the Ye Family was also a great Lineage in Sea City, it still fell somewhat short of the Azure Dragon Gang.
Even though the Azure Dragon Gang had been destroyed, Qin Tianlong was not someone Ye Haipeng could afford to provoke.
"Oh? Who do we have here? So it's Qin Tianlong, the Azure Dragon Gang's leader!"
"What? A prisoner like you can still throw your weight around before Sea City's great Lineages?"
"Using seniority to crush others here—aren't you ashamed of yourself?"
"And you, Ye Haipeng. Your Ye Family is ranked seventh in Sea City now, yet you're this afraid of him?"
At that moment, a mocking voice came from behind Ye Haipeng.
Zhang Jianye's figure slowly emerged from behind Ye Haipeng.
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