Ye Yunfei reflected inwardly, gaining a clear sense of his combat prowess. “With my current strength, killing an early-stage Yuan Foundation Realm cultivator through a surprise attack is no problem at all.”
“Fourth Brother!” The other three leaders of the Black Wind Stronghold cried out upon seeing the Fourth Leader slain, their eyes blazing with fury.
“You damn brat! You deserve to die!” All three leaders were consumed by towering rage.
Rumble…
Crushing waves of spiritual energy pressure erupted from their bodies, shaking the sky and earth, stirring billowing clouds of yellow sand.
Then, all three Yuan Foundation Realm cultivators unleashed their most deadly moves, attacking from three directions simultaneously in an attempt to annihilate Ye Yunfei.
Faced with their joint onslaught, Ye Yunfei merely let out a cold snort and instantly vanished by blending into space, reappearing in the distance with his Overlord Bow already drawn.
Ye Yunfei knew that taking on three Yuan Foundation Realm experts—especially one at the middle stage—even if he could manage it, would likely be futile, and they seemed to fight with remarkable coordination. Therefore, he chose to avoid direct confrontation.
“Where did he go? How did that kid disappear?” The three leaders halted abruptly, frantically scanning for any trace of Ye Yunfei.
By this time, Ye Yunfei was already drawing his bow elsewhere, unleashing volley after volley of spiritual energy arrows. They shot across the desert like a swarm of locusts, mercilessly reaping lives.
While wielding the Overlord Bow drained spiritual energy, Ye Yunfei carried an ample supply of high-grade spirit-replenishing pills—even divine pills—so spiritual energy depletion was the least of his concerns.
Screams echoed ceaselessly through the air. Any sand bandit targeted by the bow’s deadly projectiles stood no chance of escape; each arrow claimed another life. In less than a second, dozens of sand bandits had fallen.
“Master, let me come out and help slay these foes too!” Hu Miao suddenly said.
“Hu Miao, you’re finished cultivating?” Ye Yunfei was somewhat surprised.
Turns out, Hu Miao had been in closed-door cultivation within the Illusion Pearl for a while.
“Yes. A new ancestral bloodline inheritance technique appeared in my memories recently, so I secluded myself to master it. I’ve gained proficiency now, and my hands are itching to put it to use,” Hu Miao replied with a laugh.
“Very well, come out then,” Ye Yunfei nodded.
“This old bone of mine also fancies moving about. Out of these thousands of bandits, I can handle a few as well,” Huang Shang chimed in at this moment.
“Alright,” Ye Yunfei chuckled.
Ye Yunfei knew that Huang Shang, having cultivated the Ghost Cultivation Art to a certain level, now possessed combat power comparable to a True Manifestation Realm late-stage expert. What’s more, since Huang Shang had no physical body, he possessed various uncanny abilities that made him incredibly difficult for even Yuan Foundation Realm experts to kill.
Swoosh! Swoosh!
Hu Miao and Huang Shang both materialized. Hu Miao transformed into a wisp of demonic mist and charged toward the distant bandits, while Huang Shang blended into the sandy ground, disappearing without a trace as he silently approached them.
“Brat, stop!” The Black Wind Stronghold’s three leaders were enraged and horrified as they saw more and more of their subordinates being slain. “Kill him!” roared the elder clad in black—the First Leader—who charged toward Ye Yunfei, followed by the other two leaders trying to cut him off.
But once again, Ye Yunfei vanished.
When he reappeared, it was somewhere different. Again and again, he loosed relentless volleys of spiritual arrows, harvesting more bandit lives.
These bandits of Black Wind Stronghold were all veteran murderers; Ye Yunfei naturally showed no mercy.
“Brat, stop!” The three leaders grew increasingly incensed and desperate as their followers died in droves, frantically trying to reach Ye Yunfei.
However, each time they approached, Ye Yunfei would simply blend into space, leaving them grasping at thin air.
Meanwhile, Hu Miao and Huang Shang had begun slaughtering.
Huang Shang became a wispy, indistinct shadow, wielding a sharp blade and moving at frightening speed. Bandits found themselves dead—heads separated from their bodies—before they even realized what was happening.
