Vast Sand Empire, Tolia City!
A black and skinny 14 years old boy old was trying his best to sell goods to a traveler from out of town, “Respectable sir, this is the most famous handicraft, Clear Sand Mirror, in the Vast Sand Empire. It is the best gift for women.
I bought the goods directly from the boutique, and I only charged 1 at the cost price of 4 purple crystal coins. If you buy 3 pieces, there will be more promotion, that is 10 purple crystal coins. You won’t find this price anywhere in the city. “
The foreign tourist was Chen Rui who rushed all the way. The Black Prison Desert was located in the southwest of the human world. The area was extremely vast, but due to its remote location and harsh environment, there were only 2 barren and small empires in the periphery. The Vast Sand Empire was 1 of them.
Tolia City was the largest city in this empire other than the capital. It had a small area and a small population. In Chen Rui’s view, this second largest city was at most equivalent to a small town in the Dark Moon Estate.
Seeing Chen Rui’s interested look, the teenager had an idea and put the mirror back into the small bag in his hand, “It should be sir’s first time to Tolia City. Although the girls here are not as good as the big cities, they are unique. Do you want me to take sir to a good place? The girls there are the cleanest and hottest in the city. I guarantee sir will be satisfied! Sir only needs to give me a small tip.”
Looking at the young man who spared no effort to pimp, Chen Rui shook his head secretly and asked, “I’m not interested in souvenirs or women. Are you familiar with the desert area?”
“Sir, I’ve grown up here since I was a kid, and there’s no one here who doesn’t know me, Little Jim. I am known as Know-it-all. I even know how many dunes there are in the Black Prison Desert.” Little Jim said graciously.
“It’s really my first time in Tolia City, so tell me about the Black Prison Desert, Know-it-all Little Jim.”
“Uh…” Little Jim blinked while looking at Chen Rui without speaking.
Chen Rui smiled. With a flick of his finger, a purple crystal coin was thrown high up. Little Jim caught it quickly, nodded and bowed, but he was secretly thinking that he could cheat a lot of money today because he met a generous foreigner.
While thinking about it, another purple crystal coin appeared in the foreigner’s hand. Little Jim was overjoyed, but the hard purple crystal coin instantly turned into powder between the foreigner’s fingers, “I will ask other people the same question. If what you say is not true, I don’t think I need to talk nonsense anymore.”
Little Jim shuddered, and he immediately put aside some extra thoughts to honestly introduce the desert situation. Chen Rui inquired about a batch of materials, and among them was the fire condensing crystal sand. Little Jim was worthy of being a know-it-all. He was quite clear about common materials and could tell which shops sell them in the city, but he didn’t know anything about fire condensing crystal sand; he had never heard of such a thing at all.
Chen Rui could see that the boy was not lying, but the Light Elemental King Delkus would not lie to him, so the fire condensing crystal sand must be in the Black Prison Desert.
There was also a legend about the Dreamy Oasis. Long ago, there was a mysterious and remote empire in the desert called Red Battle Empire. The king was incompetent, and he favored an ambitious prime minister. Under the tyrannical rule of the prime minister, the people believed in cruelty, and there were fewer and fewer people believing in light.
This prime minister not only coveted the throne, but he also coveted the beauty of the princess. The princess was a devout believer of the Holy Church, and her fiancé was a young and promising general of the empire. Unfortunately, the general was killed after the prime minister slandered him to the king, and the king re-married the princess to the prime minister. The grief-stricken princess went on a 3-day hunger strike to pray to Light God and died of love.
The sincerity and infatuation of the princess moved the Light God, and a terrifying storm was set off to engulf the Red Battle Empire. Only the place where the princess died of love was turned into an oasis, and the believers of the light were spared in the oasis.
The soul of the princess entered the Kingdom of God under the guidance of light. She was granted the name, ‘Tezaneer’, by Light God, which was the ancient saying of ‘desert messenger’. Over time, she becomes the Desert Goddess.
“Sir, this goddess is a real existence and will show miracles every few years or hundreds of years to help those lost in the desert to return safely, and only those who believe in her will be able to have good fortune.” Little Jim took out an ornament from his clothes. A small god statue was engraved on it, “This is the Desert Goddess Tezaneer’s statue, although it is only a small god under the Light God, in this Black Prison Desert, she’s the real god. If sir really wants to go to the desert, then please wear this goddess statue and get the blessing of the goddess. This high grade goddess statue only needs 10 purple crystal coins…”
Hearing that Little Jim was selling products again, Chen Rui shook his head to reject, “You all believe in the Goddess Tezaneer? So does Tolia City have the Holy Church?”
“Only the capital has the Hall of Light, but the Desert Goddess is the god under the Light God, and it is located on the edge of the desert. The church in the capital also admits that this faith is not in conflict.”
The Holy Church admits it? Chen Rui was a little more curious about this so-called Desert Goddess.
According to Little Jim, it was rumored that the Red Battle Empire had left a lot of treasures, and the key breakthrough was Dreamy Oasis. Many adventurers once flocked to it. Unfortunately, not only did they find nothing, but most of the treasure hunters never returned. Consequently, the popularity had also been greatly reduced, but the dangerous name of the Black Prison Desert had spread since then.
