With Ivy Shen leading the way, the group followed her onward.
The desert was filled with swirling sand and dust, making everyone feel unbearably hot right away—but they still managed to accept it.
"Ugh, I'm so thirsty!" Clara Night yelled, "Hey, how much longer do we have to walk? I'm getting roasted out here, my mouth's all dry!" She shook her empty water bag—everyone else's was stashed in the camel packs, but since they weren't stopping, she couldn't grab one. She really was dying of thirst!
Before they entered the desert, Ivy Shen had handed each of them a big water bag to hang at their waist, so they could drink whenever they got thirsty. All the extra water bags were tied up in the main packs on the camels, just in case they lost access to water during an emergency. But Clara Night finished hers in no time—there was barely enough to last her a minute.
"Use mine," Colin Kerr said without even turning his head, handing his own water bag to Clara.
Clara frowned, but seeing that nobody planned to stop and her mouth was painfully dry, she gave up worrying about it and just uncapped the water bag to drink.
Hearing this, Ivy Shen turned to look at Liam Willow, who was sitting behind her. "Can you handle it?"
"I'm fine!" Liam Willow replied quickly, flashing a smile as he pulled out his water bag—which was still more than half full. "Don't worry about me, Niangzi. I've spent all these days traveling around to bless villages, so I've dealt with every kind of hardship. My body's tough now! Look, muscles!" He rolled up his sleeve and flexed his arm—sure enough, there was actual muscle there.
Seeing this, Ivy Shen couldn't help but laugh. "Wow, you really have gotten strong. Thanks for enduring it."
"Hehe, it's nothing! Here, Niangzi, you should have some too." Liam quickly opened his water bag and handed it to Ivy Shen.
Seeing this, Ivy Shen didn’t refuse—she took the water bag and drank a few sips. Her own water bag hadn’t gone down at all, since Liam Willow kept handing her water before. But seeing how much was left in his bag, she realized Liam barely drank any himself.
"No fair, Liam! You gotta share—don't hog Niangzi all to yourself! I don't know martial arts either!" Butterfly Rogue jumped in, "Niangzi, I've got water too. I only drank a little!"
"Alright," Liam Willow turned and blushed at Butterfly Rogue. He was always so honest—whenever someone asked, he never refused.
"Hey, Seven, tell us more about Old Man Sai!" Meanwhile, Lucian Vane and Eli Crane weren’t bored at all. Lucian kept asking about Old Man Sai’s medical tricks—how he researched medicines, how he brewed decoctions, all sorts of things. And Eli always answered honestly, sharing everything he knew.
Lucian was totally hooked—he’d never heard of half the brewing tricks Eli described. Like, stacking heated stones and putting a thin medicine pot on top so it could simmer slowly, even if you weren’t there watching. That way, the medicine would still turn out perfect.
'Clack clack, clack clack!' Caleb Miles, sitting behind Adrian Night, kept tapping away on his abacus.
Hearing the noise, Adrian Night didn’t even turn around. "What are you scheming now?"
"Huh? Oh, I’m calculating bedroom stuff," Caleb Miles replied with a sly grin.
The other guys immediately crowded around, asking, "You can use an abacus for bedroom schedules?!"
"Hey, Third Bro, how do you do it? Is it fair, is it safe?" Butterfly Rogue craned his neck, super nosy about this juicy gossip.
"Seven husbands, one per day."
"Huh? That's your big calculation?" Butterfly Rogue complained. "One person per day? That means you'd have to wait six days for your next turn!"
What kind of crappy math is that?!
"Of course not! That's just the basic version. I worked it out: three per day—one in the morning, one in the afternoon, one at night. With seven of us, everyone gets a turn every day and a half. Heh, how's that?" Caleb Miles grinned.
"Wow, that's way better!" Butterfly Rogue clapped enthusiastically.
"Bullshit!" Ivy Shen roared from the front, totally pissed off. What did these guys think she was?!
At that, Caleb and Butterfly Rogue instantly shut up. If Xin'er was mad, best not to push it—otherwise, they might not even get one turn!
