Snatching the Treasure Sword

"Boom, boom!" The Sand Worm lunged at Wei Qiang with a sound that tore through the air, its momentum swift as lightning. Its terrifying maw was large enough to swallow a grown man whole, and there was no doubt those sharp teeth could grind a prey's flesh-and-blood body to pieces the instant it was swallowed.

Feeling the killing intent behind him, Wei Qiang did not dare be careless. Like a startled rabbit, he burst forward with all his strength, covering three zhang in a single step. But such an outburst could not last. The enormous Sand Worm stayed one zhang behind him the entire time; the moment he stopped, he would certainly end up being swallowed in one bite.

Wei Qiang sprinted at full speed. Seeing that he could not shake off the Sand Worm, and with Wang Ding not far away, a vicious idea rose in his heart. He ignited a drop of Essence within his body, and his speed instantly doubled as he ran in Wang Ding's direction.

Qi Transformation Stage cultivators had one trump card: at a critical moment, they could erupt the accumulated Essence within them, causing their strength to soar by onefold. It was a life-saving killing move for moments of peril. However, each time they erupted it, accumulating Essence again afterward would become that much harder.

After Wang Ding had fled the sand dune and saw that the Sand Worm had not pursued him, he stopped a few hundred meters away from Wei Qiang. Now, seeing Wei Qiang charge toward him, he could not help frowning as he thought inwardly, Truly reckless. Blinded by a woman, and even at a time like this, he's still thinking of fighting over jealousy. Since you're courting death, you can't blame me.

Wang Ding sneered and took an Earth Escape Talisman from his chest, clasping it in his hand. He turned and ran in another direction. Wang Ding was buying time, wanting Wei Qiang to exhaust the Essence he had erupted. By now, the other three had already stopped and were watching from nearby. Seeing Wei Qiang lead the Sand Worm toward Wang Ding, none of them moved. They neither came forward to help nor fled, as if waiting for something.

As Wang Ding ran, he kept an eye on Wei Qiang chasing behind him. Wei Qiang was drawing closer and closer now, only two zhang away from him. Judging from his expression, the Essence he had erupted was probably almost spent, and his speed was now on par with Wang Ding's. The giant Sand Worm was only three zhang from Wei Qiang as well.

Seeing that he still could not catch Wang Ding, while the Sand Worm was about to catch up to him, Wei Qiang's face twisted ferociously. His triangular eyes flashed with a mad light. Gritting his teeth, his face suddenly turned crimson—he had erupted his Essence once again. In an instant, he surpassed Wang Ding ahead of him, then turned back and laughed savagely. "Brat, trying to steal a woman from me? In your next life." His face was full of petty triumph and madness.

"Is that so?" Wang Ding said strangely at that moment.

"What's going on? Does this brat still have some way to escape? No, absolutely impossible. Even if he erupts his Essence too, there's no way he can surpass me."

Before he could react, Wang Ding, who was behind him, suddenly vanished. Wei Qiang immediately shouted as if he had been injected with chicken blood, "Impossible! How could he disappear?" Before he could recover from his shock, the Sand Worm that had been chasing behind him had already pounced right in front of him. A fishy wind assaulted his nose. Wei Qiang could no longer care about anything else. Fleeing was already impossible, and he had no choice but to face the Sand Worm head-on.

The Sand Worm's giant mouth came down over his head. Wei Qiang suddenly roared, "Out!" A streak of green light shot from his sleeve, stabbing toward the Sand Worm's mouth.

Sensing danger, the Sand Worm snapped its mouth shut and dodged, avoiding the green light. By now, Wang Ding had already used the Earth Escape Talisman to run a hundred meters away and lie in hiding. When he saw the green light Wei Qiang had released, he knew it was a Magic Tool. His pupils contracted, and deep killing intent immediately shot from his eyes. The other three, one li away, also revealed looks of shock.

The three no longer hesitated and swiftly ran toward Wei Qiang.

Wang Ding glimpsed them running over, his face dark as he thought, This man has a Magic Tool in hand, and with those three supporting him, killing this Sand Worm that has formed an Inner Core is still possible. He has killing intent toward me, so he definitely won't let me off. Strike first and gain the upper hand; strike later and suffer calamity. I must wait for the chance to use the Earth Escape Talisman to sneak behind him and kill him in one blow. I only have one chance. Once I miss it, I'm afraid the other three won't let me kill him.

