160-169

Gunfire resounded with a startling destructive force. The crazy hissing of the storm's wind outside the sandstones buzzed at everyone's ears. After 20 minutes, the storm passed farther, and sand rained down from the sky and changed the entire topography of the desert in their view.

The sandstone walls slowly began to brighten up, and the waiting for everyone was a hair-standing, unimaginable scene. There were several skeletons, some still in their attacking posture with machine guns in their hands which were nothing but bones now. Their ravaged clothing laid below their feet.

At this moment, the entire Thousand Ghosts Cliff's sand walls turned queerly gloomier.

"H-How did this happen?"

A voice asked while stuttering. If someone witnessed a bizarre scene, they would no doubt get spooked. The current scene was scarier than the bandits killing others.

"Aaaaahhhh!"

A girl shrieked. She had turned to the side and found that the student beside her had also turned into a skeleton. Moreover, those bones still stood beside her.

"Ghost!"

Whether it be the bandits or the exploration team's members, all of them fled from this crevice full of a frightening, sinister breath.

What had happened couldn't be done by a human. Even an expert in anatomy couldn't turn a person into a skeleton. It appeared as if something had eaten the flesh cleanly off the body.

After going outside, they discovered that the topography outside was completely different from before. It was as if they had entered another desert.

What's worse was that the sun was just about to set and the sky was darkening.

"What should we do?"

Meng Fei's expression turned ugly as well. Six of his brothers had died. Only around 10 of them remained now, and it was the same for the exploration team. Half of them were dead.

The horses had already run away, and camels would usually lie down on the ground and protect the owner from the sandstorm with their bodies, but they too had fled.

A terrible haze shrouded over everyone's hearts.

The curtain of the night slowly approached them.

"What to do now?"

Escape or continue?

The horses and the camels which had run away had most of the supplies with them. They only had a few supplies on them, and those were insufficient to continue traveling in the desert. Let alone, they didn't even know where they were due to the sandstorm. Waiting here was no better than waiting for death, and this Thousand Ghosts Cliff was so strange too.

"Fuck! We'll die whether we continue ahead or wait! I hear that this Thousand Ghosts Cliff was strange before, but I wasn't expecting to get trapped here…"

"Boss, why don't we off this group then look for a way to return to the HQ?"

When Xie Ting heard this, she said, "Don't waste your time. This is the Thousand Ghosts Cliff. No one will be able to leave once night descends. According to the legends, ghosts come out of the walls here."

The bandit turned pale after hearing this.

"Slut! Who are you trying to scare?"

Xie Ting gazed at him coldly, "It's up to you whether you believe it or not…"

What had happened just a while ago was already enough proof that this place was bizarre. As they had spent several years in the desert, they too had heard rumors about the Thousand Ghosts Cliff.

Meng Fei asked, "What are Lady Xie's intentions then?" His tone turned politer than before.

"We rest here for a night then think of something tomorrow morning."

Sang Bao pointed the gun towards Xie Ting and screamed at her, "Fuck! Woman, do want us to die? Who'll stay behind at this weird place…"

"If something goes wrong, wouldn't we also get buried along with you here?" Xie Ting replied.

If something indeed happened, none of them would be able to escape.

"Let's rest!" Meng Fei decided.

Sang Bao couldn't believe his words, "Boss!"

"I said let's rest here… Got it?"

It would waste their strength if they walked blindly and that would result in a fatality. Meng Fei had his own thoughts on it, and none of his subordinates dared to speak against him, so they decided to rest on the ground.

Meng Fei continued, "If I haven't guessed it wrong, this place is near to the ancient city. It will take no less than a day to reach there from here."

"Lady Xie, shall we set out tomorrow then?"

Xie Ting naturally didn't wish to go there along with these bandits, but the only way to get out of the desert alive was to go to the ancient city. Otherwise, they would all die here.

She went towards Jiang Xiu and sat down beside him without answering the bandit.

It was equivalent to agreeing with him.

"What should we do about the supplies? All the food and water were on the camels. It's all gone now."

"Does anyone have water?"

The members of the exploration team shook their head. Water was akin to life during this kind of situation, even more, precious than gold. Even if they had a little, they acted like they didn't have anything.

Gulp-Gulp!

Sounds of someone gulping water came through. Everyone looked towards there and saw Jiang Xiu drink water while sitting on the sandstone while appreciating the beautiful desert scenery, gazing at the sandstorm at a distance which still hadn't dispersed.

"Will Lady Xie be willing to drink from my canteen?"

Xie Ting was thirsty too. Her tender cherry lips had dried up. Even someone reserved or with mysophobia wouldn't decline it. She expressed her heartfelt gratitude and received it, "Thank you."

She didn't drink much and returned it to him after moistening her throat a little.

Jiang Xiu smiled at her, "It's fine, you can drink more."

Xie Ting thanked him again and took another gulp. She was too thirsty and almost dehydrated. After drinking, she even licked her lips with her tongue. Her face slightly heated up when she saw Jiang Xiu was looking at her with a smile in his gaze and returned the waterskin canteen back to him.

The gazes of the members of the exploration team nearby to them turned greedy. Chen Dewen went towards Jiang Xiu and asked, "Jiang Xiu, can you let me take a sip as well?"

Jiang Xiu smiled coolly, "Do you think I'll?"

Chen Dewen's expression turned ugly, "N-No?"

"Why did you ask then?"

Chen Dewen got furious that Jiang Xiu was acting like this though he had laid down his face and asked politely, "Jiang Xiu, don't act too arrogant. We are after all a team."

"Don't you feel ashamed by those words?" Jiang Xiu shot a question at him.

Chen Dewen had imagined that there would come a situation where Jiang Xiu would run out of water then beg him like a dog. He planned to humiliate Jiang Xiu at that moment, but he had never expected the opposite to happen. The people running out of water turned out to be them now, and the one who they were hoping would run out of it still had it. It was quite ironical.

"We were wrong before. We apologize for that…"

"Jiang Xiu, don't lower yourself to our levels."

Jiang Xiu said, "If you had said these words before you ran out of water, I would've believed them and pardoned you, but it's a pity that you are just saying these words now to get water from me."

"To get benefits, you joined together with Jin Xi to isolate me and now, you act like you're lower than me just to survive. You disgust me. Get as far away as possible from here and don't appear before my eyes."

Chen Dewen's expression turned ashen, "You…"

The other team members looked at him. They hadn't realized it before, but after Jiang Xiu explained it, they realized that Chen Dewen was such a vulgar person.

Qiu Yinru also revealed an ashamed face. She too hadn't realized her mistake till now. Jiang Xiu had forged ahead on his own until now. She finally understood that Jiang Xiu was a genuine person and he had sincerely come to look for the ancient city. She had promised him she would allow him to accompany them if he solved the Lu Ban's Lock before but then reneged on it later. She felt regretful for doing that now.

She could have refused him at the beginning, but she had first promised him then reneged on it and also tried to stop him from coming along. She had always held going to explore as a kind of privilege, but after facing this kind of predicament, she had realized her mistake.

It seems like I owe him an apology.

Only, with Jiang Xiu's personality, he wouldn't accept it. Also, if she did it right now, it would seem like she was coveting his water.

"Brat. It looks like you have a lot of water. Why don't you give it to us?"

Meng Fei had already taken notice of Jiang Xiu. It seemed like Xie Ting knew him and from what he heard just now, it looked like he still had a lot of water left in his canteen.

"I don't have much left."

"Give it to me!" Sang Bao pointed the muzzle towards Jiang Xiu. The intent was pretty clear. He would shoot if Jiang Xiu didn't give it to him.

Jiang Xiu smiled an unscrewed the canteen.

His intent was clear too. If Sang Bao shot him, the water would all go to waste.

Xie Ting didn't know whether Jiang Xiu was really afraid of the guns as he had displayed shocking powers on that day, but… it was also a possibility. Thus, she spoke out, "Meng Fei, he's Jiangnan's, Mr. Jiang. You better not become his enemy."

Meng Fei's expression changed, "Mr. Jiang? Which Mr. Jiang?"

"Jiang Luoxia!"

Li Chengzhi, who was standing at a distance, immediately shouted, "What?! He is Jiang Luoxia?"

Others may not know about Jiang Luoxia, but Li Chengzhi knew about him. He was someone who can control thunder, who had killed Lin Zhenbei, suppressed the Wang family who has a heritage of over 200 years and had more than half of Jiangnan under his control. His reputation was well-known.

Even though there was a lack of water and food, life and death uncertain, a situation where strength was quite precious, Li Chengzhi still stood up and greeted Jiang Xiu, "I didn't know I was facing Mr. Jiang, please pardon me."

The students felt a chill on their backs.

They couldn't comprehend this situation. This famous shaman whose name awed the entire shaman world of Pinghai was bowing to Jiang Xiu and even speaking politely as if he were the younger generation speaking to the elder generation.

"Just who is Jiang Xiu?"

Everyone looked at each other. They didn't know who Jiangnan's Mr. Jiang was, but from Li Chengzhi's reverent attitude, it was already clear he was someone extraordinary. They felt scared now.

Qiu Yinru's eyes grew wide open too. He's that amazing?

"It's fine." Jiang Xiu stated.

Li Chengzhi and his son's attitudes towards Jiang Xiu made a complete reversal.

Meng Fei also looked at Jiang Xiu with shock. He had also heard of Jiang Luoxia's famous name in the desert, but he only knew that this person was quite influential in Jiangnan's underworld and didn't know much about him. He hadn't expected him to be so young, "A real hidden dragon."

Jiang Xiu smiled coolly at him, "You still want my water?"

Sang Bao's expression turned ugly. He didn't know who Mr. Jiang was, but after seeing that Li Chengzhi, as well as his boss, were acting afraid, he too wished to stand down, but getting terrified like this didn't conform well with a bandit's style, so he stealthily peeked towards Meng Fei.

Meng Fei laughed out loudly, "We are all on the same boat now so we should work together as one. There's no need for us to trouble Mr. Jiang."

His words were quite sensible, but everyone understood that he too didn't dare to provoke Jiang Xiu.

