Gale Bandit Group

In less than half a minute.

Three or four dozen well-equipped bandits had all been put to death.

[Absorbed Time Value +7]

[Absorbed Time Value +5]

[Absorbed Time Value +10]

A string of system notifications rang out in Shen Che's mind.

[Total Time Value obtained: 200 points]

Shen Che reined in his killing intent and looked around. The area was a complete mess.

These bandits all had the blood of innocents on their hands. They deserved to die.

Killing them both rid the people of a scourge and replenished his Time Value. Why not?

He turned and walked toward Elder Bai and Bai Fengling, who stood frozen like wooden chickens.

Elder Bai's mouth was wide enough to fit an egg. He rubbed his eyes, unable to believe what he was seeing.

This was... the strength that had slain an old monster at Primal Force Peak?

How was this a True Meridian Realm martial artist?

This was clearly an ancient ferocious beast wearing human skin!

Bai Fengling was even paler, his legs weak. He had to cling to his camel-horse to keep from collapsing to the ground.

He looked at the black-clad young man strolling toward him, not even a trace of blood staining his body, and felt as though he were dreaming.

That crushing, Gods-and-Devils-like massacre would become a memory he could never erase for the rest of his life.

"Young... Young Master Shen..."

Elder Bai's voice was somewhat dry.

He was not shocked by Shen Che's strength, but by the deeper implications it raised.

"You... sigh."

Elder Bai let out a heavy sigh, his face filled with worry.

"Young Master Shen, this time, I'm afraid you've stirred up a hornet's nest."

"This group was well-equipped and well-trained. They were definitely not ordinary stragglers."

"They were likely a branch of some major bandit group in this Forgotten Sand Sea."

"We killed one of their captains and so many of their men. They certainly won't let this go."

Elder Bai's words made Bai Fengling, who had only just recovered his senses, grow tense as well.

"Then what do we do? Grandfather, will they send more people to hunt us down?"

Before Elder Bai could answer, Bai Fengling refuted the idea himself.

"But this can't be blamed on Young Master Shen! They attacked first, refused to accept the toll, and even... even spoke disrespectfully. Young Master Shen only acted to protect us!"

There was a trace of urgency in the youth's voice as he defended Shen Che.

In his view, under those circumstances, if Shen Che had not acted, was he really supposed to accompany that Captain Fu Wei?

Shen Che's intervention had been the only choice.

Shen Che showed little reaction to Elder Bai's deep concerns.

"There's no point arguing about this."

"Since they're dead, there's nothing to regret."

"What we need to do now is leave this desert as quickly as possible."

He proposed a simple and brutal plan.

"We won't rest. We'll speed up and try to cross this sand sea within a day, reaching White Sheep County."

This suggestion suited Elder Bai perfectly.

He only wanted to get as far away from this place of trouble as possible.

"Alright, we'll do as Young Master Shen says!"

The three of them delayed no longer. After determining their direction, they urged their camel-horses onward once more.

The dust kicked up by their hooves soon vanished behind the rolling sand dunes.

About half an hour after they left.

Two fast horses galloped over from another direction and stopped at the chaotic battlefield.

The newcomers were likewise clad in black leather armor, though the ferocious beast totems on their chests were slightly different.

One of the older scouts dismounted and looked at the severed limbs scattered across the ground, his face so gloomy it seemed water could drip from it.

The thick smell of blood mixed with the dry heat of the sand, making one want to vomit.

He crouched and inspected Fu Wei's headless corpse.

"Killed in a single blow. Man and horse alike were smashed straight into the sand by a tremendous force."

"This destructive power... is definitely not something an ordinary True Meridian Realm martial artist could achieve."

The younger scout walked over, his voice filled with shock and suspicion.

"Could a Primordial Qi Realm expert have passed by?"

"No matter who he is."

The older scout rose to his feet, his tone chilling.

"Anyone who dares touch men of the Gale Bandit Group in the Forgotten Sand Sea must pay with his life."

He took a small bamboo tube from his robes.

