Otherworldly Desert Dust

...

Li City,

Yellow sand engulfed the sky, obscuring the daylight. The entire city took on an apocalyptic twilight scenery.

A young girl, holding a pink bow, stood atop a building on a hill, practicing archery from a few hundred meters away.

"Yu Yu, I have buried the relatives in the forest and cleaned up the fifth and fourth floors," Ling Shaomei said, walking over to Yu Yu.

Yu Yu nodded and continued practicing her archery. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Suddenly, when Yu Yu inhaled, a strange scent wafted from the outskirts of the city. She immediately turned around and looked toward the city outskirts.

"What... what is that?" Ling Shaomei also saw the strange sight beyond the city.

The scent grew stronger, like that of a massive tomb. The decayed smell of corpses wafted into the city.

"Where did such a high mountain come from?" Ling Shaomei asked, perplexed.

In the distance, the yellow sand and daylight wove into a peculiar curtain, with a contour as huge as a mountain range reaching up to the sky.

The problem was, there were no such mountain sceneries outside of Li City!

Yu Yu’s gaze fixated on the "Nihility Mountain Range." As the hazy yellow sand dispersed, an incredibly magnificent ancient market appeared on the distant, fictitious mountain, like a mural displayed in a museum where the lively figures came to life, enacting their daily routines from a thousand years ago!

"It’s a Mirage," Wu Yingting’s voice came from behind the two.

"Oh, oh, so it’s caused by the refraction of sand and light... it’s fake, right?" Ling Shaomei said.

"No, a Mirage is essentially a projection, but there is no such ancient market in our world!" Wu Yingting shook his head.

Yu Yu furrowed her brows slightly, smelling the strange scent again. That smell induced a sense of unease.

"So where is this Mirage being projected from?" Ling Shaomei asked.

"From the Otherworldly Dust..." Wu Yingting said affirmatively.

Suddenly, Yu Yu grabbed Wu Yingting’s sleeve, signaling him to hurry back to the safe house. There was something dangerous around.

Wu Yingting didn’t hesitate. He knew his daughter was already a Spirit Awakener and could sense dangers that ordinary people could not perceive.

"Shaomei, carefully check every entrance and exit," Wu Yingting instructed before running towards the safe house with Yu Yu.

Ling Shaomei nodded. To survive better, she naturally carried out her duties as a housekeeper diligently.

She checked every floor meticulously, confirming they were all securely shut before running to the first floor.

On the first floor was a display case made entirely of tempered glass. The outside viewer could see the exhibits inside. To ensure air circulation, there was a ventilation shaft.

The ventilation shaft needed to be checked too!

Ling Shaomei locked the shaft, finally letting out a sigh of relief.

She sat in the display case, sweating profusely, and glanced outside through the tempered glass.

At that moment, her body tensed as if hit by an electric shock, and tears began to flow instantly!

Outside the tempered glass, a blood-stained man covered in mud lay against the window, his dead fish eyes peering inside!

"Ahhhhh!!!!!" Ling Shaomei could no longer contain it and let out a terrified scream!

If it had been a disaster victim, Ling Shaomei wouldn’t have reacted this way...

The problem was, Ling Shaomei clearly remembered burying him in the forest not long ago!!

This was her third uncle, whose stomach had been ripped open by an Insect Eyes Half-man. He was obviously dead, someone she had personally buried!

"Bang! Bang!! Bang!!!!" The tempered glass was pounded heavily. In the foggy sand outside, several more figures appeared. They were either mutilated or showing white bones, clearly the corpses that had just crawled out of graves!

Old Man Ling heard his daughter’s scream and hurried over.

But when he looked out of the display case and saw his relatives neatly standing outside, he immediately fainted, foaming at the mouth!

Weren’t they all dead???

He and his daughter had buried them one by one!

Why had they climbed out of the ground by themselves?!!

...

Locust Evil Realm.

On top of a gigantic sand dune, Captain Qin had already reached a temporary agreement to travel together with a fourteen-person team.

Once banded together, key information had to be shared, and if any weak member encountered danger, the combatants had to rescue them unconditionally.

Wu Hen could also tell that the team, with an average strength in the Night Ghost realm, had well-defined roles. Some even lacked Spirit Awakening, but were equipped with comprehensive tools and combat weapons...

