Otherworldly Desert Dust

"The White Hat who gave orders to the Pioneers and the Guardians earlier, is he at the Cangxia Level?" Wu Hen inquired.

The man looked quite powerful, and facing the moving locust hill, he could actually disperse it with his own strength!

"Yes, he is considered the first echelon of our human tribe, but he’s still far from the real Heavenly Light. Give me some time, and I’ll surpass him in no time," Mingyi said confidently.

"What about me? Can you take a look at my Crown and see what level it is?" Wu Hen also showed his stately seven-foot figure, hoping to get some recognition.

"Firefly Light, isn’t it obvious? You’ve just been born as Desert Dust Life. Even if your true Soul Realm is high, it will take some time before it’s fully reflected," Mingyi replied.

"Oh, oh, I see..." Wu Hen scratched his head. He had thought that after Little Yi evolved into Jade Profound Silk, he would be at the same level as these Pioneers.

"Don’t be discouraged. I’ll get you a Yuan You Great Supplement when I get the chance, so you can reach the Night Ghost level quickly. You are my first little apprentice, and I won’t let you suffer any grievances!" Mingyi said.

"Thank you, beautiful little master," Wu Hen replied.

"Little Wu, we recruited you not for your combat prowess but for your Listening Sense..." Finally, Captain Qin, who had been silently enduring, spoke up.

He didn’t dare say anything to Mingyi, so he had to explain to Wu Hen.

Wu Hen immediately understood that he wasn’t there to be Mingyi’s entertainer.

Listening Sense was also quite rare among the Spirit Awakeners. Through his conversations with Mingyi on the way, Wu Hen had learned that not everyone’s Perception among the human Spirit Awakeners had reached a transformative level; some were just one or two times stronger than ordinary people.

But Wu Hen’s hearing had already risen to ten times the human level, which Mingyi referred to as Second Rank Hearing.

Any strange noises around them basically couldn’t escape Wu Hen’s ears.

"There are no situations at the moment," Wu Hen answered confidently.

"Really? Isn’t it a bit too quiet?" Captain Qin became a bit uneasy.

Too quiet didn’t mean there was no sound at all; the locusts chewing and climbing actually sounded like a roaring tsunami.

But in Wu Hen’s hearing, this was considered "white noise" and not abnormal sound. As long as their Soul Crowns were still shining, they wouldn’t be attacked.

"Captain, something’s wrong," suddenly, the One-eyed Sister said.

"There’s nothing in front," Captain Qin said, puzzled.

"Our Crowns are dimming," One-eyed Sister said seriously.

"That’s impossible," White Peacock Man exclaimed.

At this moment, Mingyi also realized something. She closed her eyes and began to feel her own power.

Just as One-eyed Sister said, she clearly felt her power weakening!

"Look around..." a pale and thin man suddenly pointed to several other sand dunes.

On those locust hills, figures were appearing one after another. They formed a long line, like a group of pilgrims about to go to a Holy Temple. Their empty eyes and stiff movements made them no different from the Lost Ones!

Among the long lines of pilgrims, many were also Nuwa’s people who had been bewitched by the Evil Breath.

Although there were Guardians in the Pure Land keeping watch, they still could not completely stop the pervasive Evil Breath. More and more people inexplicably stepped out of the Pure Land, heading towards this terrifying desert!

They all walked in the same direction, finally over the top of a huge raised sand dune!

"There must be something behind that giant dune, they’re all going towards it," One-eyed Sister said.

"This whole locust Evil Realm will consume our Soul Crowns. The longer we stay here, the closer we get to the mortal world. When that happens, these otherworldly locusts will chew us down to the bone..." Captain Qin quickly judged.

Every Evil Soil and Evil Realm adhered to an inherent Law. Regardless of the realm or power of the outsiders or the lost, they would be devoured bit by bit!

"So, our lives have entered the hourglass countdown?" Wu Hen made a relatively apt analogy.

"Is it possible that while we seem to be exploring, we’re actually walking in a specific direction just like the Lost Ones?" the pale and thin man said.

This sentence sent a chill through the seven members of the Pioneer squad!

Indeed, these sand dunes stretched endlessly, each looking very similar. There were no landmarks. Why were they so sure they were always heading deeper? After stepping out of the Pure Land, the surroundings were just dunes. Could they really determine that behind them was the Pure Land?

"Everyone, don’t waste your Crowns. Stick close to each other, and rely on your companion’s Crown to move forward!" Captain Qin said.

