Cave Shelter

"Fellow Daoist Yin, my apologies. I was held up by a minor matter just now and nearly missed the hour..." The celestial phenomenon had already calmed, and the entrance to the secret realm was about to open when Mu Yifeng finally rushed over. Qin Sang was surprised to see Mu Yifeng smiling faintly, looking as though he had run into something delightful. In all the time since entering the Ancient Immortal Battlefield, this was the first time he had seen a smile on Mu Yifeng's face. At that moment, a sudden rush of water surged up at the end of the river, throwing up towering waves. The current split in two, crossing over to form an arched gateway. To the naked eye, nothing could be seen beyond the arch except a vast expanse of white. Yin Xingge took no offense and said, "It is fine as long as Fellow Daoist Mu arrived in time. We should set out." The group immediately leaped aboard a small wooden boat. Just as Qin Sang was about to step onto the deck, he paused for a brief moment and glanced inconspicuously at Mu Yifeng. Mu Yifeng flashed him a subtle look. After a heartbeat's hesitation, Qin Sang gave a slight nod and boarded as if nothing had happened. The wooden boat cleaved the waves, swiftly sailing into the arched gateway. Then, a heavy downward pull dragged at their bodies, and the scenery before them shifted drastically. They were already standing amid a barren, scorched desert. It was as if the howling winds from moments earlier had never existed. Standing on a dune, the vista was boundless, with nothing in sight but desolate yellow sand stretching into the distance. It was eerily tranquil, yet the searing heat warped the air, making even these cultivators feel uncomfortable. Yin Xingge produced a topographical map, glanced at it, and pointed to the northwest, saying to Mu Yifeng and Qin Sang, "Junior Sister Yunqiong and I will lead the way. I ask the two of you to bring up the rear." Neither Mu Yifeng nor Qin Sang raised any objections. Once their formation was set, the group unleashed their movement techniques and sped away. More than twenty cultivators emerged from the secret realm in succession. Gathering at the entrance, they all eyed Qin Sang and his companions with intense vigilance. After all, one could often travel thousands of li through the Ancient Immortal Battlefield without crossing paths with another soul. Outside the towns and cultivation markets, murdering others for their treasures was an everyday occurrence. With celestial phenomena and cloud beasts helping to destroy all traces of the deed, not even someone with divine abilities could track down the culprits. Some wicked cultivators had even banded together under the pretext of treasure hunting to commit outright banditry, daring to rob and slaughter disciples of the three great sects. The Xuanlu Guard had wiped out countless numbers of them and hung their severed heads outside the pass as warnings, yet the practice remained impossible to stamp out. Ten people traveling together as Qin Sang's group did already formed a formidable force; it was only natural that the other cultivators would feel uneasy. Only after their figures had vanished into the distance did the remaining cultivators look at one another and disperse in their respective directions. *** The desert proved unimaginably vast. They traveled for five days straight without glimpsing its end. It was precisely midday, with the blazing sun beating down overhead. Right at that moment, a sudden gust stirred across the desert. At first, only a faint haze of dust drifted through the air, but gradually, gravel began to tumble and roll. The sky darkened into a murky yellow, and the temperature plummeted abruptly, bringing with it a piercing, bone-chilling cold. A ripple of fluctuations suddenly disturbed the crest of a sand dune, and ten figures materialized out of thin air—it was Qin Sang and the others. Because they were too conspicuous a target in the open desert, they had been traveling using concealment arts. Halting now, all of them frowned deeply as they watched the escalating sandstorm around them. "The celestial phenomenon settled only five days ago. How could another one arrive so soon?" Yunqiong Sanren's face was fraught with worry. Shelters were exceedingly rare in the middle zone. They had left Gubei Town not long ago and were still very far from any other towns or cultivation markets. Furthermore, they were stranded in the desert with completely unobstructed surroundings—not even a single place to hide—making it dangerously easy to end