CHAPTER 73: CHAPTER 73: RETURN OF THE SAND BANDITS (HAPPY NEW YEAR’S DAY)

More than an hour later, Zhouyang finally felt a significant relief from the intense headache caused by the excessive consumption of divine sense.

Although his divine sense had not completely recovered, it no longer affected his normal sword flight.

At this moment, Chen Pingzhi, who had been meditating to recover his magical power, had already opened his eyes and was fully recovered.

Seeing Zhouyang awaken, he immediately looked at him with a complex gaze and said in a low voice, "Young friend, you’re awake? If so, we can leave now."

Judging by his expression, it was clear he had already checked the jade tablets’ condition after waking up and realized his momentary oversight allowed Zhouyang to gain considerable advantage.

But now the situation was irreversible, and no matter how many thoughts he had in his mind, he could not make Zhouyang hand over the copied jade scrolls.

Since he didn’t mention it, Zhouyang naturally wouldn’t foolishly bring up the matter himself. Instead, he simply nodded repeatedly and said, "I’ll follow Elder Chen’s lead; I have no objections at all."

In fact, he originally wanted to ask Chen Pingzhi how to deal with this cave dwelling. After all, it was a Tier Three Middle-Grade spirit vein, and fully developing it could support several Foundation Establishment cultivators and hundreds of Qi Cultivation Stage cultivators.

However, seeing Chen Pingzhi’s current expression, he felt it would be wise not to say more regarding such matters involving the distribution of interests.

After all, his Zhou Family didn’t lack spirit veins, and this place was far from the Yuquan Lake Oasis. Even if Chen Pingzhi offered the spirit vein to his Zhou Family, they wouldn’t send anyone to this desolate place to develop it.

"Then let’s go."

Chen Pingzhi glanced at him, flicked his large sleeve, and strode out of the seclusion chamber.

Zhouyang, seeing this, did not immediately follow. Instead, he cleared space in a storage bag and packed the ten-foot-long Cold Jade Bed from the seclusion chamber into it.

The Chen Family had a grand estate. Coupled with the fact that they had acquired treasures worth tens of thousands of spirit stones, it wasn’t surprising that Chen Pingzhi didn’t care for something that took up so much storage space.

But he was different. Although he wasn’t as poor as some loose cultivators who would split a spirit stone into halves, he couldn’t ignore an item like the Cold Jade Bed that was worth hundreds of spirit stones.

Moreover, he had more than three storage bags with him at all times, so clearing one to hold this Cold Jade Bed wasn’t difficult.

After packing the Cold Jade Bed, Zhouyang patted the bulging storage bag, feeling satisfied as he followed Chen Pingzhi’s steps outside the cave.

However, just as he walked a few steps out of the seclusion chamber, strong magical combat fluctuations and Chen Pingzhi’s furious shouts echoed from outside the cave.

What’s happening?

Zhouyang’s expression changed dramatically, and he quickly stepped out of the cave to look outside.

Outside in the sky, Chen Pingzhi, who had ventured out first, was being fiercely besieged by four black-robed Foundation Establishment cultivators. Blood gushed from a fist-sized hole in his abdomen, and his shoulders bore two gaping sword wounds.

"Young friend Zhou, help me quickly! If we can survive this disaster today, I’ll ensure you receive a generous reward later!"

Seeing Zhouyang step out of the cave, Chen Pingzhi hastily cried out for help.

Simultaneously, the four black-robed Foundation Establishment cultivators attacking him eased their assault and diverted some attention towards Zhouyang.

Facing the gazes of both Chen Pingzhi and the four black-robed Foundation Establishment cultivators, Zhouyang’s face turned pale, and intense fear flickered in his eyes.

Chen Pingzhi might not recognize these black-robed Foundation Establishment cultivators, but having personally experienced the battle of Golden Dawn Mountain, Zhouyang knew who they were. He realized these were the Foundation Establishment sand bandits who attacked the Golden Dawn Mountain Marketplace.

Unexpectedly, while the Chen Family had been searching extensively for these men’s whereabouts without success, they encountered them here today. Whether this was their luck or misfortune remained uncertain.

Rescue?

Or not?

Zhouyang’s face reflected panic as he stared at the four black-robed Foundation Establishment sand bandits, trapped in an inner conflict.

Each of these sand bandits was more powerful than him. Two of them were at the Sixth-Layer and Fifth-Layer Foundation Establishment, while the others were at the Third-Layer Foundation Establishment.

That alone was manageable.

Though the sand bandits outnumbered them two-fold, Chen Pingzhi, as the brother of the Chen Family’s foremost Foundation Establishment cultivator, undoubtedly had life-saving cards up his sleeve. If he used them, taking on two at once wasn’t impossible.

And with his "Qianyang True Flame," a formidable weapon, Zhouyang wasn’t too concerned about holding off two early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators. The outcome would be uncertain.

However, the issue now was that Chen Pingzhi was already injured, and it seemed the injuries were quite severe.

In this situation, whether he could still manage to fight two Mid-Stage Foundation Establishment sand bandits while injured, Zhouyang was very doubtful.

What worried him even more was, since these four Foundation Establishment sand bandits appeared here, did it mean that their lair was nearby?

If this were true, then as their battle dragged on, it would surely attract the attention of other sand bandits who might come to their aid.

By then, they wouldn’t even need the Purple Mansion Stage cultivator behind the sand bandits to make a move. Just that Ninth-Layer Foundation Establishment sand bandit leader coming over would make it difficult for him and Chen Pingzhi to escape death today.

