Chapter 1167: Perils in the Sand River

“Damn it!”
“How could this be a dead end?”
“Bastards!!”
“So many brothers died along the way. After finally reaching here, it turns out to be a dead end… Which vicious scoundrel set this trap?”
In another identical narrow passage, dozens of Mythical Realm experts were trapped in a dead end, panicked. They drew their swords and carved countless grooves into the surrounding walls, but the walls were clearly extremely thick—no signs of damage despite repeated attacks from these experts.
Despair set in: the walls were unbreakable.
As they turned around, swirling yellow sand rushed in—like a monster with its maw wide open!
The sand contained traces of red blood and fragmented corpses, causing the Mythical Realm experts to break into cold sweats under the unprecedented threat of death:
“No!”
“I don’t want to die here!” “I refuse to die here!!!”
Some with weaker minds nearly collapsed in despair, screaming in hysterical terror—the blood and corpses in the sand were those of their comrades who had died in various traps. They had advanced here at the cost of countless lives due to the encroaching sand.
Death reigned everywhere along the way!
No wonder they completely collapsed when they realized it was a dead end.
“Sigh…” Ye Gucheng watched indifferently as these master-level figures lost their composure in the face of death. With a calm expression, he slowly drew his long sword, a cold blade light flashing from its scabbard.
In an instant!
The passage fell silent.
Like immortals descending from the heavens…
The Mythical Realm experts in the passage felt as if they were in a dream. They saw graceful fairies passing by them in dazzling white sword light before their consciousnesses vanished swiftly.
Thud!!!
Puffs of bright red blood sprayed into the air, splashing onto the cold swirling sand. Then there was Ye Gucheng, standing there with a cold expression, holding his sword.
…
It wasn’t just Ye Gucheng and Kai Xin who were in despair…
…
Compared to Ye Gucheng, Dongfang Bubai was even more ruthless.
When he fell into the passage, sand rushed over his head!
Dongfang Bubai didn’t even glance at the maids behind him and flew away alone. Thanks to his innate intuition as a Heavenly Dao expert and his extraordinary reflexes, he safely navigated through numerous traps!
But…
His maids were not so lucky.
“Ah!!”
“Master!”
“Master, save us!!”
Screams rang out repeatedly from behind.

Dongfang Bubai glanced back and saw several maids with considerable cultivation levels being cut into pieces by the sky silkworm silk. He merely let out a cold, emotionless snort through his nose, turned away, and swiftly left without pause.

By the time the yellow sand reached a dead end, only three maids returned to Dongfang Bubai’s side. Each of them was covered in blood and seemed on the verge of collapse.

“You devil!”

“I’ll kill you!!”

Struggling to overcome the terror of repeated deaths, the three maids seemed severely shaken. When they saw Dongfang Bubai, they didn’t cling to him affectionately as before; instead, they drew their swords, their faces filled with rage as if they wanted to tear him apart alive.

Dongfang Bubai coldly took out a handkerchief to cover his mouth…

Thud! Thud…

The two maids in the front were instantly pierced by embroidery needles, suspended in midair, their blood pouring out as their bodies fell one after another, completely breaking the last maid’s will.

“Ah!!!!”

Seeing their companions die right before their eyes was the final straw that crushed their spirits. Their long swords clattered to the ground, and the poor maids collapsed to the ground.

“Hmph.”

Dongfang Bubai naturally knew that even if the last maid survived, she would be useless. He didn’t bother attacking her further. He stared at the surging yellow sand approaching from the opposite side, frowning deeply.

“The path ahead is blocked, the exit is sealed—total dead end.”

“What a deadly trap…”

Faced with certain death, Dongfang Bubai showed not a hint of panic. Instead, he looked up at the sky above his path. “Since this road is blocked, I’ll find another. I refuse to believe that a mere palace can stump me.”

With a flick of his hand, an embroidery needle was shot out.

Boom!!!!

The yellow sand engulfed the maids. At the moment it reached the dead end, Dongfang Bubai exerted a slight force and soared into the air like lightning, heading upward.

After two twists, he reached a height of a hundred meters.

Looking down, he saw that the entire passage below was completely blocked. The endless yellow sand seemed to pour down from a giant funnel, flowing from high to low.

In the blink of an eye, the dead end rose twenty or thirty meters higher, chasing after Dongfang Bubai.

“…”

Dongfang Bubai frowned slightly.

The cliff-like walls made it difficult to gain traction, but for him, flying in the air was even easier than moving on flat ground.

With successive shots of embroidery needles, he swiftly flew dozens of meters ahead!

