Chapter 705 - Enemy Attack in the Desert
A soldier rode his horse as he rushed to report to Northern Liang City. The others continued to patrol the northernmost border in the extremely harsh environment where spiritual Qi was thin. The sun turned redder, and the color of the sky dimmed even more.
They patrolled for a while when the cavalry captain suddenly heard a strange rustle. He immediately brandished his long spear and pointed it at his surroundings. “Enemy attack. Everyone, prepare yourselves.”
As soon as his voice fell, his winged horse mount, which could survive tenaciously even in the desert, neighed miserably and loudly. Then its two front hooves kicked violently, as if it was going crazy.
The captain immediately pulled the reins, trying to stabilize his body. He looked at the other cavalry around him, who were also facing the same situation.
“Everyone, steady! Steady!” The captain shouted loudly.
However, steadying the horses didn’t make much difference, because these horses actually bent their front legs and knelt down.
The people on the horses immediately jumped down, still in shock, but they saw shadowy monsters with human faces and tall limbs scuttling out from the sandy soil under the horses.
They opened their mouths and revealed fangs. They held the horses’ necks with both hands and first tore a bite with their mouth, then put strength into their four limbs to twist off these horses’ necks. Horse blood flowed all over the ground.
The monsters made excited sounds and immediately used their mouths to suck the blood that was flowing from the wounds. The cavalry captain watched this scene with stunned eyes and even felt disgusted.
They had never seen this kind of thing before, but they’d been traveling at the junction of the human and demon realms all year round, so they had encountered countless things that they had never seen before. The cavalry captain took the lead in brandishing his spear and shouted, “Kill them!”
Soon, gales started blowing in the northern border.
Hundreds of evil spirits climbed out from the ground. They quickly ate several lifeless corpses that had been lying on the ground. They looted the corpses, scratched with their claws, and tore the corpses directly with their mouths, as if they had been starving for hundreds of years.
The final scene reflected in the cavalry captain’s eyes was the ugly monster reaching its claws out to him.
Another hour later, a young man in heavy armor with a red tasseled spear rushed towards the same location with a group of people behind him.
“The help signal came from here just now.” The little general in a snow-white armor circled around the area twice. “How come I don’t see anyone?”
“Deputy General.” A young man in a white robe pointed to a thick yellow sand dune. “Over there — you can vaguely see a glint of light. Is it from the tip of a spear?”
Deputy General Yan’s expression changed slightly. He immediately jumped off his horse and sent a palm strike towards the sand dune. The thick layers of yellow sand were lifted one after another.
In this instant, practically the entire team gasped.
Broken armor, bloodstained spears, and corpses that had already turned into dark white bones &#k2014; with bits of red flesh hanging off the bones &#k2014; were scattered throughout the sand dunes.
Amidst the flying sand, Deputy General Yan’s handsome face was extremely shocked, but this only lasted for an instant. The next second, he suddenly roared with grief and indignation, “Who did this? Who exactly did this? Fuck, crawl out for this General! Who&#k2013;”
“Deputy General Yan, it’s inadvisable to stay here for a long time. You’d better go back first.” The white-robed person frowned and took in the ghastly scene all at once. “King Zhen is still waiting for your return.”
Yan Shuang’s eyes were bloodshot. He turned back to glare at the white-robed military advisor. “The border guards have died so inexplicably. We haven’t even found the culprits yet, neither have we avenged these troops, but we’re going back after just taking a look here? Han Su, I am the general guarding the city. I’m not Yan Huaizhen’s bed warmer!”
Han Su, however, replied lightly, “Deputy General Yan, right now the West Phoenix Monarch Feng Jingyu has come to Northern Liang City with the young master of the northern border’s original guard family, Ling Chigu. But do you really believe that they’re here to pledge their loyalty? Ling Chigu’s loyalty is a given, but the West Phoenix Monarch seems to be here for revenge. You should know how King Zhen treated you. Right now, he finally managed to take over the general’s power after much difficulty. Don’t tell me that you want to see him ultimately surrender the power of the general that he went through such great pains to obtain?”
Yan Shuang clenched his fists tightly. The corpses of the soldiers who died mysterious deaths were reflected in his eyes.
“Deputy General, King Zhen needs you. No matter how much you admired or served Ling Chigu in the past, right now, you only have one Lord, and that is King Zhen — Yan Huaizhen,” Han Su’s voice was neither slow nor fast, but it made people unable to refute him.
“Then did these soldiers die in vain?” Yan Shuang asked with difficulty as he trembled with anger.
“How could they have died in vain?” Hai Su said, “Even if Deputy General doesn’t investigate this matter, this subordinate will certainly investigate. After all, their deaths are too terrifying. If I don’t get to the bottom of this soon, I’m afraid that this will cause endless disasters. General Yan can rest assured that although this humble one isn’t talented, this one still understands the severity of the situation.”
Yan Shuang gritted his teeth. “You must not let them die in vain.”
Han Su nodded.
Yan Shuang turned and told the others, “Stay and bury the bones of these soldiers on the spot. If they have a life tablet on them, take it with you. After erecting a gravestone for them, take the life tablet back to their families.”
“Yes!”
After instructing them, Yan Shuang urged the horse to gallop towards Northern Liang City. After he left, the soldiers were about to bury the bodies, but Han Su stopped them.
Han Su said, “This place is battered by an endless onslaught of sand and wind. There is no need to trouble you all to take action. Just wait for the wind to blow the sand away. In less than an hour, these bones will never be seen again.”
