Ye Yunfei continued deeper into this world, following the Remnant Soul's directions.
Not long after, a desert region of blowing sands appeared ahead. Looking into the distance, fierce winds whipped up rolling yellow sands, with sand dunes of varying sizes stretching endlessly to the horizon.
"Within this desert, there are many abandoned ancient cities. They hold quite a few good treasures. Go in and have a look. However, this desert is home to many Sand Demons. Their combat prowess isn't particularly strong, but their vitality is incredibly tenacious, making them very difficult to kill. So be careful," the Remnant Soul transmitted to Ye Yunfei.
"Sand Demons? Are they a type of demon race?" Ye Yunfei asked curiously.
"They are a demon race, just very rare. They generally only inhabit deserts," the Remnant Soul replied.
"Is there any way to avoid these Sand Demons?" Ye Yunfei inquired. If unnecessary, he had no desire to fight these bizarre creatures. Whether he won or lost, it would be a waste of energy.
"There's no way. Sand Demons hide within this desert..."
Next, Ye Yunfei cautiously entered the desert, stepping onto the soft yellow sand. The wind from afar carried swirling yellow sands that assaulted his face.
An energy barrier formed over the surface of Ye Yunfei's body, deflecting all the incoming sand.
Thus, Ye Yunfei advanced deeper into the desert region amidst the storm of wind and sand.
Soon, Ye Yunfei discovered that various different Time Laws existed within this desert area. In some places, time suddenly accelerated. Walking into these zones, one's speed would abruptly increase, pushed forward by a flow of Time Energy, involuntarily rushing ahead rapidly. In other places, time suddenly reversed. Though one intended to move forward, they instead moved backward. There were also areas where time suddenly froze, making movement arduous, and places where time ceased to exist, creating utter chaos. Stepping into such areas, a single moment felt like eternity—an extremely bizarre sensation.
Fortunately, Ye Yunfei's own attainments in Time Law were not low, and he had been constantly absorbing and refining the treasures he'd obtained since entering this world, allowing him to navigate this desert region mostly without peril.
"Be careful! It seems we've encountered Sand Demons!"
At one moment, as Ye Yunfei was advancing, the Remnant Soul abruptly reminded him. "Where are they? I don't seem to notice anything?"
Ye Yunfei immediately halted and released his Soul Power energy to sense his surroundings, but he didn't seem to discover anything.
However, just as Ye Yunfei finished speaking, the undulating sand dunes around his body began to churn and roll. Then, Ye Yunfei witnessed the previously scattered sands rapidly gather together, forming one humanoid monster after another.
"Sand Demons are composed of individual, scattered sand grains gathering together! Moreover, the fluctuations of their Soul Bodies are extremely faint, completely hidden within the grains of sand. Unless one deliberately senses for them, they are very difficult to detect," the Remnant Soul said to Ye Yunfei.
"Also, the Soul Bodies of these Sand Demons are very strange. They can hide within any single grain of sand. So even if you shatter their physical forms, they'll at most revert to a pile of sand, with their soul threads hiding within a specific grain. Only by finding that particular grain can you accurately destroy their Soul Body. That's why Sand Demons are so hard to kill," the Remnant Soul continued.
"I see," Ye Yunfei said, hearing this and feeling a bit of a headache.
Just then, Ye Yunfei noticed dozens of sand-formed monsters had appeared around him. These monsters' shapes closely resembled humans, with features like faces, eyebrows, eyes, ears, hair, and even fine body hair—all formed from sand.
Furthermore, the strength aura of these Sand Demons was relatively high, exuding a powerful sense of force.
Boom! At that moment, dozens of Sand Demons suddenly accelerated, charging towards Ye Yunfei together. Some threw punches, some kicked, some wrapped their arms around him, and some even charged head-first. These Sand Demons employed completely close-combat, body-to-body techniques.
"Get lost!"
Ye Yunfei's expression darkened as he shouted.
Then, Ye Yunfei unleashed his physical strength, throwing a punch that struck a Sand Demon, instantly blowing its tall form apart into a shower of yellow sand.
Boom! Boom!...
Ye Yunfei threw several punches, faster than lightning, consecutively launching over a dozen blows and shattering over a dozen Sand Demon bodies, clearing a large area in an instant.
