The massive Trifoliate Vine Car sped overhead, making him stop and look up involuntarily.

The whirring clover spun, suspending a huge vine cage, inside which several rows of vine chairs were packed with passengers. At the front of the vine car grew a rainbow basket, with rainbow-glowing leaves knotted together to form the words “Qingshan City,” visible from afar.

Ethan Brooks had seen Trifoliate Vine Cars in the Wildlands as well, but they were much more rudimentary, and the vine cages were covered in colorful poisonous thorns, looking more like monsters. In the Wildlands, Trifoliate Vine Cars were generally used to transport goods, but there weren’t many of them, as it was a very dangerous job. The raptors of the Wildlands were extremely fierce and terrifyingly powerful.

Wood element cultivators generally had little enthusiasm for combat; they preferred to stay in the rear.

But seeing Trifoliate Vine Cars everywhere still made Ethan Brooks deeply feel the prosperity of the induction field. The yuan cultivators, who seemed unattainable in his mind, were also everywhere here.

Watching the Trifoliate Vine Car disappear into the sky, he withdrew his gaze and continued forward.

Before long, he finally found the alley where the dojo was located. According to the map, the dojo was at the end of the alley.

Walking into the deep alley was like stepping into a completely different world, a sense of ancient desolation arising spontaneously. The surrounding houses were all very old, clearly having stood for many years.

Suddenly, Ethan Brooks stopped in his tracks.

Chapter Four: Sand Puppet Loulan

Not far ahead, in the very center of the alley, a figure was trapped in a pile of yellow sand, as if struggling in quicksand.

Ethan Brooks became alert; the quicksand in the middle of the alley immediately made him think of earth element cultivators.

Earth cultivators had many strange and unpredictable killing moves, hard to guard against. After a moment, seeing nothing else happen, Ethan Brooks looked more closely and noticed that the half-exposed figure was a bit unusual.

The skin was a pale yellow, with a gritty, sand-like roughness, and a black mask covered the face, seemingly made of some kind of hard rock.

Ethan Brooks suddenly spoke: “Sand puppet?”

The other stopped struggling, glanced at him, and replied, “Yes, you can call me Lauren.”

A deep, resonant male voice, tinged with a bit of hoarseness.

Sand puppets were one of the earth cultivators’ favorite crafts—easy to make, easy to repair, tireless and uncomplaining, very suitable for physical labor. The heavy sand produced in the Yellow Sand Corner of Five Elements Heaven was of extraordinary quality, which directly popularized the sand puppet craft. In the Wildlands, Ethan Brooks had seen many sand puppets, so he could recognize one quickly.

“Looks like you’ve run into some trouble.” Ethan Brooks walked up to Lauren and squatted down. “Is there a problem with your sand core?”

The sand core was the part of a sand puppet most prone to problems. It wasn’t a natural object, but something earth cultivators refined from heavy sand, and it was the most crucial component of a sand puppet. Because everyone’s skills varied, each sand puppet’s sand core was different.

A sand puppet’s whole body was made of yellow sand, and the sand core was the key to its bodily transformations. If the sand core malfunctioned, the body would collapse into a pile of loose sand.

“Yes, the same old problem.” Lauren sounded a bit helpless. “Could you do me a favor? My master is Mr. Parker, he lives in the second-to-last house in the alley. Could you pass a message to him for me?”

“The second-to-last house in the alley?” Ethan Brooks raised an eyebrow. “Looks like we’ll be neighbors for a while.”

Lauren’s intelligence seemed quite high; it appeared that a formidable earth cultivator lived next door.

As soon as Ethan Brooks’s hand reached into the yellow sand, he immediately felt a dense surge of earth elemental force. His hand seemed to fall into a millstone, ground by the heavy earth force. His expression changed, and gold elemental force spread across his palm, making his hand like a sharp dagger plunging into the sand.

“Bear with it.”

As soon as Ethan Brooks finished speaking, the gold elemental force in his palm suddenly exploded.

“Bang!”

A muffled sound burst from within the sand, and an invisible shockwave spread out. The writhing sand paused, and Lauren’s body stiffened.

Two seconds later, a glimmer of light appeared in Lauren’s pupils, and the scattered sand on the ground, like iron filings drawn by a magnet, rapidly gathered back into his body.

In the blink of an eye, not a grain of sand was left on the ground, and Lauren’s body was completely restored. He moved his body a bit, his tone full of amazement: “That’s an amazing technique. How did you do it?”

“It’s a simple trick,” Ethan Brooks corrected casually, picking up his old cloth bag and slinging it over his shoulder again. “It’s only for emergencies. You’ll still need to check your sand core when you get back.”

It really wasn’t anything special. In the Wildlands, Ethan Brooks had seen earth cultivators use this method to deal with malfunctioning sand puppets more than once. It didn’t always work, but seven or eight times out of ten it did.

However, this was his first time trying it himself. No earth cultivator would ever let a laborer help repair their sand puppet.

Of course, Lauren had no way of knowing that Ethan Brooks was a novice; instead, he thought Ethan Brooks had the bearing of a true master.

“Thank you so much!” Lauren sincerely bowed to Ethan Brooks in gratitude. “May I ask your name?”

“It was nothing. I’m Ethan Brooks.” Ethan Brooks waved his hand, indicating that Lauren needn’t mind, and started walking forward. “Come on, we’re headed the same way.”

Lauren walked alongside Ethan Brooks. “Where are you going?”

“Bingfeng Dojo, is it here?” Ethan Brooks said casually.