(Southern Region- Xercopolis Empire)
(The Forbidden Desert- Ancient Ruins)
This was not the corpse of a cultivator.
Xu Lu peered closer at the body and became more and more assured of her assumption.
The frail old man hidden behind the thick robes did not have a single trace of spiritual energy.
Heavy wrinkles crept up along his skin and his hair was grey and balding. He appeared to be an ordinary person.
The saintess frowned heavily as she got up from the ground and slowly looked around for any more threats.
She could not sense anything.
She was alone in the desert with nothing but the howling wind and the corpses on the ground to keep her company.
Wait... there was something that she needed to check...
Xu Lu walked over to the other corpses and carefully examined each one. Something very strange was going on.
No other corpse displayed wrinkles, and all still had traces of the demonic energy that flowed through their meridians.
Xu Lu felt shivers run down her spine and her fingers tightened around her weapon. She felt as though she was being watched by someone...
Or something.
The saintess remained frozen in place in a battle stance for a few minutes before the feeling passed.
She waited for a few more seconds and the let out a heavy sigh under her breath. Was it her nerves acting up?
Xu Lu sent out a strand of qi energy into sword and used a simple cleaning spell to wipe off all the dirt, grime, and blood.
She placed her now cleaned sword back into the sheath attached to her hip and decided to leave this place.
These ruins... something about them was not right...
She took one final glance at the buildings that had been damaged during the fight and the kneeling statue.
The facial features of the statue were a lot clearer under the moonlight but still... they warped and shifted ever so slightly making the statue's appearance take on a dream-like quality.
Did the statue always smile?
Xu Lu did not stay around to find out.
She walked away from the ruins and towards the direction that the missing disciples had most likely gone.
The desert sand crunched under her feet as she walked through the barren land with numerous thoughts running through her mind.
Those demon cultivators... why did the original Xu Lu want her to join the demonic way?
'Righteous' cultivators were not bastions of goodness but demon cultivators were definitely not misunderstood heroes.
Most of them filled their bodies with demonic qi in order to practice cultivation.
Demonic qi was not inherently evil it just had the side effect of enhancing the personality traits of the one who absorbed it.
Kind people would become saints, those with bloodlust would become callous killers.
Other traits would also be enhanced for example curious people would become reckless explorers.
Xu Lu shook her head and drove those thoughts from her mind. She still had a long way to go before she got to that point.
It was not necessary for her to absorb demonic qi to join the demon cultivators.
Honestly her currently cultivation method worked quite well for her spiritual root.
The saintess took in a few deep breaths and slowly exhaled. A faint white mist leaked out from under her mask.
The moon was shining brightly in the sky and numerous stars twinkled and blinked in and out of existence.
The desert was a lonely place.
Xu Lu walked for hours in the cold but was not affected by the low temperature. She found no traces or footsteps of any other living beings.
Still... she continued.
If she didn't find the missing disciples in one week then she would head back to civilisation and inform the Guang Sect of her failure.
Xu Lu was honestly looking forward to returning to the city. Being out here in the desert was not the most pleasant experience.
Especially considering that sand was now everywhere on her body and she really wanted to have a nice long shower.
Eventually just as the sun slowly began to peak over the horizon, Xu Lu spotted something off in the distance.
There was an enormous gaping hole in the ground that was the size of a football field.
Sand poured into the hole in a never-ending cascade however its gaping maw continued to take in the dirt without noticeably filling up.
What the...
Xu Lu cautiously approached a sand dune that overlooked the hole and climbed upwards to get a better view.
She was not going to tempt fate by walking closer. The last thing that she needed was to fall down and be trapped underground.
The saintess send thin strands of qi into her eyes and her vision rapidly enhanced. She observed the hole carefully and what she saw made no sense.
The surrounding sand was flowing freely into the hole but there was no bottom. All Xu Lu could see was darkness inside the hole.
This hole definitely did not appear to be a natural part of the landscape which meant that something had dug it.
The worms? Or a much bigger animal?
The ground beneath Xu Lu's feet trembled slightly and she could feel something moving deep below the earth.
She quickly stopped moving and did not even dare to take a breath.
Animals who lived underground usually had poor vision and relied on vibrations to alert them to their prey's movements.
Xu Lu stayed perfectly still and waited to see what would happen. The tremors became more violent which made it difficult for the saintess to keep her balance.
There was one final shake and then the hole... disappeared?
Xu Lu blinked her eyes but what she saw did not change. One moment there was an enormous gaping hole in the ground and the next...
It was gone.
"Nah... fuck this shit," Xu Lu let out a string of curses as she unsheathed her sword and placed it on the ground.
This was too much.
The hole's magical disappearance was the straw that finally broke the camel's back.
Without caring about preserving her qi, she hopped on her weapon and used her qi to make it rise up in the air.
This desert was too peculiar even for her.
She was not going to stick around to see what other horrors were in store in this nightmare of a place.
Xu Lu adjusted her posture and then proceeded to fly away in the opposite direction from where the hole used to be and towards the city.
The missing disciples would just have to remain missing.
Xu Lu was tired, confused and honestly...
A little bit scared.
This desert just had too many phenomena and strange events that could not be explained even in a world where it was possible for mortals to turn into gods.
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