Chapter 1732: Oasis Appears

I had intended to tame one, just like the sacred beasts I encountered in the jungle previously, and have it lead us to an oasis. To my surprise, they were incredibly fragile. A casual swing of my sword didn't even serve as a warning; it simply obliterated them…

Once they turned into grains of sand, even I couldn't restore them.

“Their sentience… it's too weak!”

Rubbing his temples, he was speechless.

He had thought these two massive creatures would be as formidable as sacred beasts of the same level, difficult to contend with. He never imagined they would be so easily killed.

Their sentience was significantly weaker than even the artifacts he had previously enlightened.

“Could you… could you try to attract a few more?”

With an embarrassed expression, Zhang Xuan looked at them.

It was a struggle to attract them, and yet they were casually destroyed before any information could be gathered... He resolved to be more careful next time.

“Alright!”

Everyone nodded.

This time, a cultivator took out a gourd and threw it directly without drinking from it.

The water flowed into the desert, creating a white mist as before. Unfortunately, no sand giants appeared.

“It seems one needs to drink the water first…”

After waiting for a long time without any effect, Zhang Xuan remarked.

“Indeed,” the person nodded helplessly, taking out another water gourd and tilting their head back to drink a few mouthfuls.

The water, it seemed, was better left undrunk; the more he drank, the thirstier he became. His entire body felt as if it were about to smoke. Forcing down the dizziness in his head, he threw the gourd out again.

Gurgle, gurgle, gurgle!

As the water flowed into the desert, just like before, two sand giants indeed came lumbering over again.

Just like the previous ones, they were at the early Immortal Stage and equally lacking in intelligence.

Taking a deep breath, Zhang Xuan approached again. This time, he dared not use excessive force, merely trapping the giants.

The two sand giants attacked relentlessly but were unable to break through his true qi.

“Soul search!”

Ceasing his offensive, Zhang Xuan activated his soul power.

Having read all the books of the Jiang family and cultivated his soul to the level of true comprehension, coupled with inheriting the legacy of the Witch Soul Master, soul-searching techniques were no longer unfamiliar to him.

However, such techniques often went against heavenly principles, so he generally used them sparingly.

These sand giants, unlike normal living beings, could be searched without concern.

Whoosh!

His soul entered the sand, as if plunging into darkness. Faintly, he discerned a bean-sized speck of light shining in the deepest recesses.

“This is… an Enlightenment technique?”

His eyebrows furrowed.

He had already found these sand giants somewhat dim-witted. He never expected them to be enlightened objects, the kind used by Enlightenment Masters!

No wonder they were so weak. Even if enlightened objects retained their original cultivation level, their combat prowess was significantly inferior to that of cultivators at the same level.

It was like when Wang Ying enlightened all the Master Teacher Pavilions back then; their combat power remained limited.

“No… these are just ordinary grains of sand… yet after being enlightened, they possess the strength of an early Immortal Stage cultivator…”

He was suddenly stunned.

Although these sand giants seemed foolish, their strength was undeniable. Otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to render these dozen people utterly helpless.

He had previously slain several of them, and after their sentience dissipated, the giants transformed back into ordinary sand. This meant that something in this desert was capable of enlightening common sand, and furthermore, bestowing upon it the power of an Immortal Stage cultivator!

This was truly terrifying!

Even with his current unparalleled mastery of enlightenment, where the President of the Enlightenment Master Guild was his own student, he could, at most, enlighten artifacts that already possessed a physical form. Without a form, success was impossible, let alone granting them the power of a Great Sage.

“Bang!”

Lost in thought, his soul power had not been carefully controlled. The candlelight-like sentience immediately ruptured, and the two sand giants once again dissolved into sand, falling to the ground.

He stepped forward to examine them, confirming that they were indeed ordinary sand. Zhang Xuan scanned his surroundings, his eyes narrowing.

It was exactly as he had suspected.

Since these creatures were enlightened, then the enlighter must know the location of the exit.

Finding them would be equivalent to finding the exit from this world.

But… how could he find the enlighter?

“The direction from which the sand giants appear should be the location of the enlighter!”

After a moment of thought, Zhang Xuan had a realization.

His own enlightenment technique required him to touch the object being enlightened. Although he didn't know if this individual followed the same method, the direction from which the sand giants appeared must be related to their presence.

“Everyone, follow me!”

With that thought, he no longer hesitated and swiftly led everyone towards the direction where the giants had appeared.

After walking for over ten minutes, they stopped.

Their surroundings were identical to before, with nothing but endless yellow sand stretching in every direction.

“Let's try to attract them again…”

Upon hearing this, everyone's lips twitched, and their faces resembled bitter gourds.

He had spiritual liquid but wouldn't share it, yet he kept making them drink this water…

Drinking too much of this would genuinely lead to death by thirst.

Despite their frustration, they knew that following this man was their only hope of escaping this cursed place. Without further complaint, someone once again repeated the previous steps.

Soon, two sand giants approached from a different direction.

The aura of these two giants was noticeably stronger than the previous ones. Though still at the early Immortal Stage, their combat prowess had increased, and their intelligence also seemed a bit higher.

Knowing they couldn't be tamed, Zhang Xuan casually dispatched them. He then led his group forward, following the direction from which the sand giants had emerged.

After another ten minutes of walking, he had someone repeat the process.

More sand giants appeared, but these ones already possessed the combat strength of a middle Immortal Stage cultivator.

“It appears that the closer we get to the enlighter, the stronger the sand giants become…”

Confirming his hypothesis, Zhang Xuan's eyes gleamed.

They continued their advance, and whenever they lost their bearings, he instructed someone to use the previous method.

After more than a dozen repetitions, the sand giants' strength had reached the late Immortal Stage.

However, at this point, their power seemed to have reached its limit, unable to increase further.

“Ten minutes ago, they had this level of strength, and they're the same now. If these two points form a straight line… then the enlighter should be at a perpendicular position to the midpoint of this line!”

His eyes flashed.

Enlightenment uses the soul as a medium. If so, as long as the enlighter remains stationary, their soul power would radiate outwards in a circle. Two enlightened sand giants of the same strength indicated that the power bestowed upon them was identical, meaning the enlighter's distance from both locations should also be the same.

If the enlighter was at the center of this circle, then the line connecting the midpoint of any chord (that is not a diameter) to the center of the circle would be perpendicular to that chord!

Therefore, by searching perpendicularly from the midpoint of the line connecting these two points, he would undoubtedly find the enlighter!

“Let's go!”

Having pinpointed the location in his mind, Zhang Xuan reached the midpoint and swiftly dashed forward.

After an unknown duration, just as everyone was nearing their limit, feeling parched to the extreme, a sudden voice broke the silence.

“Look, quick! There's an oasis ahead…”

Zhang Xuan quickly looked ahead and, sure enough, saw a stand of vibrant green bamboo in the distance, a refreshing sight.