No strange things are allowed to evolve!

But little did they know, it was perhaps their destiny to suffer this calamity. In any case, they escaped the explosion, but they couldn't escape the second hurdle: being hit by the collapsing steel and concrete.

This should have been a certain death for the two whose power was sealed by the Sand Demon.

Fortunately, the saw-and-spindle golems protected them and blocked the first wave of impact, thus saving their lives.

However, the enormous tremors and impacts still injured them.

Wang Tiezhu lost consciousness on the spot.

Snow Queen was slightly better. Before she completely lost consciousness, she mustered all her strength to take off the prayer beads from her wrist and hold them high in her hand.

Give this to him...

Although the handsaw puppet beside her had the same appearance as Jiang Shu, she was certain that it was not Jiang Shu, but some kind of clone of Jiang Shu.

So he meant "for him," not "for you."

Seeing this, the hand saw puppet carefully put away the prayer beads, stacked them up with several huge stones to protect the Snow Queen, and after confirming that she would not be harmed again, it and the spindle puppet transformed into a propeller, stepping on each other with their left and right feet and flew back to Jiang Shu's side. Then they rejoined the propeller formed by the other two puppets.

After receiving the prayer beads, Jiang Shu was initially puzzled, but quickly became moved.

This is Snow King's life-saving item. As long as you have this one-time use item, you can survive even if you fail to conquer a death-type hatchery. Having it is like having a second life.

Although these items are consumables and can only be used once, they are more precious than any other item to evolved beings.

Moreover, its level is Calamity-level, which means that apart from losing some attribute points, there will be no serious death penalty. Its actual value may even be higher than that of Calamity-level items.

The fact that the Snow Queen would give this item to Jiang Shu does not only mean that she is giving Jiang Shu her most precious treasure, but also that she is giving Jiang Shu the most precious thing above the treasure—her life.

If Jiang Shu were to lose to the Sand Demon, and only one of them could survive, she would choose Jiang Shu without hesitation.

That's why Jiang Shu was so angry.

It's all that damned Sand Demon's fault.

Why not just die quietly after being hit by a plane?

Why must it be so stubborn, causing the Snow King, who witnessed everything, to despair so much, and even causing himself to incur such a huge debt?

"The Great Wilderness Prisoner's Finger!"

Jiang Shu was dismantled along with the Four Heavenly Kings.

The sandstorm, even larger than the one that had hit the train, quickly enveloped the sand demon.

Just as Jiang Shu was waiting for the Great Wilderness Heart to refine the Sand Demon in an instant, a sudden change occurred.

[WARNING! A curse of caliber equal to or exceeding the level of a natural disaster has been detected and cannot be completely eliminated!]

Jiang Shu was taken aback.

Is there anything the Heart of the Great Wilderness can't solve?

Is natural disaster the limit of the Great Wilderness Heart?

Perhaps sensing the sudden doubt in Jiang Shu's heart, the Great Wilderness Heart immediately began frantically sending out self-destruct warnings.

[WARNING! Attempting to eliminate the threat! Take a deep breath, dizziness is normal...]

[First attempt underway...]

[Attempt failed!]

[A second attempt is underway...]

[Attempt failed!]

[In progress...]

【fail...】

In an instant, Jiang Shu felt sore all over and his strength gradually disappeared. At the same time, the air he breathed began to become scorching hot, as if steam was burning his throat. Before long, even though he had decomposed into sand, he could clearly feel his body burning from head to toe.

Jiang Shu suddenly had a feeling of absurdity.

Do I... have a fever?

Meanwhile, the Sand Demon's condition wasn't much better.

He was shocked when he saw that Jiang Shu could decompose from a complete individual into a group of sand grains, because even the newborns with the purest and most vigorous bloodline in the sand puppet race could not control the power of the desert as skillfully as Jiang Shu.

But the shock only lasted for a moment.

He was absolutely certain that no matter how ingenious the technique, Jiang Shu could not defeat him.

So when Jiang Shu wrapped him up, he wasn't too flustered at all, and didn't even put up any defenses. He just wanted to see what tricks Jiang Shu was up to.

But just as the Heart of the Great Wilderness began to exert its power...

He panicked.

Because he discovered that Jiang Shu's true reliance was not the power of the desert at all, but a kind of high-level mystery that was activated by the sand and gravel, comparable to the power of the desert!

In an instant, a piercing, excruciating pain spread throughout the Sand Demon's entire body.

He could clearly sense that the power was trying to penetrate his body and disintegrate his bloodline, like sulfuric acid being poured from head to toe, constantly burning and corroding him.

"You're not a newborn at all! What are you?!"

Although he could still barely resist, the sand demon's spirit was on the verge of collapse due to the pain he had not experienced for so long.

Jiang Shu was currently overloaded, equivalent to having a fever of 42 degrees Celsius. He was completely dazed and couldn't hear what the Sand Demon was saying.

"Huh?" he replied blankly.

"Stop playing dumb! What kind of monster are you?!"

"what?"

"Don't treat me like an idiot!!"

"what?"

Jiang Shu is like that clueless little Ma Yun, who believes in overcoming all obstacles with sheer force. No matter what you say to me, I'm an idiot, and there's nothing you can do about it.

"What are you babbling about?"

"You bastard!"

As time went on, the standoff intensified, and in the end, it seemed that the Great Wilderness Heart had the upper hand.