"Don’t get separated. One person’s Crown won’t last long alone!"

At this moment, their Soul Crowns were like torches,

illuminating a limited area in the cold night desert.

Once the torches burned out, the beasts fearing the firelight would pounce, wiping out the team in an instant!

Therefore, with each person holding a finite torch, the wisest thing would be to huddle together, taking turns using their Crowns.

In this way, they could ensure a longer time to walk and survive in the locust Evil Realm!

Wu Hen tried to listen, trying to hear what was behind the giant sand dune.

But there was no sound, whether it was truly silent there or it was beyond his Spiritual Sense!

...

After alternating their Crowns, Captain Qin soon discovered another problem.

The recovery rate of the Crowns was very slow. This Evil Realm must have high-level Evil Breath that suppressed the Spirit Awakeners, and none of the team’s Spiritual Sense could detect it.

To some extent, they had also been contaminated.

Now, they had no choice but to march toward the giant sand dune like all the others who were under some form of control.

But as their lives entered the collective countdown, a gloom inevitably shrouded everyone. Even Mingyi, who had been quite lively and cheerful, became serious and focused.

The crowd was larger than expected.

It seemed not just people from Nuwa’s Pure Land, but also indigenous Desert Dust people, and Lost Ones were heading towards the giant sand dune...

Unlike the feeling Wu Hen had when he was guided by the Nuwa God End, this guidance was more like an order, a command pressing down so hard that you couldn’t think. Any doubt or defiance would result in mental lashings!

Wu Hen was also greatly shocked. He had never experienced such rampant contamination before, even in Zai Wu’s territory!

The grand procession now formed a long line on dozens of locust hills. Although they were all living people, no communication occurred between them. It was as if they were citizens of an evil kingdom who had been completely stripped of their thoughts, participating in a macabre ceremony!

Among the tens of thousands of people, there were still those with strong wills.

They would resist and struggle.

But once they attempted to "reverse," countless locusts would crawl up their bodies, devouring them to the bone in full view...

Most horrifying of all, after being stripped to the bones, those otherworldly locusts would burrow into the marrow and mimic the manner of human walking, step by step, continuing toward the giant sand dune!

So, a particularly grotesque and eerie scene unfolded before the world in the mammoth human procession, every few dozen people encompassed a walking skeleton!

What on earth was behind that sand dune??

Reaching it might mean death.

But even in death, you would still reach it!

...

"There shouldn’t be only our Spirit Awakeners, if possible, let’s group with them to share Crowns," Captain Qin thought quickly and proposed the idea immediately.

Every Evil Soil and Evil Realm in the Desert Dust adhered to some "different rules." If those could be ingeniously found and understood in time, there was a great chance of escape...

Deciphering these different rules required sufficient time for observation and thought. Captain Qin knew well how to maximize the team’s survival rate!

"I’ll use my Spiritual Sense to see if there are others like us using their Crowns," One-eyed Sister said.

Upon saying that, One-eyed Sister removed her eye patch, revealing another eye like a flower crystal. This eye swept through the long procession, and soon each person displayed a state similar to smoke.

Most people were cloaked in black mist.

But soon she noticed a group one dune away, about thirteen or fourteen of them, radiating Night Ghost level Crowns.

"They haven’t realized their Crowns are weakening," One-eyed Sister observed.

"Let’s slow our pace a bit and try to group with them," Captain Qin nodded.

...

Despite slowing down, their group reached the top of the giant sand dune.

Standing on high ground, looking down the vast sand slope, the seven of them revealed deep confusion.

In the vast dune basin, there was only a building’s silhouette, which from a distance looked like a temporary ancient film set, hardly invoking any sense of great terror.

Yet, people had already entered the desert building shadow, disappearing within...

The building shadow was not huge or grand. There were at least hundreds of people who had entered it, but it remained eerily empty, with no signs of life!

"Could this be Yinzhou?" someone from the other group of over a dozen Spirit Awakeners spoke.

Apparently, even the Pioneers under the Nuwa God End knew little about the Desert Dust, yet the ones who recognized this place were a group of foreign citizens!

"What is Yinzhou?" Wu Hen asked, curious as ever, directly showing his social anxiety traits.

"Oh, you speak human language and are also a Spirit Awakener?" the man who spoke previously asked. Nôv(el)B\\jnn

"There are oases in the desert called Life State. Likewise, there are Ghost Mirages in the desert, also known as Yinzhou."