Wu Jian felt like he was dying. He had severely underestimated how brutal the Qing Desert was.

Vast dunes of sand stretched out for hundreds of lî in all directions, and each dune looked the same as any other, making it impossible for him to tell if they were even heading in the right directions.

The sun beat down on him from overhead. However, he had long since sweated out all the water in his body. He felt like meat that had been left to rot in the sun. Even the long cloak he wore to protect himself from the heat’s rays did not help.

“Huǒ Shuchang… are you sure… we’re traveling in the right direction?” he asked his companion.

Unlike Wu Jian, who thought he might die if they walked another step, Huǒ Shuchang looked like a fresh spring daisy. The heat didn’t bother him at all. That was due to his cultivation method, which was a powerful fire based method that let him absorb, control, and release flames. If anything, this sunbaked landscape was beneficial to his cultivation.

“I am. We’re definitely going the right way,” Huǒ Shuchang said.

Wu Jian glanced at his friend from underneath his hood. “How can you tell?”

“The sun, of course.” Wu Jian blinked, then blinked again. Huǒ Shuchang grinned at him. “The sun always sets in the west and rises in the east. By using that as a guide, I can tell which directions we’re traveling in.”

“Oh…”

Wu Jian hadn’t considered using the sun as a guide. It was normal for a person to use a compass when traveling to determine whether or not they were heading in the right direction, but they didn’t have one of those.

“By the way, are there any dangers out here?” asked Wu Jian.

“Oh, there are plenty of dangers,” Huǒ Shuchang nodded as he held up a hand and began listing things off on his fingers. “There are the Eremites who worship the great snake deity, the heat that’s said to be capable of killing even powerful cultivators if left unprepared, and of course, the magical beasts. I did some research before we headed out. The Qing Desert is home to powerful Anima Realm and Asura Realm magical beasts. Fortunately, magical beasts above that are rare, but I did hear a rumor about the existence of a Deva Realm magical beast that roams the desert.”

“Let’s hope we don’t run into that magical beast,” Wu Jian muttered.

The two continued walking. Wu Jian stopped speaking to conserve energy. Unlike his friend, he didn’t have a method of dealing with this heat.

It was fortunate they had stocked up on water before heading into the desert. There were several gallons worth of water contained in goatskin flasks in his storage ring, and he would occasionally bring them out to take a sip.

There were also several oases along the way to their destination. They stopped at each one for a day to restock on food and supplies, and to ensure their bodies were well-rested.

None of the inns they used were very… clean. The beds they had to sleep on were also rough and coarse. This desert really was a harsh place. Wu Jian had to wonder why anyone would choose to live here.

They did end up running into several magical beasts. The most common among them was the desert salamander. It was a magical beast that burrowed within the sands and leapt out to ambush prey. Despite most desert salamander’s having a meager Human Realm cultivation, they were very strong and large. The smallest one they had seen was the size of a horse, while the largest had been the size of a small house. The big one had been at the peak of the Anima Realm.

Wu Jian dealt with most of them. He thought of fighting magical beasts as a form of training, and he used them to test some of his new abilities.

The power he was most interested in mastering was what he called Nihility. It was the ability to phase one of his limbs out of this space, which was what allowed it to pass through objects and people. He was getting much better at using this power. Wu Jian was confident that he could phase his limbs through anything with a cultivation comparable to a first subrealm Human Limit Realm cultivator, though he had yet to test this power out on someone that strong.

Thanks to his daily training and liberal use of Chi Gathering Pills, Wu Jian had reached the seventh subrealm of the Anima Realm.

“It’s getting late. You can set up our tent. I’m gonna cook up some grub,” Huǒ Shuchang said as the sun began setting.

“Yeah. Sure.”

Wu Jian brought the tent out of his storage ring and set it up quickly. He also brought out several bells, some string, and stakes. He set them up around the tent, hidden beneath the sand. They were set up in such a way that it was impossible to jump over, and even if a person avoided one of them, they would end up stepping on the others.

And while Wu Jian set up both the tent and a basic security system, Huǒ Shuchang once again had his trusty pot out. He cut and peeled several vegetables, which he tossed into the pot along with some meat. It was probably venison. That was what Huǒ Shuchang cooked most of the time.

Yōuměi emerged from Wu Jian’s shadow as the sun set. She refused to come out during the day. Her black fur became especially hot and made it unbearable for her to walk through the desert.

They ate their meal in relative silence, then settled into the tent. They used a blanket to sleep on top of to avoid getting sand in their hair.

Wu Jian would have loved to have a sleeping bag. Nights in the Qing Desert were cold. It was easy to assume the desert was hot all day, every day, but the truth was that the temperature would plummet at night. A person could easily die of hypothermia if they weren’t careful.

Sadly, using a sleeping bag to stay warm was out of the question.

There was a very good reason for that.

A soft tinkling sound came from outside. Wu Jian had been on the brink of sleep, but his eyes snapped open the moment he heard that sound.

