Chapter 94: The Miracle Did Not Appear…
Perhaps due to the lack of buildings, the sky over the Gobi Desert always appeared broader than elsewhere.
Countless mounds jutted out chaotically from the earth towards the sky, carving deep ravines and splitting the land.
At dusk, a line of crimson clouds shone down from the gaps in the clouds, coating the undulating mounds in a layer of rosy hue.
Under this vast sky, a red-haired girl like fire rode upon a robust beast, arriving at the rosy mound and casting her gaze towards the camp surrounded by greenery in the distance, nestled within the U-shaped mound.
She quietly lay in wait.
A few minutes later, as the last rays of sunlight disappeared beyond the horizon, the light dimmed, and the Gobi Desert seemed to switch from warm hues to cool shades in an instant.
Then, a high-pitched and sharp whistle, akin to a falcon’s cry, suddenly echoed across the Gobi Desert.
“Chirp—!”
Hearing the whistle, the figures surrounding the camp, the girl pursed her lips, silently tugged at the red scarf around her neck to cover her face.
Immediately after, a sound resembling boulders rolling down a mountain erupted.
“Boom—!”
Nearly a hundred figures riding armed beasts, as if summoning from thin air, emerged from the ravines of the mounds, either dashing swiftly or flying low, charging from all directions towards the camp.
Upon hearing the commotion from outside, the people within the camp rushed out and looked towards the sound, their faces filled with shock.
“It’s disaster! Disaster is here!”
“Enemy attack, enemy attack! Prepare for battle!”
Although the cavalry riding the beasts numbered less than a hundred, they bore an oppressive aura as if they commanded thousands.
In the blink of an eye, beneath the swirling dust, the torrent had arrived before them.
The two forces collided, igniting a dazzling display of light at the point of intersection.
Thunderous hoof beats and devastating explosions drowned out all the cries of pain and terror.
The flying pig cavalry led by “Disaster” possessed significant spiritual energy fluctuations themselves, with some even reaching B-grade. They had also learned spell formulas from the bamboo slips left by the Great Serpent God, combined with excellent spirit energy items and the formidable physical strength of the flying pigs. Rather than cavalry, they resembled tanks of urban legend.
For the unprepared enemy, it was nothing short of a nightmare.
The two B-grade spiritual ability users and twelve C-grade spiritual ability users stationed in the camp had no power to resist in the face of this torrent of beasts and steel, utterly crushed.
It was as if a pebble had dropped into molten steel, not creating even a splash.
In less than three minutes, the battle came to an end.
On the camp’s side, one dead, thirteen injured.
The rumored disaster bandits that had recently appeared near Yumen Pass almost never killed. Most of the time, after ending battles, they would use black vines of unknown origin to wrap people into dumplings, tossing them into the ravines of the mounds like trash.
The injuries were not severe, but the humiliation was immense!
————
“Xiem Elder, look! It’s over there!”
Fang Ji, observing from the shadows, saw that the help he had hastily called from surrounding spirit energy organizations had been easily crushed by “Disaster”’s cavalry in just two to three minutes, and couldn’t help but exclaim, “Those guys without the fragrance of the Miracle Flower are indeed unreliable!”
Beside him, Xiem watched as “Disaster” entered the camp, beginning to search around frantically, his heart racing, “Left Envoy, they’re inside! If Disaster really takes the Sacred Relic, what are we to do? How will we explain this to the Holy Son?”
“Didn’t I say before?” Fang Ji smiled nonchalantly, “If she can really take it away, then let her take it. That wouldn’t be a miracle in itself…”
“This…” Xiem opened his mouth to say something, but just then, a wave of ethereal singing drifted from the direction of the camp, beautiful and desolate.
“The soul originating from the illusion, Its existence is proof of the miracle.
It brought gold, spreading across the land.
It brought a sword, ending the war.
Cattle and sheep abound, grain in endless supply, and sweet wine flows like a river…”
Accompanied by the song, Xiem saw a brilliantly colored flower with complex petals blooming, sending a captivating fragrance wafting through the air.
Next, as if in a hallucination, he saw a slender figure appear in the sky above the camp.
Like a statue, it stood silently still.
Though unable to see his features, simply looking at him gave the feeling that he was truth itself, the one and only miracle in the world.
“Gulp—!”
Xiem swallowed hard, his gaze heating with excitement, his voice trembling.
“Could that… be the figure of the first Holy Son?”
He had been worried that the Sacred Relic would fall into the hands of “Disaster,” but now that concern vanished entirely.
Even the might of “Disaster” could not compare to the first Holy Son!
