I can receive unlimited protection; my parents handed me over to the state.

"I see."

Lu Yuan nodded, accepting this arduous and challenging task.

"very good."

Qian Sen smiled with satisfaction.

"So, your first stop?"

He reached out and gently tapped the holographic map in front of him.

A blood-red area marked as "extremely dangerous" was instantly magnified.

It was a desolate and deadly land covered by endless yellow sand.

Its name is marked on the map—

【Tagore Desert: A Sea of ​​Death】

"This is the ruins of a powerful desert empire from ancient times."

Qian Sen's voice became somewhat low.

"Legend has it that the last king of that empire, in his pursuit of immortality, held an evil sacrificial ceremony. He sacrificed tens of millions of the empire's people, along with himself, to an ancient god from the abyss."

"From then on, that land became a cursed land of death."

"There is no life there, only endless yellow sand and the undead of the sand transformed by the power of the ancient gods."

"Your mission is to venture deep into the heart of the desert and find the tomb of the desert emperor who has been sleeping for thousands of years."

"Then, bring something back from inside."

A hint of seriousness flashed in Qian Sen's eyes.

"The heart of that king."

……

three days later.

When Lu Yuan stood once again at the teleportation hub of the Zenith World.

His "classmates" have changed drastically.

After undergoing the "Hell Week" baptism and being blessed by the divine artifact, Gu Tianye and Xiang Batian...

The youthful impetuosity and arrogance he once possessed have been greatly subdued.

Instead, it possesses a calmness and sharpness that comes from being tempered by blood and fire.

They just stood there quietly.

That fierce, bloodthirsty aura emanating from its very bones.

That alone is enough to terrify anyone with a weak will.

Ye Cang remained even more silent.

He was like a peerless demonic sword that had been sheathed.

All the sharpness and killing intent were perfectly concealed.

But Lu Yuan knew that once the knife was drawn again...

That would be earth-shattering, enough to terrify even gods and demons!

As for Lin Ziling, Mu Bingli, and others, they also underwent a complete transformation.

Their eyes became even more determined.

Their auras also became even stronger.

War is the best catalyst for growth.

That statement was indeed correct.

"Is everything ready?"

Qian Sen looked at the group of "geniuses" in front of him who were already showing signs of becoming kings and nodded in satisfaction.

"Ready!"

The crowd responded in unison, their voices more unified and powerful than before.

"very good."

Qian Sen's gaze finally settled on Lu Yuan.

"Lu Yuan, remember your mission."

"Protect yourselves, and protect them too."

"Each and every one of you is the hope for the future of China. Not one of you can be left behind."

"Yes."

Lu Yuan nodded heavily.

"So,"

Qian Sen waved his hand dismissively.

"Set off!"

"Target—Death Desert!"

……

After a familiar dizzying sensation.

When Lu Yuan opened his eyes again, a scorching heat wave, as if it could roast a person alive, hit him in the face.

Before me stretched an endless expanse of golden desert.

The sky was a deathly white, without a single cloud.

A gigantic sun, radiating an eerie red light, hung high in the sky, relentlessly scorching this land of death.

The air was filled with a dry, sulfurous, and rotten smell.

"Is this... the Desert of Death?"

Looking at the desolate world before her, filled with an atmosphere of despair, Lin Ziling couldn't help but mutter to herself.

"Everyone be careful!"

As one of only two members of the team with S-level combat talent, Xiang Batian immediately entered combat mode.

He held the enormous Heaven-Opening Battle Axe across his chest, his eyes scanning his surroundings warily.

"The energy fluctuations here are very strange. Everyone should try to conceal their presence and avoid revealing themselves easily."

However, he hadn't finished speaking.

The sand beneath my feet suddenly began to tremble violently!

"Shhh..."

Countless golden grains of sand began to converge madly towards one place!

In just a few seconds, a giant sandman, ten meters tall and made entirely of yellow sand, slowly crawled out from the ground!

The sandman had no facial features, only a pair of empty eyes made up of two flickering flames of soul.

It also held a huge battle axe made of yellow sand in its hand.

A terrifying aura, filled with death and resentment, emanated from it.

Desert Guardian (Elite Undead)

[Level: 50]

[Skills: Sand Binding, Quicksand Storm, Roar of the Dead]

【Characteristics: Physical immunity, elemental recombination】

"Holy crap! It's a level 50 elite monster right off the bat?!"

Upon seeing the sandman's attributes, Gu Tianye couldn't help but swear.

"And it's physical immunity?!"

Xiang Batian's expression also changed.

