922 Sand Demon Beetle

Tang Wulin's heart heaved a sorrowful sigh. She was such a vexing little witch! He truly wished that he could devour her in one gulp.

His heart was burning because, if not for the fact that he had yet to clarify the relationship between Gu Yue and Na'er and that she was still having amnesia at the moment, he would certainly...humph humph!

With great effort and much difficulty, he managed to struggle free of Gu Yuena's octopus grip. Tang Wulin exhaled in relief and drank a few mouthfuls of cold water to suppress the heat in his heart.

Gu Yuena opened her eyes and used her hand to shield herself from the sunlight reflecting off the window. "Where are you going?! The sunlight is too glaring and there's no curtain."

Tang Wulin could not help laughing as he gave her buttocks a slap. "Why are you still lazing around in bed? Do you know what time it is? Time to wake up. We must continue our journey." He would never admit to the fact that he was only doing so because he was enticed by the elasticity of her buttocks.

Gu Yuena mumbled to herself. She lay there and pulled the blanket over her head.

Tang Wulin was feeling exasperated, so he made his way to the driver seat in front and started the combat vehicle's engine. "Sleep for a little while more then. I'll keep driving. You can have some rations if you're hungry. They're behind you."

"Hmm, hmm," came her response from under the blanket.

He started the car and continued to drive through the desert. Tang Wulin chose a relatively smoother path to travel and also slowed down the car, so Gu Yuena could sleep better.

The journey was rather easy. After two days, loneliness silently creeped in when the night fell once again. After all, it had been two days without seeing any living creatures other than themselves.

Fortunately, the map showed that there was only about half a day's journey left before they crossed the desert and arrived at the Fire Basin.

"Gu Yue, what are you doing there?" Tang Wulin closed the door and looked at Gu Yue squatting nearby the combat vehicle, fiddling with the sand on the ground.

"Nothing much! Do you think there's water underneath the sand?" Gu Yuena asked curiously.

Tang Wulin answered, "I don't think so. With such arid air, we must be in the middle of the desert. I'm afraid water would only be found deep down."

They chose a huge sand dune located on higher ground as their campsite, so they could see farther away and prevent themselves from being covered by the drifting sands.

Gu Yuena sat on the ground and waved at Tang Wulin. Tang Wulin walked over to her side and sat down as Gu Yuena leaned into his arms instinctively. With great satisfaction, she closed her eyes and basked in the warmth of his arms.

"Are you bored here?" Tang Wulin asked. 

Gu Yuena shook her head. "Nope! I enjoy this. There's only me and...Father."

Tang Wulin smiled. "That's right! There's only us. The desert is very beautiful, but it's a shame that it's too harsh for us to stay here long."

Gu Yuena closed her eyes but did not speak anymore. Tang Wulin held her as he used his hand to slowly smoothen her soft and silky, silver-white hair. Every strand was gorgeous and translucent like crystal fiber. He felt like he could even play with her hair for an entire night and it would not bother him.

Meanwhile, Gu Yuena suddenly stirred. She opened her eyes subconsciously and stared into the distance.

Tang Wulin immediately reacted to the situation. He grabbed her and pulled her into his arms. At the same time, he squinted while golden light flashed across his entire body, and he stamped his right foot against the ground.

A stream of the golden light radiated from his foot through the sand. Dozens of meters away, a golden dragon roared as it surged out from the desert floor. A large area of sand exploded and the grain scattered everywhere.

A very large crustacean-like creature bored out from the ground while emitting a deep roar. It rolled on the ground once before it managed to stabilize itself. It was apparently startled, so it turned around and fled. Despite its massive body, over two meters in diameter, it crawled away so swiftly that it vanished without a trace in an instant.

Tang Wulin did not actually have much knowledge of desert soul beasts. When he had noticed Gu Yue opening her eyes and staring into the distance, he sensed that there was a soul beast heading toward them. He had used Golden Dragon Shakes the Earth to startle it into coming out.

Tang Wulin did not intend to harm it, thus his Golden Dragon Shakes the Earth burst out in front of the creature instead of smashing directly into its body. Otherwise, this soul beast, that appeared to have a one-thousand-year cultivation base, would have been killed on the spot.

Gu Yuena spoke with a smile, "It seems like we won't be lonely anymore."

