Yarra's Adventure Notes-Chapter 1304 - 90: Ready to Eat

"Boom, boom," with the roaring sound growing louder, a giant python made of yellow sand rose from the end of the earth, charging forward with unstoppable momentum. The sand it swept up obscured the sky, but it couldn’t hinder the serpent’s advance, which approached at a visibly rapid speed.

Huron’s chariot was suspended high in the sky, lavishly spilling its scorching heat, mercilessly ravaging this world with high temperatures. The swift figure of the wind deity Mi meant that the sky was churned with billowing yellow sand, obscuring any sight of the harsh sun for the creatures on the ground, let alone the sky. Teaming up with the fierce sunlight, the wind carried the burning heat like a furnace, driving away all the Water Element, drying up all life heading towards death. There were no plants, no animals, no water, no people—nothing was there but the blazing sun, the yellow sand, the heat enough to scald skin, and a pervasive death aura.

This was the northernmost edge of the Country of Sand, a forbidden zone where all creatures ceased to venture further. One more step, and you would enter the most terrifying region of the Yarran World, the Sighing Desert filled with silence and death. Though part of the same desert as the Country of Sand, the Sighing Desert was starkly different. The Country of Sand’s territory, while equally hot and dry, was underlain by subterranean rivers that wove their way through the desert, dotted with oases that flourished into towns and cities, allowing life to persist. Above the sand, mighty cacti and robust three-leaf trees struggled out of the earth, bringing specks of green to the monotony of yellow. Mountains of boulders rose, casting shadows where sunlight couldn’t reach. Beneath the sands, creatures that shunned the light scurried between grains, carrying the breath of life. It could be said that the desert of the Country of Sand wasn’t symbolic of death. Even if travelers lost their way, those with experience could last a long time relying on their knowledge and often find an oasis, a sign of life. The heat, the scorching sun, and the yellow sand couldn’t deter the will of living beings; life flourished in this blistering desert.

But the Sighing Desert ahead was entirely different. As a new land that Lord Yarra, the Father of the Gods, had reluctantly crafted when remolding the continent, its desert had yet to integrate into the environment of the Yarran World. No subterranean rivers flowed here, unable to sustain the growth of flora and fauna—there weren’t even rocks exposed to the surface. All there was from top to bottom were the endless stretches of yellow sand, peppered occasionally with the white bones of those who dared to challenge the desert, whose sighs spoke of their unwillingness and regret. If experienced travelers could easily survive being lost in the Country of Sand, then getting lost in the Sighing Desert meant death was the only outcome for all mortal creatures. Only the most elite of travelers, confident they wouldn’t lose their way anywhere, would dare to enter the Sighing Desert after extensive preparation, and then... some would become white bones sighing in the wind, while a few others managed to leave alive, vowing never to return.

As it happened, Pannis was among those who had successfully departed alive, and not just once but many times. He frequently traveled to and from the Core Area of the Sighing Desert, and now, of course, faced a new challenge once more.

Roiling yellow sand, resembling a twisting giant python, drew nearer to the edge of the Sighing Desert. At the leading edge of the dust serpent, a magic-powered motorbike thundered through, breaking through the clouds of sand in its furious rush. The weather was extremely hot, but the rider on the motorbike wrapped himself in a white robe, even covering his head and face with white cloth, leaving only his shining eyes visible. No, not even the eyes were exposed; a pair of black, windproof goggles shielded them, hiding from both the sandstorm and the blinding sunlight.

"Swoosh," Pannis, who had been maintaining a straight line forward, suddenly slowed down and took a turn to the side, dashing toward a cove made up of giant rocks. This unknown cove was so familiar to Pannis; in the nightmares he had endured for the past hundred years, its presence was a constant. At the entrance of the cove, Pannis stopped his magic-powered motorbike, carelessly threw the expensive vehicle onto the scree at the base of the mountain, and removed his goggles to glance at the sun sinking toward the horizon in the west. He then thrust his fingers into the sandy soil, closed his eyes and felt for a moment, before nodding his head as if very satisfied with his own judgment. Clearly, with night about to fall, Pannis had decided not to continue his journey; instead, he planned to spend the night resting in this familiar cove and push on into the Sighing Desert the next day.

After making his decision, Pannis quickly got moving. To set up camp here, the first problem to be solved was food and water. For most people, this would be an extremely difficult task, but for true professionals in wilderness survival, it was actually quite simple. Pannis didn’t even need to search; a forceful sniff of the air was enough to lock onto a target. After moving a few hundred meters around the cove, at a turn just outside of it, three massive cacti stood erect. These several-meter-tall desert plants, covered with frightening spikes, appeared so fierce-looking; yet to travelers in the desert, spotting them often meant seeing hope for life.

After circling the cacti a few times, Pannis’s nostrils kept twitching, and finally, he stopped in front of what seemed to be the smallest cactus. Without a moment’s hesitation, Pannis made his decision and with a flash of his sword, a side branch of the cactus flew up and heavily fell onto the sands, while from the main trunk’s wound gushed a stream of light green liquid, like a spring. Pannis was already prepared for this; as the liquid poured out, a wide-mouthed container had been placed underneath, catching all of the fluid.

"I knew you were the best, thanks again," Pannis said as the flow subsided. He poured the large basin of liquid into several water bottles, waved goodbye to the cactus, and then casually returned to the entrance where the magic-powered motorbike was parked, with the sword skewering the chopped cactus branch.

Oddly enough, he didn’t immediately seek the cool shelter of the cove but instead remained in the sandy area under the remnant heat of the fierce sun, as if searching for the warmest spot on purpose.

"This is the spot, just the right temperature," Pannis said, removing the white cloth covering his head and face and wiping the sweat from his brow. He bent over to test the heat of the ground, then nodded, "Time for dinner, aren’t you coming out to have a bite?"