Professor Xu, Qian Deshen as well as the students of the Imperial Capital, were utterly shocked due to this. They hadn't expected Jiang Xiu was such a big shot and kept rejecting him ever since the term started. They had even felt annoyed due to persistence on tagging along with them and united to isolate this fresher, but as a result, they had instead kicked the iron panel.

Only, thinking about all these things in this situation where life or death was uncertain was useless.

The three factions separated into three groups. One was Meng Fei's along with his gang, another was the exploration team, and the final one consisted of Jiang Xiu and Xie Ting. They had to spend a tough night here.

Xie Ting asked Jiang Xiu, "Mr. Jiang, what's your plan?"

Jiang Xiu gave a few cookies and chocolate to her. She thanked him and ate it. The happiness a person feels after receiving food when they are extremely hunger was pretty obvious.

"Nothing. I'm not familiar with the desert, so I can only rely on you, right? Does Lady Xie venture into the desert often?"

Xie Ting's hand paused while eating. She nodded then continued eating.

"For the ancient city?"

Xie Ting nodded again.

There was no point in hiding it as the situation had sunk into such a stage.

"Your family is related to the ancient city? Maybe, you are descendants of the people of the ancient city. Actually, I already noticed that you aren't a pure Chinese Han person." Jiang Xiu asked.

Xie Ting lifted her head to look towards Jiang Xiu with eyes full of astonishment.

From her expression, Jiang Xiu became sure that his inference was correct. Only, he didn't continue asking more and didn't query about her history. Everything would become clear once they reached the ancient city.

"Rest properly to recover your spirit. We have to hurry tomorrow."

Jiang Xiu gave his bedding to Xie Ting, though it was just a blanket which was spread on the ground while he leaned against the stone to take rest.

Meng Fei's group discussed things among themselves. Only eight of them remained now, and all of them had guns, but on the opposite side. There was Jiang Xiu, Xie Ting, Li Chengzhi and Li Beng. Those pair of father and son were troublesome as they were on guard because they had killed Li Chengzhi's other son.

Sang Bao suggested, "Boss, we have guns with us. Is there a need to be afraid of that bullshit Mr. Jiang? Is he that amazing?"

Meng Fei furrowed his brows, "This person has a huge reputation in Jiangnan, and the rumors in the underworld say that it's possible he's a Demigod. It isn't sensible to openly act against him."

"What crap Demigod! If he weren't afraid of our guns, he wouldn't have allowed us to kill so many people." Sang Bao retorted.

Meng Fei nodded, "That's true as well."

"How about this? When it's dawn, I'll go off a few of them and grab their water and rations. It's fine to just leave a few of them alive as hostages along with that Xie lass. We can set out towards the ancient city in the morning." Sang Bao

"Since the enemy isn't acting, it's better for us to not act as well. Right now, that Xie lass has agreed to show the way to the ancient city, so there's no need to create an issue now. It's not too late to do that after we arrive there."

"As you say, Boss…" Sang Bao replied.

Meng Fei nodded and told them to take rest. He gazed towards the Thousand Ghosts Cliff. It was pitch-black inside there right now, similar to a beast crawling within the desert, lurking in wait for victims to fall for it. Meng Fei felt goosebumps when he remembered his experience inside there. Those skeletons were too frightening. He didn't dare to continue looking over there.

Li Chengzhi and Li Beng too kept gazing towards Meng Fei's group. They were filled with hatred of losing a son and brother. They had a method to take revenge, which was to get the machine guns inside the cliff.

But that cliff was too frightening, so Li Chengzhi and Li Beng didn't dare to go in. Though they were Shamans, they couldn't comprehend what had happened inside there as it had far exceeded their abilities.

Even Jiang Xiu couldn't feel anything abnormal inside there, let alone them. His perception was higher than theirs in the darkness yet he too was oblivious to how that person turned into a skeleton.

That's why Jiang Xiu was looking forward to something happening again tonight.

But regretfully, except for those students quaking in fear and tossing around in their sleep, nothing strange had happened at all. Qiu Yinru curled up while sleeping, and when the temperature dropped to its lowest, she began to sleep-talk. Her body began to burn hot with a fever.

In her dazed state, she felt as if someone fed her medicine as well as matter and also felt the taste of sweet chocolate in her mouth. Though she was dazed due to the fever, she faintly knew who it was. Except for Jiang Xiu, no one among them had food or water right now. Tears flowed down her eyes subconsciously.

When the sun rose on the next the day, the temperature rose up again and the people who had almost frozen up during night began to move.

Not only those students, even Meng Fei and the Li father-son duo, couldn't endure it. They pulled themselves together and started on the journey.

Around 8-9 AM, it became unbearably warm. The heat caused vapors to rise up from the ground and the air twisted in spirals. They found it pretty difficult to walk.

"Lady Xie, how much further is the city?"

Xie Ting had her hands on her knees to catch her breath. She then pointed forwards, "We'll reach it once we cross that sand dune."

Everyone looked towards that direction after hearing that. It seemed as if the horizon there shone with a golden light, mixing together with the fervent heat. They could vaguely see the head of a massive sculpture of a deity. That giant head seemed like a tiny mountain and was half buried inside the desert. It gave off an ancient and mysterious feel.

Everyone was excited at this moment.

We're finally there?

"I-Is that one of the three Heavenly Apostles?" Professor Xu said while standing up with the support of someone. Comparing it to the data they had gathered, the ancient city had three Heavenly Apostles. From the sculpture's form, it resembled them.

"Professor, what are those Heavenly Apostles?"

"Gods!"

Meng Fei also stared at it with his mouth agape. The radiance emitted by the deity's sculpture as the same as what's mentioned in the data. That deity's sculpture was created from pure gold and was equivalent to a mountain of gold.

"We're here! We're finally here!"

Jiang Xiu, however, made a serious face. This was no sculpture but rather the corpse of a God, a dead body and wasn't made of Gold. It was also different from the Gold Divinities he had heard of. Jiang Xiu concluded that whoever that person was, his body was broken after he was transformed into gold.

"Q-Quickly! Let's go over there…"

Xie Ting had said that there's water at the ancient city.

Right now, a cup of water was worth more than a mountain of gold or silver.

Du-Du-Du!!!

Bullets swept past the desert followed by gunshots, leaving holes on the ground. Everyone stopped rigid in their tracks. Meng Fei raised his gun and said, "Lady Xie, you still haven't told us where the entrance to the city is."

"I also don't know…" Xie Ting replied.

"Are you trying to deceive me?"

Meng Fei raised his gun with the intentions to shoot someone.

Xie Ting shouted in alarm, "Don't kill anyone here! We'll get cursed…"

But the bullet had already been shot.

It was already too late as the bullet had already left the gun. The target was the Li father-son duo. As he had had a feud with the Li family, he had to eliminate them first. He had shot at the son, Li Beng who was at the back.

The bullet pierced through the skull, spraying blood out from the hole, drenching the yellow sand with a scarlet tint.

Xie Ting's eyes grew wide in alarm as if an incredibly terrible thing had happened. It naturally wasn't because of the murder as these bandits had killed several people in the desert.

From her alarmed appearance, it was clear she was full of dismay right now.

"A curse?"

Meng Fei sneered, "You think I'll believe such a simple lie? You just wanted to prevent me from killing them. If you don't reveal the location of the entrance, I'll kill you too."

Xie Ting shook her head in panic, "I didn't lie to you. There's no need for us to wait for you to kill us as we are all going to die now."

"You've not only harmed them but also yourself."

Meng Fei wasn't willing to believe it at first, but after looking at Xie Ting's expression, he was also conflicted. The fear on her face wasn't just an act but true fear from the depths of her heart.

"Don't try to scare me with such words."

"I really didn't lie. You must have heard about what happened here 400 years ago. This place got cursed after that night."

Meng Fei's face turned paler.

He possessed some knowledge about this ancient city. They had finally trapped the Xie family members successfully after conspiring for such a long time. Moreover, he had also heard rumors that this place was very bizarre.

"What now?"

"Those who get cursed will immolate and turn into ashes." Xie Ting replied to him.

The muscles on Meng Fei's face twitched, "Is there no way to break the curse?"

"There is, but I also don't know what it means - Yin-Yang Fire God's fury, crawl towards the Hell on the other shore; at another world, you shall rest forever."

Meng Fei shook his head in disbelief, but in the next second, everyone was left dumbstruck, all their gazed filled with shock. Li Chengzhi shivered in fear as well. Li Beng's body on the ground suddenly flamed up and covered the entire body. The flame was different from the usual flame everyone was used to seeing in ordinary life. In just a few short breaths, the whole body had turned into ash, only leaving behind a human-shaped dark ash layer on the ground.

"Hah?!"

Meng Fei felt as if they were in a freezer, feeling a chill all over.

"H-How is this possible?!"

His eyes turned bloodshot as he glared at Xie Ting, "Tell me how to break the curse, I know you how to do it. If you don't, I'll kill you."

Xie Ting replied dejectedly, "Even if you kill me, it's useless. I also don't know how to break it. Let alone, I too will die now. No one can escape alive from the curse."

"Check your left arm!"

Meng Fei took a look and saw that there was a flame-like pattern had appeared on his arm. It went upwards along it. He felt as if a bucket of cold water had been splashed on him.

Xie Ting's voice tinged at his ears, "When that curse pattern reaches your heart's location, you'll end up the same as the person you killed, turned into ashes through immolation."

The others all checked their arms and found that a flame pattern had appeared on their arms as well.

"How can this be possible?"

"I don't want to die!"

Meng Fei raised his machine gun towards Xie Ting, "You must have some method to deal with it… tell me…"

"Or else, I'll kill you."

Xie Ting shook her head sadly. She too didn't wish to die. She was just 17 years old and in the prime of her life. Her life had just begun, and there was so much yet to experience.

"I don't believe it! I don't!"

At this time, a voice came through, "It's useless even if you kill her!"

Everyone looked towards the speaker, it was Jiang Xiu. He continued, "Yin-Yang Fire God's fury, crawl towards the Hell on the other shore; at another world, you shall rest forever. It is indicating for you to leave for another world. If you stay in this world, you will be immolated."

