Chapter: Chapter 506
The mark in Rei’s perception began to move further north. After the fox beastmen set off, Leticia’s group quietly left the Cangying tribe and followed the carriage carrying the fox beastmen from a distance… should it be called a carriage?
Looking at the vehicle pulled through the sky by two large, earth-yellow birds, Leticia couldn’t help but marvel at how wondrous the world was.
She had never seen such a mode of transportation in other parts of the beastman race. Other beastmen mostly caught mounts like horses, tigers, lions, or birds. But seeing birds pulling a carriage was truly a first for Leticia.
Compared to other means of transportation, this flying contraption was indeed much more convenient and faster. Many roads that were originally impassable could be crossed from the sky, and its speed was much faster than common terrestrial wild beasts.
The fox beastman, sitting in the completely sealed carriage with his eyes closed to rest, was unaware that a group was following him from afar. He was happily looking forward to reporting the good news to the great priest.
Outside the carriage, the black-robed beastman driving the carriage had golden flames burning in his eyes. He was one of Huang’s most loyal followers, even having received power personally bestowed by Huang. This power allowed him to possess extraordinary perception and the ability to suppress ordinary birds.
These two large, earth-yellow birds were not easy creatures to deal with. If not for the power granted by Huang, the black-robed beastman would not have been able to control them and have them pull the carriage.
Everything in his perception was normal, with nothing noteworthy. After circling in the sky and confirming that no one was following, the black-robed beastman pulled the reins, changed direction, and flew straight north.
Before reaching the holy land, they needed to pass through the northern border of the beastman grasslands and then enter the fearsome Great Desert. They would have to travel for half a day in the desert to reach the holy land.
The sun set and rose again, and a night passed quietly. The flying carriage pulled by birds finally crossed the vast northern territory of the beastmen and arrived at the border between the grasslands and the Great Desert.
Leticia had once heard terrible stories about the Great Desert from Silverfang, and she had also been warned by Silverfang not to approach the Great Desert, as it only contained death and desolation, nothing else.
All beastmen who had wanted to find fortune in the Great Desert had returned in disappointment without exception. Of course, most of them had not been lucky enough to return; they had mostly died in that terrifying wasteland.
In the eastern territories of the beastmen, the Great Desert appeared extremely terrifying. Fierce winds stirred up terrible sandstorms, launching incessant attacks on the fertile grasslands. If not for the protective formations set up by the ancient sages of the beastman race, the grasslands might not have survived the encroachment of the Great Desert.
No one knew how large the Great Desert was, just as Leticia did not know how large her demon realm was. The beastman side was prevented from exploring outwards by sandstorms, while the demon race was blocked by the ocean.
For countless years, after the demon race gained undisputed dominance over the entire continent, some demon explorers wanted to pursue the boundaries of the world. They built magnificent and sturdy giant ships, set out to sea with full confidence, but never returned.
Later, even the Demon King had sent his own teams, but the result was the same: none of the demons who went out to sea ever returned.
Finally, the demon race had to accept their fate and stopped this meaningless act of seeking death.
“The power used to resist the sandstorm erosion here should not be from the beastman race itself.” Now, Leticia stood at the edge of the beastman world, looking at the sandstorm blocked by a magnificent, invisible barrier, and came to a conclusion.
This barrier could absolutely not be the work of the beastman race!
Ancient sages? To hell with ancient sages. Leticia truly did not believe that the so-called ancient sages of the beastman race could create such a divine miracle.
This colossal barrier enveloped all the beastman grasslands, protecting them from the external sandstorm damage. For a project of this scale, even completing it with the current beastman race would be almost impossible.
A barrier so enormous, so strong, and that had been operating for so long without a single issue could definitely not have been set up by ordinary beastmen.
So, who was the creator of this?
Was it a god?
Leticia subconsciously shook her head. Even she could not create such a colossal barrier. Even if she spent a long time creating it, she could not guarantee its strength and shelf life.
This barrier was no longer a normal spell; calling it a divine miracle would be an understatement. Leticia truly couldn’t imagine whose hands this enormous barrier came from.
Compared to that person, Huang was nothing, just a simple-minded, brute force-fighting foolish bird, hardly a match for such a powerful being.
“What a spectacular sight.” She sighed again, watching the flying carriage cross the invisible boundary and enter the sandstorm. Leticia said to Bai Ling beside her, “Let’s go, we’re going too!”
“Mm.” Bai Ling, who was also awestruck by the magnificent barrier, nodded and plunged into the Great Desert with Leticia.
This time, they did not allow Puli to come out of the divine artifact space, both to protect Puli and to prevent the lively and restless little fellow from causing any unexpected trouble.
Upon entering the scope of the Great Desert, Leticia immediately felt fortunate for her decision. This terrifying place was truly not suitable for Puli.
The fierce wind carried sand and grit, attacking all creatures entering this place impartially. Leticia’s protective barrier automatically activated the moment she entered the Great Desert, blocking the sandstorm’s attack.
This meant that these sandstorms were recognized as a threat by the protective barrier, which was a no small evaluation.
“My perception range has also decreased significantly. This Great Desert is truly bizarre.” Leticia’s gaze drifted to the starlight shining nearby, and she shouted to Bai Ling, “How are you feeling?”
Bai Ling, protected by the starlight, had a solemn expression. It looked like her condition was not very good.
“It’s okay, my perception range has shrunk a bit, but other than that, it doesn’t affect me much.” The Sword Saint lady shook her head. The environment here had little impact on her. What made her expression solemn were other things. “I have a feeling that there is something in this desert that makes me feel disgusted, and the sandstorm is caused by the power of that thing.”
