Chapter 61
As if sensing the call of its companions, the sand scorpion that was still struggling with the sand broke free of the two golden rings. It angrily pounded the ground, as if urging its companions to come quickly.
Li Zhao stared wide-eyed at the sand scorpions that had surrounded them.
He had only one thought in his mind.
That's it!
They surrounded Li Zhao and the others so tightly that there wasn't a single gap for them to escape.
Seeing so many sand scorpions, even the usually fearless Min Dibao felt a little scared.
"W-what's going on? Why are there so many scorpions?" The fat man's voice trembled.
The sand scorpions made rustling sounds, their black eyes fixed on them without blinking, as if they were starving and wanted to wipe them all out.
The sun was blazing high in the sky, but everyone felt a chill of fear in their hearts.
The fat man's legs trembled as he waved his magical weapon, trying to scare away the terrifying creatures: "Don't come any closer! I'm not afraid of you. Be careful, we outnumber you and kill you all!"
The sand scorpions completely ignored the fat man. Their eyes were fixed on them, giving him the creeps.
The sand scorpion just kept circling around the group without making a move.
Li Zhao found it strange; these sand scorpions seemed to be waiting for some kind of instruction.
He glanced at the largest sand scorpion, which lay quietly on the ground outside the encirclement, keeping a close eye on everyone's reactions.
Just when Li Zhao thought this scorpion was their leader, the little scorpion next to the largest scorpion's feet gently raised its front pincers, and the large scorpion made a hissing sound.
Upon hearing the summons, all the scorpions suddenly went berserk and attacked them fiercely.
Li Zhao was quite surprised. He hadn't expected that the seemingly most inconspicuous little scorpion was actually the leader. Indeed, appearances can be deceiving, and neither can appearances with scorpions.
These sand scorpions are not as simple-minded as they appear; in fact, they are quite intelligent.
They attacked a single target in groups of three or four, their movements swift, precise, and ruthless, aimed directly at the throat.
Min Dibao took out a series of gourd-shaped magical artifacts and wrapped his entire body in them, with the gourds spinning around his body.
The sand scorpions charged forward headlong, trying to break through the gourd formation, but as soon as they touched the edge of the gourd, they were bounced far away by it.
Everyone took out their own magical artifacts to fight off and kill the scorpions.
Suddenly, the sounds of fighting echoed through the desert.
Several sand scorpions gradually forced the fat man to the side, and before he knew it, he had drifted away from the crowd. By the time he realized what had happened, it was too late.
The fat man stared wide-eyed in terror, clenching his teeth tightly. What was he afraid of? At worst, he would just die!
He made a snap decision and charged at the scorpions.
Although the fat man was fat, he was agile.
He swung his sword at the sand scorpions, but all he felt was a tingling sensation. The sand scorpions' shells were incredibly hard, and they even managed to counterattack him.
The fat man was astonished. He had spent fifty thousand taels of silver to buy this magical artifact! How could it be useless against these sand scorpions?
He suddenly felt somewhat deceived, and he turned to look in the direction of Min Dibao.
Min Dibao nimbly dodged the sand scorpions' attacks while continuously switching between magical artifacts to try and find one that could attack them.
At this moment, it wasn't just Fatty who discovered that his magical artifacts were ineffective against the sand scorpions. While resisting the sand scorpions' attacks, someone questioned Min Dibao, "Brother Min, why are all the magical artifacts ineffective against these sand scorpions?"
Min Dibao: "The magical beasts in the Ashes Ruins are very powerful, especially in this desert. These sand scorpions live in this scorching desert for a long time and must have a hard shell to withstand the heat and attacks from different species. Our magical artifacts may not be of any real harm to them."
Upon hearing Min Dibao's explanation, everyone frowned, feeling deceived, and began to criticize him in unison.
"But you didn't tell me this at the entrance to the Ruins of Ashes. You said that any magical artifact I bought from you would definitely be effective against the monsters in the Ruins of Ashes, which is why I bought it. Now you're telling me it's useless. What about the 100,000 taels of silver I gave you?"
"I didn't believe Li Zhao's words at first, but now I'm starting to believe them!"
Min Dibao quickly explained, "Everyone, don't panic, I'm trying to think of a solution."
Min Dibao has many magical artifacts, and since everyone is in a dangerous situation, they still have to rely on him. Not daring to say anything too harsh, everyone shut their mouths and focused on fighting off the sand scorpions.
While dealing with several sand scorpions attacking him, Li Zhao listened to the commotion around him. He snorted coldly and quietly moved his position a little further away from the others.
These scorpions seemed to have inexhaustible energy, but even the seasoned demon cultivators who had cultivated for many years still had limitations in their physical strength.
The fat man gradually felt his strength waning, and large beads of sweat trickled from his forehead and down to the ground.
The temperature under the scorching sun continued to rise, and he was panting heavily. If he didn't hurry up and think of a solution, he might really lose his life here!
He had just noticed that Min Dibao's gourd-shaped magical artifacts were quite effective, at least enough to alleviate the sand scorpion attacks and give him a chance to catch his breath. He shouted, "Brother Min, do you have any more protective magical artifacts? These things are too troublesome; I'm almost out of strength!"
Upon seeing this, Min Dibao immediately said, "Yes, we do, but the price... is a bit expensive."
Everyone was busy fighting the sand scorpions, and no one saw the triumphant expression on Min Di Bao's face.
The fat man was far away from Min Dibao and couldn't see what Min Dibao's expression was like. He gritted his teeth and said, "Forget about prices now, just name your price!"
Min Dibao: "I have a suit of armor here, it costs 200,000 taels of silver."
"What? Two hundred thousand taels???" The fat man was incredulous. He was distracted for a moment when the sand scorpion's claws reached out towards him, almost crushing his head. Fortunately, he reacted quickly and dodged it.
