All Things Are Contracts

The forest’s edge gave way to barren grasslands, and beyond the grasslands lay a vast, desolate desert. This was the largest desert in this world, stretching for millions of miles. Beneath the two, endless golden sand dunes extended as far as the eye could see, undulating like giant dragons winding their way across the landscape.

The sun beat down mercilessly on the desert, heat waves shimmering like a veil, blurring their vision. Even flying high above, they could feel the waves of heat rising. It was hard to imagine that life or civilization could exist in such a place.

“How long have we been flying?” Zhanyue was getting tired. “I’m a bit worried we might get lost.”

“Lost? Not likely. The Bird Clan has an innate, keen sense of direction. We’ve been flying north the whole time, so we haven’t lost our way. It’s just that this desert is truly vast; we haven’t reached the so-called center yet,” Yunyao explained.

“It’s hard to imagine how outsiders manage to reach that supposed oasis on foot. No wonder the Dune Clan is so isolated. This natural barrier is the best great wall,” Zhanyue mused.

As they spoke, a sandstorm approached. It was overwhelming, like a colossal beast, making it hard to breathe. Though it was high noon, the sky suddenly darkened as the sandstorm blotted out the sun.

“Should we find a place to take shelter?” Zhanyue asked, looking at the approaching sandstorm that seemed to topple mountains and overturn seas. They were flying high, but would still be affected. Flying any higher might make it impossible to see the ground, especially given the poor visibility in the heat-shimmering desert.

“It’s fine,” Yunyao said as she drew her sword. Terrifying sword qi directly tore the sandstorm apart. It was another sword qi corridor, but this time Yunyao didn’t manifest the Heavenly Emperor’s form. The sword qi formed two walls of energy, splitting the sandstorm and allowing them to pass through quickly.

“You’ve grown stronger again,” Zhanyue remarked. This woman was already powerful, and this period of trials had elevated both her realm and her mental state.

“That’s true,” Zhanyue didn’t deny it. Compared to when he first arrived in this world, he had obtained the Thousand Affinity Feather, learned incantations, and gained the Cold Spring Jade Essence and the Golden Sacred Fruit. His strength far surpassed what it had been before.

“By the way, about the Sky-Covering Wings technique…” Zhanyue suddenly brought up. He greatly desired this Heavenly Emperor’s divine ability, but Yunyao had mentioned before that it would only be possible to master with her help.

“It depends on my mood,” Yunyao answered with just these four words and said no more.

“What do you mean, ‘depends on your mood’? Your mood never seems to be good; you’re always cold-faced,” Zhanyue complained. They had been together for so long, yet Yunyao still maintained her cold demeanor.

“What? You want me to smile and flutter my eyelashes at you? Hmph, your matter isn’t settled yet. Shut your mouth and focus on the journey,” Yunyao wasn’t indulging Zhanyue. If anyone else dared to speak to her like this, she would have cut them down long ago. Moreover, this man had behaved so disrespectfully before.

“What’s that!” Zhanyue suddenly exclaimed, looking shocked at something ahead.

“Hm?” Yunyao looked forward but saw nothing.

“Hehe, just joking to break the boredom of the journey,” Zhanyue grinned mischievously. If he didn’t have company, this flight would have been extremely dull.

“You…” Yunyao was speechless at Zhanyue’s shameless behavior, wondering how this rascal’s personality could make so many women like him. She couldn’t be bothered to engage with him further.

“Hm? Look, over there, is that…?” Zhanyue said again.

“Are you ever going to stop?”

Yunyao was truly annoyed now, but her eyesight was equally good. She quickly noticed something unusual ahead. A pitch-black shadow extended from the ground into the sky, like a rod piercing the heavens.

“To be visible from so far away, it must be some incredible structure. Let’s go!” Zhanyue was excited. Such a structure couldn’t be natural; what desert would have a pillar reaching to the sky?

Sure enough, after flying towards the shadow for a while, they finally saw green.

The legendary oasis at the center of the death desert finally appeared before them. What was a death desert to ordinary people was merely a bit troublesome for Zhanyue and Yunyao. The oasis was vast, its boundaries not visible, but that wasn’t the main point. The shadow reaching to the sky became clearer as they approached. It was a tower, an enormous tower that seemed to touch the heavens!

“It really is a man-made structure, what a wonder!” Zhanyue exclaimed. This sky-piercing tower was so mysterious and magical, incredibly tall yet not swaying at all, standing firm. Soon, houses in the oasis came into view, low, flat buildings made of sand and stone, without particularly elaborate decorations. However, just as they thought the local architecture was unremarkable, they noticed a huge, magnificent palace near the lake in the center of the oasis. The palace walls, made of gold and precious stones, stood in stark contrast to the sand and stone houses, looking completely out of place in a desert.

The two descended from the sky and entered the oasis. Soon, they encountered their first person, clearly one of the Dune people the Spirit Eye ancestor had described. With lizard-like skin and head, it was essentially a standing lizard-person. Strangely, an eight-legged spider was perched on its face.

“Hello, is this the Dune Clan territory?” Zhanyue asked politely.

“No, this is the Dune Kingdom, not some clan territory,” the Dune person answered with a blank stare.

“Can you take us to see your clan leader?” Zhanyue asked again. Kingdom or village, it was all the same to him.

“Clan leader? We don’t have a clan leader, only a king,” the Dune person continued. It pointed to the nearby palace. “His Majesty the King resides in the royal palace.”

“Thank you,” Zhanyue said, feeling that this Dune person’s mental state was a bit odd. The Dune person didn’t respond further and walked towards the sky-piercing tower.

“Let’s go directly to that so-called palace,” Zhanyue suggested. Yunyao naturally had no objection. They quickly arrived at the palace gates, where two enormous figures stood guard. They were like giants, but covered in armor resembling pangolin scales, clearly not Dune people. The only commonality was that they all had an eight-legged black spider perched on their brow.

“We seek an audience with the King of the Dune Kingdom,” Zhanyue said to the two giants.

Before they could respond, a voice came from inside the palace. “These outsiders look too soft and delicate to be workers, but they’d make suitable food for me. I should change up my diet. Catch them.”

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