Moon-Graced Desert.

The spatial tunnel that Liang Chen rocketed through was an absolute mess, it fragmented around him and sent razor-sharp shards of shattered space all throughout the tunnel. And if just the shards weren't dangerous enough, Liang Chen also had to make sure that he didn't fall into the open spots that appeared in the spatial tunnel as it fell apart. There was no telling where he might end up if he fell into one of those openings, he could end up in the right dominion or he could end up in a completely different universe, it all depended on which flow of space he ended up falling into.

The Sky-Piercing Sparrow hadn't been able to shatter the array before it activated, but his attack still managed to disrupt its activation, resulting in the current scene around Liang Chen. As for Liang Chen himself, he wasn't feeling too good right now. Not only had he expended most of his Qi for that final teleportation, but the wounds he suffered from the Sky-Piercing Sparrow's weapon were getting worse for each second he wasn't taking care of them.

Luckily enough, he wasn't alone in his rocky trip through the spatial tunnel. Yumao was wrapped tightly around his arm and was able to offer more than just a little assistance. Breaking the spatial shards that broke off from a spatial tunnel as sturdy as this one wasn't something he could do, but if it was just redirecting them then he was more than capable of it by just attacking them accurately.

Of course, with how much power was actually packed into each spatial shard, just taking care of Liang Chen's left side took all of Yumao's concentration and effort, forcing Liang Chen to guard his right side on his own. He was luckily fairly accomplished in his body cultivation so he could use his physical body to redirect the spatial shards that got too close. His right arm suffered more than a few injuries because of this, but it was far better than letting the spatial shards actually hit his torso.

But there was a problem he faced, and that was the sheer length of the spatial tunnel. This wasn't a normal spatial tunnel, he was taking a long-distance array from the Nine Gods Dominion all the way to the Heaven and Hell Dominion, the sheer distance between these two dominions was larger than some minor universes. So normally, if he wanted to take this spatial array all the way to Heaven's Ascent city at the northeastern area of the dominion, it would take him about 30 or so minutes.

It was boring enough normally but now he also had to resist the spatial shards that were flung at him from all directions, not even able to relax his mind for a second. The minutes felt agonizingly slow, his right arm slowly starting to look as if it had been stuck into a meatgrinder, chunks of flesh barely hanging onto his revealed bones. And then, after enduring the endless stream of attacks for a little over 20 minutes, Liang Chen's eyebrows shot up sharply as massive cracks started to spread throughout the area around him.

"Defensive shield!"

He curled himself into a ball while calling out, placing the arm that Yumao was coiled around against his stomach and shielding it with his entire body. Darkness swelled forth from Yumao as Liang Chen curled up, quickly surrounding the two of them like a layer of fine mist. Any spatial shard that sank into the mist mysteriously appeared on the other side of the mist, harmlessly moving around Liang Chen.

It was a technique that drained a tremendous amount of Yumao's energy every second, draining even more energy for each item that passed through it. But he could tell from Liang Chen's tone that he probably didn't need to maintain the shield for long so he decided that now was the time to give it his all. And shortly after Yumao raised the defensive shield, the massive cracks that had spread throughout the tunnel all erupted at once, the entire spatial tunnel collapsing and ejecting its contents into the chaotic space outside it.

The time between them being in the spatial tunnel and them entering the chaotic space was merely around two seconds, but they were assaulted by near 100 spatial shards in those two seconds. Trying to deflect them as they had up to now would have been impossible, at least a third or so of them would have been able to slip through and reach them. But they luckily had Yumao's defensive shield now, so although it cost Yumao about 90% of his energy, they managed to weather the barrage unscathed.

Liang Chen sharpened his senses as much as he could, locking onto a flow of space that felt like it belonged to the universe he was currently in, the Qi within it felt similar enough. He pushed himself towards the flow just as they entered the chaotic space, falling into the flow and immediately vanishing.

