Chapter 170: Inner Zone
After hearing Zhou Jingjing's experience in the Inner Zone, Lee Tao began to doubt if she had truly entered the Inner Zone.
'Such a dangerous amount of energy fluctuated yet she remained unscathed. That doesn't seem plausible.' Lee Tao thought.
While Lee Tao was seemingly in deep thought, Zhou Jingjing was still airborne unwillingly and kept kicking the empty air.
"Let me down already, you damn scoundrel." She cursed aloud.
"Shut up, Zhou Jingjing. You're annoying me." Lee Tao snorted coldly and waved his hand.
A powerful wind current appeared and slapped Zhou Jingjing away, causing her to crash straight down in the sand.
BOOM!
Landing hard on the sand, some cloudy dust started appearing and Zheng Wenling hurriedly tried to help Zhou Jingjing get up.
"Are you okay, Senior-Apprentice Sister?" Zheng Wenling asked in a worried tone.
"I'm fine," Zhou Jingjing said angrily, patting her back and butt to dust off the sands. She couldn't believe the action of Lee Tao, completely void of any gentleman-like manner.
How could there be such a man in this world?
"One day, I swear I will make Lee Tao pay for his disrespectful attitude toward us," Zhou Jingjing cursed, clenching her fist tightly.
–
Time slowly passed by, and Lee Tao suddenly ordered Da Mung to stop advancing forward.
"Da Mung, stay your distance." Lee Tao said, glancing at the sandstorm ahead of them. The sandstorm was different from the one they had encountered previously.
It remained motionless in the same place, not advancing or retreating anywhere, completely unlike a normal sandstorm.
"Master, what is wrong with that sandstorm?" Deng Lijuan asked nervously. She had never seen a sandstorm reacting like that.
Lee Tao squinted his eyes slightly, staring straight at the sandstorm. With his vision enhanced by profound qi, Lee Tao noticed the eye of the storm was acting irregularly. It was spinning all over the place and seemed to be affected by a phenomenon.
'This must have been the warning that Xiao Chu was mentioning before, the weird energy fluctuation. Seems like it can even affect natural disasters such as the sandstorm.' Lee Tao thought.
Sometime later, Lee Tao turned around and stared at the two captives with a solemn expression.
'If it were just Deng Lijuan alone, then crossing through the sandstorm would be easy. However, with these two added, then it's going to be more dangerous.'
Lee Tao had already calculated the possibilities of the outcome if they had truly crossed the sandstorm.
At the same time, he was beginning to regret his action a little bit in keeping them alongside him.
"Xiao Chu, any bright ideas?" Lee Tao decided to ask her instead.
Within their group, it was only Xiao Chu that had the same knowledge or possibly even higher. Therefore, asking her was better than asking someone else who would only give him a superficial or nonsense answer.
Xiao Chu pondered for a moment before extending three fingers out.
"We have three solutions for our current situation." She responded.
"Eliminate the solution that requires us to deter or change our plan."
"Then we only have one solution right now."
"What is it?" Lee Tao urged. He did not want to waste any more time in the Sierra Desert.
Throughout their journey, they encountered numerous annoying people that Lee Tao wished to thrash. Only when he returned back to the Tianyun Kingdom would he be able to return to the secluded and spoiled life.
"The solution is fairly simple, beg me." Xiao Chu flashed a mischievous grin.
"As long as you beg me politely, then I will gladly use the loophole of the energy fluctuation to directly teleport you to the Inner Zone." She added.
"That's great, Master." Deng Lijuan clasped her hand in joy.
"With Xiao Chu teleporting us directly inside, we'll save so much effort and time. Also, we can-"
Just when Deng Lijuan wanted to continue her speech, she suddenly stopped speaking. That was because she realized the murderous intent emitting from Lee Tao.
She swallowed back her own words and remained seated, staying completely silent. She was sure that if she had continued, then she might be in danger.
'Master is truly frightening when being angry.' Deng Lijuan thought, patting her heart slightly as she tried to calm down.
Meanwhile, Lee Tao flashed a fierce glint at Xiao Chu. "You should know my personality well. I will never beg anyone."
"Che, stingy man. Isn't it just a small pleading?"
"Then how about I kick your butt and smack your hit in return? It's just a small beating."
"Hmph, you are unreasonable." Xiao Chu crossed her arms angrily. Though in the next moment, she quickly revealed a prompt, showing him the solution method.
The solution was fairly simple and straightforward. It required Lee Tao to inject certain profound qi within a certain time when the energy was fluctuating in a sine wave.
However, the more simpler and straightforward a solution is, the more difficult it was to actually try to complete it.
The solution could be compared to asking someone to find a needle in a haystack. It may seem impossible at first, but if one were to diligently isolate the haystacks, then they will find the needle sooner or later.
That was the gist of Xiao Chu's solution- time-consuming.
Lee Tao twitched his brows as he knew there were no better options except hers.
He hopped off from Da Mung, landing on the sand as he began stretching his body.
"The two of you," Lee Tao tilted his head and glanced at Zhou Jingjing and Zheng Wenling.
"Hop on top of Da Mung and stay still." He ordered.
Although they were a bit confused, they didn't dare to refuse his order. Thus, with a leap, they hopped on top of Da Mung, leaving only Lee Tao standing on the sand.
Lee Tao spent a few minutes controlling his breathing before closing his eyes. Using only his ears and perception, Lee Tao waited for the correct moment to pinpoint the energy fluctuation.
20 minutes quickly went by, and Lee Tao finally opened his eyes.
"Over there," he shouted, sending a wave of profound qi in a certain direction.
"Xiao Chu, prepare it!"
"I got it," Xiao Chu replied, chanting a spell.
Meanwhile, Lee Tao used the time that she was chanting to hop back onto Da Mung.
"Clutch tightly on the fur of Da Mung." He then ordered.
A few seconds later, a golden light shrouded Da Mung as a powerful wind current swept across the sand.
By the time the golden light vanished, Lee Tao and the rest were in front of the sandstorm.
"Finally, we've entered the Inner Zone." Lee Tao said, feeling the rich and pure profound qi in the air.