Episode 70: Crisis at the Second Altar

Half of an ancient Silk Road trading post's broken stele protruded from the sandstorm, the clerical script reading "Dunhuang Trading Post" long since eroded and blurred by crystalline sand. Lu Chen crouched behind the windward side of the dune, the sight through his binoculars turning his knuckles white.

Three kilometers away, the trading post ruins—which should have been a collection of crumbling walls—had transformed into a giant, crouching sand scorpion.

The entire fortress was constructed from dark purple sand crystals. Four arrow towers shaped like scorpion pincers at the cardinal directions were spewing cobalt-blue energy streams, weaving an electric net at the top. The main tower, shaped like a scorpion tail, stabbed into the heavens, with a pulsating black crystal suspended at its tip—none other than Williams's bone core, continuously pumping energy into the fortress. Most bizarrely, at the base of the fortress, the sand-crystal-covered "scorpion legs" were faintly writhing. With every movement, ripples swept across the surrounding desert, and countless tiny sand scorpions surged from the waves, like a living skirt border inlaid around the fortress.

"This madman really turned the altar into a nest." Chen Yu's heavy machine gun was mounted behind the sand pile, the counter-entropy runes on the barrel sizzling loudly. "The detectors show the sand-crystal activity in the fortress is ten times that of ordinary sand-skeleton beasts. Bullets will probably just get swallowed straight up."

Alicia's silver-bird necklace suddenly grew hot, and she pointed toward a window opening on the third level of the main tower. "There is an energy reaction there, matching the frequency of the first altar's sub-array. The altar core must be locked right there."

At the edge of the window opening, writhing sand-crystal tentacles could be vaguely seen, resembling the blood vessels of some creature. Lu Chen adjusted the focus of his binoculars and discovered tattered silk wrapped among the tentacles, embroidered with the first half of the "Song of Liangzhou"—the mark of ancient Silk Road caravans, now reduced to nourishment for the sand crystals, slowly melting within the cobalt-blue energy streams.

"He's catalyzing the sand crystals' activity." Su Qing's tablet suddenly issued a shrill alarm, the energy waveform on the screen acting like a wildly twisting snake. "The bone core's energy is penetrating underground through the sand-crystal network. The ancient riverbed beneath the trading post ruins is being modified. Those grains of sand are no longer ordinary sand particles—they're evolving into creatures capable of autonomous attack!"

Before her voice faded, the desert around the fortress suddenly boiled.

The sand waves that were originally surging toward the fortress abruptly changed direction, pulled by an invisible hand as they rushed toward the hiding place of Lu Chen and his companions. The fine sand at the forefront of the waves condensed into countless palm-sized sand scorpions, their pincers flashing with a metallic cold light, the densely packed black dots rapidly expanding in their field of vision.

"We've been spotted!" Chen Yu's heavy machine gun immediately opened fire, blasting a blank patch in the swarm of sand scorpions, but the sand grains behind instantly filled the gap. One could even see the shattered remains of sand scorpions automatically reassembling into more ferocious forms. "Damn it! These things can self-heal too?"

Lu Chen grabbed Alicia and pulled her backward. "Fall back to the Yardang group! The rocks there can block the sand flow!"

The remains of the Tang soldiers formed a defensive formation, the sharp sound of rusty swords hacking at sand scorpions echoing continuously. But the number of sand scorpions was simply too great, and soon some of the skeletal remains were swallowed by the sand waves, turning into gold sand amid sizzling sounds—these ancient undead were actually being devoured by modern sand crystals.

"They're absorbing energy!" Alicia's silver-bird totem erupted with blue light, beating back the swarm of sand scorpions lunging toward the medical team. "Williams wants to use our power to accelerate the sand crystals' evolution!"

By the time they retreated to the Yardang group, half of the Tang soldier skeletons had disintegrated. Those wind-eroded rocks could indeed temporarily block the sand flow, but Lu Chen noticed fine cracks appearing on the rock surfaces. The sand crystals were burrowing inward through the crevices like a virus, and even the hardest granite was turning to sand at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"We can't keep going like this." Su Qing squatted behind a relatively intact Yardang rock, her fingers swiping rapidly across the tablet. "I compared the ancient maps of the trading post ruins. There's an abandoned underground river below, which was the caravan's water channel back then. It shouldn't be completely dry yet."