Although his "Opening Heaven" technique can sever the rules.

However, the effect is greatly reduced when dealing with elemental life forms that have no physical form.

"roar--!"

The desert guards had clearly also noticed this group of uninvited guests.

Its hollow soul fire instantly locked onto them.

Then he raised the huge sand axe in his hand high and swung it down at them fiercely!

That single axe strike stirred up a sandstorm that swept across the sky!

It seemed to be about to devour the entire world!

"Oh no! Scatter!"

Xiang Batian roared and prepared to activate the [Earth Barrier] to withstand the attack.

However, before he could even make a move...

A cold, crisp, and seemingly soul-freezing piano melody suddenly rang in everyone's ears.

"Zheng—!"

That melody, clear and ethereal, seemed to belong to a world apart from the mortal realm.

It was like a drop of ancient ice falling from the heavens, instantly freezing the deathly desert shrouded in scorching heat and rage.

The sandstorm that had been howling and seemed poised to engulf everything came to an abrupt halt the moment it encountered the sound of the zither!

Countless golden grains of sand were mysteriously frozen in mid-air.

It was as if time had been paused at that moment.

The level 50 elite monster, "Desert Guardian," was charging menacingly at the group, wielding a massive sand axe.

Its movements also froze in place.

On its massive body made of yellow sand, a layer of pale white frost, visible to the naked eye, was spreading rapidly at an incredible speed!

Just one second!

The giant sandman, which was ten meters tall, was transformed into a crystal-clear and lifelike giant ice sculpture!

Even the flickering flame of its soul was completely frozen in its empty eye sockets!

For a moment, the whole world fell silent.

Only that melodious piano note remained, slowly echoing.

"What...what...what the hell is going on?!"

Gu Tianye stared at the scene before him, which was nothing short of miraculous, his mouth agape wide enough to fit an ostrich egg.

He rubbed his eyes, wondering if he was hallucinating because of the heat.

That level 50 elite monster that is immune to physical attacks.

Just like that... he was instantly defeated by a single note of music?

It didn't even move?

Xiang Batian also looked completely stunned.

His hand holding the Heaven-Opening Battle Axe was trembling slightly.

He had even prepared to activate the Earth Barrier to withstand that axe blow.

But the result...

That's it?

He turned his head and looked at the direction from which the music came with the eyes of someone looking at a monster.

It was visible at the back of the line.

Mu Bingli, that always aloof and quiet ice queen.

I don't know when, but I was already sitting cross-legged.

In front of her floated a uniquely shaped guqin, its entire body as clear as ice.

The guqin was a simplified version of the "Nine Heavens Jade Pendant - Ice Soul" designed by Lu Yuan for her.

It was an epic-level semi-finished product that she obtained by using all of her family's savings and that "Ten Thousand Years of Mysterious Ice Soul" and by pestering Lu Yuan.

Although it's not a true divine artifact yet.

But it already possesses a trace of the power of a divine artifact!

At this moment, Mu Bingli's slender, jade-like, fair hands were gently pressing on the icy, crystal-like strings of the zither.

The sickly pallor that used to result from forcibly suppressing the power within her body was gone from her face.

Instead, it has a healthy rosy glow.

Her beautiful, icy blue eyes were slightly closed, and her long eyelashes trembled gently like two small fans.

A faint, satisfied smile graced her lips.

He exuded an unprecedented confidence and composure.

It was as if she wasn't fighting.

Instead, she was enjoying a musical extravaganza that belonged to her alone.

"Gurgle..."

Gu Tianye couldn't help but swallow hard as he watched this scene.

He suddenly felt that the woman in front of him was even more terrifying than the level 55 "Skeleton Demon Infant".

It was a utterly unreasonable, elegant, and deadly terror.

"Is this... the weapon that Master Lu designed for her?"

Xiang Batian looked at the ancient zither made of ice crystals that exuded extreme cold and muttered to himself.

For the first time, a sliver of doubt arose in his heart regarding the sheer violence of his Heaven-Opening Battle Axe.

Perhaps, fighting is not just about strength.

"Click..."

Just as everyone was still shocked by Mu Bingli's earth-shattering attack.

The enormous sandman ice sculpture suddenly emitted a crisp cracking sound.

Immediately afterwards, countless fine cracks, like a spider web, instantly covered the entire ice sculpture!

"Bang--!"

A muffled thud.

The enormous ice sculpture, which was ten meters tall, shattered with a deafening roar!

It turned into a sky full of ice crystals and golden dust.

It dissipated with the wind.

