Breakout Battle (Part 2)

"Damn bastards, how dare they plot against us brothers, they deserve to die!"

"Damn it, who would have thought that we brothers, who hunt geese every day, would almost get blinded by a goose today. What a sinister kid, actually setting up a diversion and placing several Tier 2 High-grade Talismans within the formation. If it weren't for our usual caution, we might have really fallen into this kid's hands today!"

"This isn't over. When we find that kid, we won't kill him. We'll cripple all his meridians, chop off his hands, and throw him into the sand sea to die slowly in endless despair!"

On a nameless desolate mountain, three black-robed Sand Bandits emerged from the ruins of a collapsed cave, their faces filled with rage as they cursed at the ruins.

After following Zhou Yang's trail to this place, the three of them accidentally triggered the formation trap Zhou Yang had set up, igniting several Tier 2 High-grade Talismans within, nearly costing them their lives. Naturally, they had reason to be angry now.

After cursing for a while, one of the Sand Bandits looked at his companions and asked, "What now? The kid's aura and traces disappeared on this desolate mountain. I don't know if he's hiding or has fled elsewhere."

Hearing his companion's question, one of the Sand Bandits immediately exclaimed, "He must still be here. Someone who knows how to use such methods to ambush others surely knows that the seniors are patrolling everywhere, hunting down fugitives. If he dares to run on the ground now, he's just asking for death!"

Another Sand Bandit nodded in agreement, saying, "That's right, he must still be hiding somewhere. In my opinion, he's probably hiding deep underground. Why don't we use the Earth Evasion Technique to burrow underground and search?"

"Hearing what you two brothers said, it really seems so. Then let's search." The Sand Bandit who asked the question's eyes lit up, and he immediately formed a Hand Seal to cast the "Earth Evasion Technique" and burrowed underground.

The other two Sand Bandits nodded at each other and followed suit, casting the "Earth Evasion Technique" to search underground.

Zhou Yang never expected that these Sand Bandits would be so cunning and see through his plan so quickly.

Although the underground room he was hiding in was deep enough that it couldn't be detected by divine sense from the ground, it was most vulnerable to people using the "Earth Evasion Technique" to burrow underground and conduct a dragnet search. This desolate mountain was only so large, and with the three Sand Bandits conducting a dragnet search, they quickly forced him out of his hiding place.

"Heh, I thought someone who knew how to set up such traps to ambush us brothers would be an old fox who had roamed the Cultivation World for many years. I didn't expect it to be a young brat. Kid, you're quite sinister. Where did you learn this trick? Does your family have elders who were also Sand Bandits?"

On the desolate mountain, the three Sand Bandits were slightly stunned to see that the person hiding underground was the young Zhou Yang. Then, one of the Sand Bandits seemed to have guessed something and said his speculation with a cold laugh.

Indeed, such methods of setting traps to ambush people often originated from Sand Bandits and Rogue Cultivators. Even if Family Cultivators and Sect Cultivators knew these methods, they generally disdained using such insidious tactics.

Zhou Yang learned this method from secretly recording the various insidious tactics of Sand Bandits that his family elders had told him about in the past.

Unlike those Family Cultivators who disdained using such insidious methods, Zhou Yang believed that any method that could help him defeat his enemies was a good method, regardless of whether it was insidious or not.

Of course, the premise was that such methods could not violate his inner principles or harm heavenly harmony.

For example, some demonic cultivators in the Cultivation World, in order to kill their opponents, would not hesitate to use forbidden techniques to blood sacrifice hundreds of thousands of mortals to forge evil demonic artifacts. Zhou Yang would definitely not use such methods even if he knew about them.

"This is called treating others as they treat you. If we're talking about sinister, who can be more sinister and vicious than you Sand Bandits?"

Zhou Yang glanced at the three Sand Bandits and found that their cultivation levels did not exceed his limit for dealing with them. He felt a slight sense of relief and couldn't help but mock the three Sand Bandits with a sneer.

These three Sand Bandits, one at Qi Refining Layer Nine and two at Qi Refining Layer Eight, would have a high chance of winning against an ordinary Ninth Layer Qi Refining Cultivator, even against several Elders of the Zhou Family besides Zhou Xuanyu.

However, for him, as long as he used the trump cards he had on him, it was not impossible to fight against three of them.

"What an arrogant brat, still spouting nonsense when death is at your doorstep!"

The three Sand Bandits were all enraged by Zhou Yang's attitude. Without a word, they directly unleashed their Artifacts and charged at Zhou Yang.

The Artifacts of these three were not bad. Two of them possessed Tier 2 High-grade Artifacts, namely a flying sword and a black bottle that could release poisonous sand.

Especially the poisonous sand released by the black bottle, although each grain was only the size of a fingernail, there were hundreds of them. Each grain had the power of a First-tier High-grade Artifact, and it was also accompanied by a potent poison that corroded Mana. With only the Silver Gang Shield Artifact, Zhou Yang could not block the poisonous sand attacking from all directions and had to use defensive Talismans to enhance his defense.

However, once a defensive Talisman was used, it would constantly drain the cultivator's Mana to maintain its existence. Otherwise, with just the spiritual energy within the Talisman, it would dissipate after blocking a few attacks from the enemy.

This way, Zhou Yang effectively had an additional Mana consumption.

Coupled with the considerable commotion from the battle, if it dragged on for too long, it would attract the attention of Foundation Establishment Stage Sand Bandits, which would be disastrous.

Therefore, after a brief exchange to test the three Sand Bandits' abilities, Zhou Yang knew that this battle had to be decided quickly.

"This is your own doing!"

