The next day, when Yan Zhen awoke, Yun Xiu was already up. She sat at the table, staring blankly in his direction.
She wore a moon-white dress that wrapped her body quite tightly, yet it could not conceal her exquisitely alluring feminine curves. Her graceful figure carried a hint of seductiveness, but her temperament remained as pure and ethereal as an immortal’s.
A veil covered her face, leaving only her clear, beautiful eyes exposed. They reflected the scene on the bed, unblinking.
From a distance, she resembled a white-robed fairy who had just stepped out of a painting—beautiful in a way that felt almost unreal.
The instant Yan Zhen opened his eyes, the white-robed fairy jolted like a startled little rabbit. She immediately turned her face away, clearly in a huff.
Yan Zhen sat up and scratched his head. Last night, he had gotten too carried away, leading him to some rather excessive actions.
For instance, he had said on his lips, “I’ll just rub against it a little,” but in reality, he had gone all the way with a full, deep release. Throughout, he had kept teasing the sensitive spot at her chest.
Though Yan Zhen had only meant it as playful intimacy, not to humiliate her, they had not been together many times yet. Such intensity was probably hard for her to accept.
And it had not been just once. He had switched positions repeatedly, tormenting her until the middle of the night. Fortunately, Yun Xiu was not the type to cry out loudly; her soft, muffled hums had been restrained.
That had only stimulated Yan Zhen even more.
—Cough, cough. Better not dwell on the memories, or getting out of bed would prove difficult.
“Morning, Yun Xiu.”
At the sound of his voice, Yun Xiu turned her back to him completely.
“Get up already. Make your preparations, and we’ll set off. Youngsters shouldn’t dawdle.”
Her tone carried the air of an elder scolding a junior. Yan Zhen felt an urge to laugh, but he held it back to avoid angering her further.
“I’ll wash up first. Won’t take long.”
After such a wild night, a simple brushing of teeth and face would not suffice. Yan Zhen enjoyed a refreshing morning bath before changing into casual clothes. Only then did he head downstairs with Yun Xiu to check out of the inn.
The most crucial item for entering the desert was a map, followed by water and food. Yan Zhen purchased several different maps. He then took out an empty storage ring and stocked it with a cubic meter of water. For food, he prepared dried meats, biscuits, and the like.
He had no time to refine pills right now; otherwise, fasting pills would have been ideal to bring along.
Ordinary travelers heading to the City of Water usually rode giant camels or other desert beasts. But aside from making haste, Yan Zhen intended to cultivate a new Mystic technique along the way, so he chose to proceed on foot.
The two donned cloaks that covered them from head to toe, shielding them from the sun and blowing sand—one black, one white. Then they departed Green Mountain Town.
About ten li outside the town, the vegetation vanished entirely. The ground beneath their feet was almost entirely blanketed in yellow sand.
Nearby stood a weathered stone stele inscribed with a warning: “Danger! Sand scorpions ahead.”
From this point onward lay the territory of the Great Marsh Desert, under the jurisdiction of the City of Water.
The temperature rose sharply. Even though Yan Zhen cultivated fire mystic power, he felt a slight stuffiness in the heat.
This was merely the fringes. One could only imagine how scorching it would become deeper in.
Yet this level of heat made Yan Zhen’s fire mystic power exceptionally active, which greatly benefited his cultivation.
Yan Zhen cautioned her, “Yun Xiu, I’m about to start cultivating from here on. Try not to intervene unless my life is in danger.”
Yun Xiu gave a small nod.
“If you’re not in mortal peril, I absolutely won’t lift a finger.”
With that settled, the pair ventured into the desert.
Occasional gusts of wind swept through, hurling sand against their faces.
Roughly a quarter of an hour later, they encountered their first sand scorpion.
The child-sized creature burst suddenly from a nearby sand dune. Its hook-shaped tail lashed out from a tricky angle, aiming to sting Yan Zhen’s leg.
Yan Zhen had been waiting for just such a moment. He kicked the side of the scorpion’s tail, sending it tumbling into the air. Then he clenched his fingers together and exhaled a layer of gold-silver fire from his palm as thin as a blade. With a single slash, he severed the sand scorpion at the waist.
Sand scorpion shells were exceedingly tough. The Beautiful Female Master had instructed Yan Zhen to condense his gold-silver fire into a blade whenever he encountered one, slicing through the shell to train his ability to shape fire into an edge. This would cultivate the “Sharpness of Fire,” preparing him for forging with gold-silver fire later on while laying the groundwork for sword Mystic techniques.
Yan Zhen crouched down to inspect the cut on the corpse. It had been melted by intense heat, forming an uneven edge—far from the standard set by the Beautiful Female Master.
Without the aid of his Mystic artifact embryo, Yan Zhen could only shape the gold-silver fire into the form of a large sword; he could not yet form a truly sharp “blade.”
The training ahead would be far from easy, but that was no matter.
【Ding! Detected that the host’s current cultivation session can be skipped—】
Yan Zhen’s spirits lifted. Just as he had anticipated, System-chan’s skip function had triggered!
Cultivating in the desert was a monotonous grind, and even the Beautiful Female Master offered pointers only rarely. After all, this trial demanded steady, patient effort.
He had already told Yun Xiu not to interfere with his cultivation, so there would likely be little interaction.
“Skip!”
The scenery before his eyes blurred by like a fast-forwarded recording. In the blink of an eye, night had fallen.
An overwhelming fatigue enveloped Yan Zhen’s body, weighing down his every step.
“Yan Zhen, it’s getting late. It’s not suitable to keep traveling. Let’s find a spot to camp and rest.”
“Mm. I scanned ahead with my spiritual sense. There’s a cluster of iron tree cacti a bit farther on. We’ll set up camp there.”
Yan Zhen secured the tent stakes to the tough iron tree cactus for stability. Then he used the Tool Knife: Thunder Cut to carve a cross into its surface. A thin stream of water immediately flowed out.
He placed a towel over the incision, soaked it through, and passed it into the tent.
“Thanks.”
Yun Xiu accepted the damp towel and gave her body a quick wipe. Though a Mystic Lord powerhouse was untouched by dust and grime, she still maintained her daily habit of cleansing herself.
Once she had finished, Yan Zhen soaked the towel again and wiped himself down.
Only after that did he crawl into the tent. Yun Xiu was already dressed, naturally in her white robes. She showed no intention of wearing his black cloak again anytime soon.
“Let’s eat something.”
They shared a few pieces of dried meat and biscuits with the fresh water. Once finished, they settled down to sleep.
The desert’s days and nights differed vastly in temperature. Yan Zhen pulled out a blanket and draped it over them both.
They lay facing each other, their gazes meeting through the darkness of the night—mingled joy and shyness in their eyes.
Yun Xiu had never imagined she would share such simple, happy moments with Yan Zhen again.
“Time to sleep.”
Yan Zhen spoke softly. Exhausted as he was, he drifted off to sleep in short order.
Yun Xiu let out a quiet breath of relief. She had been worried he might try something even in the desert…
Gazing at Yan Zhen’s sleeping face, her heart filled with tranquility. She reached out a hand and gently caressed his cheek, stroke by tender stroke, as if touching a priceless treasure.
It was a long, long while before Yun Xiu finally slipped into slumber.
And so ten days passed.
Over those ten days, Yan Zhen made no advances on Yun Xiu. He devoted himself entirely to cultivation, occasionally asking her for knowledge on “sword qi.”
After sacrificing hundreds of sand scorpions, his skill at condensing fire into a blade had improved markedly. By then, they had arrived at the Southern Bastion, one of the Four Directions Fortresses outside the City of Water.
