Comprehending Myriad Techniques as Woodcutter

Seeing the remaining horse bandits catch up, Xie Yuan quietly sighed in relief, thinking to himself:

’I need to be more careful now. I can’t let them surround me again, or this won’t end well.’

Fortunately, his companions on the dune were taking advantage of the shifting morale—theirs rising as the enemy’s fell—to gradually break through the encirclement. The light of victory was already in sight.

Whenever a bandit fell behind or had a change of heart and tried to climb the dune, Xie Yuan would flash over, finish them in a few moves, and then slip away before the main group could catch up.

After several such rounds, the path up the dune became a forbidden zone littered with corpses. The other horse bandits no longer dared to approach.

The bandit leader saw that Xie Yuan clearly had energy to spare yet was intentionally going easy on them, just leading them in circles. His heart skipped a beat, and he instinctively fell back a few paces.

’This guy... can’t he just run away? He’s just running circles around us. It’s impossible to catch him, but we can’t just let him go either! Can’t you just piss off already?!’

The leader cursed inwardly. He no longer dared to clash with Xie Yuan head-on and had lost all desire for the reward.

The horror of that black light on the axe blade was enough to witness from the sidelines; he had no desire to experience it firsthand. He could only dutifully feign effort and slack off.

As Xie Yuan was leading the pack of horse bandits on a long run, his foot suddenly trembled, and he stumbled.

He was alarmed and uncertain, thinking he had overexerted himself and lost control of his legs. But then his feet began to shake again, trembling like a sieve.

Xie Yuan froze for a moment, then suddenly realized it wasn’t him shaking—it was the entire basin!

An earthquake!

BOOM! RUMBLE! A tremendous roar erupted. Xie Yuan felt the sandy ground beneath him heave violently, swaying back and forth like a ship in a storm.

He let out a grunt, planted himself in a horse stance to stabilize his lower body, and saw the bandits behind him all slowing down. Some of the weaker ones even fell to the ground. Seizing the opportunity, he used the chaos to once again increase the distance between them.

Dust and sand filled the sky, instantly plunging the entire basin into a state of near-total blindness where one couldn’t even see their hand in front of their face.

"The Earth Dragon is turning over!"

Cries of alarm rang out from all directions. Xie Yuan kept running, his mind filled with shock and doubt.

The intensity of this earthquake was probably unprecedented. Even many Martial Artists couldn’t keep their footing. It felt as if the entire West Desert was shaking in unison!

Suddenly, he felt the ground beneath him sink slightly, as if he were sliding downward.

Xie Yuan reacted in a flash, plunging one hand into the adjacent sand to anchor himself.

’Why is this huge crater sinking even further?’

His brows knitted tightly. Amid the roaring and the rising and falling cries of panic, he held his position firmly.

It took about the time to drink a cup of tea for the tremors to gradually subside. However, the air was still thick with dust, like a sandstorm, making it impossible to see anything clearly.

Xie Yuan channeled his energy into his eyes but could only tell that the terrain had changed. He couldn’t make out any details.

In the face of such a natural disaster, even a Martial Artist at the Qi and Blood Metamorphosis Realm would find it difficult to guarantee their own safety. Although there were no boulders or tall buildings, the surrounding dunes had collapsed, and many people were likely already buried under layers of sand.

The sand slowly settled, revealing the night sky.

Covered head to toe in sand, Xie Yuan finally regained some visibility. His expression darkened as he saw that the dunes had all been flattened. Just as he was about to head in the direction of the four Sword Sect members from memory, a furious roar echoed across the basin:

"Xie Yuan, you vile wretch! You ruined my father’s grand plan! Today, I’ll make sure you die without a burial place!"

He whipped his head around and saw that at the lowest point in the center of the basin, the city ruins were gone. In their place, an incredibly swift figure was kicking up a long trail of dust as it sped towards him!

Qi Blood Third Transformation! It was Lu the Third’s son!

Xie Yuan’s expression shifted. Although they were still far apart, Lu Xiaosan was even faster than he was. He dared not delay.

He glanced into the distance, his expression flickered, and he immediately fled in the opposite direction, also raising a long dragon-like trail of sand!

"After him! Everyone, get him!"

Lu Xiaosan bellowed, finally rallying the Second Transformation horse bandits in the center of the basin. After all, the ruins here were completely destroyed.

On what was left of a dune, Huang Zifeng and his three companions got to their feet, spaced some distance apart. They confirmed that none of them were injured and breathed a sigh of relief.

They had been at the very top of the dune and were lucky enough not to slide down into the basin, thus remaining safe. As for the many horse bandits around them, a good number had fallen into the basin and were then buried by the collapsing sand.

Countless tons of sand had crashed down, turning this place into a pit of a hundred corpses.

"I wonder how Junior Brother Zhang is doing?"

"It looks like Master Xie is being hunted by a powerful expert..."

Worry began to surface in their hearts. Just as they were about to move closer to each other, the situation changed again.

Horse bandits began to get up one after another. Their numbers seemed to have thinned considerably, which was good news.

The bad news, however, was that the earthquake had made them lose their footing and separated them. They were now at a distance from one another, with bandits filling the space between them. The Sword Array was broken!

The four’s expressions changed. They tried to take advantage of the moment before all the bandits were on their feet to regroup, but the faster ones immediately intercepted them, and the CLANG and CLASH of battle erupted once more.

This time, although there were fewer horse bandits around them, they could no longer support each other or form a defensive perimeter. The pressure on them increased dramatically!

Huang Zifeng gritted his teeth, killed two horse bandits with one slash of his sword, and spat out a mouthful of sandy saliva.

There were no particularly powerful experts up here, but their sheer numbers were overwhelming. He had been fighting for a long time. They would fight off one wave of bandits only to be met by another. The constant rotation and attrition tactics had already exhausted them.

He tried his best to get closer to his junior brothers and sister, but the previously insignificant bandits had suddenly become incredibly tenacious. It often took several sword strikes just to repel one, and it was difficult to land a killing blow.

’This isn’t working! We’re in an even worse position than before. If this drags on, we’re all going to die!’

Huang Zifeng thought to himself. He saw that his three junior brothers and sister had the same idea, and they all struggled to close the distance between them.

Pei Yu even threw out her last Thunder Bomb. With a loud BANG, it killed several horse bandits, but against the heavy siege surrounding them, it was merely a drop in the ocean.