Tang Wulin could not help grinning as he said, "This is our first encounter with a soul beast in the desert. It's quite intriguing. Gu Yue, you get into the car first. I'll observe for a while to make sure that there's no incoming danger."

"Okay." Gu Yuena nodded and returned to the car obediently.

Tang Wulin squinted with a purple glow shimmering in his eyes. At that exact moment, a cold and refreshing sensation instantly burst in the depths of his eyes. He felt as the night suddenly turned bright and everything else within his visual field turned even clearer.

Was this...the blessing of the Piercing Gaze Dew?

Tang Wulin could not keep a slight smile from his face. It was rather impressive that there were additional benefits like this after the Six Great Beasts attached themselves to his Nature Seed.

However, the smile was wiped from his face one moment later. In the distance, there were numerous trails forming in the sand. It looked as if countless underground ridges were all surging in his direction at once.

Tang Wulin was speechless, and he regretted showing mercy just moments ago! There was no doubt that these incoming creatures were brought by the soul beast that escaped earlier.

He had no idea how powerful these creatures were.

Tang Wulin immediately turned around and spoke to Gu Yuena sitting in the Tang Sect Combat Vehicle, "Gu Yue, whatever happens, don't get out of the car. I'll guard the outside."

There was a golden flash of light from Tang Wulin's body as he spoke, and he unleashed his spirit soul, Goldsong. Goldsong was already rather large by now. It swayed its body, and with another golden flash, it rapidly swelled up into a giant serpent over thirty meters long. It positioned itself around the Tang Sect Combat Vehicle and guarded it.

With multiple streams of golden radiance, Tang Wulin unleashed his two-word battle armor, Dragon Moon. It was difficult to tell friend from foe here in the desert so he could never let his guard down. His fighting capacity was elevated to Soul Sage-rank with the battle armor's amplification, so it was naturally easier to respond to the situation.

With another golden flash, the Golden Dragon Spear conjured into his hand. Tang Wulin's body was naturally emitting bloodline aura. He stood there motionless as if he was the center of the entire desert.

The underground ridges were traveling so swiftly that they were closing in on him within a few breaths.

As yellow light flashed across his torso, Tang Wulin let out a grunt. The surrounding sands immediately sank into the ground, until the entire sand dune was descending.

It was the Gravitational Control! He increased the gravitational force in a split second within a radius of one hundred meters around him, compressing the sand. The desert soul beasts in the distance could not dig their way to him or attack his Tang Sect Combat Vehicle from below under such a powerful gravitational pull.

As expected, streams of creatures suddenly leaped out of the sand. It was the same species of crustacean-like soul beast from before. Hundreds of them encircled Tang Wulin and his Tang Sect Combat Vehicle.

The largest soul beast was over five meters in diameter. Its hard outer shell was black-brown in color while its entire body was emitting a highly condensed aura. The shell on its back cracked open and revealed a pair of wings. Its eight legs underneath its abdomen appeared razor-sharp, especially the two at the front. Its blade-like forelegs could be seen immediately when its upper body was raised a little.

The rest of the desert beetles had all reared up slightly and spread their wings. They gave out a humming sound as they flew, but none had managed to enter Tang Wulin's increased gravity zone.

The Gravitational Control effect created by the Mountain Dragon King's Torso Bone was extremely powerful, so Tang Wulin did not feel anxious at all. Even though the enemies could fly, their ability to do so would certainly be affected by the high gravitational force once they entered the range of his Mountain Dragon King's Torso Bone's control.

Tang Wulin spoke coldly, "We're only passing by and we bear no ill intentions. I didn't hurt your clansman earlier. Don't seek your doom here."

The leading beetle was certainly a soul beast of at least a one-hundred-thousand-year cultivation base, so it was impossible that it would not understand human speech. It should also be equipped with adequate intelligence.

"Your Majesty, don't show mercy. This is a Sand Demon Beetle, a species of extremely evil soul beasts. They rely on draining the bodily fluids of living creatures to survive and cultivate. Animals and plants are all their targets. Take a close look at the bottom of their heads. There's a very sharp mouthpart which spits out a secretion that will liquify and suck in all its prey's energy as soon as it pierces the target's body. The reason the desert is continuously extending outward is very much related to this species of Sand Demon Beetle. The desert is expanding because they're endlessly devouring the plant life in and around the desert. Undoubtedly, they are the main culprit. This many Sand Demon Beetles would need only a single day to destroy one square kilometer of forest."