[On the eighty-first attempt...]

【in progress...】

[Cracking and eliminating the threat...]

The Sand Demon gradually began to weaken.

Jiang Shu's body temperature gradually stabilized, and after reaching a peak of 49 degrees Celsius, the temperature began to gradually subside.

Jiang Shu regained his senses, and his eyes gradually cleared.

However, his status bar at this moment is missing a piece in the Intelligence column.

Intelligence: 1.2/1.6

[Note: Your maximum intelligence is temporarily impaired, but believe that time will heal all wounds...]

Upon seeing this, the murderous intent in Jiang Shu's eyes intensified.

"Damn it...you almost made me mentally disabled! You deserve to die!"

Seeing that Jiang Shu was gaining the upper hand while he was losing ground, the Sand Demon finally lost his temper.

"Hmph... Hahaha... Hahahaha!"

He burst into laughter.

Suddenly, his expression turned stern.

"They've actually pushed me to this point!"

"You still have trump cards up your sleeve?" Jiang Shu said indifferently, "It's alright, just use them all."

Aren't you curious...?

The Sand Demon asked in a deep voice:

"Why isn't this White Cloud City a ruin, but exactly the same as before the Sand Demon was transformed?"

Jiang Shu calmly replied, "Oh, because I don't know what Baiyun City used to be like."

"It's alright," the Sand Demon sneered. "You'll find out soon enough."

After saying that, the Sand Demon that was locked in Jiang Shu's body by the Heart of the Great Wilderness suddenly shattered and scattered into a patch of yellow sand.

Just as Jiang Shu was looking around, wondering where the Sand Demon had gone, the Sand Demon's booming laughter echoed from all directions of White Cloud City.

"Because... having swallowed the Sand of All Things, I had long ago refined White Cloud City into a part of my body..."

"I am White Cloud City, and White Cloud City is me..."

"I am immortal and indestructible, and White Cloud City... will certainly never decay!"

As the sound faded, the entire city seemed to come alive.

Amid the violent tremors, roads began to collapse and buildings began to crumble. From the earthquake-ravaged earth, countless tentacles emerged, just like those that had previously attacked Jiang Shu atop the White Cloud Tower, only larger and more ferocious.

The guards, who were searching for a way out, were terrified by this apocalyptic scene and immediately lost their composure.

"Who is speaking?!"

"What's going on?!"

"White Cloud City is alive?!"

Only the guard stared anxiously above the clouds, in the direction that gave him a sense of unease.

"No matter who it is... we have to win."

As if to strike a blow to his prayers, the Sand Demon's face appeared in the air, covering the entire White Cloud City.

His pupils were a brilliant golden yellow, the whites of his eyes were bloodshot, and there were spiderweb-like black marks at the corners of his eyes, making him look eerie and mysterious.

He was not wearing a mask at the time, so the rest of his body was exposed.

On its forehead, a jet-black grain of sand was embedded.

Its mouth, however, should perhaps not be called a mouth, but rather a mouthpart.

Because it lacks lips, it is filled with layers of sharp teeth, the gleaming light of which seems to convey a bloodthirsty and murderous intent.

Upon seeing this, all the guards, including the falcon, felt their legs go weak, completely stunned by the godlike appearance.

"Is this... the true face of the Sand Demon?"

Chapter 166 I'll become a Venerable One, won't I?

The Sand Demon's head peered down from the sky, its long, serpentine neck gradually emerging from the sandstorm, first revealing translucent bones, then flesh and blood appearing out of thin air, slowly solidifying.

Starting from the easternmost part of Baiyun City, it winds its way up high.

Seeing this, Jiang Shu suddenly thought of something—

There is a type of fish in the deep sea called anglerfish, or monkfish. They have a bioluminescent lure organ on their head, which is formed by the specialization of the first dorsal fin. The glandular cells secrete luciferin, which emits light through an oxidation reaction, and is used to lure phototactic prey.

In short, these are beauty-enhanced live streamers who use filters to lure consumers into fraud, or even more seriously, online chat scammers who run "pig butchering" scams. It's even possible that behind the screen is actually a burly man picking his toes.

It now appears that White Cloud City and Sand Demon are such entities.

When desertification had just begun, White Cloud City had already mutated, not only gaining life but also giving birth to a concrete form like the Sand Demon. When it finally revealed its original form, it looked exactly like the little lantern on the head of an anglerfish.

What a disgusting and bizarre scene... Jiang Shu frowned slightly.

And this is just the beginning.

As the Sand Demon twisted its neck, it kicked up a cloud of dust, and countless yellow sands gushed out from its pores. Along with them, countless sticky, tumor-like things the size of sandbags were also ejected.

Those objects plummeted from the sky, crashing heavily to the ground with the force of cannonballs, quickly turning the already ravaged city beyond recognition.

The guards below used all their strength to barely avoid all the sand tumors, but as soon as these sand tumors landed, they began to split, and more sand golems crawled out from them.

These sand golems looked very strange. Although their bodies were no different from those of the sand golems we had seen before, many of them were wearing clothes.

Judging from the styles, they come from all sorts of eras.

Just as the guards were being cautious and wary of these sand golems who had just emerged from the sand tumor and seemed somewhat confused, the voice of the sand demon came again from that huge, ugly head that was as big as a meteorite.