Full-Time Magister: What kind of demonic tree is this? It's clearly a sacred tree!

Chapter 54 Dunhuang

After placing Mu Nujiao's luggage into his personal space, Zhang Chen took her hand and took out the life-saving set originally intended for Xiao Hou, saying, "Imbue these two with your own spiritual imprint."

Mu Nujiao, who had just been crying her eyes out, now had a faint smile on her lips and said, "Is this a magical artifact? Do you have one? I do, so I don't need it."

"I have one too, Jiaojiao, be good!" Zhang Chen said gently. Hearing Zhang Chen call her Jiaojiao, her face flushed slightly, and she picked up the magical artifact, saying, "Okay!"

At the transportation station, Mo Fan looked at Zhang Chen and Mu Nujiao, who were late in arriving. He saw them holding hands and smiled, then turned to see how his wife would react.

Unfortunately, Mu Ningxue remained aloof, while Little Monkey was overjoyed: "Brother Chen, is this... your sister-in-law?"

Mu Nujiao looked at Zhang Chen, and he looked at Mu Nujiao at the same time. They smiled at each other, and Zhang Chen said, "That's right! Little monkey!"

"Haha, then Brother Chen, you have to let me be your best man!" Little Monkey said happily. "Little Monkey, when are you going to find someone?" Mo Fan said from behind. Little Monkey blushed and said, "I—I recently got together with He Yu from high school."

"Holy crap! You two! I'm throwing up!" Mo Fan exclaimed, breaking down in laughter. On the plane, Lingling explained to everyone, "The Zhuoyuan we're going to is located east of Dunhuang, in the Gobi Desert..."

The air was thick with yellow dust, and the intense heat and scorching winds were, needless to say, something many hunter mages abroad were well aware of.

"I've investigated. If we want to reach the northern corner of Zhuoyuan, we must cross a place called the Sha Wang River. The Sha Wang River is like a long, ribbon-like forbidden zone. If we don't cross it, we will definitely have to deal with the Sand Tiger Demon Clan, the overlords of Dunhuang, which is even more unrealistic —"

"Then how do we cross the Sand River? Since someone has reached the northern corner of the Scorching Plains and met Yan Ji, it means there is a way to cross it," Mo Fan asked. "The Sand River is inhabited by a group of White Sand Demon Soldiers, earth-attribute elemental demons, who have existed for hundreds of years."

"Alright. These individual Sand Demon Soldiers aren't as terrifying as the Sand Tiger Demons, but they come in large groups, densely covering the entire Sand River area. One of the biggest obstacles for the hunter mages to reach the northern corner of the Scorching Plains is these Sand Demon Soldiers of the Sand River!" Lingling swiped her finger across the miniature notebook in her hand, and a monster encyclopedia quickly appeared.

"Can't we just attack directly? It shouldn't be too difficult for the two of us high-level beings, right?" Mo Fan had already abandoned his brain. "You're overthinking it. According to the intelligence I've gathered, the stronger the aura of an outsider who enters the Sand River, the more likely they are to awaken more and stronger White Sand Monsters. This isn't a very effective solution."

"The only feasible and safest solution is to find a mind mage, namely Zhang Chen, to appease the white sand monster. If we are careful, we should be able to get through."

Lingling said, "I also brought an element detector—"

Listening to Lingling's eloquent explanation, everyone felt as if they had returned to their junior high school days and immediately became drowsy.

Zhang Chen looked at Mu Nujiao, who seemed sleepy but was trying hard to keep her eyes open, and said with a smile, "Go to sleep if you want to!"

Mu Nujiao nodded with her eyes closed, then leaned on Zhang Chen's shoulder and fell asleep.

Zhang Chen peeked out and saw that Zhao Manyan, Zhang Xiaohou, and Zhao Manyan's cousin Chen Ying were all asleep on the other side.

Mo Fan didn't even know when he had taken Mu Ningxue's hand; she had fallen asleep leaning on his shoulder.

Mo Fan and Zhang Chen made eye contact. He smiled and pointed at Mu Ningxue, indicating that he was also a married man.

Upon arriving in Dunhuang, one can immediately feel the unique charm of this yellow land that can broaden one's horizons.

Looking out, the vast expanse of yellow sand stretches to the distant horizon.

The mounds, slightly brownish in color, rise and fall in layers amidst the yellow sand.

Unlike the continuous, flat landscapes of the south and east, the land here is divided into different layers. Amidst the vast expanse of yellow sand, the blazing sun often seems to vanish abruptly, replaced by a shadow that slightly disorients the eyes. Looking up, one is struck by a fault line, extending outwards like a city wall, with the land before them situated atop this earthen fault line.

The group of eight boarded locally trained wind camels and gradually approached the famous Zhuoyuan Plain!

The distance isn't too far, but for some reason, the distribution of demons here suddenly becomes denser when you cross a fault line in the land!

The locals call this section of the boundary line the boundary marker. The direction from which Mo Fan and his group came is the territory of Dunhuang. There is a security perimeter within the territory, but going deeper into the boundary marker line is fraught with danger.

The desert and Gobi are home to a multitude of creatures. The abundance of earth and fire elements has led to the emergence of numerous elemental demons. In addition, the Sand Tiger Demon Clan, a local tyrant, is scattered throughout the area. Ordinary hunter mage teams must be on high alert once they cross the boundary marker!

Once they reached the boundary marker, the wind camels became useless. These transportation camels, which were not much better than livestock, would turn weak in the knees as soon as they smelled even the slightest hint of demons, and dared not cross the boundary marker.

The group released the camels and stepped onto the desolate, sinking land. The heart-pounding roars coming from some bulging sand dunes in the distance sounded like a group of patrolling guards.

"Hooray~"

They are using their voices to transmit a message, telling the creatures on this land who have been waiting impatiently—prey is walking into their trap!

We had traveled less than five kilometers when a howling wind carrying sand surged between two sand dunes.

The powerful roar caused the accumulated sand dunes to shake off shifting sand!

"Damn it, what bad luck! I've only just come in and I've already run into this local tyrant!" Zhao Manyan knew what kind of creature it was as soon as he heard the cry and cursed loudly.

Its wide, gleaming green eyes could be seen from a great distance; even the swirling yellow sand couldn't conceal its menacing glint! Everyone saw it from afar.

"This Sand Howling Tiger seems to be injured. It looks like someone is chasing it." Zhang Chen sensed its mind and said. He then used space to form a transparent hand and knocked it unconscious.

Zhang Chen knew that hunter mages were not allowed to fight over prey that had already been locked onto, so he simply knocked it unconscious and continued forward.

Before they had walked for even a quarter of an hour, a group of hunter mages appeared in the direction from which Sand Howling Tiger had come from.