Lord of the Desert

Chapter 505 Reappearance
The Vulcan was activated for a total of thirty-six seconds, firing 216 rock bombs, eighty percent of which hit the flying beasts that came to join in the fun.

The trees fell, the smell of burning filled the air, and blue blood was spilled everywhere.

Dozens of giant flying beasts were lying dead on the ground, most of them broken into several sections.

As Hong Fan deliberately left some people alive, only five of the nineteen people in Zhenyue Palace survived.

Among the dead was Gu Zhiyong.

Seeing the incredible power of the God of Fire, he completely lost his will to fight and just ran away, not knowing that a man cannot outrun a bullet.

With Gu Zhiyong's cultivation, if he immediately closed the distance and fought closely, he would probably...

Probably he could die from other methods.

Twenty-two people from the Martial Arts Academy were slightly injured, three were seriously injured and one was saved with the Seven-Turn Green Light Pill; the five captives, regardless of their identities and cultivation levels, all had their dantian destroyed and their limbs tendons cut off.

The spoils included enough food and water for three days and several sets of weapons and armor as spares, but unfortunately there was no Divine Demon Code.

Considering the bloody atmosphere in this place, Hong Fan led his team five miles east to avoid risks before setting up camp.

Jia Yuchen volunteered to interrogate the prisoners, and with a grim smile he carried the first person out of the camp.

The dull and weak howling sounds soon drifted through the forest.

Some were chewing dry food, some were taking a nap with their weapons as pillows, and more were sitting with their backs leaning against the sky, staring at the sky in silence.

Due to geological eruptions and meteorological movements, the atmosphere has become increasingly turbid in recent days, like a whole piece of colloid storing light.

Today, the brightness difference between day and night is almost the same, sinking into dusk of different depths.

As the world fell in drastic changes, the greatest certainty came from the ice-blue star above our heads - it flew across the sky from east to west every thirty hours, each time larger and clearer than the previous one.

It was as if the next time I was about to kiss the ground.

After confirming that the environment was safe, Hong Fan went to search for Hulumen alone.

This guide from the Supervisory Council has never fallen asleep since entering Zi Wuchang. Every time the team takes a break, he sits down in an empty spot at the edge of the camp, takes out a small wine flask made of unknown material and takes a sip.

When Hong Fan found him, he caught a glimpse of the dim light reflected from the mouth of the wine jug, which was peacock blue.

"Brother Hu, I'm a little confused."

"What's the confusion?"

Hu Lumen looked up at him and put the cork in the wine jug.

"This world is so vast and real, no less than the Great China. The meeting of two groups of people is like the meeting of two fish swimming in the sea."

Hong Fan asked.

"But we have already seen two groups of people in just three days."

"That's what you're thinking."

Hu Lumen shook the half-full wine jug, listened to the sound of water and laughed.

"Zi Wuchang cannot simulate the entire world, it can only capture a portion of the journey; and all those who stray into it can only experience this replicated portion of the journey."

“A journey of reappearance, whose journey is it?”

Hong Fan's words were dry.

"Of course it's the Thousand-Eyed Demon God."

Hu Lumen glanced over.

Hong Fan was speechless for a moment.

Judging from the topography and biosphere, the planet he was standing on was definitely not the one where Dahua was; if what the other party said was true, then the Thousand-Eyed Demon was not one of the local "spirits", but a cosmic creature that spanned the starry sea like the Ancestral Dragon.

I have already read all the public records about gods in the Dahua Dynasty, Hong Fan, and there are very few related to the Thousand-Eyed Demon God.

The earliest records were less than three hundred years ago - mostly disasters such as earthquakes and natural disasters in the Far East - followed by records of the battle between the two gods two hundred and fifty years ago.

[So Zulong is not the only alien visitor. Does he have any other kind? And why did he come here?
In the vast darkness, are there other creatures who knew about this place long ago, or even watched it for a long time? 】

When he thought of this, Hong Fan felt a slight wetness on his back. He felt a sense of crisis of being exposed to the unknown, which took him a long time to suppress.

"What did you mean by reaction last time?"

He took a deep breath and forced himself to focus on the present.

"I thought you would hold it longer before asking."

Hu Lumen stood up on his knees and walked away from the camp.

"The images within Zi Wuchang are all the remnants of the Thousand-Eyed Demon God's memories, and the so-called 'door' is the place he wanted to go before he became 'Him'. As for the reaction, it is the remnant spirit that is stimulated and digs out memories that are buried deeper and more intense."

He looked back at Hong Fan carefully.

"I have been thinking about what caused the stimulation these past two days. Frankly speaking, you are not the first Star Lord to enter Zi Wuchang."

"Maybe it's just bad luck."

Hong Fan joked.

