Under the dark moon and the howling wind, the stars spread across the sky, clearly visible to those looking up from the vast desert. The brilliant starlight illuminated the entire desert, making its nights less lonely.

  Although it was already night, Xing Peng and his companions didn’t rest but continued their rapid journey through the desert, making them stand out in this desolate landscape.

  This was the fifth day of their participation in the third phase of the White Tiger Academy trial, with only two days left before the end of this phase. Yet, at such a critical moment, Xing Peng and his team still had no clue about the location of Moon Night City. Searching for a city in this vast desert was as difficult as finding a needle in the ocean.

  As time passed, the trial participants following Xing Peng grew increasingly restless. Most of them had bloodshot eyes and looked nearly mad from exhaustion.

  If they couldn’t find Moon Night City in two days, they would be eliminated by the White Tiger Academy. As the deadline approached, they all felt tremendous pressure, especially since their fates were being decided by others, making their situation even more terrifying.

  Given another chance to choose, most of the trial participants would definitely not have blindly followed Xing Peng. Although following him, aside from a lapse in the oasis that cost several lives, had led to no further dangers, not choosing their own path filled them with panic and confusion. They were unsure if Xing Peng could actually lead them to Moon Night City.

  Unlike the anxious trial participants, the descendants of the Xing family maintained their calm and casual demeanor, walking swiftly through the desert while quietly discussing among themselves.

  To other participants, the desert seemed devoid of any significant danger, believing that choosing their own paths wouldn’t have made a difference. However, Xing Jianfeng and others were well aware that if it weren’t for Xing Peng’s secret guidance, advising them on which routes to take, they would have been attacked by ferocious beasts many times over these five days.

  Xing Peng noticed the restlessness among the participants but remained unfazed. He had never forced anyone to follow him.

  If it were a stronger individual, these participants wouldn’t have had the luxury of following them so freely. A typical Heaven Level warrior wouldn’t allow others to easily follow them and might even use them as cannon fodder.

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  "Sssss!" A strange noise suddenly reached Xing Peng’s ears, making him stop in his tracks. He had heard similar sounds in the past few days, but this time it shook him the most.

  With the aid of his "Heavenly Sight, Earthly Listen" technique, Xing Peng sensed a large number of ferocious beasts burrowing from all directions towards their location at an incredibly fast pace. Initially thousands of meters away, they closed the distance to within five hundred meters in the blink of an eye.

  "Prepare for battle, the beasts are coming!" Upon witnessing this, Xing Peng decisively warned those around him. Following his words, Xing Jianfeng and the other Xing family members instinctively formed the Single File Serpent Formation, watching their surroundings with caution, without doubting Xing Peng’s warning.

  Seeing the actions of Xing Jianfeng and the others, the rest of the trial participants, though unsure about the truth of Xing Peng’s warning, quickly became alert and vigilant.

  "Boom!" Just as they formed their battle formation, the ground shook violently as if it were about to collapse, throwing some warriors off balance.

  "My God, what’s happening! Is it an earthquake?"

  "Something... something seems to be running underground!"

  "It must be ferocious beasts, everyone be careful!"

  Cries of alarm filled the air among the trial participants, their expressions turning grave in an instant. Before entering the desert, they had been warned by Jin Disan about these beasts. Having not encountered any for five days, their vigilance had waned, but now, faced with the sudden appearance of these beasts, they were terrified once again.

  "Is it man-eating ants? Or Fire Scorpions? Please, let it not be these two!"

  However, their hopes were dashed as a giant, red ant burrowed out from the ground. This ant was many times larger than a regular ant, the size of a barrel, with a pair of red wings on its back.

  Following the emergence of this giant ant, many more began to surface around them, not immediately attacking Xing Jianfeng and the others but completely surrounding Xing Peng and his group.

  In just a moment, thousands of giant ants appeared, forming a well-trained army that sent shivers down one’s spine.

  "How can there be so many ants... How are we supposed to survive this..." The trial participants’ pupils shrank in horror, their faces turning ashen with fear.

  Although the people currently following Xing Peng were Earth Level warriors, the sight before them left them with little confidence. Each of these man-eating ants was as powerful as an Earth Level warrior. Thousands of them attacking at once could tear even a Heaven Level warrior to pieces.

  "No, I have to get out of here, I have to leave this cursed place! I won’t follow you any longer!" A trial participant in black suddenly shouted in madness, attempting to flee in panic.

  "Ahh!" No sooner had the man in black started running than a piercing scream followed; he was quickly intercepted by over a dozen giant ants and torn to pieces in moments.

  The gruesome death of the man in black sent chills down the spines of the other participants, who tightened their grip on their weapons or activated their Profound Qi, bracing for a brutal fight.