Yan Qingshan took small sips of the cool water Qing Ling kept close to her body.
The chilled, moist sensation made him feel quite refreshed.
In a desert environment like this, drinking ice-cold water directly is not necessarily a good thing; it can easily lead to an upset stomach.
Instead, cool water at a moderate temperature is much better than ice water.
As the possessor of the Jade Snake Three-Flower Pupils, Qing Ling possessed a naturally powerful constitution.
Even the harsh environment of the desert could not affect her too much.
The Snake-People possess a cold, Yin constitution and are naturally cold-blooded, which allows them to survive and propagate in the hostile environment of the Tager Desert.
As a mixed-blood of two races who had awakened the Jade Snake Three-Flower Pupils, Qing Ling’s bloodline rank was even higher than the current Queen Medusa.
Because of the Snake-People bloodline in her body, Qing Ling’s body would continuously release a stream of Yin-cold energy that protected her.
Naturally, the cool water she carried close to her body was at a very suitable temperature.
Yan Qingshan drank some water and ate a little food to replenish his physical strength.
Holding a 1st Tier Qi Recovery Pill purchased earlier in Black Rock City in his mouth, he circulated his Qi Method to rapidly restore his Dou Qi.
Xiao Yan had the top-tier Alchemist Yao Lao providing 2nd Tier Qi Recovery Pills, so he never feared depletion during cultivation and always had enough Dou Qi.
Yan Qingshan was much more pitiable.
Although he had money, medicinal pills—even 1st Tier Qi Recovery Pills—were quite precious.
He only deigned to consume them during moments of hard cultivation like this; during regular practice, he relied solely on circulating his Qi Method to recover Dou Qi naturally.
More than an hour later, Yan Qingshan stood up with his Dou Qi fully restored.
Tightening his fists, he felt that his cultivation had improved slightly.
He was not far from becoming a 7-Star Dou Zhe.
…
The boundless desert was plagued by yellow sands.
The rising sun illuminated the earth, and in the direction where the sun set, two people and two camels faced the rising dawn as they slowly arrived at a patch of sand—a patch of sand that felt somewhat warm.
This was a flat desert area, and the terrain here was extremely common.
Such yellow sand landscapes were simply too numerous in the great desert.
Yan Qingshan had walked for a day and a night, stopping and starting for so long.
He finally arrived at this sandy beach that wouldn’t have taken long to reach if they had ridden the camels.
He paced forward two steps and stood on a small sand dune, gazing around with a contemplative look.
This place was not considered far from Rock Desert City.
If they rode high-quality camels at full speed, they could make a round trip in half an hour, yet they had traveled for a day and a night.
This was not because Yan Qingshan’s speed was too slow, but because he chose to walk slowly through the sand, using the wind and sand to temper his body and Dou Qi.
He had to stop to recover Dou Qi after every stretch, and the time spent recovering was even longer than the time spent walking.
Furthermore, after nightfall, the temperature in the desert dropped rapidly.
At night, it was cold enough to make one shiver, and it was easy to lose one’s direction.
Yan Qingshan would not intentionally look for suffering.
Following Qing Ling’s suggestion, he rested on the spot for a night and only continued his journey when the horizon turned white.
After traveling this final stretch, he arrived at this warm sand patch just as the sky grew bright.
The temperature difference between day and night in the desert was extreme.
During the day, because of the sun, the surface temperature could reach nearly a hundred degrees.
In the hottest spots, an egg buried inside would be cooked in no time.
At night, however, the temperature could even drop below zero.
This massive difference was truly hard to imagine.
When they first got up in the morning, the surface temperature was still somewhat cold.
In some parts of the desert, as the sun rose and the temperature climbed back up, dew would even appear.
This was the most precious and rare thing in the desert—water.
By the time he reached the edge of the destination marked on the map, it already felt like noon yesterday.
The temperature in this area was quite abnormal.
Looking around, there were no special structures.
Forget a cave, there wasn’t even a shadow of a mountain.
The highest sand dunes showed nothing unusual; it looked like a very ordinary patch of desert.
“Dawn, scan and analyze the data of this region.”
Yan Qingshan stared intently at his surroundings.
The Lightning Pupils gained from the Lion Heart Baptism had greatly enhanced his observation and information-gathering abilities, and even his Soul Perception had become much stronger.
However, this expanse of yellow sand was so vast that its end was invisible, making it difficult to find the target he sought.
“Target exceeds search range.
Can only roughly perceive the existence of a mysterious heat source underground.
Detailed information cannot be obtained.”
‘The item is underground, but with my strength, digging holes haphazardly in the desert will result in no second fate other than burying myself alive.’
Yan Qingshan squatted down and grabbed a handful of yellow sand.
The burning sand made him frown.
The Green Lotus Core Flame and the Two-Headed Flame Spirit Serpent were almost certainly beneath this desert, but he seemed to have no way down.
Digging a hole in the desert is a dangerous practice because the sand is very loose.
If you dig at an angle or horizontally, the sand above will quickly collapse.
But if you dig straight down, there is a subterranean magma pool below.
He feared he would be burned to death by the high temperature before he even finished digging.
