Chapter 15: Traces of the Snake-People

The next morning, Xiao Yan woke up from his sleep, holding the Little Fairy Doctor in his arms.

After getting up and tidying up a little, the two walked out of the inn and headed straight for the best medicinal herb shop in Desert City.

When the shopkeeper saw two people rushing over early in the morning, he almost thought they were there to kick down the door; who would have thought it would turn out to be a big deal.

Although Xiao Yan and the Little Fairy Doctor hadn't earned any gold coins during their two years in the Magical Beast Mountain Range, they had accumulated a large number of magical cores, parts from magical beasts, and some medicinal herbs not found here in the Tagor Desert, all of which were scarce commodities for the shopkeeper.

Moreover, Xiao Yan and the Little Fairy Doctor weren't just here to sell things; they were also buying.

The Little Fairy Doctor swept her delicate brows, and a basket of various medicinal herbs was packed up, mainly herbs for refining healing pills and Qi-recovery pills, in addition to a small amount of herbs for refining poisons.

This made the shopkeeper overjoyed; the only fly in the ointment was that both Xiao Yan and the Little Fairy Doctor were clearly experts in the field.

Xiao Yan was in charge of selling, carefully watching the shop employees as they inspected the materials, truly not yielding even an inch.

On the other side, the Little Fairy Doctor was even more intimidating; she personally inspected every batch of herbs to be packed, digging out many hidden little tricks.

It was only because the Little Fairy Doctor had no intention of extorting anyone; otherwise, the shopkeeper would have had to pay her to keep her mouth shut.

"Not my dear lady, can I just not do this business!"

Under the shopkeeper's longing gaze, Xiao Yan and the Little Fairy Doctor finally returned fully loaded and left the medicinal herb shop.

"Really, he was the one playing tricks, how could he blame us?" Thinking of the look in the shopkeeper's eyes when he sent them off, the Little Fairy Doctor felt a bit unhappy.

"Alright, although what he did wasn't very honorable, others have their own difficulties, so let's not worry about it too much," Xiao Yan comforted her. As the two spent more time together, the Little Fairy Doctor would occasionally throw little tantrums like this.

Because there were so many medicinal herbs to trade, it was already near noon, so Xiao Yan and the Little Fairy Doctor went to get a meal first.

In the afternoon, the two purchased various foods and water, as well as tents and other items needed for traveling in the desert.

Incidentally, Xiao Yan also privately chose a few sets of exotic-style outfits for the Little Fairy Doctor, and under her disdainful gaze, he resolutely paid for them.

That evening, Xiao Yan wanted the Little Fairy Doctor to try them on to see if they fit.

How could the Little Fairy Doctor not know the intentions of this lecher, so she completely ignored him.

Xiao Yan felt deeply regretful about this.

The last night before entering the desert passed just like that.

It was the next morning again, at the gates of Desert City.

"According to what the old man Hai Bo Dong said, the west is the territory of the Medusa tribe. If it's not necessary, he advises us to explore the suspicious locations in the east and north of Desert City first."

On a thin piece of sheepskin was a map of the surrounding hundreds of miles of the Tagor Desert, centered on the Desert City beneath their feet. Hai Bo Dong's map was extremely detailed, clearly incomparable to anyone else's.

On this map, there was a flame-shaped mark in each of the east, west, and north directions of Desert City.

To be honest, it had been too long since Xiao Yan's past life, and he couldn't quite remember exactly where the Green Lotus Core Flame was located.

He only remembered that in the original story, the Green Lotus Core Flame was eventually intercepted by Queen Medusa first, so perhaps it was in that position to the west?

However, just in case, he decided to check the other two places first.

"Which direction do you think we should go first, Xian'er?" Xiao Yan looked at the young girl beside him.

Today, the Little Fairy Doctor was different from usual; she wore a set of clothes suitable for moving in the desert, revealing a unique, exotic beauty.

Don't misunderstand, it certainly wasn't the skin-revealing kind. It was the kind with wide robes that covered the whole body, which could both guard against the intense sunlight and allow for ventilation.

"Hmm, let's go to the east first. There are more mercenaries active in the north than in the east. If the Heavenly Flame were in the north, the possibility of it being discovered would be far greater than in the east. But since no one has discovered it yet, conversely, the possibility of the Heavenly Flame being in the east should be greater." The Little Fairy Doctor thought for a while and finally pointed to the flame mark on the east side of the sheepskin.

"Alright, then we'll go to the east." Putting away the map, Xiao Yan made the final decision.

Above the vast desert, amidst the howling gale, a group of faint figures moved in the east of Desert City, leaving behind long, winding tracks that were immediately covered by the dancing yellow sand.

