Ye Mo calmed down his emotions and didn’t continue looking for his bag; instead, he simply sat down where he was. At this moment, he needed to be calm. Any bit of worry might make him take the wrong choice again. Previously, he definitely wouldn’t have believed that he would get lost after chasing someone for only ten minutes.

　　It was said that the Taklimakan Desert was a bewilderment formation. Now it seemed that there really was one.

　　Although he hadn’t slept for the night, Ye Mo was still full in spirit. The only thing he thought about in his heart was his bag.

　　As soon as dawn approached the next day, Ye Mo returned to where he had hit the black shadow with a fireball the night before and was amazed to see that the two marks he had made with the fireball had disappeared. There were no signs of movement on the sand, but the mark last night just seemed to have been washed by the sand again.

　　Ye Mo didn’t want to waste time here. The scorching sun had risen up once again. If he couldn’t find his bag quickly, losing things was insignificant but losing his life wasn’t an option.

　　Although he was a cultivator, he was only in the 2nd stage of Chi Gathering and wasn’t sure how long he could stay under this blazing sun. He couldn’t Pi Gu [1] or even eat nothing for a week, much less under such harsh conditions.

　　He studied where he was for a long time before calculating a direction according to the sun and darting that way. A little more than ten minutes later, Ye Mo stopped. His direction was obviously not right.

　　If it were right, he would’ve found where he had rested the night before at that point.

　　When Ye Mo returned back once again, he made the surprising discovery that the place he came back to didn’t seem to be the same as before. However, the sand around him looked the same, and he couldn’t really tell at all.

　　Although he wouldn’t get worried over this, Ye Mo knew the situation was serious. Before, he didn’t have a GPS, but he had a compass and some tools to tell the direction. But now, he didn’t have anything at all and was lost.

　　Ye Mo knew that usually, people who came to the desert would have some positioning tool with exact longitude and latitude; however, he didn’t. He had originally thought that with his cultivation powers, this shouldn’t matter much, but now, he realized how wrong he was. But even if he had bought a cheap GPS, he wouldn’t have kept it on him and would have probably left it in the bag.

　　Now, Ye Mo felt like he was stuck in a formation.

　　Ye Mo wasn’t completely clueless about formation. He knew some formations, and as long as he had the material, he could set up hundreds of them. However, the place he was lost at didn’t seem totally like a formation.

　　Ye Mo sighed as he thought that if only he had a storage equipment, then he wouldn’t have to worry about losing his bag at all.

　　Ye Mo didn’t run back and fro and, in the end, just chose a direction and left. Since he was already lost, there was no point staying here.

　　The following two days, Ye Mo hadn’t seen any signs of humans or animals. There were no water sources either. Under such scorching sun in the desert, if a normal person ran around like Ye Mo, no matter how strong he was, he would’ve been gone already. Even Ye Mo started to feel that he couldn’t take it anymore, and if he continued like this, perhaps it would only be a few days before he would be devoured by the desert.

　　Living for three days and four nights without drinking or eating, Ye Mo felt the Chi in his body withered, and yet, he had no way to cultivate here.

　　The 5th day, Ye Mo who had cracked dry lips seized any intentions of finding a water source. He was unfamiliar with the desert, he wouldn’t know what place should have water. If he didn’t meet any people or water, he would be in a dangerous situation.

　　But if he didn’t keep searching, he would be baked under the sun and wouldn’t last much longer as well. He could only dream to be in the 3rd stage right now; Ye Mo felt helpless, his powers were still too weak.

　　Just as he was thinking, Ye Mo suddenly noticed the sand under his feet seemed to be flowing slowly. However, that speed was very slow, and if Ye Mo didn’t have spirit sense, he would definitely be unable to tell. Ye Mo focused again and found that all the sand gradually flowed to a position under his feet. However, there was no sand building up there. What was happening?

　　“No build up of sand, this meant that all the sand had disappeared under the ground… Disappeared under the ground?” Ye Mo was startled. Since it disappeared under the ground, it meant that the ground below him should be empty. Thinking about this, he no longer dared to remain here. He had already used as much power as he could, so if there was a sand whirlpool suddenly, he wouldn’t have the means to escape.

　　But just as Ye Mo was thinking about this and wanted to leave, the sand under his foot suddenly started to spin. Ye Mo felt it was hollow under his foot and he was about to sink in.

　　Ye Mo knew clearly that if he was taken away by the sand, he would die with his current state. He didn’t want to be taken in by the sand. He stood on the sand and jumped flying about 5 to 6 meters in the air.

　　But soon, he felt something was wrong. Although he jumped up, the suction under his foot was still there, and he didn’t have any landing spot.

