Chapter 57: The Blood-Sucking Horse Bandits

The cold wind howled fiercely.

Sand and dust swept across the sky.

The travelers were covered in a thick layer of yellow sand, standing on the northwest land. It was now the depths of winter, but no heavy snow had fallen.

The northwest climate was dry, with a vast expanse of yellow earth, sandy ground, and earthen hills. Occasionally, some bare trees shivered in the cold wind.

Crows perched on the trees cawed loudly, adding to the desolation.

Spit!

Li He spat, and the spit froze into ice chips the moment it left his mouth, landing on the ground with a crack.

"This northwest weather is terrible, with strong sandstorms. Even spit turns into ice chips. If it weren't for our deep cultivation, we would probably be frozen to death. I wonder how the people here survive the winter." A miscellaneous student opened his mouth, and a gust of sand blew in, filling his mouth with sand. He spat it out and cursed.

A group of five people appeared on the northwest land, braving the sandstorm.

Yang Qi was naturally among them.

The five miscellaneous disciples from Tianwei Academy had received the mission to eliminate the blood-sucking horse bandits in the northwest. They immediately set out, hoping to earn merit points.

This was a small group, while other small groups were scattered and had not yet met up with Yang Qi's group. In Tianwei Academy, people were divided into many small groups, each with their own interests, and the formation of cliques was very serious.

"Yang Qi, you are so calm and composed. Your true qi is much more robust than ours." Hua Yinhu looked at Yang Qi with envy.

Around Yang Qi, a small aura shield always enveloped his body, a layer of qi protecting him from the sand and cold. Among the five, only Yang Qi remained clean and dust-free, while the other four miscellaneous students were covered in dust.

Actually, they could also use their qi to protect themselves.

Because they were all eighth-stage qi masters, highly skilled, but they were reluctant to waste their true qi like Yang Qi did.

At first, when they entered the northwest, everyone thought Yang Qi's behavior was rash and inexperienced. Completing a mission required conserving one's true qi to avoid being killed by a strong enemy due to a lack of qi.

Wasting true qi on a little sand and cold was suicidal.

However, as they traveled, Yang Qi remained protected by his qi, showing no signs of fatigue, his face calm and composed, like a still pool of autumn water. This couldn't help but surprise them.

They had never seen anyone with such robust true qi.

"Right, Yang Qi, we've seen you practice, but we haven't seen you use your skills. No one knows how strong your qi cultivation is. Why don't we practice a bit? Warm up?" A disciple named He Jili said with interest.

He was an eighth-stage qi master, from a noble family in the Holy Ancestral Dynasty, far more powerful than the rural gentry like the Yang family. His family even had a supreme expert at the Life-Stealing Realm, but he still had to enter Tianwei Academy to study.

"Hmm? No need to worry about that now. I smell blood. It seems something is happening. Follow me!" Yang Qi shot out, moving swiftly through the sandstorm, quickly distancing himself from the others.

"Blood? I don't smell anything."

The other four miscellaneous students shook their heads but followed.

The four flew through the cold wind, covering dozens of miles in no time, arriving at a market. They were all stunned.

The entire market was filled with dead bodies, dried corpses, and dark red blood on the ground. Men, women, children, and even infants had been drained of blood. The market's supplies had been completely looted.

The ground was littered with dried corpses, their faces twisted in agony. Some clutched objects, their bodies hunched, as if they had suffered greatly before dying.

In the market, wild wolves roamed, gnawing on the bones of the corpses, creating a scene of hell on earth.

Yang Qi drew a sharp breath.

He approached a middle-aged man's body and found a wound on his neck, seemingly a tooth mark. It appeared that the man had been bitten and drained of all his blood.

The cold wind howled, and the market, filled with dried corpses, seemed to be filled with the cries of ghosts, making everyone's hearts shudder.

Several wolves howled mournfully.

A few wolves, seeing the living, tried to attack but were killed by Hua Yinhu's qi.

"What a cruel way to suck blood. I wonder what kind of qi cultivation they are practicing. Sucking the blood of the living to cultivate qi is a taboo on the continent. Although it allows for rapid cultivation, ten times faster than ordinary qi, anyone who sees it must kill. I never thought that blood-sucking horse bandits would appear in the northwest. If we don't eliminate them soon, many more will suffer."

