The foundation of the Sand People tribe lies in two things: the oasis and the Sand Tuo beast.

"Roar!" With an angry battle roar, Shimizu leaped onto the back of a sand tiger.

She held a sharp knife high with both hands and plunged the blade down hard.

The blade was completely submerged, and blood gushed out immediately.

The sand tiger howled and roared in grief, tumbling down the sand dune.

With his left hand gripping the sand tiger's fur tightly, Shimizu pulled out a sharp knife with his right and stabbed it repeatedly. The man and the beast wrestled and rolled down the sand dune.

Qingshui was pinned down by the Sand Tiger, her body resting on soft sand. Exhausted, she didn't want to move, but the rustling sound in her ears told her that the Sand Spirits—creatures that consisted only of water and sand—were on their way, and she had to leave quickly.

She pushed Sha Hu away, stood up, took a couple of breaths in the glaring sun, then bent down and hoisted Sha Hu's corpse onto her slender shoulder.

The blood from the sand tiger flowed down and was absorbed by her bronze skin, restoring some of her energy and strength.

She carried the sand tiger and struggled up the sand dune.

On the dunes, the last sand tiger was pressing down on a tribeswoman. The sand tiger growled at her, and she could almost smell the hot breath coming from its mouth!

"Drink!" She threw the sand tiger off her shoulder, knocking down the last sand tiger.

Her gaze wandered, then quickly locked onto the giant sword that had just been knocked away, and she moved with incredible speed on her bare feet.

It's too late, the greatsword has fallen too far!

"Whoosh!" Qingxi drew her bow; she was a rare archer in the tribe, and the arrow struck the sand tiger precisely in the neck.

It's no use; Sand Tiger will never fall because of a mere arrow.

Qingshui heard the roar of the Sand Tiger, the whooshing sound of it leaping, and the screams of his tribesmen... Who could it be? Who would be killed by the Sand Tiger?

Shimizu ran headlong, trying to forget everything behind her. Only by getting the giant sword as soon as possible could she save more people!

The giant sword was just three meters away. She slipped and slid past it.

She gripped the hilt of the sword, using the weight of the greatsword to spin her body, while simultaneously lowering her shoulders, lifting the greatsword, and running towards Sand Tiger.

Take two steps.

"Ha...ha..." she gasped for breath and stood up.

Her head was a little numb. She looked at the girl with the gun among the group of Earthlings and pressed the gun against the back of Sha Hu's head.

The sand tiger, which dared to hunt the sand beast with only five heads, was pinned to the ground by that long, thin spear. It writhed like a sand shrimp but could not move.

"Brother," the girl turned to look at the man watching the spectacle from behind the sand beast in the distance, "how about we catch one and study it?"

Without oases, the sand tribes who live on sand beasts do not build permanent houses. They are always migrating, catching sand spirits to replenish water, and hunting sand beasts for food.

In the desert, there is no such thing as being homeless; everywhere is yellow sand, and every place is home.

Two people died in the battle, four were seriously injured, and the rest of the participants all had some minor injuries. After the battle ended, Shimizu, who thought he was uninjured, discovered that he also had a cut on his forearm.

She pressed her hand to the wound, her palm absorbing the moisture from the blood.

The tribesmen who were unable to fight rode down from the Shatuo beasts in gondolas, wanting to finish off their prey before the Shaling arrived.

Shimizu walked to Li Qianxia's side.

"...Thank you." The voice was very soft.

She took a breath and said, "But I will not forgive your brother because of this."

“It’s okay, it’s okay,” Li Qianxia slung the spear over her shoulder. “This is the first time I’ve ever met a girl who hates my brother. It’s perfectly fine.”

The sand people carried the corpses of the three-headed sand tigers and the seriously wounded warriors onto the basket, returned them to the sand beast, and quickly left the spot.

"Those two people... are they just left there?" Li Qianxia and Qingshui stood on the last gondola, looking at the bodies lying quietly on the sand.

"When we are alive, we feed on sand spirits and sand beasts. When we die, we will also become food for sand spirits and sand beasts. Only in this way can the souls of the dead be guided by wind and light, and the living be blessed."

“In this respect, you are more remarkable than Earthlings,” Li Qianxia couldn’t help but say.

Shimizu snorted: "Of course! Your Earthling invasion is doomed to failure!"

"...You've seen the difference in strength between us, so why are you still so confident?" Li Qianxia wasn't trying to show off. "Qingshui, I can assure you that as long as you listen to my brother, we won't harm you or your tribe, whether we succeed or fail."

She didn't want Shimizu to die because of her resistance.

She knew very well that this mission was cruel, and if her brother really attacked Shimizu, she would not plead for him.

“I understand.” Shimizu’s hand, gripping the sword hilt, went limp as he recalled the water droplets turned to ash by the blue light. “But you will definitely fail. The Blood Sand Tribe, which you are about to go to, has top-tier Chosen Ones!”

siluke.

Just as Li Qianxia was about to say something, her gaze suddenly turned to the distance, where countless sand spirits surged toward the two corpses.

"Blessed by wind and light." She heard the soft, sorrowful whisper of the clear water beside her, a voice she could hardly believe belonged to the elegant greatsword-wielding girl.

......

“Lord Black Mist,” Aferona reported to Li Changzhou, “this Blood Sand Tribe is not the nearest major tribe, but the nearest and worst major tribe. That girl is lying.”

She interrogated the sand bandits using torture.

“Bad guys are good,” Li Changzhou said indifferently, “They won’t have any psychological burden and can use any means necessary.”

The sand beast trod through the yellow sand, moving step by step toward the Blood Sand Tribe.

At dusk, the aroma of roasting food wafted from the house on the sand beast's back.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!