298: Desert Cave

Su Yao smiled with satisfaction; as the swarm of bugs scattered to flee, her safety was guaranteed.

She then turned around and dashed away. The black flames in the sky continued to burn, and the corpses of bugs kept dropping to the ground.

An abyssal maw emerged from the sea of sand, sucking all the bug corpses in the desert into its belly, before slowly sinking back down and pursuing the only footprints on the sand at an incredible speed.

Su Yao did not stop until she had run a great distance. After confirming there was no danger, she let out a long sigh of relief.

The immortal spirit qi in this realm was not strong; it could even be described as quite thin.

Normally, after consuming so much immortal spirit qi, she would only need a few breaths to circulate her Cultivation Technique and absorb the immortal spirit qi from the heaven and earth, allowing her to recover in less than a quarter of an hour.

Unfortunately, she now realized that to recover all the spiritual energy she had just consumed, she would have to circulate her Cultivation Technique for an entire hour to return to her Peak state.

As Su Yao moved forward, she circulated her Cultivation Technique within her body, constantly absorbing the immortal spirit qi from the surroundings.

Suddenly, as if remembering something, Su Yao immediately took out an immortal fate stone.

After holding it in her hand and circulating her Cultivation Technique to absorb it, the speed returned to what it had been before. In just a quarter of an hour, all the energy she had consumed was fully replenished.

Su Yao smiled slightly and stretched. Just as she prepared to move forward again, she suddenly felt the sand around her begin to sink. It was not just the patch beneath her feet; all the sand in the vicinity was beginning to cave in.

Su Yao's expression changed in alarm, and she took off running. Only after she had run a distance did she realize that a giant hourglass-like phenomenon had appeared within a radius of a thousand meters.

When Su Yao tried to rush out of this sand trap, she slammed heavily into a barrier and was bounced back, rolling twice on the ground.

The sand below was pouring downward frantically, with the center as the focal point.

The surrounding sand gradually became steeper and steeper, and Su Yao slid uncontrollably toward the center. Her expression darkened.

"Damn it!"

Su Yao conjured a ball of flame and hurled it toward the center, but it had no effect. The flame landed there, instantly causing a large amount of sand to crystallize.

It turned into glass.

Yet, it still disappeared into the desert, with no indication of where it went.

Su Yao clearly sensed that what blocked her was a barrier. Even using all her strength, she had no way to break it. She had to resign herself to hiding at the very edge, trying to see what was happening below.

Within a quarter of an hour, all the sand within the thousand-meter radius vanished rapidly, and the ground beneath Su Yao's feet was also sliding downward bit by bit.

The sand outside the barrier was now dozens of meters high. Even if the barrier were to disappear now, it would be absolutely impossible for Su Yao to get out; she would be buried alive here.

Su Yao's expression grew increasingly grim.

In her current state, it was absolutely impossible to escape; she was doomed to die.

Su Yao stared intently at the bottom. Soon, after all the sand had been devoured, a set of fangs was revealed.

It was clearly a massive bug, its bloody maw wide open.

Beside the bug, a massive grotto was revealed, where all the sand had been pouring into.

Su Yao's eyes lit up. She had found her path to survival; as long as she could slay this bug and rush into that underground grotto, she could survive.

Su Yao became instantly excited, a brilliant smile spreading across her face.

Su Yao made a swift decision and summoned her most powerful Magic Treasure, which radiated a brilliant light.

Immediately afterward, the black phoenix whip in her hand lashed out with a sudden tremor.

She launched herself toward the bug below like a cannonball.

The black phoenix whip lashed repeatedly against the bug, which let out a harrowing roar and frantically gnawed at the black phoenix whip with its fangs.

Several of its fangs were scorched by the black flames, yet it refused to give up, for the lashes of the whip were truly agonizing.

The bug was unwilling to let go of this prey, so it could only continue biting, hoping that the weapon in the opponent's hand had a limit to its durability.

Su Yao felt no fear and relentlessly unleashed her attacks upon the bug. The creature quickly proved unable to withstand the assault, and vast amounts of black blood sprayed from its body.

The flames began to burrow into the bug's body through the wounds, causing it agonizing pain. It no longer had any opportunity to attack and began to struggle frantically.

It was as if it had gone mad, twisting its body violently and turning the entire grotto upside down.

Su Yao hid in a corner of the grotto, watching the bug quietly. She could feel the flames within its body growing, burning away its flesh.

Using the power contained within the creature's flesh as a Foundation, the flames gradually intensified.

In the end, the bug was reduced to ashes.

Su Yao surveyed the grotto and looked up at the sky. She could not climb back up, and the surrounding sand seemed to be threatening to collapse.

She could not remain here for long, fearing that it might collapse and bury her alive at any moment, so she turned and headed deeper inside.

The entire grotto was pitch black. To illuminate the path ahead, Su Yao conjured a bright ball of flame.

In an instant, everything in the grotto was clearly revealed before her.

Su Yao suddenly discovered something terrifying.

There were so many dangers in this Secret Realm, yet she could not fly. This meant there was no hope of leaving before the Secret Realm closed; if any danger arose, one could only wait for death!

Su Yao hurriedly clutched the immortal fate stone in her hand.

After taking a deep breath, she accelerated the refinement process to replenish what she had just consumed.

She realized that the most important thing for survival here was to ensure she did not exhaust her strength; otherwise, she would certainly perish.

The entire grotto was incredibly vast. Even after walking for three hours, Su Yao had not found the exit.

Finally, an impatient Su Yao discovered an underground river ahead. Based on her experience, where there was a river, there was bound to be an exit.

Without a moment's hesitation, Su Yao jumped directly into the icy river.

As she had surmised, her deduction was correct; there was clearly an opening at the end of the river.

Light shone from ahead, indicating that it must be the exit.

Swept along by the river, Su Yao was carried directly out of the opening. Below her lay a jungle.

Su Yao slammed heavily into the ground, her face full of surprise.

She had not expected that after crossing the desert, such a vast jungle would appear.

Looking up, she could clearly see the sand high above.

Clearly, some power isolated the two areas; otherwise, common sense dictated that the sand above would have been blown into this forest by the wind.

Su Yao coughed softly twice. On the Heavenly Ranking in the sky, not a single name had yet appeared.