He knew in his heart that if it wasn't the Life Star that stimulated the remnant of the Thousand-Eyed Demon God, then it could only be the Dragon Soul Tree.

"Definitely not."

Hu Lumen also laughed, but soon stopped.

"Although some people refuse to believe it, the Thousand-Eyed Demon God had indeed died long ago under the might of the Ancestral Dragon. The remnant of his remains is also a dead thing, and it cannot disguise itself. Over the past two hundred years, the Supervisory Council has entered the Purple Impermanence to explore hundreds of times, and there has never been a similar record - such a grand scene, I think even for the Demon God, it is an important turning point in his life."

He looked up.

The blue planet moved to the zenith, like a pupil suspended in a cloudy sclera.

“It may not be unprecedented.”

Hong Fan suddenly sang a different tune.

"Maybe those who encountered this situation before didn't get out."

Hu Lumen was stunned when he heard this.

"Mr. Hong has the demeanor of a great general."

Although this was an unlucky statement, he had to admit that it made sense.

"Hong Zishou..."

Jia Yuchen's voice could be heard from far away in the camp, probably indicating that the interrogation had produced some results.

Hong Fan and Hu Lumen went there together.

"The people from the Prison Palace came in three days earlier than us. They first landed on an island in the middle of the lake and didn't see the ice star above their heads. It just so happened that the heaven and earth changed on the same day we came in. According to them, the wind and rain around them suddenly changed, and after half a cup of tea, the lake and island disappeared, and it inexplicably became a wasteland."

Jia Yuchen reported in detail, his voice full of disbelief.

Hong Fan noticed that Hu Lumen glanced at him again.

“How are people dealt with?”

He seemed unaware.

"Those who tell the truth will be punished."

Jia Yuchen nodded confidently, looking very honest.

The three of them returned to the camp and saw Xu Ziang and Lai Huazang chatting and laughing quietly. The others were also in much better condition.

A giant star is soaring into the sky, and the world is changing drastically. Even the elite members of the Martial Arts Academy are confused and despaired.

Behind bars, fighting and torture act like an anesthetic, creating a false sense of control and helping people forget about a future that they don’t know where it will lead to.

But there is one thing Hong Fan knows better than anyone else.

This forgetfulness is temporary.

······
There was a faint sour smell in my nose, and the rotten organic matter layer under my feet felt soft to the touch.

"Those hairless fools have finally quieted down." Jia Yuchen excitedly led the way at the front, with Gu Zhiyong's high-quality jade pendant on his waist - apart from Zi Wuchang, this thing would be worth at least a hundred taels.

"If they had a bit of intelligence, they would have run as far away from the Purple Ribbon Divine Might as possible..."

This statement attracted several people to agree.

Seeing this, Jia Yuchen smiled even more wantonly. He casually chopped off a branch that was blocking the way with his knife, and then cut it into three pieces in mid-air, squandering his physical strength that was almost infinite compared to that of an ordinary person.

Half a day had passed since the gunfight at the Prison Palace. The sky had darkened a few degrees and it should be night.

After traveling a hundred miles east, the team has entered the core of the forest area. The huge virtual images seen before have become real objects beside them - huge trees hundreds of feet high stand up like pillars in the sky, supporting the vast wilderness.

In their mountainous shadows, the world is occasionally illuminated by flickers in the sky and geological eruptions on the horizon.

The team of twenty-four people stretched out in a snake shape sixty meters long.

Hong Fan was the last one to listen, carefully analyzing the sound of the flesh wings breaking the wind as they got farther and farther away.

The flying beasts live in groups and hold grudges. They harassed us constantly in the first half of the day without sparing any damage, but now they suddenly retreated.

This made him even more alert.

At the same time, the team is at the front.

There was a thin tree half a man's height growing on the animal path, with fruits shaped like figs growing on it.

After taking over the Prison Palace, dry food had been replenished. Jia Yuchen would not be stupid enough to pick these fruits of unknown origin and just chopped them off with a knife.

Then he walked forward and suddenly stepped on empty air.

Relying on his instinctive reaction, Jia Yuchen tilted his long sword to avoid falling, but his hanging right leg was bitten by the closed ground, and he couldn't help but scream in pain.

The terrain of the dense forest is complex and tortuous, making it difficult for the front and rear teams to see each other.

Upon hearing the crisis, everyone dispersed and pressed forward at the same time. Soon, another "Ouch" was heard. It turned out that a master of penetration did not pay attention to his feet while running and fell to the ground.

"Let's go to Hulumen, others don't worry!"

Hong Fan roared, urging the sand to roll out three more traps, and then he leaped to Jia Yuchen's side in a few steps.

In just a short while, this strong man's face was covered with sweat.

"Don't panic, I'll pull you out."

