Chapter 982: Qiong Qi Strikes

Around Ye Liuyun and his companions, only three protective shields are still holding.

They are the True Essence of Ye Liuyun, Lei Ming, and Long Nv.

All three have cultivated Dual-Element Pills before, so the advantage of their deep True Essence is very obvious.

Moreover, the main attacks of the tornado have passed, and the True Essence consumption on them is not as fierce as before.

The remaining True Essence they have is just enough to resist the storm's lingering force.

"Gather!"

Ye Liuyun silently transmits a voice to Lei Ming and Long Nv; the three finally cease their actions, each retaining a little True Essence.

At this moment, the sandstorm blowing on them only causes a painful feeling, not injury.

"You all go back to recover!"

Ye Liuyun says this and directly stores Lei Ming and Long Nv into the Storage Ring.

At the same time, he releases the Skeleton Puppet to temporarily shield them from danger.

He himself immediately swallows eight Restoration Pills to restore his True Essence.

Since being altered by the Hidden Dragon Pool, his True Essence has become Mysterious Origin, of higher quality and denser. Moreover, with his realm raised, one Restoration Pill now restores only a quarter of a pill's capacity.

Seeing him gulp down eight Restoration Pills at once, everyone is stunned.

They usually only dare to take one; taking more risks bursting the pill.

"Are you crazy? Not afraid of bursting the pill?" Ling Shuang tries to stop him, but it's already too late; Ye Liuyun has already swallowed the pills.

"It's fine, my constitution is special, I'm not very sensitive to this stuff!"

Seeing everyone's surprise, Ye Liuyun uses this excuse to reassure them.

At this time the others are busy restoring True Essence, and hearing his words they don't dwell on it.

When everyone has finished restoring True Essence, the storm has already passed.

The desert has returned to calm.

Everyone looks at the clear Xingkong and the myriad stars, and can't help praising it.

"Who would have thought that in this Ten Thousand Poison Desert there could be such a beautiful scene!"

Ling Shuang stands beside Ye Liuyun, looks up at the Xingkong, looking utterly intoxicated.

She truly enjoys this moment of stargazing together with Ye Liuyun.

"Hmm!" Ye Liuyun replies, thinking of Liang Xue, Wu Qingcheng, and Su Miaoyin.

"If they could see this scenery, how wonderful! I wonder how they're doing now?"

Whenever he thinks of those people forced apart, Ye Liuyun feels immense pressure and dares not slack off.

"I also wonder whether my parents and aunt have heard any news of me!"

Ye Liuyun's Divine Sense suddenly notices that the Cheng Clan party ahead has set off again.

Their realms are already high; if he doesn't keep up, Ye Liuyun fears he'll lose them.

"Let's go too, they've moved!"

Ye Liuyun immediately calls the group.

"Do we really have to keep going deeper? The farther we go, the more dangerous, right?"

"Yes, if we keep following them, what will we do when we return?"

Some disciples raise objections.

They were also frightened by the earlier storm. Encountering another, they don't know if they'll have such luck to survive.

Ye Liuyun also thinks they don't have to risk themselves with him.

"How about this: those who want to keep adventuring can continue deeper into the desert with me. Those who don't want to can retreat to the edge and wait. The dangers along this route have been mostly cleared; retreating should not be too risky. What do you think?"

The other disciples immediately start discussing, weighing pros and cons.

Ling Shuang moves her lips, also wanting to persuade Ye Liuyun to return. But thinking of his nature, she knows she can't convince him, so she stops.

Instead she looks up and continues watching the stars, wanting to savor this moment a bit longer.

Yuan Datou doesn't even think; he will definitely follow Ye Liuyun to the end. Even if danger arises, he doesn't care.

Liu Yiming, after consulting a few people, decides to walk back with them.

He is more self‑aware; moving further ahead exceeds his capability.

Then their party splits into two groups: Ye Liuyun leads Ling Shuang and Yuan Datou deeper.

The other six disciples return by the original path at the fastest speed.

Li Qingyun watches the returning disciples, shakes his head in disappointment, and after seeing them leave, follows Ye Liuyun.

Ye Liuyun's Soul, stronger than the early‑stage elite of the Cheng Clan, keeps a distance that lets him see them while they cannot detect Ye Liuyun and his companions.

Ye Liuyun's Soul was stronger than the three early-stage Venerable Rank experts of the Cheng Clan, so the distance he kept was just enough to see them, yet they could not detect Ye Liuyun and the others.

Some Cheng Clan disciples are curious why they didn't keep up.

"Never mind! Not keeping up is better, so we don't have to deal with them later!" an Elder replies indifferently.

"Not necessarily; they may have just been pulled away. They also have strong protectors, so they probably won't be wiped out completely!" the leading Elder says more objectively.

But he also doesn't care whether Ye Liuyun's group catches up.

His attention remains on searching for the Ten Thousand Poison Lair.

With Ye Liuyun's three people reduced in number, their target becomes smaller. Fewer poisons attack them, and they move more smoothly.

Occasionally, the poisons that do attack are of higher realms, like mid‑to‑late stage venomous scorpions, centipedes, etc., all huge.

Li Qingyun's distance to them is closer, yet he never intervenes.

After discussing with Qiong Qi, Ye Liuyun releases Qiong Qi.

After Ye Liuyun discussed it with Qiong Qi, he let Qiong Qi out.

Qiong Qi's realm and formation advantage are enough for them to resist attacks below the Venerable rank.

"This kid, he actually still has a monster beast!" Li Qingyun, upon seeing Qiong Qi, was also somewhat surprised.

He is amazed that Ye Liuyun's trump cards in his hand are really too many.

Ling Shuang and Yuan Datou also didn't expect that Ye Liuyun's storage ring also hides a monster beast.

"Boss, just how many treasures have you stuffed into your storage ring?" Yuan Datou couldn't help but ask.

"Haha, you little monkey, you sure know how to talk, really to this emperor's taste. Don't worry, later this emperor will take care of you!"

As soon as Qiong Qi appeared, he showed his true colors, bragging, and quickly hit it off with Yuan Datou.

He has been forging armor needed by soldiers for Ye Liuyun during this time, and he's been feeling stifled; otherwise he wouldn't have agreed to come out and adventure with Ye Liuyun.

After Qiong Qi came out, Ye Liuyun and his group were safe again.

He is also quite interested in these poisonous creatures, especially the hard shell of the poisonous scorpion, which he thinks is excellent material for forging armor.

However, he still looks down on poisonous scorpion shells with too low a realm.