Qian Cheng walked back toward the Qian residence, hands clasped behind his back, humming a tune picked up from somewhere, occasionally waving to passersby.
“Qian Jin, let’s go!” Duan Fengbu’er slung an arm around Qian Jin’s neck, turning them both in the opposite direction. “Let’s find what we need first.”
Mu Hua Zhence stared toward the direction of the Ancient Barren Sand Sea, his anxiety flaring once more. This was clearly shaping up to be a trap. Was there truly some danger awaiting them in the Ancient Barren Sand Sea? And where exactly would that danger originate?
“Danger? It comes from a place no one would expect. Old Sixth is living further and further in reverse! He clearly knows he’s walking right into a trap, yet he won’t stop advancing? Has he forgotten his noble identity as a Prince? His life is different from those other people!”
“To think a boy like that wants to become the wisest Emperor—isn’t that being far too presumptuous?”
Under the moonlight… a young man, bearing a seven-tenths resemblance to Mu Hua Zhence in his white brocade robes, lightly fanned himself while gazing at the sky and remarking coolly, “Loyalty? Hmph!”
“Third Brother…”
“Fourth Brother, I know what you’re about to say—we share the same father, but there is only one throne…”
The Fourth Prince, his face etched with resolve, sighed and said no more. This trap was truly vicious. He had no idea where Third Brother had unearthed this information…
“Qian Jin? Though I’ve never met you, the data I have on you is more complete than anyone else’s. Half a shield?” The Third Prince smiled confidently. “Perhaps the legend of that shield’s treasure is real. Immortal…”
The Ancient Barren Sand Sea remains unchanged over a million years; tens of millions of years leave no trace of passage upon it.
It is eternally vast, eternally silent, making even a million-strong army mustered for war appear fragile and insignificant before it.
By the time Qian Jin stepped into the Ancient Barren Sand Sea, the sun had long dipped below the horizon, leaving the sky dominated by countless stars and the moon.
Star charts! Many veterans of the army could read maps, and they could read sea charts, but very few could truly comprehend star charts.
Qian Jin, however, could read them. This was due to the sheer volume of notes left by the Qian family; Qian Jin had read so many disorganized books as a child that he had incidentally absorbed a great deal of knowledge about celestial navigation.
“Judging by the star chart, the location should be somewhat deeper inside the Ancient Barren Sand Sea.” Qian Jin lowered his gaze to the shield in his hand, cross-referencing it with the memory of the other half of the shield in his mind, then tilted his head back to the sky. “The Ancient Barren Sand Sea is different from other places; everyone needs to be careful.”
No one spoke, their eyes constantly sweeping the surroundings. Even though the outermost layer of the Ancient Barren Sand Sea was currently deemed a safe zone, who knew which beast might be in a foul mood and decide to wander out suddenly? Such an encounter could instantly spell utter disaster for them.
“There shouldn’t be anything around here,” Duan Fengbu’er swept his gaze across the distance, breaking the silence. “I don’t see any immediate danger.”
Night Vision! This was a special ability that manifested when Duan Fengbu’er’s Nine-Headed Serpent bloodline power awakened. It seemed useless in daily life, but here, under the cover of darkness, it revealed its unique aspect.
The Ancient Barren Sand Sea was chilling at night. Mu Hua Zhence pulled his wind-and-sand resistant blanket tighter around himself, hunching slightly, secretly grumbling that he must have lost his mind to venture into this place with men who would one day be his ministers.
Sigh! Being a competent emperor is so difficult! One even has to worry about the lives of future officials! Mu Hua Zhence comforted himself, feeling slightly better.
“A swarm of snakes!”
After advancing ten li, the group finally encountered the first wave of assassins from the Ancient Barren Sand Sea!
Beneath the night sky, thousands of sand snakes, thick as a man’s wrist, fixed their pairs of eerie green eyes upon them, emitting a cold light that made one’s scalp tingle. Their bodies scraped against the sand as they advanced, creating a grating sound.
“Don’t worry about a thing!” Duan Fengbu’er swaggered forward. Upon seeing him, the serpent forms immediately began writhing madly, closing in at high speed, eager to devour this easy meal.
“Bloodline warriors, commence!”
The Nine-Headed Serpent Bloodline Battle Form instantly activated, the kingly bloodline among Serpent-type bloodline warriors, unleashing the majestic Battle Soul of the Nine-Headed Serpent. It stood like a supreme monarch, looking down upon those lesser creatures.
The surging snake swarm, which had been twisting and charging ferociously, suddenly fell silent! The lead sand snake convulsed once, thrashed a few times, and immediately died from sheer terror.
The absolute might of the Nine-Headed Serpent bloodline power emanated before these lesser snakes. They prostrated themselves on the sand, not daring to move, as if awaiting a judgment upon their lives.
“This feeling is amazing!” Duan Fengbu’er turned back triumphantly to Cekefuite. “Concubine, even with your Holy Artifact, you don’t look as imposing as I do right now, do you?”