She pulled up a 3D model, the red underground river channel resembling a snake, leading straight from the base of the Yardang group to the fortress core. "The detectors show this channel has the lowest energy interference and the lowest density of the sand-crystal network—it should be the only route we can infiltrate."

"An underground river?" Chen Yu frowned. "What if it's crawling with sand-skeleton beasts? Last time in the Valley of Lost Souls' underground cavern..."

"We don't have a better choice." Lu Chen cut him off. The main tower of the fortress in his binoculars was glowing, and the bone core at the tail tip was turning increasingly black. "Williams is activating the altar. In an hour at most, the second sub-array will be completely corrupted, and by then the energy field of the first altar will collapse along with it."

Alicia suddenly grabbed his wrist, the blue light of the silver-bird totem reflecting in her eyes. "I'm going with you. My blood can temporarily block the sand crystals' sensing; my mother left a similar spell seal in the bone core."

"No!" Lu Chen immediately objected. "Your sandification isn't healed yet, the moisture in the underground river might worsen..."

"If we dawdle any longer, it really will be too late!" Alicia suddenly pulled open her collar, revealing the sand-crystal thorns spreading at her collarbone, those blue-gray patterns glowing faintly in the blue light. "Look, they're adapting to the silver-bird energy; maybe they can come in handy in the underground river."

Su Qing suddenly pointed at the tablet. "Found something! The underground river entrance is at the back of Yardang Number Three. There's a natural water cave there, blocked by gravel, but the energy response shows it's a hollow space behind!"

Chen Yu hoisted his heavy machine gun. "I'll lead a team to launch a frontal feint attack to draw the sand crystals' attention. Wang Lu, come with me, use rune bullets to blast open the arrow tower's defenses and buy them time."

"Be careful." Lu Chen patted his shoulder, the golden light of the Three Precepts totem flowing down his palm into Chen Yu's gun barrel. "Try not to fight head-on, just stall them."

Chen Yu grinned, revealing a chipped tooth. "Wait for my good news. If I kick the bucket, remember to carve my name next to Lu Nian'an's, and just say I'm her godfather."

The roaring of the sand scorpion swarm grew closer, and the cracks in the Yardang rock had spread to its waist. Lu Chen hesitated no longer, dragging Alicia toward Yardang Number Three. The remaining Tang soldier skeletons formed a final defense line, the sparks of rusty swords colliding with sand crystals flashing through the sandstorm one after another.

At the back of Yardang Number Three, there was indeed an entrance blocked by gravel, about two meters in diameter, with traces of moisture visible at the edges. Lu Chen used his bone dagger to hack away the surface gravel, revealing dark greenish-black rock beneath, carved with vague water-ripple totems—truly the ancient caravan's drinking-water mark.

"I'll do it." Alicia bit her fingertip, letting a drop of blood fall onto the rock. The blue light of the silver-bird totem seeped into the rock crevices along with the droplet of blood, and those hard rocks actually melted away like butter, revealing a pitch-black opening behind. A damp wind blew out from within, carrying a fishy, iron-like stench.

"Let's go!" Lu Chen was the first to squeeze inside, his bone dagger slashing out golden light to dispel the oncoming darkness. Alicia followed closely behind, the blue light of the silver-bird necklace leaving a trail of light points behind her, as if marking their retreat path.

The passage was narrower than expected, only wide enough for one person to squeeze through sideways. The rock walls were densely covered with honeycomb-like holes, from which slender sand-crystal tentacles poked out from time to time, only to automatically retract upon approaching Alicia, evidently intimidated by the spell seal in her blood.

"My mother's spell seal is still taking effect." Alicia's voice trembled with a relieved tremor. "She said the trading post's underground river was the sand-wardens' emergency passage, carved with the silver-bird guardian array."

Lu Chen suddenly stopped in his tracks, holding his bone dagger horizontally in front of him.

The passage ahead suddenly widened, opening into a basketball-court-sized cavern. In the center of a stone platform stood a rusted caravan flagpole, its fabric long since rotted away, leaving only a bare wooden pole. But what truly warranted vigilance was the water surface around the cavern—floating amidst that dark green accumulated water were hundreds of skeletons, each with a sand crystal embedded in its ribcage, like sleeping undead.

