Liam's feet sank into the scorching sands, the grains burning even through his soles. A searing gust of wind lashed at his face, dry and merciless, carrying with it the scent of sun-scorched earth.
He squinted, his eyes struggling to adjust to the blazing light as he took in his surroundings. An endless expanse of golden dunes stretched before him, shimmering beneath an impossibly bright sun that hung motionless in the blood-red sky.
"Where the hell am I?" Liam shot forward, the golden sands parting beneath his feet as he moved at breakneck speed. His senses flared, his aura spiraling outward, probing the environment.
But the desert defied him. It was empty, hollow, a void devoid of life or energy. No landmarks, no vegetation, and no traces of anything. Just an endless ocean of sand, swirling beneath an oppressive sun that refused to set.
"I should have killed that crazy woman. She seemed to know more about this place than that random guy." Liam clicked his tongue.
It was not like he had a choice. He had only barely gotten out of there by the skin of his teeth. Liam looked around and decided to start with what he always did. He summoned his soul minions and sent them out in all directions for scouting.
He stood still, merging his consciousness with some of them to see what he was up against but it was useless. There was just sand and sand everywhere. This was going to take some time to figure out.
Liam was about to head out personally and check things when suddenly the wind started picking up speed. The wind howled through the golden dunes, whipping the sand into spiraling vortices that danced beneath the blood-red sky.
Liam looked up, his eyes narrowing as the blood-red clouds gathered above, swirling together in a chaotic storm. Lightning crackled within the crimson tempest, arcs of scarlet energy flashing across the sky.
The ground beneath Liam's feet trembled, the golden sands shifting, rippling as if alive. His mana shield expanded, surrounding him in a protective shell, ready for whatever this place threw at him.
He wasn't waiting to find out. In a flash, he darted backward, his body a blur as he moved to higher ground, standing atop a tall dune, his gaze locked on the storm above.
The blood-red clouds continued to churn, their dark centers glowing with ominous light, their energy building, growing more volatile by the second.
A deafening roar echoed across the desert, shaking the very air. Liam's eyes widened as the clouds parted, revealing a vortex of crimson lightning spiraling downward, hurtling toward the ground with terrifying speed.
The lightning struck the sands, a massive explosion of energy rippling outward, the shockwave sending waves of sand cascading across the desert. The ground cracked beneath the impact, golden dunes collapsing, swallowed by the gaping fissures that opened in the earth.
Liam shielded his eyes from the blinding light, his mana shield flaring as he braced against the shockwave. However, the clouds were not done just yet. The next lightning struck down soon enough and this time it came straight for him.
Liam instantly moved again, dodging the lightning. It was of little use because another lightning was ready to go and coming for him in the new position. What the heck? He decided to get the hell away from the red clouds.
His body became a blur as he dashed across the desert, golden sands parting beneath his feet. The crimson lightning pursued him relentlessly, each strike more ferocious than the last. The air crackled with electric energy, the heat intensifying with every bolt that shattered the dunes behind him.
He twisted, and turned, using all of his agility but he was only dodging the bolts by mere fractions of a second. The lightning followed, its accuracy terrifying, homing in on his presence no matter how fast or far he moved. The storm above roared with fury, the blood-red clouds swirling in chaotic patterns, arcs of lightning flashing through them like veins of fire.
"What the hell is this?" Liam cursed under his breath.
The lightning showed no signs of slowing down. If anything, it was getting faster, more precise, more relentless. He finally stopped running and instead used his dao fields. He barely erected the ice domain when a lightning bolt crashed against it. The next instant, his domain shattered completely.
"God damn it. Do I have to go all out just for a random lightning?" Liam gritted his teeth and quickly put up another domain. Once again, the bolt managed to blast his dao domain into smithereens. He just erected a third domain when suddenly the lightning stopped.
He looked up to see that the blood sky was once again clear. The desert fell eerily silent and everything went back to how it was before.
Liam was speechless. Was this the special property of this place? Did he have to look out for these lightning bolts? Just as many questions swirled in his mind, a man's voice sounded behind him.
"You must have something really precious to make the tribulation clouds so excited? Hmmm… Take it out. Let's see what you have managed to unearth?"
Liam turned to see a man standing behind him. Clearly, he knew more about this place than him as he managed to answer several questions in his mind with just a few words. So the tribulation lightning or whatever attacked him because he had something precious.
It had to be the cauldron. Was he supposed to have gotten out after acquiring the cauldron? Hmmm. On second thoughts, most people would have been satisfied after getting a heavenly treasure like that.
Liam looked at the token in his hand pensively, the exit token that would take him instantly out of this event.
"Thinking of running?" The man spoke and the next second something felt weird. The man hadn't attacked him openly. He hadn't even lifted a hand and yet something new popped up in his soul. A mark.