Chu Tian opened his task panel.
He checked the [Trial of the Blood King].
The task description was blank, only stating "Complete within the time limit."
Without any requirements, what kind of trash task was this?
He didn't know what to do or how to complete it.
Facing the unknown map, Chu Tian did not rush forward.
Leopard form, stealth... activated simultaneously. Da Feng Novel Network.
However, an unexpected situation occurred. He did not transform into the Starlight Leopard form.
Instead... a phantom image of a leopard appeared behind him.
Just as if he were in reality!
However, stealth was activated. In reality, he couldn't use the stealth skill.
This situation made Chu Tian unable to distinguish whether he was in the game or in reality.
He stood stunned for more than ten seconds before slowly reacting.
No matter the situation, he had to continue.
While in stealth, he circled the area.
The entire hilltop... to be precise, it was a sand dune.
Temporarily, no anomalies appeared.
However, Chu Tian felt as if something was watching him.
Even in stealth, he couldn't shake off the feeling.
Was it a stealth creature?
Chu Tian tensed his body, ready for the impending battle.
Suddenly, he felt the wind speed up, accompanied by flying sand and gravel from behind.
He spun around abruptly. In the distance, the yellow sand filled the sky, obscuring the sun.
The yellow dust, like waves, formed a wall.
It was advancing towards his current direction.
"What the hell... a sandstorm!"
Without a second thought, Chu Tian turned to run.
But the moment he was about to turn, he felt the sand dune beneath his feet tremble and start to move.
At the same time, a massive hook appeared before his eyes, swinging fiercely.
Chu Tian was startled and looked closely. It was the tail hook of a giant scorpion.
Looking down again, this was no sand dune, but a giant sand scorpion.
Looking to the side, all the sand dunes began to move.
No wonder he couldn't detect them earlier.
The danger was right beneath his feet.
No matter how he moved, he couldn't escape them.
It was because he was walking on their backs.
What was the use of invisibility then?
However, the giant scorpion beneath his feet didn't seem to have any intention of attacking him.
All the creatures were desperately fleeing.
Since that was the case, Chu Tian was happy to hitch a ride.
Based on the speed at which these creatures ran on the sand,
Chu Tian felt that unless he activated his travel form, he wouldn't be able to outrun them even in his leopard form.
But they ran fast, and the sandstorm behind them was moving even faster.
Suddenly, the scorpion beneath his feet braked hard, and Chu Tian, unable to react, was flung forward by the inertia.
He plunged headfirst into the sand.
When he got up, he found that the scorpions had disappeared.
And large sand pits appeared on the ground.
Presumably, they were left by those creatures burrowing underground.
In the blink of an eye, the sand pits were filled with wind and sand, disappearing without a trace.
He sat on the ground, watching the sandstorm gradually approach.
He quickly got up, turned, and continued to run, activating his travel form.
But the sand beneath his feet felt like a sponge, preventing him from reaching his maximum speed.
"Brother... stop running... come over here!"
A faint voice reached his ears. Chu Tian tilted his head and looked in the direction of the voice.
A man in tattered clothes was waving at him.
Beside him were many other humans like him.
Chu Tian's eyes lit up, and he turned his body and sprinted towards that direction.
This group of people was hiding under a huge rock.
A natural shelter had formed here.
However, Chu Tian looked at the rock overhead and was a little worried.
The support points beneath this thing were all sand dunes.
If it fell, wouldn't he be crushed into a patty?
However, there was no better place. Racing against the sandstorm, he couldn't outrun it.
"Brother, why are you here alone?"
Before Chu Tian could figure out if these people were NPCs or something else,
The man who had called him asked, patting Chu Tian on the shoulder.
"Uh..."
He couldn't exactly say he was teleported here to do a mission, could he?
"Haha, you were exiled here too!"
"In this desolate place, besides exiles, who else would come here!"
"But you're lucky, the people escorting you were probably blown away by the sandstorm!"
"However, you ran really fast just now!"
The man was thin but very hearty.
Obviously, in the chaos of the wind and sand, the man hadn't seen the phantom image behind Chu Tian.
"Yeah! We also encountered a group of big scorpions!"
