The Poison Dragon's Treachery at the Crucial Moment

The blazing sun scorched the Tagore Desert mercilessly, warping the air with waves of heat.

Qing Mo and Qing Lin had already been walking for several hours. Fine beads of sweat covered Qing Mo's forehead, and his lips were slightly cracked.

"Brother Qing Mo, we... we should find somewhere to rest." Qing Lin raised her little face and looked at Qing Mo's sweat-soaked profile, her eyes full of concern.

Because of her unusual constitution, she was not nearly as exhausted.

"Alright." Qing Mo nodded. He truly needed a moment to regulate his breathing and recover the Dou Qi he had expended.

The two quickened their pace and climbed a relatively tall sand dune ahead. Its shaded side offered temporary shelter from the direct blaze of the sun.

Just as Qing Mo was about to sit down, his brows suddenly rose. On the distant horizon of the sea of sand, a blurry figure was staggering desperately in their direction.

"That person... why do they seem familiar?" Qing Mo narrowed his eyes. The outline of that figure felt vaguely familiar.

"Brother Qing Mo, that looks like... Sister Xue Lan!" Qing Lin rubbed her eyes and cried out in surprise after examining the figure closely.

"Xue Lan? Why would she be here?" Qing Mo's heart jolted. Wasn't the Desert Iron Mercenary Group resting in Stone Desert City? Why was Xue Lan here?

A sense of foreboding surged through him. Without time to think further, Qing Mo moved, unleashing the Gale-Chasing Step as he raced toward the figure.

As the distance closed, the figure became clearer and clearer.

It really was Xue Lan. However, she was in terrible condition. Her fitted combat clothes had long been torn to tatters, covered in sand and dried dark-red bloodstains.

Her hair was disheveled, her pretty face caked with dust, and a trace of blood still hung from the corner of her mouth.

"Xue Lan! Why is it you? What happened?"

In just a few breaths, Qing Mo rushed to her side and quickly reached out to support the swaying Xue Lan. He sent a stream of Dou Qi into her body, helping steady her chaotic breathing.

"Qing Mo! And... Qing Lin!" The instant Xue Lan saw them, hope suddenly burst forth in her unfocused eyes.

Even the chief captain Xiao Ding had heaped praise upon Qing Mo's unfathomable flying-knife technique. With him here, perhaps... perhaps there was still hope!

"Quick! Go save the chief captain and the others! They've been attacked by Snake-People!" Xue Lan grabbed Qing Mo's arm and shouted hoarsely with all her strength.

"Attacked by Snake-People?" Qing Mo's expression darkened at once. "Tell me slowly. Don't panic. Can you still hold on?"

He took Qi-Recovery Pills and a Blood-Replenishing Pill from his Storage Ring and placed them in Xue Lan's mouth.

"I can!" Feeling a little strength return to her body, Xue Lan gritted her teeth and forced herself to stay upright.

"I'll carry you. Show me the way. Get on." Qing Mo crouched down and motioned for Xue Lan to climb onto his back.

"Alright!" Xue Lan knew this was no time to stand on ceremony. She climbed onto Qing Mo's broad back and pointed in the direction she had come from.

"Tell me what's happening over there. The more detailed, the better." Qing Mo pushed off with his feet and unleashed the Gale-Chasing Step again.

"The chief captain is fighting a Two-Star Dou Master Snake-Person expert. That Snake-Person is also controlling a One-Star Battle Master Scarlet-Scaled Sand Python!"

"The second captain is being held down by two Nine-Star Dou Master Snake-Person elites and can't get away at all. The brothers we brought... suffered terrible casualties. The Snake-People nearly outnumber us two to one. We're about to collapse! The chief captain fought desperately to create an opening for me, so I could break out and return to Stone Desert City to seek help from the Mercenary Association!" Xue Lan spilled everything out in one breath.

"A Snake-Person force at the Battle Master level? How did you encounter them?" Qing Mo's gaze sharpened.