"These are..." Alicia's silver-bird necklace flickered violently. "The remains of the ancient caravan?"

Lu Chen used his bone dagger to poke at a skeleton; the sand crystal in its ribcage suddenly flashed with a cobalt-blue light, and the skeleton's finger bones moved slightly. He immediately let go, and the skeleton plunged into the water with a "plop," the ripples it generated causing the surrounding skeletons to turn simultaneously, faint light glowing from the darkness of their eye sockets.

"Don't touch them!" Lu Chen lowered his voice, the golden light of the Three Precepts totem circulating in his palm. "These aren't ordinary remains; they're corpse-guardians contaminated by the bone core's energy, equivalent to living landmines."

They hugged the rock along the edge of the cavern, trying to avoid the skeletons on the water's surface as they moved toward the passage opening on the other side. The blue light of Alicia's silver-bird necklace grew brighter, clearly indicating that the altar's direction lay ahead, but also meaning they were getting closer and closer to Williams.

Just as they were about to squeeze into the passage opening, the flagpole in the center of the cavern violently shook.

Those floating skeletons sank into the water simultaneously, and the dark green water surface churned with black whirlpools. Lu Chen abruptly pulled Alicia behind him, the golden light of his bone dagger illuminating what rose from the whirlpool—

It was a giant puppet pieced together from countless skeletons, five meters tall, its torso cast from melted caravan copper chests, its limbs densely packed human bones, and the skull at the very top wearing a rusted Persian crown, with cobalt-blue flames dancing in its eye sockets.

"It's the caravan guardian puppet." Alicia's voice grew tight. "Ancient records say the ancient caravan used secret arts to vitalize remains to protect the safety of the trade route. But this one... is obviously contaminated by sand crystals."

The puppet's copper-chest torso suddenly split open, revealing writhing sand-crystal tentacles inside like a beating heart. It raised its giant arm composed of human bones and smashed it toward Lu Chen, the rock wall dropping debris in showers upon impact, and the passage entrance was instantly more than half-blocked by rubble.

"Trying to trap us?" The Three Precepts totem of Lu Chen erupted with golden light, his bone dagger slashing toward the giant arm. "Not that easy!"

The instant the golden light collided with the bone arm, countless tiny sand scorpions sprayed from the puppet's joints like toxic dust. Lu Chen quickly pulled Alicia back, and that dust landed on the rock wall, instantly corroding pits that vented pungent white smoke.

"Its sand crystals are highly toxic!" The silver-bird totem of Alicia formed a blue light barrier to block the subsequent dust spray. " Attack its crown! That's the energy core!"

Lu Chen's bone dagger suddenly veered, the golden light climbing along the puppet's bone arm. Just as it was about to touch the crown, the puppet's torso suddenly exploded, and countless skull heads shot out like cannonballs. He had no choice but to give up the attack, weaving a golden net in front of him with his bone dagger to deflect the flying skulls.

Yet a skull head still slipped through, grazing past Alicia's shoulder and shattering against the rock wall. The sand crystals inside splattered onto her wound, and the blue-gray sand-crystal thorns suddenly spread at a speed visible to the naked eye, instantly climbing up her neck.

"Alicia!" Lu Chen's attack showed an opening, and the puppet's giant arm swept over, smashing him heavily against the rock wall.

A sharp pain darkened his vision, and a sweet, fishy taste surged up his throat. Looking at the deepening blue-gray on Alicia's neck, he suddenly remembered the sand-speaker's words—counter-entropy isn't about fighting, it's about accepting obsession.

The golden light of the Three Precepts totem suddenly changed.

No longer a pure attack form, it transformed into countless golden threads that wrapped around the puppet's bone arm. Those threads didn't attempt to destroy the bones; instead, they burrowed inward through the crevices, entangling with the sand-crystal tentacles—not to devour, but to merge.

The puppet's movements suddenly stalled, its cobalt-blue eye sockets suffused with gold.

Enduring the sharp pain, Lu Chen stood up, his bone dagger pointing at the crown. "Alicia! Use the Requiem!"

Braving the excruciating pain of the sand-crystal thorns, Alicia traced the totem of the Requiem in the void with her fingertips. The silver-bird blue light flowed into the puppet's torso along Lu Chen's golden threads, and those violent sand-crystal tentacles gradually calmed down, like appeased beasts.

