208: Desert Mystery

Li Dong did not tear through space.

He simply used the most primitive method, walking step by step into this land in the far west, marked as the "Weeping Sand Sea" on the Demon Suppression Division's map.

The power brought by advancing to the Soul Transformation Stage was too immense; it was like a poor boy who suddenly struck it rich overnight and held billions in assets—he had to count exactly how much money he had, lest he feel insecure when spending it.

The sunlight was scorching, and the air was so dry it could spark a fire.

After walking for about half a day, without any warning, the sky darkened.

It wasn't dark clouds blocking the sun, but the entire canopy of the sky being stained a sickly, murky yellow.

The gale whipped up sand and gravel, emitting a whistle like ghostly wails, and as it lashed against his body, it even carried a needle-like stinging pain.

"Interesting, they even added ingredients to the sandstorm."

Li Dong stopped his steps, letting the gravel scour him.

He could clearly feel that every grain of sand was attached to a weak yet twisted divine power—heterogeneous, chaotic, and filled with malice.

Beneath the sandy ground, waves of commotion arose.

Boom!

A golden scorpion the size of a giant elephant burst out from the sand.

Its eight scarlet eyes locked onto Li Dong, and its massive tail hook, dragging a trail of ominous black aura, struck out fiercely.

Immediately after, a second, a third...

The sandy ground was like boiling water as dozens of corrupted giant sand worms and scorpions surged out from all directions, surrounding him completely.

"Local specialty? Doesn't look like much."

Li Dong couldn't even be bothered to move, merely lifting his eyelids.

An invisible vortex suddenly expanded with him at the center.

There was no earth-shattering sound; the moment those roaring, violent giant beasts touched the boundary of the vortex, they were like water balloons being pricked.

Along with the heterogeneous divine fragments within their bodies, they were drained and decomposed, finally turning into the purest energy particles that merged into Li Dong's body.

The entire process was eerily quiet.

The storm continued, but the encirclement was already empty.

Li Dong closed his eyes, savoring the energy he had just absorbed.

"Hmm... this taste..."

Unlike the "anchors" and "cores" he had devoured before, these divine fragments originating from the desert's native creatures, after being converted by the [divinity core], were actually like a catalyst, causing his efficiency in analyzing the Origin of the "Boss's" power to improve slightly.

Although negligible, it was indeed an improvement.

"An appetizer? Well then, I won't be polite."

He stopped lingering and, braving the storm, continued walking deeper into the desert.

He didn't know how long he walked, but the storm gradually subsided, and an ancient city ruin, half-buried by yellow sand, appeared on the horizon.

Broken walls and ruined pillars exuded a desolation abandoned by time.

Li Dong strolled into the ruins and saw a dilapidated altar in the center of a relatively intact plaza.

On the altar stood a lone, battered stone pillar, covered in totems that had long since become blurred.

He reached out, his fingertips gently touching the cold stone pillar.

At that very instant, the mark between his brows, which had turned into a black crystal stone key, began to vibrate violently without warning.

A completely unfamiliar fragment of memory, like a red-hot branding iron, seared fiercely into his mind.

...Filling the sky with yellow sand, a man in a black uniform had a back profile somewhat similar to his.

Opposite the man was some kind of twisted, writhing existence whose form could not be seen clearly.

Surrounding him were countless companions also dressed in black.

A tragic, heroic cry seemed to traverse the ages of time and space, exploding in his ears—

"Suppress Demons! Guard!"

...The image flashed and vanished.

Li Dong abruptly pulled his hand back.

A heart-piercing pain exploded from his forehead, making him unable to help but grunt and instinctively cover his head.

"What is this again?"

He shook his head, trying to dispel that emotion which did not belong to him; it was a... complex feeling mixed with determination, tragedy, and unwillingness.

At the very moment his mind was in turmoil, an icy, grand, and emotionless gaze projected down from the distant Void Realm, landing upon him.

It was the "Boss".

Li Dong looked up at the empty sky and twitched the corner of his mouth.

"What? Inspecting the work?"

The gaze had no aggression; it was more like it was scrutinizing an interesting toy, carrying a sense of aloof mockery.

Almost at the same time, Li Dong felt it.

Deeper within the ruins, a "Void Realm fluctuation," a thousand times purer than the heterogeneous divine power in the surrounding sandstorms, was being deliberately released.

The feeling was like an experienced hunter placing the fattest, juiciest piece of meat in a trap, unreservedly emitting a seductive aura of death.

"Is this... afraid that I can't find the way, so it specifically set up navigation for me?"