However, to Ye Yunfei's surprise, the shattered Sand Demons, after turning into swirling yellow sand, quickly gathered together again, reforming into tall sandmen and pouncing back towards Ye Yunfei.
The situation was exactly as the Remnant Soul had described.
"Forget it. The Soul Bodies of these Sand Demons can instantly hide within any grain of sand in the vicinity. Unless you completely destroy all the sand in this entire area, it's very difficult to kill them. Don't waste time entangling with them. Continue forward, deeper into the desert to search for the ancient cities hidden here," the Remnant Soul advised Ye Yunfei.
"Alright," Ye Yunfei nodded. Even as he spoke, his fists flashed out dozens of times like lightning, clearing another large group of Sand Demons around him before turning and rushing deeper into the desert.
Boom! Boom!...
Ye Yunfei was shocked to discover that more and more Sand Demons were endlessly emerging from the sand dunes around him, frantically attacking.
The sheer number of these Sand Demons was staggering, and they were so difficult to kill. If he got bogged down in a prolonged fight with them, it was impossible to say when it would end.
Ye Yunfei had come here only to search for treasures, not to waste time on these Sand Demons. While throwing punches to repel the tide-like onslaught, he swiftly dashed deeper into the desert.
As Ye Yunfei progressed further, the number of Sand Demons he encountered continued to increase. Eventually, he found densely packed Sand Demons charging towards him from all directions, like vast oceans, leaving him with nowhere to avoid them.
Forced with no other choice, Ye Yunfei had no choice but to engage, fighting and slaughtering the Sand Demons.
Although Ye Yunfei's strength was formidable, the sheer number of Sand Demons was overwhelming. During the battle, he was occasionally struck by them.
Fortunately, the quality of Ye Yunfei's physique was tough and resilient. Even when hit, it didn't cause significant damage.
At the same time.
Just outside the desert, at the spot where Ye Yunfei had entered earlier, over a dozen Dark Faction members suddenly arrived, landing at this location.
Leading them were precisely the three Heavenly Immortals of the Dark Faction.
"There's that little bastard's aura here. He must have entered this desert," one Heavenly Immortal said through gritted teeth, his gaze seemingly brimming with infinite resentment and malice.
"That kid caused us such heavy losses! If we don't kill him, I cannot dispel the hatred in my heart! Once we find him, I'll cut him to pieces!" Another Dark Faction Heavenly Immortal spat out, word by word, his overwhelming killing intent almost visible. These three Heavenly Immortals had originally led two to three hundred Dark Faction members. Although Ye Yunfei had killed some earlier, over a hundred remained. Now, only over a dozen were left! From two to three hundred to just over a dozen—all because of Ye Yunfei! Merely thinking of this filled the three Dark Faction Heavenly Immortals with surging murderous intent, itching to skin Ye Yunfei alive and break his bones immediately.
After escaping from those Earth Desolate Beasts, the three Dark Faction Heavenly Immortals, along with their remaining dozen or so followers, tracked their way here and discovered the aura Ye Yunfei had left behind.
"Let's go! We're entering too!" The Intermediate Heavenly Immortal waved his hand, taking the lead and charging into the desert ahead.
Besides these Dark Faction members, other beings had also gradually found their way here, one after another rushing into this desert.
...
"Good news! There's an ancient city ahead. Let's go in and check it out. There are quite a few ancient cities within this desert region, and each holds numerous treasures. Hurry and take a look," the Remnant Soul said to Ye Yunfei.
Ye Yunfei moved swiftly, arriving in front of an ancient-looking city.
The city walls were constructed from massive stones stacked together, rough in style, emanating a primitive, savage aura. Waves of rich, ancient aura wafted from within the city.
"Are there any dangers inside these cities?" Ye Yunfei asked the Remnant Soul, observing the tall, ancient city before him.
"When I came here before, I entered two ancient cities consecutively without encountering any danger. So I guess these ancient cities shouldn't pose much threat. Just be careful," the Remnant Soul replied.
"Alright," Ye Yunfei nodded.
The gate of this ancient city was half-open. In a flash, Ye Yunfei darted through the gap and rushed inside.
