Chapter 88: The Buried Immortal Sea of Sand

As they ventured deeper into the endless desert, Qin Yue quickly noticed a change in the old immortals around him.

Under the fierce influence of the local field, the realms that had been suppressed by the laws were gradually recovering.

By the fluctuations in aura, energy frequency, and intensity radiating from their bodies, Qin Yue could tell that nine people, including Wang Hong, had begun to show the aura of the third realm.

The two young disciples of the immortal sect, both “true men,” had also come astonishingly close to the third realm, and their fields were formidable as well.

The remaining silent paper figures still retained the fluctuations of the Returning Light level.

Qin Yue finally understood why Wang Hong was so overbearing and forceful: after entering the Immortal Realm, this man had successfully broken into the third realm.

Though still somewhat inferior to the old monsters who made his sea of consciousness ache, he was nonetheless a true heavenly immortal.

The power of this region’s field was terrifying indeed.

For ten thousand li, the drifting sands were a dark gold, dotted here and there with patches of black and blood-red.

The dunes moved with the course of the stars; at noon, the sand’s surface grew so hot it felt as though even iron could be melted, while at night the temperature dropped to freezing.

Even without any attacks, everyone moved at a very slow pace.

As they went deeper, they occasionally saw corners of immortal mansions exposed above the ground. Judging by their scale, they were like buildings fit for giants.

Farther in, such ruins became increasingly numerous, all exuding an ancient desolation that seemed to have lasted through the ages.

Qin Yue stayed close beside Elder Ding, and while he was shaken by what he saw, he was also silently performing deductions and calculations.

At the same time, he remained on guard against danger that could appear at any moment.

Fortunately, after the first wave of Godcorroding Beetles on the first day, no other living creatures appeared before them.

On the fifth day after entering the Buried Immortal Sea of Sand, a vast sand wall suddenly appeared on the distant horizon.

It rose a thousand zhang high, and no one could tell how wide it was; it felt as though the entire sea of sand had suddenly stood upright.

At the top of the sand wall, in the region that seemed to press against the vault of heaven, terrifying bolts of lightning kept flashing.

Though it seemed far away, it was advancing toward them at a fearsome speed.

Elder Ding and the others all turned somewhat grim.

An old man said in a deep voice, “A sandstorm!”

This was a manifestation of nature’s mighty force; before it, all living beings were as insignificant as dust.

Even heavenly immortals, if they dared to meet it head-on, would be torn apart.

Elder Ding suddenly struck the ground beneath his feet.

Qin Yue did not sense much energy fluctuation, yet a massive pit of several dozen zhang appeared before his eyes in an instant.

A hand seized his wrist and pulled him down into the pit, and the others jumped in one after another.

Pale blue light enveloped everyone. The other elders acted at the same time, drawing in drifting sand to bury the place, until the world before them fell into utter darkness.

After a while, the entire earth seemed to tremble violently, as though ten thousand horses were trampling across it.

Then came even more terrifying roars and howling winds, as though countless demons from hell were shrieking in agony.

The ordeal went on for the length of a stick of incense before the noise outside gradually began to fade.

Elder Ding pulled Qin Yue out of the sand pit, and the others subconsciously looked around, all eyes filled with shock.

The immortal ruins that had previously been exposed were now gone without a trace.

Instead, in places that had once been dunes, the remains of all kinds of huge broken structures had been laid bare.

Wang Hong stared at those ruins and suddenly said, “Let’s go explore. We may find something.”

These people were very experienced; what had already been exposed above the ground had most likely been searched before. Ruins blasted out by such a terrifying sandstorm, however, had a greater chance of yielding treasures.

Elder Ding did not refuse. Though this was a forbidden land in the mortal world, it had once housed heavenly immortals; if luck favored them, they might really be able to pick up a few treasures.

Still, they remained cautious, sending out a few false bodies to scout ahead first.

Qin Yue looked at those false bodies again and again. They were fleshy and lifelike, with vivid expressions; placed among a crowd, no one would ever take them for paper puppets.

“Want to learn?” Elder Ding suddenly asked.

“I do,” Qin Yue answered honestly.

“When the mission is done, I’ll take you to the Immortal Realm. These are only minor arts. Since you are a cultivator of the Farmer’s Sect, I can introduce you to the true grandmaster of this path!” Elder Ding said calmly.

Qin Yue did not believe such empty promises. These days he had been making deductions in the mental world the whole time.

He had also quietly tested things and found that, perhaps because of the bronze disc, the terrible field here greatly affected Elder Ding and the others, slowing their progress, yet it did not place much pressure on him.

When the time came, he could use the small cauldron to protect his body and cast the Netherworld Escape Art. Even if earth-traversal proved unusable, it would not stop him from running.

Just then, a beautiful woman scouting ahead suddenly cried out and leaped into the air, her long sword leaving its scabbard as she slashed downward with blazing flames.

A snake was there, springing upward to bite her.

Clang!

The sword edge struck the snake’s head with the sound of metal colliding.

It was a black serpent as thick as an adult’s arm. Flames erupted over its body the instant it was hit, but the fire was extinguished the next moment.

The snake’s speed was astonishing. It coiled around the woman’s ankle and bit brutally into her thigh.

The woman let out a scream. The defensive light shield and robe on her body were utterly useless before the black serpent.

White flames suddenly rose from her body, and she burst into flames in an instant.

