Chapter 33: Sandship Looks for a Horse

Sun Fuping motioned for Nian Songyu to wait. This wait lasted for a good fifteen minutes. The creatures at the bottom of the sand had all been driven away by the fumes. Within a radius of several meters, there was no sound except for the whistling wind.

"Still not here?" Nian Songyu asked impatiently. "Time is precious. The Sky-Coiling Desert gets dark quickly; night would fall in two more hours, and they couldn't afford to waste much time here."

"Not yet," Situ Han replied, sweat beading on his forehead, whether from the sun or anxiety, he couldn't tell. "It might be very far away; it'll take time for it to get here."

At this point, He Lingchuan spoke up for Situ Han: "I've seen it. It's a huge creature, and there's a good chance it can really take us across the desert, saving us time and effort."

"A good chance?" Nian Songyu's tone turned sinister when he heard those words. "You dare waste our time with something you're not even sure about?"

Another twenty minutes passed, and the end of Red Cliff Road remained quiet. A strong gust of wind swept through the numb crowd, rushing off into the distance with a whooshing sound. Nian Songyu's index finger tapped lightly on his scabbard, *tap, tap-tap*, a clear sign of his impatience. As time passed, he increasingly suspected that the sand bandits, at He Lingchuan's signal, were about to play a nasty trick on their group. The so-called "fragrant bait" idea had also been proposed by He Lingchuan. Nian Songyu's gaze grew increasingly unfriendly, but He Lingchuan pretended not to notice, though he too felt a touch of anxiety.

With the sun sinking further in the west, even Sun Fuping finally lost his patience: "No more waiting. Everyone, aboard the boats..." During this time, he had already divided everyone into three groups, assigning each group a walnut boat. Time was precious; they couldn't afford to wait any longer. They had to leave now.

Situ Han, however, put a finger to his lips and loudly shushed them: "It's coming!" Making such a gesture to so many important figures was extremely rude, but his tension showed, and he no longer cared. No sooner had he spoken than a "whoosh" sound filled the air. The desert split open like water, yellow sand scattering everywhere, as if a localized sandstorm had erupted. A massive creature burst out of the ground nearly a *zhang* high, a piece of cured meat in its mouth, before thudding heavily back down. Another cloud of dust billowed up. The creature then submerged with a surprising agility for its size, vanishing into the sand sea in the blink of an eye.

Situ Han, ignoring the sand splattered on his face, cheered, "It's here, it's really here! Ugh, ptui, ptui!" He quickly spat out several mouthfuls of sand. Except for Grand Preceptor Sun and a few others who managed to activate their protective aura in time, everyone else was covered in dust. However, everyone finally got a clear look at what Situ Han's long-line fishing had caught.

The creature resembled both an eel and an earthworm, long and cylindrical with no limbs, but its body was segmented. Its color was almost identical to the yellow sand. If it remained still and buried in the sand, even someone with excellent eyesight would find it difficult to distinguish. Unlike an eel, however, its mouth was astonishingly large, opening wider than its body's diameter, and filled with countless needle-like teeth. It also had two long tentacles near its mouth, seemingly used to detect the movement of quicksand.

Zeng Feixiong exclaimed, "Such a huge sand dragon!" This creature was eight *zhang* (twenty-six meters) long! The soldiers standing nearby unconsciously took half a step back. The oppressive feeling that such a size brought could not be dispelled by reason alone. This type of sand dragon was not a sea eel; it was a creature unique to the desert. In fact, whether living in the desert or the sea, some animals apparently don't need legs. However, in other deserts, these creatures typically don't grow longer than a *zhang*, and experienced travelers would even catch them for food. But the one before them... Zeng Feixiong had led patrols back and forth on Red Cliff Road many times, yet he had never seen such a large sand dragon!

Situ Han, relieved, added, "This isn't even the Sand Dragon King... The biggest one we've seen was over twelve *zhang* long."

"Since it's such a big one, a small piece of meat won't be enough to feed it," He Lingchuan said, pointing to the three walnut boats. "Sand dragons are incredibly strong; pulling a single boat shouldn't be a problem. And, well, they usually move in groups." In other words, more than one sand dragon would be attracted by the stinky meat. Children by the sea knew how to fish, and He Lingchuan's original body, having grown up near the Sky-Coiling Desert, had fished for sand dragons many times. Of course, he had never used such heavy bait, and thus had never caught such large prey.

Situ Han nodded: "Everyone, please board the boats. If we repeat the process, we can use them like horses to pull us." The soldiers then divided into three groups and boarded the boats. The boatmen at the bows of the walnut boats grabbed their tow ropes, tying slip knots, and waited in readiness. This time, everyone protected their mouths and noses, so when the sand bandits took out large chunks of cured meat and poured the foul-smelling liquid on them, no one was affected. Nian Songyu personally stepped forward, impaling the specially-treated meat onto a pole, standing at the bow, and holding it high. The boatmen's poles were also part of the walnut boats, their length adjustable at will.

The sand bandits' specially formulated foul-smelling liquid could drive away most creatures in the desert, serving as a last-resort escape tool; however, every advantage has a disadvantage, and this very substance was a sand dragon's favorite. Strictly speaking, what sand dragons loved was the 'stench'. They were scavengers, living off carrion. The putrid stench, unbearable to other creatures, was like the aroma of a delicious meal to sand dragons. When a smell of this intensity drifted their way, it was like the dinner bell for the village's annual 'Forty-Eight Great Bowls' feast – no matter how far away they were, they would come.

Situ Han reminded them, "They're quite stupid. Just dangle the stinky meat in front of them, and the boat will move!" Since these creatures had traveled such a long distance to get here, they wouldn't disperse quickly.

Sure enough, as soon as the stinky meat was raised, a massive sand dragon burst out of the sand and lunged towards the chunk of meat. By its size, it was even larger than the one that had appeared earlier. Nian Songyu, quick-witted and agile, flicked his wrist, and the cured meat leaped upwards, causing the sand dragon to miss. A boatman standing nearby tossed a tow rope, accurately snaring the sand dragon around its neck. Although it was cylindrical and legless, its body segments were very deep. The knot slipped past two segments before settling firmly into the third.

Startled by being snared, the sand dragon shot forward in a flash for over thirty *zhang*. Only when the knot tightened and secured did Nian Songyu lower the pole, allowing the cured meat to dangle just above and in front of the sand dragon. The overwhelming scent, combined with the sand dragon's small brain, made it immediately forget it was snared. Drooling, it swam towards the cured meat. Its strength was immense; it easily dragged the boat and its occupants forward.

And so, the boat began to move. Nian Songyu only needed to swing the pole, and the sand dragon pulling the boat would eagerly follow. Below them, a hissing and scraping sound, made by sand grains rubbing against the walnut boat's bottom, indicated the powerful "horsepower." The most crucial task for the boat handler was actually to adjust the boat's direction in time, ensuring both the sand dragon and the boat moved with the wind. This way, the foul-smelling meat dangling in front wouldn't gas the entire boatload of passengers. At this moment, nothing was more important than this.

In the blink of an eye, Nian Songyu's boat had moved over a hundred *zhang* away.

"It's our turn," they said. With a successful example before them, the spirits of the remaining people soared. Sun Fuping and Zeng Feixiong led their team onto one boat, while He Lingchuan and his father, along with the sand bandits, boarded the last one, all preparing to do the same.