Chapter 1166: Sand Inflow, One in Every Ten Steps

The Face-Shifting Fox truly lived up to being one of the Four Great Thieves of the Central Plains—not only was his stealing skill unparalleled, but he also had extensive experience with various types of traps!
“Puff!”
“Puff…”
The sound of roaring flames quickly spread through the vast, dimly lit passages, illuminating this deep and dark tunnel. A massive passage stretching hundreds of meters, with no end in sight, lay clearly before Happy and Osaaya. The entire area was visible, and in awe, they both extinguished their torches.
Osaaya glanced in surprise at the Face-Shifting Fox, who was tapping and probing along the smooth walls, and exclaimed sincerely, “Young Master Gusu, now I finally understand why, despite your extraordinary skills, you still bring an elderly attendant with you… Your attendant is indeed no ordinary person.”
This palace in the desert was said to have been built by a group of mysterious craftsmen and countless trap makers. It appeared once every fifty years, each time devouring many strong warriors from all over the world. Many of its traps were based on ancient techniques.
It was astonishing that an unremarkable old man could find the lighting mechanism in the passage in such a short time!
Knock! Knock knock!
Unimpressed by Osaaya’s praise, the Face-Shifting Fox stepped aside carefully, pressed his ear against the wall, tapped it, and listened to the echoes returning from afar.
Happy spoke in a calm tone, “Miss Osaaya is also quite remarkable—already a master of the Heavenly Dao at such a young age. If she were to become my maid, she would surely be far better than this old man.” He naturally understood that Osaaya was trying to get him to reveal information, hoping to uncover the Face-Shifting Fox’s true identity. How could he let her succeed?
“…”
Hearing this, Osaaya glared at him angrily!
Probably only this mysterious man in the blue robes from Gusu would dare suggest that the Holy Maiden of the Holy Fire Sect become his maid. The words carried an ambiguous tone, making Osaaya feel both angry and flushed.
“Master!”
The Face-Shifting Fox rudely interrupted at this moment, breaking the romantic atmosphere between the two, “The lighting in this passage is far too simple, and the floor and walls are extremely smooth—these are characteristics of many deadly trap passages. Based on my experience, if we don’t leave soon, we’ll surely meet disaster.”
Hearing this, the man and woman exchanged a serious look and looked up at the sky covered in swirling black sand.
“I agree… We shouldn’t stay here long.”
“Let’s go!”

Their pupils constricted, and the three of them simultaneously leaped up, rushing toward the other end of the passage. A few seconds after they set off, yellow sand poured down like a waterfall from above, accompanied by a loud roar! The area where they had been standing was completely submerged. Hearing the deafening noise behind them, Happy, Osaaya, and the Face-Shifting Fox all frowned silently. All three were extremely intelligent; from the information revealed by the Face-Shifting Fox, they had roughly guessed that the Black Storm had already descended above them! With the passage above open, yellow sand would inevitably flow in! The environment inside the passage would also create a shifting sand terrain, and it would be completely submerged soon—staying there any longer would only lead to disaster. Fortunately, all three had decent light-speed movement skills, and after realizing what was happening, they quickly threw the yellow sand behind them. On the way! Happy suddenly noticed a faint glimmer ahead, like a thread of spider silk, disappearing in an instant. “Be careful,” the Face-Shifting Fox warned quickly. In mid-air, he shook his hands. Under the astonished gazes of Happy and Osaaya, a red cloth curtain tossed into the air was nailed forward by several flying knives using extremely ingenious techniques. The curtain was about two meters long! Four flying knives precisely nailed it at the four corners, pulling it taut and sending it flying forward in a straight line. Before they could marvel at the Face-Shifting Fox’s skill with hidden weapons, they heard a barely audible sound of the cloth tearing; soon after, several clear cracks appeared on the stretched-out curtain… The cloth fragmented into pieces, as if cut by countless sharp blades, turning into flying shreds. Whoa! Seeing this, Happy and Osaaya both grew alert! The passage was already narrow, with poor lighting, and those threads of silkworm silk could instantly cut ordinary people into pieces if they weren’t careful—nothing could protect them from them. The most dangerous part was the surging yellow sand and howling wind; under such pressure, many people would overlook the hidden dangers ahead out of nervousness. It was a highly dangerous dead end! Unconsciously, they slowed down as they hovered in mid-air. Whoosh! In mid-air, Osaaya elegantly threw a white ribbon, which fluttered through the air like steel, flying dozens of meters straight ahead… It was unclear how Osaaya managed to avoid all the silkworm silk threads, but her move wasn’t that simple. With a flick of her wrist…