The interior of the city was dilapidated. Desolate streets were covered in a thick layer of yellow sand. Cold winds howled, the place was empty and desolate, with mournful gusts of wind weeping everywhere.
The buildings along the streets were also in ruins, most having already collapsed, resembling little more than heaps of rubble.
"Go into that palace and check it out!" the Remnant Soul suddenly exclaimed.
Ahead, there stood a palace. Though it looked ancient, it had not collapsed and appeared relatively intact.
With a flash, Ye Yunfei shot into the palace.
Looking around, the palace hall was piled high with dazzling energy crystals—all Time Energy Crystals!
"Excellent! There are indeed treasures!" Ye Yunfei was somewhat excited. In a flash, he rushed over and began collecting the energy crystals.
"Let me help too!"
A golden light flashed as the Golden-Horned Dragon Silkworm darted out from the Shadow Tower and pounced towards the Time Energy Crystals.
Bizarre Time Laws permeated this world. Others like Hu Miao were weaker in strength and dared not move about casually. However, the Golden-Horned Dragon Silkworm was unaffected and could move freely.
A moment later, Ye Yunfei and the Golden-Horned Dragon Silkworm had finished collecting all the Time Energy Crystals piled within the palace hall.
Ye Yunfei noticed a room deeper within the palace and walked straight in.
It turned out this was an alchemy room.
In the center of the alchemy room stood an alchemy furnace.
Along the walls on either side of the room were rows of medicine shelves, upon which were placed many medicinal herbs and jade vials.
"This alchemy furnace is truly a fine treasure!" Ye Yunfei couldn't help but murmur softly, looking at the furnace.
Over the years, Ye Yunfei's realm and strength had continuously improved, but his alchemy skills had been completely neglected.
Back on the Tianxuan Continent, Ye Yunfei had been the most brilliant alchemy master in the entire world. But later, he never obtained any higher-level alchemy inheritance. His alchemy skill stagnated and, eventually, could even be considered abandoned.
Especially after breaking through to the level of Heaven Emperor, Ye Yunfei had not delved into alchemy anymore.
It could be said that his current alchemy level remained at what it was back during his Heaven Emperor days.
Now, seeing this alchemy furnace in the alchemy room stirred Ye Yunfei's interest in alchemy once more.
"This alchemy furnace is divine and extraordinary. Its owner must have been an alchemy master. This alchemy room was likely left behind by that alchemy master. I wonder if there might be any inheritance left behind here. If I can find this alchemy master's legacy, I could start cultivating alchemy anew," Ye Yunfei stared at the furnace, slightly lost in thought as his mind rapidly calculated.
In a flash, Ye Yunfei reached out to grab the alchemy furnace.
But to his surprise, just as his hand was about to make contact, the furnace gently shimmered, turning illusory. Ye Yunfei's hand passed right through it, grasping only air.
This furnace seemed intangible!
"This is an incredibly profound application of Time Law! Most likely, the master of this furnace arranged this in the past to protect it from being taken by others," the Remnant Soul conjectured.
Faced with such a treasure, Ye Yunfei was not about to give up easily. He channeled his own Time Energy and Time Law, focusing it onto his palm, and swiftly reached for the furnace again.
But the result was the same. As his hand neared the furnace, it once again gently shimmered, effectively turning illusory, as if it didn't exist at all.
"Senior, is this truly a profound Time Law? But time isn't accelerating or decelerating, nor reversing or stagnating. This alchemy furnace is clearly a physical object, yet it can transform into an illusory shadow, as if non-existent," Ye Yunfei asked, puzzled.
In Ye Yunfei's understanding, Time Law essentially had four effects: acceleration, deceleration, reversal, or stagnation. This bizarre Time Law that could turn a physical object illusory was something Ye Yunfei had never encountered before.
"I suspect the master of this alchemy furnace may have employed a legendary secret technique involving intercepting time. He likely intercepted a period of time before this furnace was placed here and embedded that segment of time into this location. Once activated, that intercepted period would replace the present time. Since the furnace hadn't been placed here during that intercepted time period, it naturally appears illusory, unreal," the Remnant Soul contemplated before replying.
"What? Intercepting a period of time from the past and embedding it here? Such an arcane time secret technique exists in this world?" Ye Yunfei was dumbfounded, hardly able to believe it.