　　A few days ago, perhaps he would have been able to dash out of the whirlpool with a burst of power. But now, he could only watch as he slowly went down. Even if he used his Chi to the maximum, he could only at most slow down the speed of descent.

　　The Chi in his body was no longer enough to support him moving around.

　　Ye Mo sighed. He didn’t expect that he would die like this in the desert. At this moment, he thought of many things: Luo Ying’s smile and voice circulated around him, and also what Ning Qingxue had said that night, “The things I left in the garden are for Ye Mo.” He was stunned for the moment.

　　Just when Ye Mo was about to accept the fate of being devoured by the sand. He suddenly felt his waist tighten as a white strand of clothes twisted around his waist. Although he was stunned briefly while being devoured by the sand, he wouldn’t let such opportunity pass. He immediately grabbed the strand and just when he was prepared to pull himself out, he felt his waist tighten, and he was flung up.

　　When he fell on the hard sand ground, the white strand was taken back.

　　Ye Mo was astonished, this person’s ability was a level higher than the Hu Qiu he met last time. Who was this person? Standing 10 meters away from Ye Mo was a woman with a pale yellow dress. She had a cloth covering her face and was staring at Ye Mo right now. Her eyes were clear and vibrant giving people a sense of serenity.

　　It was actually such a woman, and she still wore a dress in the desert? If Ye Mo weren’t a cultivator, he would’ve thought this woman was a goddess; however, Ye Mo obviously wouldn’t believe so. Although he couldn’t see her face, the temperament and body of this woman were already indescribable.

　　The faint yellow dress stood under the blazing sun without moving at all as though she was an eternal goddess. However, the backpack behind her also told people that she wasn’t a goddess. She was also someone who came to explore the desert.

　　Her hair was a bit messy, but the few black strands that came out made her feel like a goddess even more.

　　Looking at her, Ye Mo seemed to see his master Luo Ying who was just standing in front of him. He couldn’t help but call out, “Master!” It was at that instant that he felt he was in love with this woman. This was the first woman that he actually fell in love with other than Luo Ying. Even for Luo Ying, he only realized his dependence later on.

　　This woman looked at Ye Mo’s messy look who didn’t have anything with him. Then when she heard Ye Mo mumbling “Master”, she couldn’t help but frown, but that was it. She didn’t say anything.

　　Ye Mo had come to his sense. He already understood that the woman in front of him was no ordinary woman. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be coming to the desert dressed like this. He turned around and looked at the whirlpool, but it had already disappeared.

　　He knew this woman had saved his life and also realized his impoliteness, so he quickly saluted with his fists and said, “Thank you, Sister, for saving my life.”

　　“Sister?” The woman seemed to be stunned at the way Ye Mo called her. She saw Ye Mo almost drown in the quicksand and knew his bag was probably devoured by the sand, but she still didn’t say anything. She just took out a bag of water and biscuits and threw it to Ye Mo.

　　Ye Mo took the things but didn’t open the bag to drink first. Instead, he saluted with his fists once again and said: “Thank you for giving me water, if I, Ye Mo, don’t die, I will pay you back.”

　　The woman looked at Ye Mo’s actions and didn’t say anything; however, she felt weirder. She saw that Ye Mo’s lips were dry, so obviously, he hadn’t drunk water for a long time. Normally, someone who hadn’t drunk water for a long time in the desert would dash and drink to their heart’s content when they saw water. However, this man although looking a bit shabby didn’t have any worry of being devoured by the sand. He even seemed calm and talk in a very literate way.

　　Ye Mo saw this woman just look at him but didn’t talk; however, he didn’t mind. He could tell that this woman didn’t live in the city; otherwise, she wouldn’t be dressed like this. He had already thanked her, so he opened the bag and drank more than 10 mouthfuls. However, he didn’t stick his mouth to the bag and poured it down instead.

　　Did he mind her? She hadn’t drunk from the bag but seeing Ye Mo’s way of drinking, she felt more surprised. He was so thirsty, but he only drank a little more than 10 mouthfuls. This person’s self-control and heart were really stable.

　　However, what took her even more by surprise was that Ye Mo passed the water bag back.

　　This woman frowned. Of course, she wouldn’t take back something she gave out, especially after Ye Mo had drunk from it. Although he didn’t touch his mouth with it, she still didn’t want it back. Suddenly, this woman wondered if this man had planned to give the bag back to her after drinking which was why he didn’t touch it with his mouth. He was in the desert without water, but he still was able to give this bag of water back to her?!

　　Notes:

　　1: Pi Gu, the state where the cultivator no longer needs to rely on food for energy