But soon, Dongfang Bubai noticed a problem! The closer they got to the exit of the trap, the more thoroughly the yellow sand covered everything. The sand filled the surroundings like heaven and earth, making it completely impossible to see where the exit was! Moreover, more sand kept pouring in from that direction. Seeing this, Dongfang Bubai’s expression changed drastically. Even a master of the Heavenly Way couldn’t break through such thick flowing sand to get out… And who knew what conditions awaited outside? Just as Dongfang Bubai, the master of the Heavenly Way, showed concern for the first time, suddenly noise came from the passage below! “Huh?” In mid-air, Dongfang Bubai sensitively sensed that the height of the flowing sand below was dropping rapidly! Upon closer inspection, vortices appeared in the sand passage, with countless grains of sand seemingly finding an outlet and rushing downward frantically. Dongfang Bubai’s eyes lit up. Weight stones!! He accelerated downward into the sand like a meteor falling to earth. When something unusual occurred in the sand passage, Qianmian Renhu noticed it immediately, his face flashing with ecstasy as he shouted loudly, “One chance in ten steps—hope has appeared! What are we waiting for?” With that, he first used the wall for support to slow his upward motion and fell downward. Kai Xin and Aosaya exchanged relieved glances, adjusting their cultivation methods as well, ready to descend. But just then, a faint sound came from the sand. “Be careful!” Kai Xin reacted quickly. His keen senses immediately locked onto a thick black shadow shooting out of the sand, realizing it was heading toward Qianmian Renhu, who had already fallen first. Reflexively, he swung his sword. Whoosh! The wind filled the sky! The sword descended like a star! Like a meteor tearing through the sky at lightning speed, it struck the thick black shadow with devastating force, arriving before Qianmian Renhu could react. “Sss!” The huge black shadow that had shot out of the sand was intercepted by the sword in mid-air, its movement halted as it let out a disgusting, strange scream. Its massive figure loomed before Qianmian Renhu, as well as before Kai Xin and Aosaya. It was a giant scorpion! Its terrifyingly large pincers on the left side were split open by a single sword strike, and it staggered backward, rolling back into the sand. But the passage was too narrow—even if it rolled back, it would crush Qianmian Renhu beneath it!

The Face-Shifting Fox instantly circled around the edge of death, terrified to the point of sweating profusely. Now, seeing the giant scorpion descending from the sky, it hurriedly retreated, unleashing a series of sword attacks on the scorpion’s tough exoskeleton.
“Ding ding dang dang!!”
The attacks from a master at the late stage of the Mythical Realm only produced a series of sparks upon hitting the giant scorpion. With a loud “boom,” the scorpion tumbled belly-down into the flowing sand.
“Be careful.”
By then, Kai Xin had already used a weight to accelerate and land near the Face-Shifting Fox. Staring intently at the swirling sand where the scorpion had sunk, he instructed the fox, “The traps in this Desert Palace are truly extraordinary. That scorpion’s defenses are on par with those of a Heavenly Dao master… Just follow me closely and prioritize your own safety.”
Kai Xin thought quickly, realizing that such creatures didn’t exist in the desert. The only possibility was that the danger from this trap hadn’t fully passed.
Amidst the chaos, Kai Xin had the best equipment and survival skills—his only concern was the Face-Shifting Fox.
The Face-Shifting Fox was deeply moved:
“Yes, master!”
“Osaaya, clear the way!”
Without another glance at the fox, Kai Xin bluntly ordered Osaaya to lead the way.
In such a harsh environment, it would be foolish not to use a bodyguard at the Heavenly Man-Heaven Unity realm!
Although Osaaya was upset that Kai Xin wasn’t gentlemanly at all toward her, her expression turned serious after witnessing the scorpion’s behavior earlier. Without hesitation, she plunged into the swirling sand first.
Boom!!!
The injured scorpion wasn’t about to become easier to deal with just because it had suffered a temporary setback. Shortly after sinking into the sand, it rushed back out, its body over two meters wide and more than ten meters long. This time, it didn’t soar high into the air like before.
Clang clang clang!
To Kai Xin and Osaaya’s astonishment, yellow sand sprayed up from the sand and shot toward the three of them in the air.
The scorpion crawled rapidly along one side of the wall, its tail curled high as dozens of black objects, accompanied by a scorching wind, rushed toward the three.
The tall man had learned his lesson—instead of recklessly engaging head-on, he chose to harass from a distance.
But none of the three present were easy opponents.
White veils fluttered, forming circular barriers that protected all three…
All three waves of yellow sand were blocked by the seemingly fragile veils—yet they failed to stop those black objects.

The moment the white veil was pierced, Osaaya raised an eyebrow in slight surprise and reached out to grab the small black sphere in her hand: “Black Sand Crystal! It’s actually a Black Wind Sand Scorpion from ancient times that fed on sand.”