The speed of Lei Yu was superior to that of the four cultivators' magical artifacts, and although he started later, he soon surpassed them in the blink of an eye, landing straight ahead.

When the four cultivators witnessed this scene, they did not need to guess that there was a Foundation Establishment cultivator hidden within the caravan, but now they were too focused on escaping to bother with that detail, each desperately urging their magical artifacts, fearing they were a step too slow.

At the same time, five pitch-black tornadoes suddenly appeared in the sky behind them.

The black tornado picked up the yellow sand from the ground, and amidst the flying sand, several bolts of thunder dropped from the dark clouds, illuminating the area with blinding light in an instant.

Yuan Ming, while racing, glanced back hurriedly and saw endless streaks of electricity flaring and leaping within the tornado, like several rabid evil dogs chasing after some unknown entity.

At that moment, Hu Ji, whom Yuan Ming was carrying, also shouted loudly, "Immortal Master, hurry to Xiansha City, only the underground array there can withstand this!"

"Rumble"

Before he could finish his sentence, a heart-shaking thunderous sound came from afar, reaching everyone's ears in a flash.

At the instant Yuan Ming heard the thunder, he felt a strong dizziness and pain, as if someone were hammering at his Divine Soul with a huge mallet.

Below him, Lei Yu also cried out in pain and headed straight toward the ground.

Perhaps it was due to Yuan Ming's strong Divine Soul, but he quickly recovered from the dizziness.

By this time, he had already become separated from the back of Lei Yu and was plummeting toward the ground.

Not daring to delay, he quickly took out the Jade Shuttle, and as he started flying, he also rescued the similarly falling Hu Ji and Lei Yu before they hit the ground.

Yuan Ming, feeling somewhat distressed, put the still dizzy Lei Yu into the Spiritual Beast Bag and continued to control the Flying Shuttle forward. Glancing back again, he saw that the four Qi Refining cultivators who were following him had now vanished without a trace.

Meanwhile, the five tornadoes relentlessly pursued him without pause, the electricity flashing and leaping within them, sketching out, in a blur, the head of a gigantic beast that roared silently at Yuan Ming.

At the same time, the rolling thunder approached, resembling the drums of war before a battle, each peal louder than the last, yet for some reason, the thunder now seemed less powerful and did not inflict any further damage on Yuan Ming's Divine Soul as it reached his ears.

However, this did not mean Yuan Ming was out of danger; the raging tornadoes kept on his heels, and bursts of piercing cold directly targeted his spine.

"Crack"

Suddenly, Yuan Ming heard the sound of ice crystals shattering. Looking down, he was horrified to find that a black mist, resembling frost, had crept onto the tail of the Jade Shuttle.

The mist slowly spread toward Yuan Ming's feet, resembling the hands of a soul-reaper, inching towards his body.

But in the next instant, the wind behind Yuan Ming suddenly stopped, and the black mist on the Jade Shuttle dissipated. The clouds in the sky rapidly cleared away, vanishing in the blink of an eye as if they had never appeared.

The setting sun once again landed on Yuan Ming's shoulder, the warmth of the sunlight dispelling the lingering chill on his body. Everything returned to normal, as if all that had just occurred was merely a bad dream.

Yet when Yuan Ming turned around, he saw that the desert behind him was marred with several terrifying, narrow gorges, like scars on the earth, sending chills down the spine.

The name "Black Wind Desert" came from the frequent "Black Winds" that struck there, a natural disaster that appeared and vanished without prediction, leaving nothing but sand in its wake.

Before coming here, Yuan Ming had heard of the notorious Black Wind, but only upon facing it did he truly understand the profound meaning of "natural disaster."

Yuan Ming flew towards the previously-set caravan campsite on his Flying Shuttle, but all along the way, aside from gullies, all he saw were scattered fragments of wood and cloth, and occasional limbs and body parts— not even a single complete body remained.

Of the entire caravan, the only survivors now were he and that man called Hu Ji.

Yuan Ming landed the Flying Shuttle, put Hu Ji down on the sandy ground, checked his condition, and found his body was largely unharmed but his Divine Soul had been injured, causing him to fall into a coma with no knowing when he would recover.

With the vastness of the Desert Sea and now without a guide, Yuan Ming did not know where Xiansha City was located. With no other option, he decided to try and performed a Soul Search on the unconscious Hu Ji.

Fortunately, though Hu Ji's Divine Soul was damaged, much of his memory remained intact, including his experiences traveling between Zhao Country and Xiansha City with the caravan.

And within his memory, Xiansha City was located in the direction from which Yuan Ming and the four Qi Refining cultivators had just fled.

Now that the location was clear, Yuan Ming did not linger any longer. He took the unconscious Hu Ji and once again boarded the Jade Shuttle, flying towards Xiansha City.

...

Not long after, Yuan Ming approached a large black sand dune and commanded the Jade Shuttle to descend.

This place was where Xiansha City was located.

