287: Chapter 286 Yellow Sand City

Jiang Hanzhou immediately circulated the Spirit Concentration Art, sealing his pores and holding his breath, using the spiritual energy stored within his body to sustain his breathing. He took out the ice soul jade talisman from his robes and infused it with Pure Yang True Intent. The jade talisman erupted with a piercing ice-blue light, and a surge of icy Qi poured out from it, condensing into a translucent protective barrier around him. Within the barrier, the toxic gases mixed in the wind and sand were frozen by the cold, turning into fine ice crystals that slid off the surface of the shield.

The poisonous gas was dispersed, but he knew the real threat had yet to arrive.

Because the poison gas could not have formed naturally. The poison in the sandstorm must have been released by someone.

Three dark figures darted out from the sandstorm.

They were dressed in earth-yellow robes with dark red patterns embroidered on the edges; those patterns wound like insects, wriggling slightly in the wind and sand. Their faces were covered with yellow cloth, revealing only a pair of eyes that were dark yellow, with a faint light flowing within their pupils. They held scimitars in their hands, the blades entirely dark green, with a ghostly green light flowing along the edges—a sign that they were dipped in potent poison.

The three were extremely fast, weaving through the sandstorm like ghosts, stepping on the quicksand and the wind-blown grit as they pounced toward Jiang Hanzhou silently.

Poison Sand Cult.

A cold light flashed in Jiang Hanzhou's eyes. He did not retreat; he simply tightened his grip on the tiger soul saber. The Dao-Slaying Blade Intent slowly circulated within his Sea of Consciousness, and four types of True Intent intertwined in his Dantian, ready to erupt at any moment.

The three formed a triangle, surrounding him in the center. They did not speak, nor did they even exchange glances; they simply swung their blades simultaneously. Three green blade lights slashed from three directions, each containing dense toxic gas. Wherever the blade light passed, the air hissed, and even the sand grains were corroded to black.

Jiang Hanzhou did not draw his saber to parry. He simply flickered, his Wave-Treading Step leaving a shallow mark on the sand as he sidestepped to avoid the first blade light. The light grazed past his ear and struck the sand dune behind him, instantly corroding a black pit about a zhang wide.

The second blade light followed immediately, aiming straight for his throat.

This time, he did not dodge.

The tiger soul saber unsheathed.

The dark gold patterns on the saber's body erupted with a piercing light in the sandstorm. Metal Sharpness True Intent poured into the blade, and the dark gold halo at the edge suddenly brightened. He swung his saber, striking the second person's scimitar.

Crack.

The scimitar broke. The dark green blade snapped in the middle; the front half flew into the sandstorm, while the back half remained in the man's hand. The man let out a muffled groan, his body blasted back by the massive impact, slamming heavily onto the sand and spitting out a mouthful of black blood.

But his two companions gave him no chance to catch his breath.

The first and third persons pounced simultaneously, two scimitars slashing from the left and right toward his waist and back. Their coordination was seamless, their blade techniques sharp, each strike aimed at a vital point. Furthermore, their footwork was eerie, walking on quicksand as if it were level ground, moving freely within the sandstorm.

Jiang Hanzhou snorted coldly and activated his Tidal True Intent. The essence of Tidal True Intent is water, flow, and guidance. In the Black Sandstorm, the wind and sand were a flowing Tide—a violent, disordered, and frantic Tide. He merged his Tidal True Intent with the air currents in the sandstorm, drawing the gale to form an invisible barrier around himself.

The air currents surged, diverting the two scimitars. The first person's blade swept past his side, and the third person's blade grazed over his head; neither harmed him in the slightest.

A hint of horror flashed in the eyes of the three. They had never seen such a True Intent, nor had they seen power capable of manipulating the air currents of a sandstorm.

Jiang Hanzhou gave them no time to react.

His figure flickered, pushing the Wave-Treading Step to its limit, leaving behind afterimages in the sandstorm. Every time the tiger soul saber swung, a dark gold blade light slashed out, each containing the Dao-Slaying Blade Intent.

The first person's scimitar was severed, and the blade light swept across his chest. Black blood gushed out as his body fell to the sand, twitching twice before becoming still.

The third person reacted the fastest. Seeing things were going poorly, he turned and fled. His footwork was bizarre, stepping on the quicksand like a sand snake gliding over the surface, his speed astonishingly fast.

Jiang Hanzhou did not pursue. He simply raised his right hand, holding the tiger soul saber horizontally before him, infusing the blade with Metal Sharpness True Intent, and then swung it violently.

A dark gold blade light shot out from the edge, reaching extreme speed and carving a straight trajectory through the sandstorm. The blade light caught up to the third person, entering through his back and exiting through his chest.

The third person's body staggered forward two steps before collapsing with a crash onto the sand, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Three corpses lay on the sand, black blood gushing from their wounds and gathering into a small puddle on the yellow sand. The blood contained potent poison, corroding the surrounding sand grains to black and emitting a pungent stench.

Jiang Hanzhou sheathed his saber, walked to the nearest corpse, knelt down, and began to search. There wasn't much on the body, only a few dozen silver coins commonly used in the Western Desert, a healing Medicinal Pill, and a palm-sized token.

