Meng Zhang responded to the call of Twin Success Valley and happened to achieve great merit this time. He had already completed his mission and wasn't very willing to enter the sand monster nest. Killing as many sand monsters as possible wouldn't yield any spoils of war; it would only be a waste of effort. If he was unlucky and got injured by the sand monsters, that would truly be unfortunate.
Meng Zhang's primary task now was to protect himself and Tian Zhen from harm, and eliminating sand monsters was secondary. He couldn't blame Meng Zhang for being cautious in this battle. Considering the situation of Taiyi Sect, they couldn't afford any more losses.
Using the Deception Breaking Eye, Meng Zhang could see through nearby obstacles. He led Tian Zhen and Fang Yong, avoiding the large groups of sand monsters and killing the smaller teams that they couldn't avoid. This way, they also contributed to the human cultivators of the Endless Sea of Sand.
The Zhao Family cultivators, led by their patriarch Zhao Yanbei, had remained together and were not dispersed. They also had no intention of eliminating sand monsters; their goal was to find the figures of Taiyi Sect cultivators.
In the chaotic battle, without any Foundation Building stage cultivators present, it was quite normal for two mid-Refining Qi stage cultivators to die. Unfortunately, Meng Zhang had already taken his people and avoided them, leaving them no chance. Later on, the Zhao Family cultivators were also forced to disperse in the tunnels.
Even though Meng Zhang avoided the Zhao Family cultivators, he still encountered trouble. Keeping the Deception Breaking Eye active for too long put a great burden on his eyes. So, Meng Zhang couldn't keep it continuously activated and had to turn it on and off from time to time.
As Meng Zhang led the two of them into a new tunnel, it was precisely when he turned off the Deception Breaking Eye that an anomaly occurred in the tunnel. A human cultivator's head suddenly emerged from the ground, and then the body gradually surfaced.
Clearly, this cultivator was using the Earth Escape Spell to travel through the ground and was trying to return to the surface by undoing the spell.
This cultivator saw Meng Zhang's group, also consisting of human cultivators, but didn't pay much attention and continued ascending. Just as the upper half of his body emerged, the anomaly happened.
A black shadow swam through the ground and suddenly caught hold of the lower half of the cultivator's body. The cultivator screamed miserably and struggled desperately, but the black shadow, though seemingly small, possessed astonishing strength and firmly entangled his lower body.
Meng Zhang was startled by the scene. It was evident that this black shadow was a special sand monster with a talent similar to the Earth Escape Spell. Apparently, traveling through the ground with the Earth Escape Spell was also a dangerous task.
Without hesitation, Meng Zhang turned around and ran towards another nearby tunnel, with Tian Zhen and Fang Yong closely following, not daring to slow down.
After running just a few steps, the Refining Qi stage cultivator behind them stopped struggling, and all sounds vanished.
As they turned a corner, they ran into a group of cultivators running frantically from the opposite direction. Behind this group of cultivators, there was a large number of sand monsters in hot pursuit.
Both groups were stunned when they met face to face. Meng Zhang reacted the fastest, taking out a First Rank superior-grade flying sword refined with the Blood Refining Martyr Art and threw it at the wall beside the tunnel's entrance.
With a loud explosion, the wall was blown open, revealing a huge gap. Behind the gap was another tunnel.
Before the shockwave of the explosion subsided, Meng Zhang and the others quickly rushed through, intending to enter the new tunnel as quickly as possible.
The group of cultivators running towards them from the opposite side also responded quickly and rushed towards the only escape route.
The gap was not big, but there were many people trying to escape. For a moment, the situation was chaotic and crowded. Sand monsters charged from both sides, and the screams of cultivators could be heard from behind.
Just as Meng Zhang and the two others entered the tunnel, they were dispersed by the cultivators rushing in from behind. There was no time to regroup. Tian Zhen shouted loudly from a distance and ran towards one end of the tunnel, while Meng Zhang was separated on the other side and quickly headed to the opposite end of the tunnel.
Surprisingly, Fang Yong, despite being somewhat useless, had decent survival skills. He had been following Meng Zhang closely and wasn't left behind.
After a desperate run with numerous twists and turns, the two of them finally got rid of the pursuers and entered a completely new tunnel.
Being separated from Tian Zhen made Meng Zhang feel quite annoyed. He couldn't return to where they got separated earlier and could only hope silently that his old buddy would be safe.
After wandering underground for a while, even Meng Zhang wasn't sure where they had ended up. Fortunately, these tunnels were designed for large sand monsters to move in and out, so they were exceptionally wide and tall. Meng Zhang didn't feel cramped while walking inside for a long time.
Meng Zhang had originally planned to use a messaging talisman to contact Tian Zhen. However, he realized that both he and Tian Zhen were moving constantly and not staying in one place. Even if he sent a messaging talisman, the other party might not receive it. The messaging talisman was a low-level talisman that could only be sent to a fixed area. As for the communication flying swords with some search capabilities, only Foundation Building stage cultivators could use them.
To avoid the large groups of sand monsters, Meng Zhang kept moving with Fang Yong inside the tunnel. After an unknown amount of time, they arrived at a crossroads where several different tunnels converged.
As they arrived at this crossroads, two other groups of cultivators were also approaching from the other two tunnels. One group of cultivators was unfamiliar to Meng Zhang. The other group, led by Zhao Family disciples, was very familiar—Zhao Renlong and Zhao Renhu, the two brothers.
Both brothers were elders of the Zhao Family, each possessing a mid-Refining Qi completion level of cultivation. Though they were approaching their seventies and had no hope of reaching Foundation Building stage, they had honed their cultivation base to become increasingly pure. Moreover, they spent a lot of time cultivating two powerful offensive techniques.
When they saw Meng Zhang, both of them had a pleased expression. It had been Zhao Family's long-standing wish to take advantage of the chaos underground to kill Meng Zhang. However, they hesitated slightly upon seeing another group of unknown cultivators nearby.
Killing Meng Zhang secretly in the underground without any witnesses would be no problem. However, now that there were onlookers, it would be dangerous. If they couldn't eliminate everyone, the consequences would be unimaginable.
While the Zhao Family cultivators hesitated, Meng Zhang didn't hesitate at all. He immediately threw out a huge shield.
This magic tool was also a stolen item bought from the black market in Firewell Market. After refining it with the Blood Refining Martyr Art, it was transformed into a disposable tool.
Meng Zhang's target wasn't the Zhao Family disciples but the space directly above the crossroads.
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