"Hmm…" Hao Xuan stood atop a giant sand dune and stared at the surroundings.
"…..what should we do?" Zeng Yu came up behind him and surveyed the same area.
Hao Xuan let out a deep breath, "It's all the same. Its been over a hundred kilometers and we still haven't seen a single living thing. Not to mention this god damned desert doesn't seem to end."
They had been in this world for over three hours. After randomly choosing a direction they started walking but couldn't find anything at all.
There wasn't even a good place to make camp. The defensive formations that were brought for the camp would be at less than half power if the ground underneath wasn't completely solid.
The desert itself was made by the loose sand and populated with giant sand dunes. It was a good place to make a normal camp but did not fulfill the requirements for what they had on hand.
So they choose to keep moving.
"F*ck it, take out the contracted beasts and let's ride. I want to see how big this damned desert really is," Hao Xuan gave the order after some thought.
Zeng Yu did as told and relayed his order to the rest of the party. Thankfully, even the scientists were at least on the Earth realm so they could take care of themselves in case of an emergency or situations like these.
Right now the party had about a hundred and forty people in total, including Hao Xuan himself and the fifty Red Legion members.
They all took out their mounts. Everyone from the Ma Clan had similar looking black beasts. They looked quite a lot like black panthers from earth, only several times bigger and with different variations in them. They were called Shadow Panthers and were reared by the Ma clan specifically.
The couple that was always behind Ma Yu had the largest ones. They were about 15 feet long and 6 feet tall. Both the beasts actually looked identical and seemed to have gone down the same evolution path, with bony outgrowths thrusting out from their back and around their mouths, claws sharper than steel and vicious-looking yellow eyes that glowed in the dark.
As soon as they appeared, everyone present got goosebumps. Hyson's group even moved a few steps back. The blood lust releasing from those two beasts was incredible. The princess was the first to summon her 'elegant' looking mount, waiting to see the reactions of amazement from the crowd. Her grandfather went out to capture it himself and she was really proud of that fact, but when the couple summoned their beasts, hers hid behind her while shaking nonstop.
As compared to them, Ma Yu's beast seemed much less threatening. It actually looked quite beautiful. Her Shadow panther had blackish flames coming out from its nostrils every time it breathed out. It looked around at the crowd with a very human-like expression, which shocked the two old men behind Shi Chun.
"The beast has almost gained sentience," Zeng Yu who was also staring at it mumbled.
Hao Xuan looked at him with furrowed brows, was gaining sentience such a big deal? All of his beasts including Bai could talk to him, which meant they were all sentient. But so what? Why was that such a big deal?
What Hao Xuan wasn't aware of was that gaining sentience was a major evolutionary breakthrough in any beast's life. Once a beast was able to have thoughts, it's future was basically limitless. It could breakthrough its bloodline limits and reach realms that were previously locked.
All of Hao Xuan's beasts had unlimited potential in that sense.
Green and Red were originally human and were turned into divine beasts by the beast hall. Black and White were born with the divine blood in them, while Bai was a freak of nature. He shouldn't have existed in the first place and was genetically engineered in the labs of the beast hall. And although he didn't have divine blood in him, it didn't mean he could not reach such a level on his own.
Each one of Hao Xuan's beasts was exceptional beyond words.
Next, it was the Shi Clan's turn. Theirs were much more lackluster. All of them were different, but Shi Chun and two old men had similar looking beasts, called the Imperial Rhinos.
The old men's Rhinos were about 30 feet long and 14 feet tall. With thick, almost metallic skin, they looked like actual tanks. Their strong muscles were outlined even with the scaly skin and horns as sharp as spears jutted out from their foreheads. Anyone could tell they could wreak havoc on the battlefield.
Shi Chun's was almost the exact opposite to theirs. It was about 17 feet long and 6 feet tall, but looked quite chubby. Rather than wreaking havoc on the battlefield, it looked like it wreaked havoc on the dinner table.
As soon as it came, it ran up to Shi Chun and started licking him like a dog. Hao Xuan was afraid it might try to eat him instead but his fears were unwarranted.
"Hahaha, Bao Bao, stop," Shi Chun laughed and rubbed the slabbering rhino's neck, making it close its eyes in pleasure.
The couple behind May Yu was trying to hold in their laughter while the two old men had veins almost popping out of their foreheads.
"We must make this fatass ready for battle when we get back. Chun'er has been too easy-going with it," one of them said to the others.
Hao Xuan couldn't help but smile at the carefree scene in front of him. Yet the unease he felt since first coming to this world was only getting stronger.
"Let us depart," Hao Xuan shouted, reminding everyone of their situation. He summoned Bai who was the largest one out of all beasts with a length of almost 45 feet.
Bai looked around expressionlessly at the other beasts, completely ignoring the humans. When he looked at Ma Yu's beast his gaze lingered for a couple of seconds but that was it. In his eyes, they were nothing.
After the initial shock wore off, both the Ma and Shi Clan who were competing among themselves for the 'superior' mount had somewhat embarrassed expressions. Someone from a lower-tiered power had a better contracted beast than them.
And he didn't even show off like that. What did it say about them?
Within a couple of minutes, they were all ready. With Zeng Yu and Hao Xuan at the helm, they sped off in a certain direction.
About five minutes after their departure, the ground on which they were standing on moved and shifted.. A humungous scaly body showed itself for an instant, before disappearing in the sandy ocean once again.
