Cultivation Begins From The Desert-Chapter 45: Breakout Battle (Part 1)

"Yang’Er, it seems that we can’t hold the marketplace anymore. Once the array breaks, we’ll immediately disperse and try to break through. If you manage to escape, find a place to hide on the oasis and wait for your grandfather and the others to return before seeking them. Whatever you do, do not go to White Camel Ridge alone!"

On Golden Dawn Mountain, just as Zhouyang, like the others, was shocked and dazed by the news revealed by the Sand Bandit Leader, he suddenly heard the telepathic voice of his foster mother, Zhou Xuan Yu, in his ear.

He trembled upon hearing the rumor and instantly snapped out of his daze.

After regaining his composure, he glanced slightly at his foster mother, Zhou Xuan Yu, and quietly sent back a telepathic message: "Mother, since we’ve decided to attempt a breakout and escape, I suggest we bury our extra storage bags somewhere to avoid becoming targets during our escape!"

"Alright, let’s do as you say."

Zhou Xuan Yu’s beautiful eyes brightened, and without any hesitation, she immediately agreed to Zhouyang’s suggestion.

Compared to life, wealth is indeed external. Besides, if they truly fall into the hands of the sand bandits, the items in the storage bags couldn’t be brought back to the clan anyway.

However, to avoid drawing the attention of the three Foundation Establishment Cultivators from the Chen Family, these actions could only be conducted secretly, without exposing their true intentions.

After another half-day of confrontation, groups of Qi Cultivation Stage sand bandits, all clad in black robes and face coverings, finally surrounded them from all directions of Golden Dawn Mountain. Along with them, there were four more Foundation Establishment Stage sand bandits flying on their swords.

By now, the number of Foundation Establishment Stage sand bandits attacking Golden Dawn Mountain had reached as many as fourteen, while the number of Qi Cultivation Stage sand bandits was ten times that.

Zhouyang noticed that almost all these newly appeared sand bandits had multiple storage bags hanging from their waists, with some still stained with fresh blood, clearly having been recently looted from the dead.

This made his heart sink, realizing that his foster mother Zhou Xuan Yu’s prediction had come true—the loose cultivators who descended the mountain earlier thinking they could escape were mostly likely all dead at the hands of these well-prepared sand bandits.

"Indeed, sand bandits are truly sand bandits. With their greedy nature of squeezing oil from stone, how could they let those scattered loose cultivators escape?"

Zhouyang felt a chill in his heart, experiencing the wickedness of the sand bandit group once more.

Apart from their different cultivation techniques, their actions were no different from the legendary demonic cultivators. Saying they were demonic cultivators wouldn’t be wrong.

"Attack! Use your most powerful magic and artifacts to smash them against that turtle shell. Let’s see how long that turtle shell can hold out!"

Rumbling!

At the command of the Ninth-Layer Foundation Establishment sand bandit leader, all the sand bandits, including those at the Foundation Establishment Stage, unleashed their magic tools and magic towards the array protective shield guarding Golden Dawn Mountain.

The multi-colored spiritual light of the magic instantly dyed the sky above Golden Dawn Mountain into a beautiful rainbow.

However, this beautiful scene was deadly and perilous for the cultivators defending within Golden Dawn Mountain.

Because, under the concentrated attack from numerous sand bandits, the array protective shield guarding Golden Dawn Mountain began to tremble ever so slightly, although the movement wasn’t significant.

Nonetheless, everyone knew that once the array protective shield started trembling, it meant the attacks from the sand bandits outside were indeed effective. As long as these attacks continued, and the spirit vein’s spiritual qi maintaining the array protective shield couldn’t keep up with the supply, the array would inevitably break.

"Kill! While the array can still hold, unleash whatever means you have, fellow cultivators. Kill one, and it’s worth it; kill two, and it’s a profit!"

On Golden Dawn Mountain, three Foundation Establishment Cultivators from the Chen Family uttered in low, dark tones, releasing their flying swords to strike at the sand bandits attacking from outside the array.

For high-tier arrays like the "Chaotic Heaven Earth Dragon Array," the defense shields generally only act outward, not inward. Cultivators outside the array need to break the protective shield before they can harm those inside, while those inside can easily attack through the shield to strike at enemies outside.

Thus, unless possessing absolute superiority in strength, cultivators would never assault enemy mountain gates or marketplaces guarded by high-tier arrays.

Currently, the sand bandits had indeed gained an absolute strength advantage. Their total numbers were noticeably fewer than those in the marketplace, yet the number of Foundation Establishment Cultivators was four or five times more than those on the marketplace side.

Even though the three Foundation Establishment Cultivators from the Chen Family just released their flying swords and killed a few Qi Cultivation Stage sand bandits, they were quickly intercepted by the flying swords of three Foundation Establishment sand bandits. Even if they later summoned other magic tools for attacks, they would be blocked by other Foundation Establishment sand bandits, making further achievements extremely challenging.

In contrast, Zhouyang and the Ninth-Layer Qi Cultivation cultivators, due to their numerous numbers and scattered attacks, managed to inflict damage on some Qi Cultivation Stage sand bandits even though the Foundation Establishment sand bandits attempted to intercept them.

Seeing this situation, the Ninth-Layer Foundation Establishment sand bandit leader immediately ordered the Qi Cultivation Stage sand bandits to retreat several dozen meters, exiting the attack range of the Qi Cultivation Stage cultivators in the array, and then launch long-range bombardments with magic from afar.

