Chapter 274: The Submerged Post Station.
With Tong Li, the traitor, leading the way, finding the entrance was indeed much easier for them.
Dahuang Mountain was originally a towering peak that rose from the ground, but later became even larger due to sand accumulation. Someone once tried to dig for sand, hoping to reach Dahuang Mountain's original body, only to find that the sand layer covering Dahuang Mountain was at least fifty meters thick. This thickness was shockingly exaggerated, and Heaven knows what terrifying creatures were hidden within those fifty meters of sand.
Everyone successfully arrived at Dahuang Mountain, but seeing such a massive mountain blocking their path in the Desert still gave them a sense of defeat.
This mountain could be considered a landmark of the Taklamakan Desert. Once Dahuang Mountain was crossed, it was a paradise for demons. It had been many years since anyone had seen the world behind Dahuang Mountain.
A group of Sandstone Monsters resided in Dahuang Mountain, but thanks to Jiang Shaoxu, they didn't encounter any trouble.
When traveling in the wilderness, one must avoid battles whenever possible. Unfortunately, Mind Element Mages were polarized: the weak were almost useless and were jokingly called 'psychologists' in hunter teams, while powerful Mind Element Mages sometimes made a team even more ecstatic than Healing Element Mages. No battle, no damage!
Jiang Shaoxu had indeed grown much stronger; at least here, she wasn't completely useless.
After descending Dahuang Mountain, the entire golden Desert completely unfolded before their eyes. Its silent solemnity contrasted sharply with the pure and beautiful azure of the sky, yet it also brought a macroscopic world of shock!
This continuous sand and boundless blue sky was the world they would be traversing for the next half-month or so...
It was isolated from the world, mysterious yet terrifying!
However, although Mo Fan and the others were a small team, with Lingling as their strategist and Mo Fan as their combat power, their travel speed was extremely relaxed.
During this time, they did encounter some troubles, such as man-eating sand in the Desert, and the Dust Storm Demon Locusts.
But these posed no threat to Mo Fan and the others now.
After more than ten days of travel, they finally arrived at the Oasis Post Station.
The Post Station was built of stones. From a distance, half of it was covered by sand, with some wooden houses exposed on the periphery, their eaves barely half a meter above the sand.
Upon arriving, Tong Li quickly rushed inside, as if searching for something.
There were no demons at the Post Station. What was called an oasis was merely a small cluster of relatively resilient plants, not even as green as a small park in a City, so the heat had not diminished much.
Upon arriving here, Mo Fan instructed Zhang Xiao Hou to search around. As for them, they entered the Post Station.
Zhang Xiao Hou responded and headed north to explore. The others remained at the Post Station to rest. He did not use flight, as flying in the Desert was not a wise choice.
About a kilometer from the Post Station, Zhang Xiao Hou found that it was no longer all sand. Gradually, he could see some very dark rocks. These rocks were scorched by high temperatures, causing many cracks, and faint flames emerged from the cracks.
Seeing the flames surging, Zhang Xiao Hou felt a surge of joy instead. It seemed they had come to the right place.
What could make the Desert reach such high temperatures must be a very rare and turbulent Fire Element Sacred Land. Such places were often natural factories for Spirit Seeds and Soul Seeds, and often in large quantities. If an Element Sacred Land was truly discovered, they would instantly become rich and famous.
Of course, the most important thing was that Mo Fan came here to find such a place for Little Flame Belle to help her improve her strength.
"Why is there a cave here? Could there be some demon?" Zhang Xiao Hou climbed to a high point in the rock formation and soon discovered a small cave facing the Post Station.
The cave was not deep, not appearing to hide any large demons. Zhang Xiao Hou walked inside and found that the small cave was actually covered with some animal skins. On the skins were some charred food, as well as many rusty daily tools: knives, flints, iron pots...
Just as Zhang Xiao Hou was thinking that these were things left by the hunters from the previous Post Station, a burning sensation suddenly came from behind him.
Danger!!
Zhang Xiao Hou dodged with extreme speed, only to see a ball of scorching flame fly past, smashing onto the rocks in the cave and shattering them.
Zhang Xiao Hou turned around and suddenly saw a dark-skinned man wearing only a beast-skin loincloth standing outside the cave. His body was covered in messy hair, his face obscured by a beard, revealing only a pair of beast-like eyes, staring fixedly at Zhang Xiao Hou.
The residual flames illuminated the cave. The wild man seemed to have seen Zhang Xiao Hou's appearance and couldn't help but freeze, his eyes staring blankly at him.
"Man... man??" The man mumbled incoherently, as if he had forgotten how to speak.
"Who are you? Why are you living here?" Zhang Xiao Hou also looked a bit stunned.
Seeing that the daily tools had signs of use, he immediately concluded that this small stone house was inhabited.
"I... I... I, you... you, Wei, I am Wei Fang, here, too..." The wild man completely forgot his language and couldn't speak for a long time.
After some difficult communication, the wild man dug out a medal from the cave and handed it to Zhang Xiao Hou.
Zhang Xiao Hou looked at the medal and couldn't help but give a Guardian Mage salute: "So you are a Guardian Mage."
The wild man's body trembled slightly when he saw Zhang Xiao Hou's Guardian Mage salute. He suddenly raised his hand and returned a standard Guardian Mage salute.
"How long have you been trapped here?" Looking at the wild man, waves stirred in Zhang Xiao Hou's heart.
"Don't... don't know..." The wild man shook his head.
"This place has been buried for eleven years. Have you been living here alone for a full eleven years?" Zhang Xiao Hou asked in a low voice.
At this question, the wild man immediately burst into tears!
Although Zhang Xiao Hou didn't know the other party's situation, he immediately brought the wild man back to everyone. When the wild man saw many people, he showed a hint of vigilance, his gaze sweeping over everyone like a wild beast.
"His name is Lin Fei Li. It seems he was a soldier who didn't manage to evacuate more than ten years ago. The path back was buried by the Desert and demon tribes, so he has been living here alone for such a long time," Zhang Xiao Hou said, explaining the general situation to everyone.
Upon hearing this, everyone except Mo Fan was stunned!
Living here for eleven years, what strong willpower this must be. Loneliness is the most difficult curse for humans to overcome. Most people would have a mental breakdown after three months in a confined environment, and it's easy to develop suicidal thoughts after more than a year. Living in this deserted Desert for eleven years, this sheer tenacity alone is worthy of admiration.
Moreover, this was also a dangerous land of demons!!!