The Sea of Death, the Great Gafra Desert
This was the border between the Crete Empire and the heart of the human world. Across the Great Gafra Desert was the legendary Batko Empire.
A hundred years ago, the Batko Empire was just a legend to the humans living in the southern and western worlds. This legendary desert empire was located in the heart of the Alen Continent, with the Crete Empire at its center. It was a very mysterious place.
According to the legends, the Batko Empire lived in the desert. Many people in the central province believed that the barbarians of the Batko Empire, who lived in barren and desolate areas, had a special bloodline that allowed them to survive in the desert.
The entire Batko area had always maintained the relationship between tribes and blood clans. As such, the barren and desolate environment made the battles there extremely fierce. The Batko Empire was the first country to unify the area.
The first king, Yep Ima Batko, was a man of great talent and bold vision. Several generations ago, his tribe and clan relied on the power of the tribe and marriage alliances. They gradually annexed the nearby small tribes and began to grow stronger.
Starting from Yip, he conquered and unified the entire Batko area, establishing the huge Batko Empire.
The size of its territory was close to that of the Crete Empire, the largest country in the Central Plains. Its fame and power had been brought back to the Central Plains by merchants who had gone through many hardships to reach the region. Thus, it was widely spread in the areas controlled by the Church of Light.
Everyone knew that on the other side of the Gafra Desert in the Sea of Death, there was a powerful desert empire called Batko.
But in fact, the Batko Empire had already fallen into decline more than a hundred years ago. The empire, which was maintained by the tribal and bloodline system, had gradually weakened over the generations. The ruler of the country was no longer able to control the entire huge empire.
The various tribes had become independent and no longer accepted the emperor's orders, nor did they pay taxes to the emperor. Then, the city of Fanse from the Tuten Dynasty led an army to invade the Batko Empire.
The Tuten Dynasty was an alliance of city-states, and the city of Fanse was the bravest of them all. In the 46th year of the San Calendar, the allied forces of the city of Fanse plundered all the way to the political center of the Batko Empire, the City of Baber.
In a very short period of time, they conquered the City of Baber and destroyed the Batko Empire. They burned down the palace, killed the last emperor of Batko, and plundered the entire City of Baber. The leaders of the clans and tribes who were late in coming to help could only watch the army of Fanse leave in a majestic manner after they had plundered a lot of gold and silver.
They looked down on the barren land of the Batko Empire, but ever since the Batko Empire had been established, these bandits had never stopped invading and looting the borders of the Batko Empire. Even the surrounding small countries were constantly invading the declining Batko region.
The destruction of the City of Baber and the royal family of the Batko Empire announced the complete collapse of the entire Desert Empire. The entire Batko Empire had returned to the era of ruling by tribes and clans.
Between the tribes, for the limited water sources and pastures, they constantly fought, fought, and annexed each other. In order to compete for living space, the tribes in the Batko area further caused chaos to spread throughout the entire Batko area.
At the same time, because of the rise of the Church of Light in the early days, a large number of faiths and religions that were different from the Church of Light gradually escaped from the central province and the west, and entered the Batko region and the many foreign countries in the south of Batko.
As for the Tuten Dynasty in the east, it was a special civilization formed by the alliance of city-states, which made it difficult for these religions to integrate into it.
Over the past few decades, these religions had gradually integrated into the tribes and clans in the Batko region. In this barren land, all kinds of religious worship and ancestor worship were in full bloom. The people were in pain and suffering, which further increased their desire for faith. A large number of temples were built here, which formed the unique style of Batko.
There was a boundless sea of sand and undulating sand dunes. A caravan traveled through this golden world. When the sun shone on the sand, the reflected light seemed to turn into a golden color. It was desolate and beautiful, bringing with it a unique and exotic atmosphere.
At the moment, the caravan walking in the desert could only feel that the whole world was dazzling and scorching, as if they were in a burning hell.
Lu Zhiyu rode on a camel, followed by Eva, who was wearing a cloak and had a scarf wrapped around her mouth and nose. The caravan traveled through the desert. The road wasn't completely barren, as they occasionally saw some cacti and shrubs. Some of the special markings were used by the owner of the caravan, Grumman, to identify the way.
Everyone in the caravan was a little listless. When they first entered the desert, some of them felt that it was new and interesting, so they kept talking and asking questions. But now, the whole caravan was silent, as if they were walking like robots. They didn't even have the energy to speak.
By now, Lu Zhiyu and the White Rose Caravan had been in the Great Jaffra Desert for a whole month. If Lu Zhiyu hadn't found an oasis with the method of finding water that he had read about in a book, then restocking and replenishing their supplies, the entire caravan would have died of thirst in the Sea of Death.
Fortunately, apart from encountering a magical beast sand snake that kept sneaking up on the caravan, which Lu Zhiyu easily dealt with, and a guard who was stung by a scorpion, they didn't encounter any other dangers. Lu Zhiyu and Eva were respected by the caravan because of this.
Many people in the caravan thought that the man and woman, who looked like they had walked out of a painting, had a lot of knowledge, and had an extraordinary way of talking. They were upper-class people with noble bloodlines and had the luck of being blessed by the gods, which was why the caravan had been able to travel so smoothly. Ordinary people believed in luck and the gods.
But even so, by the time the caravan reached the desert, everyone was almost exhausted. All they could see when they opened their eyes was endless sand.
When they first saw it, they might have been mesmerized by its unique beauty, which seemed to carry a sense of death and desolation. But now, they could only feel fear and dread.
Everyone's footsteps sank deep into the sand, making them feel extremely heavy. There were human footprints and camel footprints. The long caravan had left a long trail in the desert.
"Where are we?"
"How long until we get out of the desert?"
"Why does this place feel so familiar? Are we going in circles?"
Everyone felt their eyes covered with sweat, as all kinds of doubts and fears flooded their minds. Their bodies were so tired that they could collapse at any moment. A few people in the caravan were already showing signs of heatstroke.
At this moment, there was a sudden movement from the side. Someone immediately shouted. Everyone looked up and saw yellow smoke covering the sky in the distance, connecting with the thin layers of clouds in the sky. It was like a monster with its mouth wide open, sweeping in their direction.
The yellow dust stirred, and its momentum was like a raging wave, covering all the sand dunes and skyline in the distance. It swallowed everything in the distance as it came towards them.
"What is that?"
The owner of the White Rose Caravan, Grumman, was bending over and crawling on top of a camel. He was walking at the front of the caravan when he suddenly realized that the camel was lying on the ground, refusing to get up. He immediately realized that something was wrong. He turned his head to look at the scene in the distance, and when he saw the overwhelming brown wave, his face instantly turned pale.
"Sandstorm!"
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