Huang Yi turned his head and strode towards the north.
Outside Thornbush City, the hazy night shrouded an endless forest, and the occasional roars of beasts in the distance made Huang Yi feel extraordinarily at home. It was as if he had returned to the path he’d taken to get here, when Little White Cat was still in his arms, and a wild dog was scouting ahead...
Having reached deep within the desolate and uninhabited forest, Huang Yi’s body suddenly transformed, switching to his Beast King Form; it had been a long time since he had transformed this way.
After the transformation was complete, Huang Yi was slightly stunned; he discovered that his Beast King Form had markedly changed in appearance!
His forelimbs had become longer, resembling a pair of arms, and his claws more pronounced, like several fingers. His hind limbs were slightly crouched, with the hind claws lengthened, similar to the soles of feet. Even the red flames that originally covered his limbs had now turned orange.
The current Beast King Form looked somewhat like an ape, but it was a majestic king of apes. His golden fur, the bloodthirsty gleam in his eyes, his sharp claws radiating a cold light, and his limbs covered in orange flames made him look much more imposing than an ordinary ape, as if a Divine Ape from the Heaven Realm had descended upon this land.
Huang Yi speculated that his Beast King Form would probably evolve every 20 levels, and it seemed to be slowly evolving toward a human-like form! Humans are known as the Spirits of All Things, and the human form must possess some sort of strength. This suggested that with each evolution, he was actually evolving two forms; one was the Beast King Form, and the other was a form of his own choosing.
Huang Yi checked his current Attributes, and found that besides his Attack Power and Strength which were significantly reduced, all his other attributes had increased by about 5%! The missing Attack Power and Strength were actually those of the Split Hammer; when he transformed into his Beast King Form, the hammer had automatically been stored in his storage ring, which was equivalent to being unarmed.
Huang Yi realized that the Beast King Form was indeed his strongest form; he could undergo myriad transformations, but the Beast King Form would always remain his core. However, at this moment, the Beast King Form had not fully evolved into a humanoid shape and still could not wield weapons, making his strength actually somewhat inferior to his Half-Beastmen form.
Huang Yi tried running, and sure enough, his speed had increased significantly compared to before. After the evolution, the hind limbs of his Beast King Form had grown more powerful; each leap covered a great distance, and he could use his arms to grab onto tree branches, swinging between them with agility akin to that of a monkey.
In this manner, Huang Yi swiftly moved forward through the forest, all the wild beasts daring not to approach him, staying far away, which saved him a lot of time.
After moving forward for an entire night, the species of trees in the forest gradually began to change, from the previous tall broadleaf forest to low shrubs. The ground was no longer covered in thick layers of dead branches and fallen leaves, but was gradually exposing the yellow soil underneath. Some sand lizards fled back into their burrows in terror upon seeing Huang Yi, not daring to come out again.
All of this signified that the forest was receding, and that the desert was drawing near!
When the first light of dawn rose, Huang Yi leaped onto a mountain peak and looked down into the distance.
All that could be seen was a land no longer bearing any trace of forest; yellow sands stretched to the horizon, with dunes rising one after another, filling the entire field of vision, with no end in sight!
[System Prompt]: You have discovered the Desolate Sands, Experience Points +2000!
Finally, he had arrived at the Desolate Sands!
Huang Yi let out a slight sigh of relief. As long as he crossed this desert, he would be able to reach Dragon City!
Huang Yi dashed forward at top speed. At this moment, the golden dawn light sprinkled over the desert, making it look like a kingdom of gold. Huang Yi’s figure within this vast desert was as negligible as an ant, incapable of causing even the slightest ripple.
In the sky, a red sun slowly rose, resembling a gigantic fireball—clear and whole, unobstructed by anything. It showed the emptiness and vastness of the desert, evoking a sense of "a lone smoke in the desert rises straight, the long river sets with a round sun".
Huang Yi continued to move forward at full speed, his golden figure racing across the desert, leaving behind a long trail of dust. The lizards, scorpions, rattlesnakes, and other desert animals that had been resting in the caves were startled awake.
He pressed on for over an hour, and still, there were endless sand dunes in every direction. The forest behind him from where he came was completely out of sight. It was as if this place was a desolate kingdom cut off from the rest of the world, with no one coming or going.
Suddenly, Huang Yi’s rapidly running figure came to an abrupt halt, staring motionlessly at a sand dune nearby.
There were a series of footprints!
Since leaving Thornbush City, whether in the forest or in this desert, he had not seen any traces left by humans. Yet, on that sand dune, there was a clear set of footprints!
The desert was perpetually engulfed in Huang Sha, quickly covering any footprints, and those clear footprints suggested they had been made not long ago!
Huang Yi walked over, crouched down, and carefully observed the footprints.
Each footprint measured approximately 22 centimeters in length, indicating the person’s height was around 1.51 meters. The footprints were deep, particularly at the heels, suggesting the person was carrying a heavy load, and was likely an elderly individual. The distance between footprints was quite short and evenly spaced, indicating the elder was in good condition and had not become exhausted by the desert terrain or from carrying the weight.
Finally, there was a faint, fine line on the footprint, which indicated that a scorpion had crawled over it. This suggested that the footprints were probably left during the first half of the previous night when insects were active; at other times, insects generally stayed in their caves.
Huang Yi quickly speculated that last night, a robust old man with a heavy load must have come to this desert, leaving behind this set of footprints!
However, the direction of these footprints was slightly different from the path Huang Yi was taking. After some thought, he decided to follow them and search for the old man.
The Desolate Sands were vast, and Huang Yi did not know where to go in search of Murloc Nightwalker Slark’s homeland, nor did he know the precise location of Dragon City. Even asking Slark would be of no help as he had been imprisoned since the Ancient Era, and with countless years of drastic changes in the Desolate Sands, even if this was his homeland, he would not recognize the way. The mysterious old man, however, was likely to know about the Desolate Sands.
Next, Huang Yi began to sprint along the footprints. He had to catch up with the old man quickly because the tracks in this desert wouldn’t last long, and if he were a few hours later, he might lose the old man’s trail completely.