Chapter 62 – Desert (1)

Fortunately, Nan-seol who had drawn her sword didn’t immediately rush at Yeon-hwa. Because even in her eyes, Yeon-hwa appeared to be an ordinary person.

But the hatred for the Divine Cult deeply rooted in her heart made her sword tremble tremendously.

“The witch of the Divine Cult… Ah, excuse me. It’s become a habit.”

Hwangbo Ja-gyeom apologized to Yeon-hwa, but his expression didn’t look very sorry.

Even Hwangbo Ja-gyeom seemed to have severe hostility toward the Divine Cult.

But Yeon-hwa didn’t care much about their reactions. She looked around and then spoke to Sun-woo.

“Fortunately, this is a place I know. It’s been quite a while since I’ve been to Taklamakan.”

“Taklamakan Desert?”

At Yeon-hwa’s words, Hwangbo Ja-gyeom made a troubled expression instead.

“What’s wrong?”

“If it’s Taklamakan, it’s Divine Cult territory. This is crazy. Of all places, we got summoned to this region?”

Taklamakan. In other words, the Taklamakan Desert. A massive desert in Xinjiang that was an area practically controlled by the Ming Cult, or rather, the Divine Cult.

While Hwangbo Ja-gyeom was dumbfounded, a voice reached the party’s ears.

[Please find and destroy what is believed to be a Blood Cult branch in this region. Please collect, dispose of, or purify all contamination spreading agents discovered along the way.]

The mission had come down.

“What is this about? There’s never been an order to attack a group before.”

Hwangbo Ja-gyeom’s expression hardened after hearing the mission. Because it was a task that had never come before.

‘Could this be related to what I reported to association headquarters?’

As far as Sun-woo knew, that was the only thing that had changed.

But Sun-woo put aside such thoughts for a moment. Because something might be progressing somewhere he didn’t know about.

“Tsk, is this why the higher-ups want to designate those Blood Cult bastards as public enemies of the martial world? Well, if they’re connected to contaminated bastards, destroying them would be right.”

Hwangbo Ja-gyeom seemed to have reached a simple conclusion, but Sun-woo was different.

‘If they eliminate just by recognizing something as contamination-related, what happens if the Summoners point to some country or city?’

The more he thought about it, the heavier Sun-woo’s heart felt.

But now wasn’t the situation to reveal this. Sun-woo pushed the thoughts to one corner and threw a question to Yeon-hwa.

“If you know the geography here, do you happen to know where the Blood Cult branch is located?”

But it seemed things wouldn’t proceed that easily.

“I’ve never heard of it. Here there are only tribes living by each oasis and occasionally caravans crossing the desert.”

Indeed, if there was a Blood Cult branch in Divine Cult territory, they wouldn’t have left it alone.

But just because it wouldn’t proceed easily didn’t mean there was no method.

“Then can you find a nearby tribe?”

“Hmm, just a moment.”

At Sun-woo’s words, Yeon-hwa began looking around and gauging directions.

When it seemed Yeon-hwa could find the way, Hwangbo Ja-gyeom comfortably sat down on the sandy ground. But Nan-seol seemed to continue pondering something.

“Are you okay?”

Nan-seol shook her head at Sun-woo’s question as he approached.

“I’m fine.”

She didn’t look very fine, but Sun-woo didn’t say anything else and stood next to Nan-seol.

“Sigh…”

A moment later, Nan-seol let out a small sigh. Nan-seol’s expression returned to normal.

“They say it’s the enemy of my parents and family, but I can’t extend that range to everyone connected to the Divine Cult, can I?”

She seemed to have struggled greatly. Though she was the Divine Cult’s holy maiden who was their enemy, Yeon-hwa who appeared like an ordinary person. Nan-seol’s character was too upright to immediately consider as an enemy someone who didn’t even look old.

“Well. That’s something you need to decide, Miss Nan-seol. Do as your heart desires.”

Nan-seol’s eyes widened slightly. Sun-woo’s words were different from her expectations.

Sun-woo had words he wanted to add after that, but swallowed them. There was no need to unnecessarily cause strife.

Just then, Yeon-hwa shouted that she had confirmed the location. Sun-woo approached Yeon-hwa with a hardened expression, unlike before.

Unlike Nan-seol, Sun-woo had no intention of forgiving any of his enemies.

Though he couldn’t understand how she figured out the location in a desert full of sand, Yeon-hwa explained the current location with a confident expression.

“This is the southwestern part of the desert. If we go down a bit more, it’s the Western Region Southern Route.”

It appeared this was the region with the southern path of the Silk Road.

“There’s an oasis where a tribe I know lives not far from here.”

Yeon-hwa’s hand was pointing far to the west.

Shortly after, the party ran in the direction Yeon-hwa pointed. Nan-seol and Hwangbo Ja-gyeom followed behind while Sun-woo took the lead carrying Yeon-hwa on his back.

When Sun-woo carried Yeon-hwa on his back, Nan-seol’s expression hardened stiffly, but Yeon-hwa couldn’t keep up with the peak-level masters. Moreover, Hwangbo Ja-gyeom also refused to carry her, so Sun-woo had no choice but to step forward.

“Already the second time carrying me, isn’t it?”

Yeon-hwa, carried on Sun-woo’s back, whispered softly into his ear. But everyone here was peak-level masters. There was no one who didn’t hear Yeon-hwa’s words.

Sun-woo involuntarily felt a chilling coldness from the killing intent rising from behind.

The party began running through the morning desert.

The running of peak-level masters could match the speed of galloping horses.

Sun-woo was carrying Yeon-hwa and even had the worst lightness skill, but by using sorcery to harden the sandy ground, he could keep up with the two.

