novelraw Chapter 591: Desert of Illusions
Chapter 591: Desert of Illusions
"This demon core is different." Chu Miao said while picking up the extremely hot core.
"It’s so hot. Why is that?" Chu Hao asked his sister, looking at the demon core like it was some kind of a magical item.
"It contains... extremely pure fire energy."
"Can we absorb it?" Chu Hao asked immediately.
"Not directly. If you absorb it directly, it would burn all your meridians away. The energy within it is too violent." Ye Xuan replied to his brother-in-law.
"Then...?" Gu Fan asked with curiosity.
"It can be refined..." Chu Miao explained in a few words.
"Refined how?" Li Han asked seriously.
Chu Miao’s eyes gleamed as she looked at the demon core.
"This might be the key to surviving deeper into the desert."
The group exchanged glances, excitement flickering in their eyes.
There might be immense danger in this place, but the rewards were equally great.
Chu Miao stored the demon core away and looked into the distance.
The desert stretched so far there was no end in sight.
"Let’s keep going." She ordered and everyone started walking forward.
They had only taken a few steps when Ye Xuan turned around and looked at the mutilated body of the scorpion.
Without another word, he waved his hand and the body disappeared.
The deeper they moved into the desert, the more oppressive the heat became.
It was no longer just heat pressing against their skin and burning their flesh, it seeped into their bones, blood, and into their very consciousness.
It was basically reshaping every molecule in their bodies.
The golden sand beneath their feet had also begun to change.
At first glance, it looked no different from before, but with every step, it felt heavier.
It was as if gravity was pressing on them making their every step harder to take.
It was as if the ground itself was resisting their movement.
"This place keeps getting worse," Lei Ying complained.
The others nodded in agreement. Just when they thought their bodies had reached the limit, something new happens and they have to endure.
"It’s not getting worse," Chu Miao corrected calmly, looking completely unbothered with her gaze fixed ahead.
"It’s more refined."
"More refined? what does that mean?" Li Kian asked, breathing slightly heavier now.
Chu Miao nodded.
"The trials are becoming more targeted the further we go."
"In the cold zone, the environment tempered our spiritual energy and made it purer and denser. This desert has been tempering our bodies."
She paused briefly before adding,
"And now... it’s starting to affect our minds."
"Our minds? You mean mental strength?" Jing Xian asked, wiping the sweat that never got the chance to fall before evaporating.
"To be more precise, it’s targeting our sea of consciousness. If our sea of consciousness could become more refined, it would be difficult for us to be attacked by inner demons or even get possessed. So, don’t underestimate any type of tempering." Chu Miao explained more about the purpose of the trial.
This shocked everyone there.
They hadn’t realized that this simple trial could actually benefit them so much.
Over the last few months, they had studied some books found in the library in the Soul Ring and already understood a lot of things related to cultivation.
They knew that it was possible for someone with a stronger soul to possess a cultivator with a weaker soul and devour them, taking over their body.
And now they were told that the trial they were going through could actually help them prevent something like that.
So, obviously, they had to seize this opportunity.
As if on cue, a strange ripple passed through the air and the horizon seemed to shake.
The distant dunes seemed to shift unnaturally.
Qi Long frowned for a moment before speaking.
"Did you see that?"
"Yeah..." Li Kun replied immediately. "It’s like the space ahead just... moved?"
Li Kun wasn’t sure what he saw was right. So, he had to ask.
However, when he looked around at his companions, he knew that he had seen right from their expressions.
Ye Xuan’s eyes narrowed.
"That’s not space, it’s...." Before he could finish his statement, everything around them changed.
One moment, they were standing in the endless desert, and the next, the world around them had changed.
The transition was so smooth that no one noticed anything unusual.
They just thought that they had left the desert.
Li Kian blinked in confusion at first.
The scorching heat was gone and in its place, a familiar environment stood.
There were green trees, clear skies, and tall skyscrapers in the distance.
It was, City A?
’What was he doing back in the real world?’ Li Kian wondered.
It looked exactly like the city they had fought so hard to reclaim.
It looked chaotic with all the bustling of a normal metropolitan city, untouched by the apocalypse.
"Brother?"
He turned around and came face-to-face with his sister, Li Pan, who was standing a few meters away, looking perfectly fine.
She didn’t look exhausted and nor did she have any injuries on her body.
She was wearing those princess dresses she loved wearing before the apocalypse.
"What... is this?" she asked softly.
Before Li Kian could answer, a voice called out.
"Big brother!"
His body froze.
That voice....
It was impossible to forget.
Slowly, he turned around and found himself staring at a young boy running toward him.
He was smiling like sunshine, brightly.
He was alive.
"...Xiao Jun?" Li Kian’s voice trembled.
His younger brother.
This was his brother who had died at the age of five.
Not many people knew that the Li family had another son who died young.
When he was five, Li Kian was eight and Li Pan was three.
Li Kian had taken his younger brother to play one day and they were caught in the rain.
Because he didn’t want his parents to find out that he had taken his brother to play when it was raining, he had sneaked back home with his little brother and hid under the blanket.