"To another world? How will we do that?"

All of this sounded like a fantasy.

"That's quite simple. You can go to another world if you die."

Though it sounded like nonsense, they could comprehend his words.

Meng Fei believed Jiang Xiu was still sneering at him. He felt extremely resentful, "Don't act as if you're someone great. Aren't you the same as us? You will also die the same."

Jiang Xiu looked towards his left hand. There was a similar flame pattern near his wrist as well.

"Are we going to really die?"

Professor Xu, Qiu Yinru and the rest of the students all looked at the curse pattern on their arms with a look of despair.

Suddenly, they heard a voice from behind them. Everyone turned back to look and saw a group of people rush towards where they were. Xie Ting shouted immediately, "DON'T COME OVER!"

Qiu Yinru and the rest of them screamed at them as well.

But that group kept moving with an exceptional momentum which didn't even lose out to the speed of a camel. Perhaps because they had noticed Qiu Yinru's group, they sped up instead of slowing down.

Soon after, they reached in front of the group.

They were none other than the members of the Jin family. The person leading them was Elder Brother Mu Sen from the Jin family, and beside him was the Patriarch as well as that tobacco smoking elder. They didn't seem to have had a hard time traveling in such an environment.

"Don't come over!"

Xie Ting shook her head while shouting but it was too late already. They had already set foot on the blood-soaked land and were already cursed.

The Jin family's Patriarch looked at Professor Xu, Qian Deshen, Qiu Yinru and the rest. They appeared like a professor and a group of students, so he was 70-80% certain these people were the Imperial University's exploration team.

"Excuse me, are you Professor Xu and the students of the Imperial Capital?"

The professor nodded, "We are!"

"We the Jin family of Pinghai, elders of Jin Xu!"

They would have cheered in happiness if they hadn't got cursed, but they now felt even more sorrowful and ironical.

The professor said, "We haven't seen Young Master Jin. We didn't want to enter the desert without him, but we couldn't contact him at all."

"I know. This matter is unrelated to Professor Xu. Jin Xi's legs were broken by someone, so he was sent to the operating table immediately and was thus unable to come. As for the attacker, he is among you."

"You are Mr. Jiang?"

His eyes fell on Jiang Xiu. All the people here were wasted, and only Jiang Xiu stood there with ease. Only a Demigod rank expert could operate with such ease for so long in the desert.

"Yes, I was the one who broke Jin Xi's legs."

All of the students murmured. No wonder Young Master Jin suddenly went missing.

"To think you dared to chase me into the desert even after knowing who I was!"

The Jin Patriarch's face became gloomier, "Humph! All those who offend Pinghai's Jin family have to pay the price. No matter whether how much you, Jiang Luoxia, show off your might in Jiangnan, as you dared to act against a member of my Jin family, you won't leave the desert today."

"Do you have that ability?"

"So, what if you are a Demigod? Do you think my Jin family doesn't have a Demigod?"

"Is it you?"

After arriving here, Mu Sen kept gazing at Jiang Xiu. Demigods could feel each other's existence through a unique response. It was as if they were meeting a similar existence. Mu Sen said, "It's really shocking that you are still so young."

"It's a pity that your cultivation path will come to an end now."

His hair started floating up, and the surrounding air flow changed at the same time.

Xie Ting interjected at this moment, "Does the Jin family still want to fight with Mr. Jing at this moment? I advise you to save your strength. We are all going to die as it is now."

"You all should take a look at your left-hands as you are already cursed."

"Anyone who sets foot on this land will die."

The members of the Jin family checked their hands. Even Mu Sen's expression morphed, "How did this happen?"

"This is the ancient desert city. This place was cursed due to the massacre which happened 400 years ago. If anyone commits murder here, everyone will get cursed."

"What's the effect of the curse?"

"When the flame pattern reaches the heart, you will die by immolation!"

The Jin Patriarch retorted, "Nonsense! What if I kill again?"

"Everyone, take a look there!"

A golden radiance soared up in the distant land along with the trembling ground. It was as if an earthquake was occurring. The desert rippled with sea wave-like ripples as if something was coming out from underground. A vague silhouette was visible through the sand.

In the next moment, everyone was stupefied.

A several hundred-meter-tall golden giant rose up there.

The golden giant rose up within the desert, giving off imposing awe. Professor Xu and Qian Deshen couldn't imagine how it had appeared. It didn't seem feasible to construct such a colossal sculpture of a deity. It was possible to do it in this era by spending a lot of resources, but they couldn't comprehend how the people from several centuries ago did it.

They couldn't help but imagine the scene of the giant gold sculpture being bound by chains and pulled by many carts through bitter work.

"This is really marvelous!"

Professor Xu felt invigorated after seeing this. He considered it was a bit of consolation that he was able to see such a marvel before dying.

"This is indeed shocking."

Qian Deshen was also quite shocked, but it was a pity that they had lost the camera and the other equipment or else they could have taken pictures which would have caused a sensation in the entire world. It would have stirred up countless archaeologists, and this place would have become the homeland of archaeology where everyone would strive to pry into this golden giant's secret.

"This is gold, right?"

From its thickness, there was no doubt that it was cast using pure gold. Just a few pieces of it were enough to lead a luxurious life for a lifetime.

There were many legends of treasures hidden in the desert, and this was the reason there were so many desert adventurers, but most of the time, they couldn't find the location or are exhausted when they discovered them or those treasures are too heavy so they can only give up with a sigh.

Sand drizzled down from the golden deity's sculpture, and the golden radiance blended together with the sunlight, making it seem as if the light had turned into twinkling sand particles as they drizzled down.

"W-Wait!"

"I-It's moving!"

In the next moment, all of them were yet again stupefied, their minds wholly filled with utter shock. That giant golden deity's sculpture slowly lowered its head.

This was indeed astonishing. They were scared out of their wits.

"I-It's alive?"

The first thing which came into their minds was to escape from here, but it was as if their legs were locked onto the ground, making them unable to take a single step. They could only look at that golden giant as an instinctive response.

"I-It's coming over…"

The golden giant took a step forward similar to a human, causing the sand to ripple when its foot landed on the ground. It raised its foot again and took another step, covering the sky with drizzling sand with each of its sky-high steps.

"What should we do?"

That golden giant which was several hundred meters away from there reached before them in just two steps.

"E-Escape!"

They would no doubt get squashed into paste if it stepped on them.

By the time they remembered they had to escape, it was already too late. The golden giant took another step. Its appearance was the same as that of Gods in the legends. It exuded a golden aura, and its appearance was like a sculpture's. Its eyes seemed like that of Bodhisattva, and it appeared to be a dead object yet also a living one. That strange feeling was really quite shocking.

"Aaaaaahhhhh!"

The group screamed and used the last bit of the strength they had left to run away from this crisis.

Those who were slower got crushed under its feet directly, and those who had escaped a bit further were blown away by the sand tremor originating from the location the giant had landed its feet. It was as if a sea wave had crashed into them, pulling them along with its current.

"Fire! Fire at it!"

Someone shouted. Only then did Meng Fei and the others recall they had machine guns with them.

Du-Du-Du!!!

They raked the golden giant with gunfire. The bullets possessed a frightening penetrating force as well as speed. Only one of two things could happen. Either the bullets will pierce through it or they won't. After all, the sculpture appeared to be made of gold, so it seemed the chances of the bullets piercing it was less.

However, the outcome had exceeded everyone's imagination. When the bullets neared the golden giant, they stopped at a distance from it. It seemed as if the void was twisting around the golden giant's skin as if there was a light membrane around it. The bullets didn't even hit the golden giant.

"Hah?!"

A powerless feeling rose up in their hearts after seeing this.

Just what is it?

The power it revealed was inconceivable.

Du-Du-Du!!!

Meng Fei's group wasn't ready to believe it. They crazily fired at it while screaming, pressing the trigger rapidly, yet all those bullets couldn't penetrate that membrane. None of them had neared the golden giant.

Shock and despair filled their hearts.

The group shrieked all of a sudden. A few from Meng Fei's side also did the same. They saw the golden giant raise its foot as if it was about to kick. The area it covered was too large, and there was no place to hide. They flew back like a soccer ball due to the kick and fell a few meters far away, dropping down on the sand.

It was difficult to determine whether they were dead or alive.

"Elder Brother Mu Sen, what should we do?"

"Attack!"

Mu Sen stepped on the camel's hump and soared up to the skies like a legendary roc spreading its wings. He rose up 4-5 m high above and stood in the air.

He moved his hands as if he were controlling some kind of power. The sand gathered up behind him, and as his palms slowly pushed forwards, the sand got pulled along due to his ability and rushed forward along with a howling sound.

Aooooo!

Professor Xu and the others were utterly shocked. This wasn't a feat that humans could accomplish. It was just like those peak martial artists in novels. Only they could control sand like this. This fierce strength was akin to a raging dragon coming out from the ocean.

"This is Taiping Dao Scripture's Heaven and Earth Reversal Movement skill."

"To think that Elder Brother Mu Sen had actually succeeded in cultivating it."

The members of the Jin family were stunned as well."

"This move is akin to an Immortal Skill."

After escaping around 20 m away, they were all filled with excitation. This was a Demigod. No matter what the opponent was, since the Jin family's Demigod was here, there was still hope for this battle.

"Die!"

Mu Sen howled. All his strength erupted from his palms and caused the sandstorm to cry even more fiercely.

Boom!

That golden giant punched towards the sandstorm. That strength behind that fist caused energy ripples to form as it caused the stand storm to blow apart like a fountain and wither as if it has lost all its momentum.

"What?!"

Mu Sen was surprised. He didn't even have the time to react as the energy ripple slammed into him through the void, causing him to fly back like a broken kite while spouting blood and then fall down on the ground.

The sandstorm which had lost strength also died down.

"Elder Brother Mu Sen!"

A few of the Jin family members rushed forth and retrieved Mu Sen.

"Too strong."

Mu Sen's mouth was still filled with blood so he found it difficult to speak, "This person… might be a God."

He felt genuine fear when he said this. God was an existence which stood above ordinary humans. They couldn't resist such an existence. It was also his life-long pursuit to reach that stage.