A rather warm gust of wind hit Liang Chen the moment after he was swallowed by the flow of space, a vast blue sky extending around him. The sky above him was a beautiful blue, but the earth beneath him was tinted a golden yellow, sand and oases of various sizes spreading out as far as the eye could see. It was clearly a desert, but the air was surprisingly moist and there was an unnatural amount of trees and oases scattered around, it was unlike any desert Liang Chen had ever seen.

But he didn't have the time to ponder about this strangeness for long, his body starting its rapid descent towards the earth. He fell down like a shooting star, quickly spinning his body so that he crashed into the sand with his back first rather than face-first. The sand shot into the sky as a result of his landing, a nearly 100-metre wide and 20-metre deep crater forming around him.

Liang Chen laid at the centre of the crater, his blood staining the sand all around him as he drew in a few breaths of the hot air. The sand got into his injuries, but he had already removed his sense of pain so the only pain he actually felt came from the wounds caused by the Sky-Piercing Sparrow's weapon. He let out a long breath after a few seconds, raising his head to look down at Yumao, who was still coiled around his limp left arm.

"You good? No injuries or the like?"

He had covered Yumao with his own body, but they had still spent a considerable amount of time within the spatial tunnel so it wouldn't be impossible for Yumao to be hurt. But that luckily didn't seem to be the case, Yumao uncoiling himself from Liang Chen's arm and slithering up onto his chest while shaking his head.

"Not a one, Father, I'm a bit low on energy but otherwise as fit as a fiddle, well, fitter than a fiddle that got thrown into a blender at least."

Liang Chen felt like rolling his eyes at Yumao's explanation, lowering his head again and resting it against the sand that was now moist with his blood.

"If you can joke around then you'll survive."

Yumao was fine, but Liang Chen's state could only be described as a sorry sight. His left side had been cut up by the Sky-Piercing Sparrow, his chest had caved in, and now his right arm was practically torn to shreds, it was enough to kill or cripple most cultivators. But Liang Chen wasn't most cultivators, he had a terrifyingly strong bloodline and he had reached the Primordial Immortal realm with his body.

Speaking of his bloodline, it greatly aided him in resisting the encroaching power from the Sky-Piercing Sparrow's weapon. The encroaching power came from the Origin Beast part used to forge the weapon, but Liang Chen had a bloodline that matched or even surpassed that of an Origin Beast. As such, the rate at which the power tore apart his veins and the like was far slower than it normally was, a fact that not even the Sky-Piercing Sparrow was able to know.

But resisting it was different from removing it, Liang Chen still had to use his own energy to push out all the encroaching energy and then start working on restoring his body. His exterior wounds were already starting to show signs of healing now that he wasn't suffering constant attacks any longer, but healing the internal damage would take a bit more time and effort. Liang Chen also had to figure out exactly where they had ended up, addressing Yumao without raising his head.

"Can you check if there are any people or settlements in the surrounding area? Maybe we're lucky and can hitch a ride with some people who can share a bit of information with us."

Liang Chen would need time to recuperate, and just running around blindly was not the optimal strategy when it came to finding a place to recuperate. Yumao understood this fact as well, his head bobbing up and down as he flapped his wings, remaining in his miniature form for once.

"Will do, will do! Don't you worry, Father, I'll find someone who can nurse you back to health, just don't end up falling for them and cheating on Mother, otherwise, I fear that she may beat you silly."

Yumao shot into the sky after leaving behind his words, turning into a black blur that vanished from sight, Liang Chen only able to let out an exasperated mutter.

"Oh, just fuck off."

Liang Chen closed his eyes after Yumao vanished, gathering his Anima Essence and Fiendgod Essence to further slow down the pace of the encroaching energy. The energy nearly ground to a halt, but it wasn't pushed back or out of his body so it seemed like he would also need to add his Qi onto it, but as he was fully drained right now that would have to wait for a little.

He slowed his breathing and started to absorb the Qi meandering through the surrounding area, leading it to the Dragon Lotus in his body to reinvigorate it. With his speed, it didn't take Yumao long to return, descending back onto Liang Chen's chest while updating him on what he had seen.

