"Whew, that was far too close! If I hadn't been protected by this Black Gold Armor forged from Gold-Eating Rat hide, I would have been careless and lost Jingzhou today, capsizing my boat in the gutter!"
On the barren mountain, Zhou Yang rose from the ground with relief written all over his face. Looking at the sand bandit's corpse, now breathing its last, his pale face was filled with lingering fear.
What had just happened gave him a vivid lesson: never assume all was well simply because an enemy had fallen.
Cultivators possessed formidable vitality, and all kinds of extraordinary techniques and secret arts emerged endlessly in the Cultivation World. Unless an enemy's head had been cut off or their soul utterly obliterated, one could not believe oneself to be the last one standing.
Just like before—if he had not kept wearing the Black Gold Armor artifact forged from Gold-Eating Rat hide ever since obtaining it, that blood arrow would likely have pierced straight through his heart.
Even with the protection of this Tier 2 High-grade defensive inner armor, being struck by the blood arrow at such close range had left his chest aching fiercely. He had likely suffered serious internal injuries.
Unwilling to let trouble drag on, Zhou Yang did not dare remain there any longer. After swallowing a healing spirit pill on the spot, he dragged his injured body away from the barren mountain with his spoils.
Wary of the Foundation Establishment Stage Sand Bandits patrolling the skies, Zhou Yang did not dare use any spells to enhance himself after leaving the mountain. He relied entirely on his physical strength as he struggled through the wilderness.
Although this reduced his speed to a crawl, it provided excellent concealment. Several times, sword lights flew through the sky nearby without noticing him so close at hand.
After traveling like this for several days, Zhou Yang's internal injuries gradually recovered by more than half under the effects of the spirit pills. He had also reached the banks of the famous White Sand River in White Sand River Oasis.
Escaping along the White Sand River and using its waters to conceal his aura had been the suggestion Zhou Xuanyu, his adoptive mother, gave him while they were in the market.
Because of their Spiritual Root attributes and cultivation arts, most cultivators in the Boundless Sea of Sand disliked cultivating or residing in places rich in Water Spiritual Qi. Nor were they skilled in Water Evasion Technique.
Even Foundation Establishment Cultivators were no different from Qi Refining Cultivators in this regard.
When Zhou Xuanyu told Zhou Yang to flee using the waters of the White Sand River, she had specifically given him several Water Evasion Technique spirit talismans.
Like Earth Evasion Technique, Water Evasion Technique was only a Tier 2 low-grade spell. Yet in the Boundless Sea of Sand, one could scarcely find even a handful among a hundred cultivators who practiced it, because in a sea of sand, this spell was practically useless.
Only a Talisman Master like Zhou Xuanyu would deliberately learn spells incompatible with her cultivation art's attribute in order to diversify the spirit talismans she could draw. As the Five Elements Evasion Technique was among the most commonly used spells for cultivators, it was naturally her first choice to learn. It was hardly strange that she kept several Water Evasion Technique spirit talismans on hand.
These Water Evasion Technique spirit talismans, which usually lay gathering dust in her Storage Bag, had now proven immensely useful.
Upon reaching the White Sand River, Zhou Yang took out a blue-glowing Water Evasion Technique spirit talisman and slapped it onto himself. His body swiftly merged into the river, and he used the flowing water to flee downstream.
While escaping through the river, Zhou Yang sensed the powerful auras of Foundation Establishment Cultivators flying over the water several times. He knew the Foundation Establishment Stage Sand Bandits had not yet left White Sand River Oasis.
It made sense. Aside from the White Camel Ridge Chen Family's ancestral grounds and Golden Mist Mountain Market, White Sand River Oasis contained several other Foundation Establishment Families.
With the White Camel Ridge Chen Family's Foundation Establishment Cultivators being watched by Violet Palace Stage Cultivators, more than a dozen Foundation Establishment Stage Sand Bandits acting together could overwhelm virtually any Foundation Establishment Family.
Chen Yaohui and the others had gone to hunt a Tier 4 Demonic Beast, and they certainly could not return in less than half a month. After all, Tier 4 Demonic Beasts generally dwelled deep in deserts far from the oasis; otherwise, cultivators would have long since wiped them out.
In other words, for at least half a month, these sand bandits could practically strut sideways through White Sand River Oasis.
Zhou Yang was now certain that the several Foundation Establishment Families in White Sand River Oasis had likely followed in Golden Mist Mountain's footsteps. Otherwise, the Foundation Establishment Cultivators among the sand bandits would not have been so scattered across the oasis, hunting down fleeing cultivators like them.
"I wonder how Adoptive Mother and the others are doing. I hope everyone can make it safely through this disaster!"
In a stretch of woodland along the White Sand River, Zhou Yang hid in an underground cavern dozens of meters beneath the forest. He could not help worrying about the other Zhou Family cultivators.
By now, he was basically safe. As long as he stayed hidden here for half a month without going out, no one could discover him tens of meters underground unless a Foundation Establishment Cultivator entered the woods and searched beneath the earth with their divine sense at full force.
Since this woodland was not a place where spirit veins converged, the chances of that happening were so low they could practically be ignored.