"So there’s a little guy inside. Lao Ba, Lao Jiu, you two go deal with that kid, leave the old guy from the Chen Family to me and Fifth Brother."

While Zhouyang was hesitating on whether to save others, a Sixth-Layer Foundation Establishment sand bandit suddenly sneered coldly and ordered two Third-Layer Foundation Establishment sand bandits to rush at him, obviously intending to catch them all in one net.

Seeing this, Zhouyang no longer hesitated.

He waved his sleeve, releasing his Tier Three Flying Sword, the "Red Profound Golden Light Sword," to intercept the flying sword of one sand bandit, then patted his storage bag, summoning a fiery red Flying Fork Spiritual Artifact to block the flying sword controlled by the other sand bandit.

While maneuvering the artifacts against the two sand bandits, he urgently transmitted a message to Chen Pingzhi, saying: "I will hold these two for now, Elder Chen, please use your powerful techniques soon, otherwise I won’t hold them for much longer."

"Don’t worry, as long as you can hold those two for half an hour, Chen has ways to deal with these two scoundrels!" Chen Pingzhi’s eyes flashed with cold light, his voice cold as he replied.

As a Foundation Establishment cultivator of the Chen Family, since his Foundation Establishment, this was the first time he was injured so seriously, no wonder he was furious.

Moreover, Zhouyang was unaware that when he was ambushed by the four sand bandits after leaving his cave mansion, he had already used a life-saving treasure; otherwise, how could he survive an ambush by four well-prepared Foundation Establishment sand bandits?

Only half an hour?

Hearing Chen Pingzhi’s answer, Zhouyang felt relieved; in half an hour, he wouldn’t need to reveal his trump card, the "Qianyang True Flame," in advance.

He then waved his hand again, summoning a Golden Round Shield Spiritual Artifact to guard in front for protection while diverting a sliver of attention to watch the battlefield on Chen Pingzhi’s side.

The key to this battle still lay on that side, if Chen Pingzhi couldn’t deal with his opponent, even if Zhouyang used all his trump cards to repel or defeat the two Third-Layer Foundation Establishment enemies, it wouldn’t determine the battle’s outcome.

"This brat actually dares to look down on us brothers like this, he’s really seeking death!"

The two Third-Layer Foundation Establishment sand bandits watched Zhouyang’s actions with trepidation and anger.

Which of them did not have a higher cultivation level than Zhouyang? Yet they were treated with such disdain, how could they not be angry?

What made them even more jealous was that they, having been in Foundation Establishment for decades, managed only to obtain a Tier Three Flying Sword each, while their defensive artifacts were still Tier Two Top Grade.

But Zhouyang, with cultivation just at the First-Layer Foundation Establishment, surprisingly wielded three Tier Three Spiritual Artifacts, how could these two not feel jealous?

Zhouyang secretly cursed Chen Pingzhi as "a wealthy dog," yet unaware, in the eyes of these two Foundation Establishment sand bandits, he, at the First-Layer Foundation Establishment with multiple Tier Three artifacts, was equally a "wealthy dog" whom they envied and resented.

Tier Three Spiritual Artifacts are not comparable to Tier Two; not to mention the scarcity of Tier Three Refiners, with only a handful in the Baisha River Oasis Cultivation Realm, even the materials for refining Tier Three Spiritual Artifacts are incredibly rare.

The worst part is, if a Tier Two Refiner fails, you’d be compensated with some material fees; but if a Tier Three Refiner fails, at best they waive the refining fee, and compensating a tenth of the material cost makes them a good person.

Considering someone like Zhou Minghan, a Tier Three High-Grade Refiner, only has about a fifty to sixty percent success rate in refining Tier Three Lower Grade Spiritual Artifacts, who among the refiners would dare offer compensation for material costs like Zhouyang once did, they’d end up penniless.

Due to this situation, Foundation Establishment cultivators or Loose Cultivator Foundation Establishment cultivators without a Tier Three Refiner in their clan often spend thousands of spirit stones to buy finished artifacts, and less than one in ten dare to bet on the refiner’s reliability and skills.

Even for Foundation Establishment cultivators, thousands of spirit stones are no small sum, given that their earning and spending speed is quite fast.

Especially for Loose Cultivator Foundation Establishment cultivators, without obtaining some ancestor’s legacy before Foundation Establishment, they need to spend spirit stones on everything: Foundation Establishment Stage Techniques, Sword Control Skill techniques, and those Tier Three magics. By the time they’ve acquired these, how many spirit stones can remain?

Moreover, for Loose Cultivator Foundation Establishment cultivators without a Tier Three Spiritual Vein, daily refinement of spirit stones consumes so much, that over the years the amount spent would make even family Foundation Establishment cultivators like Zhouyang feel heartache.

All these reasons make Loose Cultivators during their first few decades live tightly, difficult to get through, unless they resort to becoming sand bandits, they must work for various cultivation clans and sects to earn spirit stones.

Like when the Chen Family Ancestor led people to hunt Tier Four Demon Beasts last time, the few Loose Cultivator Foundation Establishment cultivators among the participants were hired by the Chen Family, each could earn thousands of spirit stones if they returned alive.

Therefore, in this moment of jealousy and anger, those two Third-Layer Foundation Establishment sand bandits unleashed their full strength, the two flying swords charged fiercely at Zhouyang with tremendous momentum like two evil flood dragons.

They also activated the divine technique spells attached to their cultivation techniques, unleashing a golden shimmering gold saber and a blazing Flame Fire Wolf at him, forcing him to focus fully to deal with both attackers, with no room for distractions.

At this moment, Chen Pingzhi also began to counter-attack using his trump card.