The last spirit fruit had, unexpectedly, ended up in the hands of the white-robed young woman.
She was quite decisive about it, pulling out a startling array of rare materials from her storage without hesitation, dividing them into four portions according to value and letting everyone take their pick.
Her generosity was so lavish that even Long Dong and the young woman from the Black Phoenix Clan admitted they couldn't match it. With no small amount of reluctance, they conceded the spirit fruit to the girl.
This small section of ten-thousand-year-old Jade Spirit Wood was one of the materials Han Li had selected.
The wood was weightless as air, impervious to both water and fire, making it one of the finest materials for inscribing spell formations. Moreover, as its age increased, it gradually developed a degree of five-element defensive capability.
For this reason, the wood was generally used for refining large-scale magical implements — the ideal crafting material for spirit boats, flying shuttles, and beast-drawn carriages.
Han Li toyed with the spirit wood in his hand for a moment before putting it away. Then he lifted his head and cast his gaze around.
This flying carriage was still the one Long Dong had produced. Though it couldn't match the comfort or concealment of the previous Spirit Cloud Boat, its flight speed far surpassed it.
Then again, if they ran into a powerful ancient beast, even the Spirit Cloud Boat's concealment formation probably wouldn't do much good. In that case, it was better to use this faster flying carriage.
If they ran into minor troubles, they could simply outrun them with this carriage's speed.
At the moment, the flying carriage had transformed into a faint green shadow high in the sky, hurtling forward at a remarkable speed.
The others besides Long Dong, who was piloting the carriage, all sat quietly in their corners without a word.
Han Li's gaze drifted and suddenly settled on the white-robed young woman nearby. His eyes narrowed slightly.
Of their entire group, the person he was most wary of and understood the least was this woman whose cultivation appeared equal to his own.
She looked rather young, and her manner of speaking seemed almost childishly simple, but Han Li had cultivated the Great Development Technique to its pinnacle — his spiritual perception and intuition had long since reached an inconceivable level of sensitivity. He could not shake the feeling that this woman was the one among the four who put the most pressure on him. She was even more mysterious than that blood-mole youth who supposedly belonged to a True Spirit clan.
While Han Li was silently mulling this over, the young woman who had been meditating with her eyes closed in another corner suddenly opened them — and their gazes met squarely.
Han Li's heart jolted. Before he could react in any way, the young woman pursed her lips and let out a soft laugh.
Han Li gave an awkward chuckle and quickly turned his face away.
Had he not done so, he might have caught the flash of amusement that had just flickered through her eyes.
Over the following half month, their journey proceeded with remarkable smoothness, and they encountered not a single trouble.
This allowed both Long Dong and the young woman to breathe quiet sighs of relief, secretly hoping the rest of their journey would go just as smoothly.
Several days later, the scenery around them shifted, and a vast yellow desert appeared ahead. A wave of scorching wind blasted toward them.
"A desert — could it be we've already reached the Southern Gen Heavenly Rift?" The white-browed youth's eyes flickered with surprise.
"That's right. This is the Southern Gen Great Desert, and also the easiest route to reach the Wood Tribe." Long Dong's voice grew solemn.
"I've heard people mention this place before. Is it really true that there's no way around it? Wood Tribe and Shadow Tribe members are said to frequent this area — it seems rather too dangerous." The young woman glanced around, her delicate brows furrowing.
"Fairy Xiu, the environment here is harsh, certainly, but it's far more stable than the other two routes. As for going around it, that's simply impossible. On one side of this desert lies the infamous Grand Beast Mountain Range, home to countless high-level ancient beasts. Even Deity Transformation cultivators who venture inside would likely never return. On the other side is the even more treacherous Jiao Abyss Grand Canyon, where over a hundred evil flood dragons of Deity Transformation rank or above have made their lair — and several dozen are Jiao Kings at the Void Refinement stage, to say nothing of the lesser flood dragons. Neither our two races nor the other races are willing to provoke that bunch of wyrms lightly. How could a handful of Deity Transformation cultivators like us dare to cross? These three regions are vast — if we tried to go farther out to detour around them, it would take us a good year. With the great war potentially breaking out at any moment, Heavenly Abyss City would never allow us to take that long." Long Dong gave a bitter laugh as he explained.
"So that's how it is. But I've also heard that this desert is supposedly a trial ground of sorts for the two races," the white-robed young woman interjected.
"Before I set out, the elders in my clan gave me similar instructions," the white-browed youth said, growing cautious as well.
"If that's the case, we should stop using this flying carriage for the time being. It's far too conspicuous. Let's conceal ourselves and proceed on foot. Even if everything goes smoothly, it will likely take us about a month to truly cross this desert." After a moment of thought, Long Dong spoke.
"I'll follow your suggestion," the young woman said. After a brief consideration and an exchanged glance with the white-browed youth, she agreed.
"I have no objections. Though riding this carriage really is a bit too eye-catching," Han Li said with a smile.
Only the white-robed young woman looked utterly indifferent.
With that decided, the group flew out of the carriage one by one. The blood-mole youth collected the artifact, and they all cast concealment spells before cautiously entering the desert.
They hadn't ventured far into the desert before Han Li sensed something unusual about it.
The temperature was far too high — vastly exceeding any desert he had previously encountered.
Even flying at a low altitude, he could still feel waves of intense heat rising from the ground below, as though he were not soaring above a desert but hovering over the mouth of a massive volcano.