The Temple

"Go after him!" Lilia shouted, but again, the old man didn't move, just ignoring her words completely.

Seeing that she couldn't move the old man, Lilia was forced to give up for now, but with the blood mark, she wasn't worried.

'You can run Minos, but you can never hide, so just wait for me.' She thought, as her face once again flushed, her eyes misty, as if filled with all sorts of fantasies.

…

Meanwhile, Minos was traveling through the night, just trying to build up as much distance between the two as possible.

While escaping, he was also prodding at the blood mark on his forehead, but it was clear this thing was beyond his current level, so he could let out a sigh as he stopped his attempts.

'As long as I don't remove this blood mark, it's only a matter of time before Lilia catches me, and by then, I doubt I'll be so lucky as to escape twice…' Minos thought, as he rubbed his sore forehead.

In a way, this was a lesson in greed. Had Minos just left earlier rather than mooching off Lilia, it was possible he could have avoided this twisted turn of events.

But water under the bridge, so now all he could do was think of ways to escape Lilia's hunt.

With the Ancient Desert Kingdom distracting her group, he should be safe for a short while, but once that was over, he was screwed.

So he likely only had a few months of time left to figure something out, and the first thought that came to his mind was naturally to increase his strength.

As long as he could reach the Inner Heaven Realm, it's very possible he could deal with the blood mark by himself, but how to do so?

Once again, everything came back to the Ancient Desert Kingdom, his destruction and salvation both existing in the same place.

As long as he uncovered the secrets of the Ancient Desert Kingdom, it's possible he could find the resources necessary to make such a large jump in cultivation.

Of course, even then, it was just a matter of luck, after all the secret may not be at all useful for increasing strength, but what choice did he have now?

He could only pray that destiny favored him, and that the Ancient Desert Kingdom had what he needed.

Letting out another sigh, Minos put his chaotic thoughts behind, focusing completely on the remaining journey, not even bothered to play music anymore.

…

After a few more days of travel, the terrain began changing, the thick trees dwindling and the earth becoming drier, filled with cracks.

The sky was filled with a thin sandy mist, making it hard to breathe normally, so Minos wrapped a cloth around his head before continuing his journey.

He was worried the first few days that Lilia would forcefully come after him, but after such a long time, he was relieved, more certain of his previous time estimate.

As his horse propelled through the savannah-like surroundings, Minos looked around, seeing a few other people also heading forward.

He could tell he wasn't far from his location, so with some prodding, his horse picked up its speed even more, the two rocketing forward as the sand was kicked up behind them.

By the time the sun had reached the middle of the sky, Minos had finally reached his destination.

Looking out ahead, he saw a massive temple with gates that seemed to be made for giants rather than humans.

Thousands of people were gathered around this temple, a large bazaar even forming in the area, making doing business convenient.

"Get your temple map, updated everyday with the newest information!"

"I'm willing to guide newcomers for the low price of one Nux Stone an hour, you won't get a better deal anywhere else!"

"Selling Leopard-Skin Lizard meat, 10 Nux Crystals a lizard!"

A cacophony of voices quickly hit Minos ears as he pulled up beside the lively bazaar, cultivators all shouting out, trying to make some business.

Seeing Minos, a new arrival, a few people quickly ran over, all of them harping at Minos as they tried to sell their services.

"Which one of you can tell me who sells the best temple maps?" Minos said, as he waved a bag of Nux Crystals in his hands.

"Me, me! It's old man Ikron, he was a cartographer before he became a cultivator, so his maps are the best quality!" One young man quickly shouted.

"Good, but if you're lying…" Minos said as he tossed the small bag to the young man, not even bothered to finish his sentence.

"Don't worry, as a guide, my word is the only thing I have." The young man said confidently, not worried that Minos would be dissatisfied.

Nodding, Minos headed towards old man Ikron according to the young man's directions, soon coming across a small stall lined with maps of all kinds.

He was originally going to take his time to get familiar with the area, but as he looked out of the corner of his eye, he saw a familiar carriage pulling up.

'Damn!' He thought, realizing he couldn't even afford to waste time here.

"Give me your best map, now!" Minos commanded, not wasting time on formalities.

"Alright, alright. This is the latest map I've created, one Nux Stone!" Old man Ikron said, seemingly used to people like Minos.

Not even bothered to haggle, Minos just snatched the map and gave the Nux Stone before running off to the temple, even handing his horse off to a random passerby to save time.

Seeing the familiar figure running through the marketplace towards the temple, Lilia couldn't help but giggle, almost amused by Minos's pointless attempts to escape.

Minos also looked back, noticing Lilia's veiled face poking out from the carriage window, looking directly towards him.

'She already found me? Damn, I have to move even quicker…' Minos thought anxiously, finally making his way into the temple.

As he did so, he didn't forget to give Lilia one more glance, but this time, he saw a different reaction on her face.

The veil made it hard to see exactly, but with Minos's advanced eyesight, he could just barely make out her mouth slightly twisting, as if something unexpected had just happened.

Meanwhile, Lilia was completely shocked, constantly activating her blood mark to sense Minos, but having it fail over and over again.

'What happened, the blood mark isn't working anymore? It must be that temple! It's okay, calm down, Minos doesn't know this, so all I have to do is wait for him to leave.' Lilia thought, calming herself back down.

And while Minos didn't know, he could make some estimates based off Lilia's sudden change in expression.

'Something must have happened? But what?' He kept pondering, as he ran deeper into the temple according to the map.

'Is it the blood mark? That's the only thing that connects us two, and her face changed the moment I walked into this place, so does that mean something happened to it?' He kept analyzing.

Deciding to test the mark again, he once again prodded at, expecting it to emerge from his flesh like it usually did, but nothing.

Instead, it stayed hidden, as if dead, remaining unmoving no matter how much Minos poked at it.

'It's definitely the blood mark! Does it not work in the temple? If so, it looks like luck is finally turning in my favor!' Minos thought ecstatically.

By now, he was almost certain of this guess, but of course he couldn't afford to take any risks, so he still kept his movement fast.

According to the map, the temple is split into an unknown number of different rooms, the map itself only having 12 jotted down.

The majority of these known rooms were prayer rooms, rooms filled with strange statues that the temple's creators seemingly worshiped.

The last four rooms were the beast sanctuary, a room filled with the preserved corpses of all sorts of ancient beasts.

The library, which was already reduced to dust by this point unfortunately, leaving nothing of value behind.

The treasury, which much like the library, had also been reduced to zilch, with nothing of importance remaining.

And finally, the star room, which was a strange room that had a massive star map on its ceiling, showcasing the creator's phenomenal knowledge of astronomy.

Of course, just reading the descriptions of these rooms weren't enough to do them justice, so Minos decided to head to them one by one, starting with the beast sanctuary.

Following the map, he quickly arrived at a large pair of stone doors that were already open. Walking inside, he noticed a few groups already gathered around, walking through the room as they inspected the area.

Minos didn't begin searching immediately, but instead stood near the doors as he scanned the room, impressed at what he was seeing.

There were large glass displays filled with a strange green liquid, and within this liquid, the corpses of beasts were suspended in animation.

There were all sorts of creatures, one like a Iron-Palm Bear, but twice as large, another like a worm was expanded a thousand times, becoming a massive terrifying looking creature.