Bai Zhan Chen flicked his whip and spurred his horse, disappearing into the distance. Suddenly, looking down from a height, he saw some marauders robbing merchants of their transported goods!
"These scoundrels, disrupting the order of the Western Wastes, are truly lawless."
Bai Zhan Chen muttered to himself, and Tang Feng and others also caught up on horseback behind him.
At this moment, people from the Yue Han Sect were less than two hundred meters in front of them. They pretended not to see anything, heading away proudly, completely unconcerned, and letting the marauders rob and kill.
"The Yue Han Sect's actions are truly disheartening," Hu Li Zhao said indignantly.
Han Ling Shuang nodded and drew her sword. She was the youngest among them but possessed a strong and heroic spirit. Seeing over a dozen people surrounding a group of unarmed merchants, she had long wanted to draw her sword to uphold justice.
Tang Feng, Bai Zhan Chen, and others followed closely behind her and leaped down.
"Senior Brother, the Yue Han Sect is doing this purely to preserve their strength. If we expend ourselves here..."
Before Bai Zhan Chen could finish speaking, Tang Feng reprimanded him, "I know that, but aren't we righteous people meant to uphold justice and eliminate demons? If we stand by and watch such things, aren't we condoning those marauders?"
As the two were speaking, they saw Han Ling Shuang draw her sword and block a saber from one of them.
"Yo, this little chick is interesting. She's dressed as a man, but she's more beautiful than those scantily clad women from before!"
The man, having his saber blocked, was unfazed. Three to five marauders also surrounded Han Ling Shuang.
"This girl is tender and fair-skinned. Selling her to those scoundrels in Gu Yao City should fetch a good price. However, we brothers haven't had meat for quite some time, and we're itching for it, hehe~"
As the three to five men were about to strike, Tang Feng and Bai Zhan Chen drew their swords, swift as lightning, quickly fending off these ruffians.
"Brothers, stop everything, come over here. We have better goods here."
Following the man's call, everyone strode quickly across the hot sand. There were twenty to thirty people in total. Having grown up on beef and horses, they were burly, and the shortest among them was half a head taller than them!
Han Ling Shuang, on her first foray into the martial world, encountered such formidable enemies. However, she was naturally skilled and courageous. Just as she was about to draw her sword to retaliate against their lewd remarks, a faint but clear laugh came from behind.
After the laughter, an ancient and sharp black Tang saber suddenly slashed through the air, drawing a black arc and piercing diagonally into the sand. The marauders took a closer look, and their originally fierce expressions instantly withered, their faces turning pale!
This saber was naturally Ren Yuan Hao's Wuji Blade.
The saber's body was imprinted with the scorching, fierce sunlight, reflecting dazzling beams of five-colored light, making it extremely brilliant.
Unexpectedly, upon seeing this saber, the marauders' hands loosened their grip on their sabers, and they dropped to the ground. All of them prostrated themselves on the hot sand, allowing the sand to burn their skin. Then, they knelt and bowed repeatedly to Ren Yuan Hao, who was lazily leaning on an elephant.
Han Ling Shuang and the other two were puzzled by this. At this moment, the leading marauder wailed as if he had seen a ghost, "We beg that lord to spare us. We will henceforth vanish from the Western Wastes Desert. If you see us again, we will gouge out our own eyes. We beg you to fulfill our plea!"
The three of them turned their heads in unison, their hearts churning with immense shock. Ren Yuan Hao merely tossed a saber, and it was enough to scare twenty to thirty vicious marauders into prostrating themselves and kowtowing. This power far surpassed that of Saintess Ulitie from before.
At this time, Ren Yuan Hao remained leaning against the elephant's back, lazily looking at the book in his hands. He waved his hand at these guys from afar. These vicious scoundrels, as if granted a great pardon, fled in disarray, not even bothering to pick up the sabers they had dropped.
Watching their panicked escape, the three exchanged glances. The merchants knelt and bowed to the three, offering their thanks.
A short while later, the three rejoined the team and continued forward.
They hadn't gone far when Han Ling Shuang finally couldn't help but ask, "Brother Bao, why did those people look like they saw a ghost when they saw your saber, so terrified they lost their souls? Could it be that Brother Bao has also taught these people a lesson?"
Ren Yuan Hao just smiled slightly. "We had an encounter."
His answer was light, but his reputation and his saber had already spread throughout the Western Wastes Desert. Among those marauders, the leader was one of those who had been swiftly dealt with by Ren Yuan Hao that day. He had escaped the black sandstorm, and it was he who had spread the news of Ren Yuan Hao's deeds.
Even Ren Yuan Hao himself did not know that the Western Wastes Desert now had a legend belonging to him—called the Rakshasa Black Saber.
Those who see this saber must detour; those who see this saber must retreat; those who see this saber shall forever be forbidden from stepping into the Western Wastes Desert!
Ren Yuan Hao felt pleased. Even though the scorching sun spanned the sky, as if he had cultivated the Qingxin Jue, his body felt cool. Furthermore, his fire attribute true qi was completely under his control, making him feel unusually comfortable.
However, the three great true qi's still wreaked havoc within his body, and his complexion remained poor.
The group traveled for about another hour. They thought the surroundings were all undulating sand dunes and deserted, but unexpectedly, after crossing a sand dune, a lush, green, and ancient land suddenly appeared before their eyes!
Bai Zhan Chen exclaimed, "We've finally arrived. It's just as it was before. There have been no changes in three years. Even the black sandstorms flee from this place, remaining unchanged for hundreds of years."
Tang Feng's expression suddenly changed, likely recalling the grand competition three years ago. "Junior brothers, do you remember three years ago?"
As soon as he said this, a hint of sadness flashed across everyone's faces.
Three years ago, they had been brought to the competition grounds by their Sect Master. At that time, there were seven of them, but the sixth and seventh were accidentally killed by a disciple from the Cang Long Sect during the competition. The Sect Master was furious and directly attacked and severely injured the opposing sect's Grand Elder, thus forging enmity between the two sects.
Even more tragically, in that competition, all five of them lost, failing to secure a single victory.
For the past three years, everyone had endured hardships and practiced diligently, spending several times more time cultivating than before. Although the Sect Master outwardly appeared indifferent to fame and fortune, they knew that the Sect Master had placed all his hopes on them, entrusting them with most of the sect's resources.
After all, the Chaoyang Sect had been at a disadvantage for decades. If this continued, once the Sect Master passed away, the Chaoyang Sect would be directly overthrown by other sects and decline rapidly.
Fortunately, heaven did not let their arduous cultivation go in vain. In their long drought, Ren Yuan Hao arrived like a timely rain.