Chapter 618 - 555: The Vision’s Outburst

Chapter 618: Chapter 555: The Vision’s Outburst

"Fellow Daoist, searching aimlessly like this is probably just a waste of time."

"Why not try to contact the other Daoists? If we pool our wisdom, we might discover something new."

At that moment, from within a nearby Sand-tailed Scorpion, a Telepathy message from Qin Zhaoxue reached Chu Mu’s ears.

To prevent their Telepathy from exposing their disguises, the messages between them had been specially processed by Chu Mu. The principle was equivalent to encrypting the transmission multiple times and adding several relays between them.

Even if the Telepathy triggered an anomaly in that will’s fluctuations, its rigid, programmatic logic would make it nearly impossible to unravel the layers and detect their presence in the time it took for a single message.

However, it seemed Chu Mu’s multiple layers of precautions had no effect.

Message after message was sent, yet the will’s fluctuations didn’t react at all.

It was as if, in the perception of this programmatic logic, as long as the two of them were Sand-tailed Scorpions, any abnormal behavior was considered logical and not an anomaly at all.

"Since this is a Trial Land," Chu Mu said, his voice laced with hesitation as he scanned their surroundings, "we’ve been here for several days without a single clue. Is it possible we haven’t met some unknown condition yet? Or maybe... we’ve overlooked something?"

The logic was simple. After all, the meaning behind the word "trial" was perfectly clear.

If it was a trial, it couldn’t be a complete deathtrap.

But as things stood, any Cultivator who entered was faced with endless, almost hopeless slaughter.

No matter how you looked at it, this Desert Sea Heaven and Earth was a cage, a deathtrap with no way out.

This was clearly illogical.

If it was an absolute deathtrap, then what was the point of the trial?

Chu Mu racked his brain, meticulously combing through every single second of his experience from the moment he set foot in this Desert Sea Heaven and Earth until now.

It seemed that apart from the endless slaughter, there had only been aimless searching.

"Could it have something to do with these Sand-tailed Scorpions?"

Qin Zhaoxue guessed, "Or perhaps we need to slaughter a certain number of Sand-tailed Scorpions to draw out the mastermind controlling them?"

Chu Mu paused, his mind instantly making the connection.

Her guess actually seemed to have some basis in reality.

After all, since entering this Desert Sea, the only reality had been the infinite Sand-tailed Scorpion Tide and the ceaseless slaughter.

It was as if the sole theme of this Desert Sea trial was slaughter.

But the problem was, it was so endless...

Even though they were currently safe, just looking at the infinite horde of Sand-tailed Scorpions, Chu Mu couldn’t help but feel a deep sense of powerlessness, even a helpless despair, welling up inside him.

’Something’s wrong!’

At that moment, as if sensing something, Chu Mu’s expression froze, his pupils seeming to constrict.

’We’re not even in a true life-or-death situation yet, so why am I feeling powerless, even despairing?’

’With the strength of my Heart Spirit and will, how could such a negative emotion emerge so silently?’

Chu Mu’s expression grew solemn. The Spiritual Radiance Blessing descended instantly.

Wisps of Sword Intent, like a Heaven and Earth Net, enveloped his entire body in an instant.

His mental state was clear and bright, unstained by impurities.

His mental state was one of purity, bolstered by multiple blessings.

The Sword Intent brought mental clarity. His Great Sun True Flame, which had evolved after the Refinement and absorption of the Cyan Lotus Earth Core Flame, also possessed some of the Cyan Lotus Earth Core Flame’s effects, which likewise acted upon his mental state.

And under the Spiritual Radiance Blessing, these two effects were fully integrated and coordinated.

For him, unless he deliberately allowed it, any negative emotion that might affect him would inevitably be suppressed and erased the very instant it appeared. It was impossible for it to emerge silently, let alone to the point of affecting his mind.

The Heaven and Earth Net woven from his Sword Intent circulated through every inch of his body, meticulously searching for any possible anomaly.

But after checking himself from head to toe, the solemn look on Chu Mu’s face only deepened.

He hadn’t detected any abnormalities at all!

