Several days had passed since their escape from the clutches of the Grey Sands Elves. After determining where he was going, Wei Wuyin and the others walked by foot. He soon realized that no one flew in The Desolate Lands, and Seekers operated within a certain range from wherever they were sent via Void Gates.
According to Chu Leitao, each city in The Desolate Lands had a functioning Void Gate established within, but they only allowed departures and no entries. If one wanted to travel to that city or another, they had to portal to a location away or a specifically designated destination platform that would be protected by the forces of the nearest city.
These destination platforms were protected by formations and arrays and guarded by experts. They were extremely suitable to ensure safe arrivals and lack of conflict. If one used random coordinates in their portals, they might be captured by Grey Sand Elves immediately from bad luck.
But the price to use the coordinates of the destination platform was absurdly expensive. Not only did one have to pay a fee to use the Void Gates, they had to pay a fee to safely arrive with certainty at a destination platform, and then if they wanted to go back, this process was repeated.
Unlike the Grey Sands Elves Tribe, each city aboveground was ruled by the native human forces and clans in The Desolate Lands or by elite clans of the Central Region. There also weren't hundreds of cities established by these forces, merely twelve. But each city was absolutely massive.
Originally, there were many cities, but few could afford the cost of surviving after the Season of Regression nor had experts to defend against invasions by the vicious creatures of the four dangerous lands, so these clans would often band together.
When Wei Wuyin learned about these creatures, he quickly asked for clarification. According to Huang Yu, a native of The Desolate Lands, there were four types of devilish lifeforms that were born from the extremely powerful innate forces unique to these lands. For example, The Desolate Land had Desolation Devils.
These creatures had extraordinary powers and they were absolutely terrifying, besieging cities without end after the Season of Regression ended. There were always forces that wished to establish themselves within these four dangerous lands, but if they can't resist the ambient desolate power and desolation devils' assault, they would soon be eradicated.
This was why only twelve cities existed.
Grandquake City was one of these twelve cities and housed numerous native experts and Seekers within.
Wei Wuyin had heard the term 'Seeker' often, so he asked for more information about them. These so-called Seekers were treasure hunters that explored and excavated certain areas in The Desolate Lands in hopes of obtaining Desolate Pearls. These pearls were like astral stones of the starfield, but they were all earth-attributed.
Fortunately, there were numerous conversion and refinement methods to transform a Desolate Pearl into Astral Diamonds. These diamonds were the main currency and cultivation resources for experts, roughly having three times the amount of astral essence as the Astral Stones of his starfield.
Supposedly, the ambient mana and unique environment of the world realm allows the rapid absorption of astral essence in certain areas, forming these pearls. They contain Desolate Power, so they could even be used to fashion resilient clothing and tools that can resist or contain desolate power.
The tools the others used and clothes fashioned by the Grey Sands Elves were all woven using theDesolate Pearl's internal essence, which was exquisite in comparison to normal earth-attributed astral stones.
The name Seeker was coined because they were seeking out these locations actively. Most might not even find a single one, and when Chu Leitao informed him that despite the distance they traveled, they hadn't found any of these locations, it made Wei Wuyin realize their scarcity.
Furthermore, the closer they got to a city, the less chance they would find these areas. After all, they would've long since been found and excavated. That's why he and the others had ventured so 'deep' into The Desolate Lands territory.
When Huang Yu brought out a desolate pearl for Wei Wuyin to inspect, he looked at it for a moment before his eyes widened. A dangerously violent aura instantly released from his body that caused the three to be blown away, eating dirt as they did.
They were startled, quickly trying to brush off the grey dirt but soon found that the dirt lacked desolate power. This comforted them but Wei Wuyin still terrified them. Why did he erupt so suddenly?!
But it wasn't Wei Wuyin alone, Kratos was riled up and violently beating as a rage as explosive as a thunderstorm threatened to erupt. Wei Wuyin held onto Ai Juling tightly, her brows wincing from his tight grip of her thigh, but she still kept her eyes closed. He had to take several deep breaths to regulate his emotions, inspecting the desolate pearl that floated before him.
