None of the elders dared to let their guard down even though the aura had disappeared.
They were all at the ready, prepared for fight at any moment if the aura returned.
But there was nothing that happened.
It was as if the enemy had disappeared without a trace.
Lin Fan had been silent the whole time, looking around the area with his Appraisal Eyes.
He had been trying all that he could to find the enemy, but he hadn’t been able to find a single trace.
This was a feeling that he was familiar with and a feeling that frustrated him.
Since coming to this Minor World, there were many different things that he had been unable to appraise with his Appraisal Eyes.
This was a cheat from the system that he had relied on to take care of all the problems that he had faced and now that it wasn’t working, it felt like there was something missing. It was like there was a part of him that wasn’t working and that frustrated him…
He really wanted to complain to the system…if only it was actually listening to him.
“The host should try looking down and focusing on the ground.”
The system’s voice suddenly rang out in his mind.
Lin Fan couldn’t help being taken aback when he heard this and almost jumped back.
The elders around him had also noticed this, so they couldn’t help asking, “Sect master, is something wrong? Did you find something?”
Lin Fan shook his head before looking down on the ground as the system had suggested.
However, he wasn’t able to find a single thing still.
Even when he tried focusing on the grains of sand under him, he wasn’t able to see a thing.
Lin Fan couldn’t help doubting the system when nothing appeared.
The system then spoke again.
“The host is just too weak and unskilled to use these heavenly gifts properly.”
A dark look appeared on Lin Fan’s face once again when he heard this.
The elders were even more concerned when they saw this and they asked, “Sect master, is there really nothing wrong?”
Lin Fan just waved his hand at them without saying anything as he kept looking down at the ground.
The system had called him too unskilled, so did that mean that it didn’t have anything to do with the sand itself…Could it be that whatever had attacked them was hiding under the sand?
Was it just too thick for him to look through?
As this thought passed through his mind, the aura once again appeared.
All of the elders turned away from Lin Fan and started searching for the aura again.
They hadn’t been able to find anything last time, but they wouldn’t let things end the same this time.
However…it was all useless as they weren’t able to find a single thing.
Lin Fan however turned to look at the spot that the aura was coming from and looked down.
He looked right at the area in the sand where that aura was coming from, focusing his eyes to try and penetrate through the sand as much as possible.
But even then….he still wasn’t able to see a thing.
It was as if there was some kind of interference that created a barrier atop the sand so that he couldn’t see anything.
No, it was just that there was too much sand…
Eventually the aura started getting closer just like before.
The elders all knew that there would be another attack coming at them soon, so they closed up ranks.
But it was then that Lin Fan finally received something from his Appraisal Eyes.
The system was right, he was just too inexperienced with using them that he didn’t know what to look for until the system had given him that clue.
The sand was too thick for him to see through, which was why he hadn’t seen anything until now.
“Elder Long, use your Earth Tremor Technique on the ground!” Lin Fan suddenly shouted.
The elders were all caught off guard by Lin Fan’s sudden outburst.
The one called Elder Long was one of the elders from the Hidden Dragon Sect and he specialized in earth attributed techniques.
The Earth Tremor Technique that Lin Fan was telling him to use was a technique that could make the ground under him shake with his spiritual energy. This was a technique that would normally be used on a group of enemies that were away from the user to make the ground unstable for them.
But now Lin Fan was telling Elder Long to use it while the enemy was almost right on top of them.
Not to mention…they were on sand.
If he were to use the Earth Tremor Technique here, it was certain that it would make the sand they were standing on collapse, making it even worse for them.
Elder Long hesitated a bit before asking, “Sect master, are you sure?”
Lin Fan just said, “Do it!”
Elder Long still hesitated for a second, but he followed Lin Fan’s orders in the end and the ground under them started to shake.
As one would expect, the sand started to scatter apart under them and they found it hard for them to remain standing. They had to move to separate sides of the chasm that formed when the sand parted under them.
But when the sand parted, they found that there was something else there.
This was something that had been swimming under the sand.
This was the thing that the aura was coming from.
It was a large sandworm that had been swimming around under them that they hadn’t been able to find since it was too deep under them.
The moment that they saw this, they realized what was happening.
This sandworm had been hiding under the sand the entire time and had been attacking them from below. That was how those spikes had seemingly appeared out of nowhere.
Since they had found a target, they didn’t hesitate to attack.
Even if they didn’t have stable ground to stand on, they were still able to launch their attacks at this sandworm.
This sandworm was only in the Qi Condensation Realm, so it was easy for these elders to take care of this sandworm.
It didn’t stand a chance under the volley of attacks from these elders.
This was also the elders venting their frustrations on this sandworm.
After the sandworm was killed, Elder Long was about to stop his technique, but Lin Fan said, “Not yet! Keep it going!”
Elder Long was surprised when he heard this, but he still followed Lin Fan’s orders.
Lin Fan hadn’t cared about the sandworm once it had been revealed.
He had been using his Appraisal Eyes the entire time, looking around the chasm in the sand that had been formed from Elder Long’s technique.
He had been looking for anything else that could be hiding in this sand and he had found something in the end.
As Elder Long kept using his technique, the chasm in the sand continued to grow.
As it grew…more and more sandworms were revealed.
These were sandworms that they hadn’t felt the auras of yet, so the elders were all surprised when they saw these sandworms appear.
They couldn’t help looking at Lin Fan with surprised looks, but they also quickly turned back to face the sandworms.
Since they had found these sandworms, it wasn’t as if they would just leave them alone.
Since they had found them, they would take care of them before they could cause more trouble for them.
It was a bright showing as the elders used their various techniques.
They had already moved to the edge of the sand pit that had been created and kept moving back as more and more sand fell into the pit. But as they moved back, they released their attacks into the pit, hitting the sandworms that were revealed as more sand fell away.
Finally after a while, Lin Fan said, “Alright, you can stop now.”
When he heard this, Elder Long let out a sigh of relief as he stopped using his Earth Tremor Technique.
Using it for so long had drained him of his spiritual energy, but he didn’t dare stop until Lin Fan gave him the signal.
Seeing the corpses of all these sandworms inside of this large sand pit, the elders couldn’t help being shocked.
If it wasn’t for Lin Fan finding all of these sandworms, they really didn’t know what would have happened.
Lin Fan on the other hand looked at the sandworms with a strange look.
That was because during all of this, he had discovered something new.
lightsΝοvεl ƈοm He had found that it wasn’t because they were too deep that he hadn’t been able to find them, though it did have something to do with the sand.
He had found that the sand had a strange property to it that weakened the abilities of his Appraisal Eyes.
He didn’t know what this sand was, but it was something that decreased the range of his Appraisal Eyes.
That was why he hadn’t been able to find the sandworms hidden in this sand.
Lin Fan had no idea what this sand was, but he knew that it wouldn’t be simple.
But this also told him that this sand wasn’t natural.
This desert was most likely created for some purpose.
If he had to guess…this desert was most likely the trial itself.
But as for what the trial was…he had no idea.
All he could do was continue leading the elders deeper into the desert.