“Chickie, don’t look so gloomy. So what if I took just a drop of your essence blood? Is it really worth getting so upset about?” Lin Fan sighed helplessly, seeing Chickie’s sorrowful expression.
Chickie was a descendant of an ancient ferocious beast, and his essence blood was of the highest quality. Yet who could have imagined that even a single drop would make Chickie so sad.
Was this Chickie still the same Chickie he knew?
Stingy—damn stingy.
“Ooooo… cock-a-doodle-doo…” Chickie’s crow sounded rather pessimistic. Then he flapped his wings toward his belly and sorrowfully pointed at his little rooster.
“Ooooo…”
At this moment, Chickie seemed about to cry.
Lin Fan looked over in confusion and then gently poked at the tiny peanut-like thing.
“Huh, strange. It seems a bit smaller than before, almost unnoticeable. Could it be because of losing that drop of essence blood?” Lin Fan said in astonishment.
“Ooooo…”
Chickie nodded sadly, clearly very upset. For Chickie, it was a great humiliation—after losing just one drop of essence blood, it had shrunk noticeably.
Seeing Chickie so heartbroken, Lin Fan didn’t know what else to say. He had never encountered a ferocious beast that cared so much about its little rooster.
Lin Fan patted Chickie’s head and said, “Alright, alright, don’t be sad. I’ll find you two hens later so you can have some fun.”
Upon hearing this, Chickie’s grief vanished instantly. His cute little chicken eyes suddenly sparkled with infinite light.
That gleam seemed almost tangible, piercing straight into Lin Fan’s head, as if demanding him to remember this moment.
Seeing Chickie’s sudden transformation, Lin Fan was completely speechless.
Chickie, could you at least retain a bit of the dignity befitting a descendant of an ancient ferocious beast?
You’re satisfied with just two hens? At the very least, it should be ten!
…
Just at this moment, Lin Fan suddenly noticed some movement ahead. Curious, he headed forward to investigate.
Far beyond the Xuanjian Pavilion, on a desolate plain, the wind blew gently, stirring up clouds of dust.
A caravan of horse-drawn carts had been intercepted.
“Stop right there—this is a robbery!” A burly man with one eye blind and a fierce appearance looked at the carts with a gleam of excitement on his face.
If Lin Fan were here, he would immediately recognize this man—wasn’t this Sand Dulong?
Once a member of the Desert Fourteen Bandits, he had been quite the tragic figure. During a solo robbery attempt, he had been subdued and barely escaped with his life. Later, in the Hell of Flames, he and his men had been terrified out of their wits, as the place had been absolutely horrifying.
Eventually, they followed the group from Xuanjian Pavilion and left that terrifying forbidden zone behind, continuing their journey until they reached Xuanjian Pavilion’s territory.
For Sand Dulong and his men, unfamiliar with this new land, they could only take things one step at a time.
What frustrated them even more was that this area wasn’t a bustling trade route, making robbery nearly impossible.
After enduring months of bitter hardship, they finally arrived at what they considered an earthly paradise.
Yellow Sand Ridge.
This place was relatively lively, with caravans passing by roughly every ten days or so.
Sand Dulong and his men weren’t fools. Before every robbery, they would carefully scout the target. If anyone in the caravan possessed an aura they couldn’t penetrate, they would abandon the plan.
If they could see through everyone, however, that caravan would become their top priority.
“Right, behave yourselves—men to the left, women to the right. Don’t resist pointlessly. We, the Desert Fifteen Bandits, only rob your wealth, not your lives!” the dwarf Sha Mexiong shouted.
They had learned the ‘men to the left, women to the right’ tactic from their former leader. Indeed, it was a brilliant method—ensuring they never mixed anyone up during their robberies.
As for why the former Desert Fourteen Bandits had become the Desert Fifteen, it was because they had already accepted Lin Fan as their big brother.
Even though their big brother was no longer around, once they had acknowledged him as such, they naturally had to honor their word.
Thus, the Desert Fourteen Bandits had officially become the Desert Fifteen Bandits.
At this moment, a slight commotion stirred within the caravan, apparently unexpected by its members.
This caravan appeared ordinary at first glance, but behind it was a prison cart covered with black cloth, obscuring whatever lay inside.
Inside one of the luxurious carriages within the caravan, a young man and a woman sat facing each other.
“Miss Han, I never expected that your caravan would also be targeted by bandits. If others heard of this, they’d surely laugh their heads off,” the young man said. Handsome and deep-eyed, he resembled a sleeping lion—underestimate him at your own peril.
The woman sneered coldly, clearly unimpressed.
“Bandits in Yellow Sand Ridge? This is the first time. Just kill them all,” she said indifferently.
The young man slightly lifted the curtain and glanced outside, a faint smile appearing on his lips. “Miss Han, the leader of these bandits outside has decent cultivation. Your men might not be their match.”
Han Mei looked at the young man for a moment before pondering silently. “Kill them and deliver the prisoner to the Tianhai Pavilion. The reward will be split equally between us.”
Inside the covered prison cart behind them was someone captured on behalf of the Tianhai Pavilion. Delivering this person would earn them a generous reward.
The Han family, closely connected to the Tianhai Pavilion, had learned of the mission the moment it was issued. They had begun their search and, fortunately, succeeded.
Yet in Miss Han’s eyes, the prisoner was just a child—nothing special at all.
As for this young man, he was a mysterious youth she had met along the way. His background was unknown, yet he seemed to know everything about the Han family.
Han Mei intended to recruit him for her own purposes. Additionally, the young man possessed formidable abilities, and their destination was also the Tianhai Pavilion. Thus, she had no objection to traveling together.
“Miss Han, although the Tianhai Pavilion’s reward is generous, I’m not particularly interested. However, if you help me with one small task, I can deal with these desert bandits for you.”
“What task?” Han Mei slightly furrowed her brows, puzzled.
“Help me become a disciple of the Tianhai Pavilion,” the young man said lightly.
“Just that?” Miss Han was taken aback, expecting something far more complicated. “With your abilities, entering the Tianhai Pavilion shouldn’t be a problem anyway.”
“I will enter the Tianhai Pavilion as your husband,” the young man calmly said, raising his wine cup.
Han Mei felt a surge of anger but then nodded. “Fine…”
…
Outside, the Desert Fifteen Bandits were growing furious.
“Big brother, this caravan isn’t showing us any respect!” Sha Daotian, now the third-in-command, said.
“Shall we just charge in and take it by force?” Sha Mexiong chimed in.
This situation was truly baffling them. Could it be that after moving to a new place, people had changed completely?
Didn’t they fear bandits anymore?
Just then, they saw a young man walking calmly toward them.
“You lot are here to rob us?” the young man asked casually.
“Exactly. You pretty boy, don’t talk nonsense. We, the Desert Fifteen Bandits, only rob wealth, not lives. Hand over your money if you know what’s good for you,” Sand Dulong said.
“One, two… strange. You call yourselves the Desert Fifteen Bandits, yet I only count fourteen. Did one of you get killed off? Oh, and there’s even a dwarf. This is truly my first time seeing such a sight. Indeed, only the ugly dare to become bandits,” the young man said with a smile.
“Insolent!” In that moment, fury erupted among them. When had they ever been so humiliated while committing robbery?
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