After opening its cap, a gray carrier pigeon fluttered out, circled once in the air, then shot toward the depths of the desert.

"The Great Leader will seek justice for our brothers."

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, dawn broke on the second day.

A night of travel had left both Elder Bai and Bai Fengling looking weary.

The horizon glowed pale as a fish's belly, driving away the chill of the desert night.

Elder Bai looked toward the distant horizon, and his spirits lifted somewhat.

"At this pace, we'll be out of this godforsaken place by this afternoon."

Shen Che did not respond.

Ever since sunrise, he had sensed that something was wrong.

In the clouds overhead, there was a hunting hawk.

It neither flew away nor swooped down to hunt. It simply trailed them at neither too near nor too far a distance, and had been following them for over an hour.

That was highly abnormal.

He knew they had been marked.

Some time passed.

Bai Fengling, who had been traveling along, suddenly spoke. "Do you hear something?"

Elder Bai reined in his camel-horse and listened closely.

The wind, the jingling of camel bells—other than that, there was only silence.

"Fengling, are you too nervous? Did you hear wrong?"

But before his words had even faded, his own expression changed as well.

A deep, ceaseless tremor came from the depths of the earth.

It felt as though tens of thousands of colossal beasts were charging in the distance.

"Not good!"

Elder Bai's voice suddenly sharpened.

"It's a cavalry force! A massive cavalry force!"

The source of the tremors came from every direction, growing clearer and louder.

Rumble!

Like muffled thunder rolling across the earth.

On the distant horizon, a sky-filling cloud of dust first rose up, blotting out the sun.

Then, streams of black surged from the ends of the dunes.

Countless riders, clad in uniform black armor, their warhorses even wearing simple horse armor, converged into a sea of steel and charged in from every direction.

They did not shout.

They did not roar.

There was only the uniform, soul-shattering thunder of hooves.

Not far away, a merchant caravan struggling through the desert was frightened into stopping by this sudden display. Everyone trembled, scarcely daring to breathe.

"Heavens... it's the Gale Bandit Group!"

"Why have they deployed so many people? Are they trying to punch a hole through the sky?"

Desperate whispers arose from the caravan.

Bai Fengling's lips trembled. As he stared at the endless black tide of people, even his voice changed pitch.

"They're here for us."

Elder Bai stared fixedly at the black banner fluttering in the wind before the bandit formation.

A vicious tornado pattern was embroidered on the banner in gold thread.

All color drained from his face in an instant.

"Gale... it's the Gale Bandit Group."

"The true overlords of the Forgotten Sand Sea. They number over ten thousand, with eyes and ears spread across the entire desert. They are the local emperors here."

The black wave formed by thousands of cavalrymen came to an abrupt halt a hundred meters from the three of them.

Their perfectly synchronized stop kicked up a wall of sand.

This torrent of steel stood silently amid the desert, murderous intent rushing straight at them.

Among the bandits, the crowd parted to either side like Moses dividing the sea, opening a passage.

A gigantic beast of a horse, entirely black and half a head taller than an ordinary warhorse, slowly stepped out.

A man sat upright on its back.

He did not wear the same black leather armor as the others, only a simple gray fitted outfit. At his waist hung a long saber whose sheath itself looked ancient.

The man appeared to be around forty. His features were not especially handsome, but a faint scar above his left brow lent him an added air of fierce bravery.

He released no terrifying aura. Yet simply sitting there calmly, he became the center of this heaven and earth.

He was the soul of this torrent of steel.

The Great Leader of the Gale Bandit Group, Zhang Kuangfeng.

Zhang Kuangfeng's lips moved. His voice was not loud, yet it reached everyone's ears with perfect clarity.

"Who killed Fu Wei?"

His tone was flat, as though he were asking about the weather.

Yet that calm question was more oppressive than any roar.

Bai Fengling's face had already turned white as paper. He wanted to say something, but found that his throat seemed gripped by an invisible hand, and no sound would come out.

Elder Bai took a deep breath and instead calmed down.

He knew that today's ordeal would be difficult.