Cultivation Begins From The Desert-Chapter 677 - 661: Nascent Soul Ceremony! [Request for guaranteed monthly tickets]

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Half an hour later, the earth-yellow protective barrier surrounding Golden Dawn Mountain was reduced to a paper-thin layer.

Seeing this, the sand bandits outside the array, who had been attacking for several hours, became invigorated and intensified their offensive, even unleashing magical artifacts to join the attack.

At this moment, three Foundation Establishment Cultivators of the Chen Family suddenly stood up on the top of Golden Dawn Mountain and each cast three array banners embroidered with yellow earth dragons onto nine critical array bases on the mountain.

Rumble!

Once the nine array banners were placed on the array bases, they immediately swelled to over a dozen meters high in the wind, and then the remaining spiritual energy from the spirit vein of the entire Golden Dawn Mountain frantically surged into the array banners.

The massive drain of spiritual energy directly destabilized the mountain's earth veins, causing it to shake violently as if an earthquake had occurred, with parts of the mountain collapsing to reveal deep, pitch-black fissures of unknown depth.

"What's happening? Is the mountain collapsing?"

"What is the Chen Family doing? Are they trying to destroy the spirit vein? This is a Tier Three Upper Grade spirit vein they cultivated with countless spirit stones!"

"This is bad, the protective barrier is breaking, everyone, run!"

The sudden change left the cultivators in the marketplace who were unaware of the situation stunned, while the cultivators of allied families like the Zhou Family, who had been notified in advance, were all looking towards the nine giant array banners with anticipation.

The Foundation Establishment Cultivators of the Chen Family had said they would activate the array's killing move to assist everyone in breaking through, and they all wanted to know just how powerful this killing move, which absorbed the remaining spiritual power of the entire Golden Dawn Mountain's spirit vein, would be.

They were not disappointed; after the nine array banners absorbed a large amount of spiritual energy and magical power, the yellow earth dragons embroidered on them suddenly seemed to come to life, raising their heads and letting out earth-shattering dragon roars.

Roar——

In the midst of the earth-shattering dragon roar, the yellow earth dragons on the nine array banners suddenly flew out from the flagpoles and directly drilled into the mountain body below.

A few moments later, the mountain body of Golden Dawn Mountain suddenly "rumble" cracked open with nine ten-meter-wide fissures, from which nine yellow earth dragons over thirty meters long flew out.

"Oh my god! What kind of magic is this? I feel like the aura of each of these earth dragons is even more terrifying than that of a Tier Three Lower Grade demon beast!"

"So, the Chen Family had such a killing move, no wonder they dared to hold fast to the marketplace. We're saved, we're saved!"

"Charge, charge now, slaughter those damned sand bandits!"

With the nine dragons soaring through the sky, the cultivators in the marketplace were immediately elated, with many of them displaying expressions of joy at having survived, believing they were saved.

Indeed, judging by the aura, each of these nine yellow earth dragons exuded an aura even stronger than that of a Tier Three Lower Grade demon beast like the Poison Fire Scorpion King.

If these nine yellow earth dragons could continue to exist, the advantage of the sand bandits in Foundation Establishment stage battle prowess would disappear, and who would be victorious would remain uncertain.

However, those like Zhouyang who were aware of the inside story knew that these nine seemingly imposing yellow earth dragons actually only held power for a single strike.

To summon these nine yellow earth dragons, the Tier Three Upper Grade spirit vein within Golden Dawn Mountain had directly fallen to a Tier Three Lower Grade, and even the array banners and array bases of the Chaotic Heaven Earth Dragon Array would be completely damaged after this strike.

"Go!"

The Foundation Establishment Cultivators of the Chen Family atop the mountain certainly wouldn't explain these things to those unaware of the inside story. After executing the self-destructive move "Earth Dragon Ascending to Heaven," they immediately waved their hands to control the nine yellow earth dragons to attack the sand bandits, who were dumbfounded by these changes.