He looked at the three Sand Bandits with cold eyes, raised his hand, and threw several Tier 2 High-grade Talismans at the Sand Bandit wielding the black bottle Artifact. Then, with a movement of his divine sense, the four "Armor Piercing Daggers" that were fighting the enemy's flying sword in mid-air suddenly changed direction, instantly abandoning the flying sword and shooting towards the Sand Bandit being attacked by several Tier 2 High-grade Spells.

The three Sand Bandits clearly did not expect Zhou Yang to be so decisive and take such a risk. Their response was half a beat slower, and the remaining two Sand Bandits had no time to rescue their companion.

As for the Sand Bandit who was focused on by Zhou Yang, his Artifact consumed a considerable amount of Mana. Before this, he had only unleashed a bronze mirror Artifact to cooperate with the "Golden Light Body Protection Art" as protection.

This kind of protection could not be said to be bad. At least with Zhou Yang's "Armor Piercing Daggers," a set of Tier 2 High-grade Artifacts, he certainly couldn't break through the double protection and injure him in one blow.

However, he had severely underestimated Zhou Yang's methods and his determination to kill him.

Zhou Yang unhesitatingly hurled four Tier 2 High-grade Talismans at him, instantly tearing apart all the defenses he had hastily erected. Then, followed by the "Armor Piercing Daggers," he easily severed his head.

The other two Sand Bandits were shocked and enraged. While quickly adding more layers of protection to themselves, they also took out Talismans and hurled them at Zhou Yang.

They had just robbed the Golden Sand Market, and each of them had obtained quite a few good items. Their wealth and means were much stronger than the group of Sand Bandits Zhou Yang had encountered in the desert before.

Zhou Yang also did not expect that these two Sand Bandits, out of sympathy for their fallen comrade, would unhesitatingly engage in a magical bombardment with him at any cost.

Such loyal Sand Bandits were truly rare.

Now it was his turn to feel the pressure.

He had quite a few Talismans on him and was confident that he could outspend the two Sand Bandits in terms of wealth.

However, using Talismans also consumed Mana, especially defensive Talismans, which were major Mana consumers when defending against attacks.

Fighting against two of them, not only was the number of Talismans he consumed several times that of the enemy, but his Mana was also draining like a runaway faucet, gushing out incessantly.

"This can't go on. If it continues like this, even if I exhaust the enemy's Talismans, my Mana won't last until the final victory. It seems I have to use that item!"

With various colorful defensive shields covering him, Zhou Yang grumbled inwardly, knowing that if he didn't find a way to break the deadlock, he might really fall here today.

He did indeed have a trump card capable of deciding the victor, but it was an extremely precious item, and using it on two Qi Refining Stage Sand Bandits felt like a terrible waste. He hadn't considered using it before.

However, looking at the current situation, he feared he wouldn't escape unscathed if he didn't use this ultimate treasure.

Faced with the choice between his life and the treasure, he naturally chose his life.

Having made up his mind, Zhou Yang no longer hesitated. He reached out and patted the storage bag at his waist, and a black metal cylinder about a foot tall appeared in his hand.

He then forcefully threw the black metal cylinder into the sky between the two Sand Bandits. With a surge of mana, the metal cylinder spun in mid-air, and "whoosh, whoosh, whoosh," a dense barrage of dark red poison needles shot out.

Ahhh!

Two sharp screams rang out almost simultaneously from the two Sand Bandits.

When they saw Zhou Yang throw the metal cylinder, they had immediately heightened their vigilance and prepared their defenses. However, they still underestimated the terror of those poison needles. They were instantly pierced by thousands of needles, their defenses shattered, and they collapsed to the ground.

Zhou Yang, the instigator of this, was not surprised at all by this scene.

This metal cylinder, containing three hundred and thirty-three poison needles, was specially refined by the Old Clan Leader Zhou Minghan by merging three hundred and thirty-three "Poison Fire Scorpion" stingers with Profound Iron.

This artifact could only be used once. Once used, all the poison needles inside would be shot out. Even if they were collected one by one afterward, they would lose their effectiveness.

Because it could only be used once, each poison needle shot from the metal cylinder possessed half the power of a second-tier low-grade artifact. Furthermore, twenty-four needles, refined from the stingers of Second-tier Poison Fire Scorpions, had power comparable to a second-tier mid-grade artifact.

Only a Tier 3 High-grade Artifact Forger like the Old Clan Leader Zhou Minghan could refine such a finely crafted and powerful one-time artifact. If Zhou Yang were to try, even if he were told the forging method, he would not be able to succeed.

"I can't stay here. I need to leave immediately."

A flicker of regret flashed in his eyes. Zhou Yang didn't bother to pick up the now useless metal cylinder. He walked directly towards the Sand Bandits' corpses, intending to collect the spoils of war and leave.

However, as soon as he reached the Sand Bandit corpses and crouched down, the "corpse" that had been lying motionless on the ground suddenly opened its eyes, opened its mouth wide, and spat out a sharp blood arrow at him.

Not good!

Zhou Yang cried out inwardly, desperately trying to dodge backward.

But it was too late.

With a flash of blood, his body was struck as if by lightning, and he was thrown backward, falling down.

Seeing this, the Sand Bandit who spat the blood arrow felt a flash of satisfaction in its eyes. It tilted its neck and finally breathed its last.

It turned out that although it hadn't died immediately after being hit by the poison needles, it knew it couldn't survive. So, it secretly circulated a secret technique it had obtained before, mobilizing all its vital blood to prepare for this final attack.

This strike contained all its vital blood and mana, and its power was comparable to a Tier 2 High-grade spell. A Qi Refining Cultivator caught off guard by this blood arrow would almost certainly not survive.

That's why, upon seeing Zhou Yang hit by the arrow and fall, the Sand Bandit showed a look of satisfaction, as if its revenge was complete, before finally giving up its last breath.

ps: Requesting recommendation tickets!