"Let's all attack together!"

The tobacco smoking elder had a stubborn and fiery character. His heart felt a chill after seeing the situation, so he wished to bet their lives on it.

"D-Don't…"

Mu Sen grabbed the elder in fear, "We cannot resist a God. We can only bow and surrender."

Everyone had seen the golden giant's strength just now. It was quite difficult to imagine anyone could possess such power. If it appeared in a city, it would cause devastation.

The high-rise apartments were only as tall as its calves. It could crush them just by raising its foot and cars were akin to paper to it. It wouldn't even take a day for it to destroy a city.

"We can neither escape nor defeat it… What should we do?"

"Q-Quickly kneel down…" Mu Sen said nervously.

He endured the pain and knelt down on the ground in a devout manner. Everyone finally realized the meaning of Mu Sen's words after seeing this. If it was indeed a God, then they had to naturally bow down.

"R-Right. Everyone, kneel down."

Everyone knelt down one after another. They felt that they had at last found a way to save themselves.

They quickly knelt down like pious believers.

It seemed this was their final hope.

Their gamble paid off. That giant golden sculpture didn't attack them again and stopped moving. It bent its head down to look at them.

This had confirmed their guess. A God stood before them and only through sincere reverence could they preserve their life.

However, they discovered that the golden giant was looking towards a person. All of them looked towards there as well and saw someone was still standing. It was none other than Jiang Xiu.

Mu Sen and the others turned pale in fright.

Li Chengzhi and the students were frightened as well. That was because Jiang Xiu was quite close to them.

"Mr. Jiang, quickly kneel down!"

"Hurry up!"Jiang Xiu raised his head to look at the golden giant with a glint in his eyes, wearing a smile on his face. It seemed as if he hadn't heard them and had no intentions to kneel down.

All the others became anxious and looked towards Jiang Xiu with a complicated gaze.

They wished Jiang Xiu would quickly kneel down as the opponent was a God. If he didn't kneel, then the God would get angry, and it would lead to a slaughter. No one would feel sorry for him even if he got killed but they were afraid they would get implicated as well, that the God would take out his anger on them after killing Jiang Xiu and wipe them all out.

"Q-Quickly kneel down, Mr. Jiang…"

"We'll be all done for if you don't kneel down."

Chen Dewen didn't like Jiang Xiu at all and wasn't on good terms with him as he never listened to anyone's advice, always acting like an idiot. Death serves you right but don't you get me involved me into it.

"Is he planning to fight a God?" The Jin family's Patriarch spoke out.

"He's courting death!"

"Even Elder Brother Mu Sen couldn't do it. The difference between a Demigod and a God is a wall too large to climb over, they are two completely different races. The gap in power can't be covered."

"His actions will bring death to all of us."

These people didn't care what Jiang Xiu thought. If he implicated them, they would speak out against him.

"A brainless savage naturally wouldn't understand what worship is. How can a human challenge a God? It would only anger the God and lead to his extinction…" The Jin family's Patriarch continued, "It's too late for him to kneel now."

The golden giant had already reached near Jiang Xiu as if it was planning to administer divine punishment, but converse to everyone's speculations, it unexpectedly opened its mouth, "Human, why aren't you kneeling?"

The golden giant was several hundred meters high and its voice incomparably clear. When it reached down, it seemed as if the voice came through from antiquity and shook their hearts.

"I-It can speak?"

"Oh lord!"

It turned out that this God wasn't wholly merciless and could even speak human language. This was too shocking.

Jiang Xiu lifted his head up slowly and gazed at it with an apathetic gaze, "You aren't worthy of receiving it."

"What?!"

The golden giant still hadn't said nothing but the others were stunned. You're just a mere mortal while the other side is a God. What do you mean by 'You aren't worthy of receiving it.' You should feel extremely grateful for obtaining this chance to gain God's favor, but you instead say such words. Who do you think you are?

At this moment, everyone was looking forward to seeing the golden giant to kill Jiang Xiu in a fit.

He was too arrogant.

"He'll pay the price for his arrogance." Jin family's Patriarch stated.

"Who does he think he is?"

Saying such things before a God was utterly senseless. They believed he must have lost his mind.

"Wanton!"

The giant golden God was really infuriated, "You are just a mere mortal, and you say this Deity isn't worthy? You must be tired of living."

"I'll make you understand why you aren't worthy." Jiang Xiu walked over towards the giant golden god.

"Mr. Jiang, what are you planning to do?" Xie Ting asked with astonishment.

"To slaughter God!"

Jiang Xiu stated calmly.

"He's insane!"

"That buffoon!"

The Jin family members, the bandits, as well as the people of the exploration team all looked at Jiang Xiu as if he were an idiot.

Do you think a human can resist God? Bullets couldn't even touch it, and you say you'll slaughter God? This is too funny. It would be great if you could even manage to reach it.

"Courting death!"

Boom!

The giant golden God punched towards Jiang Xiu. Its fist was quite big and 10 times larger than Jiang Xiu. Jiang Xiu was akin to a tiny dwarf when compared to that giant fist. Its power as fierce as a mountain's weight as it rushed towards Jiang Xiu, causing the air to twist due to the compression. Its might was the same as a high-speed cyclone.

Jiang Xiu, however, stayed calm and didn't even move an inch.

"Master Li, do you think Mr. Jiang can match this God?" Xie Ting was extremely nervous. She knew Jiang Xiu's abilities. He could kill a person just by raising his hand as well as had high medical expertise. He was a Demigod.

"I don't think so." Li Chengzhi answered her.

Mr. Jiang's name was quite famous. Whether it was in the martial arts circles or the spellcasting circles, rumors said that he was a Demigod, but the golden giant had exceeded everyone's expectations. Jin family's Demigod, Mu Sen, was a person on the Demigod Ranking, but he couldn't even take one move and vomited blood on the scene then knelt down to beg forgiveness.

It was quite unimaginable that this world still had such an existence.

"Gold Divine Race?"

Jiang Xiu raised his head to look at it. Its divine body vaguely had an old copper color. The Gold Divine Race's body was entirely made of gold, and the hardness of their body was similar to Gold as well. They possessed endless power, and the brightness represented their strength. Experts of the Gold Divine Race appeared just like a bright sun.

The person before him was inferior. It hadn't even shed off the olden copper color yet, so it was still in the primitive stage. After the olden copper sheds off, an olden silver color appears, and when the silver color sheds off, then the person would become a genuine gold divinity.

Jiang Xiu raised his right hand slowly. The dull divine regalia pattern started to glow and seemed as if it was coming out and converging in the void.

At this moment, Deity Xiu's features were revealed entirely.

Boom!

His long hair flew up, and his appearance changed entirely. His pupils expanded, and his eyes turned pitch black as a sandstorm began to form around him.

"What's happening?" The others were stunned.

Right now, it seemed as if Jiang Xiu was a God who had descended to the mortal world, possessing peerless beauty. The girl's eyes almost popped out after looking at his handsome features.

"This is…"

Jiang Xiu slowly lifted his hand up and blocked that giant first. The next scene was something all the members present there would never forget throughout their entire life.

Jiang Xiu lifted the golden giant up and flung it away. He waved it as if it were matchstick.

The scene had left all of them dumbfounded.

"Landscape Transformation!"

There were no words to describe the shock they felt right now. A golden giant which was several hundred meters high was throw away with a single arm as if it were made of paper. It felt as if thousands of alpacas were stamping over their hearts.

It seemed as if the giant didn't have weight at all.

Whoosh!

"Awoooooo!"

The golden giant released a heart-wrenching howl. Considering it from another perspective, its heart had indeed almost collapsed due to being thrown out.

"Rumble!"

The golden giant had hardly been thrown out in the sky but then suddenly started plummeting down and crashed into the desert.

Everyone doubted why this had happened as it should have flown out in a parabola.

"What happened?"

Their doubt soon turned into shock.

In a second, Jiang Xiu had appeared on top of the golden giant with a foot on its body. The golden giant was forcibly stepped on by him in the sky.

"I-Is he even human?"

Everyone was completely dumbstruck. Mu Sen almost lost his mind.

"This is Jiangnan's, Mr. Jiang! Do you see it now?"

Li Chengzhi was extremely excited after seeing this scene.

"He's above a God! Old Professor, do you see it?"

"Do you understand now?"

Professor Xu was already utterly stupefied right now. All of this seemed as if it was a scene from the legends, but it was really happening before him. What was more ironical was that this person was his student.

And what was above a God, naturally a higher Deity.

"He is a Deity?"

All those who had offended Jiang Xiu as well as those bandits were dumbfounded. Their gazes which were full of disdain, contempt, doubt, regret, and annoyance, had all changed into shock.

But there were some who had become furious after feeling shocked.

"Why didn't he reveal it earlier if he was so strong?"

Boom!

"Gold Fragmentation!"

Jiang Xiu's foot seemed to possess heaven-defying strength. That divine body which was unharmed even when facing bullets broken under a stamp from his leg. The place he stamped sunk into the body of the golden giant, releasing sounds of metal crunching up from inside.

He pierced through the golden giant's body forcibly.

When he reached the core heart position of the golden giant, Jiang Xiu muttered something to himself then stuck a talisman at the heart's location. He then rushed out from the giant's body along with a bunch of crushed gold.

"You…"

The golden giant clenched its chest in pain, revealing alarm in its former indifferent gaze.

"Choose now. Either kneel or die!"

Jiang Xiu stood there with hands behind his back, a cold glint in his eyes as his hair swayed in the air, giving him a grandeur look. At this moment, all the people present there suffered an intense shock to their hearts due to his strength.

Behind him, that golden giant which was several hundred meters tall issued painful howls. It clenched his chest in agony. Jiang Xiu had penetrated to its heart and planted a talisman seed there. If Jiang Xiu activated it, there was no doubt he would perish.

If the realms were to be compared, the golden giant was a God while Jiang Xiu was a Demigod. It would have been difficult for anyone else to win against the giant, but Jiang Xiu was the Sect Master of the Heaven Treading Sect. Though he didn't have his 3 millenniums of cultivation force, he possessed various kinds of spells.

