Escaping to Safety

"Phew, that was a close one! If I hadn't had this Black Gold Armor, made from the hide of a Gold-Eating Rat, to protect me, I might have really messed up today and capsized in a ditch!"

On a desolate mountain, Zhou Yang stood up from the ground, his face filled with relief. He looked pale as he stared at the corpses of the Sand Bandits on the ground, exclaiming how lucky he was.

The incident just now had taught him a vivid lesson: never assume everything is fine just because the enemy has fallen.

Cultivators had strong life forces, and the Cultivation World was full of all sorts of miraculous techniques and secret arts. Unless you decapitated your enemy or annihilated their soul, you couldn't assume you were the last one laughing.

Just now, if he hadn't been wearing this "Black Gold Armor" artifact, crafted from the hide of a Gold-Eating Rat, which he had put on and never taken off since obtaining it, that blood arrow would have pierced him through and through.

Even with the defense of this Tier 2 High-grade inner armor, being hit by a blood arrow at such close range still caused his chest to ache severely. He estimated he had sustained some internal injuries.

To avoid any further complications, Zhou Yang didn't dare to linger there. After taking a healing spirit pill on the spot, he dragged his injured body and his spoils away from the desolate mountain.

Fearing the Foundation Establishment Stage Sand Bandits patrolling the skies, Zhou Yang didn't dare to use any spells to enhance his speed after leaving the desolate mountain. He relied solely on his physical strength to make his way through the rugged terrain.

Although this made his progress as slow as a crawling turtle, it provided excellent concealment. Several times, sword lights flew overhead nearby, but they didn't detect him, who was right under their noses.

After walking like this for several days, Zhou Yang's internal injuries had largely recovered thanks to the spirit pill, and he had reached the edge of the renowned "White Sand River" in the White Sand River Oasis.

Using the White Sand River to conceal his presence and escape was a suggestion his godmother, Zhou Xuanyu, had given him when they were in the market town.

Cultivators in the Boundless Sea of Sand, due to their Spiritual Root attributes and cultivation methods, generally disliked cultivating or living in areas rich in Water Spiritual Qi, nor were they skilled in Water Evasion Techniques.

This was true for Foundation Establishment Cultivators just as it was for Qi Refining Cultivators.

When Zhou Xuanyu advised Zhou Yang to use the White Sand River for his escape, she had specifically given him several "Water Evasion Technique" talismans.

Like the "Earth Evasion Technique," "Water Evasion Technique" was only a second-tier low-grade spell. However, in the Boundless Sea of Sand, it was difficult to find even a handful of cultivators out of a hundred who practiced this spell, as it was practically useless in the desert.

Only a Talisman Master like Zhou Xuanyu, to enrich the variety of talismans she drew, would specifically learn spells that didn't match her cultivation attributes. And since the Five Elements Evasion Techniques were the most commonly used spells by cultivators, she would naturally prioritize learning them. It wasn't surprising that she always kept a few "Water Evasion Technique" talismans on hand.

These "Water Evasion Technique" talismans, which usually gathered dust in her storage bag, were now proving incredibly useful.

Upon reaching the White Sand River, Zhou Yang took out a blue "Water Evasion Technique" talisman and pressed it against himself. His body quickly merged with the river water, and he was carried downstream by the flowing current.

While escaping through the river, Zhou Yang sensed the powerful auras of Foundation Establishment Stage cultivators flying overhead several times. He knew that these Foundation Establishment Stage Sand Bandits had not yet left the White Sand River Oasis.

It made sense. Besides the Chen Family's ancestral land at White Camel Ridge and the market town at Golden Cloud Mountain, the White Sand River Oasis was home to several other Foundation Establishment Families.

With the Foundation Establishment cultivators of the Chen Family at White Camel Ridge being monitored by Violet Palace Stage cultivators, a dozen Foundation Establishment Stage Sand Bandits acting together would be more than any of those Foundation Establishment Families could handle.

And with Patriarch Chen Yaohui and the others hunting Tier 4 Demonic Beasts, they wouldn't return for at least half a month. After all, Tier 4 Demonic Beasts were generally found deep in the desert, far from the oasis, or they would have already been killed by cultivators.

This meant that for at least the next half month, these Sand Bandits could essentially do as they pleased in the White Sand River Oasis.

Zhou Yang now believed that the several Foundation Establishment Families in the White Sand River Oasis had likely suffered the same fate as Golden Mist Mountain. Otherwise, the Foundation Establishment Stage cultivators among the Sand Bandits wouldn't be so scattered across the entire oasis, hunting down fleeing cultivators like them.

"I wonder how godmother and the others are doing. I hope everyone can safely get through this disaster!"

In a grove of trees along the White Sand River, Zhou Yang hid in an underground cave dozens of meters below the surface. He couldn't help but worry about the other cultivators of the Zhou Family.

At this point, he was basically safe. As long as he stayed hidden here for half a month, unless a Foundation Establishment Stage cultivator landed in the forest and thoroughly searched underground with their divine sense, no one would be able to find him hidden dozens of meters below.

Considering that this forest was not a place where Spirit Veins converged, the probability of such an event was negligible.

With his own safety secured, Zhou Yang's greatest concern was naturally his godmother, Zhou Xuanyu, and the other brothers and sisters in the family.

