As the sun set in the west, a crimson sun bathed the Flame Desert in blazing light. Quinn Shepherd stood atop Bruno the Dragon-Qilin's head, channeling his own yuanqi into Vermilion Bird energy to temper his flying swords, deepening the rune marks within each blade.
He glanced down and saw that Kira Bear had already curled up inside Bruno's ear and fallen asleep. There was no wind there, and Bruno had covered his earhole with his ear flap, guarding the little girl securely.
"Dragonfat really is something."
Quinn secretly praised him in his heart: "This big glutton really is thoughtful. The taste of Crimson Fire Elixir and Fire-Element Divine Yuan Pill mixed together truly is awful. Once we find a place to stay, I'll help him improve the flavor."
Bruno suddenly said, "Cult Master, there's an oasis ahead!"
Quinn looked ahead and, sure enough, saw an oasis. He said, "I wonder if there's water there. We've gone all day without a water source. I can handle it, but I'm afraid Kira can't."
The Flame Desert was unbearably hot, with not a trace of moisture in the air. Even using Black Tortoise yuanqi, Quinn couldn't conjure water. He'd never worried about water before, but now, with Kira Bear at his side, he had to consider drinking water.
After a while, Bruno reached the oasis. There were several snow-white sheepskin tents pitched by a lake, and some Western Lands folk in local dress were cooking by the fire. Bruno glanced around warily and said, "I wonder if Ben Coates has escaped here, Cult Master. Be careful. He's badly wounded and shouldn't have gotten far."
Quinn jumped down, lifted Bruno's ear flap, and gently carried out the sleeping Kira Bear, smiling, "Don't worry. With me here, even if he's nearby, he won't dare come close. If he does, I'll just get rid of him."
The oasis was filled with Western Lands foreigners wrapped in headscarves. They all looked over at them, faces changing dramatically, but none dared to speak.
Quinn glanced around and saw that most of the people here were men, their faces tanned red from the sun and wind. The oasis was dotted with huge two-legged yellow sheep, and beside them were piles of goods—clearly, these were traveling merchants.
These two-legged yellow sheep were fast and could carry heavy loads, but their gait was so bumpy that only merchants would choose them for hauling cargo.
Riding a two-legged yellow sheep was tough and jostling, but you could transport a lot more goods that way.
"Elder, my little sister's asleep. Could I borrow a tent?" Quinn approached an old merchant and asked politely.
The old merchant quickly nodded. "Of course, please use it."
Quinn thanked him, carried Kira into the tent, and tucked her in. The desert got freezing cold at night, but the sheepskin tent was warm, with thick wool blankets inside. Quinn covered her up; Kira sleepily grabbed the blanket, rolled over, and smacked her lips a couple times—probably hungry, but still sound asleep.
Quinn stepped out of the tent. The sun had already set, and the campfire by the lake crackled and popped.
"Elder, are you merchants from the Western Lands?"
The others glanced at Quinn's face, not daring to speak. The lead old merchant hurriedly replied, "We're from a small country in the West, heading to the Great Ruins for business. Are you from the Great Ruins, brother?"
Quinn couldn't help but laugh. Sure, he was tall, but not so much that people should call him 'brother.' They must be a bit scared of him—probably because of the flame markings on his face.
They guessed he was from the Great Ruins because of those flame markings.
"I am from the Great Ruins, and I'm heading to the Western Lands."
Quinn took out some fresh beef and fruit from his Glutton Dragon Pouch and offered them to the merchant, smiling. "Thanks for letting my little sister rest, Elder. If you don't mind, just call me Little Quinn."
The old merchant couldn't refuse and accepted the gift. "I'm not really an elder—men have low status in the West. Only older women get called elder. Little Quinn, you're from the Great Ruins. If you're heading to the West, things could get rough. This Flame Desert stretches for tens of thousands of miles, burning hot all the way, and for people from the Great Ruins, it's full of danger. You should turn back while you still can."
Quinn shook his head. "I promised I'd go to the Western Lands—how could I back out now? So, women run things over there? Our Everpeace Nation has some female generals and officials. When the Imperial Preceptor pushed for gender equality, there was a lot of resistance. Sounds like you're even more progressive than Everpeace!"
The old merchant's face changed drastically. He quickly hissed, "Quiet! Don't ever mention 'gender equality'—that's a capital offense! How could men and women be equal? Women can bear children, men can't get pregnant, so of course men are beneath women!"
Quinn was stunned.
The old merchant glanced around nervously and whispered, "When you get to the Western Lands, don't say things like that. Of course, that's if you even make it there alive..."
Quinn couldn't help but laugh and cry at the same time.
"Once you're in the Western Lands, don't ever say you're from the Great Ruins."
The old merchant said seriously, "If you say you're from the Great Ruins, it's very easy to get killed here."
Quinn frowned. "Why is that?"
The old merchant didn't want to say more.
Quinn didn't press him. He continued tempering his flying swords with yuanqi. When his cultivation was half spent, he swallowed a few spirit pills, making each sword smaller and smaller as he refined them.
"I still can't do what Grandpa Deaf does—refine swords so they're smooth as flowing water."
Quinn grabbed a flying sword and rubbed it between his hands. The sword shrank into a tiny sword pill, though still a bit angular. He activated the Worryless Sword, and nearly eight thousand swords clanged together, merging into one sword pill. It was much smaller, but still about two feet across.
Only when the sword pill was the size of a fingertip would his refining technique be considered entry-level, and he'd truly be able to refine swords like water.
Quinn scattered the sword pill, gripped the Worryless Sword, and nearly eight thousand flying swords whistled through the air, colliding with the mother sword and merging into it one by one.
The Worryless Sword grew heavier and heavier. By the time the last sword fused, Quinn's hand trembled—the sword was so heavy now, but he could barely lift it.
He tried swinging the Worryless Sword. Though it moved slowly, the air was filled with crackling explosions and buzzing vibrations, like a mountain sliding through the sky!
[Irrelevant system message skipped.]
The explosive sound came from the sword's immense weight, which pressed the air until it popped!
After a couple swings, Quinn's arm muscles ached. He quickly dispersed the sub-swords, not wanting to overdo it. He thought, "The dragon-script Nine-Dragon Emperor Art from the Imperial Disc and True Dragon Nest really is amazing—the improvement to my body is lightning fast! Before, I couldn't even lift this sword. Too bad I still can't decipher many of the dragon words."
These days, he'd been trying to fuse the new Nine-Dragon Emperor Art with the Overlord Three-Core Art, and his body advanced by leaps and bounds. Before, he only practiced the body-refining arts from the Grand Fostering Heavenly Demon Sutra, but now his pure physical strength surpassed even many divine abilities.
If he unleashed Thunder Chant Eight-Form or Pig-Slaughter Saber Art, the power would be multiplied!
A strong body makes battle skills so much more powerful!
The Western Lands merchants all went into their tents for the night. Quinn sat by the lake, and Bruno shrank his size, asked for the Dragon-Raising Codex, and lay beside him, reading by the desert firelight.
"Dragonfat is as studious as Ling'er!" Quinn was very pleased.
Bruno licked his paw, flipped open the Dragon-Raising Codex, and thought, "If the Dragon-Raising Lord wrote a codex for dragons, I should write a Human-Raising Codex myself..."
After a while, Quinn leaned against Bruno and fell sound asleep. Bruno tucked his head down and slept too. Though fire was everywhere in the desert at night, it was still cold, and the lake froze over. But Bruno was warm, occasionally puffing little flames from his nostrils.