Landscape Transformation could expel the weight of the golden giant.

Gold Fragmentation could break the defense of the golden giant's body.

These two spells have several ways of implementation. Only a God-King could possibly understand the mysteries behind Gold Fragmentation, but Jiang Xiu could use it with a simple wave of his hand.

This was akin to a using a maxed-out skill at a rank 1 novice village.

Similar to a cheat in an online game.

If he weren't a Demigod, he wouldn't have even needed to expend divine force to use these two spells entirely. The Divine Race couldn't use some spells while some could be used by them but not by Immortals, and some could be used by both Gods and Immortals.

And these two spells fell under the last category. Both Gods and Immortals could use them.

Booom!

The golden giant couldn't endure the pain in its heart and thus knelt down. Due to its large body's weight, it caused the entire ground to tremble when it knelt.

The talisman which had been planted at its heart was glowing with a white halo. It still didn't know what kind of talisman it was, but the giant was still quite frightened as it would get destroyed entirely in case the power of the talisman broke out.

"I beg High God to spare my life!"

The giant gold god was actually kneeling down and begging forgiveness… This was hard to believe.

Jiang Xiu had subdued a God. Mu Sen judged that there was no doubt that Jiang Xiu was a Demigod and it was even possible he was a God. He never expected that such an existence still existed in the modern world. The skills Jiang Xiu had displayed just now were inconceivable, and none could match them in the entire country. Mu Sen had never seen someone more powerful than Jiang Xiu.

The others couldn't remain collected as they gazed at Jiang Xiu again.

"This is Jiangnan's Mr. Jiang?"

The bandits finally realized how mighty Jiang Xiu was. There was no way they could handle him with their guns. Sang Bao felt a chill creep up his back. He had tried to fight over Jiang Xiu's water after all.

Jiang Xiu stood there with a calm expression on his face, but the fear everyone felt in their hearts still hadn't dissipated, it only grew stronger.

He was that fearsome!

A voice full of fury suddenly came through, "Jiang Xiu, if you were so powerful, why didn't you act earlier?"

It was Qiu Yinru. Her pretty eyes were full of rage at the moment.

"Why didn't you act when the bandits attacked us? So many people died in vain."

"Those lives are all your responsibility."

Qiu Yinru couldn't contain the fury in her heart. She believed Jiang Xiu had acted really excessive. He could have naturally prevented the bandits from killing people, yet he had done nothing.

"Hehe. This student, what duty does Mr. Jiang have to save you all? Why do you criticize him?"

Li Chengzhi jumped on this opportunity to bootlick.

In this world, a person could act heroically for a just cause, but that doesn't mean one should entrap others by taking advantage of their virtue. Let alone, Li Chengzhi had seen how all of them had isolated Jiang Xiu during the entire journey.

Jiang Xiu's eyes swept past everyone. A cold gleam flashed through his eyes as he raised his hand. That tobacco smoking old man from the Jin family didn't even have the time to react before he got sliced from the energy pulse Jiang Xiu sent towards him, beheading his head from his body.

The blood splattered across Qiu Yinru's face.

Hiss!

Everyone sucked in a cold breath.

This method…

Qiu Yinru shuddered all over. The warm blood dripped along her face. It felt as if s bucket of iced water had been splashed on top of her head, drenching all her body. She was left dumbfounded.

Her breath became rushed as her eyes grew wide in fear. If Jiang Xiu had taken aim at her just now, she would've ended up like that elder of the Jin family, beheaded on the scene.

Feeling the warm blood as well as looking at the ice-cold dead body on the ground, Qiu Yinru realized in the depths of her heart about what kind of person Jiang Xiu was.

Her legs lost strength. She couldn't keep standing anymore and fell down to the ground.

"I didn't kill you today because you are my classmate. Otherwise, you would have ended up just like this person…"

Qiu Yinru nodded in fear.

The Jin family members were extremely gloomy. If you want to lesson someone, do it, but was there a need to kill a member of our Jin family for that? Also, you killed an elder of the family. This is a real disaster.

All of them opened their eyes wide in fury as if they wished to dice Jiang Xiu into pieces.

Mu Sen's complexion turned ashen, "Mr. Jiang, what do you mean by this? Why did you kill my Jin family's elder who was innocent? Aren't your actions too excessive?"

"Innocent?"

Jiang Xiu's cold gaze wandered on him, "Your Jin family has sent out so many elite members into the depths of the desert to chase after me by making a big scene. Tell me, did you come here just to meet me?"

"…" Mu Sen was left speechless.

They had initially chased him into the desert to take revenge for Jin Xi by killing him, but none of them had expected that Jiang Xiu would be so mighty.

They couldn't take revenge nor could they just pass it off as nothing.

They were stuck in a dilemma as they couldn't advance or retreat in this situation.

"Now, do you still think you are innocent? Not only him, but all of you should also prepare yourselves since you planned to kill me. You should have heard that I, Jiang Luoxia, never leaves my enemies alive."

The expressions of the people from the Jin family all darkened.

Mu Sen made a gloomy face as well, "Jiang Luoxia, though you could defeat the golden giant, it doesn't mean you can defeat me. Do you really want to fall out and bet your life on it?" As he said these words, his body slowly began to transform.

His face withered while releasing a throbbing sound. It was as if it had become a dead tree. His neck, body as well as his arms had also transformed into wood.

The core of a person was the bloodline. Right now, it seemed as if his organs had disappeared as well.

His body began to glow with a faint azure luster.

"Wood-type Demigod Body Transformation?"

Jiang Xiu revealed a smile on his face. This Mu Sen was stronger compared to Wang Jianzhi of the Wang family. After his entire body finishes transforming into wood, he would become a genuine god of the Azure Wood Divine Race.

His progress towards this was quite far. For comparison, it could be said that he had reached the final few hundred meters mark of a 50 km long journey.

"It seems you're quite knowledgeable…"

Mu Sen's face had become stiff, and thus his voice had also changed. It became obscure and seemed to possess a tint of the boundless divine language.

"Do you still want to bet your life against my Jin family?"

His tone was full of confidence.

"Indeed, an impossibly stupid person." Jiang Xiu commented.

"The one who'll die is you!"

Mu Sen took in a deep breath, "You can try then…" He plunged towards Jiang Xiu immediately after saying this, punching out towards him with his wooden body which was harder than iron.

Jiang Xiu neither advanced nor retreated. He acted even fast3er than Mu Sen and waved his hand at the same time Mu Sen had set out, sending out an energy wave against him. It struck Mu Sen's body, but he was able to endure it. His fist had already reached in front of Jiang Xiu at this moment.

The energy wave had struck his body and split his chest, exposing a decayed wood-like inner section of his body, but his vitals weren't injured. It was at most a light flesh injury.

"It's quite hard."

Jiang Xiu gave his sincere praised to him. The hardest thing on the Immortal Martial Continent was actually Wood. There were quite a few kinds of divine wood which were harder than rocks or metals. There were three types of wood which could be considered as divine objects.

Some wood-type bodies used this hardness to counteract all kinds of sword energies or blade attacks.

This was all under Jiang Xiu's predictions. He wasn't expecting to break Mu Sen's defense with that attack and had merely sent it out to test the strength of the opponent as well as introspect his divine force.

He wasn't a God yet and didn't have a cultivation sword as well, so the power behind the energy wave was pretty low.

"Hahaha. Jiang Luoxia, I had already given you an opportunity, but you didn't savor it. It's too late now…"

Mu Sen was jubilant after seeing that Jiang Xiu wasn't able to break his defense.

His fist had already neared Jiang Xiu.

"Hah!"

Jiang Xiu grunted coldly and pointed his finger towards that fist. Jiang Xiu's most strongest aspect was his physical strength which he still hadn't calculated yet, i.e., brute force.

Using just a single finger to block Mu Sen's fist was enough to shock all the others.

What left them even more stunned was that Mu Sen suddenly started screaming in alarm while Jiang Xiu grinned in response to that.

"That's the price for your ignorance."

"AAAAARRRGGGHHHHH!"

Mu Sen screamed tragically. It wasn't because of the rebound force but rather because his body had ignited all of a sudden. It was as if a tree had caught fire and this fire wasn't a normal one.

"Elder Brother Mu…"

He burned up in a flash and turned into ashes.

"He's dead…"

The famous Mu Sen from the Demigod Ranking had died just like that. Burnt to death with a touch of a finger.

Everyone looked at Jiang Xiu with gazes full of extreme shock. Is this man that powerful that he killed a Demigod just with a touch of a finger?

Actually, this wasn't related to Jiang Xiu.

It was rather because they were cursed. Mu Sen had also got cursed when he set foot on this land, and he burned to ashes due to the curse flaring up. It wouldn't have happened so quickly under normal conditions, but this was a fire curse, and Mu Sen had transformed his body into wood. Wood gives rise to Fire, and Mu Sen's move was equivalent to reducing the time required for the curse to take effect.

"R-Run quickly!!!"

The Jin family members scattered in different directions, running away in fear after witnessing their family's Demigod dying so easily like a little chick. Jiang Xiu had no intentions to stop them as well.

Li Chengzhi asked Jiang Xiu, "Mr. Jiang, are you planning to let them go just like that?"

"They won't live for long as they too got cursed."

Only then did everyone remember that they were all cursed and none of them had any hopes of surviving. For a moment, all of them went silent.

"Mr. Jiang, you are so powerful. You must have some method to survive this, right?"

Right now, Jiang Xiu was already akin to God to them.

The remaining bandits, Professor Xu as well as the students of the Imperial University, all looked at him anxiously, hoping that he could save their lives by breaking the curse.

"Didn't I already say it? You can remove the curse by going to another world."

Professor Xu had a belly full of questions for Jiang Xiu. He wished to ask him a lot of questions such as whether he was really a God and how did he gain his power, but he didn't dare to ask. Let alone, the most important objective right now was to think of some means to break the curse.

"Jiang Xiu, what do you mean by 'going to another world'?"

"The literal meaning, what else?"

"How can a person go to another world?"

"Through death!"

Everyone revealed an expression of dismay. If death could break the curse, there was no point in removing it since they would die anyway.

