Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Overlooking from 16,000 feet above the ground, they saw a huge desert spanning across the earth with smoke signals rising to the sky. The yellow desert looked like a giant dragon laying flat on the ground. At the end of their sights, light yellow dust was rapidly rising from the desert.
“No.” Gao Peng looked at the desert underneath his feet. However, he sighed in relief after failing to detect any attributes there. This would have made his plan tougher.
At least the Taklamakan Desert hadn’t mutated into a monster. However, it would definitely require great effort to find out what was causing all this in such a big desert, which for sure couldn’t be done within ten days or even half a year.
Looking down from the sky, the edge of the desert was like lake water during high tide, penetrating outwards slowly and soaking the sand, then engulfing it completely.
“The desert isn’t moving… It’s devouring,” said Gao Peng. “Taklamakan is devouring the soil from the outside world to make itself stronger.”
It was hard to believe that this was being done by Taklamakan. It was engulfing the surrounding soil and eroding it into small grains to continue adding to its volume.
The thick dunes were like rolling hills on the back of a giant monster. Its size was gigantic.
“The typical dunes wouldn’t be at this height.” Gao Peng furrowed his eyebrows when he saw the height of the pyramidal dunes in the desert, which were almost a few hundred feet high. Moreover, such pyramidal dunes of this height could be found anywhere there.
“If we fail to stop it, ten years from now, they would be reaching Chang’an City and swallowing up the entire city.” Grandpa was frowning with tension in his eyes.
“White Dragon!” Grandpa shouted out loud.
The White Dragon was hanging its head, then slightly pressed on its dragon claws. The next moment, the entire sky was shrouded by dark clouds, and the desert rustled under a strong wind.
Bang.
With a heavy sound, rich dark purple lightning splashed out from the dark cloud above their heads. Thunder and lightning raged in the sky, followed by a flash of purple lightning sweeping across the sky.
The White Dragon cried into the air and trembled the entire sky, which was overcast with dark clouds. Along with its shocking cries, groups of dark clouds were broken through by an earth-shatteringly huge dragon claw.
Poof—
The surrounding air sounded like it was being torn apart.
Bang!!
The dunes were splashing with numerous waves of sand, and the endless sand waves were lifted up layer by layer, eventually sputtering out in all directions.
A shockingly powerful boom of thunder rose from the center of the desert. Countless overlapping sand shadows were teeming with the remains of the thunder arc and dark clouds inside. The wind had blown away the dust, and the sky had transformed into a sunny day again.
A giant pit that was hundreds of yards deep was left at the center of the desert. The smell of thunder and water vapor was left in the air. There was also a deathly stillness in the air. Apart from the ear-splitting noise, there was only the subtle sound of sand slowly filling up the sand pit.
Finally, Gao Peng had realized that something had gone wrong. It was strange because there was no monster appearing in the vast desert of Taklamakan. On paper, there must have been living creatures in the desert, even if it was an impoverished land.
The Treasure Sniffing Rodent suddenly stood up while grabbing onto the mane of the White Dragon with its two tiny claws. It then popped out its head and stared down while yelling, “There’s treasure.”
It might have jumped off the White Dragon’s back if it hadn’t been too high. However, it still appeared to be extremely excited while waving its claws continuously.
“This should be its hyperactive state.” Da Zi nodded its head while making this assumption.
“White Dragon. Was there any discovery?” Ji Hanwu asked in a low voice.
The White Dragon, which was flying through the sky, looked at the desert in confusion. As soon as it came up with an idea, massive water droplets started to condense in the sky and turned into a giant blue net in a flash of an eye.
The giant net suddenly shook. The next second, it already covered half of the center of the desert. The moment the water net touched the desert, it instantly dissipated into an ocean of water droplets and eventually permeated into the bottom of the dunes.
Through its perception towards the water droplets, the White Dragon could smell the things underneath its feet.
The White Dragon suddenly opened its eyes. It was there—
“Found it!” The White Dragon spoke from its throat in a low and fierce voice. It showed a fierce look in its eyes, and the next moment, it turned into a white shadow and charged down.
Bang—
The dune that was a few hundred yards high was crushed and broken into pieces within a second. Massive piles of sand started to collapse.
Underneath the dune, there were countless cramped tunnels that looked like an ant farm. One part of the tunnels was torn down, revealing its hollow structure. The interior of the tunnels was covered with roots.
The gray-brown root was covered with tumors the size of fists that were beating together along to the tempo of its breathing.
There were many red dots on the surface of the lumps. The attack just now had destroyed a part of the tumors, causing yellowish fluid to flow out from the broken lumps. Several embryos that were yet to be fully-grown could be seen in the broken tumors.
[Monster Name]: Parasitic Sand Bit Beetle (Not fully-grown) (Dead)
[Monster Level]: 0
[Monster description]: A type of monster that lives as a parasite. They must feed on the Sand Demon Tree to survive.
Gao Peng looked at those broken roots,
[Material Name]: Sand Demon Tree’s Root
[Material Description]: Sand Demon Tree’s Root can be consumed as medicine. It tastes like a yam, and long-term use can strengthen one’s kidneys. Contains certain elemental power.
The roots were extracted from the wall after being hurt, leaving numerous holes on the inside of the wall. “The treasure that you mentioned was these roots that could strengthen our kidneys?” Gao Peng was left speechless.
The Treasure Sniffing Rodent shook its head continuously and yelled, “No! No!”
“How could it be such a worthless thing!” Gao Peng was disappointed.
The Treasure Sniffing Rodent was pissed. “How could you doubt my evaluation capacity!”
“Haha. Your reputation is at a whole new level,” Gao Peng laughed.
The Treasure Sniffing Rodent looked to the north. “It’s in our sight, right to the north.”
Grandpa wanted to search for the source of the disaster from these roots. “If you’re trying to look for the treasure, please go ahead. I want to check out this area here. Please be careful to keep in mind that you have to find your way back.”
“Don’t worry.” Gao Peng nodded his head.
After jumping off of the back of the White Dragon, Gao Peng headed north along with his familiars he had brought.
Lucky, the dog species familiar was sniffing on the ground. Although it was small in size, its speed was above average. It could run about 100 feet in less than ten minutes.
Gao Peng had been watching his steps all this time, as he was aware that there might have been monsters underneath them. However, the dunes below his feet were peaceful, and he had yet to be attacked by anything.
“It’s here, it’s here.” The Treasure Sniffing Rodent finally stopped and stepped on one of the dunes.
“Fast! Start digging at this spot, quickly!” The Treasure Sniffing Rodent couldn’t wait to urge its master.
“Why don’t you dig the hole? I thought rodents were very good at digging holes,” said Gao Peng, joking.
“…” The Treasure Sniffing Rodent was stunned for a while. After that, it stared at its feet and showed a cunning look with a sly smile on its face.
“Desolion, Goldie. Do me a favor and break this for me.” Gao Peng turned his head to give an order to his familiars.
The Desolate Frost Lion patted the surface of the dune with its claws. Suddenly, the entire area was covered with a layer of dazzling gleam. As soon as the cold gleam was gone, the desert below their feet had already turned into a freeze-dried land.
Goldie stepped forward with a hard expression. It gently swung its arm like a hammer and punched it the next moment.
Bang!!!
The entire desert was turned upside down. The frozen desert collapsed after taking this punch!