"Boss, three more humans just snuck away. We have already penetrated deep into human territory, far from our tribe. If this continues, we will be discovered by humans sooner or later! Should we continue to advance?" In the massive team of dozens, a strange-looking person walked against the gale to the front of a majestic figure located in the middle of the group. It seemed they were the leader of this team.

"Of course, this is an order personally issued by Her Majesty the Queen! Our Golden Snake Tribe has stepped into this dangerous human territory to find the Heavenly Flame and offer it to Her Majesty the Queen. This trip is a matter of success or death; there is absolutely no room to turn back!" The majestic figure said unquestioningly: "Jin Jie, go back to your position!"

Jin Jie gritted his teeth, feeling a bit unconvinced, but seeing the leader's increasingly impatient gaze, his inner fear took the upper hand, and he took his leave and retreated.

The Snake-Person tribe's team continued to move forward, heading toward the east of Desert City.

Today was already the sixth day that Xiao Yan and the Little Fairy Doctor had entered the desert. According to Hai Bo Dong's map, it would take about three more days to reach the location marked on the map.

Under the scorching sun, even though Xiao Yan had already refined a type of Heavenly Flame, he still felt the heat. Large beads of sweat slid down his cheeks and fell into the yellow sand below; before the small creatures around could come over to absorb them, they were evaporated and returned to the air.

Xiao Yan pressed the water bag to his dry, peeling lips and took a small sip. As his throat moved, a stream of cool, sweet spring water flowed down his esophagus into his stomach.

Holding the remaining water bag above his head, a slender, jade-like hand covered by a wide robe took it.

The Tagor Desert was indeed not a place for humans to stay, but the fire-attribute heaven and earth energy contained within it was far superior to other regions of the Jia Ma Empire, making it a good place for Xiao Yan to cultivate.

On the night before leaving the city, he wasn't just thinking about how to get the Little Fairy Doctor to wear some indescribably wonderful clothes; he was actually more focused on refining medicinal liquids to assist his cultivation in the Tagor Desert.

In Yao Lao's storage ring, there was a medicinal liquid called Burning Blood, which was extremely suitable for use in such an environment.

It was just that the grade was a bit too low, so before coming to the Tagor Desert, Xiao Yan had slightly improved the formula himself, incorporating some essence blood from third-tier fire-attribute magical beasts and the like.

It had to be said that the effect was quite good, causing Xiao Yan to twitch in pain.

But the path of cultivation had always been arduous; what was a mere bit of pain? It couldn't even compare to the hardships of refining a Heavenly Flame.

To make the most of the time spent on the road, Xiao Yan went even further, carrying the Heavy Xuan Ruler on his back and having the Little Fairy Doctor sit on the Heavy Xuan Ruler to apply the Burning Blood liquid for him in real-time.

This almost masochistic method of cultivation even startled the Little Fairy Doctor, but the results were also very obvious.

Although the cultivation base pushed up by the Heavenly Flame energy was far from being considered unstable, long-term training in the Magical Beast Mountain Range also kept Xiao Yan's control over his power at a very excellent level.

But this did not mean that he had reached his limit.

The past six days of cultivation made Xiao Yan feel that his foundation had become a bit more solid, and his cultivation had also grown to a certain extent, leaving him only one step away from being an eight-star Great Dou Shi.

After helping Xiao Yan apply the Burning Blood again, the Little Fairy Doctor felt a bit heartbroken and used a handkerchief to wipe the sweat from Xiao Yan's forehead, so that his eyes wouldn't be blurred by sweat and he wouldn't be able to see the path ahead clearly.

When the Little Fairy Doctor put away the handkerchief and wanted to continue identifying the direction to move forward, a black shadow lying in the yellow sand in the distance caught her attention.

Neither the Little Fairy Doctor nor Xiao Yan were actually saints, but they still had a bit of kindness, and they were confident in their own powerful strength, not worried about being repaid with ingratitude, so they would always give a little help to such victims encountered in the desert.

Walking to the side of the victim and confirming that this person was still alive, Xiao Yan put the Little Fairy Doctor and the Heavy Xuan Ruler down from his back.

Taking a new water bag from the storage ring, he poured clear water into the person's mouth bit by bit.

The Little Fairy Doctor was not idle either; after taking the person's pulse at their side, she injected a trace of poison gas into the victim's body.

This trace of poison gas had no other use; its only effect was to induce pain and wake the person from their coma.

Besides that, it can also reactivate a person's immune system, enhance a person's resistance for a short time, and clear the mind and refresh the senses; it can be considered a type of beneficial poison created by Little Medical Fairy herself.

This was an idea initially proposed by Xiao Yan; Little Medical Fairy thought it was impossible at first, but when it was actually concocted, the young girl was overjoyed.

