Chapter 15
Yellow sand whirled through the sky, sweeping across the barren land with the force to devour everything.
The man ahead still held his back straight, the chain swaying from his wrist. Yu Tai knew he had probably exhausted his strength.
Shu Li looked as though he had no temper, but in truth, he was stubborn to the bone.
Just look at him now. The blazing sun overhead seemed determined to melt everything beneath its light, and the heat made the world swim. They had not rested once since setting out, yet Shu Li had never complained of thirst or exhaustion.
As a cultivator, Yu Tai naturally felt no fatigue. He, however, was an ordinary mortal and had somehow endured until now.
She had originally planned to travel by flying sword, which would have been faster, but deadly dangers lurked beneath the dunes of this seemingly peaceful desert.
Demon beasts capable of surviving in such a barren environment were far stronger than those in the giant forest. Every one of them possessed hard scales and supple tentacles capable of dragging flying creatures from the sky and crushing them to death.
It was not that Yu Tai could not defeat them. There were simply too many, and they were extremely persistent. Protecting Shu Li at the same time made matters even more troublesome, so she had chosen to walk.
In the original novel, the male lead and heroine stumbled into an Abandoned City while evading demon beasts that could kill them with ease.
The city stood in the deepest reaches of the desert and automatically changed location at regular intervals. Shu Li’s ability to find it could only be attributed to the dazzling halo of the male lead.
Unable to endure the freakish heat, Xia Mo had long since hidden inside Yu Tai’s demon-beast pouch. Across the visible expanse of desert, Yu Tai and Shu Li were the only living creatures.
Mischief stirred in her. Yu Tai tugged on the chain connecting them, and the man walking ahead stopped when he felt the resistance.
She stroked the chain with one finger and stared at him. “Are you thirsty, Senior Brother?”
Remembering Yu Tai’s previous declaration-*They’re a little dry. I’ll give you some water*-Shu Li instinctively replied, “Junior Sister need not concern herself with me.”
Yu Tai blinked pitifully. “Oh, what should I do? I’m thirsty.”
She stepped forward and reached to lift the veil of his hat.
Shu Li retreated one step and trod on something.
Disaster struck.
Something beneath the dune seemed to break free of its restraints and writhe violently. Yu Tai cursed inwardly, yanked Shu Li toward her, and began chanting an incantation. A light, elegant sword gleaming coldly appeared in the air.
She pulled Shu Li onto it and leaped upward. At the same instant, an enormous tentacle burst through the sand and whipped toward Yu Tai with irresistible force.
Yu Tai swore.
The male lead certainly knew where to put his feet. Although the demon beast had not fully emerged, Yu Tai could vaguely sense cultivation at the peak of Golden Core.
When comparing a demon beast’s true strength with that of a human cultivator, one had to raise its rank by another stage.
This one was probably the ruler of the entire desert.
The tentacle nearly knocked Yu Tai from her sword.
Demonic qi spilled from her fingertips. Her gaze sharpened as she struck directly at the tentacle and its enormous suckers.
Perhaps she had acted too hastily, or perhaps the flying sword’s speed threw off her aim. The attack missed.
Irritation flared. Yu Tai gathered power in her fingers again when a faint, cool fragrance drifted beneath her nose.
A cool hand settled on her shoulder, and a voice like spring water striking stone sounded beside her ear.
“Calm your heart. Focus your mind.”
Miraculously, the demonic qi raging through her body fell still at once. Obediently, it tucked itself beneath the righteous qi again.
It behaved so meekly that Yu Tai wondered whether this demonic qi truly belonged to her.
“Look left,” Shu Li said beside her.
The hand resting lightly on Yu Tai’s shoulder fell away.
She looked left on instinct.
At some point, a pair of enormous beast eyes had silently emerged from the churning dunes. They had no whites, only solid black, and they stared ominously at the two people on the flying sword.
“A high-ranked demon beast, the Eight-Legged Sand Beast. A hard shell protects its body, and it excels at crushing enemies to death with its eight tentacles. But it is not without a weakness.”
Yu Tai understood immediately. “Its eyes!”
The person behind her did not answer, but Yu Tai felt that he must be smiling.
After wondering for the hundredth time about his peculiar nature, Yu Tai prepared another attack. Pretending to stake her life on the effort, she sent the sword charging toward the tentacles.
The instant the Eight-Legged Sand Beast’s limbs pursued her, Yu Tai turned sharply in midair and shot toward the dune. Demonic qi blasted from her hand.
The attack struck the Eight-Legged Sand Beast’s eye, and it released a piercing shriek.
The sound nearly deafened Yu Tai. Her flying sword slipped out of control, sending them plummeting.
The beast’s agonized howls churned the dune into a vortex. A terrifying suction force seized the two of them and dragged them inside.
Just before they vanished completely, Shu Li lifted his eyes toward the Eight-Legged Sand Beast, now blinded in one eye.
At some point, it had stopped its deadly cries. It crouched quietly and watched Shu Li with its uninjured eye.
Faint fear mingled with anticipation in its gaze.
Shu Li’s veiled hat had long since fallen away. A smile curved across his brilliant, pearl-like face as he silently mouthed:
*You did well.*
—
Something wet licked Yu Tai’s face. The barbs on its tongue scraped painfully across her skin.
Her consciousness cleared slightly, and she struggled to open her eyes.
A furry face with two large black rings around its eyes filled her vision.
“Xia-”
Before the second syllable escaped, Yu Tai closed her mouth.
Her senses returned. At this point, the heroine did not have a name at all!
When Xia Mo saw her awaken, it chirped unhappily, though concern filled its eyes.
All the bamboo Yu Tai had fed it had not gone to waste.
Awakening to such a shock, Yu Tai rubbed her head and pushed her weak body upright.
She remembered the final moment before losing consciousness: she and Shu Li had been swept inside together.
Shu Li…
Where was Shu Li!?
Yu Tai surged to her feet. The chain at her wrist clinked, and following its length, she saw Shu Li standing not far away with his back to her, apparently examining something.
Her emergency supply of righteous qi was still present. Yu Tai secretly relaxed. She had panicked for nothing. The heroine was here, and they still had the chain. Where could he possibly run?
Reassured, she began studying their surroundings.
One look shocked her.
The weathered complex around them was more than half buried beneath yellow sand, its ruins carrying both a desolate beauty and the weight of history.
Wasn’t this the Abandoned City where the male lead’s opportunity lay in the original novel?
Oh my. No wonder her predecessors all loved clinging to a protagonist’s thigh.
Heaven itself was chasing after him to force-feed him opportunities. Even this worked!