'The internal essence within it is actually of draconic origin...no wonder its so malleable...' He thought with a pulsating wave of sadness battering his heart. He could now feel the blood energy contained within the pearl, causing his heart to throb ferociously in response. Kratos was far too angry, unable to contain itself.
The blood energy was still fresh, meaning it was extracted from a living dragon less than a hundred years ago.
A 'living' dragon…
Wei Wuyin closed his eyes. He thought about the unique lifeforms, these desolate devils, and when he thought of the possibilities, his lips quivered. It shouldn't be...right?
He only managed to calm himself and Kratos down after several minutes, once more reinforcing his desire and resolve. He didn't apologize for his explosive reaction, his mood far too chaotic for that.
"Let's go!" He returned the pearl to Huang Yu and started to trek silently since then. None of them knew what to say or how to respond, but they could tell that Wei Wuyin didn't wish to talk, so they quietly led him along.
After several days of silent contemplation, Wei Wuyin had finally reined in his emotions completely and cleared up his thoughts, returning to his questions. Most pressingly, for example, how far was this city? They had been traveling for nearly a week by foot and only saw grey dirt and lone mountains.
When Huang Yu told him it was roughly three months by foot, his eyes widened in disbelief. Three months?! THREE MONTHS?! He wasn't one who was typically impatient about time, but three months was three freaking months! However, the three were helpless after seeing his response.
They were all hundreds of years old, so three months didn't feel that long to them. It was a brief cultivation session. Wei Wuyin, however, wasn't even fifty, and ten of those years felt like a blink of an eye, as he hadn't consciously lived within his body during that time.
But with the restriction on the ambient mana, sustained flight wasn't practical, and astral force-empowered flight wasn't recommended. Not only would they have to consume astral force to fly, they'd have to resist the desolate power in the air, and reveal their auras to nearby Grey Sands Elves. The thin ambient essence meant recovery was costly, often coming from astral diamonds.
Wei Wuyin soon realized that the reason he had been located and captured was due to his small usage of astral force on arrival. As for why they hadn't been assaulted again, it was likely the city and its soldiers were in lockdown due to Ai Shanyuan's death. They might even be actively avoiding Soul Idol cultivators or Seekers in an attempt to prevent them from dying needlessly due to misfortune. After all, any that met Wei Wuyin may as well be courting death with flowers, chocolate, and a smile.
Most Seekers used specialized clothing or tools that didn't require astral force, just spiritual strength to operate, so they avoided them.
He intended to use his astral force to shorten that time, swiftly grabbing the three and tightening his grip around Ai Juling. "You point, I fly." After saying that, he brought Huang Yu to the front and waited for him to direct.
The bald Huang Yu was startled. The consumption of astral force was not little, especially flying with passengers. Excluding Ai Juling, the other three were flying by extension of Wei Wuyin's power. They gasped at the mighty power that shrouded their bodies, feeling as if they were baby chicks held by a titan.
Huang Yu excitedly yelped. It felt good to have an expert with you! He pointed and shouted, "That way!"
Wei Wuyin laughed, his mood slightly improved by Huang Yu's infectious enthusiasm. Despite his bald appearance, he was quite a character. With a smile, he urged his astral force and they zipped away as a comet through the world.
While they were awed by the speed of flight, Ai Juling's eyes opened a sliver as she saw Wei Wuyin's handsome face. Her eyelashes fluttered as she closed her eyes once again.
But Wei Wuyin wasn't bothered by her actions, with his mood elevated a little, he could finally think clearly. These so-called Seekers, these areas that contained desolate pearls…
His Celestial Eyes shone with a mysterious light that seemed to pierce through the world's veil.
This was it…
This was what he needed! Something that was only here and nowhere else!
Draconic Blood Energy!!
When he realized this, his heart started to throb with a tinge of conflict. Kratos knew what he was thinking, also understanding the possibility! Since their Bloodline Source was exhausted after traversing the void with just their internal powers and body, they had been limited in terms of physical energy quality and access to their bloodline abilities, but the only solution was Anu.
Unfortunately, Wei Wuyin couldn't find the azure-scaled dragon anywhere. Its strength wasn't at a point where it could be found so easily, especially if it didn't want to be found.
But with the presence of this draconic blood energy on the continent, there was a chance...
