Episode 68: The Price of the Sand Barrier

The rubble of the primary altar vibrated beneath their feet, and the roar of the sand legion rolled across the horizon like distant thunder.

The bone armor of the Mongol cavalry reflected an eerie blue light, sand crystals congealing at the joints of their horse skeletons. The thunderous sound of their charging hooves made the runes on the altar flash erratically. The skeleton ranks of the colonial caravan raised rusted rifles, their hollow muzzles aimed directly at the phalanx of Tang dynasty remains; the rhythm of their rifle butts striking the gravel matched the cadence of colonial drumbeats from a century ago. Most terrifying of all were the skeletons of modern marauders, hoisting rusted missile launchers with warheads aimed squarely at Lu Chen in the center of the altar, their bony fingers hooked on the triggers, ready to detonate the residual energy at any moment.

Williams sat upon the pincer of a sand-crystal giant scorpion, his black robe whipping violently in the gale and sand. Watching the Tang remains surrounded by the legion, he suddenly clapped his hands. "Is this truly the extent of the Sand Watchers' phantom army? Your ancestors failed to stop us back then, and neither can you now!"

The figure of the Sand Speaker materialized at the peak of the altar. Beneath his black robe, his body had already turned semi-transparent, his exposed skin transforming into flowing golden sand. He raised a broken soul-pacifying bone flute, the golden light at its fracture fainter than ever before. "Lu Chen, take your people and retreat behind the barrier!"

"What are you planning?" Lu Chen's Three-Ring Totem suddenly burned hot. He could feel the energy within the Sand Speaker draining away at a torrential speed, like a breached floodgate. "Your body cannot withstand the strain of forcibly forming a barrier!"

"The primary altar cannot be breached." The Sand Speaker's voice carried the texture of grinding sand grains. He looked down at the rapidly-sands-transforming patterns on his palm, where the barrier incantation passed down through generations of Sand Watchers was inscribed. "This is the destiny of the Sand Soul's spokesperson, destined from the day of birth."

Alicia suddenly recalled a record from her mother's journal: the sand barrier used the flesh and blood of the caster as fuel, converting their own sand-transformed energy into a cage to trap the enemy. The price was complete obliteration, leaving not even the chance of reincarnation. Just as she rushed forward to stop him, Chen Yu grabbed her tightly. "Don't make things worse! He's buying us time with his life!"

The Sand Speaker's bone flute suddenly played.

It was not the previous battle chant, but an obscure melody like the wind deep within the desert whispering through ancient rock art. As the notes flowed, the sand particles around the primary altar suddenly rose into the air, condensing into a golden barrier that completely isolated the sand legion from the Tang skeleton phalanx.

"This is..." Williams's sand-crystal giant scorpion grew agitated, its tail striking the ground uneasily. "The sand barrier? Are you insane? Using your own sand-transformation energy as a shield—are you not afraid of complete annihilation?"

The Sand Speaker did not reply.

Standing at the apex of the barrier, the melody of his bone flute abruptly soared. The golden barrier violently contracted, trapping the front row of the Mongol cavalry skeletons tightly. Inside the barrier, sand grains frantically reorganized, turning into countless sharp blades that sliced through bone armor like a torrential rain—the shoulder guards of the Mongol cavalry were shaved to pieces, the leg joints of the horse skeletons were cleanly severed, and the sand crystals beneath their armor rapidly dissolved in the golden light.

"Aah—!" The colonial caravan's skeleton ranks opened fire, their rifle bullets striking the barrier only to be deflected by the golden light, instead shattering their own bone arms. The modern marauders' missile launchers suddenly fired, rusted warheads crashing against the barrier and erupting into black-purple light clusters, leaving only ripples upon the shield.

"The sand within the barrier will constantly reorganize," the Sand Speaker's voice reached Lu Chen's ears with a sense of liberated calm. "They will mimic every weapon the Sand Watchers have ever witnessed, until these invaders' bones are thoroughly pulverized."

Watching the scene within the barrier, Lu Chen felt as though his heart had been clenched. The sand blades were not only slicing enemies; they were also consuming the Sand Speaker's life force—the golden hue of the barrier was dimming, and the Sand Speaker's body had become so transparent that the sand legion behind him was visible. Only the hand holding the bone flute retained its human shape, knuckles white from exertion.

