Chapter 433: Taklamakan
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Having achieved speedy enlightenment, Black Ba got up. Above its head was a large amount of yellow mist floating in the sky.
This wretched yellow mist! That monster is equally wretched!
Black Ba got up angrily and strode to the western side of the forest in big strides. On its way, it pulled an iron tree out of the ground, and the dark brown iron tree made a sharp, ear-piercing sound as it scratched the ground.
At the westernmost region of the Dark Ember Forest, a lizard beast that seemed to be made up of sand was crawling on the ground. Its thick tail was swaying gently, drawing a deep trail on the ground. “Roar.”
A bunch of thick black shadows burst out of the forest, and the whistling gas cloud left behind a thick white trail in the sky.
Pang!
An unstoppable head-on blow that was as powerful as thunder created a piercing shriek in the air. When Black Ba jumped and landed, the whole earth roared and trembled.
Instantly, the head of the Giant Sand Lizard exploded, and the sand that was floating in the sky across the land fell down towards the ground.
Breathing heavily, a giant black ape with a hunched back turned its head gradually, its eyes filled with cruel brutality, like a giant savage beast from the wild, steaming with black mist and bloody crimson eyes.
“This forest is under my control! If you trouble me again, I will kill you!”
Its head exploded, the now headless giant lizard retreated backward. The sand that was scattered on the ground flew up to recondense into a head. A layer of dark red tongue was scraped off the ground. With eyes full of hatred, the lizard glanced at the Lord of the Dark Ember wistfully, then it turned and escaped. Its flexible body leaped a few times on the ground before leaving and disappearing among the hills.
…
Gao Peng received a call from Chen Xuehe.
“Cough, is that Gao Peng?”
“So you wish to join us in the Southern Sky?” Gao Peng was rather stunned. “Isn’t the pay in the military much better than that of a private enterprise like mine?”
Gao Peng laughed as he declined Chen Xuehe. Chen Xuehe belonged to the military, so even if he were someone Gao Peng knew, he couldn’t randomly be put into the group.
Chen Xuehe explained the situation to Gao Peng. He didn’t have any other reasons except for simply being unwilling to stay in the military. It wasn’t because there was someone in the military who targeted him, but just the general environment of the military, which made it difficult for him to do anything exceptional… including some practical experiments that required a number of approvals every single time. The bureaucratic system was too troublesome, and it was unbearable.
Therefore, finally, Chen Xuehe chose to leave the military and chose a platform where he could act with more freedom.
Gao Peng didn’t refuse again. After some thought, he let Chen Xuehe come over. “You stay in the laboratory for a while, if you can get used to it, then you can stay here. If you don’t like our environment here, then we can part ways in good faith.”
In the blink of an eye, half a month had passed, and there was a group of unexpected guests in the Dark Ember Forest.
The yellow sandstorm that covered the sky blackened and blew among the hills. Yellow monsters that resembled lizards wandered among the sandhills, some squatting and some standing. They were in different conditions—some showed cruelty in their eyes, while others looked cold and cunning.
The branches in the forest shook violently as a huge black shadow moved across the forest and stood on the edge, overlooking this group of lizards. “So you know you need to get help? You think calling for help is going to save you?” The Lord of the Dark Ember had gloomy eyes, opening its mouth and baring its blinding teeth in the air.
The strong chest muscles slowly rose and fell as it breathed. The muscles on its thick neck were harder than granite, and its steel mane that seemed like it was made out of needles was standing on end. “Roar!”
Its roar was thunderous. The brutal airwaves flattened the grass to the ground. When the Lord of Dark Ember stepped forward, the mountains and earth just shook and swayed. With a single punch, the demonic black light that condensed on its fist was like a falling comet.
The power of darkness thoroughly enwrapped within the fist, with a single punch, the sky seemed to darken.
Bang!!! Like a missile that dropped from the sky, it blew up a giant lizard beast in front of it immediately. This giant beast that exploded became heaps of sand. As a result, the remnants piled up on the hills.
This move had thoroughly angered the rest of the giant lizard beasts. Accompanied by their own hissing and roaring, they swayed their tails and pounced at the Lord of the Dark Ember.
The misty brown sand rained from the sky, in a flash, the wind blew violently, the forest behind The Lord of the Dark Ember rumbling and roaring, causing the enormous amount of sand to accumulate on the trees, turning all the leaves yellow.
But this was its limit.
This vast forest was just like the Lord of the Dark Ember, guarding the city of Chang’an firmly, working without any complaint.
“Roar!”
Bang!
With a muffled sound, the interlocked fists of the Lord of the Dark Ember slammed the ground under its feet, and an invisible black shock wave spread around in a ring shape. With this slam, the power of darkness spread.
The lizards that had pounced on the Lord of the Dark Ember were smashed. The dark power eroded their flesh crazily; they just collapsed in layers halfway in the air, with no chance at recovering at all.
In the distance, a school official who was observing the scene with a telescope shivered. “The Lord of the Dark Ember has definitely hidden its real strength!”
He remembered he and the others had once wondered if they should have gotten rid of the Lord of the Dark Ember, but at that moment, he was grateful that they hadn’t done it back then.
The main reason was that this monkey had a good temper. Unless a human initiated an attack, it had never taken the initiative to attack any human. So, to the officials in Chang’an, the threat imposed by Lord of the Dark Ember wasn’t as serious as that of the Desert Ruler. Therefore, the Desert Ruler was the first monster they considered getting rid of.
In their first evaluation, the threat from the Desert Ruler was five-star, and the Lord of the Dark Ember was only four-star… How was it only four stars? The Lord of the Dark Ember was absolutely at least a five-star threat, if not higher. Though he was so far away, he could also sense the fatal threat, as if someone was putting a knife over his head and his scalp was turning numb.
After getting rid of the lizards, the irritation in the eyes of the Lord of the Dark Ember lessened. Then it turned its head around and looked at the person who was peeping at it from afar before moving its gaze.
The elbows of the official who was holding the telescope stiffened. Finally, he put down his arms gradually. At that moment, his heart beat wildly. His undershirt was completely drenched in sweat in that short moment.
The threat beyond the Dark Ember Forest had been solved by the Lord of the Dark Ember. Gao Peng, who was staying in Chang’an Base City, also thought that the haze in the city would dissipate after that. On the contrary, it went from bad to worse. Just like an elderly person who was sick, the situation only worsened.
“The source of the haze wasn’t taken care of!” The senior officials of Chang’an City were angry. A huge number of drones and familiars were sent to the base city to continue investigating.
Information was received after two days. In the north, thousands of giant sand lizards were advancing towards Chang’an City with haste. Furthermore, this was just the vanguard—there were endless lizards following behind this group.
After measuring their path through the sky satellite, the final destination the target would pass through was the Taklamakan Desert, which was also the largest desert in the Huaxia Region.
Ever since the Cataclysm, the area had been engulfed in sandstorms regularly. The sky above the desert was covered by an unknown yellow substance that made it impossible to observe the things happening inside the desert.