"Just recovered a little, that's all," Yang Kai smiled.
Although he had rescued Gou Chi and another Demon Race member from the Yang Clan, he had no intention of genuinely befriending someone like Gou Chi.
This rescue had been forced by circumstance — he wanted to leverage Gou Chi's strength to move freely through the Demon Territory.
So he hadn't told Gou Chi the whole truth. Deep down, he still harbored some wariness toward the Demon Race, and he believed that even if he had saved Gou Chi's life, the man wouldn't care much unless he considered Yang Kai worth something.
"Brother Gou Chi, you mentioned earlier that this is the Sand Sea of the Demon Territory. Are you familiar with this place?" Yang Kai asked.
Gou Chi frowned and shook his head.
"The Sand Sea is dangerous. Even we demons don't set foot here lightly. No matter how powerful you are, your abilities won't work properly in this place. All I know is that we're in the Sand Sea — but I have no idea which direction to go. Pray we can find the right path, and that we won't run into anything too deadly along the way. And ideally, we won't get lost. If you lose your way here… you'll probably never leave for the rest of your life."
His words made Yang Kai and An Ling'er's hearts tighten once more. They exchanged a glance and realized that their luck had been absolutely terrible lately. On the overseas archipelago, they'd been chased by Aunt Nan Sheng, forced to flee through a Void Passage into the hands of the Yang Clan, barely survived a near-death escape, and now they'd landed in the Sand Sea of the Demon Territory.
These wild swings of fortune were truly exasperating.
Mid-conversation, Yang Kai suddenly frowned and looked off to one side, calling out in a low voice, "Someone's approaching!"
He probed with his senses and let out a soft hum of surprise, glancing at Gou Chi with a peculiar expression. "It's your tribesman."
"Oh?" Gou Chi raised an eyebrow. "So the bastard's still alive, huh? He was gone all night — I figured he was definitely dead out there. Tough little bugger, I'll give him that."
He spoke in an utterly nonchalant manner, showing not the slightest concern for his companion's life. Dead or alive — it was all the same to him.
Yang Kai quietly frowned.
A short while later, the Demon Race member whom Yang Kai had also rescued from the Small World indeed returned, a delighted look on his face. "I found a way out!"
Hearing this, everyone's expression brightened. Gou Chi asked eagerly, "For real?"
The man nodded with a smile. "Absolutely. I've been to the Sand Sea once before and came across an oasis. I even chopped down a tree there — the marks should still be there. And our luck's decent: we're on the outer edge of the Sand Sea, not too deep inside. Just head in that direction for a few days and we'll be out."
As he spoke, his face was brimming with excitement and joy.
Yang Kai and An Ling'er let out quiet breaths of relief, a feeling that their fortunes were finally turning washing over them.
They'd had enough bad luck recently. If it continued any longer, Yang Kai would've seriously considered finding a secluded spot to go into seclusion for a while.
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go — I'm dying of thirst!" Gou Chi waved his large hand and strode off eagerly toward the indicated direction.
The Demon Race member wasted no words and led the way.
"Let's go too," Yang Kai said to An Ling'er. She gave a slight nod, fell into step beside him, and they moved forward together.
The two demons marched ahead in high spirits. An Ling'er glanced at them, then said softly, "Yang Kai, be careful around this Gou Chi. Don't treat him with real sincerity, or you'll end up at a disadvantage."
"Did I need you to remind me?" Yang Kai chuckled lightly. "I never planned on getting too chummy with him. But since we're in the Demon Territory right now, if we want to get out safely, we really do need to rely on his strength."
An Ling'er nodded faintly and sighed softly, "Luckily, he didn't see much of your real abilities in the Small World. Otherwise, this trip could have been truly dangerous."
"If he learned your identity, we'd be in trouble too," Yang Kai said darkly, mentally warning her. "Never reveal who you are. And don't use the divine techniques of the Nine Heavens Holy Land again."
"I'm not some little girl — I wouldn't be that careless!" An Ling'er pressed her lips together in a smile.
"Hurry it up, Brother Yang! What's with all the dawdling?" Gou Chi suddenly turned around and shouted back.
"Coming!" Yang Kai called out, then told An Ling'er, "Let's pick up the pace."
That demon's sense of direction was truly remarkable. In this endless expanse of sand with no landmarks to speak of, he navigated with pinpoint accuracy. The fact that his true yuan and divine sense were both sealed made it all the more impressive — he was leading purely on instinct and intuition.
After roughly three hours of walking, a speck of green appeared on the distant horizon of the boundless Sand Sea, catching everyone's eyes.
An oasis!
A miraculous zone in the desert where water and plants existed — almost every desert had such places. No one knew how oases were born, or how they managed to endure amid all that sand.
The larger ones could persist for hundreds or even thousands of years unchanged, offering rest to passing travelers.
For desert wanderers, an oasis was quite literally a lifeline.
Seeing the oasis so close now, the two demons quickened their pace and soon rushed inside.