Chapter 441: White Desert

"Later, pack some in your bag. You can also eat those thousand-year elixirs; don't let yourself get hungry," Li Weiyi instructed, looking at the seven Phoenix-Winged Moth Sovereigns flying towards him.

The seven young moths had been fed by Yuer until their bellies were round, and their bodies had grown to one foot five inches in length.

They had already broken through to the fifth heaven of the Dao Seed Realm.

Now, every time they advanced a realm, even with Xihe flowers, they still needed dozens of additional thousand-year elixirs.

For every additional thousand years in the age of the thousand-year elixirs, their medicinal properties increased severalfold.

To help them grow to the seventh heaven, or even the Longevity Realm, it was necessary to find elixirs that were three thousand or four thousand years old.

Of course, they didn't necessarily have to eat thousand-year elixirs.

With normal feeding, they could also grow to the Longevity Realm over several decades.

Feeding them for several centuries would be enough to make them transcendent.

For any major power, they would be revered as ancestors, and all available resources would be used to feed them.

Li Weiyi sat on the ground, took out a pen and a notebook, placed them on his lap, and began to record the events of yesterday.

Yuer walked behind Li Weiyi and looked closely.

Her learning ability was strong; she recognized most of the characters in the notebook: "Master, why do you record everything that happens every day, especially so much that is related to me?"

Li Weiyi didn't know how to explain to her: "This way, it's safer and more secure."

"Master, are you afraid that Yuer is too young and will forget what's happening now when she grows up?" Yuer asked.

Li Weiyi continued writing busily: "Something like that!"

"Then I'll record it too."

Yuer took out a pen and a notebook from her small cloth bag and began to write seriously.

Li Weiyi froze, glanced at her, and quietly closed his notebook: "Don't bother recording; you can't even recognize all the characters."

"Master, how do you write the character for 'fight'?" she asked, raising her head.

Inside Li Songjian's dimensional pouch, there was also a map of the nether realm, marking dangerous areas.

The two traveled by camel, bypassing the marked areas, and then hastened their journey for two more days.

Along the way, they passed many desolate villages and ghost towns.

Standing atop a hill several hundred meters high, the entire horizon was emitting a white light, and within the area of white light, sand dunes undulated. It wasn't a dazzling radiance, but a stark, cold white, giving off a chilling sensation.

They had arrived at the White Desert!

"Yang Qingxi is so unreliable too; the White Desert is so vast, where am I supposed to find her?"

Li Weiyi drew the shortest line on the map, connecting the Departed Spirit Market, the White Desert, and the Old Yuzhou Prefecture City.

If he couldn't find her at the intersection of this line, Li Weiyi decided to head directly to the Old Yuzhou Prefecture City.

Upon reaching the edge of the White Desert, they found the air surprisingly humid, with ancient, dried trees everywhere that had not decayed for a thousand years, their wood as hard as iron. The taller ones had trunks as thick as millstones.

Two Phoenixes flew through the forest, casting their innate Daoist arts to search for Yang Qingxi's aura.

Li Weiyi rode on a camel, his body enveloped within a cocoon of time, following them. He held a jade slip scroll of the "Dragon Canon" in his hands, reading it carefully.

It had been copied by Yu Yaozi from an unknown source.

Although it was not comparable to a true scripture, ten days of study had yielded significant gains; the Nine-Petaled Dao Lotus of the Wind Mansion Dragon Seed was growing stronger, and his cultivation had clearly improved further.

They searched for over two hundred li in the forest at the edge of the White Desert.

Suddenly.

The two Phoenixes made a discovery and sent a message to Li Weiyi.

Li Weiyi tucked the "Dragon Canon" jade slip scroll into his robes, leaped down, and appeared beneath a massive dried tree with a diameter of three meters.

There were signs of a struggle nearby.

The trunk of the dried tree had a huge gap gnawed out by an unknown creature. At the gap, Li Weiyi found a hairpin embedded in the trunk; he used his magical energy to pull it out.

