Wrathful Sword Roaring Through the Wild Sands, Hong Yifei

Chaos Only Grasped, Exhaling Marvelous Qi!

The force of the punch pierced through his body, and the Sand Bandit leader let out a muffled groan as his organs felt as if struck by a heavy hammer.

The black horse bolted in panic, but Qin Chao clung to its side like a shadow. His right hand changed from palm to claw, locked around the leader's throat, and violently yanked backward.

The leader's body arched back, and his massive blade drooped uselessly.

Qin Chao's left fist followed through, Sole Yang Sole Steel Blooming Marvelous Radiance!

The punch landed squarely in the Sand Bandit leader's heart.

With a crack of breaking bones amid the billowing dust, the Sand Bandit leader's eyes bulged wide. Blood sprayed from his mouth onto the yellow sand and was instantly absorbed.

Qin Chao released him and dropped back to the ground. Looking at the massive body toppled from the horse, he slowly exhaled a breath of foul air.

Late-stage Innate Realm—still no match for him!

However, although Qin Chao had killed the Sand Bandit leader in the shortest time possible, the overall situation remained chaotic and brutal!

The horses screamed, rolled, and convulsed. Mangled corpses and entrails lay scattered everywhere, while twisted camel frames burned, sending billowing black smoke into the air. A nauseating mixture of odors churned all around them!

Qin Shuang knocked aside a curved blade that was hacking toward Hong Yifei. As he twisted and broke the attacker's wrist, he kicked him several yards away.

Yet against the indiscriminate assault of hundreds of Sand Bandits, Qin Shuang's counterattacks were little more than a drop in the bucket.

Chen Zhenqun swung his belt saber, its edge already curled and notched, while several bloody marks from Sand Bandit scimitars streaked across his back.

Under the guards' protection, the caravan merchants rolled and crawled toward the last corner.

Stinging smoke billowed and hid the sky. Only flashes of blades continued to flare through the dust, each scattering nauseating clouds of blood mist.

The remaining caravan guards were forced back step by step beneath the Sand Bandits' curved blades. They were on the verge of being swallowed, torn apart, and shredded by that dense black tide!

At that moment, a mournful, drawn-out wolf howl tore through all the chaos and clamor above the sea of sand like ripping silk.

Atop the dune behind the caravan, trembling violently in the raging sandstorm, countless pairs of eyes glittering with hungry, ghostly light flared to life like ghost fires breaking out of the underworld!

In the next instant, the entire enormous dune seemed to come alive.

Countless agile gray-brown and ocher figures came roaring down, wrapped in a raging sandstorm that blotted out the sky and sun!

The pack of wild dogs surged into the caravan like a filthy mudslide, crashing violently into the massed formation of Sand Bandit riders!

The horses ridden by the Sand Bandits let out shrill, terrified neighs beneath the attacks of wolf claws and fangs!

The formation, trained and orderly only moments before, collapsed in an instant!

Some Sand Bandits were dragged straight from their galloping horses by wild dogs that pounced upon them. Their heavy black hemp robes were torn to shreds like paper beneath the force of those savage teeth.

One Sand Bandit hacked off a wild dog's foreleg with his blade, only to be seized in the shoulder, neck, and thigh by several others leaping up beside him. They dragged him to the ground as blood sprayed wildly beneath the tearing jaws!

With their leader dead and their formation scattered, their hope of taking the caravan in one furious assault was shattered.

Their morale completely broken, the Sand Bandits began fleeing in all directions.

At the same time, the green-eyed Wolf Girl from the previous day appeared strangely at the edge of the charging pack.

She raised a hand stained with fresh blood. Dry, hoarse syllables carrying a strange cadence left her mouth in a steady rhythm, like an ancient stone flute being rubbed.

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

The pack attacked as if it had received precise instructions. They avoided the few remaining caravan survivors amid the chaos and furiously bit and pounced in the direction of the fleeing Sand Bandits!

The sounds of slaughter outside the corner, the pack's pursuit and tearing bites, the Sand Bandits' dying screams, and the choking stench of scorched smoke... This was the final scene of the battle.

Seeing that the outcome was settled, Qin Shuang calmly walked over to Hong Yifei.

The boy sat rigidly beside the pool of blood and chunks of viscera that had not yet congealed. This was where Wu En had died.

His thin back hunched slightly, as if struck by an invisible heavy hammer.

His hands were clenched so tightly that his fingernails pierced deep into his palms, yet he felt no pain at all. Only his shoulders trembled uncontrollably.

A few drops of murky, scalding liquid fell silently onto the bloody sand. They were greedily absorbed in an instant, leaving behind only several dark stains.

Qin Shuang knew Hong Yifei needed to release his emotions, so he did not interrupt his weeping.

After quite some time, Hong Yifei's stiff fingers slowly loosened. With his right hand stained by sand and Wu En's blood, he tremblingly grasped the hilt of the short blade that had fallen into the bloody sand.

That curved hilt was wrapped in a thick felt strip by Wu En himself to keep it from slipping free.

"I want to learn martial arts from you!" Hong Yifei looked at Qin Shuang, hatred seeming to spill from his eyes. "I want revenge!"

After saying this, his lips trembled violently before finally pressing into a stubborn, deathly pale line.

Qin Shuang looked into Hong Yifei's eyes, red as if they might drip blood, and said each word clearly: "All right. But only those who stand can take revenge!"

Hong Yifei understood what Qin Shuang meant. He nodded heavily, then bent down and pressed a deep kiss into the sand that held the last remnants of Wu En's life.

Qin Shuang raised his head and gazed through the smoke and blood mist at the Wolf Girl standing on the distant boulder.

The wind tugged at her blue-green clothes, as if answering Qin Shuang's gaze.

Then her small figure flickered and silently slipped down the boulder, fleeing into the distance.

The wild pack seemed to receive a silent command. It withdrew like a receding tide, following the solitary figure that vanished in an instant among the rolling dunes.

Chen Zhenqun watched the Wolf Girl dissolve into the shadows of the dunes, then looked at Qin Shuang. He could not say a word.

Only the burning smoke, the wreckage of the caravan and camels, and the survivors' sighs and laments shattered his unreal illusion.

The sea of sand returned to desolation. Wind passed over broken camel bones and blood-soaked grit, producing a low, mournful whimper.

Dark clouds loomed over the storm.

Raindrops the size of beans hammered the black-tiled roof of the hanging building, their cracking sound continuing like torn silk.

The Medicine King Sect had been built against the mountains, hidden deep within the folds of Miao Prefecture's vast ranges.

This place had once been the foundation on which countless Medicine King Sect disciples established themselves. It was also the heart from which the Medicine King Sect cultivated myriad poisons and intimidated the southern frontier.

Yet tonight, this ancient Miao village trembled and moaned in the storm, like a dying beast drawing its final breath.

A blinding bolt of lightning suddenly split the ink-black night sky, illuminating dozens of figures outlined as if with strokes of dark ink.

They were like evil ghosts crawling out from the depths of hell, or cold statues of rock standing amid the night of raging rain.

Their dark-black combat uniforms had long since been soaked through by the rain, clinging tightly to their sturdy bodies.

The light reflected from the regulation twin blades in their hands was the only frost in the darkness without a trace of warmth.