Unlike other places, all towns in the Black Wind Desert were built underground, thus they were also known as underground cities.

The entrance of each underground city was established within the same black sand dunes, reinforced through formations, and guarded by dedicated cultivators. If a Black Wind disaster occurred, they would immediately burrow underground and activate another array in the city capable of defending against the Black Wind.

When the Black Wind raged, not only would there be tornados and thunder on the surface, but evil spirits would also erode from below. Hence, simply going underground was not enough to escape the Black Wind alive.

However, at least being underground could prevent damage from the tornados. Although this was of little significance to cultivators, it could greatly reduce damage to buildings and the consumption of magical formations for the towns.

Yuan Ming soon located the entrance to Xiansha City at the foot of the black sand dune. Seeing Yuan Ming covered in dust and carrying an unconscious mortal, the Qi Refining cultivators guarding the place immediately tensed up.

"Senior, what is this..."

"The merchant caravan I was escorting encountered the Black Wind. Fortunately, we were fairly distant, and I managed to escape with him just in time," Yuan Ming said, his face revealing heartfelt relief.

Upon hearing this, the guards at the gate widened their eyes and repeatedly praised Yuan Ming's good luck as they let him in.

Beyond the sand dune's entrance was a spacious underground tunnel sloping gently downward, with Luminous Pearls embedded in the stone walls above and on either side, providing enough light for the entire tunnel.

Yuan Ming continued downwards and before long, his sight suddenly opened up to a city situated beneath the sand, presenting itself before him.

The whole city was built inside a massive hollow, above which were densely arrayed specialized glowing magical artifacts that emitted light no less bright than sunlight, illuminating the entire city with unparalleled brightness, absent any dark or oppressive feeling.

Looking down from above, the city's layout was concentrically structured with an inner city and outer city. But whether it was the inner city or the outer city, most of the buildings here were constructed of sand and soil, with hardly any stacking marks, almost all integrated structures with window frames largely made of stone, and covered with cloth rather than paper.

Additionally, restricted by the height of the hollow, the tallest of these buildings were no more than five stories. From the city center outward, there was a clear gradient difference.

The construction and decorations of the buildings in the inner city were much more luxurious compared to the outer city, but they were still quite rudimentary compared to the cities Yuan Ming had seen before. Not to mention a large workshop city like Little Lake City, even Iron Tiger Town was better off than this place.

As for the houses in the outer city, they were even less visually appealing, with rough construction evident everywhere. From inside to outside, the houses became increasingly rudimentary, not only showing various axe and knife marks on the walls but also bearing many scars from magical destruction, resembling devastated ruins.

Toward the edge of the city, there weren't even decent walls or tiles, just makeshift tents made of tattered cloth and worn coats. It was only because the underground city was windless, otherwise, these tents would likely have been blown away long ago.

Yuan Ming did not rush to tour the town, first chose a fairly orderly medical clinic in the outer city to treat Hu Ji, and left a sum of gold and silver for the doctor to hand over to Hu Ji after he awakened. Then he headed toward the inner city.

On the streets of the outer city, Yuan Ming noted that the mortals coming and going either bore faces of poverty and sadness or emitted a fierce aura, not looking like good folk.

However, even these bandit-like individuals would immediately carefuly sidestep to avoid getting in the way if they encountered cultivators walking on the streets.

Compared to the mortals, the cultivators on the streets had even more wild and frenzied auras.

Perhaps because Yuan Ming's gaze lingered for too long, one of the cultivators with a beard by the roadside, who was arguing with another, suddenly looked up and glared fiercely at Yuan Ming, "What are you looking at, looking for trouble?"

Not wanting to cause any trouble, Yuan Ming shook his head and averted his gaze, intending to continue forward, but suddenly furrowed his brows and nimbly dodged to the left, avoiding a staggering lean cultivator. At the same time, he swiftly grabbed the man's arm.

"Fellow Daoist, doing this is rather blatant," he said, his face showing a hint of anger.

"Misunderstanding, all misunderstandings, Fellow Daoist," the lean cultivator apologized profusely with a smile and bowed continuously.

But just as he bowed his head, his empty left hand swiftly flicked upward, his fingertips seemingly clutching something, and he struck toward Yuan Ming.

However, these small maneuvers couldn't escape Yuan Ming's perception. Just as the man's arm was raised, Yuan Ming's hand was already pointing in front of him, where a fireball appeared at his fingertips and rapidly expanded.

Feeling the power of Yuan Ming's Burning Explosion Skill, the lean cultivator immediately broke into a cold sweat and dared not make any further unexpected moves, instead pleading repeatedly for mercy.

Yuan Ming, being new to the place, did not want to start any trouble, so he voluntarily let go of the lean cultivator's arm and scolded him a few times, allowing him to go.

However, after the lean cultivator hurried away, Yuan Ming heard a substantial amount of hissing around him.

He looked around and saw that because of his actions, many onlookers had gathered around; seeing that they had not fought, each of them seemed disappointed as if they wished for chaos.

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