’Something can silently affect my mental state, yet I can’t even detect its source...’

’An illusion?’

Chu Mu was filled with doubt, but the feeling of powerless despair from just a moment ago had been incredibly clear.

He was certain it hadn’t been an illusion.

Just now, it had truly been a feeling of powerless despair.

Chu Mu looked around again. The Sand-tailed Scorpions were endless, but now, he no longer felt any sudden surge of abnormal emotion.

"Miss Qin, have you felt anything unusual with your mental state?"

Chu Mu turned to Qin Zhaoxue and asked directly, without any hesitation.

"My mental state?"

Qin Zhaoxue looked puzzled.

"Yes."

Seeing Chu Mu’s firm reply, Qin Zhaoxue blinked. Her expression then turned a little more serious. She closed her eyes to sense for a moment before shaking her head in confusion.

"My mental state is as usual. There are no abnormal changes."

"Fellow Daoist, did you sense some kind of anomaly?"

"I..."

Chu Mu had just begun to speak when the Compass in his hand suddenly began to tremble and hum.

Immediately after, another faint black dot abruptly appeared on its crystalline surface.

In just an instant, the black dot swelled abruptly, and its edges were even surrounded by faint, flickering black rings.

At the same time, the Compass’s tremors grew more violent, and a piece of information, originating from the Compass’s own logical judgment, flooded into Chu Mu’s mind.

’A Spiritual Qi eruption?’

Chu Mu’s heart lurched, and he snapped his head up to look out over the Desert Sea before them.

Even from nearly a thousand li away, he could clearly perceive the Spiritual Qi fluctuations from the eruption. Within his Divine Sense Perception, the billowing Fire Attribute Spiritual Energy of the surrounding Desert Sea grew volatile, as if some balance had been broken.

Such a phenomenon no longer required any special detection methods; it could be easily perceived with Divine Sense alone.

"Fellow Daoist!"

Qin Zhaoxue’s voice was grave.

A phenomenon that could stir an area for several thousand li was clearly not something that could be caused by an ordinary Battle.

The only possibility was some kind of transformation originating from within the Desert Sea itself.

"Let’s go!"

Without the slightest hesitation, Chu Mu circulated his Magical Power and shot forward. But at that very moment, the will—whose fluctuations had remained completely inert until now—seemed to awaken in response to this change.

From the unseen depths, that majestic, heavenly might seemed to descend once more.

Without a trace of emotion that would indicate Spiritual Wisdom, a command was directly inscribed, like a Seal, onto the Silver-White Round Pearl that simulated the Sand-tailed Scorpions’ Sea of Consciousness.

At that instant, the innate Spiritual Wisdom of the countless Sand-tailed Scorpions wandering aimlessly nearby was suppressed in a flash.

Numb. Indifferent!

Under the control of this will, every Sand-tailed Scorpion, like a mindless Puppet, began to converge and head toward the source of the phenomenon.

Their mission was to annihilate any non-Sand-tailed Scorpion creature that approached and prevent any such creature from getting near!

Under this mission, the two Silver-White Sand-tailed Scorpions that Chu Mu and his companion were disguised as were, naturally, no exception.

Their silver-white carapaces shimmered as the two Sand-tailed Scorpions, their eyes now vacant, began to move with the rest of the horde toward the source of the phenomenon.

And as the phenomenon erupted, in less than a quarter of an hour, more than a dozen new sources of flickering Spiritual Qi fluctuations appeared on Chu Mu’s Spirit-Determining Compass, all within a radius of less than a thousand li around the eruption’s epicenter.

More than a dozen black dots flickered on the Compass’s surface, each one representing someone struggling through the endless Sand-tailed Scorpion Tide, making their way toward the source of the phenomenon.

In a deathtrap-like cage such as the Desert Sea, such a sudden celestial phenomenon was undoubtedly a glimmer of Dawn in the darkness for the Cultivators trapped within—or even a final lifeline!

And the reaction of the countless Sand-tailed Scorpions seemed to be... clear proof of this glimmer of Dawn’s authenticity...

...