The First Demon of the Chan Sect

Giant hands covered the sky, with the boundless Saintly Pressure emanating from the golden hands, spreading in all directions.

Long Xuhu was startled and quickly covered his ears, eventually complaining, "Damn, this Xuantian is too ruthless, attacking as soon as he said! Could have at least given us a heads-up!"

Xuantian shrugged and said, "Sorry, I've been itching to act all this while, so my attack was a tad hasty. Please forgive me, my fellow Daoists!"

Li Qingming waved his hand and said, "No need for apologies, Fellow Daoist. Solving this Array, we can also reach Shepherd City as soon as possible!"

"Buzz!"

In the instant everyone was talking, boundless black mist instantly dissipated, and the stars sprinkled rays of silver brilliance, illuminating the entire Void.

Borrowing the light of the starlight, everyone gazed ahead only to discover a vast desert quietly suspended under the starry sky, its area comparable to Cold Origin Ancient City, perhaps even slightly larger.

...

"Infinite Heavenly Venerable, can someone tell me what the hell this place actually is?"

Not a soul in sight within tens of thousands of miles of the yellow-orange desert, Li Qingming led everyone flying through the desert for half a day, but failed to find any trace of life.

"Amitabha Buddha, Li Daoist! The space here seems quite stable; shall we try drawing a Teleportation Array?" Shakyamuni, touching his bald head, said with a worried frown.

Li Qingquan's eyes lit up at these words and said, "Yes, Brother Li! I think Shakyamuni's idea is good. If we keep going like this, who knows when we will get there!"

Li Qingming, seeing that everyone was tempted, pondered for a moment and said, "Alright, let's give it a try!"

Saying so, he began to take out one Spiritual Material after another from his storage space and started to draw the Space Array.

After a short while, Li Qingming, together with everyone, stepped onto the Array and crossed the Void.

The next instant, two thousand miles away, the Void was opened, and out rushed a group of people—Li Qingming, Xuantian, Yin Xi... they all squeezed out from the spatial rift.

However, the scene of the desert filled with billowing yellow sand before their eyes made them realize that they were still unable to leave this boundless and vast desert.

With no other choice, everyone exchanged glances and continued to draw the Array...

After several repetitions, they crossed the Void for a total of three hundred thousand miles, only to end up facing the same yellow-orange grains of sand and the exceedingly dry Gang Wind.

Even Li Qingming, with his temperament, could not help but curse: "Damn it, the stele by the Teleportation Array clearly marked Shepherd City. But after exiting the Teleportation Array, there was a terrifying Killing Array, and now this endless desert land, is that old bastard Jin Zhou trying to screw us over?"

"Eh, that's not right! Man Niu, why have you been silent all this way?" Suddenly, Li Qingquan turned to look at Man Niu, who had been following closely behind everyone with a furrowed brow.

Li Qingming was taken aback at these words, thinking yes, Man Niu by nature is forthright, and in such a tedious journey through the desert for several hours, if it were before, with Man Niu's character, he likely would have been swearing at all of Jin Zhou's female relatives by now, so why is he so calm this time?

Man Niu lifted his head and glanced at everyone, looking puzzled, and said, "Brother Li, I think we might have entered a dead zone!"

"What?" Li Qingming was stunned and asked, "A dead zone, what kind of dead zone? That's right, didn't you fall into the Turtle Breath state in the Cold Origin Realm and visited a city three Calamities ago? Didn't you pass the test of the first city?"

Man Niu scratched the back of his head looking troubled and said, "I indeed visited last time, but that was just the city at the very end; I never came through this first Teleportation Array!"

"Oh? Then tell us, what kind of dead zone have we entered?" Li Qingming became interested and asked.

After thinking carefully, Man Niu said, "Legend has it, in the Cold Origin Realm, there is a place called 'Desert.' It is barren, rarely sees sunlight yet is abnormally bright and dry. It spans boundlessly, moving through the Cold Origin Realm. No one knows where it will appear!"

Hearing this, Long Xuhu touched the Dragon Horn on his head and urged, "Brother Man Niu, can you get to the point?"

"Xu Hu!" Li Qingming and everyone were listening intently when they heard Long Xuhu interrupt, and they glared at him.

Man Niu nonchalantly shrugged his shoulders and said, "No worries! This Desert is said to be a place one can only enter but never leave. Even if you are a Sub-Saint Great Power, you will inevitably deplete your True Yuan and Essence Blood, and it'll be impossible to walk out of the Desert. In the end, one can only die of exhaustion, turned into a pile of dry bones in the desert!"

"What? Can't leave?" Yang Jian opened his mouth, feeling dry-mouthed.

"No problem, maybe we are just at the edge of the Desert; a little walk and we'll be out!" Man Niu was optimistic and laughed cheerfully at this moment.

The others had no choice but to continue their journey through the desolate and dry Desert, seeking out the so-called Shepherd City.

Li Qingming did not believe that the Lord of Golden Boat City would engrave a fabricated name on a stele, only for the purpose of setting a trap, waiting for the Trial Takers to jump in and seek their own doom.

