The Rowdy Sand Bay was the largest place with the Rowdy Sand in Hua nation. The sand could be more than a hundred meters high. The rolling dunes stretched out to face a great river. It was a great place for sightseeing.
If one slid down from the top of a dune, the dune would make a sound, which sometimes sounded like a frog’s croak, sometimes sounded like the roar of a car or a plane, or a clap of thunder. It was like a symphony.
“Daddy, this energy ring can not only keep away the heat but also the cold! But now I feel that its energy is running out.”
Mengmeng was wearing a big hat and a sports suit.
She didn’t sleep at all last night. At about 12 o’clock, Zhang Han flew here with Mengmeng. The night sky was very clear. Overlooking the earth from the air. Mengmeng felt that she had conquered the entire sky. And she liked this feeling very much.
When they arrived here, it was a little cold. Mengmeng recalled what Mu Xue had taught her and turned on the energy ring.
Yet, in less than an hour, the energy in her body was exhausted.
“The energy in one’s body, such as blood, vigor, spiritual force, soul sense, etc., are not unlimited. There is a certain cap. Generally, when you go out and cast the simplest energy ring, scanning force, bounded domain, and other skills, you should run them with no more than 30% of your energy. Most of the time, you should do it with 10% of your energy. When it reaches 20%, you’d better take some recovery medicinal pellets to maintain at least 90% of your energy. We may have to face various situations. Those situations may not be really dangerous, but the things we have to face may not be totally unharmful. Do bear that in mind.”
Zhang Han gently stroked Mengmeng’s head.
“I see, Daddy,” Mengmeng responded in a clear voice.
“Dad, where are we going? Where’s the relic? Is it very similar to the entrance of the Ancient Mine?”
Mengmeng curiously looked around.
“We’ll get there in about an hour.”
Zhang Han smiled.
His soul sense had long spanned out across this place and identified the dangers. The main reason that he chose to walk in the desert with Mengmeng was to experience the new environment.
The destination of this trip was five kilometers away from the northern part of the Rowdy Sand Bay.
The temperature in the desert was quite extreme. It was awfully hot during the day and freezing cold at night.
The sandstorm, the sand flow, the exposure to the sun, and the poisonous snakes and scorpions were all dangers lurking in the desert.
In just two hours, Mengmeng witnessed all that.
A huge sandstorm suddenly swept past from about 100 meters away ahead. It was Zhang Han’s masterpiece. Also, she saw terrifying sand flow and poisonous snakes and scorpions.
However, she didn’t get the chance to be exposed to the sun. Instead, she did have a taste of the coldness.
They had been walking for a long time, but the desert was still boundless, which could inspire despair.
But Mengmeng didn’t panic at all. She even wanted to sing a song.
Because with her father by her side, all danger was no danger but excitant.
“Daddy, there are people over there.”
At dawn, Mengmeng saw more than a dozen pedestrians walking at a steady but fast pace on a dune on the left.
The dune they were walking on and the one the two were standing on happened to meet up within 100 meters in front of them.
“Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh!”
These people all looked at Zhang Han and Mengmeng.
“I can’t feel any energy fluctuations around them. They’re not one of us, are they?
“But they came here at this time without bringing any supplies with them, nor did they have a camel. How could they be ordinary people?
“Could it be that they have a treasure that could block out their auras?”
There were more than a dozen people in the group. A couple of them were women. A girl with a long face, a ponytail, and a mole on the forehead hesitated for a moment and then said, “Are you here for sightseeing?”
She figured it was best to confirm that point first.
However, Zhang Han didn’t say anything. He looked at Mengmeng and asked her to talk with that girl.
“Yes.”
“It turns out that they are really tourists!”
Many of them were stunned.
“We’re going to play in the relic.”
Mengmeng added as an afterthought.
“Buzz!”
These people were somewhat stupefied by that remark.
“Play… in the relic?”
“Are you joking? Every time people entered that relic, some of them got killed, didn’t they?”
In the group, a square-faced man in his forties frowned and glanced at Zhang Han.
“The relic is not a place for sightseeing. With that kind of attitude, I think you’d better go home.”
His tone was not very friendly, which hinted that he was criticizing Zhang Han.
“If he continued to instruct his kid like this, something bad would happen sooner or later.”
However, that instead showed that the oldest man of the group was a man of integrity.