The token was entirely dark yellow, its material resembling some kind of jade or perhaps beast bone soaked in venom. On the front of the token, an archaic character for "Sand" was engraved, its strokes sharp as a blade, each stroke containing an indescribable chilling aura. On the back, dense runes were inscribed, winding like insects and flowing slowly across the token, emitting a faint, ghostly green light.

The identification of a low-level Disciple of the Poison Sand Cult.

He turned the token over several times and then sent his Divine Sense into it. There was only a faint spiritual sense imprint inside, used by the Poison Sand Cult for identification and passing simple instructions. Within the spiritual sense imprint, there was only one sentence: Search all oases in the Western Desert for external Cultivators carrying an otherworldly aura; report immediately upon discovery.

Jiang Hanzhou put the token into the storage space of the heavenly secret mirror, stood up, and looked at the other two corpses. He searched them one by one, finding an almost identical token on the first person, while the third person had nothing.

Three tokens: two identical, one missing. This indicated that the third person's status was lower, perhaps a temporarily recruited Loose Cultivator or merely an outer-circle Disciple of the Poison Sand Cult.

He stood on the sand, looking at the grains corroded by the black blood, his brow furrowing slightly.

The Poison Sand Cult's influence in the Western Desert was far greater than he had imagined. A three-man outer-circle squad could accurately find his location in a Black Sandstorm, which meant their tracking methods were highly sophisticated. Moreover, they had already received orders to search for external Cultivators, indicating that the high-level officials of the Poison Sand Cult already knew someone was looking for the teleportation array's core runes.

His movements might have already been targeted.

The wind and sand gradually lessened as the Black Sandstorm moved westward. The sky changed from a dusty yellow to a dim dusk, and visibility returned to dozens of zhang. On the sand, the three corpses were already mostly covered by the wind-blown sand, with only arms and corners of their robes still exposed.

Jiang Hanzhou did not dispose of the bodies. The sandstorm would bury everything; there was no need for him to act. He turned and looked toward the west, toward the direction of the Great Leiyin Temple.

The Ice Camel was dead; he could only go on foot.

Night in the Western Desert was approaching, and the scorching heat of the day would turn into bone-chilling cold within the time it takes for an incense stick to burn. He needed to find a place sheltered from the wind, light a campfire, and meditate to recover.

He set off with his footwork toward the west. His pace was not fast, but every step was steady, making almost no sound on the sand. The tiger soul saber hung at his waist, its dark gold patterns flickering slightly in the twilight as if lighting the way ahead for him.

In the wind and sand, his figure grew more distant and blurred, finally vanishing into the depths of the sea of sand.

On the sand behind him, the three corpses were completely covered by the yellow sand, leaving no trace. Only the faint toxic gas remaining in the air and the small patch of black corrosion on the sand grains proved that a brief and brutal battle had once taken place here.

But the wind and sand would soon erase those marks.

The yellow sands of the Western Desert never keep guests.

After the sandstorm, the Western Desert returned to that suffocating dead silence.

Jiang Hanzhou stood atop a sand dune, planting the tiger soul saber in the sand beside him and taking the heavenly secret mirror from his robes. The jade talisman was pure white, its surface silver runes flickering slightly in the twilight; those runes wound like dragons, flowing slowly across the jade talisman and pointing toward the heart of the Western Desert. The third Seal unlocked after the battle in the North Realm had given the heavenly secret mirror a new ability: guiding the way to the core of the five domains teleportation array.

He sent his Divine Sense into the jade talisman, and a blurred image emerged in his Sea of Consciousness. It was the outline of a city, with high walls and towering gatehouses; soldiers on patrol and flowing runes were faintly visible on the walls. To the west of the city was a continuous sea of sand, and deep within that sea, a point of golden light flickered—the aura of the teleportation array core.

Yellow Sand City. The only large-scale city in the Western Desert and a place where various forces converged. Descendants of the Ancient Kingdom of Yellow Sands, strongholds of the Poison Sand Cult, markets for Loose Cultivators, and the hidden informants of the Mystic Ice Sword Sect were all within that city.

He put away the heavenly secret mirror, pulled out the tiger soul saber, and walked in the direction guided by the jade talisman. A string of footprints of varying depths was left on the sand, but they were soon smoothed over by the wind and sand, leaving no trace.

Five days later, he stood outside Yellow Sand City.

The walls of Yellow Sand City were about ten zhang high, built from some kind of dark yellow giant stones engraved with dense runes that emitted a faint earth-yellow light in the twilight. At the top of the walls, a soldier in leather armor was stationed every ten steps, holding a spear whose tip reflected a piercing cold light under the setting sun. At the city gate, two squads of soldiers were inspecting passersby, checking entry documents, and searching for suspicious items. Above the city gate hung a massive plaque with three large characters: "Yellow Sand City." The calligraphy was vigorous and powerful, each stroke looking like a ravine carved into the sand.

The air was filled with a strange scent—a mix of toxic gas and wind-blown sand. Within that scent was the dryness of yellow sand, the fishy sweetness of Gu insects, and a certain rotting stench, like the smell left by a corpse dehydrated in the desert.

