960 The Guardian of the Desert
Rumle~!
Just at the moment that he reached the top of the sandstone tower, a loud rumbling sound echoed out beneath him as he saw several ancient symbols appearing all over the interior of the sandstone tower. Even without knowing the meaning of these ancient symbols, it was not hard to guess that this should be the protective formation that the preservation golem had mentioned to him.
Whoosh~!
Having now confirmed that the formation guarding the Exchange Hall was still around, Xuan Hao didn't dare waste even a second as he jumped off the sandstone tower before landing on a large sand dune just below the sandstone tower.
Looking back towards the sandstone tower that was now covered in all sorts of ancient symbol brimming with power that made a shiver run down his spine, Xuan Hao understood that he would not be able to return to the Exchange Hall without first fulfilling the minimum requirement mentioned by the preservation golem.
In a sense, he could be considered lucky that he had stumbled upon the Exchange Hall before the formation had activated, as he had no idea how he would find the location of the guardian of the desert without the help of the preservation golem inside.
Even if he could still search through the entire desert for the location of the guardian of the desert, it would most likely end up taking months if not years to do so. Especially considering that he would have no clue what he would even be looking for without having the chance to read through the trial of scrolls located at the top of the sandstone tower…
Remaining focused on the sandstone tower now covered in all sorts of ancient symbols, Xuan Hao tried to see if he could gain anything from trying to comprehend them. However, with his current limited understanding of formations, this was easier said than done, as he could only give up after a few minutes before turning to look south from the sandstone tower.
"The golem mentioned two large cliffs sticking up south from the Exchange Hall, but no matter where I look, I can't seem to find the cliffs that it mentioned." Muttering this to himself as he scanned the desert south of the sandstone for the two large cliffs that the golem had told him about, Xuan Hao realized that it would not be as easy to find the guardian of the desert as he had first expected.
If even the Exchange Hall had been buried beneath the sand over the passage of countless years, so it would only be obvious that the cliffs mentioned by the golem had also been buried beneath the sand over the years.
Hah… Looks like it will still require some effort to find the guardian of the desert…
Letting out a sigh as he thought about this, Xuan Hao could only hope that a part of the cliffs was still above ground like the sandstone tower of the Exchange Hall. If this was not the case, it would become far harder to find the guardian of the desert.
Whoosh~
Deciding not to think about it anymore, Xuan Hao floated a few meters off the ground before starting to move south of the Exchange Hall. Not forgetting to use his divine sense at the same time to scan for the presence of the two cliffs beneath the sand at the same time.
Although this did carry the risk of accidentally giving away his location to any of the sandworms living beneath the sand, he was more than willing to take this risk if it meant that he would be able to find the guardian of the desert faster. Not to mention, he should be able to easily escape from the sandworms by flying, as he doubted that they would be able to chase after him above the sand.
Even if the sandworms had the ability to fly, he didn't think they would be fast enough to chase after him given their size, but… A part of him really wanted to see what it would look like for one of the giant sandworms to fly.
"Hm?"
However, just as Xuan Hao was preparing himself to spend the next few days searching through the desert for any signs of the two cliffs that might have disappeared beneath the sea of sand, two large spikes adjacent to each other suddenly appeared in the distance.
"This was easier than expected…" Not knowing what to say upon noticing what could only be the two cliffs that the golem had mentioned sticking up from the ground, Xuan Hao quickly slowed down as he prepared himself to face the guardian of the desert that should be hidden beneath the sand in between the two large cliffs.
Even if he had no idea how strong the guardian of the desert was, he could at the very least still guess that it should at least be somewhere around the same strength as the guardian Aria whom he had faced alone. No, considering that he also had the rabbit demon beast with him, it might even be slightly stronger than Aria!
Thump~
Landing on the ground a few thousand meters away from the two large cliffs, Xuan Hao spread out his dao domain and allowed it to penetrate the ground beneath him to help guard against any attack from below.
Rumble!
Only a few seconds after landing and having his dao domain spread out, a loud rumbling sound echoed out from beneath him, as the sand beneath his feet started shifting. Soon revealing a large mouth opening up directly beneath him-
Swish-!
Of course, having already been prepared for an attack from beneath, Xuan Hao didn't show any surprise after seeing the giant mouth filled with rows upon rows of teeth opening up beneath him, as he instead used his movement technique to quickly avoid the surprise attack before the mouth had a chance to close around him.
Bang!
Not a second later the enormous mouth closed shut with tremendous force!
"So, this is the guardian of the desert…"Landing a few hundred meters away, Xuan Hao could not help narrowing his eyes as he witnessed this giant mouth closing shut before swallowing everything within a few kilometer of where he had been standing just a moment ago. Only now realizing just how large the guardian of the desert was compared to the sandworm he encountered earlier on...