“Why don’t I feel it? Are you joking?”
Her perception ability should be on par with Bai Ling’s. There was no way Bai Ling could perceive something that she couldn’t. Leticia thought with some confusion.
No matter how hard she tried to perceive, she could only sense the magic mark belonging to her within the thick yellow haze. Other than that, she really couldn’t perceive anything. She couldn’t sense any surrounding aura at all.
“I don’t know what it is, I just feel that it has a lot to do with the sandstorm.” Bai Ling shook her head slightly, indicating that this should be her innate ability. Her sensitivity to certain things was much higher than Leticia’s.
And the disgusting thing she perceived now belonged to her sensitive area of perception.
However, this matter could be dealt with later. The more important thing now was to keep up with the carriage carrying the fox beastman and find Huang’s hiding place!
“This direction, we’ll chase after them. Remember to keep your distance.”
“Got it.”
Moving rapidly through the sandstorm with visibility less than a few meters, the mark in Leticia’s perception grew increasingly clearer, indicating she was getting quite close to it.
About a hundred meters ahead, a distance that would be considered close at hand under normal circumstances, it was like a chasm now. Neither side could capture the other in their vision.
Even strong individuals like Leticia and Bai Ling couldn’t see things beyond a hundred meters in this gravel-filled dark world, let alone the carriage driver whose strength was far inferior to theirs.
In fact, the carriage driver had no time to worry about whether anyone was following him. Upon entering the Great Desert, he had to devote all his strength to protecting himself and the carriage behind him. Diverting even a little attention here would lead to a tragic death.
He held up a golden barrier, and the two earth-yellow birds did not dare to fly in the sky anymore. They landed on the ground and used their legs to forcefully pull the carriage forward.
This was also why the carriage driver chose these earth-yellow birds as power. After years of comparison, these great birds were rare birds that were not afraid of sandstorms. Only they could pull the carriage forward in this extremely harsh environment.
Of course, they also needed to be protected by the barrier. It was impossible for them to withstand the sandstorm head-on; they were just slightly stronger birds, after all.
*Swoosh! Boom!*
Strange noises reached his ears, but the carriage driver didn’t react. He couldn’t react either. There were many such strange noises in the sandstorm. Having traveled back and forth between the holy land and the grasslands so many times, he was accustomed to such sounds.
What he didn’t know was that just a hundred meters behind him, a battle that was extremely fast and highly dangerous had just concluded.
An eagle made of sand flew out of the sandstorm and lunged at Bai Ling with a claw.
But before its claws could touch the starlight on Bai Ling, colorful lightning from the side struck it, reducing it to a pile of fine sand.
“What is this? It’s not a living creature, nor does it look like some magical creation.” Leticia, who had instinctively unleashed her skill, was somewhat surprised. She had never seen such a monster made of sand. Could it be a specialty of the Great Desert?
“I don’t know, but it should be coming for me.” Bai Ling moved a little closer to Leticia. Although Leticia had intervened to help her resolve the sneak attack, she wouldn’t have been harmed even if Leticia hadn’t.
Not to mention the protective starlight on her body, she had already reacted when the sand eagle attacked, and she had already grasped starlight in her hand. If Leticia had reacted even a little slower, that eagle would have faced Bai Ling’s attack.
Moreover, the sand eagle’s attack power was quite low. Bai Ling hadn’t even felt threatened when it appeared. This meant that even if Bai Ling stood still and let the sand eagle attack, it wouldn’t have been able to break her skin.
”Its defense is also quite low, like paper, thin paper that disintegrates when it gets wet.” The skill Leticia had just thrown didn’t have much lethality, yet the sand eagle collapsed upon contact, turning into sand.
It made one wonder if this guy’s health bar was only one HP, and it died with just a graze.
Oh, for this kind of creature, life and death probably wasn’t a significant concept.
“Is this a specialty of the Great Desert? I haven’t heard anyone mention this before.” Leticia muttered softly.
Her soft muttering fell into Bai Ling’s ears, making the Sword Saint feel like complaining, “These monsters are no threat to us, but they are like death gods to ordinary beastmen, aren’t they?”
Ordinary beastmen would already be struggling to resist the sandstorm. In such a situation, if they were sneak attacked by these monsters, the outcome would surely be quite dire. Every single one of them would die miserably.
“That’s true. Be careful, here comes another one!” Leticia nodded in agreement, but before she could finish speaking, she sensed the appearance of another sand monster.
This time, the monster was shaped like a tiger. It charged out of the sandstorm and slammed into Leticia’s shield.
To include Bai Ling within the protective range, Leticia had intentionally expanded her shield slightly, which now came in handy.
And this tiger met a miserable fate. Leticia’s shield not only had defensive capabilities against physical attacks but also a slight reflective property. Under the barrier’s automatic counterattack, the tiger immediately collapsed into dust, just like the eagle before it.
“Its attack power is indeed not strong, purely physical attacks, even less than the damage from the sandstorm itself.” After blocking this attack, Leticia finally felt relieved. Attacks of this level couldn’t possibly penetrate her defense.
She just needed to advance slowly with her shield. The carriage ahead was currently moving extremely slowly, even slower than an ordinary person walking on flat ground.
However, this was also normal. After all, in such an environment, no carriage could advance quickly. The beastman driving the carriage lacked the strength to protect the carriage with his own power while still airborne.
On the ground, he consumed less energy, and the price was that his speed was much slower than in the air. This was an acceptable trade-off for him.
In the air, he could only hold on for about ten minutes, and his speed in the sandstorm wouldn’t be much faster either. It was better to just walk on the ground.