Chu Tian went along with it.
Upon hearing this, the man's eyes widened like a calf's.
"You encountered [Death Giant Scorpions]?"
"And you're still alive to escape?"
"Your luck is too good!"
As the other person marveled, Chu Tian threw an appraisal spell at him.
[Ding... System Prompt: Appraisal failed!]
Chu Tian was stunned. This was the second time he had seen this message.
The first time was when he tried to appraise Luo Guo, the city lord of Shengjing.
Back then, he had used some protective skill to deflect the appraisal spell.
Chu Tian was surprised. What level was this ragged fellow in front of him?
He hadn't used any skill to block the appraisal spell.
Seeing Chu Tian dazed, the other party stopped rambling.
He began to direct the surrounding people to dig sand, fill it into old sacks, and pile them up to create sand barriers.
Appraisal spell...
Appraisal spell...
...
He cast it on the surrounding people seven or eight times.
The system gave the same message!
Appraisal failed.
Now Chu Tian knew that his appraisal spell was ineffective here!
However, it was fortunate that no other skills had failed.
Thinking of this, he reached back and felt around.
Then, a shiver ran down his spine. The [Moon God's Wrath, Spear of the Healer's War] that had always been on his back was gone.
This made Chu Tian break out in a cold sweat.
He quickly opened his character's equipment panel.
"Phew..."
It was still in his weapon slot.
However, it couldn't be displayed here.
"As long as it's still there, it's fine!"
Chu Tian thought to himself, then joined the construction of the sand barriers.
Soon, the construction was completed, and everyone found places to take shelter.
Boom...
The giant rock above trembled.
The sandstorm had arrived!
Countless yellow sands and flying debris shot in from above the barrier.
Chu Tian quickly took cover.
The sandstorm lasted for a full three hours.
During this time, Chu Tian was not idle.
He kept observing the passage of system time.
Three hours, 180 minutes, 10,800 seconds.
But only 10.8 seconds had passed in system time.
Seeing this, Chu Tian almost swore.
The time flow rate was a thousand times slower!
After the sandstorm passed, everyone emerged from the shelter of the giant rock.
Outside, the sky was clear, with not a single cloud.
Chu Tian looked up at the clear blue sky. It was much more beautiful than the sky on Blue Star.
Currently, Blue Star's PM levels were severely exceeding standards, and the global sky was a haze of gray.
However, it was too hot!
There were nine suns in the sky. Why wasn't there anyone like Hou Yi to shoot them down?
"Big brother, did you just come from outside?"
A six or seven-year-old girl tugged at Chu Tian's pants by his leg and asked.
He lowered his head, saw the little one, smiled, and replied, "Yes, I just came from outside."
"What is it like outside? Diandian has grown up here and has never been outside."
"I heard there are many small grasses and big trees outside, all green!"
"Big brother, what color is green?"
The little one was clearly very curious.
However, Chu Tian's heart felt a pang of pity as he listened. He squatted down.
Just as he was about to speak, shouts suddenly came from outside!
"It's the Death Giant Scorpions, run quickly..."
A woman ran over, picked up the little girl named Diandian.
And quickly rushed outside.
Chu Tian also remembered that the scorpions that had served as his mounts and hid from the sandstorm were not far from here.
He looked back, and countless giant tail hooks appeared in his sight.
He knew how fast these monsters ran on the sand.
With so many people running like this, they were all doomed.
Chu Tian waved his hand.
Appraisal spell...
He couldn't appraise humans, but he could appraise monsters, right?
[Ding... System Prompt: Appraisal failed!]
[Ding... System Prompt: Side quest triggered: Clear the [Death Giant Scorpions] and rescue the native inhabitants!]
The appraisal spell failed again, but a side quest was triggered.
Since there was a mission, what could he do?
He had to fight!
"Brother, don't just stand there foolishly, run!"
Just as Chu Tian was about to move, someone grabbed him.
He stumbled.
He looked back and saw the man who had called him over earlier.
"You guys run first!" Chu Tian smiled back at him.
Then, to the man's shocked gaze, he charged towards the Death Giant Scorpions.