"However, in this End of the Dharma world, with the era of Divine Spirits’ downfall, Wang Heng now is no different from becoming the master of the Yama Banner. He and the Yama Banner are in a symbiotic state, both thriving or suffering together. Unexpectedly, after fighting tooth and nail, the Yellow Heaven Dao ends up benefiting this kid." Zhang Chen felt somewhat strange in his heart.
Time quietly passed, accompanied by the setting sun, at some unknown point bonfires rose in the field.
Seeing the sky darken, Wang Heng’s army under his banner sang and danced, exuberantly releasing the pressures of the day. Zhang Chen took a deep breath, the next moment his nostrils vibrated with the sound of humming and ha-ha, and then he saw the Sand Merging Skill activated, blowing out, yellow sand swept across ten miles.
The yellow sand contained Divine Power, shrouding the sky and Earth, rendering sun and moon without light, there was also Spiritual Power within, affecting people’s senses, preventing souls from emerging.
The cavalry on horseback fell directly, while the horses lay prone on the ground, fearing the might of Heaven and Earth.
At this moment, Wang Heng’s army was instantly chaotic, losing coordination, one by one lying on the ground avoiding the gale.
The wind and sand blew tents up, provisions flew about, soldiers couldn’t open their eyes, let alone discern directions. As the bonfires extinguished, the entire camp plunged into darkness.
"Damn it, which Abnormal Person dares oppose me!" Wang Heng, looking at the endless yellow sand, realized someone was secretly scheming against him, angry beyond measure, yet helpless.
The wind and sand contained the Yellow Springs wind, specifically restraining the malicious spirits under his banner, even with the Yama Banner Tenth Tier Divine Artifact in hand, it was hard to wield.
At this moment, the refugees seized the opportunity, without saying a word, ran directly in the wind and sand. Everyone was no fool; why serve Wang Heng?
With such a chance of death and injury on the battlefield, once summoned, survival chances were less than ten percent. Seeing the dark and windy night, everyone took the chance to flee.
How could refugees who fled thousands of miles from the Northern Land be simple?
Zhang Chen transformed into water flow, ropes on him slipped off, then in the wind and sand he reached his family’s tent where his little brother, little sister, and stepmother were. He had long assigned the Blood God Child to watch secretly, so he wasn’t afraid of getting lost in the sandstorm.
His family indeed huddled under blankets, avoiding the wind and sand. Zhang Chen had the Wind Stabilizing Pill, stopping the sand as he went. Seeing his family buried under the covers, Zhang Chen shouted, "Don’t hide, let’s seize the chance in this sandstorm to escape. Wang Heng is not a good person; we shouldn’t stay entangled with him."
Upon hearing Zhang Chen’s voice, Chengyu poked his head out from under the covers, still feeling uneasy, "What strange wind, specifically restraining various Yin Spirit Techniques, blew my head aching, even with the soul within the body, it’s dizzy."
Zhang Chen already prepared a donkey cart and said to his family, "Get on the cart!"
Not only did he prepare a donkey cart, but also a horse cart. That horse wasn’t ordinary, it was Wang Heng’s Fifth Tier Demon Horse, but facing Zhang Chen’s Beast Taming Technique, it could only obediently submit.
Not only did Zhang Chen grab the horse like a sheep in passing, but he also attached a horse cart to the donkey cart, packed family’s stone sculptures and other items, and some army provisions, filling the horse cart. Then Zhang Chen got on the donkey cart and whipped it, the little donkey quickly trotted away, disappearing into the vast yellow sand.
Zhang Chen, being the master of the yellow sand, certainly wouldn’t lose direction; the little donkey took just an hour to leave the area covered by sand. Zhang Chen turned back to look at the yellow sand behind him and said to Chengyu in the horse cart, "We’ve left the sandy area, you take the cart farther away, I’ll cover the rear."
"Be careful yourself." Chengyu didn’t say much; now the whole family followed Zhang Chen’s will. Then Chengyu drove away, Zhang Chen turned to look at the vast yellow sand, spat out another mouthful of wind and sand.
Although his Sand Merging Skill was powerful, it had one flaw: it didn’t last long. If Zhang Chen walked away and disregarded it, the sand would stop soon, and Wang Heng’s army would catch up.
Luckily, Zhang Chen’s magic was deep now; although the Sand Merging Skill didn’t last long, he could blow several more breaths if needed, no problem for him. Five hundred years of magical power supported most of his Divine Techniques. Especially with the Innate Qi from Heaven-Reaching Jianmu, it was excellent for quickly restoring magic.
Remembering that today’s Heaven-Reaching Jianmu hadn’t gained time years, Zhang Chen took out the Ascension Pool. The Ascension Pool was palm-sized, in Zhang Chen’s palm. With Zhang Chen’s support during this period, Heaven-Reaching Jianmu had changed greatly, growing more than a dozen young leaves, and new branches began to sprout. The small Jianmu sprig, nurtured over daily ten-year periods by Zhang Chen, already had the momentum of a thousand years of growth, accumulated over a millennium should yield change.