With his own safety assured, the people Zhou Yang worried about most were naturally Zhou Xuanyu, his adoptive mother, and the brothers and sisters of his clan.
Even with his wealth and methods, he had nearly died at the hands of the sand bandits while fleeing. How could his clan brothers, whose cultivation had only just reached the Mid Qi Refining Stage, fare any better?
Unfortunately, all he could do now was pray. There was nothing else he could do.
There was nothing he could do—literally.
Afraid that the spiritual energy fluctuations produced by cultivating spells would expose his location, Zhou Yang even halted his usual spell practice. Only then did he have time to inspect the spoils he had gained from killing the three sand bandits.
After killing the three sand bandits, Zhou Yang found seven Storage Bags on them in total. Another two Storage Bags had been destroyed during the battle, making their contents inaccessible, so he had not picked them up.
Of the seven Storage Bags he found, four had a capacity of one zhang, while the remaining three each held five chi of storage space.
Within these Storage Bags, Zhou Yang found a large quantity of spirit stones—more than sixteen hundred in all. Clearly, these spirit stones had been plundered by the three sand bandits.
He also discovered more than a dozen Tier 2 low-grade and mid-grade artifacts in the Storage Bags. Most had sustained damage to varying degrees. Needless to say, these artifacts had also been stolen.
Aside from spirit stones and artifacts, the greatest number of items Zhou Yang found were not pills, spirit talismans, or spiritual materials, but over a hundred books of various kinds and more than a dozen precious jade slips.
These books and jade slips containing valuable knowledge all bore a mark he recognized well: 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 had learned from records left behind by Zhou Family Ancestor Zhou Yuquan that the Yellow Sand Sect possessed an incredibly powerful inherited artifact called the Divine Sand Gourd. The divine sand released by this artifact could even kill Golden Core Stage Cultivators, making it extraordinarily formidable.
Not long ago, in order to study that pitch-black ore, Zhou Yang had specifically gone to the Yellow Sand Sect's shop in Golden Sand Market to buy some books. Now, upon seeing these texts in the sand bandits' Storage Bags, he immediately knew they had come from that very shop.
But he had not expected these sand bandits to be so audacious as to dare rob even the Yellow Sand Sect's belongings!
Although the Yellow Sand Sect's shop in Golden Sand Market was managed only by Qi Refining Stage disciples, it was still Yellow Sand Sect property. Even ordinary Foundation Establishment Cultivators did not dare put on airs upon entering that shop.
"Generally speaking, although sand bandits commit every evil imaginable, they are still wary of the Yellow Sand Sect, the great sect of the Boundless Sea of Sand. They would not lightly touch the Yellow Sand Sect's property."
"Yet these sand bandits have broken that rule this time. It seems someone gave them the confidence not to fear the Yellow Sand Sect's retaliation!"
Zhou Yang's heart sank. He suddenly realized that this sand bandit attack was likely far more than a simple raid.
Thinking about it, although sand bandits usually worked together, they operated in small groups of only several or a dozen people. There was generally no connection between the different groups of sand bandits.
Yet this time, not only had more than a dozen Foundation Establishment Stage Sand Bandits—normally an extremely rare sight—appeared all at once, but over a hundred ordinary Qi Refining Stage sand bandits had come as well.
Gathering and organizing so many sand bandits was no simple matter. It was not something one could accomplish merely with high cultivation; it required ample manpower and well-connected channels of information.
"Besides, whether those Foundation Establishment Cultivators truly were sand bandits is still open to question!"
Remembering the performance of those Foundation Establishment Stage Sand Bandits during the battle at Golden Mist Mountain, the gloom in Zhou Yang's heart deepened further.
He had a feeling that this oasis attack would not end so simply. The Cultivation World around White Sand River Oasis would likely be unable to remain as peaceful as before.
Unfortunately, due to his lack of information, even though he had guessed at some things, he did not dare jump to conclusions without actual intelligence to confirm them. He could only suppress those thoughts for now and wait to verify them later.
Still, with the more than one hundred books taken from the sand bandits' Storage Bags, Zhou Yang would not find the coming half month too difficult to endure.
Naturally, the texts put up for sale by the Yellow Sand Sect were nothing precious. They were merely low-level cultivation arts, spells, and introductory knowledge to the various cultivation professions, such as Artifact Forging Art, pill refinement, Talisman Masters, Spirit Planters, Beast Tamers, and so on.
The Zhou Family's Scripture Depository Cave already had such introductory knowledge of the cultivation professions and low-level cultivation arts, so Zhou Yang had no need to read them.
However, the dozen or so jade slips were immensely appealing to him. They were travel journals and autobiographies written by Foundation Establishment Cultivators and even Violet Palace Stage Cultivators during their travels through the Cultivation World. The local customs of different places, as well as tales of strange demonic beasts, treasures, and forbidden lands recorded within, were exactly the sort of things he loved reading most.
Moreover, within a black jade slip, Zhou Yang found the Blood Arrow Technique secret art that the sand bandit had used to ambush him.
This secret art was actually connected to the legendary Demonic Cultivators. It was a secret art of the Blood Demon Dao branch of demonic cultivation!
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