"Now is the time, go!"

At the location of the Zhou Family Cultivators, Zhou Xuan Yu, upon seeing the nine yellow earth dragons fly out to slay enemies, immediately gave an order and led the charge himself, following a yellow earth dragon to break out of Golden Dawn Mountain.

At the same time, other clan cultivators who had been notified in advance, including the Chen Family's Qi Cultivation stage cultivators, all quickly chose a yellow earth dragon near them to follow and initiate the breakout.

"Damn it, stop them, don't let a single one escape!"

The sand bandit leader, realizing what was happening belatedly, finally understood the situation. While releasing magical artifacts to strike the nearest yellow earth dragon, he angrily shouted orders for the other sand bandits to stop those attempting to break out.

After working hard for half the day to attack the array, if we let them escape, it would truly be a joke.

The Qi Cultivation Stage sand bandits suffered, their magical power, even replenished by refining Spirit Stones, was less than half its peak after attacking the array for half a day.

The escaping Zhouyang and others had preserved at least seventy percent of their magical power, and as Clan Cultivators, their magical artifacts and spirit talismans were extraordinary, now using all their trump cards without reservation to survive.

Following behind Zhou Xuan Yu, Zhouyang saw this foster mother transform into a magic machine, throwing various Tier Two spirit talismans like cabbages, the Qi Cultivation Stage sand bandits blocking her hadn't figured out what happened before being bombarded to pieces by the magic.

This fierce might immediately intimidated other sand bandits trying to intercept, pushing their breakout progress to the forefront.

The consequence was a Foundation Establishment Stage sand bandit battling the Yellow Earth Dragon immediately tossed out a spare Tier Two High-Grade Flying Sword toward their team.

Even though it was just a Tier Two High-Grade Flying Sword, under the support of the Foundation Establishment Cultivator's strong magical power and "Sword Control Skill," it had the terrifying ability to instantly kill a common Ninth-Layer Qi Cultivation tier.

Zhou Xuan Yu saw this, her face changed sharply, she shouted harshly, "You leave quickly, I'll hold him off!"

Before the shout fell, she raised her jade hand, launching a Tier Three Spirit Talisman already in her grasp.

This Tier Three Spirit Talisman stored a Tier Three Defense Spell "Golden Armor Technique," which immediately made a golden battle armor composed of golden light surface on her body.

The flying sword released by the Foundation Establishment sand bandit struck it, only shedding some golden light fragments, unable to injure Zhou Xuan Yu inside in the short term.

Zhouyang felt slightly relieved, knowing that the situation was urgent, staying here wouldn't help but would drag down foster mother Zhou Xuan Yu.

Therefore, after saying "Foster Mother take care," he gritted his teeth and took Zhou Xuan Yu's place, leading the charge to break out.

The further they went, the fewer sand bandits. After mimicking foster mother Zhou Xuan Yu, Zhouyang used a spirit talisman to kill two fearless sand bandits, seeing no more sand bandits blocking ahead.

At this moment, he glanced back, seeing a thousand meters behind, foster mother Zhou Xuan Yu was focusing on the Protective Golden Armor, releasing spiritual artifacts and fiercely battling the flying sword, not intending to catch up.

"Foster Mother!"

With reddened eyes, Zhouyang immediately understood Zhou Xuan Yu's plan; she feared moving would attract the Foundation Establishment Cultivator's attention to them. She intended to sacrifice herself to let them succeed!

"Xiao Jiu, don't act rashly; she still has a Tier Three 'Flying Talisman' granted by the old Clan Leader. Our task now is to escape quickly; only when we escape the Foundation Establishment sand bandit's sight can she safely break out!"

Seeing Zhouyang stop and look back, Wu Tao reached out and pulled him, afraid he'd impulsively return.

As the highest cultivator among Zhou Family's outsiders, Wu Tao held a significant position within the Zhou Family, being Zhou Xuan Yu's husband, Zhouyang calmed slightly upon hearing his words.

