Chapter 287 – Yellow Sands

Chapter 287 – Yellow Sands

The moment Mo Lan passed through the hedgerow northeast of the Academy Core Area, she felt a wave of heat wash over her.

Scorching sunlight blazed down on golden sand dunes, and the wind carried grains of sand, sharp as blades, stinging her cheeks.

Mo Lan could even sense that the water elemental force in the air above the desert was much thinner than elsewhere.

If it were a mage who relied on psychic power to manipulate ambient elemental force for spellcasting, performing water magic in a place like this would be extremely difficult.

Looking west, she could still see the Green Marsh, abundant with water elemental force and sharply distinct from this place.

The Yellow Sands’ environment was harsh, but its danger level couldn’t compare to marshland terrain with its complex ecosystem of creatures.

Mo Lan had also prepared in advance for crossing the Yellow Sands.

First, she cast a Weather-Reading Spell to predict the upcoming weather conditions in the Yellow Sands.

From it, she learned that a sandstorm would arise in the Yellow Sands around evening, lasting approximately three hours.

Then she covered her nose and mouth with a scarf, pulled up her hood, mounted her broom, and headed deep into the Yellow Sands.

She needed to cover as much ground as possible before the sandstorm hit.

Just as Senior Renée and Senior Quilin had said, as long as you flew through the sky in the Yellow Sands, there was no danger from wild beasts or the like — it was perfectly suited for crossing by broom.

The only trouble was the Yellow Sands’ scorching climate and the frequent sandstorms.

Unfortunately, Mo Lan hadn’t found suitable magical materials to craft a constant-temperature magic robe, so for now she could only endure the heat as she pressed forward.

Before long, Mo Lan was sweating profusely from the heat. Not only was the sticky discomfort unpleasant, but her body was losing moisture at an alarming rate.

Every so often, she had to cast a Cleaning spell on herself, then use a Spring Water spell to create water and rehydrate.

As evening approached, Mo Lan could indeed feel the wind elemental force over the desert growing increasingly active.

She quickly descended and found a sand dune, using Earth Wall to construct a small cubic shelter with six faces — not even sparing the ground — leaving only a few small ventilation holes.

Into each earth wall, she infused enough mana to ensure they would definitely last through the night.

Although the coming sandstorm would only last three hours, Mo Lan had no intention of traveling through the night either.

The Yellow Sands had extreme temperature swings between day and night — traveling by day was unbearably hot, and traveling by night could freeze a person to death.

Moreover, during the sandstorm, the desert’s wild beasts would also hunker down, making it the perfect opportunity for her to get some proper rest.

This time she was traveling alone — there was no one to take shifts keeping watch through the night.

She couldn’t go entirely without rest either; in the wilderness, maintaining one’s stamina was also very important.

So she could only sleep lightly, sacrificing sleep quality for heightened alertness, then sleep a bit longer to compensate.

The shelter she’d made with Earth Wall, carrying her mana signature, also served as a layer of defense — if it were breached, she as the caster would sense it immediately.

Inside the shelter, Mo Lan placed a constant-temperature magic circle and took out two slices of Breadfruit Cake for dinner.

After finishing dinner, she reinforced the three-layer protective magic on herself, added a luck spell hoping no beasts would come to disturb her during the night, then spread a beast-hide blanket on the ground and lay down to sleep fully clothed.

She didn’t use a tent card to set up a tent — she was afraid the bedding inside would be too comfortable, causing her to sleep too deeply and impairing her awareness of the surrounding environment.

The wind and sand outside the shelter grew stronger and stronger. Mo Lan lay on the blanket, resting with her eyes closed in uncomfortable conditions.

The wind howled and shrieked, then gradually subsided, and silence settled around her.

By the latter half of the night, when the hunkered-down beasts confirmed the sandstorm had passed and began leaving their lairs to hunt, Mo Lan had also rested enough. The beasts hunted, and Mo Lan hunted too.

She pierced the skull of a red deer with a Gold Arrow spell, carved off the most tender meat from its body, and made it into breakfast.

After eating her fill, she mounted her broom and set off once more.

Just past noon, Mo Lan spotted mountains, forests, and lakes in the distance.

She was almost through the Yellow Sands.

She didn’t bother stopping for lunch, pushing straight through in one burst of energy and flying out of the Yellow Sands.

“The mountain forests outside the border zone between the Yellow Sands and the Green Marsh, near the Hundred-Year Vampire Vine…” Mo Lan began searching through the mountain forests.

Whenever she encountered wild animals, she caught them and used the Origin-Tracing Spell to investigate. Finally, from a crow, she found information about the Hundred-Year Vampire Vine — it was in the banyan grove.

When Mo Lan had flown out of the Yellow Sands, she’d spotted the banyan grove from afar — it was right next to the Green Marsh.

When she flew above the banyan grove, she immediately found her target.

It was simply too conspicuous — black vines larger than several banyan trees combined, occupying the very center of the grove.

And in the middle of those black vines stood a grass-thatched shelter and a large pile of mud bricks.

A red-haired figure sat on a small wooden stump, shaping bricks by hand.

The black vines detected Mo Lan first — and the sweet scent of blood and flesh on her — and writhed restlessly, though ultimately chose not to attack.

Instead, it reluctantly extended a thin little tendril and poked a certain red-haired Sorceress.

“What? Hungry again? It’s not feeding time yet today!” Lilith turned around impatiently, only to find the small tendril pointing toward the sky, quivering with eagerness.

Lilith had been living with this Vampire Vine for a while now. Even without Heart Speech, she knew the vine was being greedy again, asking if it could eat that!

She looked up, eyes full of alarm.

That wretched Vampire Vine! She’d told it to keep its vines drawn in lately to cover her!

It had rained briefly last night, and today the thing just had to spread every single vine out to bask in the sun.

Well, great! Now Moira had seen her!

It was too late to hide now.

“Lilith!” Mo Lan called out loudly in greeting.

Lilith waved with a look of utter resignation. “Moira! You’re here! Come on down — this Vampire Vine won’t attack you.”

The reason Mo Lan had been hesitating to land was precisely because of this Vampire Vine.

This was no ordinary plant — it was a type of animated carnivorous magical plant.

Even without magical control, it could move its body on its own to hunt, and it was especially fond of blood.

Only after Lilith said so did Mo Lan feel reassured enough to land. “Lilith, you’ve tamed this Vampire Vine?”

Seeing that Mo Lan hadn’t asked about her overly crude dwelling, Lilith let out a small sigh of relief.

“Yes! I signed an Ally Summoning contract with it. In exchange for mana and three meals of blood a day, it protects my dwelling for one year.”

If it weren’t for her previous hard work being trampled by a herd of elephants that had been eyeing her mutant crops, she wouldn’t have sought out this gluttonous Vampire Vine in the first place.

Tree Friend and Ally Summoning alone hadn’t been enough to satisfy it — she’d also had to provide daily blood offerings before it would even allow her to build her dwelling near its main vine.

But at least now, she no longer had to worry about going out and coming home to find her place ransacked!