up besieged by cloud beasts. Over the past five days, they had encountered cloud beasts more than once. The beasts here were noticeably a cut above those they had faced earlier. One of them had even possessed strength surpassing Yin Xingge's; fortunately, they had been quick to react and had detoured around it in advance. Yin Xingge said in a low, heavy voice, "Celestial phenomena are inherently fickle and unpredictable. Now that we have entered the middle zone, no frequency is out of the question. Everyone, travel at full speed and try to find a hiding place. Otherwise, our only choice will be to hollow out a cave in the sand to take cover..." Before he could finish speaking, a Qi Refinement stage Shadow Guard cried out in surprise and joy, "Senior Yin, the topographical map shows a shelter ahead!" The others hurriedly drew out their own maps. Sure enough, a shelter was marked not far ahead. It was not a cultivation market, but rather a small shelter constructed by passing travelers. The distance was not particularly great; if they traveled at full speed, they could reach it in five or six shichen. Yin Xingge pondered briefly and said, "A shelter like this may not last forever, but there is no harm in going to check. Time is of the essence. Fellow Daoist Mu, Fellow Daoist Qin—the three of us will activate the astrolabe, while Junior Sister Yunqiong guides everyone on a flying magic tool. The faster, the better." In this moment of crisis, neither Mu Yifeng nor Qin Sang had any objections and promptly agreed. Yin Xingge brushed his mustard seed bag and retrieved an enormous astrolabe measuring a full zhang across. The circular astrolabe was pitch-black throughout, speckled with glimmering points of fluorescent light. It was breathtakingly beautiful, resembling a segment cleaved straight out of the nocturnal star river. Qin Sang already knew the incantation to operate the astrolabe by heart. As Yin Xingge tossed the astrolabe upward, Qin Sang and the other two immediately sat cross-legged beneath it, invoking the incantation and pouring their spiritual power into it with all their might. Buzz! The astrolabe quivered faintly, and the starlight upon it flared noticeably brighter. An unusual aura then drifted out from the astrolabe, identical to the essence of a cloud beast. This aura enveloped them, completely masking their ripples as cultivators so as to confound the cloud beasts. Not a single trace leaked out—an effect far superior to the brocade handkerchief Qin Sang had previously purchased. It was a pity that cloud tools of this kind were expensive to craft and could not be used for long. Otherwise, they would have already begun excavating the Qianyang quartz by now. Yunqiong Sanren flicked her finger, and a double-ended pointed shuttle expanded with the wind. It cast out a swath of iridescent mist, sweeping Qin Sang and the other two inside. The remaining six hurriedly boarded the shuttle as well. Whoosh! Yunqiong Sanren did not dare fly the shuttle too high, skimming almost flush against the sand dunes. Even so, their speed was far greater than before. Striving to avoid cloud beasts along the way, they took only half the expected time to reach the location marked on the topographical map. Someone pointed in a direction and shouted, "Over there!" The group looked out and saw a small, abrupt rocky mountain rising in the middle of the desert, built entirely from bare, colossal boulders stacked together. The rocky mountain was not high, yet it had surprisingly escaped being swallowed by the swirling sands, standing as a prominent landmark. By this point, the sandstorm was raging, the celestial phenomenon was growing ever more violent, and the cloud beasts were becoming increasingly active. Yunqiong Sanren dared not hesitate; she swiftly drove the shuttle to veer around, landing in front of the rocky mountain in a flash. Yin Xingge put away the astrolabe and swept his spiritual sense across the mountain. His eyes promptly lit up. "There are fluctuations of restrictions!" Overjoyed at the news, the group bounded up the rocky mountain. Halfway up the slope, a massive boulder concealed the mouth of a cave that extended deep into the earth. The cavern was deserted. Dense layers of restrictions had been reinforced from the entrance onward, clearly originating from many different hands. As they made their way downward, they also patched up the weak spots in the restrictions as they went. Making the shelter more sturdy would help those who came after them, but it also served to protect themselves.