Chapter 1103 - 797: Totem

Chapter 1103: Chapter 797: Totem

Everyone heard those words as if they had suddenly come to life, propped themselves up from the ground, and looked over there.

Not far away on the dune, there silently stood a giant white bone carcass, like the skeleton of some behemoth, as tall as twenty or thirty meters.

The moonlight fell upon it, casting a faintly shimmering silver glow, strikingly awe-inspiring in the pitch-black night.

"What... what is this? How come I didn’t see it before?"

"I didn’t see when it appeared either. My God, could it be that we’ve run into a ghost?"

"What ghost, there’s no such thing as ghosts in this world. Stop the nonsense, let’s go take a look!" The captain led the group towards it.

Only upon getting closer did they realize it wasn’t bones at all; it was an ancient tree.

The tree was entirely corpse-white, with its trunk, branches, even the thinnest twigs, all bone-colored. Under the moonlight, from afar, it looked just like a skeletal framework stabbed into the sand.

"What... what kind of tree is this? Why have I never seen it before? It looks so strange."

Someone wanted to reach out and touch it, but the captain quickly pulled them back, scolding, "Do you have a death wish? Don’t touch anything until we figure it out."

In this dangerous desert, crises are everywhere; one might vanish in an instant. For such a bizarre tree to suddenly appear in the desert, it might very well be poisonous, specifically hunting passing Beastmen.

The young Beastman quickly withdrew his hand, his face slightly pale.

An eagle-eyed Beastman circled the tree twice and suddenly remarked, "Captain, look at its main branch, it seems a bit peculiar."

This tree’s branches crisscrossed, yet four main branches could be distinguished from the trunk. Compared to other branches, these four had a lighter color, exhibiting an almost transparent jade-like sheen.

The four main branches extended in four different directions, remaining unmoved despite the blowing sand.

"Could this tree... perhaps indicate direction?" someone blurted out.

But just as excitement was mounting, someone doused it with cold water, "Are you crazy, relying on a tree for direction? It’s probably a coincidence! Besides, even if this tree could guide us, what good does it do? We can’t tell north, south, east, west, who knows which direction it’s pointing." 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ

The captain remained silent, circling the tree once more.

Indeed, even if the branches pointed to the cardinal directions, they couldn’t discern their location.

In the desert, taking a wrong turn, a small difference could lead you far astray.

At this moment, his gaze suddenly settled on the trunk, his pupils shrank as if he discovered something, "Wait... what are these markings?"

Looking closely, under the slanted moonlight, there was a very faint line at the root of each of the four main branches, subtly displaying differing colors.

The captain didn’t care about anything else now, hurriedly brushing off the sand covering the trunk, revealing four totems.

On the nearest branch root, there was an engraving of a rising sun.

Beside it, was a flying bird.

In the other two directions, respectively, were a waning crescent moon and a layered ice mountain.

These totems were certainly not naturally formed, but carved by someone.

Yet here lies the desert’s heart, where nothing grows, not possible for any Beast Clan to take root!

And looking at the age of this tree, it must have existed for at least a millennium; those carved marks, now cracked and twisted with growth, could only be left by the Ancient Clan centuries ago.

The captain suddenly seemed to recall something, his fingers slightly trembling, "I remember hearing some elders talk before, about how thousands of years ago, without today’s advanced technology, the biggest way to discern direction was to carve marks on trees or stones."

"Sunrise for east, the bird flying south, moon setting to the west, ice mountains anchoring north... I remember it now. The totems on this tree, East Sun, South Bird, West Moon, North Ice—this was the way the Ancient Beast Clan identified direction!"

Upon hearing this, everyone instantly got excited.

Naturally, some among them had heard of these.

In the ancient times of millions of years ago, amidst the chaos and disputes among tribes, merchants and Beastmen slowly developed a universal understanding, marking directions with these specific totems to help travel everywhere.

It seems these were markings left by some Ancient Clan in the desert years ago!

Even after all these years, they shouldn’t be wrong.

Beastmen suddenly felt reinvigorated, hurriedly moving in the direction indicated by the ancient tree.

After flying for half a day, low desert shrubs could faintly be seen ahead, the vegetation found only at the desert’s edge.

The captain suddenly remembered something, glancing back.