Sand City

Biodata

Geography and Access

• Strategic position: Its location beside the convergence of the three major territories makes Sand City an important military capital 13.
• Desert conditions: Scorching daytime heat, cold nights, and frequent sandstorms complicate life and military operations. Braziers warm the streets at night 22 26 31.
• Withered Forest route: The forest provides a westward shortcut toward the city, but its dense growth prevents warhorses and chariots from passing through. Taking the detour adds roughly three days to the journey described by Kanni 7.
• Creek Valley: The Viking encampment lies southeast of Sand City, roughly ninety-seven li away. Heavy wagons must follow the road around the Withered Forest rather than travel directly through it 31 32.
• Hidden Lake: Located near the Withered Forest and upstream of the enemy camp, the lake becomes an emergency drinking-water source for the city 31 32 36.

Architecture and Defenses

Fortifications

Surrounding Terrain

Buildings and Landmarks

Population and Commerce

• Military-centered population: Most inhabitants are knights. Blacksmiths, healers, and other specialists come through legion recruitment, while independent traders arrive to profit from frontline demand 13.
• Strict discipline: Knights who commit offenses such as refusing payment to a prostitute or murder face discovery and public beheading under Holy Temple military discipline 13.
• Profitable trade: Liquor sellers and prostitutes can earn as much in one month here as in three or four months elsewhere 13.
• Fulin Taiyou protection: Traders can purchase identification plaques from the Fulin Taiyou Trading Company. Its continent-spanning connections and Ancient Family backing protect plaque holders from harassment by all three powers 13.
• Specialized goods: Fulin Taiyou shops sell Elemental Beast Chunks, Elemental Medicine, treasure maps, enemy intelligence, and Elemental Artifacts, generally at prices beyond ordinary buyers’ means 14.
• Medical limitations: Sand City has no clinic. The army holds basic supplies such as bandages and blood-clotting agents, but Ma Linya must obtain ingredients separately to prepare Elemental Medicine 14.
• Weapons production: White Miles is a well-known senior blacksmith responsible for producing high-grade military weapons 34.

Water Supply

• Red Night Ant contamination: Ants in the wells threaten both drinking water and food preparation. Destroying them with elemental energy would release their abdominal toxins into the water, while some may already have spread upstream 31 35.
• Blue Starfish countermeasure: Ma Linya obtains Little Blue because Blue Starfish are natural enemies of Red Night Ants, offering a means to address the infestation rather than merely replace lost water 35.

History

Arrival of the Retreating Legion

After the fighting in the Withered Forest, Yetos and his companions reunited with the retreating main force and continued west. More than two thousand troops reached Sand City at noon. Yetos immediately assigned officers to inspect supplies, strengthen defenses, and organize enemy intelligence, while Ma Linya treated the severely wounded Zeng Mu 13 14.

Two tense days followed. Sentries maintained watch, recovered knights resumed drills, and Yetos concentrated on defenses and reconnaissance. Enemy forces remained nearby: roughly two thousand troops under Idiveer to the southeast and roughly three thousand under Qin Zihui to the northeast 15 16.

Black-Feathered Sparrow Attack

A vast flock of Black-Feathered Sparrows descended over Sand City during training. Their iron-hard beaks endangered the knights, especially those whose armor remained damaged from earlier fighting 17 18.

Zeng Mu and Kanni retrieved fragrant herb from Cobert’s shop. Ma Linya brewed a repellent potion, which Yetos dispersed across the city as medicinal rain using his repaired Wind Elemental Artifact. The flock withdrew, but the attack left 337 knights dead and 384 wounded 19 21 22.

Investigation linked the attack to a broader enemy scheme. Han Ling had devised the Sparrow Flock Plan, while Qin Zihui intended further damage after its disruption. A yellow viper fruit discovered inside a dead sparrow revealed the next danger 22.

Yellow Sand Diamondback Snake Tide

Yellow Sand Diamondback Snakes entered the city, drawn to sparrow carcasses containing yellow viper fruit. Some residents had not received the warning and were killed. The tide converged on the inner square’s accumulated carcasses, followed by an Elemental Snake King 23 24 25.

Yetos ordered ordinary knights indoors to preserve the garrison’s strength. He and six companions fought the snakes while the king began advancing. Zeng Mu ultimately killed the Elemental Beast and absorbed its rare elemental source overnight in the square, awakening as a Metal Elementalist 25 26 28 29.

Water Crisis and Retrieval Mission

Red Night Ants contaminated the wells, forcing their closure before water supplies could be replenished. Yetos sent Zeng Mu, Kanni, Ma Linya, and Cobert toward Hidden Lake disguised as merchants, carrying the Emerald Bead as a water-storage vessel 31 32.

The party secured the lake’s water despite encountering a Viking patrol. Ma Linya and Cobert returned first with the artifact; Zeng Mu and Kanni followed at dusk. Yetos subsequently sealed the city to prevent an enemy spy from reporting that the water problem had been resolved 36 38 40 42.

Seven Kingdoms Coalition Siege

Anticipating an attack through Black Iron Slope toward the southern gate, Yetos, Soxia, and Zeng Mu prepared a combined-element trap. Its eruption killed hundreds of advancing Coalition soldiers, but Qin Zihui ordered the survivors onward 42 43 45.

Sand City had only 1,223 combat-ready knights remaining after the earlier disasters, less than half the Coalition’s strength. Yetos ordered the garrison to hold its defenses rather than risk a sortie. Qin archers suppressed the walls with Windrider Bow volleys while assault troops bridged the poisoned moat 46 47 48.

Yetos attacked the besiegers directly and confronted Qin Zihui, their elemental duel disrupting the assault. Nevertheless, a gate fell; Coalition troops severed the drawbridge supports, allowing their cavalry to charge across the moat. The supplied account ends before the battle’s outcome is established 48 49 50.