"Three groups of people currently in the area, two that contain between 5-10 people and one that contains almost 60 or so people. The larger group is heading in this direction and it's the one I suggest you hop onto, the strongest person in the group is only at the middle-stage of the Soaring Immortal realm while the two other groups have at least one person at the Primordial Immortal realm."

Liang Chen nodded his head and decided to follow along with Yumao's suggestion, it was definitely the most reasonable one. Of course, now that he had discovered just how widespread the network of the Sky-Piercing Sparrow was, he needed to take some precautions, especially in his weakened state.

He sank his mind into his interspatial ring and took out an item he hadn't used in a while, his Heaven Altering Mask. He slid on the mask and completely changed his appearance, not leaving a trace of his former appearance to make sure that he wouldn't be recognized. Yumao understood that Liang Chen didn't want to be recognized so he willingly dove into Liang Chen's dantian, it was the place where he had been born and it could be considered his home.

With everything set up, Liang Chen closed his eyes and regulated his breathing, continuing to absorb the surrounding Qi while his exterior wounds continued to heal up. Liang Chen didn't know how far away the approaching group was, but they didn't enter his senses until two hours after Yumao informed him of them. The group stopped as they got closer to his crater, seemingly only noticing it just as they were about to pass it.

"Halt! I sense someone, there should be a person in that crater over there. Jue Ling, San Gou, their energy signature is rather weak, check it out!"

The voice that cried out some quick orders belonged to a youthful male who seemed to be the leader of the group, two burly middle-aged men quickly assenting to his order and making their way over to the crater. They peeked over the edge and spotted Liang Chen, whose chest and right arm had already healed, but his left arm, waist, and thigh still carried their wounds.

The position of the cuts was rather peculiar due to the unique shape of the weapon used to wound him so it looked as if he had been swatted aside by the paw of a large clawed-beast. The two men inspected Liang Chen for a bit before one of them returned to the youthful man, the other remaining to keep an eye on Liang Chen.

"Young Master, there is a youth at the bottom of the crater, he seems to have lost in a battle with a Demonic beast. He's still alive, but he's got some bleeding wounds so he'll likely bleed out if he's left there."

There was a bit of distance between the crater and the group of people, but none of their words were able to escape Liang Chen's ears. The man keeping an eye on Liang Chen tensed up slightly as Liang Chen opened his eyes, his golden pupils causing a cold shiver to run down the man's back.

A hand landed on the man's shoulder, his tensed muscles easing up slightly. The youthful man looked down into the crater, his blue pupils locking with Liang Chen's golden. The man could be considered very handsome, his features somewhat feminine, even his shoulder-length black hair was silky and smooth. The man looked Liang Chen up and down for a second, inspecting his wounds before flashing him a sympathizing smile.

"You look like you've encountered a pretty rough situation, do you need any help?"

In this world of cultivators, it was far too common for people to lose a battle out in the wilderness and die without a proper burial, those closest to them not even realizing that they had died before quite a while later. The youth was inspecting him, but so too was Liang Chen inspecting him. This youth was the one who had reached the middle-stage of the Soaring Immortal realm so he wasn't a real threat to Liang Chen.

He might be wounded and had to use all his energy to fight back the encroaching energy, but just the strength of his body would allow him to crush this man. As such, he gave an earnest nod of his head.

"I'm Cui Song Chen, and if you could help me away from here and to a city where I can recuperate, then I'll certainly be very grateful. I got ambushed by a damn lizard but luckily managed to shatter a spatial talisman I found in the tomb of an old cultivator, so I'm not even certain where I am right now. Please, tell me that I'm still in the Heaven and Hell Dominion."

He made up a quick excuse to dig out some information, the youth raising an eyebrow in slight surprise before hopping down to the bottom of the crater. He had determined that Liang Chen wasn't a threat, he could barely feel an ounce of energy radiating from his body, so it was safe to approach him. He nodded his head in response to the question, placing a hand on Liang Chen's right wrist as he spoke, his words quickly changing as he sensed the state of Liang Chen's body.