"Fall back! Retreat quickly!" Lu Chen roared, his Three-Ring Totem bursting with golden light to recall the surrounding Tang skeletons. "Everyone able to move, take the wounded and leave! Leave the center of the altar to the Sand Speaker!"

The phalanx of Tang skeletons began an orderly retreat. As they passed the barrier, they bowed deeply toward the Sand Speaker, the tips of their rusted swords touching the ground with crisp, synchronized clicks—this was the ancient Sand Watchers' highest respect for the fallen.

Inside the barrier, the sand legion began to disintegrate.

The bone armor of the Mongol cavalry was carved into a honeycomb shape by sand blades; the rifle ranks of the colonial caravan retreated step by step amidst a spear array formed of recombining sand; the missile launchers of the modern marauders were precisely cleaved in two by sand blades, and the residual energy detonated the warheads, blowing surrounding skeletons to pieces.

Williams's sand-crystal giant scorpion suddenly reared up, black-purple calamity fire condensing on its stinger. "Tricks of a dying insect! Shatter!"

The stinger plunged viciously into the barrier. At the instant gold and black-purple collided, the shield trembled violently, the Sand Speaker's body lurched heavily, and the half-broken bone flute nearly slipped from his grasp. He looked down at his chest, which had completely turned to sand, leaving only a single golden rune struggling to hold on—his core natal curse.

"Lu Chen..." The Sand Speaker's voice was intermittent, like a flickering candle in the wind. "Remember what I said... anti-entropy is not resistance... it is acceptance..."

His bone flute abruptly shifted, blowing a final note toward Lu Chen's direction. A streak of golden light shot continuously from the fractured end, drilling straight into Lu Chen's Three-Ring Totem. Lu Chen suddenly understood—the Sand Speaker was infusing his final energy into the totem, not to enhance power, but to leave behind a memory.

In the memory, a young Sand Speaker knelt before the Sand Watchers' altar, listening to the elder's admonition: "The true meaning of the sand barrier is not to trap the enemy, but to trap the caster's own obsession. Only when you can accept the sins of all invaders and the hatred of the Sand Watchers can the barrier truly take effect..."

"Reconciling with oneself..." Lu Chen's eye sockets burned. He finally understood what the Sand Speaker meant by anti-entropy—it was not suppressing darkness with force, but acknowledging the existence of darkness and choosing the light.

The sand barrier underwent a bizarre transformation.

The contracting shield began to expand frantically, golden sand surging like a tidal wave toward the rear of the sand legion, completely engulfing the entire force. Within the expanding barrier, the bone armor of the Mongol cavalry began to decompose, the rifles of the colonial caravan automatically bent, and the missile launchers of the modern marauders transformed into harmless sand grains—this time, it was not cutting; it was assimilation.

"How is this possible..." Williams's sand-crystal giant scorpion retreated repeatedly. He could feel the energetic nature of the barrier changing from an aggressive shield to an all-encompassing vortex. Even his sand crystals grew slightly warm, as if about to be assimilated. "You actually accepted..."

The Sand Speaker's figure grew entirely transparent in the center of the barrier, leaving only the half-broken soul-pacifying bone flute suspended in mid-air, the golden light at its fracture gradually fading. He cast one final glance toward Lu Chen, wearing what seemed to be a smile, before dissolving into a sky full of golden sand that merged into the ever-expanding barrier.

"Sand Speaker!" Alicia's silver-bird totem suddenly erupted with blue light, feeling the lingering warmth within that golden sand, like an elder's parting touch.

At the moment the Sand Speaker dissipated, the barrier reached its maximum expansion, trapping the entire sand legion within a golden shield a thousand meters in diameter. Moss began to grow on the bone armor of the Mongol cavalry, vines crawled over the rifles of the colonial caravan, and the missile launchers of the modern marauders were covered by drifting sand, turning into small dunes—the invaders' remains were being converted by the barrier into a part of the desert, thoroughly dissolved.

Williams's sand-crystal giant scorpion let out a painful hiss as the sand crystals on its pincers peeled away. Looking at the flowing golden sand on the barrier, he suddenly realized the Sand Speaker's true purpose—not to trap the legion, but to use his own dissipation as the price to purify these bones polluted by hatred.

"Madmen... a pack of madmen!" Red light flared wildly in Williams's mechanical eye. He whirled the sand-crystal giant scorpion around, abandoning the sand legion to its fate, and fled toward the second altar. "You cannot win! The sand source has awakened, and no one can stop it!"