Xie Ting requested him, "Mr. Jiang, please save our lives."

"Jiang Xiu, you can save us, right?"

"After all, we are classmates, please save us."

Though they couldn't understand the meaning behind Jiang Xiu's words, since Jiang Xiu was calm, they presumed that he had a method to deal with this situation. Otherwise, even if it were a God, no one would remain so calm and collected when facing death. After all, who didn't fear death?

Jiang Xiu muttered to himself, "Go find some crushed rocks, some withered grass as well as some firewood."

Everyone was jubilant after hearing Jiang Xiu speak. They went to look for the things he asked for.

Some curses couldn't be broken. These kinds of curses were known as forbidden curses, and it required a huge price to use such a curse. Most of such curses required the curser to pay with their life. The other kinds of curses, which were the common ones were all removable, but that too depended on the strength of the party trying to break the curse.

Yin-Yang Fire God's fury, crawl towards the Hell on the other shore; at another world, you shall rest forever. This didn't make much sense to ordinary people, but Jiang Xiu could see a way out from these words.

Deceiving the curse was fine.

After some time, they found all the necessary things and lined them up. Jiang Xiu made the giant golden god dig a hole in the ground. It was quite an easy task for the giant to do that, he just had to squat down and scoop the sand with his hand, and the hole created from the scoop was enough to bury everyone.

"Jump down if you want to live!"

This hole was about 3 m deep.

Li Chengzhi, as well as the bandits, jumped in without the slightest hesitation. Jiang Xiu didn't need to spend so much effort if he wanted to kill them, so they believed in him. As for those teachers and the students, they were still hesitating.

Professor Xu asked him, "Why?"

"To bury you alive!"

Everyone drew in a cold breath.

"Live burial?"

Professor Xu's facial expression turned extremely sour, "Student Xiu, you must be joking, right?"

Jiang Xiu didn't bother to explain, "Go down if you want to or don't. I'm going to cover the hole now."

Li Chengzhi had vaguely sensed something but couldn't really understand it. He believed Jiang Xiu as he was a Demigod and wouldn't do something in vain, "Professor, quickly come down, okay? Or are you going to wait for the curse to flare up?"

Professor Xu as well as the specialists with him looked at each other and then jumped down one after another.

After everyone went down, Jiang Xiu said, "Keep the stone as well as the grass on your body."

All of them followed the instructions though they didn't know the reason for it.

"Seal it!"

The giant golden lackey crammed the hole up again with zeal. The people inside couldn't help but scream. Anyone would do so if they were buried alive. Some even cried bitterly. It felt as if they were really being buried alive and felt they were getting closer to death.

After they were buried, Jiang Xiu revolved around this hole and drew a huge glyph on it. He went to the northwest corner of the hole and ignited the firewood there.

This was the most superficial technique for ascension.

Once the firewood finished burning, it was equivalent to the life lamps of everyone buried in the hole extinguishing, which meant they were considered dead so the curse should be removed as well.

"Dig them up quickly…"

The giant golden lackey didn't dare to tarry. He naturally understood what Jiang Xiu had done. It was only a way to deceive the God who had placed the curse and make him believe that the people buried were all dead by using the aid of the crushed rocks, as well as grass on their bodies, which were taken from the wilderness. Since they were considered dead, the Fire God's curse would naturally break as well.

After digging up the earth, the giant brought them all out again. These humans were so small in his palms and looked like mini toys.

"Pah!"

"Gufh!"

Their mouths were full of sand.

"I-It's over with this?"

"Look at your wrists…" Jiang Xiu told them.

They looked at their wrists and jumped with joy. The flame pattern on their arms had disappeared. Some of them had the pattern reaching to their elbow yet it was gone now.

"It's really gone."

"Very good!"

"I didn't die…"

Li Chengzhi and his son came over and expressed their heartfelt gratitude, "Mr. Jiang, thank you for saving our lives."

His gratitude was genuine and sincere. If it weren't for Jiang Xiu, they would have inevitably perished under this calamity.

"It's fine!"

Xie Ting was pleased as well, but at the same time, she couldn't help but feel dejected. This curse was set down by the ancestor of the ancient city to prevent intruders from entering inside.

Jiang Xiu asked her, "Lady Xie, where is the entrance to the ancient city?"

Xie Ting knew that Jiang Xiu's purpose in making this trip was the ancient city so he wouldn't renounce it so easily. She shook her head, "I don't know, really."

Jiang Xiu had saved her father and now saved her as well. She continued, "I came here many times with the intentions to enter the ancient city, but I couldn't find the entrance."

"No harm in that. Golden giant, where's the entrance of the ancient city you guard?"

The golden giant muttered to itself. His purpose of living was to guard the ancient city, and if he revealed it, it would be going against his reason of existence.

Jiang Xiu pressured the giant, "What? Are you unwilling to say it? Don't forget that your life is in my hands."

After he said this, the talisman placed inside the golden giant glowed, which in turn made the giant furrow its brows in pain.

"I must defend this land where the ancient city is located. I won't tell you even if you kill me."

"Looks like you'd die than rather break your oath!"

Actually, since he was already here, it wasn't difficult for Jiang Xiu to find the entrance, "Even if you don't day it, I already know where it is. The ancient city is buried underground."

The golden giant kept silent while Jiang Xiu continued speaking, "Did you forget where you had appeared from?"

The golden giant's expression morphed after hearing this.

It had come up from underground.

After saying his piece, Jiang Xiu walked towards that location. The others glanced at each other then followed behind him in a hurry. They had neither food nor water right now so staying here would only lead them to starve to their deaths. The only way to survive was finding the ancient city as there was a chance there was a water source there or even some kind of food.

Naturally, there would be a good deal of ancient texts as well as gold, silver, and treasures in there.

Moreover, since the golden giant was guarding it, there was a possibility that a huge secret was hidden inside the ancient city.

After walking for a bit, they saw stone steps leading underground.

The golden giant was completed dismayed. This trace had come into plain view because he had come out. Otherwise, it would've been buried in the depths of the desert and couldn't be found easily. The reason he had come out was that someone had killed here and polluted the land with blood. This had infuriated him, but he never expected that…

"Alright. Let's go down…"

Xie Ting followed behind Jiang Xiu with an excited look on her face. She had come here so many times but had never expected that the entrance to the ancient city was actually buried 10 m underground. No one could have anticipated this.

"Mr. Jiang, it's better to act with caution. According to the records of my ancestors, it's quite dangerous inside…"

he steps were quite long and went deep down. Jiang Xiu estimated that it must have crossed over 100 m and the visibility inside was quite bad, so they climbed down quite slowly. After 10 minutes, they reached the underground.

It was very spacious down there and entirely different from the underground tombs commonly known. The darkness seemed limitless, and except for the pathway under their feet, it appeared as if there was nothing on either side. They looked like overhanging cliffs with an unknown depth. It wasn't possible to view the bottom with the naked eye.

"Have we reached it?"

"This is the ancient city?"

The view before their eyes was exactly the same as that on the data they possessed, but seeing it with their own eyes shocked them even more than when viewing the images. No one could've imagined that such an ancient underground city existed in the depths of the desert. Moreover, this old city had been here for 400 years.

"Look for a water source first!"

Professor Xu and a few others were already at their limits due to the thirst, their throats had gone dry.

As the ancient city was a place where humans lived once, there was no doubt a water source existed here. They could already feel the humidity in the air after reaching this place as it was higher than that of the desert outside.

The party passed through the ancient path and entered the city. The scene inside the city left them in utter shock. They saw houses as well as streets. There were broken sculptures of divinities everywhere, and each place exuded an ancient, mysterious aura.

"Aaaah!" Qiu Yinru suddenly screamed.

Everyone got spooked due to her scream.

"What happened?"

Qiu Yinru stood there rigidly, trembling all over. She stuttered while replying, "T-There's a skeleton."

Only then did they notice that there was a skeleton under Qiu Yinru's feet. From its shape, it appeared to be a human skeleton.

Professor Xu coaxed her, "Don't worry, it's nothing to worry about…"

"It's nothing new for an underground tomb to have corpses."

However, as they made their way inside, the no. of bodies kept increasing. Jiang Xiu took note of the sadness revealed on Xie Ting's face. She acted with utmost care so that she didn't step on any of them.

Jiang Xiu quietly asked her, "Lady Xie, do you know who they are?"

Xie Ting shook her head, "I-I don't know…"

Since she was the later generation of the ancient city, it was possible that the bodies here were of her ancestors from several hundred years back. It made sense that she couldn't bear to step on them.

Jiang Xiu crouched down beside a body. This body laid back at the wall, and he noticed that its throat, as well as some of the other places like the chest, had all blackened.

"Looks like they were poisoned."

Xie Ting remained silent.

At a distance, Professor Xu added, "Student Xiu, you aren't entirely correct. We also checked the bodies. They were first positioned then killed."

"It's said that the Ming Dynasty's army had come here 400 years ago and obtained their help, it's a pity…"

They had deduced that it was possible the path they were walking on right now was a street back then. Bodies laid on both sides. By making deductions based on the vestiges, it appeared as if they had encountered an invading force and thus massacred. It seemed that the natives of the city were slaughtered. They hadn't moved elsewhere or went into seclusion due to climatic changes in the desert.

As they passed by the first street, they saw several kinds of dead bodies. Some of them only had heads, and it seemed there were even 6-year-old children among them. They too were first poisoned then killed.

"So cruel!" Qiu Yinru stated in a low voice.

Xie Ting lowered her head and stayed silent.

These bodies still had jewelry on them. There were pearls, agates, diamonds and they seemed to be pretty ancient so their price would be pretty high. One set would no doubt sell for millions or maybe even tens of millions, and they also had a pretty high archaeological value as some of them included equipment used in daily life.

Jiang Xiu swept his gaze past all of them and noticed someone was planning to take those things, "I advise you not to move those things. I removed the curse for you using a trick so that the curser would think you are already dead. If you take things from here, the curser will sense that you are still alive. I believe there's no need for me to explain what would happen then."

After hearing those words, Chen Dewen quickly placed the pearl necklace back.

