Sand Bandits Attack

After a moment of dead silence, she suddenly curled up, grabbed the heavy bag of salt, and wrapped herself even tighter in the old blue cloth shirt.

Qin Shuang's clothes were excessively large on the Wolf Girl, like being wrapped in a fallen piece of blue cloud wisp.

Without further hesitation, the Wolf Girl's slender figure suddenly shrank and flickered, and she darted out!

Like a ghost, silent, she melted into the night beyond the campfire's circle, a darkness so thick it couldn't be dispersed, teeming with the scent of unseen beasts. All that remained was a short, almost imperceptible sand trail dragged by the campfire.

Wu En, huddled in the shadow of a distant tent, his muddy eyes' dim light flickered and faded with the disappearing blue silhouette, before he finally closed his eyelids heavily.

Qin Shuang sat back in his seat wordlessly, the campfire stretching and distorting his profile, dancing on the sand dunes behind him.

The night wind whistled through the rock crevices, its mournful sound like countless ghosts weeping.

The chill of dawn was quickly dried and swallowed by the rising sun, its stark white light blindingly harsh.

The entire sea of sand began to steam, the air shimmering and distorting.

The camel bells rang with monotonous repetition, sounding particularly jarring in the suffocating, scorched yellow silence.

Qin Shuang walked silently near the front of the camel train, his hands unconsciously fidgeting. Based on the concept of "Thirty-Six Routes of Heaven-Overturning? Marvel," he repeatedly practiced and refined his fist techniques in his mind.

The sand dune ahead suddenly rose into a massive barrier, like a broken skull left behind by a celestial god.

On Wu En's face, crisscrossed with wrinkles, every line seemed to twist even deeper and tighter.

His muddy eyes were fixed on the void behind the dune's crest. His weathered hands, covered in sunspots and calluses, gripped the wooden frame of the camel saddle, his knuckles turning bone-white from the strain.

With years of experience traversing the desert, Wu En couldn't help but feel a sense of foreboding.

"Woo... woo... woo..."

A strange, short horn blast, catching the caravan completely off guard, pierced the eardrums of everyone present from the very top of the massive sand dune!

It wasn't a hujia or a qiangdi, but the sound of an ancient beast horn being forcibly blown, a savage, heart-rending whistle!

Qin Shuang's pupils contracted to pinpricks. As he looked up, his vision was instantly overwhelmed by a black tide!

A black tide like waves!

That wasn't a tide!

It was hundreds of sand bandits, wrapped in thick, dark brown coarse hemp!

Their faces were covered, leaving only eyes as fierce and savage as a wolf's!

They clung to their horses, their powerful, undulating forms cascading down from the dune's summit like splashes of ink!

Curved sabers sliced through the heat-warped air, carving arcs of death!

"Grab your weapons, fight to the death!"

Chen Zhenqun's roar tore through the last sliver of hope, instantly drowned out by the sand kicked up by hooves and the fierce clash of metal on metal!

In the pale light, distorted black figures moved.

The dull thuds of sabers cleaving flesh were incessant. The heavy smell of blood, mixed with the warm, foul stench of torn organs, was blasted onto Qin Shuang's face by the hot wind.

The sand bandit leader, like a giant vulture wrapped in a mass of solidified black wind, wielded a heavy, terrifying Ghost Head Great Saber, carving bloody trenches through the chaotic melee!

The sharp, tragic screams of guards being disemboweled by the Ghost Head Great Saber were piercing!

Wu En's roar sounded beside Qin Shuang: "Xiao Fei, get down!"

Wu En suddenly lunged from his own short camel, using all his remaining strength to shove a half-grown boy on the next camel, who had just drawn a short knife, his face pale but his eyes fierce, violently aside!

His own withered, emaciated chest, however, was directly exposed to the heavy saber blade descending from the sand bandit leader!

"Squelch...!"

The dull thud of the blade tearing through flesh and severing bone sounded as heavy as rotten wood being split by a giant axe.

Wu En was sent flying backward by the terrifying brute force!

Scalding, slippery crimson liquid splattered onto the hot yellow sand, creating a suffocating mist of blood!

In that instant, his muddy yellow eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets, fixed intently on Qin Shuang's face!

His thin, chicken-claw-like fingers, as if burning with their last ounce of madness, actually grabbed Qin Shuang's ankle as he brushed past!

His throat convulsed, emitting a gurgling sound as bloody foam sprayed onto the hem of Qin Shuang's robe!

"Qin... young... young hero..." Wu En's remaining wisp of breath tore through his life, stuttering, "Xiao... Xiao Fei... please... please..."

Wu En's muddy pupils locked onto Qin Shuang's eyes, filled with too many unspoken entrustments, until the last spark of light completely extinguished, and he still hadn't received Qin Shuang's reply.

The boy who had been shoved, Hong Yifei, fell onto the sand, dazed. He struggled to look up, and the first thing he saw was Wu En's mangled body, soaked in blood and sand, and the gruesome, exposed internal organs rolling beside him!

Hong Yifei's pupils dilated instantly, the last trace of childish color draining from his face, turning ashen!

He opened his mouth, but it was as if he had lost all ability to make a sound. His body trembled uncontrollably, his gaze vacant and dead like a unfocused mirror.

Qin Shuang wasted no more time. His fists clenched, internal energy surging.

"Thirty-Six Routes of Heaven-Overturning Marvel," "Great Skill Appears Clumsy, Marvel Hidden Within"!

A sand bandit on the left had his Adam's apple shattered. The one on the right had his chest caved in. Every punch was delivered without mercy, aimed directly at vital points!

Qin Shuang moved like a phantom through the thick smoke and deathly storm, each strike felling at least one Sand Bandit beneath his fists!

Qin Shuang's slaughter drew the attention of the Sand Bandit leader. He rode forward on his black steed, which reared up on its hind legs, its Ghost Head Great Saber whistling through the air as it swung towards Qin Shuang.

Before the blade even arrived, the blast of air sent sand and dust churning across the ground.

Innate Realm!

A Sand Bandit leader had actually reached the Innate Realm. Judging by the long, fierce flow of his qi, he was at least late-stage, perhaps even at the peak.

Facing the surging attack, Qin Shuang advanced instead of retreating. His body darted left like a cat, and the instant he dodged the blade, his right foot pushed off the belly of the horse.

The Ghost Head Great Saber missed, smashing three feet into the sandy ground, its blade vibrating with a hum.

Using the recoil, Qin Shuang spun and leaped into the air, striking the horse's head with his left palm. The black steed cried out in pain, its front hooves flailing.

Seeing the magnificent horse, Qin Shuang decided not to kill it, thus holding back his strike.

The Sand Bandit leader roared and swept his saber horizontally, the wind from the blade crackling as it cut through the air.

Qin Shuang twisted his body in mid-air, bringing his right index and middle fingers together. Righteous Sword!

The sword qi precisely struck the wrist of the hand holding the saber.

The Sand Bandit leader felt his right wrist go numb, the great saber nearly slipping from his grasp. He hastily gripped the hilt with his left hand.

In that momentary pause, Qin Shuang landed beside the horse like a kestrel, his left hand gripping the saddle. His right fist, charged with his full power, moved with the rhythm of the horse's rise and fall, smashing fiercely into the Sand Bandit leader's side.