From saving Dugu Qiu to traveling with Dragon Tiger Escort Agency every month could provide a timeshift of three hundred years. In almost half a year, despite regular delays due to Young Leader Chen Ping dragging him to drink at night, there’s still an accumulation of fifteen to sixteen hundred years.
As the leaves increased, the intake of Innate Qi increased too; Zhang Chen accumulated more Ascension Pool energy daily. Although the increase wasn’t substantial, it was moving in a positive direction.
"Under this Yin Wind, everything living and ghostly will scatter. Even if Wang Heng awakens Yama’s Power, he won’t find the refugees’ trails. The wind and sand can bury some traces, making tracking impossible." Zhang Chen’s mouth curled into a smile, daring to make him, Zhang Chen, suffer, weren’t it for fearing the Yama Banner, he’d let this boy see how many eyes Lord Ma had.
But as time passed, the refugees scattered one by one, and Zhang Chen looked at the sandstorm with some surprise, seeing Wang Heng’s original army also dispersing in chaos, most taking advantage of the sandstorm to escape, leaving only a few loyal devotees remaining.
"Just how unpopular is this scoundrel Wang Heng!" Zhang Chen watched Wang Heng’s soldiers scatter like birds and beasts, and couldn’t help but grumble secretly.
Three more hours passed, and Zhang Chen felt that his stepmother and others had gone far away, so he blew another gust of sandstorm, then transformed into a vampire bat and flapped away.
When the sandstorm had dispersed, Wang Heng looked at the disordered camp, now with his army reduced to a mere handful of cats, his eyes reddening: "Where is my army? Where are my supplies? Where are my mounts?"
Those were Fifth Tier Demon Horses, capable of traveling a thousand miles a day, extremely important to him, as he didn’t have the ability to fly in the clouds or escape through the earth and relied entirely on the demon horses for travel, yet now all were gone.
"General!"
At this time, more than eighty trusted followers crawled out from the yellow sand, looking at the empty camp, and were instantly dumbfounded.
All the army disappeared, they had become lone commanders, as if they had returned to pre-liberation overnight!
"Damn those bastards, how dare they betray me, they better not let me find their traces, otherwise I’ll feed them to the Yama Banner." Wang Heng cursed angrily, but was helpless.
What could he do? He was also very desperate!
All the horses had been swept away, and he had no ability to fly, how could he pursue the escaped army and scattered refugees?
"General, what should we do!" A soldier spoke up and asked.
"No worries, back then this general raised an army from nothing, it took only half a month. Now North Land is full of refugees, is it not easy to raise another army? Wait for this general to lead you all to rebuild our glory. As for that horse thief, he better not let me catch him, otherwise I’ll cut him into a thousand pieces." Wang Heng thought of his Fifth Tier Demon Horse and trembled with rage.
Fifth Tier Demon Horse! Even among the demon race it is uncommon and extremely difficult to capture, and crucially this demon horse was not one he captured but one he personally nurtured through various True Dragon Creations and supplies, extremely loyal to him.
The loss of the demon horse hurt him more than the scattering and escape of his thousands strong army: "Damn horse thief, you better not let me find you."
While Wang Heng was fuming and ranting, Zhang Chen had already landed before the carriage, taking the reins from Chengyu and continuing southward.
"This horse of yours is not simple." Chengyu spoke to Zhang Chen, asking a question.
"Fifth Tier Demon Horse! It’s that damn Grand General’s mount, now it belongs to me. I massaged his legs and shoulders, and he gave me the horse as compensation, isn’t that fair?" Zhang Chen said with a playful smile, his voice full of pride.
Chengyu was left speechless with wide eyes, that was a Fifth Tier Demon Horse, how could it be stolen so easily?
He felt he had underestimated Zhang Chen’s abilities.
Zhang Chen drove the donkey cart at night, traveling another hundred miles before stopping to rest, feeding the donkey and gathering the family to talk.
Zhang Chen stole the demon horse with his own plans, the donkey cart was ultimately too slow, whether in terms of foot speed or anything else, it was no match for the demon horse.
Heading to Jiangnan in the future to seek out relatives, he needed some capital, otherwise he’d be looked down upon, wouldn’t he be snubbed?
This demon horse could serve as a gift when he seeks out his relatives in Jiangnan later, preventing himself from being belittled.
After the family chatted for a while, they rested separately, and Zhang Chen continued to keep watch and practice.
He contemplated whether to first raise his mental realm, given the unknown spiritual world’s Third Heaven, requiring him to travel some more to reach the Buzhou Mountain foundation. The importance of Divine Power he had already witnessed, it was vital for him to deal with those top combatant forces, to handle those old fellows, the more Divine Power the better, the more the merrier.