The twelve-winged angel was like a colossus; even a single foot of it was larger than Ning Beichen's entire body. As its twelve wings unfurled, the sky darkened, turning gray and vast, as if obscuring heaven and earth.
Facing this colossal twelve-winged angel, Ning Beichen dared not underestimate it. This was likely Alisa's strongest attack.
Ning Beichen knew this was not a true twelve-winged angel. Alisa might have borrowed some divine power or angelic energy, but its destructive force was undeniable.
The twelve-winged angel could only unleash one strike. It wasn't a true angelic descent, but the attack was terrifyingly potent, leaving Ning Beichen no room to dodge.
"Boom!"
With a deafening roar, the desert convulsed as if an earthquake had struck, sending countless grains of sand soaring into the sky.
The area where Ning Beichen stood was transformed into a crater a hundred meters wide, and the original sand dunes were leveled.
Ning Beichen was directly blasted into the depths of the desert by the twelve-winged angel's attack. Sand poured down from all sides, burying him and creating a sandy tomb in the desert.
Deep within the desert, Ning Beichen let out a muffled groan, spitting out a mouthful of blood. Several patches of his skin cracked, but overall, he was unharmed.
After expelling the blood, Ning Beichen said with a palpitation, "Such immense power."
Had he not been a Grandmaster, that one strike from the twelve-winged angel would have killed him.
However, Ning Beichen felt no sense of defeat; instead, he was filled with excitement and confidence.
If even the strike of a twelve-winged angel couldn't break through his Grandmaster defense and injure him, then there was no place in this world Ning Beichen couldn't go.
Since Alisa's twelve-winged angel couldn't kill him, it was now his turn to make his move.
With this thought, Ning Beichen crouched down, stomped his feet, and with a boom, shot upwards, leaping out from the depths of the desert.
"King of Darkness, no matter how powerful you are, you will ultimately die by my hand."
With the twelve-winged angel's strike, Ning Beichen had vanished into the desert. In Alisa's eyes, Ning Beichen was already dust.
As he pondered how to find the Holy Grail,
he suddenly heard a tremendous noise and saw a figure shoot up from beneath the desert.
"Impossible!"
"How is he still alive!"
Seeing Ning Beichen emerge, Alisa's expression turned panicked. He quickly retreated, drawing his sword to defend himself.
However, Ning Beichen arrived before him like a cannonball, his palms aimed at Alisa.
With a bang.
Ning Beichen's palms struck Alisa.
Alisa cried out in pain and was sent flying dozens of meters away by Ning Beichen's double palm strike. Upon landing, his internal organs were shattered. Blood poured from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.
A Grandmaster's full-power strike was no joke; it was far more potent than the twelve-winged angel's attack. How could Alisa, lacking a Grandmaster's defense, possibly resist?
Ning Beichen strode forward, landing in front of Alisa. With a snatch, the Angelic Sword lying nearby fell into his hand. He then looked at the dying Alisa and said,
"I gave you a chance, but you didn't cherish it."
"You... you don't gloat. Shen Zongting will definitely avenge me."
Alisa said, spitting blood.
"You don't need to worry about that. You won't be able to see it anyway."
Ning Beichen drew the Angelic Sword, swung it, and Alisa's head tumbled off, blood staining the yellow sand.
Ning Beichen searched Alisa's body and found a few items suspected to be treasures of Shen Zongting. He then struck the Angelic Sword into the desert, creating a sand pit to bury Alisa's corpse.
"You don't need to thank me. Although we are enemies, I respect you as my opponent and don't want your corpse to become food for vultures."
After saying this, Ning Beichen left with the Angelic Sword to find Linglong.
Several more days passed. After Alisa's death, no new enemies appeared. It was unclear whether Shen Zongting hadn't sent anyone or if they hadn't found them.
"Ning Beichen, do you see something ahead?"
Linglong stood on a sand dune and pointed excitedly in a direction of the desert.
Ning Beichen leaped to Linglong's side and looked in the direction she indicated. There did seem to be some structures there.
"Strange, this is a no-man's-land. How can there be buildings?"
Ning Beichen said, looking ahead.
"Could it be that we're about to leave the no-man's-land?"
Linglong said beside him.
"Impossible, we are still far from leaving the no-man's-land."
Ning Beichen shook his head.
This was not his first time in the no-man's-land of the Sahara Desert. Based on his experience, they still had a considerable distance to go to leave it.
"Let's go and take a look."
Ning Beichen said.
The two walked towards the supposed structures and it took them nearly half a day to reach the location.
"They are indeed structures, but they don't look like modern ones."
Ning Beichen walked over to examine a stone pillar half-buried in the sand, only a section of which was exposed.
"It looks like there are quite a few structures here, and they cover a large area. Do you think this was once a city?"
Linglong gazed around and guessed.
Ning Beichen frowned.
He had been to the no-man's-land of the Sahara Desert many times but had never seen these structures. Furthermore, even satellite imagery had not detected any buildings here, otherwise, this place would have been discovered long ago.
"That's a possibility."
Ning Beichen replied.
But he searched his mind for all historical information about the Sahara Desert, yet found no records mentioning any ancient city in the Sahara.
If there had been any structures in the no-man's-land of the Sahara Desert, it wouldn't be called a no-man's-land.
"Ning Beichen, let's go in and see."
Linglong was very interested, likely hoping to unearth some ancient artifacts.
Ning Beichen nodded. He was also very intrigued by this place.
The world was vast, and its buried secrets were innumerable. Even the records left by the ancients couldn't encompass everything. No one could claim omniscience.
Especially before the Qin dynasty. Qin Shi Huang's burning of books and burying of scholars must have destroyed countless earth-shattering secrets. Who could claim foresight?
The two began to walk among these structures, hoping to uncover some secrets of the place.
Unfortunately, most of the buildings were buried beneath the desert. With their strength, it was impossible to excavate the entire site. They could only choose to study some particularly special structures.