"Heh heh! Since Young Master Han puts it that way, this old man won't press any further." The grey-bearded elder chuckled and indeed fell silent.
His tortoise occupied the middle of the caravan, so it remained docilely in place while the other tortoise-carts ahead and behind quickly converged toward their position.
Before long, over thirty of the giant tortoises had arranged themselves into several concentric rings, forming a series of simple defensive layers.
The riders mounted on their enormous wolves also gathered together — fifty or sixty in all — and took up positions just outside the defensive perimeter. The scar-faced man led them, and surprisingly the blue-robed young woman was among their number as well, though the blood-red tiger now crouched at her side.
The bird cries in the distance grew more urgent and closer. When several scarlet birds appeared far off, circling ceaselessly in the sky above, the scar-faced man's face turned grim and he bellowed:
"Prepare to fight! Land-walking tortoises, get down and take cover!"
At his command, every driver lashed their whip against their tortoise's head. The massive beasts, which had been standing steadily, slowly lowered themselves to the ground, then tucked their heads and limbs inside their enormous shells, transforming into what looked like great blocks of greenish stone laid across the path before them.
A deep rumbling vibration of the ground now rolled in from the distance. A vast cloud of yellow dust appeared at the horizon, surging toward them in a rolling wall, so thick that nothing within could be made out.
The scar-faced man's expression was as dark as still water. Without a word, he merely waved his hand. The riders beside him silently raised their spiked maces — their discipline was clearly not to be underestimated.
At this sight, a flash of surprise crossed Han Li's face. But before he could dwell on it, an even more startling sight appeared before him.
The scar-faced man suddenly tossed a green pill into his mouth with one hand, and with a long, piercing howl, yellow light began to swirl across his body. Fine yellow fur sprouted over his face and arms, and his pupils turned an eerie, luminous green.
He then kicked his mount's flanks with both heels. The giant wolf let out a low growl and shot forward like an arrow.
The riders behind him did not undergo such dramatic transformations, but once they activated their cultivation techniques, multicolored lights flashed across their bodies, and they charged after their leader without the slightest hint of fear.
Several dozen riders together kicked up a massive cloud of yellow dust as they hurtled straight toward the approaching threat.
"What's going on — is that man some sort of demon-beast in disguise? No, that can't be right. A demon-beast capable of taking human form would have to be at least at the Transformation stage, and this man doesn't look anything like a cultivator of that level. Besides, the others don't seem the least bit surprised by his transformation, so this must be a common occurrence in the Spirit World. It really is going to take extra time to learn everything about this place. Both that strange transformation of his and those so-called 'spirit tools' — neither exists in the human world, at least not as far as I've ever heard."
Han Li was somewhat taken aback, his thoughts racing. He became increasingly convinced that compared to the human world, the Spirit World was truly something else entirely.
Meanwhile, the scar-faced man's cavalry had plunged several hundred zhang ahead of the caravan straight into the vast yellow dust cloud. Shouts of battle erupted from within, followed by a continuous string of savage howls. But the dust only halted momentarily at its center before rolling onward from both flanks, straight toward the caravan without pause.
In the blink of an eye the dust cloud reached the edges of the caravan, and vague shapes could be glimpsed lurking within.
"Kill!"
Someone shouted the first battle cry. Those guards armed with bows and crossbows launched the first waves of ranged attacks.
Barrage after barrage of arrows streaked out from the caravan.
A series of muffled thuds rang out, and the rolling dust faltered momentarily, slowing its advance. But then the haze churned violently and several dark shapes lunged out from within — giant yellow insects, each roughly a zhang in length.
Their bodies were flat and broad. Each bore an enormous gaping maw at its head, flanked by rows of fleshy tendrils that whipped back and forth ceaselessly. They looked absolutely ferocious.
So these were the so-called "sandworm beasts."
Han Li's expression didn't change in the slightest. Back in the
The moment the insects revealed themselves, sharp whistles filled the air as over a dozen arrows, glinting with cold light, buried themselves deep in the creatures' bodies. One took an arrow straight through its gaping mouth and collapsed without a sound, but the rest, now wounded, flew into a frenzy. Blood streamed from their bodies as they leaped into the air and lunged at the nearest giant tortoise.
The four guards atop that tortoise didn't panic. Their blades and swords flashed with cold light and slashed down without mercy.
It was clear they had all cultivated some special technique. Though they couldn't cleave the insects in two, each strike carved deep, gaping wounds into the creatures and knocked them tumbling out of the air.
For a moment, several of the giant insects writhed on the ground, badly wounded.
But more poured out of the dust cloud — one after another, in an unending stream. In the blink of an eye, the entire caravan was surrounded.
A fierce battle was inevitable!
Battle cries and the clash of weapons rose together in a deafening roar, mingled into a single chaotic din. Cold light and fresh blood flashed everywhere.
Han Li's tortoise-cart occupied the innermost position within the entire defensive perimeter, but aside from the grey-bearded driver and himself, there was no one else aboard. The other three young women had vanished without a trace — their whereabouts unknown.