A ruthless man with thirty-six lives on his hands!

The Skeleton Desert was one of the most dangerous forbidden lands in the Great Li Dynasty.

Gales towered dozens of meters into the sky, carrying a powerful suction. Once someone was swept into them, there was no escaping.

The desert itself was also teeming with monsters.

It could be said that anyone who entered was certain to lose their life.

Even the original owner of his body had heard of the Skeleton Desert's fearsome reputation, which showed just how deadly it was.

Because the Skeleton Desert was so terrifying, the dynasty had gradually come to regard it as the ideal place to exile prisoners.

Vicious criminals who violated Great Li's ironclad laws were all exiled to the Skeleton Desert.

Its brutally harsh environment made the Skeleton Desert more perilous than any prison. Those exiled there would have been better off being beheaded outright!

Some prisoners even sought death on the way to the Skeleton Desert.

Ning Que stared blankly. He had never imagined that his father was in the Skeleton Desert.

"How did you find out?"

Ning Que asked.

It turned out that the old man before him was Shi Guangling, the master of the Star Pavilion.

He explained the nature of the Star Pavilion to Ning Que—in simple terms, it applied the power of the Four Divine Constellations to various fields.

Most of its work still involved fortune-telling.

Ning Yuanzhou's presence in the Skeleton Desert had also been determined through constellation divination. There was no doubt about its accuracy.

"But if my father is in the Skeleton Desert, then the court must have ordered it. Why do so many civil and military officials at court have no idea where he went?"

Ning Que raised another question.

Over the years, the court had kept one eye open and the other shut toward Flowing Sand, largely because its leader, Ning Yuanzhou, had disappeared, his fate unknown.

Yes.

Disappeared.

In the court's eyes, Ning Yuanzhou was merely missing, not dead!

The word "missing" covered far too much ground.

After all, being missing did not mean being dead.

If Ning Yuanzhou were dead, Flowing Sand would be a host of dragons without a head, nothing more than a disorganized mob.

The court would certainly step in to deal with them.

But if he was merely missing, they could not be so sure.

They had no idea when Ning Yuanzhou might return.

Flowing Sand with Ning Yuanzhou and Flowing Sand without him were two entirely different things!

"That is because your father wasn't arrested by the imperial guards. He was captured by a private army."

"The man who sent your father to the Skeleton Desert was Wang Tianque, the son of the Minister of Personnel!"

Shi Guangling revealed the reason.

"Wang Tianque..."

At that name, a chilling flash of killing intent crossed Ning Que's eyes.

He was certainly no stranger to Wang Yong, the Minister of Personnel.

That was the man who had stopped him on his way to the palace to see the Empress.

That was the man who had seized him, intending to silence him for good!

"Fine. Then I'll kill his son and collect a little interest first!"

Ning Que's voice was icy.

After returning, Ning Que told everyone that Ning Yuanzhou was in the Skeleton Desert.

Shock swept through them.

"Juzi Ning is actually in the Skeleton Desert..."

Their expressions were grave as well as shocked.

Clearly, everyone knew the Skeleton Desert's fearsome reputation.

Even for Flowing Sand, rescuing Juzi Ning from the Skeleton Desert would be extremely difficult.

"In the Skeleton Desert, we would have to face not only natural disasters, but also the soldiers guarding the border. On top of that, nomadic troops from the neighboring empire sometimes come to harass the area..."

Luo Qingwan explained just how difficult a rescue in the Skeleton Desert would be.

The Skeleton Desert was territory shared by the Great Li Dynasty and the Mara Dynasty. Half belonged to Mara, and half to Great Li.

To the Great Li Dynasty, the Skeleton Desert was also a prison, so it was bound to station a heavy guard there.

If they rushed in to attempt a rescue, a confrontation was inevitable.

But now that they knew where Juzi Ning was, they could not simply leave him there.

A faint smile rose to Ning Que's lips. "We'll use the same method as before. Send me into the Skeleton Desert. I'll find my father and rescue him, and you can meet us outside."

He seemed determined never to rest until his words stunned everyone. The moment he spoke, all of them widened their eyes in disbelief.

"Absolutely not, Little Juzi! It's too dangerous!"

Mu Lingfeng immediately objected.

He had promised Ning Yuanzhou that if he ever found his child, he would protect him at all costs.

Yet now Ning Que wanted to enter the Skeleton Desert and face unknown dangers. The risk was far too great.

Yin Jiuyou, Qi Shanhe, Luo Qingwan, and Mu Yuwei also stared at Ning Que with eyes widened in disbelief.

"Little Juzi..."

Even Giant Hammer stared blankly at him.

He had doubted Ning Que before, yet Ning Que was willing to brave danger alone and enter the Skeleton Desert to rescue the former Juzi.

Whether he succeeded or not, that courage alone was beyond what most people possessed.

"But he is my father."

Faced with everyone's objections, Ning Que merely spoke those words calmly.

That single sentence silenced all further attempts to dissuade him.

The fact that the man was his father was reason enough for him to brave the danger.

"All right, Little Juzi. I'll go with you!"

Mu Lingfeng declared at once.

"No need. I'll go alone."

Ning Que politely declined. "Since we're going to rescue my father, the fewer people involved, the better. We mustn't expose our objective."

After arriving at Flowing Sand's headquarters, Ning Que had thought he could at least rest and recuperate there for a while.

He had never expected to hit the road again after only a few days.

Born to toil...

Zhuge Qing wanted to accompany Ning Que, but he politely refused, citing the dangers of the desert.

Zhuge Qing prepared food and water for him, then watched the lone rider and his horse disappear into the setting sun.

"Come back alive!"

She shouted.

Three days later.

Across the boundless desert, mighty winds rose and clouds flew.

Rows of bare desert poplars lined the road, guarding both sides like the most dutiful soldiers.

At the desert's entrance, a group of ragged people were being escorted inside.

Shackled at both wrists and ankles, they trudged along.

Some also wore heavy cangues around their necks.

The blazing sun blurred their vision.

They were all prisoners sent to the Skeleton Desert from various provinces.

A large character meaning "prisoner" was written on their white prison clothes.

At a relay station where they stopped to rest.

The prisoners gathered together and chatted.

A man with a scar on his face looked at Ning Que. "Brother, what did you do to get sent to the Skeleton Desert?"

Ning Que grinned, exposing a mouthful of yellow teeth. "Murder."

"Killed an entire household. Thirty-six people in all."

"Hiss..."

Sharp intakes of breath filled the air.

The expressions of every prisoner around him changed as they looked at Ning Que.

The tough feared the reckless, and the reckless feared those who cared nothing for their own lives.

A ruthless man like Ning Que, with thirty-six lives on his hands, naturally inspired fear.

Flowing Sand had officials among its members, and they had fabricated an identity for Ning Que as a prisoner bound for the Skeleton Desert.

As for his criminal record, it was, of course, the murder of an entire household of thirty-six.

He had spared neither infants nor women.

"Listen up, all of you! Stay away from this man! He's being locked away in the deepest part of the Skeleton Desert!"

The escorting soldier pointed at Ning Que and issued the warning.