"Seriously, what's the point of having all these men if you can't handle them?" Clara Night grumbled, super jealous at the way everyone scrambled for Ivy. Why did Ivy get so many handsome husbands? Why was every single one drop-dead gorgeous? Why were they all so crazy about her? What did Clara lack, huh?!
Just then, the camels suddenly stopped. Ivy Shen frowned and looked out at the horizon.
"What's up, Xin'er?" Everyone asked, confused why they'd stopped when things were going fine.
"Quick, get off the camels!" Ivy Shen spotted a swirl of black smoke gathering up ahead—a massive sandstorm was coming. Seriously, they'd only been walking half a day and already hit their first desert test: a sandstorm.
Everyone froze for a second, then hurried down from the camels just like Ivy said. Seeing her serious face, they couldn't help but wonder what was up.
Ivy quickly scanned around—there was nothing to block the sandstorm. So she barked, "Hurry! Make the camels kneel and use the ropes in your packs to tie their legs!"
"Are you nuts? Tie up the camels? Aren't we supposed to keep moving?" Clara Night grumbled, totally fed up. She'd been cranky since they entered the desert, and now Ivy wanted them to tie up the camels instead of moving forward? Was she supposed to walk?!
"Shut up!" For the first time, Ivy Shen snapped at Clara Night, her forceful presence stunning everyone into silence.
(This chapter isn't finished yet~.~ Click next page for more awesome content!)
"If you don't want to die, do as I say! If you want to die, I'm not stopping you." Ivy shot her a glare, then ordered everyone to tie the camels' legs fast, close their eyes, curl up next to the animals, keep low, and hold on tight—no matter what happened, don't look up or let go.
Ivy had barely finished speaking when the howling wind started—screeching like desert ghosts. The noise was terrifying.
In an instant, sand and wind swept over them. The storm was so strong it even pushed the camels sideways, and everyone kept getting buffeted by the gusts.
"Aaaah—!" Clara Night screamed nonstop. She hadn't believed Ivy and hadn't grabbed the camel, so when the sandstorm hit, she nearly got blown away. Luckily, Colin Kerr grabbed her arm just in time and kept her from flying off.
"Aaaah—!" Clara Night, Nina Xu, and Aiden shrieked at the top of their lungs—the sandstorm was way too intense, nothing they'd ever seen before. They just kept screaming.
The seven men, though it was their first sandstorm too, were way calmer than the screaming trio.
After a while...
The sandstorm finally passed, and a gentle breeze stirred the dust. Ivy Shen shook off the sand and called out to everyone.
The storm had been so strong, everyone was half-buried in sand. Luckily, it was loose enough that they could still stand up.
"What is this hellhole? I want to go home, I want to go home!" Clara Night screamed, shaking as Colin Kerr pulled her up. She was a pampered rich girl—she'd never seen anything like this. That howling wind and black sky scared her out of her wits, and she couldn't stop trembling.
Ivy Shen just replied coldly, "Told you this trip wasn't for fun. If you really want to go back, fine—walk yourself." Then she turned to the group, "Everyone okay?"
"We're fine," everyone said, brushing off the sand.
"Aiden, let's go home," Clara Night sobbed, furious at Ivy.
Aiden hurried to Clara's side, looked back at the way they'd come, then glanced around. "Miss, the road we took... it's gone."
"What?" Clara Night spun around. Behind her, all she saw was sand drifting in the breeze—nothing looked familiar anymore.
"Don't say I didn't warn you. You can try going back, but there's no guarantee you'll make it. The desert changes every second—next time, who knows what you'll run into? And if you get lost out here, there's only one outcome: death." Ivy Shen stared coldly at Clara as she spoke.
Aiden shivered and stammered, "Miss, let's just stick with them. We've been walking for hours, and there's no path back. If we run into another storm, or get lost like Miss Shen said..." He couldn't even imagine the consequences.
Adrian Night walked over to Clara. "Told you, we're not here for fun. Scared now, huh?"
"No way, I'm not scared!" Clara snapped back, furious that Adrian wasn't comforting her.
"Enough. Untie the camels—we've got to move." Ivy Shen didn't have time for Clara's drama. She needed to get moving, because somewhere in this desert was Flame Valley. She had to find it, but where could it be?!