Chapter 1052: Sun Burial Sandsea
In the northwestern region of the central prefecture, there was a vast desert named the Sun Burial Sandsea.
The legends told of a blazing sun falling into a sea that evaporated the sea dry. The crash formed a huge indentation in the ground and after an endless period of time, the sandstorms leveled the place flat. It turned the area into a desert named Sun Burial Sandsea, an apt name for a place that had previously buried a sun.
As a desert, the Sun Burial Sandsea should have been uninhabited, but contrary to that, there were seven big cities in the vicinity of the sea of sand. They were bustling with several large merchant alliances, alchemist alliances, auction houses, and even assassination organizations. They had strongholds in these cities with innumerable warriors entering in and out of these cities on a daily basis.
There was only one reason—the Sun Burial Sandsea produced many items of great value. Every year, large hordes of people would come to the Sun Burial Sandsea in search of treasures. However, the desert was fraught with dangers, with many people eventually succumbing to the yellow sand and turning to withered bone.
At that moment, a sand boat was slowly cruising through the endless desert. Such sand boats were extremely expensive to construct and they were built by refining masters. They were powered by the energy from World Stones and they hovered a few feet above the desert. From afar, they looked no different from the ships on an ocean.
In front of the sand boat was a tandem of powerful steeds. Steeds that could run in the desert were known as Azure Linhorses. These horses were bigger than camels and they could carry thousands of kilograms of items while still being able to travel great distances every day.
Sun Tie, one of the leaders of the armed escorts of the sand boat, was riding on one such Azure Linhorse.
He had spent decades on the Sun Burial Sandsea, so his wealth of experience made him greatly familiar with the big merchant alliances and family clans in the seven cities around the Sun Burial Sandsea. He was also thoroughly familiar with the various dangers of the desert.
"Oh? There’s something in front." One of the armed escorts suddenly said. Sun Tie had great vision so with a nonchalant sweep with his eyes, he had seen a person lying on his back in the desert several hundred meters away.
Such a situation was not rare in the desert, especially in the extremely strange Sun Burial Sandsea. It was common for people to lose their sense of direction and having consumed all their provisions, they would end up dying in the desert before being covered by the dust storms and eventually disappearing.
Sun Tie had seen such situations many a time. Due to the vastness of the desert and the burning hot sun, a person was only two to four hours away from death after falling unconscious. Hence, the people that Sun Tie encountered most of the time would have been dead for days or would have already turned into dried corpses.
But this time, having witnessed another such scene left Sun Tie completely dumbfounded. He had traveled the desert for decades but he had never seen such a fascinating scene.
The person had obviously fainted on the desert but the dust storms had not buried him in any way. And what was most amazing was that in a hundred feet radius around him as the center, there were lush green plants growing in the desert. Some of the grass even bloomed tiny wild flowers. They even seemed to be engaging in a contention for beauty and fascination.
If he had not seen this scene in a desert, Sun Tie would have believed that he had come to a small patch of grassland.
"An oasis?"
An oasis was the first thing Sun Tie thought of. However, the Sun Burial Sandsea was somewhat special as it had been reduced to such a state after burying a sun. Therefore, oases were extremely rare.
The oases in the desert were usually built up by array formation masters but Sun Tie had almost never seen such a tiny patch of an oasis in the desert.
It was unlikely that the grass grew because of the unconscious person, was it?
Such a thought flashed across Sun Tie’s mind but he immediately shook his head and laughed at himself. What was he thinking? How could a person cause the desert to grow green grass? If he truly had the ability, how could he have fainted in the desert?
"What’s the matter?"
At that moment, a yellow-dressed girl in a maid servant getup came to the sand boat’s bow. She looked about seventeen or eighteen.
"We saw a person but it’s unknown if he’s dead. It’s no big deal."
Sun Tie responded simply. His modus operandi of encountering such situations was to ignore it. Traversing through the Sun Burial Sandsea was fraught with dangers, to begin with. It was possible that danger lurked where the dead were found, so it was best avoiding those places.
At that moment, the maid servant had clearly seen the peculiar scene not far away.
A young looking man in tattered clothes was surrounded by rings of flowers and grass. They seemed to surround and prostrate before him.
What was going on?
At that moment, Sun Tie said, "That person is extremely peculiar. I didn’t think of it a while ago, but now, on second thought, the growing of this flowers and grass in the desert might not be something good. It might be the trap of some monster and that fellow ended up lying there because he succumbed to it."
Sun Tie gradually became more certain of his analysis. There were unclean things in the desert and many warriors with impressive cultivation levels were killed because of various temptations.
The yellow-dressed maid servant could not make a decision. After returning to the sand boat’s cabin, she came out seconds later and said, "Miss says that saving a life is better than building a seven-storied pagoda for the gods. Go check if he’s still alive. If he is, save him."
With the mistress saying so, Sun Tie naturally had to do as he was ordered. He reluctantly rode a steed over and became extremely cautious when he approached the patch of plants. It was as though a hidden Fey beast was hiding in it.
However, danger did not rear its head even after he saved the youth.
When Sun Tie carried the youth, he did not realize that after he turned around, the flowers and grass swayed in the gentle wind as though they were bidding the youth farewell. Many of the grass released their seeds in the wind after bidding him farewell, allowing their seeds to disperse in the wind to find a spot where they could germinate. Perhaps such a search would last decades or even more than a century...
The sentiment of the blades of grass reached the youth’s heart as he could perceive them clearly.
Although he looked like he had fallen unconscious, he was aware of everything around him.
The youth was Yi Yun, who had been transported here by the divine tree after the collapse of the Azure Wood Great World.
Yi Yun did not know how far he had traveled in space-time, but from the beginning to the end, his mind was extremely clear. He knew that his body was undergoing a fascinating transformation.
Such a transformation should have been a good thing, but the situation left him somewhat at a loss whether to laugh or cry. Although he was awake, he realized that he could not move at all.
The divine tree seed had sprouted in his dantian, spreading ceaseless vitality throughout his body.
The power was no trifling matter. He knew that his body was much, much stronger than before. When he was being sent away, Yi Yun had to travel through countless spatial storms and while doing so, his body was not protected by energy at all. He had used the strength of his flesh to withstand the bombardment of the spatial storms.
Although Yi Yun remained immobile, his lifeblood was exuberant. His physical defense was extremely high and it was impossible for any typical person from harming him. Yi Yun was not worried about his safety, but it was inappropriate for him to remain immobile.
He had actually been lying in the desert for half a month. Due to the powerful vital energy in his body, a few grass seeds had landed beside him and germinated, eventually forming a tiny oasis.
During this period of time, there were several merchants that had passed him by, but all of them had avoided him. It was only today that there was a group of people traversing the desert which decided to bring him along with them. It made Yi Yun give a bitter smile inwardly. It was good that he was being taken away. It was definitely not a comfortable experience while being sunned in the desert for half a month.
Yi Yun’s identity was unknown. So although he was rescued, he was not sent onto the sand boat. Instead, he was put in a carriage. After the maid servant checked on Yi Yun’s breathing, she immediately reported to her mistress.
"Miss, the youth is still alive but he is unconscious."
"Alright...Let Mr. Sun take a look at him. Perhaps he can be saved."