Chapter 644: Blue Hair Road, Gate of the Fiery Moon

The Azure Sand Desert began to tremble violently at this moment. It seemed as if the captain's words had unlocked a forbidden power, causing a terrifying force hidden within the desert to erupt instantly.

Grains of sand rose into the air on their own, floating between heaven and earth. Each grain vibrated, and grotesque faces even appeared on them, roaring towards the sky. These roars became thunder, reverberating and making the sky roar along with them.

Winds also converged from all directions, sweeping away everything. In that instant, the world transformed directly into a sea of sand. As far as the eye could see, endless grains of sand continuously rose, causing the desert's horizon to gradually drop lower and lower.

The sand flying in the sky was swept by the wind, constantly colliding with each other amidst rumbling sounds, shattering into dust, and forming a vast dust storm that spread in all directions. Countless faces within roared in pain, eventually converging to form a gigantic face, faintly resembling a woman. It was smiling and suffering simultaneously, covering the entire Azure Sand Desert. Abominations spread, and the world grew indistinct. A deity descended!

Instantly, the heavens and earth of the entire Azure Sand Desert turned dim. Divine sense couldn't spread even a bit, and it was difficult for the naked eye to see anything clearly. Only endless roars erupted mightily. As for the cultivators here, they were all hiding inside their respective mountains, watching everything with horror. No one knew who started it first, but they all knelt down and prostrated themselves before the giant face formed by the Azure Sand Desert.

"White Mother!"

At the entrance to the place where Xu Qing and his group were headed, the members of the Wind-Guarding Tribe were incredibly agitated. All tribesmen knelt, uttering ancient chants from their mouths.

"White Mother awakens, enjoying the Flame River. The Divine Son descends, saving the Eight Desolations from suffering. May all bodies be illuminated, and hearts not be lost. I wish to become earth, nourishing the heavenly directions."

The chants echoed within the dust storm, scattered by the wind, and drifted in all directions. Although the storm was astonishing, it seemed to bear no great malice towards the people living there, so they remained safe.

However, the cultivators from the Red Moon Temple, who had locked onto the Azure Sand Desert and swept in from all directions to punish the source of the ancient phenomena, were forced to retreat within the dust storm. This dust storm seemed to unleash all its malice upon these outsiders. Instantly, a large number of Red Moon cultivators were thrown back. While their expressions showed horror, some were directly engulfed by the dust storm, their bodies torn apart, their souls disintegrated, and their horrific wails drowned in the roar.

Even the arriving Temple Sovereign was moved, his expression changing drastically.

"Everyone, get out of here!"

Without the slightest hesitation, he immediately gave the order. Soon, the Temple cultivators rapidly fled, retreating to guard outside the desert, not daring to enter further. However, the Temple Sovereign himself and some Returning Void Divine Envoys forcefully charged in. Within the dust storm, they were like long spears, tearing through the void, heading directly towards the entrance where Xu Qing and his group were located.

They drew closer and closer. Yet, as they advanced, the anomalies of the Azure Sand Desert continued. The desert's horizon constantly dropped as countless grains of sand rose and the face formed by the desert became increasingly grand. Ten zhang, eighty zhang, one hundred fifty zhang... Until finally, the entire Azure Sand Desert astonishingly dropped by a thousand zhang!

Looking out, amidst the heavens and earth of the Azure Sand Desert, the sand sea roared while below... it was completely empty. A colossal deep pit, like a celestial sinkhole, was revealed, along with the ancient land that existed before the desert was formed. There were also mountains of varying heights. Some mountains had been completely buried beneath the desert and were now revealed for the first time after countless years. Others, like the Kusheng Mountains, had only parts exposed before, and now their buried sections were uncovered. Compared to the entire sinkhole, these mountain ranges resembled sharp thorns, indicating the astonishing scale of the pit. As for the ground inside, the soil was black and exuded decay, along with countless pits and ravines, as if a startling battle had once taken place there.

This change in the land surpassed the imagination of cultivators. The native cultivators of the Azure Sand Desert were all horrified, their hearts surging with overwhelming emotions, and their worship of the White Mother became even more devout. Meanwhile, the sea of sand between heaven and earth continued to shatter under constant collision, perpetually turning into dust, which was then intermingled by the wind. Faintly, its form seemed to be changing...

Gradually, everyone witnessing this involuntarily recalled a legend. The legend said that the entire Azure Sand Desert was originally a celestial sinkhole, until many years ago, a strand of hair fell from the sky, transformed into sand here, filled the sinkhole, and became the great desert.

And today, this legend... was verified. Because the infinite sea of sand in mid-air, constantly changing its form, finally converged to become... a single strand of azure hair!

The moment this hair appeared, the Temple Sovereign of the Red Moon Temple and others were all mentally shaken, losing themselves in awe. And the entire Azure Sand Desert, at that instant, seemed as if time was paused, laws were stilled, rules were congealed, and everything became utterly silent. The wind stopped blowing, time stopped flowing, and all life and creation remained motionless. Divine power descended.

