The dry, cold wind howled at the opportune moment, clouds rolled in from the northwest, growing denser and denser, and sand began to dance and fly along with it.
"Kid, you're the most arrogant man I've ever met. Rest assured, I will pay my highest respects to your corpse."
With a wave of his hand, the plunderer sent more than a dozen men rushing towards Ren Yuanhao like hurricanes.
The sound of blades tore through the northwest wind, cutting out a buzzing whine. Soon, they had surrounded Ren Yuanhao, like dark clouds pressing down on the city.
At this moment, Sha Yunba pulled the leader's hand. "Miss, let's take this opportunity to ride their horses and run as far as we can!"
"Run?" The woman flung Sha Yunba's hand away, her voice stern. "This man is fighting those 'beasts' to save us. You expect me to ride away now? Fine, even if we can escape, the Jackal God will send a sandstorm to swallow us thoughtless wretches!"
"But isn't that kid doing this precisely to draw everyone's attention so you and I can escape safely? Don't betray his good intentions, hurry!"
Sha Yunba reached for his young lady again, but as his young lady’s temper flared, she shook off his hand. "Can't you just believe he can defeat these savage beasts?"
Sha Yunba felt as if he had heard the funniest joke in the world. "If he can defeat these beasts, it would be as if the Jackal God himself has reincarnated!"
As they spoke, several慘烈 roars echoed from within the 'black clouds'. The sand kicked up by the strong wind slowly dispersed. The two looked and saw a person tidying his clothes in the sand's shadow, then shaking his shoulders and striding out from the 'black clouds' through the sand.
"Tsk, tsk, I didn't expect it to take three more seconds."
Ren Yuanhao shook the sand from his hair, rewrapped the gauze around his entire face, leaving only his bright eyes visible from the strips of cloth.
"How, how is this possible!"
Sha Yunba suddenly remembered the harsh words he had said to Ren Yuanhao earlier. He immediately knelt and kowtowed, his face filled with fear. "Jackal God above, please forgive this insignificant one's disrespect."
"What Jackal God? I'm called~" Ren Yuanhao suddenly remembered this was a lawless, chaotic land, and revealing his true name was unwise. He immediately said, "My name is Qin Baobao. You can call me Baobao."
Actually, the term "Baobao" in their village meant older brother, so it was not out of line to take advantage of it unintentionally.
"No, no, no, brother must be the Jackal God incarnate. How could this insignificant one dare to address brother by name? How about this, I'll call you Brother Bao."
Sha Yunba was pulled up by Ren Yuanhao. As Sha Yunba stood up, he saw that where the battle had just taken place, the ground was strewn with 'corpses'. Looking closer, no one had any wounds, as if they had been knocked unconscious by extremely peculiar moves.
"Brother Bao, those people aren't dead~"
"Indeed, they are not. Although they were quite pushy, I couldn't bring myself to be ruthless. I'll let your Jackal God decide their fate." Ren Yuanhao pointed to the four dead individuals and said, "I think you should figure out how to deal with your subordinates; that's the real business."
As soon as he finished speaking, Ren Yuanhao nodded at the leader and turned to leave.
"Brother Bao, where are you going?"
Sha Yunba's expression changed.
"There's still someone hiding in the shadows. I need to flush him out to ensure your safety. Stay here and don't move. I'll be back shortly."
Ren Yuanhao mounted one of the plunderers' horses. He suddenly remembered something. "Ah, I'll have to trouble the two of you with my horse for now."
"Okay!"
Ren Yuanhao squeezed the horse's belly with his legs and galloped away, kicking up a cloud of dust.
"I distinctly felt a super-powered individual's frequency just now, and it was in the poplar forest to the northwest. Why has it suddenly disappeared?"
Ren Yuanhao galloped for hundreds of meters but still couldn't sense any super-powered individual's frequency. He immediately turned the horse around, thinking, 'This is bad. I've likely fallen for his diversionary tactic!'
He whipped the horse hard, galloping furiously. The horse's hooves churned up patches of snow-like flying sand. By the time he returned to the original spot, Sha Yunba and the leader were tied to poplar trees, and all ten camels had been plundered!
Ren Yuanhao untied the two from their ropes and removed the cloths from their mouths without a word.
"It's all over, it's all over."
Sha Yunba's legs went weak as he crawled towards where the camels had been tethered. Perhaps due to his injuries, he collapsed into the sand, as if he had fainted.
"What happened?" Ren Yuanhao looked at the suddenly vanished camels with confusion, a faint sense of foreboding rising in his heart.
"Just a moment after Brother Bao left, a sandstorm arose here. After the sandstorm passed, we discovered we were tied to a poplar tree, and the camels had disappeared in that sandstorm," the leader explained.
Ren Yuanhao could see the leader trying her best to control her emotions, but the fear in her eyes was undeniable.
"A sandstorm just swept away all the camels?"
Ren Yuanhao wanted to confirm this.
The leader, sensing something strange, explained, "White winds often rise in the desert. My father says it's the anger of the Jackal God, who sweeps away impure things..."
"—Damn it, why does it feel like that so-called Jackal God is taking on too much blame? Won't it get breathless?"
Ren Yuanhao didn't believe this nonsense, and the fact that the two were simply tied up was enough to cast doubt.
"Oh, right, it was urgent just now. My name is Mu Yunyan," the leader said, then helped Sha Yunba to rest under the poplar tree.
Ren Yuanhao leaped to a high vantage point, scanning his surroundings. The desert under the night sky was desolate. Although his eyesight was excellent, he couldn't find the missing camels at all. Moreover, the sandstorm was gradually intensifying, and even the slightest clues were instantly obscured, making them impossible to trace.
"Why do I feel like I've been tricked?" Ren Yuanhao frowned, and then it suddenly dawned on him.
"That's right. That super-powered individual must have also detected my presence. To lure me away, he deliberately exposed the location of those plunderers to my sight using a special super-powered frequency. Then, he calculated that I would meddle. By then, no matter which side won, he would have a certain assessment of my combat strength. Of course, it would be even better if I were killed, proving I was just a weakling. If I couldn't be killed, he would have also calculated that for my own safety, I would search for him everywhere. Therefore, this plan is as deep as that old fox Mo Qiancheng's!"
As Ren Yuanhao understood the key to the matter, he felt that this journey would be fraught with difficulties, and a gray shadow was cast over his endeavor.
Just then, a black vortex suddenly descended from the northwest, the wind roaring and sand swirling, obscuring the sky as it swept violently towards Ren Yuanhao!