The two Phoenixes flew over and sniffed, informing Li Weiyi that it was Yang Qingxi's aura.

"Something must have happened to her. What exactly did she encounter?"

Li Weiyi held the hairpin, carefully observing every detail of the area, attempting to reconstruct the battle scene.

A scent of decay and gloom wafted down from above.

"Whoosh!"

Li Weiyi had already anticipated this; a burst of finger force suddenly shot upwards.

He saw an adult-sized white-furred monster stealthily moving down from the top of the dried tree. It had an extremely terrifying appearance, with an old man's face and blood-red eyes that had no pupils.

When its claws were only three zhang from Li Weiyi, it was struck by the wave of finger force and sent flying, landing with a thump in the White Desert.

It let out a "quack, quack" shriek and instantly burrowed into the sand.

"What a powerful monster! It took one of my finger strikes and didn't die; it's even stronger than Yizhou Xue. Chase it!"

Li Weiyi used his spiritual power to lock onto the white-furred Sand Fiend hidden in the sand, picked up Yuer, put away the two camels, and swiftly pursued it into the desert.

Yang Qingxi's disappearance must be related to it.

Because based on the traces of battle, it could be determined that the fight had occurred no more than two *shichen* ago. How could it be such a coincidence that it was just nearby?

The white-furred Sand Fiend was extremely fast and skilled in sand evasion; only by pursuing with all his might could Li Weiyi keep up.

He summoned the Yellow Dragon Sword, ready at any moment to summon the Six-Jia Yang Thunder.

After chasing three hundred li into the desert, Li Weiyi already had a subtle feeling that something was amiss.

This White Desert was very strange; the wind sounded like ghostly wails, and the sand dunes constantly shifted shape.

He had already lost his sense of direction.

Now, he could only see it through to the end and capture the white-furred Sand Fiend.

"Master, look there!"

From his back, Yuer pointed towards a distant sand dune.

Li Weiyi gazed into the distance and saw three small figures moving along a winding sand ridge. Yang Qingxi and Yang Qingchan, dressed in green, followed behind the figure in front.

The figure walking ahead of Yang Qingxi and Yang Qingchan was a bipedal beaver, its body like a fuzzy sphere, with short arms and short legs.

It stood upright on its hind legs, its body as tall as the two Yangs.

Its short legs stepped on dark red mist, each stride covering one or two zhang, and its speed was not slow.

"This damned White Desert! I hate traveling long distances; it's much more comfortable staying in the waters of Huangjiang River. I'm dying of thirst! Give this immortal some water, more water, drench my entire body!"

The beaver stopped, glaring at Yang Qingxi with its golden eyes, and spoke in a commanding tone.

Yang Qingxi's brows furrowed; she was very reluctant to be enslaved by a demon like a servant.

But the opponent's cultivation was too high; even if she and Yang Qingchan teamed up, they were no match.

Fortunately, this beaver became very agitated away from water, and her Long River Intent, which could condense the water vapor in heaven and earth, naturally led to her being conscripted.

"Splash!"

A winding stream condensed above Yang Qingxi's head, falling like a waterfall towards the beaver.

"Ah, refreshing! So refreshing! Little girl, you have a bright future. Come with this immortal to Yuzhou, and this immortal will introduce you to Princess Dengfeng of the East Sea Jellyfish Clan. They're really in need of talent like you over there."

The beaver's body shivered with pleasure, and water droplets on its long fur sprinkled in all directions.

"Whoosh!"

The white-furred Sand Fiend burst out from the sand, knelt on the ground, and reported in a hoarse voice: "Reporting to Sir Water Beaver Immortal, I waited where you told me, and sure enough, someone came looking for her. He's very powerful; I couldn't defeat him. He's already caught up!"

"Useless!"

The Water Beaver Immortal glanced at Yang Qingxi: "He's looking for you, isn't he? Did you think this immortal wouldn't find the hairpin you hid in the tree trunk? You humans just love playing useless little tricks."

