Zhang Xuan had been planning to emulate his success back at the forest—tame a sand giant and have it lead him to the oasis. He did not think that the sand giant would be so brittle that even a casual shot of his sword qi would actually make it crumble into sand.
Not even he had the ability to revert the sand back into sand giants!
“Isn’t its spirit a little too weak?” Zhang Xuan rubbed his glabella speechlessly.
He had thought that those two fellows would at least be as tough as normal Sempiternal realm cultivators, but who could have known that they would fall so easily!
In terms of spirit, they were really much feebler than the artifacts that he had enchanted.
“I’m sorry to bother you, but can you help me lure a few more sand giants over?” Zhang Xuan turned to look at the cultivators with an embarrassed look on his face.
It had not been easy for them to lure two over, but he had ended up slaughtering them before acquiring any useful information… He really had to take note of this matter so as to not make the same mistake again.
“Alright!”
The crowd nodded.
Another cultivator from the crowd took out a gourd, but this time, he tossed it out without bothering to drink it.
As water flowed into the desert, white smoke began drifted out from the sizzling sand. However, this time around, no sand giants appeared even after the crowd waited for quite a while.
“I think it would only work if you drink the water,” Zhang Xuan said.
“Un!” Shaking his head helplessly, the cultivator took out another gourd of water and sipped a few mouthfuls.
He was still fine before he drank the water, but as soon as water entered his mouth, his face immediately turned so red that it seemed as if smoke would billow out of his face. Enduring the light-headedness, he tossed the gourd out once more.
Gugugugu!
Water flowed into the desert, and just like before, two sand giants were drawn over.
These two sand giants were also at Sempiternal realm primary stage, and they did not seem to possess too much intelligence.
Taking a deep breath, Zhang Xuan engaged the two sand giants once more. This time around, he did not dare to exert too much strength. He focused mainly on trapping the two of them on the spot.
The two sand giants continued pummeling the seals trapping them in place, but they were unable to break free.
“Soul Search!”
This time, instead of attempting to tame the sand giants, he chose to utilize his soul art.
Having read all of the books in the Jiang Clan and comprehended the Soul Quintessence, he had become highly-skilled in the techniques of the soul oracles such as Soul Search.
It was just that it disrupted the harmony of the world, so he avoided using the technique as much as he could.
The sand giants before him did not seem to be natural lifeforms, so he did not have much hesitation using Soul Search on them.
Hula!
His consciousness dived within the body of sand, and the next moment, he found himself surrounded by darkness. Vaguely, he could see a seed of light shining in the very depths of the darkness.
“That is… spirit enchantment art?” Zhang Xuan frowned.
He had thought that the sand giants were a little too dull for Sempiternal realm beings, but who could have known that they were the products of spirit enchantment!
That explained their surprising weakness despite their cultivation. It was inevitable that the intelligence of enchanted beings would be lower compared to ordinary cultivators, so their fighting prowess would be highly lacking as well.
During the confrontation with the Master Teacher Pavilion headquarters in the Empire Alliance City, Wang Ying had enchanted all of the Master Teacher Pavilions, but the overall prowess of the army had still been severely limited.
“Wait a minute… these sand giants are made out of ordinary sand! To be able to grant ordinary sand prowess comparable to Sempiternal realm primary stage cultivators…” Zhang Xuan suddenly froze in place.
These sand giants might have been a little dull, but there was no questioning the strength that they wielded. Otherwise, the group of eighteen would not have faced so much trouble dealing with one.
He had slain three of them so far, and after their spirit disintegrated, they had immediately dissolved back into ordinary sand. In other words, there was something within this desert that could enchant ordinary sand and bestow it strength comparable to Sempiternal realm cultivators!
That was an extremely scary notion in itself!
As one who had cultivated the Heaven’s Path Spirit Enchantment Art, Zhang Xuan was confident that his enchantment abilities were unrivaled in the world, even when compared to Wang Ying, the head of the Spirit Awakener Guild headquarters! But even so, he knew that the limits of his ability lay in bestowing spirit upon items that had form. Toward formless entities, his enchantment was unlikely to work at all, let alone bestowing them the strength of a Great Sage!
Peng!
