Liam's eyes locked onto the golden hue dancing before him, shimmering like a mirage against the blood-red sky. "Let's see what you really are." He dashed forward to grasp the golden hue before it disappeared. He only barely managed to do it when the next one sprang up a few miles ahead of him.
He would have missed it entirely if it had not been for one of his minions loitering around the area. Liam once again switched places with his minion and continued moving forward to grab the next golden wisp.
He was losing minions left and right but he did not care. A treasure in this place was likely big enough to compensate all of his losses.
Liam instantly dismissed his other minions in the other parts of this world and sent out all of them spread in the direction he was headed toward. Even if he missed a single golden hue, he would lose the tracks and the treasure at the end of this trail.
As if this was not complicated enough, Liam suddenly had a weird feeling. It was as if he was being watched. As if he was being followed.
He couldn't exactly pinpoint why he felt it or where this person might be watching him from but he got a strong feeling that something was off and he was inclined to trust his gut instincts.
A prickling sensation crawled up the back of Liam's neck. He halted mid-step, scanning the horizon in every direction— an ocean of sand streaked golden beneath that unnerving crimson sky—until his gaze landed on nothing in particular.
There was no obvious sign of a pursuer, no telltale shimmer that betrayed another's presence, or even a blip in the mana. Yet still, the feeling persisted. Even when he jumped from one soul body to another, the person somehow stuck to him.
"Show yourself," Liam muttered under his breath.
Silence greeted him, broken only by the hushed whispers of the desert sands. He waited for one more moment before quickly turning and following his golden wisp.
Liam pressed forward, ignoring the lingering chill that clung to his spine. The golden wisp danced just ahead, drifting tantalizingly through the shimmering waves of heat rising off the desert floor.
Sure, he was worried about his pursuer but he had a friend to take care of someone like that and that friend was about to come out any time now.
Liam's lips curled upwards into a grin as soon enough the sky started changing colors and the clouds started gathering. Usually, he would run away right at the moment but this time he had to stop because the golden hue was hovering nearby and it hadn't moved yet.
The next second right on cue, the clouds churned and a bloody wicked lightning bolt descended.
Liam stood tall and accepted it. He did not even bother erecting any dao shields. He simply took the brunt of the attack just because he could. The lightning bolts got exponentially stronger and he had no problems in receiving at least the first couple of bolts.
A sharp crack split the air, and Liam felt the bolt's power snake down his spine in a dizzying rush. For a heartbeat, he was blinded by the flash, every nerve alight with crackling energy. The desert wind howled and then followed the pain.
The intense energy wrecked him from the inside out. However, thanks to his superior regeneration, his forged body was repairing itself fast enough. Then came the second bolt. Blood trickled from the corner of Liam's mouth as this one was slightly too much for him to handle.
It was at this point a loud shriek came and a figure split apart from him. More accurately, a small bug jumped out of him.
Liam's eyes snapped down at once. There, on the sand at his feet, scuttled a tiny, hideous insect-like creature. Its chitinous hide glistened darkly, and its mandibles clicked in panic. It seemed dazed by its abrupt ejection from Liam's body and thrashed at the scorching grains of sand as if it had never felt the heat before.
A ripple of realization crept over Liam. This was the presence that had shadowed his every step. The stalker wasn't perched on a distant dune, cloaked in illusions; it had been riding inside him all along.
He grimaced, wiping the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand. "So that's what you are." The next bolt was ready to descend so Liam did not waste time and instantly squished the bug, processing its soul into a minion. At the same time, he switched places with another minion, narrowly dodging the lightning bolt at the very last moment.
He would have switched with another minion to get away from the next bolt but it did not help very much. Neither did minor teleportation. The lightning bolt had a mind of its own and would descend wherever he was about to appear.
The only solution was running. For some reason, the bolt seemed to respect that. Maybe the system event was designed . Erecting dao fields also helped. Liam used a combination to run away from the bolt like usual.
The only plus point was that the golden hue became a lot brighter after the last tribulation lightning. It disappeared and reappeared a couple of times before finally, a golden pillar shot up to the sky for a brief second.
The treasure-seeking potion did not exactly play favorites. The bloody thing just about informed everyone in the vicinity about the location.
Liam's face twitched but he did not care.
In front of him, the dunes shifted revealing something glossy and metallic. "This is weird." He had expected some sort of ancient ruins but the thing in front of him was all metallic and rigid and the structure instantly reminded him of golems for some reason.
But the problem now was… how the hell was he supposed to get inside this huge metallic thing? Was it a building? A box? A humongous treasure chest?
Liam did not have a lot of time to figure it out as he could sense two more auras headed his way.