Even if he did manage to break through straight down, the magma backflowing and rushing out would be enough to finish him.
The fact that the subterranean magma pool had not erupted and backflowed suggested that there should be a solid layer of condensed quartz rock between the magma pool and the yellow sand that blocked the magma.
However, magma is absolutely unstable.
According to Xiao Yan’s experience in his memory, there were multiple underground tunnels below, likely burned out by magma eruptions over the years.
Most of these tunnels probably had no connection to the outside world now, or else the magma would have sprayed to the surface during active surges.
Queen Medusa would later find this place, relying on her powerful strength to use Dou Qi to blast a tunnel straight to the bottom.
With her extraordinary strength, she could use Dou Qi to maintain the tunnel and naturally be fine.
But Yan Qingshan lacked that ability.
His only choice now was to find a way to dig a tunnel from the surface to an underground passage.
The problem now was that digging blindly like a headless fly was more likely to lead directly to the magma pool, or he might dig extremely deep without being lucky enough to hit an underground void.
The second scenario would be even worse.
Since he had no idea where the underground passages were located, digging at random would likely be a waste of effort.
The matter seemed to have reached a stalemate.
However, Yan Qingshan did not feel discouraged.
Instead, he took Qing Ling and the camels and turned back, leaving the warm sand and heading south until they reached a forest area—a rare sight in the desert.
At the center of this forest was a shallow puddle, but the water inside was salty and could not be drunk directly by humans.
For the salt-tolerant and drought-resistant plants around it, however, it was a paradise.
Within the forest composed of Populus euphratica, desert dates, and saxaul trees, sparse grass leaves left large patches of yellow earth unshaded.
In places with obvious shade, low-lying plants like cacti, lithops, and aloe grew vigorously, and some desert weeds crawled through the yellow earth.
Even at the far end of the forest, the silhouettes of yellow sheep and wild camels could be seen.
“Qing Ling, let’s camp and stay here for now.”
This was actually quite normal.
Although this forest area could barely sustain human life, it lacked a fresh water source.
Collecting fresh water every day would take a considerable amount of time.
Furthermore, Rock Desert City was not far away, so there was really no need to stay here.
…
Ten days later, in the desert forest.
Yan Qingshan, whose body was somewhat moist and who was essentially wearing only trousers, had seen his originally fair skin turn a pale yellow-black.
It was nearly bronze-colored, and his body was somewhat wet and sticky, carrying a faint scent that seemed not like sweat but rather the sap of certain plants.
This was a medicinal liquid Yan Qingshan had formulated by taking local materials—combining the Golden Shuttle fruits of the forest with medicinal ingredients like Snow Jade Stone Orchid and Azure Spirit Aloe.
It was sun-protective and could enhance his constitution while increasing his resistance to the Fire attribute.
Of course, it wasn’t particularly comfortable.
In this forest area, there were actually many medicinal materials.
Because of the existence of the energy of heaven and earth in this world, even ordinary plants possessed magical effects that didn’t exist in his previous life.
Just like the Golden Shuttle, Snow Jade Stone Orchid, and Azure Spirit Aloe that Yan Qingshan had used just now; in the understanding of the people in Rock Desert City, these were useless plants that could barely pad the stomach when there was no food, but they could not be used as staples.
They had medicinal properties, but were inferior even to low-level materials like Yellow Lotus Essence.
They were too common in the desert to be worth collecting.
However, in Yan Qingshan’s hands, through the special processing and formulation methods derived by Dawn, he turned the mundane into the miraculous, creating medicinal liquids to assist his cultivation.
During these ten days, he was able to consolidate his 7-Star Dou Zhe cultivation, and these items played a major role.
“Dawn, data analysis.”
[Host: Yan Qingshan
Cultivation: 7-Star Dou Zhe
Qi Method: High Xuan Class Lion Heart King Qi Method (One Lion Heart Baptism)
Dou Techniques: High Xuan Class Mad Lion’s Roar (Practiced), Low Xuan Class Phoenix Flight Steps (Practiced)
Strength: 8
Status: Healthy
Agility: 6.5
Soul Strength: 33
Primary Attribute: Wood
Secondary Attribute: Lightning (Lightning Pupils)
(Data collection target: Average of a 1-Star Dou Zhe.
The median for each stat of a 1-Star Dou Zhe is 1.0) ]
Ten days of hard cultivation had caused a transformation in Yan Qingshan from the inside out.
He could feel his immense change and realized this was an opportunity for him.
Perhaps in this forest area outside Rock Desert City, he could find the chance to break through to become a Dou Shi.
Therefore, he decided to put other matters aside for the time being and continue his hard cultivation.
Two months later, in the forest outside Rock Desert City.
Yan Qingshan sat upright beneath a Populus euphratica tree.
A hazy green glow on his body spread out in all directions.
Accompanied by his rhythmic breathing, all the surrounding plants seemed to form a resonance with him.
Each plant was rendered with a dense layer of emerald color, and strands of turquoise dou qi rippled slightly in the air.
This area of thin vitality seemed to be filled with a dense aura of life, especially the Populus euphratica behind him, which shimmered with emerald light and lush foliage, standing out prominently in the forest.
(End of Chapter)