Beside him, Fang Ji gazed at that figure with equally fervent eyes, but the emotions displayed in his gaze were completely different.
It was a seething hatred, a burning desire to k*ll…
Moments later, a heart-wrenching scream came from the direction of the camp.
“System! What happened to you, System?!”
In the next moment, a green light shot into the sky, revealing a massive, twisted monster fish under its cover.
From a distance, it seemed like an urban legend-turned-whale leaping out from the mounds.
Then, that monstrous fish violently collided with the slender figure above the camp.
After a brief silence, a huge explosion erupted, shockwaves spreading, instantly stirring up a violent sandstorm across the Gobi Desert.
Under the sandstorm, Fang Ji shook his head, silently sighed, and whispered to himself in a voice only he could hear, “Looks like she can’t take the Sacred Relic after all. What a pity; the miracle did not appear…”
————
Luxianbei met Xing Yuan at the West No. 3 Mansion of Huacheng in the early morning.
She didn’t know when Water Brother had given her the key…
It wasn’t surprising, as Water Brother often treated his keys like “relationship tokens,” giving them to all sorts of women before engaging in intimate activities.
Strangely, Water Brother hadn’t changed the locks for quite some time, and even stranger was Xing Yuan’s homewear and the steaming dishes still sitting on the dining table.
If she hadn’t been wearing that signature eye patch, Luxianbei might have thought she had mistakenly entered someone else’s home and stumbled upon a full-time housewife waiting for her husband or children to return.
“Come in, sit down quickly, and try my cooking.” Xing Yuan brushed back a few loose strands of hair and pulled Luxianbei over, pressing her into the chair beside her, then handed a bowl and chopsticks to her. “After traveling all day, you must be hungry, right? Let’s eat while we talk.”
Every word and action inadvertently revealed warmth, momentarily making Luxianbei feel as though she were seeing her father.
During the time when she was about to take her college entrance exams, her father used to do the same, preparing extra meals in advance, waiting for her to return from evening classes.
Luxianbei, “…”
She had made the situation sound so serious in the phone call earlier, but now she was acting so warmly?
If it weren’t for knowing about your affair with Water Brother, I would almost suspect that the organization had decided to make me bear the blame for the desert bandits and prepared a last dinner!
Luxianbei thought this and politely picked up a piece of stir-fried meat, put it in her mouth, and then set her chopsticks down to look at Xing Yuan.
“Godmother, didn’t you say on the phone that things were urgent at Yumen Pass? How come you seem so unfazed?”
“What good does panicking do?” Xing Yuan pouted, poured herself a glass of red wine, took a sip, “No matter how anxious I am, I can’t just rush over in the middle of the night, right?”
“Besides, we’ve only detected five approaching Cataclysm Grade spiritual energy fluctuations; we don’t even know what the situation is like on site.”
“First, just cooperate with me to eliminate suspicions. Once the Siye Association operatives stationed near Yumen Pass finish investigating and have reliable intelligence, it won’t be too late to act.”
In fact, under normal circumstances, Xing Yuan’s viewpoint wasn’t wrong. Acting rashly without sufficient information could not only lead to wasted efforts but might also place them in danger. Besides, Luxianbei was still a major suspect in this urban legend.
But now, it was no longer a normal situation.
Jiang Li had been abducted by Dailin and was likely on the way to Yumen Pass. If they couldn’t intercept them before they reached their destination, things would become even more troublesome once they arrived at the Solar Eclipse Society’s stronghold there.
Every second counted now.
“But Godmother, just before I came back, I gathered some information…” Luxianbei said as she took out her phone, found the pre-edited text, and handed it to Xing Yuan. “Here, take a look.”
Xing Yuan frowned, scrutinizing Luxianbei, took the document from her hand, and started to read it attentively. As her eyes scanned the lines of text and images, her expression gradually grew serious.
Seeing Xing Yuan nearly finish reading, Luxianbei spoke again, “Godmother, I must set out now. Think about it, if it were Water Brother who had been abducted, would you halt his rescue because of these trivial matters?”
“I would.” Xing Yuan answered without hesitation, then pouted and said, “But I can understand how you feel right now.”
Having reviewed what Luxianbei had discovered, she realized that even if no results had emerged from the investigations at Yumen Pass, she couldn’t stop Luxianbei from heading there.
“I have a way for you to go to Yumen Pass that’s justified and even gain the assistance of the Siye Association operatives stationed locally. Would you like to know about it?”
“…” Luxianbei, who had originally intended to rebut Xing Yuan’s so-called understanding, paused at her words, quickly regained her composure, hesitated for a moment, and nodded slightly.