Could it really be as he had guessed? Was the Medusa Queen searching for the Green Lotus Heartfire?

But even if it was for a Heavenly Flame, there was no need to openly clash with human mercenaries. Was she not afraid of drawing all the Dou Emperor experts of the Jia Ma Empire here?

"This... this is all the fault of that damned Poison Dragon Mercenary Group! If they hadn't backed down at the crucial moment, how could we have fallen into such a desperate situation?"

At the mention of the Poison Dragon Mercenary Group, Xue Lan's voice brimmed with endless fury. Her agitation even pulled at her wounds, making her cough violently.

"Hm? This has something to do with the Poison Dragon Mercenary Group?" Qing Mo frowned. What had happened while he was away from Stone Desert City?

Xue Lan calmed her breathing and explained, "Originally, we planned to rest in the city for a few days. But for some reason, Snake-People activity around Stone Desert City suddenly became unusually frequent. Several mercenary squads disappeared outside the city.

The Mercenary Association realized something was wrong and issued a joint extermination mission, hiring the major mercenary groups in the city to clear the Snake-People from the surrounding region and protect Stone Desert City."

"This morning, we received an emergency distress signal from the Mercenary Association. They said a mercenary squad had been surrounded by Snake-People nearby and was in grave danger.

The chief captain immediately led us to support them, but who could have expected that the trapped group was actually from the Poison Dragon Mercenary Group! Their deputy captain, Lin Qi, was leading them!"

At that point, Xue Lan was grinding her teeth in fury.

"If we'd known it was that bunch of despicable scum, we never should have gone!"

"The Poison Dragon Mercenary Group again!" Qing Mo's expression also turned grim. That mercenary group truly opposed the Desert Iron Mercenary Group at every turn.

"That's right! But the chief captain thought that, as mercenaries from the same Stone Desert City, we should put aside our past grudges when facing the Snake-People."

"So we charged straight into the encirclement and tore open a path for them. But who would have thought... who would have thought those animals would run away while we were locked in battle with the Snake-People!"

Xue Lan said emotionally, "They just ran! They used us as their shield and stepping stone!"

"To buy time for me to escape, Brother Diao Zhen... Brother Diao Zhen was surrounded by three Snake-Person warriors..."

By the end, Xue Lan could no longer hold back. She collapsed against Qing Mo's back and burst into tears.

"Damn it!"

Qing Mo's steps halted as an uncontrollable killing intent erupted from him.

Diao Zhen was the big man who had sparred with him when he had first joined the Desert Iron Mercenary Group. He had been upright and openhearted. Such a good man had died just like that.

"Little Qing Lin, this is urgent. I have to get there first. I can't carry both of you at the same time." Qing Mo took a deep breath, forcefully suppressing his emotions as he turned to Qing Lin, who had been silently following behind them.

Qing Lin's little face was also filled with worry and anger. She nodded.

"Brother Qing Mo, hurry and go. Don't worry about Qing Lin. Qing Lin will catch up on her own!"

"Alright! Be careful!"

Qing Mo did not hesitate any longer. Dou Qi erupted from within him, and his figure instantly blurred as his speed increased severalfold.

Before long, Qing Mo arrived at the edge of the battlefield with Xue Lan on his back.

Corpses lay everywhere across the yellow sand. Most belonged to members of the Desert Iron Mercenary Group. There were Snake-Person corpses as well, but their numbers were clearly fewer than the humans'.

"Xue Lan, hide here for now. Take this pill and regulate your breathing as soon as possible. Leave the rest to me."

Qing Mo placed Xue Lan in a hollow in the sand dune, concealing her figure, then handed her another healing pill.

"Alright... you, you must be careful!" Xue Lan weakly said, clutching Qing Mo's sleeve.

At this moment, Qing Mo was their only hope.

Qing Mo nodded without another word. The moment he turned away, his gaze became exceptionally focused.