"Go, we'll disperse as planned. Remember, if you survive, wait for the old Clan Leader's return before contacting."

He waved his hand solemnly, stating the pre-arranged plan.

He then looked back at foster mother Zhou Xuan Yu's figure, gritted his teeth, and randomly chose a direction and fled desperately.

Qi Cultivation Stage cultivators might not be able to sword fly, but using "Divine Movement Technique," "Light Body Technique," and other spells, their running speed on land surpassed galloping horses, capable of traveling over a hundred miles in an hour.

However, humans aren't naturally suited for running; running like this briefly is manageable, but prolonged running would disable the legs.

Thus, after fleeing Golden Dawn Mountain, Zhouyang ran for over half an hour before stopping in a deserted mountain, where he left numerous traces and used a Tier One Array "Illusion Array" to set up a false hiding place.

After completing these, he utilized "Earth Escape Technique" to burrow into the mountain, using a flying sword to carve a dwelling deep within, clutching Spirit Stones in each hand to quickly restore his magical power.

He knew the traces left behind couldn't escape the sand bandits adept at tracking.

Now he could only gamble, betting the pursuing sand bandits couldn't detect him buried dozens of meters underground, betting their strength wouldn't exceed Qi Cultivation Stage.

If the pursuing sand bandit's strength was merely Qi Cultivation Stage, even their numbers wouldn't be overwhelming; relying on numerous trump cards, he had a fair chance. But if a Foundation Establishment sand bandit pursued, it would mean fate was against him!

Waiting was torturous, especially waiting with life and death at stake, which was extremely agonizing.

Zhouyang waited for one or two hours, and after his magical power had fully recovered without anyone pursuing him, his anxiety became more apparent, and he repeatedly thought about going out to continue escaping.

But reason told him that the risk of escaping on the ground at this time was definitely many times higher than waiting underground.

Those Foundation Establishment sand bandits, after breaking through the marketplace, would certainly not be satisfied with the gains inside. By then, as long as they flew into the sky and used the "Celestial Eye Technique," the magical light emitted by escaping cultivators dozens of miles away would be as conspicuous as fireflies in the night, unable to escape their dharma eye.

On the other hand, from a psychological perspective, the most dangerous place is the safest place.

After those Foundation Establishments sand bandits ransacked the marketplace, they would surely seek to kill the escaping cultivators by first searching far away from the marketplace because, according to common sense, the stronger the cultivator, the better their resources. They will undoubtedly be much faster and more capable of escaping than others.

Finally, after more than three hours of this agonizing wait, Zhouyang, hiding underground, finally heard the commotion triggered by the traps he set on the surface.

"Damn bastard, daring to trick our brothers like that, he truly deserves to die!"

"His damn mother, we never thought our brothers, who hunt geese daily, would be almost pecked blind by a goose today. What a cunning little brat, actually cunningly placing a few Tier Two High-Grade Spirit Talismans in the formation. If it weren't for our brothers' usual caution, we might have really fallen into this brat's hands today!"

"This is not over. When we find that brat, don't kill him. Just abolish all his meridians, chop off his hands, and throw him into the Desert Sea, letting him slowly die in endless despair!"

On a nameless barren mountain, three black-robed sand bandits emerged from the ruins of a collapsed cave with magic shields, cursing angrily as they eyed the ruins.

After following the traces left by Zhouyang all the way to this place, the three of them accidentally triggered the formation traps Zhouyang had set up, activating the few Tier Two High-Grade Spirit Talismans inside, almost losing everything. Of course, they had reason to be furious now.

After cursing for a while, one of the sand bandits looked at his two companions and asked, "What do we do now? The brat's aura and traces disappeared on this barren mountain. We don't know whether he's hiding or fled elsewhere."

Hearing his companion's question, one of the sand bandits immediately shouted, "He must still be here! A guy who knows how to trick people like this must know those elders are patrolling the area, chasing down escaped fishes. If he dares to run on the ground now, it's as good as seeking death!"