[Defeat a level 50 Desert Guardian. The entire team gains 10000 experience points.]

The system notification sounded in everyone's ears.

But no one was happy about it.

All eyes were focused on the stunningly beautiful girl who slowly withdrew her hand and stood up from the ground.

Their eyes were filled with awe and a hint of fear.

"Why...why are you looking at me?"

Mu Bingli felt a little uncomfortable being stared at by everyone.

A faint blush returned to her pretty face, which had just regained its color.

"Let's keep going."

She said softly, then took the first step and walked into the depths of the desert.

The [Nine Heavens Jade Pendant - Ice Soul] transformed into a stream of light and automatically flew back into her storage bracelet.

Looking at her slender and aloof back view.

Gu Tianye and Xiang Batian exchanged a glance, both seeing a hint of bitterness in each other's eyes.

The two of them obtained two powerful weapons personally forged by Master Lu.

He thought he was invincible.

Unexpectedly, Mu Bingli only received a half-finished product.

It's already reached such an absurdly powerful level.

What if she also obtains the real divine artifact?

That would be terrible!

"Damn it! No way!"

Gu Tianye clenched his fist, his face showing an unprecedentedly determined expression.

"I must gather all the materials Master Lu needs as soon as possible!"

"My [Thousand Transformations Beast Soul Axe] is absolutely no less powerful than her broken zither!"

"That's right!"

Xiang Batian nodded heavily, his eyes burning with fierce fighting spirit.

"My Xiang family's [Creation of Heaven] is the strongest!"

For a moment, the atmosphere in the team became incredibly subtle because of Mu Bingli's amazing performance.

A frenzied competition over who will be the first to obtain the ultimate artifact has quietly begun.

And as the "instigator" of all this.

Lu Yuan was sitting leisurely in the cockpit of the Pangu.

He was drinking the chilled plum juice that Zhao Qingxuan had prepared for him.

While watching the live footage on the holographic screen of the group of "classmates" who seemed to be on steroids, frantically "treasure hunting" in the Death Sand Sea.

"Hmm, not bad, not bad."

Lu Yuan watched as Gu Tianye and Xiang Batian, like two bulldozers, smashed the desert guards that emerged from the sand into pieces.

He nodded in satisfaction.

"These two guys are getting better and better at using weapons."

"Their fighting style is still too rough; they just rely on brute force."

He then switched the focus to Ye Cang.

All that could be seen was Ye Cang, alone with only a knife, maneuvering and dodging amidst hundreds and thousands of sand spirits.

Each swing of the [Asura] weapon in his hand created a black ripple of death.

Any undead soul hit by the ripples will have all its soul energy drained instantly, turning into a handful of ashes.

As a result, the blade of the [Asura] will become even darker and more eerie.

"Ye Cang's compatibility with [Asura] is getting higher and higher."

Lu Yuan watched Ye Cang's elegant killing spree, which resembled a dance of death, and nodded secretly in approval.

"His 'Asura Sword Heart' is being continuously purified and strengthened by [Asura]. At this rate, he will be able to break through to level 50 in less than a month."

Finally, Lu Yuan's gaze fell on the silver-haired girl who always followed at the back of the group and seemed somewhat out of place.

zero.

She remained indifferent to everything around her.

While Gu Tianye and Xiang Batian were wreaking havoc in front of them.

She simply followed quietly behind.

While Lin Ziling and Mu Bingli were using their dazzling magic to wipe out the remaining survivors.

She just watched quietly.

It was as if this bloody battle had nothing to do with her.

She was like a detached bystander.

But Lu Yuan knew that this was just a facade.

Through the high-precision detection system of [Pangu].

Lu Yuan could clearly "see" that a layer of extremely faint spatial ripples, invisible to the naked eye, enveloped Zero's body.

Any attack that attempts to get close to her, whether physical or energetic, is unacceptable.

Everything would be silently distorted and folded before that spatial ripple, and then transferred to an unknown dimension.

"Absolute control over the rules of space?"

Lu Yuan frowned slightly as he watched this scene.

"What exactly is this woman's talent?"

While Lu Yuan was still pondering Zero's identity.

A bright red alert suddenly popped up on the main screen in front of him!

[Warning! Extremely high-level abyssal energy reaction detected 3 kilometers ahead!]

[Energy Level Assessment: S-Rank!]

[Target locked: The sleeping desert king—Ramses II!]

"Is it finally here?"

Lu Yuan's eyes sharpened instantly as he stared at the huge red dot on the screen that represented the ultimate BOSS.