"Thank you for sharing the information that the Spirit Crown is being absorbed. According to your method, two people will take turns releasing the Spirit Crown to ensure the survival time of the entire team," the wandering team’s captain said.

Their captain appeared young, like the leader of a merchant caravan. Most of them were dressed like a desert trading caravan, wrapped tightly.

"We have a total of 21 people. Subtracting those without Spirit Awakening and those not at the Night Ghost level, 16 can release the Spirit Crown, giving us eight groups of time," Qin Sheng said.

"No need to complicate it. We have spirit candles. When holding the crown, it will burn; without it, it will dim. Prepare eight spirit candles, and you’ll know how long we can survive," said the wandering team’s captain, Cai Jinlin.

The crown recovered very slowly.

Although they could survive slightly longer than eight candles, there had to be time to say final words. For someone like Wu Hen, knowing he was doomed, he’d surely take the chance to do something, leaving no regrets.

"I... I’ll take the spirit candle..." A little stutterer pulled out a spherical glass cover, placing the spirit candle inside and holding this life timer.

"That’s all you’re good for," said a burly man with a black headband from the wandering team.

"Time’s short; don’t hesitate. The longer we stay out here, the easier it is for our minds to be controlled. Find a way to break out and leave this ghostly place!" Captain Cai commanded.

They all knew there was no escaping it.

With determination, they stepped in, searching for the different rules in this realm, hoping for survival.

...

Before them lay only a white gate of the mausoleum.

No wonder it was called Yinzhou; this gate resembled a grand entrance to a tomb more than something built for the living.

Under the white gate, their feet instinctively moved forward.

An eerie wind and bone-chilling cold swept through. Frankly, Wu Hen felt he wasn’t stepping into a Ghost Mirage, but rather crossing the Ghost Gate!

More than 21 people had entered this Yinzhou; there was a long line of teams ahead and behind. Initially, Wu Hen couldn’t describe the scene, but now he had a term—companions on Huangquan Road!

Yinzhou indeed, this gate surely led to hell!

Wu Hen’s heart pounded.

He instinctively looked at his left hand...

As expected, in times like these, the Holy Father was unreachable!

Reality shouldn’t be this harsh; even if he was bait, couldn’t he be given a little courage?

The left hand was futile; he glanced at his right hand...

Thin strips of Mystic Light Patterns appeared, then slowly faded away, like steady breathing.

Fine, the right hand it was!

"Taptaptaptap~~~~~"

A subtle noise surrounded them. As soon as Wu Hen stepped into this "Ghost Gate," he heard countless such sounds.

The noise was indescribable, akin to an innumerable swarm of locusts and rats gnawing at the walls, or perhaps many gears turning...

Before them, there was just a gate, nothing else.

Upon stepping through, they thought they would enter another space, but the space remained unchanged. What appeared before them was a strange and absurd scene!!

White particles, as tiny as grains of millet.

Wu Hen had seen something similar on the square in Jueyin Town, drying bone grains.

Yet the sight now was more bizarre and terrifying, as these bone particles moved efficiently, stacking, connecting, and covering...

Behind the white gate, there was no path.

But these white particles paved an ancient road.

Not just a road; as Wu Hen continued forward, masses of white particles quickly constructed a few varying height Bone Pavilions on either side!

"They are Yin Ants," said One-eyed Sister.

She activated her Spiritual Vision. To others, they saw white particles, but in her sight, they were all White Bone Yin Ants!

"What are they doing?" Wu Hen asked, clueless.

"Just keep walking, and you’ll see," said One-eyed Sister, boldly leading the way.

She walked about fifty meters ahead.

The white road changed again; a transverse alley quickly formed, with the walls hastily "constructed."

From emptiness arose streets, ancient pavilions, an alley, and high walls... the entire process took about ten seconds, appearing instantly!

Every one of the twenty-one faces showed shock, their pupils filled with tension and confusion!

Wu Hen was deeply stunned! What was going on??

Did this mean they had stepped into an invisible "Ancient Market," but it materialized only where they moved?

The massive number of white Yin Ants acted as dynamic sand grains, sensing those who entered and swiftly constructing the surrounding scenes??

Incredibly eerie, bizarre, and cyber-supernatural?

It felt like playing a low-budget game, where the dungeon scenes rendered as you moved, with a ten-second delay for the code to load...

Thinking their "pixels" were bone grains, living Yin Ants, sent shivers down his spine!!