The Azure Sand Desert was directly isolated, as if separated from the entire Sacrifice Moon Grand Domain, hidden within the cracks of time and existence. And that azure strand of hair rapidly shrunk at this moment, until it became a normal human hair, disappearing from the heavens and earth, only to reappear... within the sealed land, before the captain. It drifted down, landing on the captain's palm. The two ends of the hair gently swayed, slowly hanging down.

The captain turned to look at Xu Qing, his expression a half-smile. "Little Ah Qing, aren't you surprised?"

Xu Qing looked at the strand of hair. Everything that had happened outside before flashed into his mind the moment his gaze met the hair. He saw the changes outside, the appearance of the celestial sinkhole. This scene caused Xu Qing's mind to fluctuate violently. He knew that every major event the captain orchestrated was incredibly thrilling, but he was still awestruck by the sheer scale of this feat.

"Senior Brother, is this the strand of hair from the High God you mentioned who cooperated with your previous life?" Xu Qing took a deep breath, speaking in a low voice.

Seeing Xu Qing's reaction, the captain felt satisfied. At this moment, he felt the rhythm had returned to his hands, contemplating that this was consistent with his usual way of handling grand affairs. "That's right, this one, though a bit short-tempered, is of extremely high standing." The captain smugly shook the strand of hair in his hand. "Whether it's the hiding place of my previous life or the seal here, both were completed with Their assistance. And the Azure Sand Desert itself was formed from Their hair. At the same time, this is also a token left for me. One day, when the time is right, I can use the collective aspirations of all beings to transform the Azure Sand Desert back into hair, and with it... connect to Their door."

As the captain spoke, he looked at the Crown Prince and the others. He felt equally pleased by the solemn expressions on the Crown Prince and the old man's faces.

The Crown Prince's gaze was deep as he looked at the strand of hair in Er Niu's hand, suddenly speaking. "The one who cooperated with you is from the Flame Moon Xuan Tian Tribe, the Moon Flame High God, one of their three Sun, Moon, and Star Gods!"

The captain chuckled, nodding proudly. "Originally, all three High Gods of the Flame Moon Xuan Tian Tribe were going to give me face, but I eventually realized their tribe had a mortal feud with my human race, so I refused them. In the end, this little Moon was so persistent about helping that I had no choice but to reluctantly agree. Seeing how diligently They worked, I promised to let Them eat a few more pieces of the Crimson Mother's flesh when the time comes."

The Crown Prince was expressionless, pretending not to hear Er Niu's nonsense. Princess Ming Mei scoffed, also choosing to ignore him. Even Ning Yan and the others, whose minds were still reeling, instantly reacted to Er Niu's bragging, finding it too outlandish. Xu Qing, already accustomed to it, simply ignored him.

Seeing that no one believed him, the captain sighed. "Fine, fine. Everything I said is true. One day you will know that not a single word I, Chen Er Niu, have ever spoken is false. They truly begged me."

The captain cleared his throat, shook his head with an air of helplessness, looking like someone misunderstood by all beings, then raised his hand and waved the strand of hair into the vortex formed by aspirations ahead. As the strand of hair drifted and fell into it, the rotation of the aspiration vortex abruptly paused. The hair inside elongated, continuously spreading and growing larger, eventually forming a path. This path wound its way, delving deep into the void.

And at the end of the void, a door could faintly be seen. It was an ancient, weathered wooden door, exuding an ominous aura. Made of black wood, it bore numerous deep claw marks, some even containing bits of flesh. While disturbing to behold, black blood could be seen oozing from the cracks in the door. A sense of decay emanated from this black blood, and the door itself became an embodiment of chilling dread.

Moreover, a divine aura surged from within. Ning Yan and the others merely glanced at it before groaning in agony, abominations erupting within their bodies. Xu Qing's vision also blurred, and his mind was intensely shaken. The Crown Prince and the four others stared at the black wooden door with grave expressions, as if facing a formidable enemy.

Only the captain remained relaxed. He took a few steps into the vortex, stepping onto the path formed by the hair, and looked back at Xu Qing with a smile. "Little Ah Qing, want to come with me and take a look?"

Just as Xu Qing was about to speak, the blood oozing from the black wooden door's cracks suddenly thickened, and a series of incredibly rapid knocks abruptly sounded from within the black door. Bang, bang, bang! Whoosh!

The sound was intense, immense, deafening, and soul-shaking. It was as if some entity within the door had detected the outsiders and was striking it with all its might, trying to break it open. The force was so great that the wooden door trembled violently, and even more claw marks appeared on its surface.

The sudden knocking made the captain flinch. He blinked, trying to maintain his composure, and sighed. "Honestly, why do those who are locked up always like to knock so violently?"

Old Eight, standing beside the Crown Prince, glared at the captain and suddenly spoke. "They are cursing you."