Starting as a prodigy wanting milk? A world-destroying deception in the opposite direction.

"Boom—"

A loud bang!

A sand dune beneath their feet suddenly exploded open.

Amidst the swirling yellow sand, several dark figures appeared and disappeared like ghosts.

Feng Yu's mount suddenly reared up, letting out a shrill neigh, nearly throwing him off.

Immediately afterwards, all the horses in the entire group began to become wildly restless, ignoring the riders' shouts and desperately trying to back away.

Only then did everyone see clearly that several enormous monsters, covered in dark red, hard carapaces, suddenly leaped out of the sand dunes.

"It's a sand scorpion! Watch out for their tails and venom!" Old Hu shouted in alarm.

Zhao Huaijin reacted the fastest, drawing his longsword and unleashing a sharp sword light that slashed at the Sand King Scorpion charging at the front.

However, when the sword struck the carapace, it only sparked a string of sparks and left a shallow white mark.

"What a hard shell!" Zhao Huaijin exclaimed in surprise.

At the same time, the other sand scorpions lashed out their tails, spraying out a cloud of mucus.

Li Qingyan and Qiu Zhengnan stepped in front to block the flow of the acid, their mental barrier surging and dispersing most of it, but a few drops still splashed onto the sand, making a hissing sound.

"Defend!" Shen Zhen shouted in a low voice.

Chen Xi, Qi Xuejian, Zhou Shi, Wu Xian, and others quickly moved closer together and formed a defensive formation.

Ye Zhi Qiu waved his folding fan, unleashing several wind blades. Although they failed to break through the monster's defenses, they did slow its charge. Feng Yu and the guards Yan Feng and others also drew their swords and joined the battle.

Shen Zhen did not rush to make a move; he was observing intently.

These sand scorpions attack in a chaotic and disorderly manner, but their movement patterns seem to be influenced by some unseen force.

For a fleeting moment, he sensed from them an aura that shared the same origin as the "Echoing Obsession" of Qingwu Town.

He quietly manipulated his spatial power, creating several tiny spatial ripples along the path of the approaching sand scorpion lizards. Almost simultaneously, he felt that most of his mental energy had been depleted.

This is another spatial secret technique he comprehended after obtaining "Spatial Restriction: Chapter One"—[Spatial Dislocation].

Two Sand King Scorpions rushed into the spatial ripple area, their heads just entering before they emerged from another ripple.

Ye Zhi Qiu was startled: "What the hell?"

Everyone was stunned, completely unprepared for such a bizarre scene.

"Now!"

Shen Zhen seized the opportunity and abruptly withdrew the spatial ripples.

The two ripples were already more than ten feet apart. Previously, the Sand King Scorpion's head had emerged from one ripple, but its body was still stuck in the other. At this moment, the spatial power suddenly dissipated, and the bond connecting the two misaligned spaces broke instantly.

"Sizzle—"

A piercing tearing sound rang out, and the heads and bodies of the two sand scorpions separated without warning, gushing out viscous fluids that fell onto the sand with a sizzling, corrosive sound.

The headless body continued forward two steps due to inertia before collapsing to the ground with a thud, twitching a few times before going still.

The scorpion head, which had rolled to the side, was still turning its eyes in vain, its mouthparts opening and closing, but it could no longer launch any attacks.

Seeing that things were not going well, the remaining sand scorpions stopped fighting, hissed, and burrowed into the sand, disappearing instantly.

"This... he's dead?" Guard Commander Yan Feng's eyes widened, his weapon still frozen in mid-air.

Ye Zhi Qiu was so surprised he couldn't close his mouth:

"This... is too bizarre!"

Not only them, but even Zhao Huaijin, Li Qingyan and others were stunned. The scene of the two Sand King Scorpions "separating" out of thin air just now far exceeded their understanding of power.

At the very least, this is a power that many high-level Divine Blessing cultivators cannot reach.

The battle ended quickly.

Feng Yu's expression remained calm, completely unlike his previous frivolity. He walked to the corpse of a sand scorpion lizard, squatted down,

"What... what the hell is this thing?"

"It doesn't look like an ordinary mutant; it seems more like it was born from this sea of ​​sand itself." As he spoke, he glanced at Shen Zhen almost imperceptibly.

"And that just now seemed to be spatial power, everyone be careful."

Ye Zhi Qiu closed his folding fan, his expression grave:

"This place is indeed strange. It seems that what Han Zhong and the others said about the internal organs turning into sand after death was not untrue."

Shen Zhen remained calm on the surface, as if the earth-shattering scene just now was not his doing.

But he was quite surprised. He hadn't expected that this move, [Spatial Dislocation], would be so powerful, and that it consumed even more mental energy than [Spatial Imprisonment].

With his current mental energy reserves, he only used [Spatial Dislocation] once before feeling a sense of emptiness in his mental energy.

He pondered to himself that although this move was powerful, it should not be used lightly, otherwise it would be dangerous if his mental energy was exhausted at a critical moment.

At this moment, he naturally caught Feng Yu's gaze, slowly walked to Feng Yu's side, his eyes sweeping over the corpse of the Sand King Scorpion, and slowly shook his head:

"That wasn't real spatial power."

"Oh?" Feng Yu looked up at him, a hint of doubt flashing in his eyes.

"How do you explain that strange scene we just witnessed?"

"It's the unique nature of this desert." Shen Zhen's tone was firm, carrying an undeniable composure.

"You should also be able to sense that the energy field of this desert is extremely chaotic, and it is also mixed with a peculiar spatial fluctuation."

He paused, then added:

"As for the Sand King Scorpions being dismembered, it's mostly because they were bound by the power of this sand sea."

We may have unintentionally disrupted the energy connecting their bodies to the sand sea, and combined with the pulling force of that chaotic space, this resulted in the separation of their bodies.

Old Hu was very familiar with this area, and upon hearing this, he chimed in:

That's right!

This sea of ​​sand is indeed very strange; it might very well be caused by the spatial disorder that Special Envoy Shen mentioned.

With Hu Laoda's corroboration, most of the doubts were dispelled.

Seeing that no one was pressing the matter further, Shen Zhen's tone became serious:

"This place is not safe to stay for long. Those sand scorpions have only retreated temporarily; who knows if they will attract even more of their kind?"

As he spoke, he turned his gaze towards the depths of Yaqiu Ridge.

"Keep moving forward, but be extra careful."

The group set off again, crossing Yaqiu Ridge, where the scenery became increasingly desolate and lifeless.

The sand dunes grew even darker, like dried blood, and a faint, indescribable scent filled the air.

Old Hu's face grew paler and paler, and his hand holding the reins trembled slightly.

"My lord... further ahead lies the true Black Wind Pass."

The older generation says it's a place abandoned by the gods, and very few who go in ever come out..."

Shen Zhen patted his shoulder:

"Brother Hu, don't be afraid, we're here."

"You just need to lead us to the edge and show us the way."

He understood the fear of ordinary people; this eerie pressure permeating the air made even the Spirit Suppressor feel uneasy.

Following the map and Hu Laoda's directions, they traveled for about an hour before a huge, fractured canyon made of dark red rocks appeared on the horizon.

That is Black Wind Pass.

From a distance, the pass looks like a hideous scar on the earth, with faint blue mist swirling around it.

Not far outside the pass, the outline of a ruined city could be vaguely seen; that should be the abandoned earthen city that Master Yi Tianxing had mentioned.

"It's...it's right there." Boss Hu's voice trembled as he pointed to the ruins.

"The old folks call it 'Ghost Cry City,' saying that they can hear crying coming from inside at night."