“We, we’re going on an adventure.”
Mengmeng put it in other words. Anyway, the meaning was basically the same.
“Haha, little girl, the relic is indeed a place for adventures.” The ponytailed woman laughed and said, “I think it’s not safe for you two to stay in this desert. Why don’t you come and join us?”
“Sure, thank you, sister.”
Mengmeng did like to play with many people.
Hence, the father and daughter set off with the group.
The group of people also slowed down. Previously, they saw Zhang Han walk very slowly and assumed that his strength was relatively low. What they did not know was that he was actually strolling with ease.
“Where are you from?” the ponytailed woman looked at Mengmeng and probed.
Compared with Zhang Han, she seemed to prefer to talk to Mengmeng.
“Um…”
Aunty Xue had told Mengmeng that she should not reveal too much information about herself to strangers.
Mengmeng blinked, smiled, and said with an innocent look, “We live in San Diego, Singapore, Shang Jing, and Xiangjiang. This time, we came here from Xiangjiang. Big sister, where are you from?”
“We are from the Taichi First School,” the woman replied.
“Taichi. I’ve heard of it. It’s really amazing.” Mengmeng complimented her.
She had read some news about Taichi on the Internet.
Her remark made the expressions of more than a dozen people in the group relax a little. The words of compliments were always pleasant to the ears.
The Taichi First School was relatively weak five years ago. Because there was a break in the continuity of the martial arts heritage of predecessors. It was not until the last three years that it began to prosper. Now, it had become a famous sect in the current martial arts world. It was said that there were five Grand Masters in the sect. They usually didn’t care about worldly affairs and solely focused on recovering the Taichi cultivation methods and secret skills. The martial arts heritage of predecessors was the foundation of any sect’s rise. Therefore, the sect master and the elders had sweated blood trying to recover it.
Zhang Han had long noticed them. The strength of this group of people was above the Qi Strength Stage. The man with a square face in his forties was Elder Hu, who was at the Grand Master Early-stage.
Beside him was a gentle and quiet boy, who seemed to be 16 or 17 years old. He was at the Peak Strength Stage. He also wanted to steel himself in the relic and was ready to break through to the Qi Strength Stage. He was the son of the sect master. And these people called him Lu Kai.
The others were just ordinary disciples of the sect. The one who talked to Mengmeng was Lu Kai’s senior apprentice, Tian Qing.
She was here to accompany Lu Kai. Otherwise, with her strength as a Heaven-stage Master, she probably would not have come to a D-grade relic.
“Gorgeous, which sect are you from?” Tian Qing asked with a smile.
“My sect? The Heavenly Knights Sect…”
“What?”
Elder Hu’s countenance changed drastically, and he gave a shudder with fear.
The faces of the others also altered dramatically.
“I’ve heard about the Heavenly Knights Sect. Big sister, are you talking about that kind of sect?” Mengmeng added, completely altering the meaning of her previous statement.
“Huh?”
Elder Hu’s expression froze.
He really wanted to say, “Little girl, can you please express yourself thoroughly… in one go?
“Don’t you know that your way of speaking might scare people out of their wits?”
“You scared me.” Tian Qing patted her chest and said, “Gorgeous, don’t always talk about such a powerful force like the Heavenly Knights Sect. If someone heard you ramble about that sect and blamed you for it, no one could keep you safe.”
“Oh.”
Mengmeng looked guiltily apologetic.
“I didn’t mean to scare you.
“Grandpa is the Young Master of the Heavenly Knights Sect, while Daddy is the boss of Mount New Moon. I don’t have a sect, so I do not belong to any sect.”
“Since you have heard of Heavenly Knights Sect, you must come from a respected martial arts family.”
Lu Kai turned his head to Mengmeng and spoke for the first time.
“You should have brought more people with you when you set off. Because there will be a lot of powerful people here this time.”
“How powerful are them?” Mengmeng asked.
“Well… some Wu Dao Grand Masters will be here, such as An He, the famous King of Storms, and Tang Qingshan of the Tang family in Shang Jing. They’re taking their juniors here to gain experience. They are all Wu Dao Grand Masters and quite awesome. I happened to have beaten An He’s younger brother before, so I brought so many people with me this time just in case.”
“Oh, oh, I know the King of Storms.”
Mengmeng nodded.