It seemed like a long time to think, but in reality it was only an instant. Wang Ding settled on a plan in his heart, immediately clasped another Earth Escape Talisman in his hand, and activated it, ready to use it at any moment.

Song Daokun and the other two had already arrived at the battlefield and joined the fight. Fang Wen wielded a snow-white flexible sword, and as he swung it, Sword Qi flew everywhere, reflecting countless rays of sunlight that dazzled the eyes. It carved long, thin wounds across the Sand Worm's body, but it was a Core Formation Beast after all, with fierce defensive power. They were only superficial wounds.

Shi Mei was wielding a pair of short swords at this moment, one black and one purple. Blue light flickered over the blades from time to time, clearly quenched with deadly poison. Every sword strike aimed at the Sand Worm's abdomen, truly vicious and ruthless.

As for Song Daokun, his whole body had swelled round and full like a ball of flesh, impervious to force. He kept slamming into the Sand Worm, and each time he was bounced back, nothing happened to him. The three of them were only playing a restraining role. Under their obstruction, the Sand Worm could not charge out for a while and could only keep sweeping its tail to attack the three. Whenever the giant tail came, Song Daokun and the other two would dodge aside and avoid clashing head-on, then tangle with it again, simply refusing to let the Sand Worm break through.

Wei Qiang, however, had become the main attacker, his face savage as he commanded the Magic Tool in the sky to continuously attack the Sand Worm.

The Sand Worm was entangled by the crowd and could not avoid the Magic Tool. Wound after wound appeared on its earthen-yellow shell, and green blood flowed all over the ground, dyeing the surrounding sand green.

Suddenly, Wei Qiang's face turned deathly pale, as if he could no longer hold on. His expression hardened, and he recalled the Magic Tool to himself, then spat a mouthful of essence blood onto it. Receiving this blow, the Magic Tool blazed with brilliant light.

Wei Qiang pointed at the Sand Worm from afar. The green Magic Tool immediately shot out as fast as lightning and struck the Sand Worm's head. The Sand Worm's head was blasted apart like a watermelon. Seeing this, Wei Qiang's mind and spirit were overcome with exhaustion, and he then recalled the Magic Tool, which flew back into his sleeve.

Only then did everyone let out a breath of relief. But the instant after Wei Qiang recalled the Magic Tool, Wang Ding appeared behind him and launched the strike he had plotted for so long. Wang Ding held a Blazing Fire Talisman in his right hand and an Earth Escape Talisman in his left, while the Blazing Fire Talisman was now pointed at Wei Qiang from afar.

When the three opposite Wei Qiang saw Wang Ding suddenly appear with talismans in hand, their faces changed greatly in shock. Seeing their expressions, how could Wei Qiang not know something was wrong? But just as he turned his head, he saw a blaze of fire strike his back, while Wang Ding watched him with a cold smile.

"No—" He only had time to let out an unwilling roar before half of Wei Qiang's body was blasted into pieces. His consciousness went black, and he knew nothing more.

Wang Ding did not linger at that moment. He reached toward the remaining half of Wei Qiang's ruined body and grabbed out the Magic Tool Wei Qiang had just taken back into his sleeve.

Wang Ding's series of movements was as fast as lightning. Only then did the three people opposite react, but it was already too late. Wei Qiang was dead, and the Magic Tool had fallen into Wang Ding's hands.

The three walked forward and looked at Wei Qiang's corpse that Wang Ding had thrown by his feet. Shi Mei suddenly said, "Fellow Daoist Huang, isn't this going too far? In any case, Fellow Daoist Wei Qiang was still a comrade who fought shoulder to shoulder with us. For you to actually be able to strike him down—aren't you looking down on us a little too much?"

"I don't consider him a comrade. It's not as if you didn't see what happened just now. He was clearly trying to divert the calamity eastward. If I hadn't happened to have two Earth Escape Talismans, I'm afraid I'd be the one dead now. I don't have a Magic Tool protecting me, after all," Wang Ding sneered without the slightest concern.

Shi Mei was choked speechless by Wang Ding's words. Everyone had seen what Wei Qiang had done just now.

Shi Mei was unwilling to let it go. Her eyes rolled, and she said again, "Then may I ask if Fellow Daoist can return Fellow Daoist Wei's Magic Tool to me?"