Jiang Hanzhou took out a spare set of coarse cloth clothes from his sumeru pouch and changed into them, wrapping the scabbard of the tiger soul saber with cloth strips to disguise it as an ordinary iron saber. He took out a human skin mask from his robes—an item he had scavenged from the Black Witch Cult General Headquarters in the North Realm—which, when worn, could change his facial contours, making him look like an ordinary Loose Cultivator in his early thirties. He pressed the mask onto his face, adjusted its position, and then walked toward the city gate.

"Halt." The guard at the city gate stopped him, sizing him up from head to toe, his gaze lingering for a moment on the tiger soul saber at his waist. "Entry fee: five taels of silver. Show your identity credentials.

Jiang Hanzhou took out a few pieces of broken silver from his robes and handed them to the guard, then produced a pre-prepared wooden token—a forged Loose Cultivator token based on information from the White Deer Tribe's maps, with the character for "Loose" engraved on it and Western Desert runes on the back. The guard took the token, turned it over several times without finding any flaws, then waved him through, signaling him to enter the city.

Jiang Hanzhou put away the token and stepped into Yellow Sand City.

The scene inside the city was a stark contrast to the desolation outside. The streets were narrow, the widest being less than a zhang, and both sides were lined with all sorts of stalls. Some stalls sold the hides and furs of exotic beasts, some sold poisonous herbs and insects, and others sold Magical Artifacts and Medicinal Pills. The goods on the stalls were a dazzling array, but every item emitted a chilling aura—a unique power of the Western Desert, a mixture of poison and sand. Most of the stall owners wore drought-resistant coarse cloth clothes with yellow cloth over their faces, revealing only their eyes. Their gazes were wary and sharp, scanning every passerby as if looking for prey or guarding against being hunted.

There weren't many pedestrians, but each one walked hurriedly with a wary expression. Jiang Hanzhou walked among the crowd, concealing his aura to the lowest level and using the Spirit Concentration Art to suppress the spiritual energy fluctuations within his body, making himself look like an ordinary Loose Cultivator at the Middle Stage of the Blood Expansion Realm. His gaze swept over the shop signs on both sides of the street, searching for the hidden informant stronghold Teng Qinghan had told him about.

Ice Jade Pavilion. West District of Yellow Sand City, Third Street, a small storefront with an ice-blue magnolia flower carved on the sign.

He walked along the street for about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn before turning into an even narrower alley. The walls on both sides of the alley were coated with a dark yellow paint mixed with some kind of insect-repelling herb, emitting a pungent odor. At the end of the alley, a low storefront came into view, with a faded wooden plaque hanging over the door frame. On the plaque was carved an ice-blue magnolia flower; the patterns of the petals were already blurred, but one could still tell it was a flower.

Ice Jade Pavilion.

Jiang Hanzhou walked to the door and lightly knocked on the door ring three times. After a three-breath pause, he knocked twice more. That was the secret signal Teng Qinghan had told him.

Faint footsteps came from inside, and then the door opened a crack, an aged eye peering at him from the gap. Jiang Hanzhou took out the ice soul jade talisman from his robes and waved it in front of the door. The eye contracted sharply the moment it saw the jade talisman, and then the door slowly opened as an old man in a gray robe stepped aside, signaling him to enter.

Jiang Hanzhou slipped inside, and the door closed quickly behind him.

The storefront was small, only about a zhang square, with shelves all around filled with various jade and ice crystal products: ice-blue jade pendants, snow-white jade bracelets, and crystal-clear ice crystal ornaments. All those items carried a faint flow of ice-attribute spiritual energy, which felt out of place in the dry air of the Western Desert. The old man led him through the storefront, pushed open a hidden door, and walked into the backyard.

The backyard was much larger than the front shop, a three-entry courtyard. The walls of the courtyard were engraved with dense runes that shared the same origin as the witch-runes of the North Realm but were more delicate and restrained. In the center of the courtyard was an ancient well, its mouth emitting wisps of cold air—the aura of an underground ice vein.

The old man led him into a secret room in the backyard, closed the door, then turned around, knelt on one knee, and cupped his hands in a salute: "Lin Mo, an Outer Sect Disciple of the Mystic Ice Sword Sect, greets the Envoy."

Jiang Hanzhou helped him up and shook his head: "Shopkeeper Lin, there's no need for such formalities; I am not an Envoy of the Mystic Ice Sword Sect. My name is Jiang Hanzhou, a Disciple of the Dragon Abyss Palace of the East Sea, and I have come to the Western Desert at the request of Senior Sister Teng Qinghan to find something."

Shopkeeper Lin stood up, a hint of surprise appearing on his aged face: "East Sea's Dragon Abyss Palace? Senior Sister Teng mentioned you in a communication talisman, saying you might arrive soon. She said you have the ice soul jade talisman and told me to cooperate with you fully."

Jiang Hanzhou took out the ice-blue rune from the North Realm's teleportation array from his sumeru pouch and held it in his palm. The rune flickered slightly under the light of the secret room, emitting a ghostly cold ice-blue light that resonated faintly with the runes on the walls.