“Isn’t he the one who doesn’t know how to fly yet?”
“By the way, do you have an invitation?” Tian Qing abruptly asked.
She felt that of the two people walking next to her, the gorgeous were fine, but the man was a little dull. His expression was perfectly calm. But in her eyes, he was a fool who didn’t even dare to say a word. She wondered if it was because he lacked confidence in his strength.
“He’d better not have come here uninvited like an idiot. Otherwise, his trip would be in vain.”
“Huh? An invitation? Do I need an invitation to enter the relic?” Mengmeng was taken aback.
She really did not have an invitation.
Tian Qing touched her forehead with embarrassment and then explained, “The relic has appeared in the forest on the edge of the desert, which is the territory of the Liu family. It’s in the backyard of their manor. A week ago, they sold the visiting quota and sent invitations. Only those with invitations are allowed to go in.”
“Daddy, an invitation is needed. But we don’t have one.” Mengmeng was at a loss, so she looked up at Zhang Han.
“Aren’t they afraid of becoming the target of public criticism by selling the quota like this?”
Zhang Han finally made a remark after Mengmeng finished speaking.
“Regarding the really powerful ones, I guess he has sent out the invitations to them a long time ago. Perhaps he has formed a league with the several powerful masters to makes a profit together.” Elder Hu said flatly, “Only we, we those who don’t have a backer have to exchange resources for the visiting quota. If without resources, one must pay a big sum. What’s more, Patriarch Liu’s strength is close to the Grand Master Late-stage. As long as the martial artists from the five worldlets and Mount New Moon don’t show up, no one can do anything to him.”
Most forces in the worldlets were in the Ancient Mine. There were also some of their members in the outside world, whose job was to immediately inform the people in the Ancient Mine of the appearance of advanced relics. Thus, they usually didn’t show up at all. The situation in Mount New Moon was similar. Nowadays, the secular martial artists rarely saw them. Even among the new group of martial artists, those people had become the legends of the past and faded out of people’s sight.
Some of the new martial artists had seen or heard of the old legendary figures. However, these people were only a small part of the members of the vast martial arts world.
“Do you know the martial artists of our Mount New Moon?” Mengmeng inquired.
“Our Mount New Moon?”
Elder Hu was momentarily stunned, but soon he let it slide.
“She must be referring to Mount New Moon in Xiangjiang. Yet, few martial artists in Xiangjiang could go near Mount New Moon.
“Well, I shall take no offense at a child’s babble.”
Elder Hu did not pay attention to the “faulty wording” in the remark.
He sighed softly and said, “Legend has it that Mount New Moon is extremely mysterious. But since I’ve been in the martial arts world for many years, I’ve now learned something about it. Six years ago, the martial arts world seemed to be in a golden age with heroes springing up everywhere. At that time, Emperor Qing, the most outstanding man of the younger generation, overawed the world. Later, Merciless Zhang appeared in Xiangjiang. And that was Zhang Hanyang. There was a saying that Emperor Qing ruled the north, while Zhang Hanyang dominated the south. It was very high praise. Many admired and worshiped the two. People thought that they would have a great fight between them in the end. However, to everyone’s immense surprise, Emperor Qing turned out to be a junior follower of Zhang Hanyang’s.”
“Zhang Hanyang? Emperor Qing?
“Aren’t they just my father and Uncle Chen?”
“Later, the momentum of Zhang Hanyang’s rise could not be stopped. He founded the security group, took command of Mount New Moon, and defeated many great figures. Soon, he accepted Mu Xue the female demon, and Jiang Yanlan, the team leader of the Vermilion Bird, as his disciples. Oh, right, before them, he seems to have already had a disciple, who was his first disciple. But I’ve heard very little of him.
“Later, I learned that Zhang Hanyang was the successor of the Heavenly Knights Sect. It was said that he played a very important role in the battle that the Heavenly Knights Sect destroyed the Wind Snow School. It was a world-shaking battle that I was not qualified to watch. What a pity! Now, I can only hear their legend but can never see them rule the world.
“These are some secret anecdotes of the martial arts world. As you’re from Xiangjiang, you might have learned some of those, so I brought it up.”
Elder Hu shook his head and stopped talking, his eyes fixed on somewhere ahead.
“Secret anecdotes?”
Mengmeng had a dubious look in her eyes.
