Chapter 1228: The Suspicious Visitor

Chapter 1228: The Suspicious Visitor

“The wind and sand here are quite something.”

Lin Nuo took a look around, and with the sandstorm this fierce, he could see nothing.

This bizarre natural phenomenon? If you didn’t think it was the Sacred Beast causing trouble, then you’d really be seeing ghosts.

“What a fine forest, and suddenly a sandstorm. It’s too bizarre; but where does it come from?”

Lin Nuo scanned the horizon; the scope of the sandstorm was enormous, stretching infinitely.

If one had to find a source, it would lead to the desert, making it even harder to see the end. Wind Sea Forest was over a thousand kilometers from the desert, and historically, there had never been a sandstorm that reached the Wind Sea Forest.

“Any clues?”

Lin Nuo turned to the Sword Saint, as he had the broadest knowledge and wisdom among them.

Of course, he was occasionally a bit neurotic, having done some silly things, especially those related to Ruo’er—total daughter complex.

Well, if he had such a cute daughter too, he’d probably be the same.

However, it was okay; she was his future wife, and it would be pleasant to play with the little white fox later.

“It’s similar to what happens in the Royal Palace; it’s the Sacred Beast. But for the Sacred Beast to be this rampant, someone must be controlling it. Just like someone builds formations in the Royal Palace, or it might just be within the sandstorm.”

The Sword Saint looked at the swirling sandstorm in Wind Sea Forest, lightly saying.

“So it’s inside? How do we get in? We’d just get swallowed up.”

Lin Nuo replied; it was indeed difficult to enter, and even if they could, it wouldn’t lead anywhere—like blind flies, unable to find a target.

“Better to find a place to stay first.”

Lin Nuo suggested they find a place to reside, settle down, and then observe; they couldn’t just stand around in the wind and sand.

The nearest inn was several dozen kilometers away, after all, the sandstorm was still spreading; nearby businesses had relocated, and some were planning to escape just in case they were truly buried by the sandstorm one day.

“Guest, come in! Are you here to eat or stay?”

“Both? Do you have rooms available?”

“Yes, plenty. Enough for you all.”

“Alright, please arrange it.”

Lin Nuo gave the boss a deposit, allowing everyone to go find rooms. He wouldn’t share a room with anyone; after all, it was good to keep it fair—either everyone together or solo. Favoring one would definitely stir up big conflicts, and that would be bad news.

In his room, he didn’t have time for flirting with the other girls; all he wanted was to gather more information about the sandstorm.

“You know, that sandstorm just kicked up two days ago. It quickly swallowed a huge amount of the forest, and the common folks are suffering terribly. So many have died, and countless others have lost their homes. Now the sandstorm is still spreading, so I suggest you stay clear, guests. I’m planning to relocate soon too.”

Faced with Lin Nuo’s inquiries, the boss sighed; there was nothing he could do—this sandstorm came out of nowhere, catching them completely off guard.

“Any signs beforehand?” Lin Nuo asked.

“Signs…? I heard someone went into Wind Sea Forest before and disappeared. Later people went in, and their spiritual energy got drained. The officials went to investigate, and people died too. Then all the flowers and plants had their spiritual energy drained and turned to sand, which kicked up the sandstorm. Alas, that’s what I’ve heard; I’m not sure about the details.”

The boss spilled what he knew, which further confirmed to Lin Nuo that there was a Sacred Beast inside.

If this keeps up, the entire territory of the Puhan Kingdom would become a desert.

“Alright, I got it.”

Lin Nuo nodded; he had finished asking. Now he needed to check it out himself and directly flew with his sword back to the area of the sandstorm.

He noticed a massive vortex of sandy whirlwinds in the center of Wind Sea Forest, sucking everything around it inside. Even when Lin Nuo distanced himself, he still felt his own spiritual energy gradually being absorbed.

Something’s wrong.

Lin Nuo pulled back further, so the vortex wouldn’t grow stronger and suck him in.

Of course, he was also pondering what kind of scene he would see if pulled in—would it be a new world, hell, or just instant death? All of it was uncertain.

“I’ve never seen a scene like this before. It seems everything has turned upside down in this lifetime.”

Lin Nuo murmured to himself. In his previous life, it was all trivial pursuits, but the real disaster was happening this time.

After circling around a few times, he returned—night had fallen in the blink of an eye.

He hadn’t slept well these days, waking after two hours and then just wandering outside the inn—sometimes looking up at the moonlight, other times gazing at still waters by the river, or finding some fireflies to soothe his restless heart. In short, he just didn’t lie on the bed.

“Mm?”

He felt someone nearby observing him, and he instantly became alert.

Who?

Feigning ignorance, he seized the opportunity to suddenly accelerate, rushing straight towards the location of the onlooker.

The other party was also quite agile; seeing Lin Nuo approaching, they immediately dodged. Yet compared to Lin Nuo, they were still a bit lacking. After a brief scuffle, the opponent was trapped by Lin Nuo’s sword formation.

“You really don’t learn your lesson; it should be you, right? You’ve come chasing after me.”

Lin Nuo said lightly, the sword formation capturing a man in white robes, a stranger’s face, but he felt he’d seen him before.

“It seems you’ve guessed some of it.”

The other replied coldly, showing no intention of struggling out of the sword formation.

“Guessed it. The Taishang Huang must be dead; however, what I saw before wasn’t his true soul, or rather, it wasn’t his will. Someone is controlling him, and that’s you. Right now, you’ve found a civilian to take over, and if I kill you, it’s just killing this civilian.”

Lin Nuo spoke; he already had a clue. This wasn’t the first time he had seen souls transfer into corpses, so he wasn’t surprised.

There were likely people in the Sacred Realm and Demon Realm who could transfer souls to the human world and then utilize human bodies for their schemes.

But they couldn’t directly open cracks to the Sacred Realm or Demon Realm, so they needed to guide others to do the work.

In fact, when the Taishang Huang showed them the image, he had already suspected it, but to get closer to the truth, he looked into it.

Of course, he still held doubts about the authenticity of that image.

“Heh, you’re a clever one. I actually mean no harm. You want to know what happened in Wind Sea Forest, right?”

“I want to know, will you tell me?” Lin Nuo retorted.

“If I just told you outright, that wouldn’t be any fun. You could bring Luo Xiaoxue with you; then you can both enter Wind Sea Forest. At that point, you’ll know what’s inside.”

“So it’s a trap waiting for us to fall into, is it?” Lin Nuo responded sarcastically.

“No. I just wanted to give you more options. Now, it’s up to you whether you want to save this world or let it be destroyed.” The other said coldly.