The attack blades formed from the Inscription Talisman landed precisely on the trees in the oasis ahead.
Xu Jintang's gaze froze.
If it's a Mirage, the attacking energy blade will simply pass through it and won't hit the tree.
Everyone else noticed this as well.
Wang Qian looked up in astonishment. "What's going on? Is that really the Oasis Base up ahead?"
"But if it really exists, how could we not have arrived yet after walking for so long?"
"This is really weird, what's going on?"
"Time is running out, there are only ten minutes left."
The crowd grew even more agitated.
Xu Jintang's brows gradually furrowed, and he began to be confused about the situation before him.
" The Oasis Base is real, but the desert beneath your feet is just an illusion," the Ice Soul Dragon, which had been sleeping, suddenly spoke.
Was the desert just an illusion? Xu Jintang realized something and immediately looked down at her feet.
At this moment, the entire earth began to shake.
The yellow sand was swept up and formed swirling storms.
Xu Jintang's body swayed, staggering from side to side.
"What's going on? An earthquake? Earthquakes in the desert?" The teammate next to him was a little dumbfounded.
Several times, without realizing it, they fell to the ground.
Xu Jintang stood with his feet apart, trying to maintain his balance.
A few seconds later, a huge black dome slowly emerged from the yellow sand ahead.
Wu slowly turned around, revealing a pair of dark eyes, a deathly aura emanating from his calm gaze.
Dark clouds obscured most of the sky, casting a massive shadow.
"What kind of monster is this? It only has a head!"
Wang Qian recognized the demonic beast, her tone turning serious. "It's Flame Desert Turtle. The stronger this kind of demonic beast is, the larger it becomes. They prefer hot climates and live year-round in the desert. Judging from its size, this Flame Desert Turtle must be at least Sixth Tier."
" Sixth Tier?! How could we possibly defeat them with just the few of us?"
After Xu Jintang steadied herself, she looked up at the Flame Desert Turtle in front of her.
The dark eyes of the Flame Desert Turtle met Xu Jintang's gaze.
Everything around seemed to have been frozen in time.
After only two seconds of calm, the earth began to shake again, this time with even greater force.
Xu Jintang was thrown to the ground.
The others were not spared either, all falling flat on their backs.
"No, what's going on?" The sudden turn of events left everyone bewildered.
Wang Qian crouched slightly to maintain her balance. "Look at the size of the Flame Desert Turtle. Even its head is that big; its body must be even larger. I suspect... the desert beneath our feet is the body of the Flame Desert Turtle."
"The reason we haven't been able to get close to the Oasis Base is probably because we've been walking on the surface of the Flame Desert Turtle, while the Oasis Base is outside the Flame Desert Turtle's shell."
Xu Jintang braced his hands on the ground and felt his feet begin to rise.
The nearby yellow sand flowed outwards, and the uneven crust of earth slowly emerged from beneath our feet. It looked like a tortoise shell, with complex but still somewhat regular patterns, and a faint red light emanated from the recessed crevices.
"It really is a tortoise shell!" someone shouted.
Like riding an elevator, everyone's body was lifted up instantly.
The yellow sand that had been covering the tortoise shell slowly fell away, completely exposing the shell that had been buried underground.
"Be careful! This Flame Desert Turtle's shell can unleash a lava attack at any time," Wang Qian warned.
The others snapped out of their daze, quickly stood up, and assumed fighting stances.
Xu Jintang stood firmly with his feet apart.
The black eagle that had been watching the crowd from the front slowly began to rotate.
His dark eyes exuded a chilling aura.
Xu Jintang felt as if the turtle was staring at her, making her skin crawl.
Suddenly, a red light shot into the sky.
Several jets of high-temperature magma instantly gushed out from the cracks in the tortoise shell, spraying outwards in all directions.
Wisps of white smoke rose from the air, and a blast of air hotter than the blazing sun swept over us.
Xu Jintang quickly rolled to the side, dodging several jets of lava.
As he stood up, he raised his right arm and activated the Ruby Hidden Arrow.
Several hidden arrows shot towards Wu□□.
However, the moment the arrow touched the Ukrainian tribe, the hidden dart was deflected without causing any damage.
The others also tried attacking the Flame Desert Turtle's head, but to no avail.
"No, we can't damage it at all."
"Didn't Sister Qian say that this Flame Desert Turtle is at least Sixth Tier? We can't even use our special abilities, how could we possibly damage it?"
Wang Qian frowned deeply. "We simply can't withstand Sixth Tier or higher Flame Desert Turtle. Everyone, please take careful cover."
Xu Jintang dodged while pondering.
Now that the oasis was in sight, all they needed to do was get rid of the Flame Desert Turtle.
While he was thinking, the Flame Desert Turtle unleashed its lava jet attack once again.