The serpent hissed and screamed, trying to flee, but it was already too late; the white fire soon burned it to ashes.

Yet that lively woman vanished along with it.

At that moment, several other black serpents of similar appearance rapidly slithered toward Wang Hong and the others.

Wang Hong’s body erupted with a sharp sword intent, manifesting as white light that cleaved one serpent into more than a dozen pieces in the blink of an eye.

A pungent, bloody smell filled the air.

The others were also extremely skilled; their methods seemed casual, yet in truth they were immensely powerful.

From Wang Hong’s sword intent, Qin Yue sensed the artistic conception of the Falling Leaves Sword Scripture, and he thought that at the level of heavenly immortals, it could be used to such a degree; this was something worth learning.

He stood quietly beside Elder Ding, secretly simulating and deducing within his sea of consciousness.

These snakes were all of high grade. If they were ordinary demonic beasts, they would have been excellent nourishment. Yet seeing that none of these people even tried to collect them, Qin Yue voiced the doubt in his heart.

Elder Ding said, “The creatures of a forbidden land are almost all tainted by the aura of decayed gods. Unless you cultivate such a method exclusively, once you are contaminated, the aftereffects will be endless.”

As he spoke, two handsome paper-figure cultivators were also entangled by giant black snakes and chose to perish together with their foes.

At that moment, an old man took out six paper figures from his person, his face showing a pained expression. He tossed them into the air, formed a seal, and muttered an incantation.

The instant the paper figures landed, they had become lively young men and women dressed in ritual robes.

Qin Yue watched this scene enviously. He truly wanted to learn it!

These paper figures were not only high in realm and strong in battle, but also not lacking in intelligence; they could understand human speech and communicate normally.

By observing the “equipment” on their bodies, Qin Yue could now basically infer their “functions.”

Some were purely “scouts” used to probe the way, with superb movement techniques; others were used to clear monsters such as the black snakes and possessed tremendous combat power.

After searching for a long time, Wang Hong and the others ultimately found nothing. They cursed their bad luck and set out once more.

This journey lasted another seven or eight days.

The Buried Immortal Sea of Sand was far too vast. Even for a third-realm heavenly immortal like Elder Ding, they could now only rely on the night sky’s constellations to orient themselves, and then use a special compass to confirm their position.

Qin Yue walked and cultivated at the same time. He was not short on resources, and the cauldron also held all the great medicines from the medicinal gardens of Xue Song and Wang Yan.

The true meaning of the Northern Dark could operate on its own; eating, walking, all of it was cultivation.

It was only that the pace was slower than during his previous seclusion.

Still, it was enough; before long, he was about to reach the sixteenth layer.

...

Three more days passed like this. More than half a month had gone by since entering the Buried Immortal Sea of Sand, and Qin Yue was infinitely close to the sixteenth layer, seeming to be stuck at a crucial threshold that required an opportunity to break through.

At last, a gigantic tower appeared before them.

From far away, its spire pierced the clouds, black as ink, standing erect amid a hundred thousand li of yellow sand, exuding an indescribably terrifying presence.

Looking with all his might, Qin Yue discovered that this straight black tower was only half exposed above the sea of sand.

The other half must be beneath the sand sea itself.

After seeing the black tower, Elder Ding and Wang Hong and the others all revealed looks of excitement.

Once the excitement faded, their expressions grew even more grave.

“The real test begins now,” one old man murmured.

“People once explored this black tower. They said there were top-tier magical instruments inside, but no one could bring them out,” Wang Hong said, his eyes full of greed and desire.

“Forget it. Even peak third-realm experts may not be able to take them away!” Elder Ding poured cold water on him and muttered, “As long as we can make that flower grow here and obtain the fruit, the mission will be complete!”

Qin Yue felt a chill in his heart. From the very beginning, he had known this old bastard had not brought him here with good intentions.

Now it seemed his suspicion had been more or less confirmed.

However, he still did not act rashly, for he also needed to use these people’s abilities and methods to gain a deeper understanding of the forbidden land.

Over these days, Qin Yue had already accumulated a great deal of valuable experience and high-level knowledge he had never encountered before.

“Let’s go. So long as we do not fully enrage the beings inside, we should succeed!”

Elder Ding seemed to be encouraging himself. Taking a deep breath, he stepped toward the black tower.

The air was filled with a decayed stench, a very peculiar smell, as though it drifted down from the upper reaches of an endless river of history.

It assailed everyone’s sea of consciousness at every moment. Protected by Elder Ding’s field, Qin Yue found it tolerable.

As they went on, the pressure kept increasing.

By now, they could already feel faint traces of sharp sword intent scattered randomly through the air.

As they walked, Wang Hong suddenly gave a muffled groan, and a thread of blood seeped from the corner of his mouth.

Elder Ding frowned and glanced at him. “The sword intent here is not something to be comprehended carelessly.”

Wang Hong’s face was pale, fear flickering in his eyes. Wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth, he took a deep breath and said, “So powerful!”

Just then, a strange humming suddenly sounded in the air, as if ten thousand swords were resonating together.

Someone exclaimed, “They’re coming!”

Elder Ding shouted, “Form the array!”

In the next instant, countless black figures sprang out from atop the giant black tower ahead, each of them holding a sword.

Gathering together, they released sword intent that surged straight into the heavens.

Then they lunged to slaughter the group.