"This is..." Alicia's eyes lit up. "They're responding to the Requiem!"

The Persian crown atop the puppet suddenly split open, exposing the core sand crystal inside—a pigeon-egg-sized black crystal, homologous to Williams's bone core. As the silver-bird blue light and the golden threads poured in simultaneously, the surface of the black crystal surfaced with the patterns of the silver-bird totem, and it actually began to fade slowly.

"It worked!" A smile appeared at the corner of Lu Chen's mouth.

Yet at that very moment, the water surface of the cavern suddenly churned with huge waves.

More skeletons rose from the bottom of the water, forming a second and third puppet. The chests of their torsos were embedded not with copper chests, but with rusted rifles and grenades—obviously the remains of modern caravans. The leading puppet even grasped a small mortar in its hands, the muzzle aimed squarely at their direction.

"Williams anticipated long ago that we would take the underground river!" Lu Chen's heart sank to the bottom; the golden light of the Three Precepts totem began to wane, clearly having consumed too much energy maintaining the fusion of the first puppet. "These are traps he laid out deliberately!"

Alicia's silver-bird necklace suddenly pointed toward the top of the cavern. "There's an exit there!"

Lu Chen raised his head and indeed saw a square ventilation opening at the top of the cavern, with wooden bars still remaining at the edges, evidently the caravan's emergency exit from back then. But the ventilation opening was at least ten meters high from the ground, with no climbable rocks around.

"We have to force our way through!" Lu Chen suddenly scooped up Alicia, pouring all the golden light of the Three Precepts totem into his feet. "Hold on tight!"

He sprinted toward the first puppet, leaping up by using it as a springboard the instant its giant arm fell, carrying Alicia as he charged toward the ventilation opening. The mortar behind had already opened fire, black shells whistling past their scalps and blasting rock fragments flying from the wall.

The giant arm of the first puppet suddenly lifted—not to attack, but to give them a shove upward.

Borrowing this force, Lu Chen crashed like a cannonball into the ventilation opening, shattering the wooden bars into pieces upon impact. In the final moment before landing, he saw the first puppet turn around to face the other puppets, the silver-bird totem on its copper-chest torso glowing blindingly bright, as if covering their rear.

"It's protecting us..." Alicia's voice choked with tears.

The ventilation opening connected to an upward flight of stairs, clearly leading inside the fortress. The walls on both sides of the stairs were hung with ancient caravan murals depicting the bustling scenes of the Silk Road, but at this moment they were all covered by sand crystals, turning into distorted scorpion patterns.

"We're almost there." Lu Chen's bone dagger cleared the way ahead, and he could feel the energy fluctuations in the air growing stronger. "The altar core is right above."

Upon stepping onto the final step, they burst into a circular stone chamber.

On the stone platform in the center of the chamber indeed lay the core of the second altar—a translucent crystal enclosing an ancient caravan camel bell, currently entangled by countless sand crystal tentacles and emitting a painful hum.

Yet what truly made their pupils constrict were the walls of the stone chamber.

They were densely covered with countless photographs, all of them X Tribe and S Tribe civilians. Half of every person's face in each photograph was covered by sand crystals, as if foreshadowing something. And right in the center of the photographs hung a huge oil painting—depicting a young Williams and his mother, with the background being none other than these trading post ruins, both of their faces carrying gentle smiles.

"He..." Alicia's voice trembled. "He hung his mother's portrait here?"

Lu Chen suddenly tightened his grip on his bone dagger, the golden light of the Three Precepts totem flashing violently in his palm.

The oil painting suddenly flipped over by itself, revealing words written in sand crystals on the back—crooked yet exceptionally glaring:

"My mother was also a sand-warden, until she was nailed to the altar by your ancestors. Now, it's your turn."

The floor of the stone chamber suddenly split open, and countless sand crystal tentacles surged from the fissures, blanketing them like a giant net. Lu Chen immediately pushed Alicia toward the altar core, turning around to hack at the tentacles with his bone dagger. "Activate the sub-array! Don't worry about me!"

