Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“Taklamakan…”
The name caused anyone who knew what it was to make a face of despair.
Ever since the Cataclysm, locations such as the five great mountains and the famous Daze Mountain were occupied by powerful monsters. They were like the main demons in legends and folklore, and they could understand human language, while some of the more talented ones could even speak the human language. It was a celestial phenomenon.
Apart from the famous Daze Mountain, some places that were already famous for being weird and dangerous even before the Cataclysm became even worse.
Dangerous zones were called dangerous zones because people didn’t know much about the things inside.
The characteristics of these places were that they often produced a unique natural environment that encapsulated the area. Moreover, dangerous monsters existed within them, and in situations where explored and known places hadn’t been fully occupied yet, no one would go inside to provoke the dangerous beings within them because there was no need.
“This is troublesome. We aren’t sure what’s in the Taklamakan Desert. Even if we kill these lizards, if we don’t deal with the root problem, things will just keep getting more troublesome,” someone complained.
“It’s impossible for us to solve this problem by just relying on us, the Chang’an Base City…” added another person.
“That’s right. What was the conclusion of the meeting with the Lord of the Dark Ember? Is it willing to become our ally?”
“Mayor, the Lord of the Dark Ember declined,” an assistant dutifully reported.
“I know.” The mayor, who was wearing a gray suit, sighed.
“What is this monkey thinking…? It helped us killed that lizard before, but now it’s implying that it isn’t willing to work with us. Unless…”
“Unless what?” asked the mayor.
“Unless it’s just being prideful?” said someone else in a solemn tone.
The mayor paused.
Previously, Gao Peng had succeeded in passing the exam and obtaining the position of World Hunter at the branch of the Monster Trainer League in Yuzhou Base City.
One of the most important criteria in the World Hunter exam was strength. Only when one had the strength would one be able to survive longer in the wild. The second criteria was experience from living in the wild and one’s knowledge in identifying different monsters.
The latter two points were no longer important to Gao Peng, because when one was too strong, one could easily dominate others, and survival experience didn’t really matter anymore.
“Can’t return to the Black Fog World in the short term. There’s a King-tier monster plundering on the other side of the Spacial Rift in Lusaka. That place isn’t too far away from the Desolate Labyrinth.” Gao Peng paused and continued, “If we encounter the monster whose strength is unknown, it could get dangerous.”
“Monster.” The Desolate Frost Lion was stunned. “What monster?”
“I don’t know. There’s no photo, but it’s a giant black snake. It was disturbed and woken up from a deep slumber…” Gao Peng shook his head. If he’d had a photo, he would have been able to directly check the stats and attributes of the giant snake directly through the photo. However, whether it was an Emperor-tier or an Overlord-tier monster, they weren’t beings that he could mess with at the moment. To be safe, it was better to slowly grow and wait until he could defeat that monster before heading to the Black Fog World.
This is definitely not cowardly. It’s just mature and stable, keeping the big picture in mind.
“Waking up a monster from deep slumber?” The Desolate Frost Lion was shocked. Why are these people so gutsy? Even humans get up on the wrong side of the bed sometimes, not to mention a monster who’s often subject to mood swings.
Oh, right, I’m also a really big lion who can be moody. It pouted cutely. Oh, oh. Gao Peng, try and hit my head if you have what it takes!
“But at most, this monster should only be at the Emperor tier or the peak of the Emperor tier. There’s no way it’s at the Overlord tier.” The Desolate Frost Lion was certain.
“You’re that sure?” Gao Peng was a bit surprised.
“Heh, how dumb. How could there be another Overlord-tier monster sleeping so soundly so close to another Overlord-tier monster? Is it tired of living?” The Desolate Frost Lion laughed coldly.
“Speak properly.” Gao Peng hit its head.
The Desolate Frost Lion was extremely exasperated. I’m telling you, I’m a big, moody lion. You can’t simply hit my head.
“Even if it were Emperor-tier, we can’t deal with it at the moment.”
“Wait until my strength is fully recovered, then I’ll beat it up,” said the Desolate Frost Lion as it laughed coldly.
“I’m rooting for you. After you recover your strength and get to the Overlord tier, you’ll dominate the entire Black Fog World and reach the peak of your life,” said Gao Peng encouragingly.
“Let’s go, Gao Peng. Let us take all the treasures all over the world. Then, I’ll be able to breakthrough faster.” The Desolate Frost Lion couldn’t wait anymore.
Lying on its side, Da Zi’s eyes brightened. Treasure? Ours?
That night, at the dinner table inside the villa, Grandpa said, “Something happened in Chang’an again.”
Another… Chang’an sure has a lot of disasters.
“What happened this time?” Gao Peng picked up a piece of meat from the table with his chopsticks and heard the sound of drooling beside his ear.
Da Zi was looking at Gao Peng under the table with its head raised. Its tail was shaking happily just like a Shiba Inu. Normal familiars weren’t allowed inside restaurants, but Da Zi had tiny special privileges.
As Gao Peng threw a piece of bone on the floor, hundreds of Da Zi’s short feet leaped as it landed on the bone. It gnawed at the bone.
“Monster intrusion. From within the Taklamakan.”
The Taklamakan, huh? Gao Peng had heard of the place, since it was in the northwest and wasn’t that far away from Chang’an.
After the Cataclysm, it had been covered in sand, and it was also covered in sandstorms year-round. The Dali Desert was child’s play in front of the Taklamakan Desert.
Of course, the Taklamakan Desert was different from the Golden Sand Desert. The sand in the Taklamakan was a shifting sand desert. As the name suggested, the sand in shifting sand deserts moved based on the direction of the wind, and the desert would continue to move due to the wind. This meant that it was a desert that moved.
The Taklamakan Desert was the largest desert in the Huaxia Region, and it was the second largest shifting sand desert in the world.
“The newest information is that the Taklamakan Desert is closing in on Chang’an Base City. Based on current estimations, in approximately ten years, the desert will devour the entirety of Chang’an.”
Gao Peng put down his bowl and chopsticks. The people of Chang’an… sure do have a lot of disasters.
Although ten years might have seemed like a long time, in fact, it wasn’t long at all. If they really couldn’t prevent the movement of the Taklamakan Desert, the Chang’an Base City would have to prepare to move.
“Could this desert be alive?” Gao Peng muttered. Having witnessed animated sculptures, mountain spirits, and coral monsters, Gao Peng had already had his mind blown several times, so he couldn’t help but wonder if the Taklamakan Desert had produced another monster with consciousness.
If it really created another inanimate object with consciousness, then that huge area…
Before the Cataclysm, the Taklamakan Desert had been around 620 miles from the east to the west, and around 250 miles from south to north. The total area was around 205,000 square miles. After the Cataclysm, it became bigger, and if a desert as big as that became a monster, then who knew just how frightening it could be.
After Grandpa finished his dinner, he used a napkin to wipe his mouth. “I’ll go check it out tomorrow.”
“No, don’t go. I’ll go instead.” Gao Peng remembered that almost all of the Sand-type monsters were weak against ice, and he had the Desolate Frost Lion, so he was more capable of dealing with them.
Ji Hanwu thought for a moment, but he was still somewhat worried. “Let’s go together. I’ll bring the White Dragon along tomorrow. Don’t bring too many familiars. We’ll just check it out.”
I only just reached a total of three familiars, and my grandson already has ten. Ji Hanwu was quite speechless as well.