The sand legion within the barrier fell completely silent.

Desert daisies bloomed upon the bone armor of the Mongol cavalry, desert willows grew from the rifles of the colonial caravan, and the remains of the modern marauders were buried by the wind and sand, leaving only a single bony hand clutching a sprouting seed. The phalanx of Tang skeletons paid a final military salute to the barrier, then turned and silently stood guard around the altar.

Lu Chen walked to the edge of the barrier, reaching out to touch the golden shield. Sand grains flowed across his palm, carrying the residual warmth of the Sand Speaker. The Three-Ring Totem suddenly lit up, resonating with the barrier, and he could sense a peaceful consciousness emanating from the purified bones—not hatred, but release.

"Thank you," Lu Chen murmured to the barrier. The totem on his palm briefly flashed with the face of the Sand Speaker, wearing an expression of relief.

Alicia stepped up beside him, her silver-bird totem intertwining with the golden light of the barrier. "The anti-entropy he spoke of... did we achieve it?"

"I don't know," Lu Chen shook his head, gazing toward the direction of the second altar where the black-purple glow was growing increasingly intense. "But at least we know which way to go now."

Just then, the barrier flickered violently.

A crack appeared upon the previously stable golden shield, and black-purple energy seeped from the fracture, spreading rapidly like a venomous snake. Lu Chen's Three-Ring Totem suffered a sharp pang of pain; he could feel the barrier purified by the Sand Speaker's life being polluted—not from the outside, but from within.

From the fissure, a familiar figure vaguely emerged, wearing a modern marauder's tactical vest with half an anti-entropy totem stabbed through its ribcage. It was none of other than the mercenary leader who had led the slaughter of the Sand Watchers years ago! His skeletal eye sockets flickered with an eerie blue light, clearly unpurified and instead utilizing the barrier's energy to be reborn!

"The Sand Speaker still failed to fully accept it..." Lu Chen's heart sank. He finally understood where the ultimate hidden danger lay—a caster could choose reconciliation, but phantoms nurtured by hatred were not necessarily willing to let go of their obsessions.

The skeleton within the fissure suddenly raised a tactical dagger, plunging it viciously into the weakest spot of the barrier. The golden shield emitted a harsh shattering sound, and more black-purple energy surged out, rapidly infecting the surrounding purified bones.

The bone armor of the Mongol cavalry was once again covered in sand crystals, the rifles of the colonial caravan aimed at the Tang skeletons, and the missile launchers of the modern marauders rose once more—this time targeting the recently retreated civilian convoy.

Lu Chen's Three-Ring Totem burst with golden light. Watching the revitalized sand legion, he suddenly understood the mocking sneer Williams had worn as he fled—

The barrier forged by the Sand Speaker's life had ultimately become a breeding ground for the rebirth of hatred.

And they had just lost their most powerful shield.

Cries of alarm echoed from the civilian convoy in the distance, indicating they had already come under attack. Grasping his bone blade, Lu Chen stared at the hideous skeletal face in the barrier's fissure, suddenly realizing the second half of the Sand Speaker's unfinished sentence:

Accepting obsession does not mean condoning it.

Sometimes, the best way to reconcile with oneself is to sever the chains of hatred with one's own hands.

Yet now, they barely had time left even for that severance. The crack in the barrier widened, black-purple energy gushing out like a tidal wave, and the runes of the primary altar were extinguishing at a visible rate.

Lu Chen's gaze fell upon the half-broken soul-pacifying bone flute. It still floated in the center of the barrier, a faint golden light suddenly flashing across its fracture.

Was that the final trump card left by the Sand Speaker?

Or... the signal for hatred's rebirth?

The answer could only be found by charging into the barrier.

Yet could those who entered ever walk out alive?

Lu Chen exchanged a glance with Alicia, both seeing unyielding resolve in each other's eyes.

The Tang skeletons collectively turned in unison, their rusted swords pointing toward the fissure in the barrier, making their choice through action.

This barrier bought with life must ultimately be ended with life.

And deep within the fissure, the modern marauder's skeleton emitted a harsh laugh, the tactical dagger in its bony hand gathering black-purple energy, aiming straight at the charging Lu Chen.

A new and bloody battle was about to erupt amidst the ruins of the sand barrier.