Chapter 1734: A Tree That Can Kill People

The water, upon entering his body, indeed quenched his thirst. Standing quietly in place, Zhang Xuan was highly focused, ready to immediately deal with any fire that might appear within him.

However, after waiting for a moment, there was no change at all. It seemed to have no effect on him.

He stood up again, his brows furrowed in a knot.

If fire appeared, he might be able to find the source and solve the problem completely. But with nothing happening, he was at a loss.

Could it be that, like the Yellow Spring Water in White Creek Mountain, it was poisonous to others but harmless to him?

"Senior, are you alright?"

Seeing him stand up, neither smoking nor screaming in agony, everyone collectively breathed a sigh of relief. The strong cultivator, who had spoken on a whim, couldn't help but look over.

"I'm fine!" Zhang Xuan nodded.

"That's good. We just saw with our own eyes a living person turn directly into sand, and everyone was scared... If we hadn't traveled with him, we might have thought it was a sand giant in disguise!"

The strong cultivator spoke with emotion.

"A sand giant in disguise? A person burned to death turns into sand..."

Zhang Xuan's pupils contracted as he remembered something. He quickly looked over and asked, "Didn't you say earlier that it took nearly two hours of walking before you found the sand giants, rather than encountering them immediately upon arrival?"

"Yes!"

The strong cultivator nodded.

After leaving Qufu, they woke up here. Before that, there was no danger. It wasn't until two hours later that they encountered the sand giants. They had mentioned this right after meeting, so it wasn't a secret.

"It took two hours to encounter the sand giants... Could it be that these giants are actually cultivators who were burned to death?"

Zhang Xuan's eyes flickered.

The ruins opened, and these things only appeared after two hours. Is it possible that some powerful cultivators spent two hours reaching this place, became the first victims, and then transformed into sand giants?

"Cultivators burned to death?"

Everyone was stunned.

Now that he mentioned it, it was truly possible.

The sand created after their companion's death earlier looked almost identical to the sand giants.

"Whether it is or not, we'll know if we try!" His eyes narrowed, and Zhang Xuan returned to the side of the person who had been burned to death earlier. He pointed a finger, making contact with the sand on the ground.

*Whoosh!*

Instantly, his entire consciousness entered a realm of darkness.

"Indeed!"

Zhang Xuan breathed a sigh of relief, his eyes shining.

He was using the Spirit Awakening Secret Art. The appearance of darkness before his eyes indicated that this pile of sand could potentially be awakened.

Focusing his mind, a ball of fire ignited within the other's body, piercing through the darkness.

With a rustle, the yellow sand on the ground slowly rose up, transforming into a massive sand giant, though it only possessed the strength of a Golden Body realm cultivator.

"No wonder... sand that has been awakened can possess the combat power of an Indestructible Realm cultivator!"

Zhang Xuan suddenly understood.

He had been puzzled before as to why awakened sand could have such powerful combat strength. Now it seemed that these giants, though appearing to be made of sand, were actually the corpses of living people.

In other words, the giants he had fought were actually powerful cultivators who had been burned into sand here!

He... had been fighting dead people all along!

"If that's the case... where is that Spirit Awakener?"

Understanding the situation, Zhang Xuan looked around.

According to his previous deductions, the Spirit Awakener must be on the oasis. But here, there was only a pond, countless green grasses, and a single large tree. Where could they be hidden?

"I have to touch the sand to awaken it... How did the other party manage to bring the sand to life and attack people from tens, even hundreds, of kilometers away?"

He rubbed his temples.

Although he had found clues and learned a lot, the current situation remained a mystery, leaving him bewildered.

Without finding that Spirit Awakener, he wouldn't be able to solve the mystery or find the exit from this desert world.

As he turned, he looked closely. The water in the pond was crystal clear to the bottom, and there was no passage.

In other words, no exit was found here.

"The person just now drank the water and was burned into sand, but I drank it and had no problem... To be burned into sand and then awakened... the problem must lie with this water!"

Unable to figure out what was happening, he focused his gaze on the water surface once again.

Only by drinking the water would one be burned into sand and then controlled by the Spirit Awakener. The source was the water. As long as he figured out how this substance turned people into ash, he should be able to locate the Spirit Awakener.

He cupped the water again and examined it for a while, still finding nothing. Just as he was about to give up, he felt a gust of wind, and the leaves of the large tree nearby rustled.

The tree bore some fluffy, cotton-like fibers. A gentle breeze blew them into the pond, where they floated on the surface. Before long, they melted into the water like a liquid and disappeared.

"Could it be this?"

His eyes lit up, and he hurried to the large tree. He extended his hand and picked up a piece of fluff.

*Sizzle!*

He immediately felt a ball of fire seemingly pulsating in his palm, just like what he had seen when he saved the three individuals before.

"Indeed!"

With a cold snort, Zhang Xuan finally understood.

No wonder the previous people who drank the water were burned to ash, while he was fine.

The main reason lay in these fibers.

As long as someone drank water containing these fibers, they would be burned into sand, controlled, and transformed into sand giants.

When he had examined the water, the fibers had already melted, so naturally, he couldn't find anything.

The cause was found, so... where was the Spirit Awakener?

He approached the large tree and looked around. It was empty; there wasn't a single person in sight.

He extended his palm and gently stroked the tree trunk. A moment later, Zhang Xuan smiled faintly.

"If I'm not mistaken, it's you!"

Looking at the large tree, Zhang Xuan's lips curved upward.

*Rustle! Rustle!*

The tree swayed gently in the wind, as if... it didn't understand what he meant.

"If you don't admit it, so be it..."

Zhang Xuan flipped his wrist, and the Demonic Dark Saber appeared in his palm. With a flash of cold light, he directly swung the saber at the large tree in front of him.

If it wouldn't admit it, he'd just chop it down first.

*Whoosh!*

Before the Dark Saber even made contact with the tree, he felt a swift gust of wind directly sweeping towards him. He looked up and saw a branch descending straight towards his head.

The branch was incredibly fast, snapping out abruptly. Even cultivators at the Grand Perfection of Indestructible Realm would find it hard to resist. Zhang Xuan's body swayed, and he dodged it.

*Swish, swish, swish!*

As if it had no intention of letting him go, dozens of branches from the large tree simultaneously lunged forward, each resembling a long dragon. Even before they reached him, they left dark fissures in the air.

"So strong!"

Zhang Xuan's pupils constricted, and the playful expression vanished from his face. He pointed a finger, and the surrounding space seemed to be sealed. Raising the Dark Saber in his hand, he unleashed hundreds of slashes in the blink of an eye.

The opponent's strength was comparable to a Grand Perfection of Indestructible Realm cultivator. Even he had to be careful, otherwise, he could very well be killed on the spot.