Alicia lunged onto the stone platform, the blue light of her silver-bird necklace pouring into the crystal core. The entangled camel bell suddenly emitted a crisp chime, and the sand crystal tentacles retreated one after another, revealing the counter-entropy runes carved underneath.

Yet the instant the sub-array was about to activate, the sand crystals at the top of the stone chamber exploded, and Williams's figure emerged from the falling debris, six pairs of sand crystal wings slowly flapping behind his back, the black bone core on his chest aiming squarely at the altar core.

"Too late." His mechanical arm pointed at the crystal core, and dark purple tribulation fire shot out like a venomous snake. "This altar will become the first spawning pool for the sand scorpions!"

Alicia used her body to shield the crystal, the blue light of the silver-bird totem colliding with the tribulation fire and producing a deafening roar. She could feel her mother's consciousness emitting a final roar within the bone core, clearly fighting desperately to stop Williams.

Lu Chen was entangled by the sand crystal tentacles, the golden light of the Three Precepts totem rapidly dimming under the corrosion of the tentacles. Looking at Alicia's swaying back, he suddenly recalled Su Qing's words—the underground river had the lowest energy interference.

Low interference... meant it could...

Lu Chen suddenly bit the tip of his tongue, pouring all the energy of the Three Precepts totem into his bone dagger—not to attack the tentacles, but to thrust it fiercely into the ground!

"In the name of the sand-wardens—draw!"

The ground fissures suddenly spewed golden energy streams, not originating from Lu Chen, but from the corpse-guardian puppet in the underground river! The core sand crystal of the first puppet had actually resonated with the Three Precepts totem, channeling all its energy upward along the passage!

"You're out of your mind!" Williams's tribulation fire suddenly destabilized. "You want to blow the entire fortress to pieces?!"

A resolute smile curved the corner of Lu Chen's mouth. "Mutually assured destruction is still better than letting you have your way!"

The golden energy stream and the dark purple tribulation fire collided in the center of the stone chamber, and the entire fortress began to vibrate violently. Seizing the opportunity, Alicia dropped her silver-bird blood onto the crystal core, and the counter-entropy runes of the sub-array lit up completely, resonating with the first altar to emit a blinding white light.

Yet at that very moment, Williams's bone core suddenly cracked, and a bead of blood flew out from inside—none other than the homologous blood swept away by the sand source earlier!

The blood bead traced an arc through the air, landing precisely on the crystal core. The white light of the counter-entropy runes abruptly turned into an eerie crimson, and the energy field of the sub-array began to spiral out of control, not purifying the sand crystals at all, but instead catalyzing their wild growth!

"Hahaha! The sand source has chosen me!" Williams's frantic laughter shook loose the rubble overhead. "This is the true purpose of the second altar—to incubate the homologous blood!"

Alicia's silver-bird totem suddenly extinguished, her mother's consciousness completely vanishing. Watching the blood bead on the crystal core begin to swell like an egg about to hatch, she suddenly understood Williams's conspiracy.

The second altar was never meant to be corrupted; it was meant to be retrofitted into an incubator.

And they had personally helped Williams start it up.

The instant the blood bead split open, Lu Chen saw that what crawled out from inside was neither a sand scorpion nor a sand-warden, but a monster bearing silver-bird wings and a scorpion tail, its eye sockets dancing with chaotic light—resembling a miniature version of the sand source.

The fortress's vibrations grew more violent, and the sand crystal walls began to disintegrate. Lu Chen grabbed Alicia's hand and sprinted toward the ventilation opening. "Hurry, let's go!"

But it was already too late.

That monster suddenly emitted a piercing screech, and the sand crystals throughout the entire fortress suddenly came to life, forming a giant scorpion claw that blanketed the stone chamber from above, as if sealing them and the monster together within.

Lu Chen pulled Alicia tightly into his embrace, the Three Precepts totem erupting with its final golden light. Watching the rapidly descending scorpion claw, he suddenly realized this might not be the end.

The incubation of the homologous blood might well be the true plan of the sand source.

And they were merely... the tools that helped it hatch.

The instant the scorpion claw fell, Alicia saw within the golden light that the monster's eyes suddenly turned toward her, the reflections in its pupils devoid of fear, carrying instead a familiar gentleness that resembled her mother's final gaze.

What on earth... was this?

The question, the instant she was swallowed by darkness, became a hook suspended in her heart.