Chapter 74 Scorched Earth

After entering through the portal, Xuan found himself completely alone, in a new dimension. Surrounding him was a vast and endless field of sand, and already, he could feel sweat forming on his head.

It was hot. Terribly so. In this isolated desert, he had no one to rely on but himself—for now, anyway.

Luckily, the night before, he'd prepared for this beforehand, and bought an item called a <Frost Stone> from the System Shop. This rock was originally used to help ice-attribute cultivators consolidate and progress their cultivation, but could also be used to keep something cool—in this case, Xuan's body. He carried it inside a pouch attached to his waist, and it served to keep Xuan's body temperature at bearable levels. He was still sweating, but he wouldn't be dying from a heat stroke anytime soon.

'Now then… from what I remember, the Flaming Sands Field is split into several rings, alternating between scorching desert and relaxing forest. I should be in the outermost ring right now, which means…'

He pulled up his System Map and looked at it. As expected, he was in the outermost ring of the Flaming Sands Field small world. The inner layers were all fogged up on the Map since he had not explored them yet, but even so, this map could serve to point him in the right direction—towards the fog.

"… This way."

Exiting his System, Xuan picked up the pace, and headed towards the inner layers of the Flaming Sands Field. After just a while of walking, however, he suddenly heard a sound, and stopped in his tracks.

'Oh…? Flame Beasts already?'

Indeed—his Divine Sense was picking up on the presence of a Flame Beast. Normally, these things would only appear as he got deeper in, but apparently this time was different.

"If you're going to come at me, get it over with already," Xuan declared, drawing his sword. "Trying to land a surprise attack will not work."

As if understanding Xuan's words, from behind a nearby rock came a small lizard. Its body was made out of a raw lava-like substance, and without a doubt, touching it was going to be a pain.

Luckily, Xuan was not a gauntlets-user like some, and had a sword instead. The lizard hissed and spat fire in his direction, but he easily countered it with his Assimilating Qi.

"Hmph. Futile."

Embedding his own sword with those same flames, he then used his Sword Intent to unleash a powerful, fire-lined wave of Sword Qi at the frail lizard, who was easily cut in half.

"A mere Fifth-Order Magic Beast dares to try and sneak attack me…" Xuan muttered, re-sheathing his sword. "But still, that begs the question. Why are they out here?"

Cautiously, he bent down by the fire lizard's body and inspected it. It was hard to tell with a normal eye, but Xuan's Divine Asura Eye often revealed secrets—and sure enough, upon inspecting the corpse, he discovered something quite intriguing.

<Name: Injured Flaming Sands Lizard [DECEASED]>

<Type: Magic Beast (Fifth-Order)>

Strength: 20,000

Defense: 10,000

Soul Strength: 1,000

Soul Defense: 1,000

'Injured, huh…'

Upon looking closer, Xuan could see some evidence of burn marks on the lizard's lava skin. That was quite ironic, considering the beast was literally made of fire. It would have to take an incredible strong fire to be able to burn something like this… something like Dragonfire, or Phoenixfire.

'Just what did this…?'

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Xuan understood now. The reason that the Flame Beasts were already starting to appear this early was not for no reason. They were running—escaping, from something deeper inside. This 'thing' had stolen their territory, and threatened to kill anyone who got close. As such, to hunt, the Flame Beasts had no choice but to come out here, away from their comfort zone.

This was still odd, however. Why would this 'thing' just injure this lizard, instead of killing it? Magic Beasts were highly territorial and ruthless—they don't spare enemies. If it could kill, it definitely would.

Unless… the 'thing' was injured?

By the second, things were starting to look more and more like Xuan had initially guessed—and he did not like it.

*****

Hurrying, Xuan made his way towards the second layer of the Flaming Sands Field. He encountered many more Flame Beasts on the way, but all of them, being injured, were easily slaughtered by him. They only served to feed his Divine Asura Eye and Sword Intent. One notification popped up after another as he continued his killing spree, and even achieved some level-ups on the way.

<Fourth-Order Beast Slain!>

<Sword Intent +400>

<Current Intent EXP needed for next level: 10,500/20,000>

———

<Divine Asura Eye — Rank Up!>

<Grade: Heaven -> Ancient.>

<New Ability Unlocked: Scent of Blood — After seeing a corpse, track the being who killed them.>

"Oho…"

Xuan narrowed his eyes at this newfound ability. It wasn't very useful at first glance but rather quite situational. However, it was almost perfect for Xuan's current situation. He needed to know what was the entity behind this Quest Mutation, but the problem was… this ability only worked if that entity actually killed any beasts. So far, all the ones he'd found had just been injured, and he was the one who finished them off.

"Hm…"

Before Xuan could think about it any further, however, he found himself staring at an enormous screen of some sort. It was largely transparent so he could see what lay beyond—and without a doubt, it was the next layer of the Flaming Sands Field. The scenery change was incredibly contrasting, and one would have to be an idiot to not be able to tell.

This was the first 'treasure' area. It was unlikely Xuan would encounter any dangers here—that is, except for other cultivators who'd also reached this place. He'd been alone thus far, but he expected to see some other people soon. What's more, most likely, they'd be enemies.

Taking a deep breath, Xuan stepped through the barrier.