He was so frightened that he didn't hesitate.
It's okay if it's expensive; it's better than having money but not being alive to enjoy it.
Everyone was taken aback when they heard Min Dibao ask for such a price.
What kind of shield artifact costs 200,000?
You should know that a good shield artifact on the market costs only a little over 100,000, but at this critical moment, Min Dibao is actually asking for an exorbitant price!
The fat man pulled out a stack of silver notes and threw them forcefully at Min Dibao.
Min Dibao smiled and caught the silver note: "Great!"
Min Dibao took out something that looked like a hat from a treasure bag.
He threw it forcefully, and the magical artifact hovered above the fat man's head.
In an instant, golden light emanated from the fat man's head, shining down on his entire body. The scorpion's pincers were instantly burned to half their original size by the golden light.
The magical artifact followed the fat man's movements. As the fat man took a step forward, the hat moved forward with him, and golden light spread out within the corresponding area. When the scorpions saw the fat man running towards them, they all retreated in fear.
The fat man, who had been tense all over, finally breathed a sigh of relief and collapsed to the ground from exhaustion.
"Hey fatso, we're such good friends, come help me out!" The man closest to the fatso saw how powerful the fatso's magic weapon was and wanted to benefit from it as well.
To everyone's surprise, the fat man merely glanced at the man and snorted coldly: "Shield artifacts have a limited number of uses. What if you use them and they damage my artifact?"
The man said anxiously, "I'll give you fifty thousand! No, one hundred thousand, let's split it in half, how about it?"
The fat man remained unmoved: "In a normal battle, I might share the fight with you, but this is the Ruins of Ashes. A moment's carelessness could cost you your lives! You'd better watch yourselves!"
He closed his eyes to rest, ignoring the calls from others.
Seeing the fat man's appearance, everyone rushed to Min Dibao and said, "I want a protective magic artifact too! I'll give you 300,000!"
"I'll give you four hundred thousand."
"Five hundred thousand!! Give it to me!!"
The price kept rising, but Min Dibao only said one casual sentence to them: "I didn't bring many protective magic artifacts with me this time. If you want them, the starting price is one million!"
"What? Isn't this taking advantage of someone's misfortune? Brother Min, you can't do this!" someone began to complain.
Min Dibao glanced at the man lightly: "If you don't want it, plenty of others will!"
By now, everyone understands Min Dibao's true colors. So that's why he made them team up with him. They were really blind to have trusted such a person!
The relentless scorpion attacks had exhausted everyone's strength, and if they didn't have a chance to catch their breath, they might really lose their lives here.
At this point, it all comes down to whose wallet is stronger.
Those who can come to the Ruins of Ashes are naturally not ordinary people, but there are not many who can come up with a million.
A woman spoke up, "I want one."
The woman threw ten 100,000-tael silver notes to Min Dibao.
"Great!" Min Dibao pulled a mirror out of his pocket.
“This is an ancient magic mirror. As long as you hide inside, these sand scorpions won’t be able to do anything to you!” Min Dibao said to the woman.
The woman looked at the magic mirror in surprise. It was indeed worth the price. Although hiding was not her usual style and was even a bit shameful, she didn't care about that now. At least she could save her life.
After the woman hid in the magic mirror, the scorpion that had been attacking her suddenly lost its target and frantically ran around in circles, looking quite comical.
Seeing that the fat man and the woman had both fled the danger, the remaining people did not hesitate any longer and rushed to ask for the protective magic artifact.
At this moment, Min Dibao said, "I only have one shield artifact left. You can take it for two million!"
"What? Two million?" everyone exclaimed.
"Min Dibao, you're too ruthless! Where would we get that much money?"
"There's only one magic artifact, but it's the most powerful one. It can protect many people. You decide whether you want your lives or your money!" Min Dibao didn't waste any more words. He extended an olive branch and waited for these people to take the bait.
"Even if you kill me, I still can't come up with that much money!" Someone was so anxious that their body was trembling and tears were streaming down their face.
Someone suggested, "Since this magical artifact can protect many people, why don't we pool our money to buy this shield artifact!"
"Zhang Song is right. Although one person may not have that much money, with so many of us, we can still raise two million!"
Seeing that the fish had taken the bait, Min Dibao revealed a triumphant smile.
After discussing it together, everyone took out all the money they had and threw it to Min Dibao.
Min Dibao had plundered all the money and was finally satisfied.
He threw the protective magic artifact to the man named Zhang Song.
Zhang Song caught a white umbrella that Min Dibao threw to him.
When Li Zhao saw the umbrella, he was stunned. This umbrella was different from other protective magical artifacts.
This umbrella is an ancient relic. It is white and translucent, with its ribs forged from white jade. Its pure white color and snow-like appearance convey a sense of holiness.
As soon as Zhang Song opened the umbrella handle, a soft white light emanated from within. The originally delicate and small umbrella instantly floated in mid-air and began to spin, slowly growing larger until it enveloped everyone.
The white light filled everyone who shone upon it with energy, and their previous limp and tired feeling vanished.
After being illuminated, the sand scorpions let out painful howls and retreated to a distance of more than one meter from the umbrella.
"This is just too amazing!" someone exclaimed.
Min Dibao said smugly, "How about that? I told you this magic weapon was amazing, but you didn't believe me!"
Although everyone was dissatisfied with Min Dibao at the moment, it was still quite good that he was able to take out this thing at the crucial moment.
"The Min family's magical artifacts are indeed quite impressive."
Everyone had a break and sat down, wiping the sweat from their foreheads.
Of course, this did not include Li Zhao, who was still fighting the sand scorpions. Since the other sand scorpions had no target to attack, they all pounced on him.
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