Before long, a male cultivator slowly made his way up from the other side of the small hill.
He appeared to be in his forties, with a sallow, yellowish complexion — the very same cultivator who had been terrified of Patriarch Ji Yin back in the grand hall.
At this moment, he wore a strangely shaped jade-green conical hat and held a white jade bowl in both hands. Even in this blistering heat, a faint chill radiated from his body.
It was clear that both items were no ordinary objects.
The moment he reached the summit, his face was taut with vigilance as he scanned his surroundings ceaselessly, as though searching for something.
Finding nothing but empty terrain in every direction, the wariness on his face deepened by another notch.
A short while ago, when he had stolen a glance at this hill from afar, he had thought he glimpsed a figure flickering on its surface.
Now that he had arrived, there was absolutely no trace of anyone. This naturally made him extraordinarily cautious!
After casting one more cold look around the area, without a word he thrust two fingers into the jade bowl, then yanked them out sharply. A streak of white light shot from the bowl, following his motion, and circled above his head in an arc.
"Go!"
The yellow-faced man formed a single-handed seal and murmured the incantation under his breath.
With a soft pop, the white light shuddered and then burst apart, scattering into countless motes of starlight like a celestial maiden scattering flowers, blanketing an area dozens of zhang in every direction.
Where the light fell, layers of frost crystallized on the red ground — yet still not a single anomaly revealed itself anywhere.
The man's face flickered with a trace of puzzlement.
He lowered his head in thought for a moment, then half-convinced himself he had simply been mistaken earlier. He set the matter aside for the time being and turned a solemn gaze toward the black desert.
"This place really is something else," he muttered to himself in a low voice while staring at the eerie expanse of black sand, a hint of hesitation creeping into his manner.
Still, after only a brief moment's deliberation, he flicked his sleeve and a red light shot out, landing on the ground.
As the glow subsided, a small beast resembling a fire-red fox appeared where the light had touched down.
The man flicked a finger, and a green pill flew through the air.
The little creature opened its mouth, swallowed the pill in one gulp, and its face took on a look of obvious enjoyment.
"Go!"
The yellow-faced cultivator pointed unceremoniously toward the black desert and ordered the beast forward.
The small creature immediately tensed all four limbs, spun around, and streaked down the hillside in a beam of red light, astonishingly fast.
In short order, the fox-like beast had penetrated dozens of zhang into the black desert, tracing a wide circle around a yellow path of disturbed sand, and remained completely unharmed.
Not the slightest anomaly had occurred! It was as if the black desert, apart from its color, was no different from any ordinary stretch of sand.
The yellow-faced man stared in open astonishment — clearly, this outcome had far exceeded his expectations.
He had been fully prepared for his "Crimson Fox Beast" to be destroyed.
After all, this creature was merely an ordinary first-grade spirit beast. Apart from its agility and exceptional sense of smell, it possessed no formidable abilities. Even if it perished, he would not feel the slightest twinge of regret.
Brow furrowed deeply, he fixed his gaze on the small beast as it darted back and forth through the desert several times over, then finally gave a whistle to recall the Crimson Fox Beast, sending it racing back to the hilltop and into his sleeve.
After that, the man stood staring at the black desert with an unsettled expression, silent.
But this time he hesitated only a brief moment before stepping down from the hill and carefully making his way toward the black desert.
What he did not know was that shortly after he had descended, Han Li's figure flickered through a ripple of air and reappeared atop the summit.
Earlier, the yellow-faced man had conducted a broad-area magical search, but Han Li had used the Breath Concealment Technique from the Nameless Secret Formula, combined with the Gauze Mist Footwork, to evade the attack with ease, leaving not a single trace for the other to discover.
Furthermore, Han Li was supremely confident that even if the man was a mid-stage Core Formation cultivator, as long as he could close the distance, unleashing all nine Green Bamboo Bee Cloud Swords simultaneously would absolutely guarantee a one-strike kill — body and soul utterly annihilated.
This left Han Li torn for a good while, uncertain whether he should strike immediately to eliminate the man and seize those two treasures that were obviously of immense value, or let the fellow scout ahead and clear the path first.
When the man sent his small beast circling through the black desert and it returned with absolutely nothing to report, Han Li abandoned any thought of making his move entirely.
The unknown was the most dangerous thing of all! Better to let this man forge ahead and blaze a trail for him.
He refused to believe the black desert held no danger whatsoever.
Besides, the White Rhino Pendant and the Cold Ice Bead he already possessed were more than sufficient to shield him from the heat without issue. There was no urgent need to acquire the man's fire-repelling treasures.
The yellow-faced man, utterly oblivious to Han Li who now stood silently behind him, finally set foot onto the black grains of sand and walked into the eerie black desert.