This put the cultivators inside the marketplace at a disadvantage. The range of a Qi Cultivation Stage Cultivator’s magic tool attack typically matches the range of their divine sense. Once the magic tool is released beyond this distance, it can no longer be controlled with divine sense, and if released, it would end up benefiting the enemy for nothing.

However, magic doesn’t have this problem. Although magic also requires cultivators to lock onto the target with divine sense for a precise strike, the array protective shield outside Golden Dawn Mountain was such a large target that even casting magic blindly from hundreds of meters away wouldn’t miss.

Of course, Zhouyang and others could also cast magic to attack the sand bandits from a distance. However, without the divine sense to lock onto a target, their magic couldn’t affect the agile cultivators at all, unless it’s incredibly large-range Tier Three or even Tier Four magic. freewēbnoveℓ.com

First of all, they couldn’t possibly unleash such high-tier magic spells, even if someone were willing to expend extremely precious Tier Three talismans to cast magic, would the Foundation Establishment sand bandits outside just stand by and watch?

At this moment, Zhouyang finally understood why the Chen family Foundation Establishment Cultivators were willing to let those loose cultivators leave, even though they knew a large number of sand bandits were attacking.

They anticipated that even if those people stayed, they wouldn’t be of much help but rather offend the entire marketplace of loose cultivators, bringing a bad reputation to the Chen family.

But now, those who know the inside story wouldn’t blame the Chen family and would only say those loose cultivators were short-sighted; if they had stayed inside the marketplace, maybe they could have saved their lives.

Time slowly passed by, and the sand bandit attacks outside Golden Dawn Mountain continued without pause. Many sand bandits were holding spirit stones in one hand, absorbing spiritual qi to replenish their magical power while continuing to cast spells to attack the array shield.

After several hours of continuous attack, the earthy yellow array shield protecting Golden Dawn Mountain had thinned considerably. The shield was trembling much more violently than before, clearly indicating that its defense was not as strong as it used to be.

The three Foundation Establishment Cultivators from the Chen family on Golden Dawn Mountain had no choice but to order Qi Cultivation Stage cultivators like Zhouyang to infuse their magical power into the array to maintain its operation and consumption.

With the guardian array about to be breached, cultivators like Zhouyang, who weren’t part of the Chen family, were secretly considering their escape plan; how could they be willing to wholeheartedly contribute their magical power?

On the surface, they all held spirit stones in one hand to absorb spiritual power and replenish their magical power, and with the other hand, they touched the array base of the "Chaotic Heaven Earth Dragon Array" to input magical power, appearing to comply with orders.

But the reality was that everyone was holding back, only inputting a fraction of their power into the array, intending to reserve their magical power for breaking through.

Under such circumstances, the array shield was not much strengthened by the power supplied by the cultivators, barely able to prolong the duration just a bit longer.

The sand bandits outside Golden Dawn Mountain evidently noticed this situation as well, so they intensified their attacks further.

"These damned bastards!"

The three Chen family Foundation Establishment Cultivators on Golden Dawn Mountain, upon seeing this, became extremely surprised and furious, unable to contain their rage.

But while they were angry, they were wise, or perhaps, reluctantly chose not to disclose the matter, let alone punish anyone.

As the saying goes: The law doesn’t punish the masses.

When one or a few people do this, they can decisively strike to kill those people as a warning to others.

But when everyone does this, if they dare use violence, they would only force those people to abandon providing magical power to the array, leaving the outside sand bandits with an easy gain.

"Yang’er, I’ve arranged everything. When the time comes, don’t worry about anyone else, just focus on escaping with your life."

"Remember, you are our Zhou family’s hope for rising to prominence, your life alone is more precious than all of us here; only if you survive, grandfather and their hard work won’t be wasted. As long as you successfully reach Foundation Establishment, even if all of us die, it’s worth it!"

At the array node guarded by the Zhou Family cultivators, Zhouyang was placing his hand on the Profound Iron array base to infuse his power into the array, as his foster mother Zhou Xuan Yu’s telepathy rang in his ears once again.

Upon hearing the message, he glanced around and found Zhou Yu, Zhou Xiong, Zhou Yuanchun, and Zhou Yuanzhen among his siblings were all looking at him, their expressions indescribably complex.

Obviously, these guys also received Zhou Xuan Yu’s telepathy, and perhaps Zhou Xuan Yu specifically instructed them to cover his escape.

"I... I understand." He nodded heavily, his heart feeling uneasy.

First, it was Elder Zhou Quan and other elders of the "Light" generation, now it’s his peers like these siblings; these people have sacrificed so much for the Zhou family to have one more Foundation Establishment cultivator, for him, Zhouyang, to reach Foundation Establishment!

He must live, he absolutely must live!

To live, reach Foundation Establishment, open the Purple Mansion... lead the Zhou family to become a powerful and prosperous cultivation clan, to repay these people’s sacrifices and meet the expectations of those who placed high hopes on him.

And at this moment, among the three Chen family Foundation Establishment Cultivators, the gray-haired elderly cultivator suddenly moved his lips, secretly conveying a message to Zhouyang and Zhou Xuan Yu: "Two companions from the Zhou family, in half an hour we will join forces to activate the killing move of the [Chaotic Heaven Earth Dragon Array] for a counterattack; if you want to break through, seize the opportunity."

"Thank you for your great kindness, elder."

Zhouyang and Zhou Xuan Yu exchanged a glance and saw intense joy in each other’s eyes.

Just this sentence from the Chen family Foundation Establishment cultivator boosted their chance of successfully escaping by more than half.

It seems their previous choice to adhere to the alliance was correct; although the three Chen family Foundation Establishment cultivators said nothing openly, they were secretly aware of everything, hence the reminder now.