Deep in thought, Zhang Xuan lost control of his soul energy for a moment, and the flicker of life in the two sand giants immediately extinguished. Their bodies swiftly crumbled back into a pile of sand.
Zhang Xuan stepped forward to take a closer look at the heap of remaining sand. They were indeed only ordinary sand. There was nothing else mixed within it.
Following which, he scanned his surroundings and narrowed his eyes.
It was just as he had expected.
If these sand giants were products of enchantment, it was likely that the spirit awakener who had enchanted them knew where the exit was!
In other words, the key to escaping this folded space lay in whether he was able to find the spirit awakener or not.
Just that… how was he supposed to find this spirit awakener?
Zhang Xuan fell into deep contemplation, and a moment later, realization dawned upon him.
“If I recall correctly… the sand giants seem to have emerged from that direction. It’s likely that the spirit awakener is in that direction too!”
He had to be in direct contact with an item if he wanted to enchant it. While he did not know whether the spirit awakener in the desert was bound by the same restrictions as him, the direction that the sand giants had appeared from likely held a clue of some kind.
“Everyone, follow me!”
Without any hesitation, Zhang Xuan led them in the direction that the sand giants had appeared from.
After traveling for roughly ten minutes, he came to a halt.
There was still no difference in his surroundings yet. All that was within sight was yellow sand.
Zhang Xuan looked around him, but he was unable to find a clue whatsoever. Thus, he turned to the group of eighteen and instructed, “I’ll need you to attract a sand giant here once more…”
Upon hearing the request, bitter looks appeared on the faces all around.
Not only are you depriving us of spirit essence, you are even forcing us to drink water to dehydrate ourselves…
Do you know that we’ll die of thirst at this rate?
As stifled as the crowd was, they knew that the young man was their only hope of getting out of this darned place. Without any hesitation, another cultivator repeated the previous ritual.
Not too long later, two sand giants raced over from another direction.
These two sand giants were clearly much stronger than before. While their cultivation was still at Sempiternal realm primary stage, their fighting prowess was significantly higher. At the same time, they seemed to possess greater intelligence.
Knowing that it was impossible to tame the sand giants, Zhang Xuan killed them without any hesitation. After which, he continued walking in the direction that the sand giants had appeared from.
After traveling for another ten minutes, he had the group of eighteen repeat the ritual once more.
Two more sand giants appeared, but this time, the fighting prowess of the sand giants had risen to Sempiternal realm intermediate stage.
“It seems like the fighting prowess of the sand giants increases the closer we get to the spirit awakener…” Seeing that there were finally some changes in their circumstances, Zhang Xuan’s eyes lit up in excitement.
Just like that, they continued ahead. Whenever Zhang Xuan felt uncertain of the direction, he would have the crowd conduct the ritual of drinking water and pouring it away.
Repeating the process another ten times, the fighting prowess of the sand giants had increased to Sempiternal realm advanced stage.
However, it seemed like the fighting prowess of the sand giants had reached a cap and was unable to grow any further.
“This was the strength of the sand giants ten minutes ago, and the strength is still equal at the moment. If I form a straight line between the two points that we summoned the sand giants… it’s likely that the spirit awakener is located on another perpendicular line along the very center of this straight line!”
Spirit awakeners used their souls as a medium to control their enchanted artifacts, and the strength of their control would depend on the distance between the spirit awakener and the enchanted artifact. Considering that the two sand giants were of equal strength, it meant that the extent of the spirit awakener’s control over his enchanted artifact was identical at both points.
In other words, it was likely that the spirit awakener was equidistant from the two points.
The possible regions that were equidistant to the two points where they had summoned the sand giants were along the perpendicular line formed at the center of the straight line connecting the two points.
To put it in simpler terms, they only had to head to the center in between the two points where they had summoned the sand giants and travel either up or down, and they would be able to find the spirit awakener!
“Let’s go!”
Having confirmed a direction, Zhang Xuan headed to the center point and began heading upward.
Some time later, just as the crowd was swiftly approaching their limit, they heard an exclamation.
“Look! There’s an oasis just ahead!”
Zhang Xuan quickly turned his gaze ahead. Just as the voice had said, there was a conspicuous hint of lush greenery amid the dull yellow sand of the vast desert right ahead of them.