“Wake up, Shuchang!”

“I’m already up!”

More ringing came from outside as the people or magical beasts there decided to forgo stealth. Wu Jian leapt to his feet just as a sword tore through the fabric of their tent. He grimaced. This tent had cost quite a bit of money.

Several people leapt into the tent. One of them was an Eremite Sword-Dancer, but there was also two Axe Wielders, a Desert Healer, a Halberdier, and one Desert Shamen. That made six enemies in total, and all of them were at the Anima Realm.

“Yōuměi! Get the healer!” Wu Jian ordered.

Yōuměi leapt out of his shadow with a roar that startled the Eremites, but they were all professional bandits by trade and had likely killed and raided many people already. Most moved in to attack Yōuměi, but Wu Jian and Huǒ Shuchang intercepted them before they could attack her.

“Outta the way, you damn brats!”

Wu Jian did not have any weapons. As the Sword-Dancer swung his curved blade, which glowed with the brilliance of chi, he sidestepped left, then released a precisely timed punch that shattered the weapon. It was fortunately just a normal sword. A spirit weapon would have been much harder to break. Wu Jian followed up his attack with another punch. The Sword-Dancer backed off to avoid it, but Wu Jian folded space around his fist, causing it to appear behind the man. His hand phased through the man’s back and crushed his heart.

It was an instant death.

“Qin Hui!” The healer shouted in shock as she saw the man die.

It was a fatal mistake.

Yōuměi had already connected with her shadow and manipulated it to create several stakes, which impaled the woman. Most of the stakes hit areas that weren’t fatal, but one of them had speared through her throat. The woman gurgled as blood welled up inside her mouth. She reached for her throat, but her hands quickly dropped to her sides.

“Dammit! Chen Ju’s down!” one of them shouted.

“We need to retreat!”

“We’re doomed without a healer!”

“I hope you’re not thinking of leaving. Since you’ve decided to barge in here uninvited, you should stick around and let me show you my hospitality,” said Huǒ Shuchang.

Flames erupted around his fists as he threw a punch that slammed into an Axe Wielder. The fires were so intense they melted the iron axe like it was made of wax. The man wielding the axe tried to back off, but Huǒ Shuchang threw a quick but powerful uppercut, which launched the man clean into the air and set his entire body on fire.

Wu Jian spotted the Desert Shaman create several sand spikes and launch them at Huǒ Shuchang, but he intercepted them from a distance. Space folded around his hands as he perfectly timed each punch. The sand spikes were pulverized before they hit their target.

As the sands from the attack scattered in all directions, Wu Jian rushed into the enemie's formation and used Nihility to attack the Halbedier trying to sneak up on Yōuměi. He plunged his hand into the man’s back, grabbed his spine, and yanked. The section he had grabbed quickly came out of the man’s back with a disgusting tearing noise. The Halbedier was fortunate enough not to suffer for long. He died quickly.

Thanks to Wu Jian’s quick thinking, Yōuměi was able to finish off her opponent. She had been fighting the remaining Axe Wielder. The man had managed to keep her back by coating his axe in fire chi and swinging it around like a maniac, but it was all over once Yōuměi connected with his shadow. A stake speared him from behind. It went through his back and emerged from his stomach. The pain distracted him long enough for Yōuměi to pounce and tear out the man’s throat.

The Desert Shaman tried to run, but Huǒ Shuchang was having none of it. He thrust out his hand. An intense beam of fire erupted from his palm, quickly caught up with the Desert Shaman, and burned a hole clean through his back. It was such a large hole that Wu Jian could see the desert through it before the man pitched forward like a puppet without strings.

“This is the fourth attack this week,” Huǒ Shuchang complained as he stared at the bodies. “You’d think these people would give up.”

Wu Jian shrugged. “I doubt they know how many of their kind we have killed.”

The Eremites typically traveled in groups of three to seven, and they always consisted of at least One Sword-Dancer, one Desert Shaman, and one Healer. He wondered what sort of methodology caused them to have such a strict formation, but he didn’t think on it too much. It was probably just the most versatile formation they could use.

A strange smell suddenly wafted within the tent.

“By the way, do you smell something burning?” asked Wu Jian as he sniffed the air several times.

“Ah. Now that you mention it… I do,” said Huǒ Shuchang.

They stood there for a moment before a loud crackling sound from overhead caused them to look up. Their eyes bulged when they noticed the bright red flames that had engulfed the ceiling of their tent.

“Our tent is burning! Dammit, Shuchang! This is why I keep telling you not to use your fire attacks!”

“Hey! Don’t pin the blame on me! It’s not like I wanted to burn our tent down!”

“How is this not your fault?! You’re the one launching fire techniques everywhere!”

“Th-that is a good point, but it’s not like I had the luxury of holding back!”

“Ugh! Whatever! Just help me put out the fire!”

Wu Jian and Huǒ Shuchang did their best to put out the fire, but unfortunately, they were unable to save their tent.