"Aaaaahhhhhhhh…"

A heart-wrenching scream resounded within the calm city all of sudden. They looked a person flame up and then turn into ashes in the blink of an eye. It was Sang Bao.

"Fire God's curse…"

"It's the Fire God's curse…"

He had burnt to death the same as the others before.

"Why did this happen?"

Professor Xu, Qiu Yinru as well as the others looked at their wrists. Their expressions morphed once they did as the flame pattern which had disappeared had reappeared.

Jiang Xiu furrowed his brows, "What did he do just now?"

No one replied.

Xie Ting's ice-cold voice came through at this moment, "He must've coveted the treasures here and taken one of them."

Professor Xu asked with worry, "Jiang Xiu, what should we do now? The curse is back again. How about you try what you did before again?" The other students all looked at Jiang Xiu with a pleading gaze.

"The ascension method was just a trick. It can only be used once."

"Ah?"

They were all flustered.

"What should we do then?"

Jiang Xiu looked at his own wrist as well. The flame pattern had appeared on his wrist too. He furrowed his brows. The method he had used affected all of them, and if anyone one of them messed up, all of them would be affected.

Xie Ting's dispirited sounded at everyone's ears, "Mr. Jiang, It's appeared on my hand as well."

Li Chengzhi asked him, "Mr. Jiang, is there anything else we can do?"

"I don't have any methods left…" He naturally had a way to remove it, but it was impossible for them to do it. It was to use power to overcome power. The curse could be destroyed by using a power which was several times larger than the curse's power, but Jiang Xiu was only a Demigod right now, and this was a God's curse, so he too was powerless. He muttered to himself, "Since this curse was placed due to this ancient city, there should be some methods here to remove to curse."

Archaeologists naturally researched curses as well. It did make sense that the means to remove the curse would be in the city as cause and effect were interlinked.

Professor Xu said, "Let's look in the town quickly then."

All of them were anxious right now, so they hurried inside.

Yin-Yang Fire God's fury, crawl towards the Hell on the other shore; at another world, you shall rest forever.

"Everyone, look here."

"Hmm, doesn't it look like a school?"

Their attention fell on the walls as there was writing here. Moreover, there were many dead bodies on the ground of varying sizes. From the appearance, it seemed like they were all children.

They too were first poisoned then killed.

"What language is this?"

The writing on the walls hadn't vanished, so Jiang Xiu went over to take a look. He too couldn't make sense of these characters and deduced that this must've been created by the natives of the ancient city. By looking at the style, he found that it resembled the writing on the Longevity Stone a bit.

"Huh? Something is moving inside this child's waist pouch?" A student noticed that something was moving inside the waist pouch of a dead body on the ground.

"DON'T OPEN IT!" Xie Ting screamed in alarm.

But it was already too late. That student had already opened the pouch, releasing several firefly-like winged insects outside.

"Quickly run!"

Xie Ting shouted and then took the lead to run in a hurry.

No one could react in time. They only heard a mosquito-like buzzing sound as the firefly-like insects surged out from within the pouch and surrounded the person who had opened the bag. He screamed in pain as the insects covered all his body. Those who looked at him could only see a red monster which gave them goosebumps.

"What are those?"

Xie Ting said while running "Gu raised by the girl of the ancient city to protect herself…"

Xie Ting had already realized that it was a Gu Pouch when she saw it and knew there were Gu inside it. As they were moving, it meant they were still alive. As 400 years had passed, there was no doubt they would have multiplied crazily.

She turned back to look at that cluster of red lights packed together accompanied by a buzzing sound. They seemed like they would keep pursuing them.

"Run faster! They are chasing us!"

It wasn't like they could fly so they couldn't keep running fast as they were already tired. They clenched their jaws tightly and ran with all their might. Someone shouted at this moment, "There's a palace hall over here, let's go inside."

The group rushed inside and then closed the door.

"Aaaaahhhh!"

Screams full of alarm came through from inside. After entering the palace hall, only deep abysmal darkness laid there, and since they had seized the chance to escape the calamity, they hadn't paid much attention to the floor. Thus they fell down into the abyss.

No one could've expected that the fall of the ancient city would result in the palace hall being damaged as well. After entering inside, only abysmal darkness awaited them. The despair filled screams of those who fell down kept echoing for a long, long time…

It seemed as if it was an endless abyss!

Those who were walking along the path felt goosebumps when they saw this scene, causing their legs to wobble in fear. Some of the cowards were frightened and lost strength, dropping to the ground in a powerless state. If it weren't for their good luck of stepping on the path, they would've fallen into the abyss.

The path before them had some places which were empty while some places existed. After passing through it, an age-old palace came into view. It looked pretty simplistic and had indistinct ancient designs on the walls which gave off a very mysterious feel as if it had survived through many great changes of time.

The party moved towards it.

"What's written on this wall?"

The design on this wall looked clearer, it consisted of patterns and characters and had a complicated attire on the carving.

"This dress looks like that of the soldiers from the Ming Dynasty."

Professor Xu came over with the support of another person. He looked carefully at the design on the wall then nodded, "Indeed, it's the formal dress worn by a General of the Ming Dynasty. It ought to be of a 5th Rank Garrison Commander. If I'm right, the person drawn here should be Wang Chonglin from back then."

"What do the characters say?"

"This isn't the writing of the Western Regions so I can't make sense of it. Hmm, how come there's a devil drawn on this side?"

Jiang Xiu couldn't make sense of it as well. He surmised that it must be the native script.

"I can tell you!"

All of them looked towards the source of the voice, Xie Ting, who had currently clenched her fists tightly as she shivered, "It says that the City Lord of the Ancient City encountered a branch of the Ming Dynasty's Army in the desert. They had fainted over there and severely dehydrated. He brought them to the Ancient City to save them but had never expected this would be the prelude to a nightmare."

Xie Ting continued, "These Ming Dynasty soldiers were amazed to find that the natives of the Ancient City possessed martial cultivation, even a 10-year-old child could easily defeat the strongest expert among them. They didn't dare imagine the consequences if such a race attacked the Ming Dynasty one day."

"General Wang, Wang Chongling, who was the Garrison Commander stationed at the Western Regions had given the order to bury this danger in its cradle before it matured. They knew very well that they weren't a match of the natives with regards to military force, so they decided to use poison. In spite of the City Lord saving those people, those demon-like Min Dynasty people poisoned the food during the natives' Holy Pilgrimage Festival then massacred the entire Ancient City with their blades."

After hearing this, everyone lowered their heads in shame.

"Back then, the Holy Woman who intended to make the pilgrimage, as well as a few people who were in charge of the festivities, had escaped this calamity as they were fasting."

Her gaze swept past Professor Xu, Specialist Qian as well as the students of the Imperial Capital.

"This is the truth you wished to discover. Now that you have found it, will you announce it to the world?"

Everyone kept silent.

"You won't."

Xie Ting's sight fell on the murals again. She continued reading, "The survivors decided to retaliate against the Ming Dynasty…" She suddenly stopped.

"Then?" Qiu Yinru asked her.

"Nothing. This is already the final mural."

Xie Ting was probably the descendant of those survivors. Though it wasn't clear what happened, by looking at her life track, it was clear that they had blended into the Han people in the end.

The mood became quite heavy momentarily.

This was out of everyone's expectations. The reason for the extinction of the Ancient City was the Ming Dynasty's army. Though the natives of Sahagan had saved them, they had slaughtered the natives. It was really quite ironical.

As the later generation of the Ming Dynasty, they felt ashamed because of their former generation elders!

In this world, humans always injured others for the sake of personal benefit.

Humans were so, so were Demons, as well as the Gods.

…

"What's that?"

"That should've been the Holy Woman's Altar mentioned in the murals!"

In the depths of the palace, the altar still existed in perfect condition.

"Looks like there's something written there?"

"Let's go take a look."

They made for the place when a bang sound resounded in the area. The entire altar began to shake continuously. It seemed as if the whole palace was shaking. The characters on the altar began to flicker, and the altar emanated a gentle radiance too.

"What's happening?"

"I'm unable to move."

Shrieks began to echo for a moment.

"Everyone, don't panic…"

"NOOOOOO…"

"AAAAHHHHHH…"

Along with sounds of stone crumbling, the entire altar dropped down at a rapid pace. Everyone screamed due to the feeling of weightlessness. They felt the stone supporting the altar up crumble followed by them falling down along with it.

"SAAAVVVEEEE MEEE-!"

Despair filled their hearts at this moment as they wondered whether they were going to fall to their deaths.

Splash!

The sounds of bodies falling into water echoed all over. It seemed as there was a river underneath them.

All of them fell into the river.

Jiang Xiu was the only exception. He slowly descended and stood on the water surface. Loud sounds originated beside him along with water splashing up 10 m high. The core part of the altar had also dropped into the river.

"Phew… That scared the heck out of me…"

Many of them relaxed. Fortunately, there was river underneath, or else they would have died.

They swam towards the shore.

After reaching the bank, they dropped on the ground in a weak, fatigued state. This close encounter with death had sapped them of their strength. They gasped for breaths and recovered their strength slowly.

"Xie Ting?"

Jiang Xiu swept past everyone but didn't find Xie Ting.

"I-I think - Kugh - I saw her fall beside me…" Qiu Yinru coughed while trying to speak. Her hair was wet and face pale.

"She didn't drown, right?"

No one had the answer to this question. Xie Ting wasn't an ordinary girl so she wouldn't have drowned, but sometimes, the mysteries of the world were at work. Jiang Xiu furrowed his brows then plunged into the river.

The river water was very chilling. Jiang Xiu's body felt cold and refreshing after entering the river, and at the same time, he saw a light radiate from the depths of the river. He saw Xie Ting lay underwater and it looked like she had fainted as she wasn't moving. Jiang Xiu went towards her but then suddenly felt dizzy and felt as if his consciousness was separating from this body.

He was startled and immediately fled upwards, came out of the water surface and took a deep breath. He scrunched his brows, feeling perplexed about the event.

He didn't ponder on it much as Xie Ting might drown if he hesitated any longer.

