Chapter 145 - Colossal Sand Sculpture
The next morning…
At some point in time, a white fog had appeared outside the Desolate City. It was boundless, blocking one"s sight. Even one"s spirit sense was affected by this and could not penetrate far.
Moreover, it was clearly daytime, but the air was still exceptionally cold. It could be said to be an inconceivable phenomenon.
Even the Supreme Stage experts who had lived in Desolate City for more than a hundred years were confused by such strange signs. They had never seen such a thing before.
The lower-level cultivators looked at each other. No one dared to rashly leave.
What if there was a high-level fiend beast hidden in the fog?
.
"What is happening?!"
"Could this fog be a poisonous miasma?"
"But a poisonous miasma isn"t able to isolate spirit sense."
"I have an ominous feeling…"
"…"
Everyone discussed animatedly with slightly panicked expressions.
There were countless dangers hidden in the hinterlands of the Outer Realm Desert, and Desolate City was probably the safest place to be during normal times. Usually, they didn"t have to worry about being attacked at all.
However, now that Desolate City was surrounded by the fog, it was equivalent to having their escape routes cut off. How could they not be nervous?
"Look, the vice city lord is here."
Suddenly, someone shouted happily.
As soon as they finished speaking, a man flew over from midair and landed on the city wall. It was the current vice city lord of Desolate City—Zhu You. He was an expert who was only inferior to Liu Qingbai in Desolate City.
"It"s said that Vice City Lord Zhu has long reached the peak of the Supreme Stage and is only half a step away from the Legendary Stage."
"Heh, I once saw Vice City Lord instantly kill a fiend beast of the same level with my own eyes."
"I wonder if Vice City Lord Zhu can resolve this fog."
"…"
On the city wall, Zhu You"s gaze was deep, purple flames dancing in his eyes, as if he was going to see through the fog and see what was inside.
Purple Flame Demonic Pupil was Zhu You"s famous ultimate technique. It was also thanks to this ocular technique that Zhu You could become unparalleled in the world and rarely be matched by anyone of the same realm.
However, after five minutes, not only did Zhu You fail to see any clues, but he had also consumed more than half of his spirit energy. If this continued, he would collapse before he could find the problem.
"How is it? Did you find anything?"
Liu Qingbai"s figure flashed and appeared beside Zhu You.
Hua!
Liu Qingbai"s appearance caused another uproar. In Desolate City, Liu Qingbai could be said to be a G.o.d-like existence. Many cultivators treated him as an idol and aspired to be like him.
In an instant, everyone heaved a sigh of relief in their hearts, subconsciously thinking that Liu Qingbai would definitely be able to resolve this "crisis".
"No."
Zhu You wiped the sweat on his forehead and smiled bitterly.
Let alone making any discoveries, Zhu You"s field of vision hadn"t even exceeded five kilometers.
This layer of fog was too strange. Not only could it isolate spirit sense, but it could also greatly reduce the effect of Zhu You"s ocular technique. Zhu You had never encountered such a situation before.
Liu Qingbai frowned tightly when he heard this. He was very clear about how powerful Zhu You"s ocular technique was. Otherwise, he would not have let Zhu You take the initiative to appear.
Since even his ocular technique was useless, it seemed like he could only use his spirit energy to try.
Thinking like this, Liu Qingbai stretched out his palm and emitted a terrifying spirit energy.
Hu!
As soon as this spirit energy touched the air, it turned into a violent wind that blew sand and dust into the air, almost raising a sandstorm.
However, even so, the thick fog did not move at all, as if it was fixed there. It could not be moved or affected, making one shudder.
"Strange, how could this be?"
Liu Qingbai was puzzled. Even spirit energy was useless. What was this thick fog?
"Rip!"
Just as Liu Qingbai was pondering, a gust of wind suddenly blew over, carrying countless sand and dust. It hit Liu Qingbai and Zhu You like a sharp blade. Fortunately, the two of them managed to activate their protective spirit energy in time and escaped.
"What happened?"
Liu Qingbai was shocked.
"Black vortex storm, it"s a black vortex storm!"
Zhu You suddenly shouted, unable to believe his eyes!
"What?"
Liu Qingbai"s expression changed drastically. "Why is there a black vortex storm here!"
Before Liu Qingbai could figure it out, a pitch-black vortex had already rushed out of the thick fog and instantly swept through the entire Desolate City!
"Not good!"
Without any time to think, Liu Qingbai immediately awakened his spirit energy and activated the Great City Barrier Formation.
If the black vortex storm were to pa.s.s through Desolate City, at least half of the cultivators would die!
Dong!
In the next moment, the terrifying black vortex storm hit the Great City Barrier Formation and made it vibrate violently, causing the entire Desolate City to shake.
"Heavens, am I seeing things? It"s actually the black vortex storm!"
Are you kidding me!
There were many special restrictions around Desolate City that could suppress sandstorms. However, sandstorms rarely appeared, let alone black vortex storms. This was also the reason why Liu Qingbai was so puzzled.
Dong!
The black vortex storm hit the Great City Barrier Formation again. The Great City Barrier Formation, which was designed to withstand the full-power attack of a Supreme Stage expert, was actually unable to withstand this force and a visible crack appeared.
Seeing this, everyone"s faces instantly turned incomparably pale.
Once the Great City Barrier Formation shattered, they would face a calamity.
"How could this be…"
In the distance, Ning Jie muttered in disbelief.
Didn"t they say that a black vortex storm was hard to come by in decades? Why did it appear again today when they had just encountered it yesterday?
Ning Kun was similarly dumbfounded. How could they be so unlucky?
Dong dong dong!
After three more collisions, countless gusts of wind bombarded the Great City Barrier Formation, and the crack began to expand until it covered the entire formation!
The only fortunate thing was that every time the black vortex storm struck, it would shrink a little. In the end, it almost disappeared.
Dong!
Accompanied by the last collision, the black vortex storm disappeared, and the Great City Barrier Formation shattered with a bang. Nothing was left behind, and the two seemed to have completely nullified each other!
"Hu."
Everyone heaved a sigh of relief. As long as they could resolve the black vortex storm, it didn"t matter if the formation disappeared…
"Something"s wrong."
Liu Qingbai"s expression was grave as he sensed the abnormality.
First, there was a thick fog that could isolate spirit sense and restrict ocular techniques, preventing them from sensing the situation outside.
Immediately after, the black vortex storm just happened to disappear after breaking the Great City Barrier Formation. How could there be such a coincidence?
In an instant, Liu Qingbai thought of something. Could it be the Sand Race?
"Hahaha, Liu Qingbai, we meet again."
A deafening laugh suddenly sounded from the fog.
After that, the fog retreated, and a sky full of sand enveloped Desolate City. Above the sand were dense figures that seemed like sand sculptures. As far as the eye could see, there were hundreds of thousands of them, and they were like divine artifacts from the nine heavens. They were extremely dignified.
"Sha Chen!"
Although more than two hundred years had pa.s.sed, Liu Qingbai still instantly recognized the colossal sand sculpture that was the leader of the other sand sculptures.
One had to know that more than two hundred years ago, this colossal sand sculpture had defeated five Supreme Stage experts by itself.
One of them was Liu Qingbai.
"I haven"t seen you in more than 200 years. I didn"t expect you to have already advanced to the Legendary Stage. Interesting."
The colossal sand sculpture"s tone was cold, its voice echoing for hundreds of kilometers, piercing through gold and splitting stone.