Late in the morning when Zhu Furong got out of the pit, the raging tornado was rotating 50 meters away.

He thought this place was quite secluded but now as he sees there are a lot of people gathered here. He can recognise some of the faces in the mass, belonging to the same people fighting Sandworms. These people are scattered here and there, recovering from their past wounds.

An unorganized line of people has taken form unknowingly, leading towards the depth of the desert.

Squinting his eyes, focusing his vision, Zhu Furong spotted several hazy figures standing in front of a high, translucent veil of sand which seems to serve as a barrier. This barrier is exactly at the 1000 kilometers mark.

Zhu Furong is indeed curious about the situation but by no means he loves to get into trouble. Moreover, he is quite busy with his practice right now.

...

After half a year Zhu Furong has mastered his perception skills and now he no longer looks half lost while multitasking.

The progression of Nascent Soul Tempering is going smoothly as well. Currently he is healing the right leg of his Spiritual Body. After this is the torso and at last will be the tempering of the head.

...

Places like Gale Desert are filled with uncertainty. Danger is looming at every corner. Having Divine Sense in such a place is a huge plus.

But only if that was true—

Sometimes human strength is quite lacking. Even though Zhu Furong has the advantage of having Divine Sense, his Spiritual Body Cultivation is stuck at peak Revolving Core rank.

Past 1000 kilometers mark the wind blows over 1500mph. Here, even the Open Ascension rank Cultivators find themselves struggling to protect their bodies— Cultivators below that rank, pray that they can keep as many of their limbs intact as possible.

Zhu Furong's Divine Sense can't pierce through a tornado swirling over 600mph, let alone pierce a sandstorm where the wind flows over the speed of 1500mph. It will be the same as slamming an iron wall with your head— even if you don't die, you will definitely be injured.

The reason why is that even though Zhu Furong can see something red and yellow shining behind the barrier, he is hesitant to stay here.

He turned to take his leave but only to find the Ghost Sect duo standing behind him.

One of them sneered while grabbing Zhu Furong's shoulder, "I was wondering where you escaped to but here you are— Try escaping now."

Zhu Furong looked at the guy with displeasure.

'What's the problem with these guys? Is everyone from Ghost Sect this nuts?'

The man snorted, "Who are you frowning at? Want daddy to teach you a lesson?"

'Teach me a lesson? I may not be able to beat you up but I can definitely show you a good time.'

Furious, Zhu Furong clenched his fist. He shouted,  "Talk to my—"

Well, he wanted the man to talk to his fist but before he could do that the only Open Ascension rank Cultivator present here shouted from behind.

"All Cultivators, gather in front of me right now. If I see anyone missing after 3 minutes— you can say goodbye to your life."

Fwoosh... Fwoosh... Zoom...

One after another, all the Cultivators nearby shot towards the sand veil where the Open Ascension rank old man is standing with his hands crossed behind.

"Tch! Let's go."

"You follow us, don't you dare try to run away."

The Ghost Sect duo and Zhu Furong joined the gathering.

Zhu Furong cursed the dup in his mind for blocking his way but right now, cursing is all he can do.

There are 28 Cultivators present here including the Open Ascension rank old man.

After a headcount, the old man randomly pointed in the crowd—

"You there, go see what that red and yellow light is."

The one he picked is an early Revolving Core rank Cultivator.

"Great Sir, I, I..."

"What are you? Hurry up!!"

The poor man flinched with fear, couldn't say anything anymore but walked into the raging sandstorm.

The source of the red and yellow light seems to be about 500 meters away, so the man should return after 10 minutes at most.

5 minutes passed, 10 minutes passed, 20 minutes passed, the silhouette of the man still seems to be marching in the sandstorm.

The old man frowned and picked another random guy and sent him in.

The same case happened. But by now the first man has disappeared from sight.

One after another, the old man sent 5 men and they all disappeared at some point and never returned.

The old man didn't give up and picked another man, this time it was one from the Ghost Sect duo.

The cunning man pushed Zhu Furong forward, "Brother take care."

"What the heck?"

"Go brother, if anything happens to you we will take care of our sister-in-law." The other Ghost Sect member commented.

Zhu Furong clenched his teeth ready to shower them with curses but the old man seemed impatient.