Another sand bandit nodded in agreement and said, "Exactly, he must be hiding somewhere. In my opinion, he's likely hiding deep underground. We might as well use the Earth Escape Technique to find him underground."

"Hearing you two brothers say that, it's indeed like that. Let's search then." The questioning sand bandit's eyes lit up and immediately performed a spell, using the Earth Escape Technique to delve into the ground.

The other two sand bandits saw this and nodded to each other, following with the Earth Escape Technique to search underground.

Zhouyang never anticipated that these sand bandits would be so cunning to instantly see through his plan.

Although his underground hiding place was deep enough not to be detected by divine sense from the surface, it was most vulnerable to people also using the Earth Escape Technique to search in a net pattern. The barren mountain was only so large; with the three sand bandits conducting a net search, they quickly forced him out of his hiding spot.

"Heh, I thought someone who knew how to trap us brothers with such traps would be a sly old fox who's been in the Cultivation Realm for years. But it turned out to be a young brat. Kid, you're very cunning. Where did you learn this trick? Does your family have elders who were sand bandits too?"

On the barren mountain, the three sand bandits were slightly taken aback when they saw the person hidden underground was young Zhouyang. Then one of the sand bandits seemed to guess something, sneering as he voiced his assumption.

Certainly, such methods of laying traps and deceiving people mostly came from the hands of sand bandits and loose cultivators. Even if family clan cultivators and sect cultivators knew of such methods, they generally disdained to use such sinister methods.

Zhouyang learned this method by secretly noting it down when hearing his family elders talk about various sand bandit methods of deceit.

He was different from those family clan cultivators who disdained to use such sinister methods. In his view, any method that could help him defeat his enemies was a good method, regardless of whether it was sinister or not.

Of course, the premise was that this method must not violate his inner principles or harm the ways of heaven.

For example, some demons in the Cultivation Realm, to kill opponents, wouldn't hesitate to use forbidden techniques to sacrifice hundreds of thousands of mortals to refine evil demon artifacts. Even if Zhouyang knew of such methods, he definitely wouldn't use them.

"This is called using one's own methods to deal with one's own kind. Speaking of cunning, who can be more insidious and vicious than you sand bandits?"

Zhouyang glanced at the three sand bandits, finding that their cultivation was not beyond his handling limit, he slightly relaxed, and couldn't help but look at the three with a mocking expression and made a taunting remark.

These three sand bandits, one at Ninth-Layer Qi Cultivation, with two at Eighth-Layer Qi Cultivation. To deal with a typical Ninth-Layer Qi Cultivation cultivator, even the Zhou family elders, except Zhou Xuan Yu, would have a significant chance of victory.

However, for him, as long as he used those bottom-box treasures he carried, to fight one against three wasn't impossible.

"Arrogant brat, still dare to be stubborn when you're about to die!"

The three sand bandits were furious, angered by Zhouyang's attitude. Without further words, they directly wielded spiritual artifacts and launched an attack on Zhouyang.

The magical artifacts of these three individuals were impressive, with two of them possessing Tier Two High-Grade Spiritual Artifacts—a flying sword and a black bottle capable of releasing poisonous sand.

The poisonous sand released by that black bottle, though each grain was no larger than a fingernail, amounted to hundreds in number, each with the power of a Tier One Top Grade Artifact, not to mention carrying a highly corrosive poison to magical power. Zhouyang could hardly defend against the poisonous sand attacking from all directions with just one Silver Gang Shield Spiritual Artifact, and had to use Defense Spirit Talismans to enhance his defenses.

However, once a Defense Spirit Talisman was used, it would continually draw on the cultivator's magical power to maintain its presence, otherwise relying solely on the little spiritual power within the talisman would allow it to withstand only a few attacks before dissipating.

This way, Zhouyang had an additional drain on his magical power.