Li Dong did not immediately rush over.

Instead, he restrained his entire aura, his whole being seemingly merging into the air, with the mark between his brows also completely hidden.

His massive Spiritual Domain spread out silently, like mercury poured onto the ground, probing every corner of the entire ruins.

Besides those mutated creatures lurking underground, he also discovered some other things.

Deep beneath the ruins, there was an area protected by a weak barrier, containing over a dozen extremely faint life auras.

They were like candles in the wind, likely to be extinguished at any moment.

"There are still living people?"

This actually surprised him a little.

He thought of the survivors in Qingzhou City; his heart stirred, his figure flickered, and he directly passed through the thick layers of rock and sand.

This was a narrow underground cavern with foul air.

A dozen or so ragged nomads were curled up together, each one sallow and thin, with black patterns of divine erosion appearing on their bodies.

Li Dong's sudden appearance made these people shrink into a ball in terror.

He ignored the others and walked straight to an old man who was on the verge of death and about to completely mutate.

The old man was convulsing all over, his eyes filled only with despair and pain.

Li Dong extended a finger and tapped it on his forehead.

A miniature [Void Vortex] formed instantly, forcibly extracting the rampaging divine pollution within the old man's body that was devouring his vitality.

It condensed into a gray-black grain of sand at his fingertip, which he then casually crushed.

The old man's violent convulsions stopped.

Although his breathing was still weak, the madness and pain in his eyes had faded, and a glimmer of clarity returned.

"You..." The old man looked at Li Dong, his lips moving, unable to utter a complete sound.

"I ask, you answer." Li Dong squatted down, his voice very calm.

"What happened here? What is that thing releasing the seductive aura?"

The old man's cloudy eyes were filled with confusion and fear.

He seemed not to understand what "seductive aura" meant, only stutteringly recounting an ancient legend.

"The Devourer... it is the Devourer... it has awakened..."

"Our ancestors... once fought against it... alongside the 'Black-Clad Guards'..."

"Guards..." The old man's gaze inadvertently fell on Li Dong's smooth forehead.

That look seemed to pierce through appearances and see something.

"The center of the Guard's brows... had a mark... very similar... to yours..."

The old man's words were like a key.

The silent [black crystal stone] in Li Dong's Sea of Consciousness gave a violent jolt at this moment.

An unprecedented sense of summoning, originating from the depths of his Soul, was clearly transmitted.

The target was that "bait."

Li Dong stood up, no longer wasting time.

He followed that strongest "Void Realm fluctuation" directly, all the way down.

Passing through layers of underground structures, a massive cavern appeared before his eyes.

At the end of the cavern, a giant nest with a diameter exceeding a hundred meters, composed of a mixture of yellow sand and flesh and blood, was slowly pulsating like a heart.

With every pulsation, it emitted a suffocating divine pressure, as if the entrance to Hell was greedily breathing.

"Finally found you."

Just when Li Dong was preparing to take action and directly "devour" this thing too.

A hoarse, ancient voice, as if polished by sandstorms for a thousand years, drifted out from the depths of the nest.

"key, you have finally come."

Before the words had faded, a figure completely shrouded in swirling sand and dust slowly walked out from the shadows of the nest.

His aura had surprisingly also reached the Soul Transformation Early Stage.

What made Li Dong's pupils shrink even more was that from that figure, he felt an aura that was of the same Origin as the mark between his own brows and his own [divinity core].

It was like... it was like encountering another version of himself.

A more ancient, more twisted version of himself.

The sand shadow raised its head, revealing a pair of eyes flashing with an eerie light amidst the sand and dust.

It scrutinized Li Dong, as if looking at a long-lost item.

"You have returned, forgotten Demon Suppressor."

Boom!

This sentence, like a thunderclap from the Nine Heavens, exploded in Li Dong's mind.

Countless fragmented, torn images, like a burst dam of floodwater, surged madly into his consciousness!

He saw himself, wearing that all-too-familiar black uniform, holding a long blade, fighting side by side with countless companions, bathed in blood.

He saw a Void Realm rift spanning heaven and earth, as well as terrifying tentacles extending from the rift, enough to obscure the stars.

He saw himself and all his companions being mercilessly devoured by that rift...

In the end, there was heart-wrenching pain, and the coldness of sinking into endless darkness.

Li Dong stared fixedly at the sand shadow, his heart pounding uncontrollably.

"Who am I?"

"A Demon Suppressor?"

"A forgotten one?"

A storm concerning identity and destiny had completely swept him into its midst.