Chapter 83: Venturing into the Desert
As they stopped and started on their journey, another month passed by. In the blink of an eye, nearly two months had gone by since they ventured deep into the desert. Where they now stood, they didn't know how many miles deep into the desert they were. All around them, there was nothing but sand, devoid of any life.
The entire world was silent except for the occasional whirling sands, a true life-restricted zone. In such an environment, time seemed to stretch out longer, making each day feel longer than usual. It felt like they had left their original world and entered another lifeless one. Fortunately, with the three of them together, they didn't feel lonely.
Now, it seemed they were not far from their destination. In truth, they couldn't accurately determine their exact location on the map. They could only estimate the distance based on proportion, suggesting that their destination was very near. Along the way, they didn't go completely unrewarded. Some rare herbs, unique to the desert, were occasionally found, which was an unexpected gain. Wei Yang even collected over a dozen fully matured Sand Mandorlas, which were rare.
"It's close, I think we're almost there," Wei Yang said as he flew, looking toward the horizon with a hint of anticipation. He took out the map, gazing at the monotonous landscape. Wei Yang lowered his head to ask Qing Lin, who was nestled in his arms like a sloth, "Qing Lin, help me check again. Does the location with the fire mark on the map look like this area? Are we almost there?"
Qing Lin, comfortable in Wei Yang's embrace with her eyes half-closed, was happiest traveling during the day. Inhaling Wei Yang's familiar scent, a hint of infatuation appeared in her eyes. When Wei Yang's question brought her back to reality, she quickly looked at the map and then the surrounding desert landscape. Soon, she snuggled back into Wei Yang's arms, finding a more comfortable spot.
With a slight blush on her cheeks and looking a bit sheepish, like a child caught sneaking snacks, she adorably replied, "Young master, I don't think it's here yet. We might still be about three or four days away." Wei Yang nodded and turned his gaze to Xian'er, flying nearby, with a questioning look. Xian'er rolled her eyes at him, "Brother Yang, didn't you ask this yesterday? You're even more of a directionless traveler than the two of us."
"Based on the map's proportion, we're very close to our destination, but a small map discrepancy can lead to a significant error. I agree with Qing Lin that we should still be at least three or four days away."
Qing Lin chuckled softly in his embrace. "Tch," Wei Yang clicked his tongue, putting away these impractical thoughts. He wasn't really directionless and knew that Xian'er and Qing Lin were right. The closer they got to the exotic flame, the more anxious he felt, unable to maintain his usual calm demeanor. The monotonous flying day after day also led to a suspicion that he might have made a mistake.
This exotic flame was immensely important for him, crucial to his future. He had given up the Green Lotus Core Flame for it, so there was inevitably some anxiety. The closer to his goal, the harder it was to maintain his composure, leading to uncertainty. It's said that the closer one gets to revealing an answer, the more likely things are to change. Until he saw it with his own eyes, everything remained uncertain.
What if their long journey, after nearly two months, ended up in vain…?
"Xian'er, watch out!" Wei Yang warned. A ferocious lion roar echoed as a red-golden energy lion, about five meters long, appeared in the void, trampling the space beneath its four hooves and engulfed in flames. It roared angrily, with invisible soundwave ripples spreading, charging towards its target below.
"Brother Yang, don't worry," Xian'er responded, her figure flickering like a white stream, quickly waving her jade hands. Streaks of greyish-white lined with dark red flames lashed toward the target on the ground. Below, a vast area of sand had already melted into a lava-like sea of fire.
A snake-like magical beast over twenty meters long, with a slightly flat body covered in palm-sized yellow-brown scales, and a flat triangular head with a neck that flared into two semi-circular fans, resembling a king cobra, was coiled in the fiery sea. Its body coiled into a snake formation, flames blazing on its scales. Most of its body lay in the molten rock while a part rose up, hissing at the energy lion.
Suddenly, a huge yellow-brown wind-fire vortex appeared around it, sweeping up the surrounding fire sea. The wind-fire vortex spun furiously, growing larger quickly, almost forming a massive vortex connecting heaven and earth, heading to collide with the energy lion. Simultaneously, its tail whipped through the air with a sonic boom, meeting Xian'er's incoming flame streaks.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Hissing echoed alongside explosive roars, as the snake beast's furious cries erupted, a small mushroom cloud rising there. The ring-shaped energy shockwave rippled outward as Wei Yang, in a flash of light, quickly retreated to avoid its edge.
Swiftly, in a few flickers, he appeared beside Xian'er, waving away the incoming energy ripples with Dou Qi wings flapping. They hovered a bit further back, watching the wild winds and flames ahead.
"Didn't expect to encounter this beast in such a life-restricted zone," Wei Yang mused. This peak fifth-rank snake beast, with an unknown name, was a variant he had never seen. Usually, desert-dwelling creatures like snakes or scorpions were either earth or fire-attributed, sometimes possessing variant rock or poison attributes. Yet the snake beast before them simultaneously wielded wind and fire attributes, both highly balanced, highly rare, granting it formidable strength.
Its wind-fire vortex carried wind and fire power, enhancing the flames' temperature with wind, exhibiting surprising might. It was challenging. Despite Wei Yang and Xian'er being two low-ranking Dou Kings trained in advanced skills, they struggled to contend with it. Yet, Wei Yang was unwilling to just leave.
Apart from the potential future growth of this snake beast, its peak fifth-rank strength was perfect as Qing Lin's first subdued snake beast. Moreover, the beast's abilities made Wei Yang think of a kind of exotic flame!