This attack was much more intense, and Xu Jintang managed to dodge it with great effort, but his sleeve was still accidentally hit by a jet of lava, and the fabric of his sleeve was instantly burned to ashes.
"We have to find a way to get rid of the Flame Desert Turtle! Otherwise, if this continues, we'll all be hit by lava sooner or later and eliminated." Wang Qian had just been accidentally hit by several bursts of lava, and her tone became urgent.
High-temperature magma kept gushing out from the cracks in the Flame Desert Turtle's shell. The group didn't even have time to dodge, let alone think about how to get rid of the Flame Desert Turtle.
Until Xu Jintang suddenly looked up.
Her eyes lit up, and she took out a Teleportation Inscription from her storage space.
Xu Jintang didn't have time to explain further, and directly grabbed Wang Qian's hand, "The rest of you grab Wang Qian, I'm taking you away."
As soon as she finished speaking, before the lava could erupt, she immediately crushed the inscription in her palm.
Xu Jintang, along with Wang Qian and the others, vanished from their spot and then reappeared out of thin air at the tortoise shell site a kilometer away.
"This... this is Teleportation Inscription?" Wang Qian was stunned.
Xu Jintang hummed in agreement and crushed another Teleportation Inscription, quickly teleporting everyone a thousand meters away again.
Having uncovered the secret of the Flame Desert Turtle's shell, Xu Jintang and his companions were no longer deterred by illusions this time.
With each teleportation, the group drew ever closer to the Oasis Base.
The base sign is almost within reach.
A glimmer of expectation appeared in the eyes of Wang Qian and the others behind her.
At this moment, Flame Desert Turtle, realizing they were about to run away, suddenly turned its head over, its sinister eyes staring straight at Xu Jintang.
The tortoise shell beneath my feet trembled even more violently.
This shock was even more terrifying than before.
"It's planning something big, we need to get out of here quickly," Wang Qian hurriedly reminded them.
Xu Jintang glanced at Flame Desert Turtle's gaze but ignored him. As he raised his hand, a grappling hook gun appeared in his palm, which he fired at the signboard of the Oasis Base.
The Oasis Base was now very close to them, and the sharp grappling hooks extended out and landed precisely on the base's signboard.
"Hold on tight, everyone," Xu Jintang reminded them, then immediately pulled the trigger, using the grappling hook and chain to propel them directly towards the Oasis Base on the other side.
The moment they flew into the base, a familiar electronic notification sound rang above Xu Jintang and the others' heads:
Congratulations to Xu Jintang, Wang Qian... and the other five trainees for successfully arriving at the Oasis Base.
Chapter 148
Xu Jintang had put in a lot of effort to help Xue Zhongqi customize this grappling hook spear, so when he finished making it and saw that there were still a lot of materials left, Xu Jintang decided to make one for himself as well.
Upon entering the Oasis Base, the sweltering air instantly became cool.
The intense heat from being exposed to the scorching sun also disappeared.
Xu Jintang and the others landed steadily one after another.
When they came to their senses, they were already fully inside the base.
"That was so exciting! We made it into the base just in the last few minutes!"
"Luckily I ran fast, otherwise I would definitely have been burned to death by the lava of the Flame Desert Turtle."
The teammates were still basking in the joy of their successful escape.
After regaining her composure, Wang Qian glanced at Xu Jintang with a subtle expression. "Thank you."
In that situation, Xu Jintang could have escaped the Flame Desert Turtle's attack on his own and then taken the opportunity to hide in the Oasis Base.
But she didn't do that; instead, she led everyone together at the crucial moment.
If it were me, I might not have Xu Jintang's vision.
After recovering from their shock, the other teammates immediately surrounded Xu Jintang gratefully. " Sister Jintang, thank you so much. If it weren't for you, we would all have been eliminated."
"Yes, yes, if everyone passes the assessment smoothly this time, feel free to call me anytime if you need anything in the Command Camp!"
"Me too! Me too!"
Xu Jintang instantly became the core of the team.
No one noticed Wang Qian was standing in the corner and being ignored.
A few minutes later, the high-temperature desert assessment ended.
The emotionless electronic voice sounded again, "This assessment has concluded. Six hundred and eight people have been eliminated, leaving five hundred and ninety-nine. The second round of individual survival assessments will officially begin in fifteen minutes. Please prepare yourselves."
Xu Jintang's expression revealed a hint of surprise.
A single assessment eliminated more than half of the applicants?
The others were also surprised.
"How many assessments are there today? I feel like if there's another one, more than half of the people will be eliminated."
"Didn't Captain Wang say today's goal was to eliminate half the team? We've already achieved that, why are we still having to take the test?"
"Sigh, who knows?"
Neither Xu Jintang nor Wang Qian spoke again. They each sat on one side, heads bowed, resting.
More and more people who pass the assessment are entering the Oasis Base.