"Do I need to throw you in myself?"

Zhu Furong looked at the man who was originally picked and gestured, showing the way, "Please."

The sneer on the man's face instantly disappeared, "What are you saying brother? How can I go against the Honorable Master? He asked you to go, please don't make him wait."

"Huh? If I am not wrong, The Honorable Master asked you brother to enter the sandstorm. If I take your place it will be going against the Honorable Master. How can I do something so disrespectful?"

"No no, it's nothing disrespectful. Sacrificing yourself for your brother is a selfless and heroic act, no one will look down on you brother."

Zhu Furong was about to counter attack but suddenly he was pulled and thrown into the Sandstorm by the old man.

The Ghost Sect guy, wiped his eyes, "I will remember you brother."

"You are next." The old man pointed at him before getting back to his position.

The Ghost Sect guys mumbled curses.

...

Surprisingly this area after the sand veil is burning hot. The difference in temperature is insane.

On the other side it was about 40°C but on this side it is somewhere around 60-70°C. The 1700mph gust of wind, rather than cooling the air, is making it more arid.

100 meters into the Sandstorm and Zhu Furong is already thirsty, the naked parts of his body are filled with lacerations and burns.

"Let it be Xingzuo, it's a good opportunity for practice."

"Big Brother, there is a difference between practice and madness. At least let me protect the insides of your body with Chaos Qi— In such a horrible environment, it will be too late to regret"

"I know it's risky but without taking such risks, how will I overcome my limits?"

Zhu Furong closed his eyes. Battling the wind with his body, he marched forward.

It was around 300 meters when he couldn't take it anymore and started coughing blood.

Zhu Xingzuo instantly covered Zhu Furong's body in a thin layer of Chaos Qi.

Zhu Furong meditated to heal his wounds.

"Sigh, if things keep going like this, I will soon run out of all the Chaos Qi I have Cultivated." Zhu Xingzuo lamented.

"Sorry Little Brother, I will be sure to repay your sacrifice in the future."

"You better do it."

...

Of course all the men sent before by the old man disappeared inside the sandstorm. A burnt corpse is laying at the 700 meters mark, two dead bodies at 800 meters mark and the last two are 50 meters further.

The red and yellow light is still glowing in the sandstorm as if it's only a few steps away, but Zhu Furong understands that it's an illusion created by mirage.

Zhu Furong sighed, "This is the problem with itinerant Cultivators, the lack of resources lead to the lack of solid foundation. Even though they all have similar Cultivation rank, they all died at different spots."

"This is the reason why your masters focused on your foundation more than anything, Big Brother."

1000 meters in, Zhu Furong sat down in meditation without any Chaos Qi protection. After a minute, Zhu Xingzuo had to cover him up again— Repeating this method, Zhu Furong gained new insights in the laws of wind. He also discovered something new!

Buzzzt... Buzzzt...

Suppressed vibration noise could be heard where Zhu Furong is sitting. The sand below him is slightly shaking. The sand particles in the wind couldn't pierce his skin anymore, they just bounced back.

Zhu Furong is using some of Zhu Xingzuo's Chaos Qi, channeling it throughout his veins in an unique pattern, he created vibration.

This is the result of studying the flying sand particles in Gale Desert. The sand particles in Gale Desert are always vibrating, which helps them erode rocks and flesh easily.

To counter a vibration, you need another vibration— That's the conclusion Zhu Furong came up to and it worked.

With this, he has dabbled into the laws of vibration!

But there is a catch— to channel Qi continuously through his veins he has to store Qi in his dantian first. But since he isn't allowed to do that right now, he can only create the vibration effect for a few seconds.

Though the usage time is too short, in the world of Cultivators, a lot can happen in mere seconds.

In his immersion, an hour has passed by.

...

Some soft, squeaking footsteps approached Zhu Furong from behind.

"Surprisingly this one made it to the furthest— Go check if he is still breathing."

With the old man's order, one of the Ghost Sect guys walked to Zhu Furong.

Just as the man bent to check on Zhu Furong, a hand plunged through his chest leaving a gaping hole.

Pu!

The man was caught off-guard, he spat out a mouth full of blood and instantly died on the spot.

With quick reflexes, Zhu Furong snatched his Spatial Bag and dashed without wasting any time.