"Yeah, you're still in the Heaven and Hell Dominion, the Moon-Graced Desert to be exact, you're lucky you weren't thrown all the way to a different dominion, that would suck terribly. Gods, your veins are... You really shouldn't try to mess with things above your paygrade, best to just avoid such things."

He saw that Liang Chen's veins had been utterly torn apart, they were so ruined that they were basically beyond repair. And with his veins in such a state, it was synonymous to being crippled, he would probably need some almost heaven-defying medicine if he wanted to become able to cultivate again in the future. There was even a chance that just moving would be extremely hard for him. Liang Chen smiled somewhat bitterly at the youth's statement, giving a somewhat weak shrug of his shoulders.

"They'll still mess with me even if I try to avoid them."

He didn't go into any detail, mentally letting out a sigh of relief that he hadn't ended up getting dumped in a different universe. As long as he was in the Heaven and Hell Dominion, it wouldn't be too hard for him to reach Purgatory's cradle. He also didn't say anything about the youth's reaction to the state of his veins, to him and his strong body and bloodline, it was only a matter of time before they were healed. The youth didn't pursue the topic further, grabbing onto Liang Chen's hand and helping him stand up while introducing himself.

"Alright, you might have gotten beat up, but you've clearly got great luck since you survived and met us. I'm Tien Huang of the Tien family, we'll bring you along, we're heading to a certain place for a bit and then we'll return to Moonset city. I'll lend you a few pills to help you heal your wounds, at least your exteriors ones, but I'll be expecting you to work to pay them back once you've healed enough."

There was always work to be done, even by cripples, so even if Liang Chen ended up in a state where movement was hard, Tien Huang was confident that he could find work he could do. Tien Huang helped Liang Chen out of the crater, pleasantly surprised when Liang Chen showed that he was still able to at least move properly despite his injuries.

They left the crater, Tien Huang letting go of Liang Chen since he had already proven that movement was possible for him. Standing a bit of a distance away from the crater was a caravan of nearly 30 wagons covered by an arched tarp to provide shelter from the sun.

The wagon at the centre of the caravan was the only one that was different, looking more like a one-room house on wheels. This wagon was also the only one not drawn by horse-like Demonic beasts with hooves far flatter than normal, it was drawn by a pair of lizards that were a faded gold in colour.

The two middle-aged men walked at Liang Chen's side as they headed for the caravan, whose members were currently looking curiously at Liang Chen. Tien Huang opened his mouth as they approached the caravan, calling out another quick order.

"Zun Zhao, Zun Zhi, you two take care of him while we travel! Bandage his wounds and cover up the smell of blood, wouldn't want to attract any Demonic beasts as we travel."

"Yes, Young Master!"

Two people quickly responded to his call, two young children who looked like they were only eight or nine years old making their way past the other members of the caravan. The children looked to be twins, one a young boy with ear-length curly blonde hair and green eyes while the other was a young girl with shoulder-length curly blonde hair and green eyes.

The two children quickly rushed up to Liang Chen, the young boy, Zun Zhao, pulling out a small roll of bandages from his simple white linen robe. He started to wrap the bandages around Liang Chen's arm, the young girl, Zun Zhi, scattering a white powder that Liang Chen recognized as dried Demonic beast faeces onto the bandages.

The two brought Liang Chen over to one of the wagons that seemed to have been emptied to carry something, moving onto his waist and thigh while the two middle-aged men moved over to their own wagon. Their Young Master himself had already made it clear that Liang Chen was crippled, there was no need to worry about him trying to pull anything.

The other people also moved over to their own wagons, Tien Huang sitting down on a seat that had been prepared at the front of his wagon, the one that looked like a one-room house on wheels. He raised his arm and spun it in the air, calling out a loud order to everyone as the caravan started to move again.

"Alright, we move out again! We should be able to reach the herd within two or so days so I want everyone to remain vigilant in case they have already started to migrate!"