Chapter 80: Exploration

"Death sandstorm!" Luo Yuan exclaimed in alarm.

"It’s a death sandstorm, run!" Thor shouted as well.

"Hurry, hurry, hurry!" Hong urged anxiously.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!...

The fourteen of them shot forward at full speed in an instant. In his anxiety, Luo Yuan grabbed hold of Hong and Thor, the two slowest flyers, by their arms. Luo Feng, relying on his Sky-Escaping Shuttle, kept pace with Luo Yuan, who was carrying two people. The remaining ten servants formed a protective formation behind them.

The death sandstorm was one of the many dangers recorded in the guides they had purchased. Among the three great threats of the Death Desert, the death sandstorm was infamous. It appeared without warning, sweeping across the land with no pattern, utterly inescapable. Generations of experience had taught the following wisdom:

When faced with a death sandstorm, burrowing underground was suicidal. Flying up into the sky was equally fatal.

The only chance for survival was to outrun the storm itself.

If the sandstorm dissipated before catching up to you, you lived.

"We just entered this Thunder World and already stumbled into a death sandstorm—what rotten luck is this?" Thor cursed. "Look, that must be a squad that entered Thunder World just before us."

"Hmm?" Luo Yuan glanced back.

Indeed, a small team—a mix of young men and women—were being relentlessly pursued by the storm. Judging by their attire, they were likely one of the four squads from the Black Cloud Society who had entered Thunder World slightly ahead of Luo Yuan's group. This desperate squad had six members: four men and two women.

They ran for their lives—madly fleeing.

The death sandstorm drew ever closer to the Black Cloud squad. The burly man with a single horn leading their rear roared in fury and despair.

"Ssshhh—" The death sandstorm finally caught him, sweeping him up in an instant. The sand, infused with the energy of the universe's source, shredded him as if he had been fed into a meat grinder. His battle armor was torn apart, and blood, flesh, and fragments of bone scattered through the air.

"Ah!"

"Run!"

"Quick!"

The remaining five members of the Black Cloud squad wore twisted expressions, each unleashing their utmost speed in the face of death.

...

A few kilometers ahead, Luo Yuan's team, having witnessed this, fled even faster in terror.

"Hurry, hurry, hurry, escape now!"

"Don’t let the death sandstorm catch up!"

"Damn it, this thing is terrifying. With a sandstorm this strong, even underground you’d be torn apart. No wonder the guides say burrowing is certain death." Though Thor was tense, he could do nothing more—he and Hong relied entirely on Luo Yuan to carry them.

Luo Feng, riding his Sky-Escaping Shuttle, and the ten star-level nine servants also moved swiftly.

...

After two more members of the Black Cloud squad fell behind and perished, the sandstorm’s speed began to drop, its overwhelming momentum fading. Clearly, this death sandstorm was nearing its end.

"Finally, we survived," Luo Yuan and the others breathed a collective sigh of relief.

They flew on for another half hour or so.

"There’s a mountain range ahead," Luo Yuan announced. His mental senses had already detected the unremarkable peaks in the distance.

"You found mountains?" Luo Feng, Hong, and Thor sped up. Sure enough, a mountain range stretched to the horizon, lush with trees and vegetation—a stark contrast to the barren Death Desert, full of life.

"They really are mountains," Hong said, glancing at the smart-brain screen. "According to the map, we’ve reached the Lonso Mountains."

"The Lonso Mountains?" Thor shot into the sky, gazing at the outline of the range and studying its distinctive features. He then checked his auxiliary-brain screen. "Yes, this should be the central border area between the Lonso Mountains and the Death Desert. Our target—Demon Moon Lake—is still sixteen thousand kilometers away."

Demon Moon Lake, nestled within the Lonso Mountains, was a vast body of water over a hundred kilometers across. Its abundant resources attracted numerous fierce beast packs, including the One-Horned Iron Rhinoceros herd.

The horn of the One-Horned Iron Rhinoceros was one of the required items for passing this trial.

"In the Lonso Mountains, we need to be even more cautious than in the Death Desert," Luo Yuan warned. "The desert’s dangers are primarily natural, but in these mountains, with their forests and beasts, many other participants lurk within. Battles with savage beasts, and even more so, with other humans, are frequent."

"Understood," Luo Feng, Hong, and Thor nodded.

In truth, the Lonso Mountains were far more perilous.

"Beware of humans. Beware of the natural hazards of this World of the Realm Master—especially thunder! If you see signs of lightning, get away from any place that might be struck," Luo Yuan reminded them, recalling the warnings in the guides. Despite possessing the ninth level of the Domain of Thunder and a few threads of the Law of Thunder, he dared not confront the power of thunder in this small world directly.

The most terrifying force of nature in all Thunder World was—thunder.

That was why this world was called Thunder World.

Thunder here was so fearsome that even a Domain Lord would be reduced to ashes in an instant if struck. As for those at the star-level? They wouldn’t stand a chance.

The Lonso Mountains hid countless dangers. Their forests were difficult to navigate and teemed with fierce beasts, many of them star-level nine.

After nearly two days of travel, Luo Yuan’s group finally reached Demon Moon Lake.

Demon Moon Lake stretched as far as the eye could see. The land around the lake was open, with many trees long since trampled and broken—clear evidence of frequent beast activity.

"There aren’t any beasts around," Luo Feng frowned.

"No matter, we’ll wait," Luo Yuan smiled. "It’s better to wait here than to rush to another place where the Iron Rhinoceros might appear."

"We’re lucky," Hong said easily. "We've come this far in Thunder World and haven’t had to fight at all." The lack of combat was thanks to Luo Yuan’s psychic scouting and Babata’s alert devices, which always provided early warnings.

So they waited.

In Thunder World, nine sun-like orbs hung in the sky by day, while night was pitch dark, with only faint, unobtrusive light. On their first night in the woods by Demon Moon Lake, Luo Yuan’s group spotted three giant lizard-like beasts.

On the second day, they saw three more groups of beasts.

They even witnessed the terrifying sight of beasts slaughtering one another.

...

On the sixth day, as the nine light spheres floated high above Thunder World, Luo Yuan’s fourteen waited in silence.

"We’re really lying in wait like hunters," Thor mused from a tree branch, occasionally glancing into the distance. "Never thought I’d be doing this."

"Get down—look, the One-Horned Iron Rhinoceroses are coming!" Luo Yuan called with a gleam in his eye.

"They’re finally here!"

Everyone got to their feet.

"Follow me," Luo Yuan shot upward, leading the way through the forest. Though the trees and plants were dense, he slipped through without disturbing a single leaf. Luo Feng, Hong, Thor, and the ten servants followed quickly, and soon the fourteen of them arrived near the lakeshore of Demon Moon Lake.