Adding vibration to his body and using Wind Steps he covered a distance of 500 meters in the blink of an eye.

This short burst of speed in a desert with wind speed of 1700mph is not possible even for an Open Ascension rank Cultivator.

Stopping for a moment, Zhu Furong started running at a constant pace.

He can't keep up that speed without using Qi continuously and he can't keep doing it with short intervals as it will put a toll on his body. The only way for him now is to keep moving forward without stopping because—

"A 14-15 years old kid just killed a mid Revolving Core rank Cultivator, he must have found some treasure—Chase him! Don't let him get away." The old man shouted at the peak of his throat before dashing after Zhu Furong.

The other people were still in stupor, things happened so fast that they didn't get any time to react.

'What happened? What is going on? Did that guy just die?'

"Brother!!" The remaining Ghost Sect member cried in alarm.

This woke the rest of the people and one by one they followed the old man.

The Ghost Sect guy stayed behind to mourn the death of his disciple brother.

...

"Vibration really makes cutting flesh easier. Last time when we attacked Chang Shun with a Chaos Qi infused dagger, it didn't drive in as smoothly as my hand just did with a simple addition of vibration in the Chaos Qi."

"I am also quite amazed by this phenomenon. You discovered something great, Big Brother."

"Umm... Praises aside, I think you need another burst of speed—that old man is catching up really fast." Zhu Xingzuo spoke with worry.

Taking a deep breath Zhu Furong pushed the sand under his feet and shot for another 500 meters, leaving the old man frustrated.

"Bastard, what kind of treasure lets you run faster than an Open Ascension rank Cultivator? Don't you dare run away." The old man cursed.

The chase continued.

...

"Handover the treasure you twerp and I may let you live. You can't keep running away from me with your mere peak Foundation Establishment rank Cultivation."

Zhu Furong snorted, "There is a difference between 'may' and 'will', old sir. If you said 'will' I may have considered it."

Zhu Furong used the word 'may' as well but the old man doesn't seem to be so wise.

"Fine! I 'will' let you go. Just hand me over the treasure. Something like that will only bring you more trouble in the future— I will even take you as my disciple, what do you think?"

"You may not know, but this old man here is an Open Ascension rank Cultivator. I am in the list of top rank Cultivators— It's your good fortune."

"You want to become my teacher with that eyesight?"

Zhu Furong spat, "Fucking hypocrite!"

"You—" The old man fumed with anger.

No more words were exchanged. One ran while the other chased.

...

2,600 meters. That's the distance they covered after crossing the sand veil.

Zhu Furong was just 200 meters ahead of the old man when he suddenly tripped on something sharp and hot, finding himself sinking in the sand at an unbelievable speed.

All he could remember before the accident are two large 40 feet fang like lava rocks sticking out of the sand along with several small sharp arrays of lava rocks.

The red and yellow glow was definitely coming from these rocks.

Shocked with the sudden disappearance of Zhu Furong, the old man held his brakes.

"This... Looks like the mouth of some snake."

"Siiii... If just the fangs are 40 feet long, how long was the snake? Can we even call it a snake?"

"It's a dragon! It's definitely a dragon."

"This array of rocks is like a searing maw leading to the netherworld."

The old man touched the rock to inspect it, "Ouch!..."

"How hot is this shit. 1000°C? 2000°C?"

The old man scratched his head, "It ate my Essence Qi protection in seconds. That Foundation Establishment rank kid, did he vaporize?"

"What will happen to my treasures?"

The old man is cautious about these circular arrays of rocks, which are supposedly the teeth of a dragon skeleton. He observed from a safe distance waiting for the lab rats to arrive.

…

Five people died just after entering the Sandstorm. One was killed by Zhu Furong. 10 more died while being in this burning, arid climate. 7 were sacrificed to these fang shaped lava rocks.

Only 5 people are alive out of 28. From which, Zhu Furong is nowhere to be seen and the Ghost Sect guy is also not here.

The old man is in early stages of Open Ascension rank. The other two are peak Revolving Core rank Cultivators.

The old man wrapped a rope around one of the men and then that man jumped into the quicksand.

After a minute, the old man felt a pull on the rope and the two jumped in as well.