Zi Mengyao and Alex walked through the desert landscape, making their way toward the South End Marker. They could see it across the land, standing far away on top of a hill. The land rose and dipped at several locations, perfect for hiding cultivators from plain sight.
There were also giant rocks all across the place, making it harder to tell who was hidden where.
"How big was this group the last time you went to meet with Su Nian?" Alex asked.
"A few hundred people, I believe," Zi Mengyao said. "I had my own group, so I wanted to merge, but he wanted my people to do some things first before they could use the Marker."
"As in?"
"We all had to swear an oath that we would challenge 1000 different people outside of the community who came for the Marker before we got a chance to make use of the Marker. Once we did that and got the stars, we would once again start the same process."
"1000 challenges?" Alex asked, somewhat surprised. "That's a lot."