Yang Qingxi's feelings were mixed; she hadn't expected a demon beast to possess such high intelligence. Its outwardly foolish appearance made it easy for people to underestimate it.

Li Weiyi approached along the sand ridge, holding the Yellow Dragon Sword. After clearly seeing the appearance of the Water Beaver Immortal within the dark red mist, he couldn't help but feel surprised: "Miss Yang, what's going on?"

Yang Qingxi immediately said: "Be careful, it's from the Huangjiang River Beaver Clan's..."

The Water Beaver Immortal released a dark red mist, enveloping Yang Qingxi. Instantly, only her mouth could be seen moving, but no sound could be heard from her.

"Young man, this immortal is the King of Huangjiang River, the Water Beaver Immortal. Kneel and pledge allegiance to me, and I will spare your life."

The Water Beaver Immortal puffed out its round belly and pointed its short claw at Li Weiyi.

"What is a beaver doing running around in the desert?"

Without any warning, Li Weiyi struck first, raising his sword above his head to summon the Six-Jia Yang Thunder, and sliced down with one strike.

"Rumble!"

Sword qi and lightning descended together.

The dark red mist around the Water Beaver Immortal surged, blocking the sword qi but failing to stop the Yang Thunder. Its fur was struck by the lightning, and its entire body was enveloped in electric light.

Li Weiyi showed no hint of joy, immediately retreating rapidly.

The Water Beaver Immortal was incredibly fast, appearing where Li Weiyi had just stood, causing the air to burst open.

The Six-Jia Yang Thunder actually couldn't break through its physical defense.

"Whoosh! Whoosh!"

The Ten Thousand Things Staff-Spear flew out from his Wind Mansion. Li Weiyi raised it above his head, drawing in wisps of starlight, and struck towards the Water Beaver Immortal, who was attacking again. The spear tip gleamed brightly, colliding with the Water Beaver Immortal's claw, causing the entire sand dune to explode.

With a bang, both the man and the demon retreated a dozen zhang simultaneously.

Its physical body was too strong; it directly confronted the Ten Thousand Things Staff-Spear without losing any ground.

"How formidable! It can actually draw on the radiance of the stars."

Through the sand and dust, the Water Beaver Immortal stared at the young man opposite, then its eyes widened dramatically upon seeing seventy-two balls of electric light and rumbling thunder appear around him: "Oh no, run! He's a Longevity Realm grandmaster from the Thundercloud Sect. Humans are truly cunning; they deliberately feigned weakness to capture this immortal."

The Water Beaver Immortal transformed into a ball of dark red mist, activating the life-saving trump card given by the Water Beaver King.

With a whoosh, it vanished along the sand ridge, moving faster than some Longevity Realm grandmasters, leaving a hundred li of swirling dust behind.

It was certain that only a Longevity Realm grandmaster from the Thundercloud Sect could activate the Seventy-Two Thunderstrike Array.

Once caught in the array, even with its life-saving trump card, it wouldn't be able to escape.

"A Longevity Realm grandmaster..."

The white-furred Sand Fiend plunged headfirst into the sand and swiftly escaped.

Li Weiyi looked at the seventy-two balls of electric light around him and immediately understood. Besides Lu Cangsong, no one else in the Thundercloud Sect had been able to cultivate the Seventy-Two Thunderstrike Array in the Dao Seed Realm for a thousand years.

Huangjiang River was within the sphere of influence of the Thundercloud Sect.

"We need to leave here quickly! That beaver is extremely intelligent and will soon realize its misjudgment," Yang Qingxi said.

Li Weiyi and the other three swiftly traveled in a chosen direction through the desert.

Half a day later, they appeared on the shore of the boundless East Sea.

The desert and the ocean met.

A dozen li away, massive sailing warships burned on the sea, their flames turning the night sky red. Magical artifacts collided in mid-air, and the warships' defensive arrays were continuously shattered.