And so, with intermittent stops and starts, three days later, as everyone made their way deep into the desert, a small black dot appeared within their sight.

"Big brother, look! Is that a building over there?" Long Xuhu excitedly pointed towards something a few dozen miles away with his incredibly dry eyes.

Hearing this, everyone followed Long Xuhu's finger and indeed saw a speckle of black dots, flickering in and out of visibility amid the vast yellow sands.

"It appears to be a city. Let's quicken our pace!" Li Qingming's spirits lifted as he hastened his steps, crossing several dozen miles in almost a blink of an eye.

This was a huge architectural complex, covering an area of about a hundred thousand miles, built like a solid fortress. It was surrounded by black city walls that were tightly secured around it, and the mottled scars on them seemed to recite the vicissitudes of a history ground away by the passage of time.

Moreover, just like Cold Origin Ancient City, this city was also protected by a semi-circular Defense Magic Array hovering above it, securely guarding the city within.

Li Qingming sped up with the rest of the group, and within a few quick strides, they arrived under the majestic city walls, looking up to the sky.

The city, facing from north to south, featured a reddish-copper gate intricately carved with dragons and phoenixes, exuding both an ancient appeal and the profound wear of the ages.

Above the main gate, there hung an unadorned plaque with the words "Shepherd City" scripted in Tao Runes that shone with a blinding brilliance. It seemed to possess an essence of the Great Dao flowing incessantly within, mesmerizing to behold.

"Brother, let's go in! We've been roaming around this damned desert for so long, I'm almost growing calluses on my feet!" Li Qingquan complained tragically, pointing at his feet shifting in the sand.

"But, it seems the city gate is not open, right?" Yang Jian emerged from behind Li Qingming, scrutinizing the massive city gates before them.

"I'll smash open these broken gates!" Long Xuhu rolled up his sleeves, his eyes alight with excitement, ready to step forward and break through.

"Who dares to smash my city gates?" Suddenly, just as Long Xuhu was eager to try, a voice tinged with a hint of jest came from within the city.

Next, the city gates swung wide open, and a glittering, colorful carriage emerged slowly from the now-opened gates.

The carriage was forged entirely from Star Essence Gold, with several glossy, round pieces of Beautiful Jade affixed intimately around it, and even the two giant Mountain Goats pulling the carriage were adorned with gold and silver, radiating extravagance.

"To use such fine materials merely to adorn an ordinary carriage? What a waste, what a prodigal!" Yin Xi looked at the carriage before him, his heart almost bleeding.

"Saint Realm!" Li Qing and Xuantian glanced at each other, piercing through the canopy of the carriage with their gaze, fixating on the individual seated in the middle.

"Whoosh!"

At that moment, the canopy of the carriage was lifted, and a youth with delicate features and a slender figure emerged from behind it.

"It is I who wants to smash open these broken gates!" Long Xuhu met the youth's gaze, a spark flashing in his pupils as he stood out and declared.

"Good! Bold and forthright, I admire that!" The youth gave Long Xuhu a smile, then suddenly raised his hand.

"Boom!"

With a loud noise, the gigantic reddish-copper city gates closed once again.

Then, the youth tapped on a spot on the city gate gently, and only afterward turned to Long Xuhu, "Little fellow, since you claimed it, I'd like to see for myself how you'll smash open my city gates!"

"What, are you looking down on me?" Long Xuhu, with his straightforward temper, felt his anger flare up immediately upon hearing those words.

The youth gave a faint smile, saying, "It's not that I dare look down on you, I am just curious to see what ability you possess! If you... including those behind you, can break through my city gates by your own strength, I shall gift all the treasures Lord Jin Zhou has placed in this city to you all!"

"Hmm?" Long Xuhu's eyes brightened, "All the treasures?"

The youth nodded slightly, confirming, "That's right!"

After pondering for a moment, Long Xuhu turned to Li Qingming and said, "Big senior brother, this seems like a profitable deal! Even if I can't break it open, there are still the rest of you. It seems we stand a good chance either way!"

"No, no, no..." Hearing Long Xuhu's words, the youth quickly waved his hand, "You only have three attempts! Should you truly fail to break through, prepare to deplete your True Yuan and perish in this desert land!"

Li Qingming observed the youth's unconcerned demeanor and thought, "This youth must be Shepherd City's City Lord, Golden Sun! Since he's so confident that we won't be able to break through the gates, there must be a contingency plan! It seems none under Jin Zhou are to be taken lightly!"

"Big senior brother, shall we proceed?" Just as Li Qingming was mulling this over, Long Xuhu's voice came from beside him.

The gleam of determination flashed in Li Qingming's eyes, his mind set, "Face the enemy with resistance and counter water with soil—what's there to fear? Let's do this!"

Thus, he nodded slightly to Long Xuhu, "Xuhu, you try first. If it doesn't work, then we'll take over!"

Long Xuhu warmed up excitedly, "Alright!"(To be continued. If you like this work, we invite you to vote for us at Qidian (qidian.com), your monthly ticket. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please read at m.qidian.com.)