Seeing Yan Zhaoge appear before them with that ma.s.sive stone pillar on his palm, Jun Luo and the others were all stunned, not recovering for a long time.

Looking at Yan Zhaoge, the usually talkative Jun Luo actually seemed to stutter a little at this moment, “Bro…Brother Yan, what…what is this ah?”

Yan Zhaoge said with a nonchalant expression on his face, “Entering the Great Western Desert this time, it was because I had an a.s.signment to carry out, the surveying of some historical remains.”

“As for this….it's part of those remains. Because it is rather valuable, I had to think of a way to bring it back to the clan.”

Looking at that ma.s.sive object supported on Yan Zhaoge's palm, Jun Luo could not help but gulp down a mouthful of saliva, “If you want to take it back to Broad Creed Mountain, if it is like this all the way, wouldn't it be a little too…eh, a little too spectacular…”

Yan Zhaoge raised his brows slightly, saying to her in a patient, preaching manner, “Luo Luo, haven't you always wished to live a colourful, exciting life where you just do as you like? This is it ah; a flashy life does not have to be explained.”

Jun Luo's little face frowned till it scrunched up as she murmured softly, “I just feel that this is not quite right ah…”

Yan Zhaoge just smiled, not answering.

The others were also full of sighs within their hearts. These few they had just met up with were just the beginning. They could foresee that from this day on, they would be facing similar such questions for a long, long time.

What caused Yan Zhaoge a bit of a headache was that this wasn't his original intention.

While he had achieved an initial refinement of the stone pillar, at present, it was still restricted to lifting it up from the great desert.

Yan Zhaoge knew clearly of the origins of this stone pillar. It was a broken pillar of the past Divine Palace, that had descended into this world.

However, whether or not other changes had occurred to it after it had been broken, and what kind of changes they were, was still something that Yan Zhaoge would have to research carefully into.

The result was that Yan Zhaoge was currently still unable to freely control this ma.s.sive stone pillar, and was only able to leave it at its current ma.s.sive size.

The s.h.i.+ning radiance that had repelled the Black Dragon Dread earlier had disappeared in a flash, no longer appearing.

Even the light patterns on the stone pillar's exterior had gradually dimmed, no longer s.h.i.+ning.

Other than the strange changes in weight which deviated from the ordinary, everything seemed completely normal, making it hard for people to believe that it had been this stone pillar which had shaken the surrounding world earlier.

Yan Zhaoge had once fantasised about purely smas.h.i.+ng to death his would-be opponents, who had come to make things difficult for him. Still, at present, unless the enemy was directly below his palm, such a thing could only exist in his imagination.

Raising the stone pillar and sweeping it horizontally was temporarily also out of the question. Yan Zhaoge had already experimented with this, and at present, the stone pillar could only remain in a vertical position.

As soon as the stone pillar leaned to the side, Yan Zhaoge would immediately feel intense vibrations on his palm as the stone pillar abruptly became much heavier.

Every time that happened, he would experience what Ah Hu had felt earlier, the feeling of the stone pillar seemingly possessing infinite weight, his wrist instantly feeling like it was going to be dislocated or even break as he held onto it.

However, as time pa.s.sed, Yan Zhaoge could vaguely feel his connection with that stone pillar getting stronger and stronger.

As the images and scenes that flashed before his eyes got clearer and clearer, the pillar also got lighter and lighter. Even when tilted to the side, while its weight would still increase rapidly, Yan Zhaoge had gradually began to grasp it, as it became easier and easier to control as he wished.

The only problem was that the stone pillar could not shrink, to the point that Yan Zhaoge had to lift such a giant fella up all around wherever he went, being high profile to the extreme.

It was fine in deep mountains and old forests, where there was at least some concealment. In the desert, while there were sand dunes that rose up everywhere, making it more than a vast stretch of nothing, if he were really to lift this stone pillar that was more than twenty metres high along his entire journey, it would still be eye-catching to the extreme.

“The Wind Domain and the Great Western Desert is not all that peaceful ah,” Yan Zhaoge stroked his lower chin, “It's totally like I have 'Come beat me up' written on my face…”

Seeing Yan Zhaoge and Jun Luo conversing happily, their tones casual, envy surfaced on the faces of the two Lians.

It was fine for the younger Lian Cheng who looked to be full of illnesses, whose gaze was filled with envy and yearning.

On the other side, the other, Lian Ying, had some gloominess and restlessness within his gaze.

Like Lian Cheng, the gaze with which Lian Ying looked at Jun Luo was filled with a deep infatuation. However, his gaze was also filled with extremity and fanaticism.

As his gaze fell on Yan Zhaoge, he unconsciously drooped his eyelids, not wanting Yan Zhaoge to detect the light flickering within his eyes.

After having finished packing up their things at the supply point, they set off once more, traversing through the Black Nightmare Storms that were rampaging outside, painstakingly making their way out of the Great Western Desert.

After reaching the supply point, 'Elder Li's' mood instantly improved, “The chess piece that I casually set up earlier will soon come to fruition.”

'Yao Shan' beside him looked like there were many matters weighing on his heart, still feeling frustrated by their earlier failure.

'Elder Li' shook his head slightly, sending over a sound transmission with his aurqi, “Prepare to move at any time. I have already sent the news over.”

That martial pract.i.tioner in the guise of Yao Shan, whilst controlling his expression very well, not revealing any flaws or discrepancies in the least, clearly had an excited light flash by within his eyes.

“There's still a chance?” The fake Yao Shan immediately pressed.

The real Yao Shan in the guise of Elder Li smiled, “An interesting child, living in his own thoughts, not caring about other things, unable to see the current situation, unable to weigh the importance of matters…”

“Oftentimes, as long as they are used appropriately, with the timing also grasped well, those little things which originally weren't all that important might become extraordinarily valuable.”

'Elder Li' smiled as he stroked his long beard. This habit of the true Elder Li was imitated by him to the point of perfection.

He sent over, “Very quickly, another Black Dragon Dread will descend!”

“Although our people may be completely exposed because of it, as long as we spend most of our time in the Great Western Desert, it would be very hard for Broad Creed Mountain to do anything to us.”

“But if we succeed, our accomplishments would be great. While Yan Zhaoge is only a Martial Scholar, he is far from ordinary. If we can kill him, the blow towards Broad Creed Mountain would even surpa.s.s that of losing some Martial Grandmasters.”

At 'Elder Li's' words, 'Yao Shan', whilst being excited, was also a little doubtful, “This person has many methods, could he…”

'Elder Li' glanced at him, “Him lifting up that stone pillar can be considered a miraculous feat, but I believe that this must be taking up quite a bit of his energy. Other than that, the wariness of someone whose goal has yet to be attained and is yet to succeed must be different from someone whose goal has been attained and is full of excitement at his success. He is most likely off guard.”

“Although we don't know if he can use that Sacred Artifact fragment right now, this second Black Dragon Dread will hopefully see some gains.”

As he stood guard, 'Elder Li' gazed to the side. There, Lian Ying's gaze constantly lingered on Jun Luo, some madness gradually appearing on his face.

'Elder Li' began smiling faintly.

Just at this time, the howl of the distant storm grew louder, as the terrifying Black Dragon Dread appeared once more!