Cekefuite mimicked the motion of drawing his sword to stab, signaling his displeasure at Duan Fengbu’er calling her a concubine.
“Alright, you’re not needed here. Move along,” Duan Fengbu’er waved dismissively at the snake swarm. The sand snakes immediately lost interest in attacking Qian Jin and the others, turning tail and vanishing quickly back into the night.
Along the way, they encountered several more groups of magical beasts. Duan Fengbu’er dealt with all the serpent types single-handedly. Any other solitary beasts that showed their heads—regardless of their strength—were met with the full might of the group’s coordinated attacks, utterly obliterating the opponents.
One day, two days…
The group dared not rush through the Ancient Barren Sand Sea, maintaining constant vigilance over their surroundings. They rested by day and continued their journey by night, navigating by the star charts above.
A beast roared, a three-meter-tall behemoth letting out a sound of resignation as it slowly collapsed onto the golden terrain. Behind Cekefuite, dust plumed up where the giant body struck the sand.
Duan Fengbu’er watched with envy the power unleashed by the Holy Artifact. The magical beasts here were no longer like those encountered upon first entering the Ancient Barren Sand Sea, which could be repelled without direct combat. Their predatory aggression had grown far fiercer.
Qian Jin knelt beside the magical beast slain by Cekefuite, carefully observing the beast’s forehead. The ashen-gray light slowly dissipated from that spot.
“Undead! It’s the Undead again!”
Qian Jin watched the Undead seal on the beast’s forehead and sucked in a sharp breath that burned his lungs. The cold night air made the temperature exceptionally low, as if trying to freeze one’s very lungs solid.
“Undead? What are you talking about, comrade?” Duan Fengbu’er leaned closer to inspect the dead beast. “I feel like this insignia isn’t the first time we’ve seen it.”
Mu Hua Zhence also approached to examine the badge on the deceased beast’s forehead. The Undead were merely beings sung about by bards, not supposed to be real. How could…
The blade in Qian Jin’s hand pried out the complete metal insignia from the beast’s forehead. Blood seeped around the gray badge, making it look particularly bizarre, like an ancient demon awakened from an eon-long slumber deep beneath the earth.
“The Undead are real.”
Qian Jin’s voice was not loud, but once those words were spoken, the surrounding cold wind seemed to lose its chill—at least, compared to that statement. The wind was mere temperature, but those words dropped the ambient air temperature by dozens of degrees instantly.
Mu Hua Zhence distinctly felt goosebumps rise all over his body. “The Undead? They really exist! What does that mean?”
“The Undead truly exist…” Qian Jin repeated the fact, his eyes sweeping over his companions. “I hadn’t planned on telling everyone, to avoid raising curiosity and worry, but now that I haven’t told you the Undead are real, you’ve already seen them, just unknowingly.”
Duan Fengbu’er recalled the Imperial Contests against the Demon Race. That faint light that once flickered on the forehead of the Iron Arm Mantis bloodline warrior—he had assumed it was some new, special technique developed by the Demon Race…
“There are Undead presences in this desert as well,” Qian Jin’s voice grew solemn. “The Undead are not living, but they are not dead either. They are a special form of existence created using mysterious elixirs combined with runic inscriptions. They are mutants striving for eternal life, hoping to become Star Gods.”
Everyone felt the surrounding air drop in temperature again. This was the first time they had ever heard such pronouncements.
“Interesting. This young man is quite clever,” the Third Prince lay back in a rocking chair, observing the stars overhead. A golden earpiece nearby continuously relayed the conversation of Qian Jin and the others.
A Listening Device! A type of Magitech artifact!
The Third Prince wore a confident smile. “Old Sixth likes taking Iron Man around, but he doesn’t know Iron Man carries a listening bug—one I managed to implant in him using considerable effort. It seems all that effort was worth it. This Qian Jin actually knows about the Undead! And he never mentioned it…”
“Third Brother, the Undead are…”
“A terrifying, powerful existence.” The Third Prince closed his eyes, his body trembling slightly, unwilling to look behind him at the courtyard where five hundred men, clad in superior equipment, stood assembled. “I only learned about this thing under unforeseen circumstances. In the future, the threat they pose to my Dynasty might even surpass that of the Demon Race! Immortal…”
“It’s a pity we don’t have the spare strength to mobilize now and surround those things! Because if I report this to Father Emperor, the moment the army mobilizes, those Demon Race fiends will surely seize the opportunity to attack…”
The Third Prince let out a sigh and refocused his attention on the golden earpiece.
“This is all the information I have regarding the Undead,” Qian Jin told the group. “Therefore, if you encounter an Undead, don’t assume stabbing them in a vital spot will kill them. Their bodies are far tougher than we imagine.”
Qian Jin’s gaze returned to the magical beast lying beneath his palm. “This beast we just fought was indeed defeated. But its injuries were not enough to keep it down. Its actions were merely a ploy to mislead you, to make you lower your guard before launching the most sudden attack to kill you all.”