404: Western exploration team

The Western Great Desert itself is extremely vast, with most of its areas devoid of life, only scorching hot sand.

The deeper one goes, the higher the temperature, as if there's an exotic fire burning.

Therefore, for a long time, only Fifth-Rank Cultivators dared to venture deep into the Great Desert, and only Fourth-Rank Experts like the state-stabilizing seal could cross it.

However, after Yan Xiao traveled west, the hottest exotic fire in the Great Desert suddenly vanished, and the terrifying high temperature that enveloped the entire Great Desert subsequently dropped.

Old Potato, after luckily subduing a certain exotic fire, boldly explored westward and eventually discovered this change in the Great Desert.

Subsequently, more and more players began to head west.

Unlike the East Sea, which is teeming with Yao Beasts and countless secrets, the Great Desert appears much more desolate and lonely.

For thousands, even tens of thousands of miles westward, there are no settlements, only endless sand, not even a towering hill. The scorching wind can rage from west to east.

Such a vast environment is an excellent place for Spiritual Sense exploration, almost unimpeded, allowing players to conduct a carpet search.

Initially, many players were full of anticipation, trying to find exotic fires like Old Potato.

But soon they realized something was wrong.

There seemed to be only two exotic fires in the Great Desert, taken by Yan Xiao and Old Potato respectively. The rest were beast fires left by some great Yao Beasts.

Beast fires are also helpful for Qi Refining and Alchemy, and can exert decent combat power in battle, but they are not exotic fires nurtured by heaven and earth. Their intensity is limited, and most are of Sixth Rank or even lower, unable to attract more players.

Furthermore, when players entered the Secret Realm Immortal Caves they painstakingly found in the yellow sand, they would discover that the ultimate Treasures inside had already been taken.

Upon closer analysis, traces of Yan Xiao's battles could still be seen.

What's more, some Secret Realms had guardian beasts, or some great Yao Beasts that had gained sentience, who, because Yan Xiao had taken their ultimate Treasures, vented their anger on subsequent players.

Many players suffered, which made them pay even more attention to Yan Xiao.

They discovered that Yan Xiao's combat power seemed unexpectedly strong; all Fifth-Rank Cultivators he encountered regarded him with extreme importance, and many great Yao Beasts were even killed by him.

Among them, a female player nicknamed “Murong Shusu” was even more terrified.

This player was a soul-transmigrated player who had lived until now without perishing. Before the version update, she managed to cultivate to the Golden Core Realm by collecting resources from the Great Desert in advance.

She was quite proud, thinking she had established herself in the Xuanhuan World.

But she never expected that the three-year agreement she made with Yan Xiao in a moment of passion would become her death warrant.

Even though the Murong Family had declined, and even the entire Great Jiang Dynasty had become history.

Murong Shusu found that when Yan Xiao encountered some natives on his westward journey, he would still mention the three-year agreement.

Bro, you're already so awesome, why are you still thinking about me?

After much thought, Murong Shusu entrusted Old Potato, who had a connection with Yan Xiao, to find a way to send a message to Yan Xiao, stating that Murong Shusu was dead and the three-year agreement was void.

Subsequently, Murong Shusu directly chose to self-destruct and restart.

However, she despairingly discovered that she still had the character name “Murong Shusu”.

As long as she was still communicating with players, and as long as Yan Xiao inquired about her with players, she would be 100% exposed.

She regretted it immensely, wishing she had changed her name before the update, instead of choosing the soul-transmigrated character's name for a sense of immersion.

Finally, after much deliberation, Murong Shusu decided to follow Old Potato westward, intending to personally find Yan Xiao and resolve this grudge.

Besides Murong Shusu, players who had once soul-transmigrated into the Yan Family also gathered in the westward team.

They had all heard that Yan Xiao had left many legends on his westward journey, and wherever he went, Heaven And Earth Treasures would appear, making him truly a Son of Luck.

Although most of these Yan Family soul-transmigrated players had died and restarted, no longer in their soul-transmigrated identities, they still wanted to rely on their past connections to seek benefits from Yan Xiao.

Especially a player named “Yan Wu,” who had once soul-transmigrated into a Yan Family maiden, and this maiden had a relatively intimate relationship with Yan Xiao.

She was confident she could gain benefits from Yan Xiao, so after joining the team, she maintained a haughty demeanor, which made Old Potato and others feel somewhat speechless.

Besides those with grudges and those who considered themselves to have connections, Old Potato also wanted to find a third type of player to join the team: those who had shown kindness to Yan Xiao.

He first contacted the Purple Qi Sect, which had briefly become the players' top power.

Sect Master Crimson Purple of the Purple Qi Sect had once saved a heavily injured Yan Xiao and even invited him to be a Grand Elder; their friendship was undeniably deep.

Unfortunately, amidst the turmoil, the Purple Qi Sect had become history, and Sect Master Crimson Purple was directly killed after her Immortal Cave was breached during a subsequent Breakthrough. She then faded into obscurity, no longer possessing her former prestige.

Crimson Purple's last public appearance was when she was robbed by Li Changfeng, who forcibly took a Treasure she had painstakingly found in the Southern Mountains.

Since then, Crimson Purple developed a rebellious attitude towards powerful players, playing with some friends on her own, not joining any organization, nor accepting any invitations.

Old Potato contacted her for a long time, receiving rejection every time.

Old Potato had no choice but to give up.

He thought for a moment and then contacted a fourth type of player: those who had no direct grudge but whose relationship could be considered antagonistic.

That was the player who soul-transmigrated into a mining commoner, who happened to be the Great Jiang Crown Prince who had also soul-transmigrated, thus becoming “the player who soul-transmigrated into the mining commoner that the Great Jiang Crown Prince soul-transmigrated into.”

This person, Ginger Ore Sword, due to this special identity, obtained information about the Great Jiang Treasure Vault, which once stirred up a storm of bloodshed, even causing many Golden Core Realm cultivators to perish.

Ultimately, it seemed the state-stabilizing seal controlled the empress and completely seized the Great Jiang Treasure Vault, leaving the players to fight for nothing.

Old Potato had also heard some news, saying that most of the rewards distributed by the state-stabilizing seal to players came from the Great Jiang Treasure Vault, which showed how wealthy the former Great Jiang was, and how precious the Great Jiang Crown Prince's memories held by Ginger Ore Sword were.

There must be other Great Jiang secrets within.

Old Potato remembered that Ginger Ore Sword was still a player with aspirations; he initially wanted to open the Treasury himself, but because another player, Ning Xiao, who also had information about the Treasury, insisted on selling the information, he had no choice but to sell it too.

Later, after Ning Xiao retired from the game to enjoy life in reality, and then after the nationwide virtualization, it's unknown what he was doing, but he completely faded into obscurity.

Ginger Ore Sword, on the other hand, bought a pile of cultivation resources and cultivated quietly until he entered the Golden Core Realm.

He never participated in large-scale operations and was extremely cautious. When Newbie Village appeared, he directly hid inside and didn't come out. When True Lord Feng Chuan massacred the village, he also escaped to Great River City immediately.

Such caution made Old Potato even more convinced that he must know the secrets of Great Jiang, wanting to continue improving his cultivation to realize the value of these secrets, and at the same time, unwilling to gamble whether he would lose the special nature of this soul-transmigrated body if he revived and restarted.

So Old Potato contacted Ginger Ore Sword, hoping he would also join the westward team, find Yan Xiao, and together with Yan Xiao, uncover the secrets of Great Jiang.