He plunged into the water again while taking preventive measures, but this time, he didn't feel dizzy like before. He swam towards Xie Ting and saw that her eyes were wide open as she made a great effort to reach out towards him with a pleading expression in her gaze.

It was a bizarre posture. It seemed as if some kind of unknown power was binding Xie Ting. Usually, if a person became conscious, it didn't make sense that they couldn't swim as they would at the very least try to struggle, but she was utterly still underwater.

Jiang Xiu grabbed her hand and made towards the water surface. Whoosh! He directly flew out and landed on the shore along with her.

Jiang Xiu felt extraordinarily fatigued and sat down on the ground along with Xie Ting while taking huge gasps of air. Xie Ting looked towards Jiang Xiu, "Big Brother Jiang, thank you…"

Jiang Xiu wore the same indifferent face as always, but the events just now were bizarre. He gazed at Xie Ting and discovered that she was gazing back at him ardently. It was full of gratefulness yet Jiang Xiu found this to be quite odd because Xie Ting called him 'Big Brother Jiang' just now. She had always called him 'Mr. Jiang' and in fact, their relationship wasn't that intimate that they could call each other 'Big Brother' and 'Sis.'

"Are you alright?"

Jiang Xiu released her hand and felt dazed for a moment. Xie Ting's left wrist was as spotless as snow, void of the Fire God's curse pattern.

Her curse is gone?

Yin-Yang Fire God's fury, crawl towards the Hell on the other shore; at another world, you shall rest forever.

Shouldn't it be removed only by going to another world?

"Lady Xie, quickly come over here and tell us what's the meaning of the characters on the altar?"

Xie Ting stood up and went over towards the broken altar. Her sight fell on the writing, "Sinners afflicted by the Fire God's fury, welcome the arrival of the Holy Woman; the two worlds have overlapped, when the time comes, the Ming Dynasty shall perish."

All of them were confused.

"What does that mean?"

Xie Ting shook her head as well, "I also don't know."

Professor Xu said, "Could it be a space-time intersection? Many researchers of Doomsday believe that Doomsday would occur due to a space-time intersection. At that time, the world would perish."

"That makes sense."

Li Chengzhi also commented on it, "This is the retaliation of the Sahagan natives against the Ming Dynasty. The Holy Woman's arrival… is there nothing else about it?" They would have passed it off as a story usually, but there was giant golden god outside so it was possible that the things written on mural could really happen."

"Nope. It isn't clear as the following parts are damaged due to the fall."

They had fallen into the river because this altar had dropped down. The section which had crashed into the ground had become damaged due to getting crushed, so it wasn't possible to see what was written on it.

However, the intent behind the message written there was clear. It indicated that the Holy Woman's descent might lead to the collapse of space-time.

Professor Xu said, "Since the altar has been destroyed, the Holy Woman wouldn't descend, right?"

Li Chengzhi replied to him, "That should be the case. The matter happened 400 years ago. Since it hadn't happened back then, it shouldn't happen right now. That Holy Woman shouldn't be able to come."

"I believe we must focus on first removing the curse as soon as possible."

Everyone agreed with him, "Yes, that's right."

After all, one's life was the most important to them.

As the curse was mentioned, all of them instinctively looked towards their wrists. Jiang Xiu's gaze swept past their arms as well, the curse pattern was still there on their arms… Only Xie Ting didn't have one.

What happened to her?

Is it related to the altar or the river?

"Ooh…"

Someone yelped in surprise. It was Qiu Yinru. She was looking at her pale wrist, "It looks like this curse pattern is fading."

Everyone rechecked their wrists.

"It's really fading!"

Jiang Xiu raised his hand to take a look as well. The curse pattern on his wrist was indeed fading at speed visible to the naked eye. It appeared as if the flame was slowly getting extinguished and felt quite realistic.

"It's gone!"

Finally, the curse pattern on the wrist disappeared.

"Hahaha. It's really gone."

The happiness had come all too sudden. All of them almost jumped due to the joy.

"Whoo!"

"We are fine!"

Though they didn't know how it happened, they were pleased with the end result. Even Jiang Xiu wasn't sure what happened. He looked towards Xie Ting with doubt.

"Since the curse is gone, we should find a way to leave this place."

"I don't want to stay even a second longer in this damned region."

A few of the students squatted down and filled their canteens with water.

Leaving the desert was an arduous task as well. Water was the most important thing, so it was better to hoard as much as possible.

"Hmm?"

Jiang Xiu noticed a shadow inside the river. Its size spanned around 1.5 m, and it swam quite fast while fanning its tail as if it were a fish. It suddenly made for the water surface.

Jiang Xiu altered the student, "Be careful!"

The person who was crouching there was a fourth-year student called Bai Jiajun. Jiang Xiu's voice didn't make it in time. He looked at the monster which had appeared before him in alarm. The huge fish monster swallowed him in a single gulp, not even giving him the chance to scream. Crunch-Crunch. Gulp. Sounds of chewing sounded out followed by a gulping sound.

All those who witnessed this scene felt their hairs stand.

Their souls almost left their body.

That huge fish monster didn't go back into the water but instead landed on the ground then slithered towards Li Beng to the side.

It opened its sawtooth-filled mouth!

Li Beng reacted quite quickly. He got up gave it a side-kick. The monster flung its head sideways in response to it. He grunted when his foot came in contact with its head and got sent flying.

"Quite powerful!"

The monster fell to the ground and leaped towards Li Beng again. This time, they clearly witnessed how firm its skin was, its hardness the same as steel. The rocks on the ground got crushed into a fine powder as it slithered on the ground.

"AAAAHH!"

Li Beng screamed in alarm as the monster made its way towards him.

Bang!

All of a sudden, the monster's body got cut into two pieces due to an invisible energy pulse. Green blood rained all over as the two sections fell down to the ground. The monster died a violent death.

"Jiang Xiu!"

Jiang Xiu had acted.

"What kind of monster is this?"

"So scary. Luckily, it hadn't appeared when we were inside the water. Otherwise, we would have become its food."

Everyone was in a panic.

Li Chengzhi quickly hurried towards his son and help him stand up, "Li Beng, are you okay?"

"Y-Yes…" Li Beng replied in a rattled tone.

Jiang Xiu looked at the monster with an impassive gaze. It could neither be called a monster nor a demon. He couldn't understand how such a creature could exist here.

"Wrrrraaaarrrr!"

"Wrraaaarrr!"

Professor Xu asked, "Do you hear that? Doesn't it sound like…"

They saw a monster which shone with a black luster.

"Be careful!"

Professor Xu turned back in alarm and saw a monster which looked a beetle crawl over towards him. Jiang Xiu waved his hands towards it, but it only resulted in a spark on its shell and couldn't damage it. It crawled towards Professor Xu with movements like that of a spider.

Jiang Xiu was stunned. Though he hadn't used his entire strength in his attack just now, it was enough to be considered first-rate and enough to break gold or jade. This monster's defense was pretty high as it wasn't injured at all. Even bullets wouldn't penetrate through it.

Whoosh!

He sent another energy pulse.

This pulse was stronger than the previous. Chiirrr! The solid carapace got split open and its flesh mangled up. It roared in pain before dropping dead.

"Oh my god. What are these monsters?"

"How come they appeared out of nowhere?"

The surrounding people were scared shitless and couldn't help but draw closer to Jiang Xiu. They could only feel safe near him as they didn't know when a monster would crawl out of the darkness.

"Appeared out of nowhere?"

Jiang Xiu's gaze fell on the carapace of the dead insect monster.

"Mr. Jiang, what should we do?"

"Find the exit and leave this place." Jiang Xiu replied.

Since water and an air current existed at this place, it meant there was a way outside.

"That side…"

Li Chengzhi was a Fengshui Master, so he understood the intricacies of nature. Since there was an air current, it meant an exit existed. He led everyone towards the direction the wind was blowing from. The party quickly reached an exit and found a flight of steps there. These steps were quite wide and smooth. They escaped up without any hesitation.

"F-Faster…"

The people at the back urged, fearing that monsters would eat them if they tarried. Just the thought gave them goosebumps.

So much that they wished they had another leg to walk faster.

They climbed out and discovered that they were in the central zone of the ancient city.

"We finally came out. It really scared me."

"I feel dead tired."

Several people laid down on the ground.

A huge sculpture of a Goddess stood at this central zone. Jiang Xiu glanced at it and thought that it looked familiar. He couldn't help but take a glance towards Xie Ting. The appearance of the Goddess resembled Xie Ting's a bit, "What's that?"

"Sculpture of the Holy Woman!" Xie Ting replied.

"The Holy Woman who was mentioned on the altar?"

"Yes!"

Jiang Xiu looked at the people who laid down on the ground and said, "You better leave this Ancient City as soon as possible if you don't want to die here."

Chen Dewen waved towards Jiang Xiu while gasping for air, "I can't even move an inch."

"Why don't you…"

He stopped speaking as he heard a muffled, beastly breathing sound. Everyone turned back to take a look and saw a shadow standing in the darkness. Its head was quite huge, double the size of a lion's.

"AAAAAHHHH!"

"RUUUNNN!"

They escaped very quickly, but Jiang Xiu didn't follow them. He stood there in wait. The monster in the darkness hesitated for a while then retreated back into the darkness noiselessly, disappearing without a trace.

Jiang Xiu reached the base of the Goddess's Sculpture and pondered for a moment before bowing his head to take a look. There was a platform in the shape of a lotus flower under the feet of the sculpture, and a river flowed under it. There were six goose-egg sized holes on the lotus flower shaped platform. That shape…

Jiang Xiu took out the Longevity Stone and placed it in. It was a perfect fit.

The Longevity Stone had initially been a part of this place.

"So, there were six of them."

"The true effect of the Longevity Stone should be evident after gathering all six of them."

Since the rest of them weren't here, similar to the one with him, the other 5 were probably in the hands of the later generation of the Ancient City.

"I'll have to look into it later. First, I should leave this place…"

…

The fear those people felt scattered after sensing the warm sunshine when they escaped outside. They dropped down in exhaustion, feeling weary from the entire experience.

"We've finally escaped outside."

This time's desert trip was an unforgettable experience for all of them. It was simply too provoking.