Time passed and the sun gradually rose higher. The cold air of dawn changed to hot air, and sweat began rising from the party’s bodies.

Fortunately, at that moment Nan-seol discovered an oasis rising above the sand in the distance.

“It seems the direction isn’t wrong.”

But Nan-seol’s words after discovering the oasis were a bit sharp-edged.

“Hmm, fortunate. We’ll be able to arrive without being late.”

But Sun-woo remembered stories he’d heard on broadcasts or the internet from the shimmering oasis appearance.

“Is that oasis we see ahead the place Miss Yeon-hwa mentioned?”

“Ah, that’s right.”

She answered in a somewhat tired voice, then soon tilted her head.

“But it’s not this close a distance, though? I thought we’d arrive at least late afternoon…”

“Isn’t it because our movement speed is fast?”

“No. If we had moved by camel, we’d have arrived tomorrow… Ah, could it be?”

“It’s probably a mirage.”

In reality, there was nothing but mirages for cases where things far away appeared close.

“So that’s a mirage. I also only heard about them while traveling here but never saw one.”

Yeon-hwa understood immediately, but the two who had never been to a desert just looked at Sun-woo with puzzled expressions.

Sun-woo explained about mirages to the two.

“In the end, it means it’s an illusion where something at a far distance looks close.”

Though Sun-woo explained in more detail, what Hwangbo Ja-gyeom understood wasn’t wrong.

Once revealed as a mirage, continuing to move was too much.

No matter how peak-level masters, it was too much for them without proper desert attire to cross the desert through the midday heat. Moreover, since even Yeon-hwa was there, they had to move after the heat subsided a bit.

The surroundings were all sand, so there was nowhere visible to avoid the heat. But among the party was Sun-woo.

Rumble!

A huge pit began forming in front of the party. Sand moved on its own and was pushed aside in all directions, while the floor was dug deeper and deeper.

Shortly after, as Sun-woo expected, hard ground revealed itself on the floor where sand had gone out.

“Let’s go in.”

Sun-woo took the lead and entered the sand pit, and the party followed behind.

Soon the pit began covering up again.

And time passed. The sun rose to its zenith then gradually descended, and the heat rose to flesh-burning levels then gradually, gradually lowered.

Finally, when the sun began hanging on the distant horizon, the desert heat had considerably subsided.

From where the pit had been, sand was pushed aside in all directions again as Sun-woo’s party rose up from underground.

It looked like they had come up on an elevator from an underground base.

The party’s appearance looked even better than before entering the sand pit.

Not to mention the peak-level warriors, even Yeon-hwa looked extremely refreshed.

“Wow. To rest by making a cave underground, it’s the first time I’ve experienced this. Plus water bottles appearing out of nowhere. You’re actually much more amazing than I thought.”

Yeon-hwa’s eyes looking at Sun-woo sparkled. They were eyes full of the thought of wanting to convert him to the Cult.

“Stop the useless talk and let’s hurry. According to Mr. Sun-woo, it’ll get extremely cold soon, so we need to arrive before then.”

Nan-seol immediately threw shade at Yeon-hwa’s words. Her words were quite terse, but it was much softer than the morning when she wouldn’t even speak.

As time passed, the shimmering mirage was no longer visible.

“Huh, it was real.”

It seemed Hwangbo Ja-gyeom had been half-doubting Sun-woo’s words.

Anyway, the party began running again toward where the mirage had been. Thanks to Sun-woo they could spend the night in the desert, but still, no one wanted to sleep in the middle of the desert.

The party saw the oasis appearance again three hours after the sun went down.

Fortunately, the sky was clear so they could see the surroundings brightly with starlight and moonlight, but the temperature had already dropped considerably and it was about to reach the point where breath would show.

The appearance of the oasis and surrounding village visible under moonlight was extremely beautiful.

A not-small lake and surrounding tropical trees, and somewhat lush bushes, and between them dozens of visible houses.

But the peak-level warriors all frowned as the oasis approached.

“The atmosphere is bad.”

“Something seems to be happening.”

At the party’s words, Yeon-hwa who had ordinary vision quietly asked Sun-woo.

“What’s wrong?”

“The village atmosphere felt through energy is quite dark. And what’s visible is also quite desolate.”

Though called a village in an oasis, the village’s desolation was excessive to understand just by that.

But fortunately, there seemed to be people.

When the party approached close to the village, the village began becoming quite noisy.

Soon people came running toward the party.

About a dozen men holding swords and spears came running toward the party then flinched in surprise at seeing their appearance.

Naturally so, as the party wasn’t dressed like people traveling the desert.

But soon they surrounded the party and thrust weapons forward, and one man stepped forward and shouted at them.

“If you don’t want to die, drop your weapons! If you drop your weapons, we’ll spare your lives at least.”

At those words, the party made absurd expressions.

“Don’t tell me bandits occupied the village?”

“Then we should give them a lesson.”

Nan-seol and Hwangbo Ja-gyeom drew weapons instead of dropping them.

The surrounding people seemed to be a mix of ordinary people and third-rate martial artists. But as bandits, the two warriors didn’t seem inclined to let them off.

Just then. Right before the two groups clashed, or rather before a massacre occurred, Yeon-hwa stepped forward.

“Wait!”

Yeon-hwa’s appearance stepping forward while bathed in moonlight was extremely beautiful and mystical. It really seemed to show what a holy maiden’s appearance should be.

“Holy maiden…”

When Yeon-hwa stepped forward, the surrounding people one by one threw down their swords and prostrated on the ground.

“Since they dropped their weapons, we should spare their lives.”

At Sun-woo’s words, the two put away their swords again.