Hong Fan held the man and pulled him up, but before he could exert much force, the latter's face turned distorted and the muscles in his neck twitched with pain.

"My lord, the right leg was bitten to death..."

Jia Yuchen gritted his teeth and spoke in a breathy voice.

Hong Fan's eyes widened with anger, his true energy bursting out, outlining the situation underground.

The soil under his feet quickly dehydrated and turned into sand, then retreated outward with the humus, exposing an inky-black plant covering an area of ​​dozens of square meters.

Its surface is covered with short and thick hairs, and its limbs, which are uneven and have muscle-like textures, are intertwined and symbiotic with the roots of surrounding plants. A five-petaled leaf-like organ, which is more than two meters long, is holding the right leg of its prey.

“It’s a carnivorous plant.”

Hong Fan cut off Jia Yuchen's leather skirt armor and trouser legs with a knife, and saw that the horny sharp teeth were densely biting into the flesh, and a large amount of sticky digestive fluid was seeping into the wound.

"grown ups?"

Looking at the blue-purple color spreading along the blood vessels in his legs, Jia Yuchen's voice became more and more trembling.

The situation does not allow for any delay.

"Grit your teeth."

Hong Fan stopped looking at his subordinates, and whispered two words. He felt the hands on his shoulders clench suddenly.

The sand knife made a buzzing sound, cutting through bones and flesh.

"Stop the bleeding and apply medicine to him!"

Hong Fan gave a quick order and turned back to rescue the second person - Hu Lumen was digging the ground on the other side and had carefully cut off a leaf of flesh, revealing a bloody outline mixed with wet black hair.

With the help of the sand world, the man was dug out in thirty seconds, but his skin was corroded all over, and his blood-red muscle fibers and pale frontal bone were exposed.

He couldn't even speak because of the digestive juices pouring into his throat.

"Fan Deyou..."

Hong Fan stood in front of the dying person and called his name in a low voice.

The other party nodded vaguely.

"sorry."

Sand thorns shot out and gently pierced the heart.

No one spoke.

Excluding the two geniuses, the team had lost one-fifth of its members, and the atmosphere, which had just improved, dropped to freezing point.

"I'll lead the way from now on."

Hong Fan suppressed his anxiety and went ahead alone.

Lai Huazang carried Jia Yuchen on his back in the battle formation. The latter was not out of danger yet and his forehead was burning.

The team headed east in silence and found a natural cave ten miles away to set up camp.

After several storms and days of traveling, even the warriors could not bear it, and most people soon fell into a deep sleep.

Hu Lumen was sitting alone at the entrance of the cave, opposite him was Hong Fan who was on the first shift.

"Brother Hu."

The calling voice was so soft that it was not loud enough for a third person to hear.

"Ok?"

"Have you figured out what a door is?"

Hu Lumen shook his head.

"There is no record of this scene. This is the first time for both you and me."

Hong Fan nodded silently without saying anything more.

The sky was gray-blue and the cave was pitch black.

The plants in this world are extremely high in water content, and have a pungent smell when burned, so it is not convenient to start a fire; of course, warriors are immune to cold and heat, so generally this is not necessary.

But as the atmosphere was stripped away more and more by the pull of gravity, the surface's ability to retain heat became lower and lower, and a thin frost actually formed.

Hong Fan turned his head and saw Jia Yuchen mumbling in his sleep in the dim light, and several other people at the Guantong realm with lower cultivation levels were huddled together with their knees hugged; he then released a little bit of his blazing fire essence, raising the temperature in the cave to above zero degrees.

Time lurched by in a blur.

Lai Huazang took over the second shift.

Just when Hong Fan was feeling confused and a little dazed, he suddenly felt a slight vibration under his body, and then heard the sound of fire.

These days he chose to head east, largely to escape the spreading geological changes; but no matter how fast he hurried, the rumbling sounds were getting closer and clearer.

Lai Huazang and Xu Ziang both turned over.

Hong Fan calmed them with his eyes, then walked out of the cave and climbed up a "small tree" that was nearly 100 meters high.

In the west, a still gray line floated on the horizon, neat, straight, and harmless. Nothing could be seen wrong with it.

Geological activities are very frequent within the gray line. Outside the forest area, lava columns erupt from the surface from time to time, looking like soft and lovely flames from a distance.

The color of the sky has changed compared to a few hours ago.

The atmosphere is filled with aerosols produced by combustion, which produce Mie scattering because the particle size is close to the wavelength of red and orange light. On the horizon, the morning sun melts into a long blood-red river. The giant trees are immersed in the bottom of the red river, and the dark silhouettes left behind seem like a demonic realm outside the world.

Hong Fan guessed that it should be dawn now.

(End of this chapter)