The white ribbon suddenly stirred, writhing like a serpent as it gently emitted a puff of white powder. The white powder quickly settled. Within a space spanning dozens of meters, clear white threads appeared, crisscrossing and blocking everything in front, leaving not even a tiny gap to pass through. “Beautiful.” “Let this old servant take care of the rest.” The Faceless Fox was also quite troubled by these deadly silkworm threads, but since all the threads in this area were marked, the rest became much easier, so he volunteered to step forward, holding a gleaming dagger in his hand! Swish swish swish! The Faceless Fox moved at incredible speed, swiftly cutting through the silkworm threads and collecting them with a special handkerchief. In less than ten seconds, this silent, deadly trap was completely dismantled! “Young Master Gusu, I really can’t figure out your attendant any better now—he can easily cut through even the fire-and-water-resistant silkworm threads. That dagger in his hand must have an extraordinary origin.” Osaaya blinked and looked at Happy. “Just an old man who can only do physical labor. It’s not like Miss Osaaya’s graceful long-sleeve dance, which is both clever and pleasing to the eye. Won’t Miss Osaaya consider my proposal just now?” Osaaya rolled her eyes again and ignored Happy. With Osaaya silent and the Faceless Fox focused on disarming the traps, Happy naturally stopped talking as well, and silence fell over the passage. …… After falling into this forbidden-level mission at the “Dragon Gate Inn,” as time passed, Happy realized even more that bringing the Faceless Fox along was the wisest decision he had made recently! Along the way, they encountered several deadly traps, all based on silkworm threads! But with the guidance of an experienced veteran, they easily resolved them, leaving the threat of sand flooding far behind and reaching the end of the passage unharmed. That’s right. The end of the passage! The group’s path was blocked by a cold, hard cliff, leaving them seemingly trapped in a dead end. “How could this happen?” Osaaya frowned slightly. Only a master of the Way of Heaven could maintain calmness and rationality in such a situation; ordinary people would likely have panicked and turned back or screamed. “Ten thousand years.” Faced with this “dead end,” Happy simply turned to look at the Faceless Fox. He couldn’t believe that one of the four great thieves would make such a stupid and naive decision, leading his group into a dead end.

I made it through so many traps along the way without any problems; this shouldn’t be a dead end!
“It can’t be a sealed dead end. Let me see if I can break through.”
“Don’t touch it for now.”
The “Face-Shifting Fox” alias Qiu Wannian was now the most anxious in the group. As he spoke, he pressed his ear tightly against the wall, tapping here and there, but hearing nothing, he lay down and tapped the ground for a long time, searching for any possible traps:
“This might be a very famous life-threatening trap from ancient times. At this moment, we must not act rashly…”
“But the yellow sand is rushing in quickly. If we don’t find an exit soon, the three of us will die here.” Although Osaaya appeared calm on the surface, the surging waves of yellow sand at the other end of the passage made her frown involuntarily, revealing a hint of anxiety.
Ten seconds later!
The yellow sand was within twenty meters!
The icy sand even hit the faces of the three of them, but the Face-Shifting Fox still hadn’t found an exit or a trap…
As the space for the three of them became increasingly cramped and their situation more dangerous, even Happy could no longer maintain his calm.
Is this the trap of a forbidden zone level?
Is this the difficulty of a forbidden zone level task?
Am I supposed to die outside without even seeing a trace of the Desert Palace?
Happy smiled bitterly inwardly and reached into his Qi Bag to take out the Heavenly Crystal…
The Heavenly Crystal he had finally obtained. If he died, the ancient divine weapon would automatically seek a new master and vanish without a trace. He would lose this trump card he had spent so much effort to acquire. Compared to the Heavenly Crystal, a forbidden zone level task seemed insignificant!
Thinking of this, Happy was even more unwilling to die here.
“Wannian!”
“I’ve figured it out!” Just as Happy was about to start cutting through the cliff ahead, the Face-Shifting Fox suddenly exclaimed excitedly from behind:
“Master! This might be the ‘One in Ten Steps’ trap from The Records of Strange People and Seas!”
“…”
Happy froze upon hearing this. By the time the Face-Shifting Fox said this, the yellow sand had already reached their feet.
Whoosh!
The three of them leaped up simultaneously, stepping on the sand that was like quicksand, gradually rising higher. It was only because of their exceptional lightness of foot that they could manage to stay afloat; otherwise, ordinary people would have been trapped in that weightless sand and never able to get out!
“I don’t care what kind of trap this is! Tell me how to break it!” Happy demanded urgently.

The multi-faced fox flailed about on the flowing sand while explaining loudly, “There’s no need to break it; as long as we stay alive, the formation will collapse on its own. There’s still a chance of survival within ten steps. All we need to do now is protect ourselves!”
Boom!
With a loud explosion, the entire passage was completely swallowed by yellow sand. The three of them were like ants struggling to survive in turbulent waves, constantly climbing upward through the surging sand.