Cold, desolate moonlight spilled over the yellow sands. Three figures lay between the dunes with their heads together, forming a strange three-pronged shape.
After their long journey, Li Si's lips and face were as pale as paper, and he looked close to death. Hua Junchen and Xu Tianying beside him were doing somewhat better, but their lips were cracked and even their skin had lost its luster. They were clearly on the verge of dying of dehydration.
Lying on the sand, Hua Junchen had already relived his entire life in the martial world. At the thought that he would never see his daughter bow at her wedding or his grandchild be born, deep unwillingness filled his eyes. He rasped:
"I told you we should return to the Western Sea Protectorate. Well, look at us now. We escaped the Night Great Fiend, only to die in this desert..."
Li Si was barely conscious. In truth, he already regretted his decision.
After the three of them had shaken off Perfected Person Xuanji's pursuit and escaped from the western side of Huangming Mountain, Hua Junchen had suggested returning to the Western Sea Protectorate to report.
But Li Si understood the current situation. Unless they stirred up trouble behind the Southern Dynasty's lines to buy time, the Western Sea Protectorate might not last three months. Once the Southern Dynasty gnawed through the three bridgeheads along Tianlang Lake, the front would shrink directly to the doorstep of the Eastern Lake Circuit. As soon as Tianlang Lake froze over and connected its shores, Northern Liang would face the threat of annihilation!
For that reason, even after Huang Liansheng had duped him once, Li Si had not abandoned his mission. Rather than return after escaping, he had prepared to head to the Shatuo Tribe and persuade its