"Cough, cough!" Whether he was choked awake by water or poisoned awake by Little Medical Fairy, this nameless man was awake regardless.

"Th-this is, where is this, you, who are you?" The man asked several questions in a daze.

"This is the east side of Desert City; if you head west for about ten days, you will be able to return to the city," Xiao Yan replied. He looked at the man's personal belongings and discovered that not only was he lacking water, but the Storage Ring for storing food was nowhere to be seen either.

Perhaps it was lost. Shaking his head, Xiao Yan did not intend to get to the bottom of it; after casually setting down a few water bags and some food, he turned around and prepared to leave with Little Medical Fairy.

"The two of you, the two of you please stay!" The man struggled to get up: "Snake-People! There are Snake-People ahead!"

Snake-People? Xiao Yan felt a shock in his heart, turned his head back, and walked back to the man's side: "Are you saying there are Snake-People ahead?"

"Yes," the man swallowed a mouthful of saliva: "I was originally a mercenary hunting Magical Beasts in this vicinity. About ten days ago, a group of Snake-People suddenly ran over here. I originally wanted to hide, but I didn't manage to, and I was captured by them. Fortunately, they seemed to be looking for something, so they didn't kill me, but instead made me lead the way for them."

The man poured another mouthful of water down his throat and continued: "Fortunately, three days ago, a sandstorm suddenly rose up here, allowing me to take advantage of the chaos and escape."

"Snake-People, how could Snake-People appear here?" Little Medical Fairy frowned and asked with some curiosity.

Xiao Yan, however, had some guesses; counting the time, it was not strange for the Snake-People Tribe to find their way here.

Sure enough, the man quickly replied: "It seems they are searching for a Heavenly Flame."

"A Heavenly Flame? Aren't the Snake-People all of a cold constitution? Why would they search for a Heavenly Flame?" Little Medical Fairy was slightly stunned and said with some astonishment, her expression becoming somewhat vigilant, but then she looked at the man with a look of suspicion. She suspected that the person before her was not being honest and was lying to them!

"It's true! It's true! I'm not lying to you!" The man sensed Little Medical Fairy's suspicion and said loudly. He felt like crying in his heart; although he had lied to many people before, he was truly not lying this time.

"Alright Xian'er, I think he shouldn't be lying to us; after all, this kind of lie is truly too fake." Xiao Yan had generally already believed what the person before him said.

Regarding Xiao Yan's judgment, Little Medical Fairy was still convinced.

"You said the people of the Snake-People Tribe arrived here, so do you know which direction they went?" Xiao Yan turned his head to look at the man.

"This..." The man hesitated, blaming himself for being muddled and letting it slip just now; after all, information regarding a Heavenly Flame was always very valuable, and even with the Snake-People Tribe nearby, it was the same—or rather, it was even more valuable because of it; at the very least, there must be something in this place. It was just a pity that he had just woken up and hadn't reacted in time.

Xiao Yan naturally saw the man's hesitation, and after thinking about it a little, he more or less understood the man's thoughts. Although the man was also doing it for himself and it wasn't exactly a mistake, Xiao Yan still decided to have a cordial conversation with him.

However, this man was clearly a sensible person; seeing the change in Xiao Yan's expression and Little Medical Fairy turning around, he immediately stopped hesitating: "Northeast! They went to the northeast!"

Upon hearing this, Xiao Yan and Little Medical Fairy took out Hai Bo Dong's map to look; the flame mark on the map was exactly about three days' journey to the northeast of their current position.

The two looked at each other and saw a trace of urgency in each other's eyes.

Putting the Heavy Profound Ruler into the Storage Ring, it was clearly not the time to continue cultivating and traveling slowly.

The two were quickly prepared, and Xiao Yan said to the man: "Didn't you say you often hunt Magical Beasts around here and are familiar with the roads? Come with us. By the way, what is your name?"

"My name is Sun Shan; um, can I not go?" Sun Shan looked at Xiao Yan hopefully, looking pitiful.

But seeing Xiao Yan's gradually cordial expression again, Sun Shan immediately corrected himself: "I'll go! I'll go right now!"

After speaking, he nimbly climbed up from the ground. One had to say, the bodies of those who have cultivated are truly good. Someone who was in a coma not long ago could run so quickly.

"Mm," Xiao Yan nodded, then suddenly remembered something: "You said your name was Sun Shan just now?"

"That's right," Sun Shan replied.

"You shouldn't know anyone named Ming Luo, right?" Xiao Yan asked with a strange expression.

"Ming Luo? I don't know him, but I do have a friend named Zhong Bang who was captured by the Snake-People Tribe just like me; I don't know if he managed to escape." As he spoke, Sun Shan even wiped away tears sadly, although he couldn't shed any due to his body's lack of water.

Xiao Yan: "..."