Given his own resources and abilities, he had nearly died at the hands of the Sand Bandits during his escape. How much more so for his cousins whose cultivation had only just reached the Mid Qi Refining Stage.

Unfortunately, all he could do now was pray; there was nothing else he could do.

He could do absolutely nothing, and that was meant literally.

Fearing that the spiritual energy fluctuations generated during cultivation might expose his presence, Zhou Yang had even stopped his daily cultivation practices. It was only now that he had the time to examine the spoils he had obtained after killing the three Sand Bandits.

From the three Sand Bandits, Zhou Yang had found a total of seven storage bags. Two other storage bags had been broken during the battle, and their contents could no longer be retrieved, so he hadn't picked them up.

Among the seven storage bags he found, four had a volume of one zhang, and the remaining three had a storage space of five chi.

In these storage bags, Zhou Yang discovered a large number of spirit stones, over sixteen hundred of them. It was clear that these spirit stones were all obtained from the three Sand Bandits' robberies.

Additionally, he found over a dozen second-tier low-grade and mid-grade artifacts in the storage bags. Most of the artifacts were damaged to varying degrees, and it went without saying that these artifacts were also likely stolen.

Besides spirit stones and artifacts, the most abundant items Zhou Yang found were not pills, talismans, or spiritual materials, but over a hundred books and more than a dozen precious jade slips.

These books and jade slips, which contained valuable knowledge, all bore a mark he was very familiar with: the external emblem of the Yellow Sand Sect, a yellow gourd.

Most people might not know why the Yellow Sand Sect used a yellow gourd as its sect emblem, but Zhou Yang knew from the records left by the Zhou Family's ancestor, Zhou Yuquan, that the Yellow Sand Sect possessed an extremely powerful inherited artifact called the "Divine Sand Gourd." The divine sand released by this artifact could even kill Golden Core Stage cultivators, making it incredibly potent.

A while ago, Zhou Yang had even gone to a shop opened by the Yellow Sand Sect in the Golden Sand Market Town to buy some books for his research on a pitch-black ore. Upon seeing these texts in the Sand Bandits' storage bags, he knew they must have come from that Yellow Sand Sect shop.

However, he never expected that these Sand Bandits would actually be so bold as to dare to rob the Yellow Sand Sect!

Although the Yellow Sand Sect's shop in the Golden Sand Market Town was only managed by some Qi Refining Stage disciples, it was still Yellow Sand Sect property, and even Foundation Establishment Stage cultivators wouldn't dare to put on airs when entering that shop.

"Generally speaking, although Sand Bandits commit all sorts of evil deeds, they still hold some fear towards the Yellow Sand Sect, a major sect in the Boundless Sea of Sand, and wouldn't easily touch their belongings."

"However, these Sand Bandits have broken this rule this time. It seems someone has given them the confidence to not fear retaliation from the Yellow Sand Sect!"

Zhou Yang's heart sank as he suddenly realized that this Sand Bandit attack might be more than just a simple raid.

It made sense. While Sand Bandits usually operated in groups, they typically formed small gangs of a few or a dozen individuals, and these gangs generally had no connection to each other.

Yet this time, not only had a dozen or so Foundation Establishment Stage Sand Bandits, who were rarely seen, appeared, but there were also over a hundred ordinary Qi Refining Stage Sand Bandits.

Organizing and gathering so many Sand Bandits together was no simple feat, nor was it something that could be accomplished solely through high cultivation. It required ample manpower and well-informed intelligence channels.

"Moreover, whether those Foundation Establishment Stage cultivators are truly Sand Bandits is another matter entirely!"

Zhou Yang's mood darkened further as he recalled the performance of the Foundation Establishment Stage Sand Bandits during the battle at Golden Cloud Mountain.

He had a feeling that the attack on the oasis this time wouldn't end so simply. The Cultivation World near the White Sand River Oasis would likely never be as peaceful as it once was.

Unfortunately, due to the lack of information, even though he had some suspicions, he didn't dare to jump to conclusions without actual intelligence to verify them. He could only suppress these thoughts for now and wait for future verification.

However, with the hundreds of books he had salvaged from the Sand Bandits' Storage Bags, Zhou Yang found that the next half month wouldn't be so difficult to endure.

These texts, released for sale by the Yellow Sand Sect, were naturally not precious items. They were mostly introductory knowledge to the hundred arts of cultivation, such as low-level Cultivation Methods, Spells, and basic artifact refining, alchemy, Talisman Master, spirit plant cultivation, and beast taming.

This introductory knowledge to the hundred arts of cultivation and low-level Cultivation Methods were already available in the Zhou Family's Scripture Cave, making them unnecessary for Zhou Yang to read.

However, the dozen or so jade slips held great appeal for him. These jade slips were travelogues and autobiographies written by Cultivators of the Foundation Establishment Stage and even Violet Palace Stage who had traveled the Cultivation World. They recorded the local customs and traditions of various places in the Cultivation World, as well as legends of strange Demonic Beasts, treasures, and forbidden lands, which were the things he enjoyed reading the most.

Additionally, on a black jade slip, Zhou Yang found the secret method "Blood Arrow Technique" that the Sand Bandit had used to ambush him.

This secret method was actually related to legendary demonic cultivators; it was a secret method from the Blood Demon Sect, a lineage of demonic cultivators!

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