Moreover, the commotion from the magical combat here was not trivial. If it dragged on, it would be disastrous to attract the attention of Foundation Establishment Stage sand bandits. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

So, after initially probing the methods of the three sand bandits, Zhouyang realized that this battle had to be resolved swiftly.

Moreover, the commotion from the magical combat here was not trivial. If it dragged on, it would be disastrous to attract the attention of Foundation Establishment Stage sand bandits.

So, after initially probing the methods of the three sand bandits, Zhouyang realized that this battle had to be resolved swiftly.

"This is what you've asked for!"

His gaze cold as ice, he glanced at the three sand bandits and with a wave of his hand, threw several Tier Two High-Grade Spirit Talismans towards the sand bandit using the black bottle spiritual artifact. Then with his divine sense, the four "Armor-Piercing Daggers" that had been fiercely clashing with the enemy's flying sword in mid-air suddenly turned, immediately abandoning the flying sword to shoot towards the sand bandit bombarded by several Tier Two High-Grade Techniques.

The three sand bandits clearly did not expect Zhouyang to act so decisively and recklessly, causing them to be half a beat slow in response, leaving the remaining two unable to assist their companion in time.

And the sand bandit targeted by Zhouyang's focused fire, due to his artifact's considerable drain on magical power, had previously only deployed a Copper Mirror Spiritual Artifact in combination with the "Golden Light Body-Protecting Technique" for defense.

Such protection couldn't be considered poor, as at least Zhouyang, relying only on the "Armor-Piercing Daggers" set of Tier Two High-Grade Spiritual Artifacts, certainly couldn't break through the dual protection and injure him with a single strike.

Yet he severely underestimated Zhouyang's tactics and even more so his determination to kill.

Zhouyang sparing no cost slammed four Tier Two High-Grade Spirit Talismans continuously on him, instantly tearing through all the hastily set defenses and then easily severed his head with the "Armor-Piercing Daggers" that swiftly followed.

The other two sand bandits, witnessing this, were both shocked and furious. While quickly adding several layers of protection onto themselves, they also started hurling spirit talismans at Zhouyang.

They had just robbed the Jinsha Marketplace, and each had seized quite a haul. Their resources and methods far surpassed those sand bandits Zhouyang had encountered in the desert before.

Zhouyang hadn't expected that these two sand bandits, because of their companion's death, would recklessly stand by each other to engage in a full-out magical duel.

Such sand bandits with loyalty and righteousness were truly rare.

This time, it was his turn to be in a bind.

He had plenty of spirit talismans himself and felt confident in depleting the two sand bandits to their last dime.

However, using spirit talismans also consumed magical power, especially as Defense Spirit Talismans were major consumers when defending against attacks.

Confronting two enemies alone, beyond the sheer number of spirit talismans being several times that of his opponents, his magical power was like an uncontrolled faucet, gushing out non-stop.

"This can't continue. If it goes on like this, even if I deplete the enemies' spirit talismans, my magical power won't last until final victory. Seems I have to use that item!"

Topped with all sorts of colorful protective shields, Zhouyang secretly lamented in his heart, knowing that without using other tactics to turn the tide, he might truly fail here today.

Indeed, he still had an ace up his sleeve, powerful enough to decide victory or defeat, but this item was extremely precious, using it on two Qi Cultivation Stage sand bandits was truly wasteful, which was why he hadn't considered employing it before.

But now it seemed, without utilizing this trump card, today he feared he wouldn't come out well.

Faced with the choice between life and treasure, he of course chose life.

Having made up his mind, Zhouyang hesitated no longer. He reached towards the storage bag on his waist with a pat, and a black metal cylinder, about a foot high, appeared in his hand.

Then, he forcefully tossed the black metal cylinder into the sky between the two sand bandits, spurred it with his magical power, and the cylinder spun in mid-air with a whir, instantaneously releasing a barrage of dark red poison needles with a "swoosh whoosh swoosh".