Leading his group across the Gobi Desert for several hundred meters, a solitary stone-built pass appeared in everyone's view.
"The Yellow River stretches far, a single cloud, a lone city amid towering mountains. Why need the Qiang flute complain? The willow and spring breeze never cross Yumen Pass!"
Gazing at the three cursive characters "Yumen Pass" on the gate, Jiang Yuan, a literature student, suddenly felt a surge of poetic inspiration and improvised a short verse.
"Wow, I didn't realize Boss Jiang Yuan was such a literary giant, even capable of writing poetry?"
After Jiang Yuan posted this short verse in the team channel, it immediately drew a wave of admiration. The sharpshooter in the team, Chuangshi Xiaoyun, gave Jiang Yuan a thumbs-up in the team channel and praised him.
"Xiaoyun, you don't know this, but Jiang Yuan is a top student in literature—his knowledge runs deep!"
As Jiang Yuan's close friend, Ding Ye immediately stepped up to cheer him on.
"And you, handsome Ding? Can you compose a poem?"
Chuangshi Xiaoyun tilted her head with a smile, looking at Ding Ye as she asked.
"What's so hard about that? Listen up!"
Ding Ye rolled up his sleeves and composed a poem in front of everyone.
"From afar, it looks like a big dirt mound, up close, it's still a big dirt mound. The boundless desert has nothing, except for this one big dirt mound!"
As Ding Ye finished his poem, the team chat channel fell into silence. Everyone's faces were strained, holding back laughter to avoid laughing in front of Ding Ye.
"Pfft, I can't hold it in anymore, hahahaha!"
"Hahahaha!"
A few seconds later, the leader of the Baihua Guild, Hua Qian Gu, turned red in the face from holding back and finally burst out laughing.
For a moment, laughter echoed before Yumen Pass.
After this little interlude, the group passed through Yumen Pass and continued forward. Since the journey was long, everyone mounted their rides, presenting a colorful spectacle at a glance.
Jiang Yuan sat atop a Dragon Beard Tiger, riding side by side with Hamster Pudding, who was on a Unicorn. The Unicorn was an extremely rare mount, not directly available in the in-game shop; it required purchasing a lottery ticket called "Beast Taming Treasure Bag" to draw, with the first prize being the Unicorn. Each "Beast Taming Treasure Bag" cost 10 Longguo Coins, and Hamster Pudding had spent a full 100,000 Longguo Coins to get her desired mount!
Chuangshi Xiaoxuanfeng and Ding Ye shared the same mount—a pure white tall horse called "Cloud Horse." However, Ding Ye's was a gift from Wending Cangsheng during the Anyang Town quest, while Chuangshi Xiaoxuanfeng had honestly bought hers from the shop for 58 Longguo Coins.
Chuangshi Xiaoyun's mount was a white snow leopard with black spots all over, also available only in the shop, priced higher than the Cloud Horse at 88 Longguo Coins. Meanwhile, Chuangshi Yongge rode a green ox half a head taller than everyone else's. According to him, he had saved up a month's worth of allowance to buy it!
Aside from these people riding shop-bought mounts, the rest of the team used ordinary bay horses that cost 100 gold coins in the game—bare and without even a saddle.
The group galloped through the desolate desert, dust flying behind them. Before long, figures began to appear ahead.
"Brothers, follow me, giddy up!"
Seeing the figures ahead, Jiang Yuan said to everyone in the team channel, then spurred his mount to catch up.
"Brother Cangsheng, we finally caught up to you! Hahaha!"
As Jiang Yuan approached the group and recognized the guild emblem above their heads, he rushed to the front of their formation and greeted Wending Cangsheng with a laugh.
"You guys sure took your time."
Wending Cangsheng patted his mount to stop, turned around, and looked at Jiang Yuan with a hint of complaint.
Just then, Hamster Pudding and her group caught up as well, greeting Wending Cangsheng, "Brother Cangsheng, you brought quite a few people this time!"
"Heh, I brought all the brothers in the guild who've reached level 100. As they say, many hands make light work!"
Wending Cangsheng replied with a smile. Jiang Yuan then noticed the size of their group and silently counted—good grief, it was double their own!
"Pudding, this time we can just ride on the coattails of their Tianbo Mansion and coast through."
Jiang Yuan grinned, winking at Hamster Pudding.
"Hehe, I think so too!"
Hamster Pudding shot a sly smile at Wending Cangsheng and said to Jiang Yuan.
"Don't be ridiculous! In my eyes, you, Jiang Yuan, are the top big shot in Longguo. Our Tianbo Mansion brothers still need you to look out for us!"
Wending Cangsheng waved his hand modestly at Jiang Yuan.
"Thump!"
Just then, Jiang Yuan, too absorbed in chatting, didn't notice his summoned beast's time limit had expired. It vanished into thin air, and he fell flat on his rear!
"Pfft! Idiot!"
Seeing Jiang Yuan awkwardly brushing the sand off himself, Hamster Pudding covered her mouth with a laugh and teased him.
"Looks like I really need to buy a mount!"
Jiang Yuan grumbled, summoning another Dragon Beard Tiger to mount, but made up his mind to buy a mount after finishing this main quest.
"Rustle, rustle!" "Rustle, rustle!"
Just as Jiang Yuan remounted the Dragon Beard Tiger, strange sounds suddenly came from ahead.
"What's that noise?"
Wending Cangsheng's smiling face instantly turned serious as he frowned at the high-ranking members of the Wending Guild beside him.
"Look at the sand ahead!"
Hamster Pudding noticed movement beneath the sand in front and pointed ahead, shouting.
Jiang Yuan followed her finger and saw small bumps appearing on the previously flat sand, moving steadily toward their position.
"Whoosh!"
Suddenly, a massive swarm of monsters burst out from beneath the sand before Jiang Yuan and the others. They resembled ants but stood upright, with two tall antennae on their heads, sharp fangs exposed from their mouths, and unusually long, gleaming claws on their hands.
[Common Monster: Desert Antman] Level: 95 HP: 50,000 Attack: 3,000 [Description]: A unique race of the desert, the "Antman Tribe," a social species that often appears in thousands or tens of thousands.
Jiang Yuan, Hamster Pudding, and Wending Cangsheng all saw the information above these monsters' heads. They immediately dismounted and called for the members of the Tianbo Mansion and Hanjiang City guilds to prepare for battle.
"Rustle, rustle!" "Whoosh!"
As these strange sounds continued from the surrounding sand, within just a few seconds, tens of thousands of Desert Antmen emerged from all directions, encircling the teams led by Jiang Yuan and Wending Cangsheng!