Hua Yinhu shook his head. He was the son of a marquis in the Holy Ancestral Dynasty, with extensive knowledge. He squatted down, blew away the sand, and saw horse hoof prints leading to the distance.

He touched the blood, "These people have been dead for less than half a day. The cold weather has caused the blood to coagulate. There are still many clues at the scene. This group of bandits, numbering in the thousands, swept through the market, killing everyone in less than an hour. If we follow the hoof prints, we can catch up to these despicable bandits."

"Hua Yinhu is impressive."

Yang Qi listened to his analysis, feeling a sense of respect. Although he was powerful, his knowledge and investigative skills were far inferior to these experienced students.

He excelled in combat but remained silent about what he was not good at, quietly learning.

"Hua, since you've found the clues, let's move on and eliminate these blood-sucking horse bandits." Everyone was indignant, eager to rid the world of evil.

Yang Qi also felt that these bandits were a great threat and needed to be eliminated for the peace of the world.

Hua Yinhu took the lead, following the hoof prints out of the market.

Outside the market was a road. The northwest sky was gray, with earthen hills standing tall, and occasionally, dilapidated houses could be seen among them.

However, the northwest had been prosperous thousands of years ago, but the sandstorms gradually eroded the land, leading to its decline. As they entered the northwest, they could still see the remains of ancient cities.

Yang Qi and the others left the market and tracked the bandits for hundreds of miles. By evening, it was already dark, but as qi masters, they could see clearly in the darkness. Dark clouds covered the sky, and it seemed that snow was about to fall.

"Up ahead! There's a dilapidated ancient city."

Hua Yinhu pointed to the tall city walls, "Be careful. There might be experts among the blood-sucking horse bandits. Thousands of them might be resting in the ancient city."

The ancient city stood in the night, its walls bearing the marks of thousands of years of history.

The five people收敛了气息，迅速接近，发现城门口没有一点痕迹，显然很久没有人迹。而且没有马蹄印，显然没有马贼进入其中。

“追丢了？”

Hua Yinhu沉默了一会儿。

“追丢了也很正常，这些马贼来去如风，天色已经晚，我看就在这座古城中找个地方住一晚上，明天早上再说，你看天上的阴云，今晚肯定要落大雪，冰天雪地我们在外面也忍受不住。”

Li He suggested.

The group exchanged glances, agreeing that this was necessary.

In such icy weather, even eighth-stage qi masters would struggle to endure a night outside, especially in the northwest, where even a spit could turn to ice in the daytime. How cold would it be at night?

The five people passed through the broken city gate and entered the ancient city.

The streets of the ancient city stretched into the distance, with whirlwinds sweeping through, howling like the gates of hell.

The shops on both sides of the streets were long abandoned, with some signs already rotten.

“We need to find a place…” Li He's words were cut off by a creaking sound as the city gate behind them suddenly closed, sending a chill down their spines.

“Who!”

All five, except Yang Qi, were startled and turned around sharply. They all had a sense of being ambushed.

Creak, creak…

It sounded like crows screeching in the night, or perhaps demons had appeared. Mysterious sounds echoed from all directions, making it impossible to determine their source.

“Be careful, something is wrong in this ancient city. Form a square formation, back to back.” Hua Yinhu quickly said.

As he spoke, a strange blood shadow appeared behind him, claws extended, and lunged at him, sending a chilling wind that made everyone's hair stand on end.

The blood shadow's claws, dripping with blood, descended upon Hua Yinhu, cutting through his protective true qi with a fierce, blood-colored qi.

The intense blood smell was almost suffocating.

Hua Yinhu gagged, vomiting from the blood smell, and was about to be killed by the blood shadow.

“Die!”

Yang Qi acted swiftly, a wave of true qi surging out, striking the blood shadow.

The blood shadow was hit, let out a scream, and flew away, quickly disappearing into the ancient city.

This was a human-shaped true qi.

Clearly, it was emitted by a Qi Master-level expert.

“Who? Blood-sucking horse bandits?” Hua Yinhu roared: “Your days are numbered. We are students of Tianwei Academy. You demons, come out and face your doom.”

As he roared, he used his qi to transmit his voice: “This time, we might not survive. We have been ambushed by the bandits. I never thought that among these blood-sucking horse bandits, there would be a Qi Master-level expert.”