Sam and the team arrived at the realm just like every other time.
The headquarters is a city of the desert.
This is an oasis city and is built on the bank of a mysterious spring that created a stream that spanned throughout the desert to the forest far away.
They arrived at the forest which is around a hundred kilometers away from the city of the desert. The desert here is extremely dangerous and is ridden with all kinds of dangerous creatures and natural traps.
There is only one path that is beside the stream that is relatively safe and the temperature of the desert is so high that it almost feels like they are inside a volcano. Even Astral Plane Consummate cultivators feel parched and they would also need to take rest within this journey from the forest to the city.
They arrived at the forest because Sam wanted to test all kinds of creatures and traps that are within the surroundings of the path along the stream so that he might use it to his advantage later.
The people from the next organization always move from the forest city to the desert city on this side, to conduct trades and other stuff.
If this is not the area they come out, the next one is to the rear of the city which leads to the mountain and the path is ten times as dangerous and twice as long as this one.
Unless one is an Astral Plane Consummate, there is no way to say for sure that they can travel this area safely if they didn’t stay beside the stream. Because there are always crowds of people namely merchant groups moving here and there.
This is the only route that has the Elders of large organizations acting as the leaders of the merchant caravans.
Most of the time, they provide escort service and they wouldn’t leave anyone to die here unless the said person strayed too far away from the path particularly when they ignore the warnings of the leader of the group.
And at this moment, Sam and the group are traveling on their own and since Night Ghost is a legit Astral Plane Consummate cultivator, there is no problem for them and from their demeanor, someone even asked if they could tag along for some money.
Sam didn’t take in any of them of course. He doesn’t want any extra burden and responsibility on this trip.
And all the way through, Sam is using the crystal table to check the whole area within the influence of the table.
He noticed a lot of creatures under the sand and they are really dangerous. He noticed their nests and one particular beast interested him a lot. A Purple Black Scorpion. This one stayed underground and all the beasts nearby are trying to please this one so much.
They are bringing any natural resources that are growing nearby, hunted merchants or cultivators and even some beasts and are leaving them all to this one large scorpion.
From the looks of it, the cultivation of the scorpion is very high.
That is not the only thing, Sam found interesting though.
He heard some of the merchants talking about something that made not just him, but a lot of first-timers going to the city a bit curious.
The news is that nothing came out of the City of Desert for the past few days. At least for the past three days, no one has seen people coming from the City of Desert, and no one who went there returned yet.
The merchant who talked about it is pretty nervous. As for how he is so sure, it is because one of the people that went and didn’t come back is his cousin and one of the reasons he is going there is to find his cousin and bring him back.
At first, many people thought he was bullshitting and didn’t believe him, after all the City of Desert is one of the largest trading zones in this realm and this place has the richest earth elemental resources that one could ever buy in the whole realm.
Nobody wants something that big to happen in a place like that and their best way to deal with it now so that they don’t have to face the disappointment, for now, is denial. The good old denial.
But Sam doesn’t have those problems, when he heard that no one is coming out of the city, he has both a good feeling and a bad feeling.
The first one is that this means, the city of the desert has a problem which he could take advantage of and easily get to them.
The second one is that there is a possibility, they were informed of Sam’s or the players’ arrival in advance and they might have been prepared.
Even though it is a long shot, Sam felt that it is a possibility that he cannot ignore. After all, this happened before and there is no absolute certainty that it wouldn’t happen again.
But no matter what it is, Sam didn’t have a choice. He has to reach the City of Desert.
After a few hours of travel, they finally arrived at the city and all the merchants were dumbfounded by what they saw.
There are a lot of guards at the entrance of the city and there is a large tollbooth arranged.
Every group is being checked repeatedly and they were being sent to a specific location under the supervision of an Astral Plane Consummate cultivator and they need to go through another checking process.
One of the high-level merchants asked.
"What is the occasion for you to check us this much?"
"Sir, we are really sorry for the inconvenience, but there is some problem within the city for the past few days, so we need to make sure that no one troublesome enters the city."
"Troublesome?"
"A group with certain characteristics are attacking the city and they are trying to sneak in. So, we have to check. I cannot give more details."
Sam listened to every word they spoke. He is still a bit vigilant, but a bit relaxed as well. If the search is for some other one, then the first case scenario, the city being under some problem is advantageous to them.
The guards checked Sam and the group, before saying.
"Go to the Sand Mortal Inn, in the southwestern corner of the city. That guard will escort you."
Sam just nodded and followed the guard to that Inn.
But what they didn’t notice is that the guard seemed to be nervous going to that place.
While Sam and the team are walking they noticed that city is silent.
There are no people other than the guards walking outside. It is as silent as it could be. Every shop on their way is closed and every house they went past is locked tight and for every few houses, there is a guard standing nearby.
Soon, Sam and his group arrived at the Inn’s entrance and were sent inside.
Inside the Inn, there is no one present at the entrance, and even the ground floor which is supposed to be the restaurant of the Inn, is completely empty. It is devoid of tables and any other seating arrangements.
"Hello,
Anybody there?"
Saber Monarch yelled and apart from the slight echo of his voice, there is nothing inside the large hall.
Sam and the group walked there and the bad feeling Sam had suddenly increased. He couldn’t help but feel a bit scared as well.
This feeling made him sweat.
All of a sudden, he suddenly looked at his teammates and said.
"Get a transference scroll ready."
But as they were about to take a scroll out, Sam felt something and he immediately waved his hands. His friends and Arkiv along with Kiran and the twins, Sia and Gran are captured into the lightning divine dimension.
And before Sam could even enter or take other teammates with him, his body froze at an awkward angle.
Not just him, even the Night Ghost, the strongest of them all couldn’t move at all. When he noticed that his physical body is unable to move, he tried to use his mental energy, but someone appeared out of nowhere and looked him into the eyes while muttering.
"You are going to stay put without causing any commotion. You hear me right?"
Sam looked at him from the corner of his eye as he couldn’t make a move. He is trying to channel his spatial energy to see if he could get out of this lock, but he was unable to.
The man who appeared near Night Ghost is someone very powerful which is very apparent. He has a similar build to the night ghost and he even looked the same age. But he has a square face and a large beard and he didn’t wear any upper clothes.
At this moment, Sam heard some footsteps
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