Little Jim mentioned Dreamy Oasis-related intel in the end- Dreamy Oasis was actually active! In other words, this oasis did not have a fixed location, but it moved like a living thing.
Chen Rui frowned secretly. The Black Prison Desert is as huge as the sea, the environment is very harsh, and the magic map cannot be used. Finding a small oasis in such a huge area is as difficult as finding an unknown island in the Dead Sea.
Since it was concerning the safety of Duoduo, plus the lesson that he almost took the wrong way in the Storm Islands area before, Chen Rui did not dare to risk it. He asked, “Little Jim, is there a guide in Tolia City who can find the Dreamy Oasis?”
“Sir, you… do you want to find the treasure of Dreamy Oasis?” Little Jim revealed a surprised expression, “It is said that the location of the oasis is in the core of the Black Prison Desert. Let alone finding the oasis, no one can even enter the core area. In addition to the terrifying sandstorm, there are vicious sand bandits on the road. These bandits attack towns from time to time, looting food and property. Just last month, Tolia City was attacked.”
“You don’t need to worry about the reason why I’m looking for the Dreamy Oasis. You just need to answer,” Chen Rui had a black crystal coin in his hand.
Prices in such a small place were much lower than those in big cities, and a black crystal coin was already quite an astonishing amount of money. Little Jim swallowed involuntarily, but he shook his head regretfully, “Although I really want this money, unfortunately, I really don’t know.”
“It seems that I’m unlucky.” Chen Rui didn’t look at Little Jim. He just looked around, put away the black crystal coins, asked where the hotel in the city was and walked straight. He soon disappeared from Little Jim’s vision.
When Little Jim saw Chen Rui walk away, he looked around, walked slowly into the side alley, then turned several corners. He seemed to relax and ran forward quickly. Suddenly, something tripped his foot, and he fell heavily to the ground. The small pouch in his hand fell out. He felt so painful that he couldn’t get up for a while.
Immediately afterward, several pairs of old cowhide boots appeared in the vision. At the same time, a voice that he didn’t want to hear most sounded, “Little Jim, you are indeed fast.”
Little Jim endured the pain, looked up at the face full of flesh, and smiled apologetically, “Sir Pino, I’m just worried about Old Father Lal. Recently, the old man’s old problems happened again.”
The big man who came with Pino shouted, “Stop fake daze! I heard from Old Kerry who sells cakes. Did you meet a stranger and make a lot of money just now?”
“Old Kerry must have seen it wrong. I sold him a mirror and got a few white crystal coins…”
Before he could finish speaking, Pino’s right hand was firmly stomped on by Pino’s foot, “Still trying to pretend!”
Pino stepped harder. Little Jim finally loosened his right hand, and the sweaty purple crystal coin slipped out of his fingers and was snatched by Pino.
“That’s the money I am paying for my dad’s treatment! Give it back to me!” Little Jim struggled to get up to try to get the purple crystal coin back.
“Where did that foreigner go? Say it and I’ll give it back to you.”
Thinking of Chen Rui crushing a purple crystal coin, Little Jim replied, “Hotel.”
“Let’s go to the hotel.” Pino waved to his accomplice.
Little Jim was in a hurry, “Give me the money back!”
“Fuck you!” Pino turned around and kicked Little Jim’s thin body into the wall.
“Big Brother Pino,” An accomplice suggested by the side, “Regarding the hotel… let’s explore the background first?”
“En.” Pino weighed the purple crystal coin in his hand. “We need to do it as clean as last time. If that guy is not strong…”
Pino grinned wickedly, made a knife-like hand, and swiped at his neck, but this swipe actually caused blooding. Pino was stunned. Until he felt a sharp pain in his throat and his hands were covered in his own blood, he understood what was going on. He covered his neck and made a horrified ‘click’ sound.
This bizarre scene looked like a bad joke, but no one could laugh out loud when a voice sounded, “You guys are looking for me?”
Everyone realized that there was another person around at some point. At the same time, a chill rose from everyone’s mind; their limbs seemed to be frozen and could not move.
Little Jim got up and looked equally horrified at the ‘foreigner’ who had given him money.
“Who are you?! Pino’s brother-in-law is the leader of the defense forces in the city. If you dare…”
“It turned out to be a family of officials and bandits. It seems that you are all veterans of killing people and stealing goods. Since you dare to kill people, you must have the awareness of being killed.” Chen Rui flicked his finger. Under the horrified gaze of Little Jim, the 4 burly men including Pino were instantly shattered into dust-like particles and disappeared without a trace, not even a drop of blood was left.
Only the purple crystal coin stolen by Pino automatically floated in front of Little Jim, but the young man’s mind was frightened by the scene just now, so he didn’t dare to take it.
“Little Jim, it seems that it’s not me, but you who are unlucky.” Chen Rui shook his head, “Actually, I noticed earlier that you didn’t tell the truth. Is the person I’m looking for is… the Old Father Lal as you mentioned?”
Little Jim shuddered while Chen Rui smiled slightly, “Let’s go to your house. I forgot to tell you. In addition to killing people, I can also save people. As long as your dad still has a breath, I can save him.”