Stranger still, when bandit weapons struck Huang Shang, they passed through as if hitting nothing but air. As a ghost cultivator in this shadow-like state, he was virtually impossible to harm—which was precisely what made ghost cultivators so difficult to slay.
As for Hu Miao, with every elegant gesture, strands of illusion arts laws like intangible ribbons dispersed around her. Every bandit who entered her thirty-yard radius instantly fell under her illusion arts, frozen in place—even those at the True Manifestation Realm were no exception.
With a wave of her hand, bolts of fierce demonic power shot out, dispatching these immobile foes one after another.
Watching this, Ye Yunfei understood that Hu Miao’s newly awakened bloodline inheritance technique must be related to illusion arts.
Consequently, Huang Shang and Hu Miao killed at a rate scarcely slower than Ye Yunfei.
In mere moments, over a thousand bandits had been slain by the three of them combined.
“You two, go kill those two! I’ll handle this brat!” the First Leader shouted when he saw Hu Miao and Huang Shang culling his men.
Thus, the other two leaders, the Second and Third Leader, pursued Hu Miao and Huang Shang while the First Leader continued his fruitless chase after Ye Yunfei.
“Keep killing them. I’ll deal with these three leaders,” Ye Yunfei transmitted to Hu Miao and Huang Shang.
Then, activating his Heavenly Shadow Robe to greatly boost his speed, he took a step and intercepted one of the leaders—the Second Leader—by first unleashing Single Thought Births Demon.
“What devilry is this?! Get out of here!” The Second Leader shuddered to a halt, his face paling as he shouted.
Thud!
Ye Yunfei moved lightning-fast, punching out with terrifying force.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Ten separate blasts of violent fist energy exploded sequentially, forcing the Second Leader to retreat again and again.
Suddenly, Ye Yunfei delivered another blow—frighteningly dense fist force compressed to the size of a needle tip—sneaking toward the leader.
The poor Second Leader, confronted with such exquisite fist techniques, was utterly bewildered about how to counter them, for he couldn’t feel any momentum behind Ye Yunfei’s attack, yet an overwhelming sense of danger made his eyelids twitch wildly.
With no time to spare, he expended all his spiritual energy to throw a desperate punch.
Pop!
Their fists met—but there was no noise, no shockwave; the world was eerily silent.
Swoosh!
Ye Yunfei was already rushing toward the Third Leader.
“Second Leader, are you alright?” The First Leader had finally arrived, having struggled to keep up—Ye Yunfei’s speed eclipsed his by far. By the time he arrived, Ye Yunfei had already dealt two strikes and moved on.
“I… I feel something wrong…” the Second Leader replied.
No sooner had his words left his mouth than BOOM! Terrifying compressed force detonated inside his body, pulverizing every internal organ. He was dead.
“Roar! That trick again! You vicious bastard!” The First Leader’s eyes reddened with rage.
Earlier, the Fourth Leader had perished by the same technique; now the Second Leader met the same fate.
Meanwhile, Ye Yunfei was charging toward the Third Leader.
“Third Leader, come here! Join me!” the First Leader yelled frantically, fearing his comrade couldn’t withstand Ye Yunfei alone.
But Ye Yunfei was too fast. In a flash, he materialized in front of the Third Leader, blocking his path.
“Kid, I’ll make you pay!” the Third Leader exclaimed, terrified and furious, now isolated against Ye Yunfei.
“Die!” Ye Yunfei attacked directly.
His fists shot forward like lightning as he simultaneously employed Single Thought Births Demon again.
After a few more strikes, the Third Leader joined his dead brethren.
“You ruthless cur! You will pay!” The First Leader put forth every ounce of effort, charging madly toward Ye Yunfei.
“Now, it’s your turn.” This time, Ye Yunfei didn’t evade. He turned slowly to face the First Leader and cracked a cold smile.
In the distance, Hu Miao and Huang Shang joined forces, effortlessly wiping out remaining sand bandits, severing heads and scattering corpses across the desert. Of the thousands once gathered, already more than half had perished.