The soldiers were very troubled. One of them said, “But it’s the Deputy General’s order. We can’t really disobey.”
Han Su had a somewhat cold nature. His eyes looked a little indifferent. “Instead of wasting time on this, it’s better to look for clues in the surroundings before the heavy sandstorm comes, or else all the traces will be buried in a while.”
Although many of these soldiers used to be part of Ling Chigu’s troops, even more of them were recruited by King Zhen after Ling Chigu’s death. Yan Huaizhen wanted to make a comeback and started amassing troops again.
Therefore, although these soldiers respected Ling Chigu, they had more faith in King Zhen. As the most important advisor under King Zhen, Han Su naturally had a higher status in the eyes of these soldiers. Thus, everyone who originally planned to bury the bones of the dead cavalry immediately stopped and decided to search for clues in the surroundings.
Han Su urged his horse towards the skeleton still dripping with blood.
He narrowed his eyes slightly as he observed the marks that had been torn with sharp teeth, as well as the bones that had been broken with tremendous force. He closed his eyes and tried to recreate the scene in his mind.
......
......
The overwhelming yellow sand swept across the people in the desert.
Perhaps those things were evil spirits that crawled up from beneath the ground. Their bodies seemed to be made of sand. When bathed in yellow sand, their bodies resembled mollusks that didn’t have any bones. They craned their necks, stretched out their four limbs, and finally flashed a row of sharp canine teeth towards the people struggling to move forward in the desert.
Now that they had the experience of the previous battle on the ice layers, everyone didn’t seem as panicked as before. As per Yan Tianhen’s suggestion, they had already integrated their blood into their own weapons. Those who couldn’t do that would focus only on defense and not on offense, trying to reduce casualties as much as possible.
Although these evil spirits that climbed out of the yellow sand didn’t have powerful attacks, after careful calculation, they were still slightly stronger than the evil spirits everyone encountered on the ice layers.
Originally, Lin Xuanzhi even wanted to send ahead the disciples who looked useless in battle. However, after looking at the situation, he found that evil spirits were showering down on them from all sides. They fused together with the vast yellow sand. If it weren’t for their extreme speed, the group wouldn’t be able to tell them apart from the sand.
Run?
Where can they run to?
If they leave here and move to another location, who can guarantee that location would be free of monsters?
They gazed at the boundless wave of monsters and could only face cruel reality.
It was still possible to turn into a dragon in the desert, but the power boost they would gain from transforming into a dragon here wouldn’t be as great as transforming on the ice lake earlier.
Zhan Fengting transformed into a white dragon and tried his best to grind a portion of the evil spirits into pulp. Then he exhausted his strength; he turned back into human form and fell out of the air.
Hai Kuanglang’s heart almost reached his throat. He flew up and held Zhan Fengting’s body. After they landed, he scolded, “Why are you trying so hard? You just sealed such a large area of the ice lake before. Do you still want your life?”
When he spoke, he got a mouthful of sand in response. Hai Kuanglang suddenly started coughing non stop, his face pale.
Zhan Fengting, on the other hand, smiled. “Whatever Little Lang says is right, but don’t speak anymore. After all, there is too much sand here.”
Hai Kuanglang became embarrassed. He turned his head away and said, “Don’t talk nonsense.”
Yan Tianhen sent a few evil spirits flying with his whip and scooted over. “You two are still flirting and bantering even now — that’s too unkind. There are actually so many evil creatures. We can’t kill them all, so we can only seal them again!”
Zhan Fengting replied, “Sealing will work, but my cultivation isn’t high enough to seal all the evil spirits in the entire desert!”
“Damn it, that stupid dragon is so unreliable. How come he’s suddenly useless now?” Yan Tianhen cursed and grabbed Zhan Fengting’s arm. “Zhan Shixiong, do you know where your ancestor’s burial ground is?”
Zhan Fengting answered, “I know.”
“Take me there.”
Zhan Fengting hesitated.
Yan Tianhen took a deep breath and explained, “That fellow and I can be considered old acquaintances. I’d like to ask him exactly what kind of temper tantrum he’s having, to actually quit his job abruptly before his successor is ready!”
Zhan Fengting, “...”
“Moreover, this Dragon Tomb is a huge evil spirit sealing ground to begin with. I’m afraid there are millions of evil spirits buried inside the Dragon Tomb. The ones we encountered just now are merely the tip of the iceberg. If we don’t take further action, I’m afraid the entire Dragon Tomb will collapse once all the seals are broken!”
Zhan Fengting, “...”
“The place where the Dragon God’s bones are buried is the eye of the array that controls the entire Dragon Tomb. The effect of applying a sealing spell in that place is much better than trying to seal these evil spirits here, one by one.”
Zhan Fengting, “...”
Yan Tianhen blinked a few times at Zhan Fengting. “Shixiong, why aren’t you moving?”
Zhan Fengting looked at him. “I don’t quite understand. How can you be considered old acquaintances with the Dragon God?”
How did the Longyao family’s most sacred place for tens of thousands of years suddenly become the sealing ground for evil spirits? How come... I feel like I’m actually the one who doesn’t know anything?
Yan Tianhen swept a glance at the people who were fighting in full swing. He coughed and said, “This matter can’t be explained clearly in a few words, but I’ve always handled matters reliably. Don’t tell me that Shixiong doesn’t trust me?”