After several days of arduous travel, Xuan Yi and the others finally reached the outskirts of the Yellow Sand Mountain Range.
The Yellow Sand Mountain Range was notorious for its danger, crawling with bandits, and the rumors surrounding it didn't even come close to describing the true extent of its perils. As they entered the range, the oppressive air seemed to pulse with an unrelenting aura of bloodshed and death, as though the very wind carried the weight of countless tragedies.
The moment they soared into the Yellow Sand Mountain Range, their expressions grew tense. Not far ahead, a brutal battle was unfolding.
The scale of the conflict was shocking—several hundred people were involved. The sight before them was nothing short of a massacre. The ground was littered with corpses, their bodies half-buried in the yellow sands, fresh blood staining the earth. The stench of death clung to the air.
From the looks of it, a merchant caravan had been ambushed by a large group of bandits. The merchants had clearly put up a fierce fight, but the odds were stacked against them. The bandits were overwhelming, and their savagery was apparent.
At a glance, Xuan Yi knew the caravan didn't stand a chance.
The bandits, though not numerous—less than a third of the merchant group—were formidable. They were all experts.
The weakest among them had already reached the seventh level of the Qi Foundation Realm, while the strongest was in the middle stage of the fifth level of the Soul Condensation Realm. This wasn't just any band of criminals; it was a force that could rival established clans in certain regions.
To put it in perspective, the Gui Clan, one of the three great clans of Half Moon City, only had one expert at the peak of the fifth level of Soul Condensation Realm.
Xuan Yi glanced over the scene and calmly turned his attention elsewhere. He had seen enough.
Help? Heroic deeds? He chuckled to himself. He wasn't a Holy Saint.
Xuan Yi wasn't a villain, but he wasn't a savior either. His own sense of morality didn't extend to saving everyone in distress. He was no fool.
Beside him, Gui Yiyi and the disciples of the Gui Clan looked on with expressions of sympathy and pity, but the weight of the scene seemed to trouble them deeply.
"Put away your sympathy," Xuan Yi spoke in a quiet but firm tone, his eyes narrowing as he glanced at Gui Yiyi. "In this world, the more kind-hearted people you meet, the quicker they meet their end."
The words hit Gui Yiyi harder than she expected. She had always been kind-hearted, and the death and destruction before her filled her with sorrow. But Xuan Yi's warning was clear, and there was no mistaking his intent.
The Second Elder, his face solemn, nodded in agreement. "Elder Xuan speaks the truth. You are still young, Yiyi. You've yet to see how ruthless the world can be."
While the group was discussing the situation, the arrival of Xuan Yi and his party caught the attention of those on the battlefield. Both the bandits and the remnants of the merchant caravan took notice of the unusual commotion. The powerful flaps of the Scarlet Flame Sparrow's wings stirred the air, creating gusts that howled across the desolate landscape. The size and force of the creature's movements made it impossible not to draw attention.
Some of the bandits, lying in wait for the perfect moment to strike, cast furtive glances upward.
"Tsk, how arrogant. They don't even slow down! Do they think they can just fly over us without a care?" one of the bandits muttered, his hand twitching toward his weapon, eager for a fight.
Before he could say more, he was swiftly slapped at the back of his head by the bandit leader, who was standing nearby.
"What are you talking about?" the leader sneered, his voice dripping with disdain. "You think they're just a bunch of pushovers? Do you even know what you're looking at?"
"I… I don't know? It's just a flying demon beast, right?" the bandit stammered, unsure whether to continue his challenge.
"Flying demon beast?" The bandit leader scoffed in irritation. "You fool! That's a Scarlet Flame Sparrow! If you provoke it, you'll be dead before you even know what happened."
The leader's words were sharp, his frustration evident. If he hadn't been there to stop the reckless bandits, they would've charged straight into their own deaths. The leader was all too aware of the kind of power they were dealing with.
"Is it really that bad?" the confused bandit asked, still trying to grasp the gravity of the situation.
The leader nearly spit blood in anger, his patience wearing thin. "The Scarlet Flame Sparrow is one of the rarest flying demon beasts in the world. An adult one is at least at the seventh level of the Soul Condensation Realm! Don't you idiots read? Stay out of my way when you get yourselves killed."
Even as the leader yelled at his subordinates, his own heart pounded in his chest. A beast of the seventh level Soul Condensation Realm wasn't just some ordinary mount. What about its master?
Was it a powerhouse at the ninth level of the Soul Condensation Realm? Or maybe even at the Nascent Soul stage?
The other bandits exchanged uneasy glances, their expressions stricken with disbelief. The Scarlet Flame Sparrow was a force of nature, a creature of legendary status. Even the most fearsome of bandit factions in the Yellow Sand Mountain Range wouldn't dare provoke such an existence.
"What do you think?" the leader asked sharply, turning to the others with a scowl. "If you value your lives, you'll steer clear of them. Robbing them would be your last mistake."
It was common knowledge among bandits: knowing who to rob and who to avoid was the key to survival. Mistaking a powerful figure for an easy target was a quick route to the grave.
Meanwhile, the Scarlet Flame Sparrow continued its swift flight, cutting through the Yellow Sand Mountain Range with ease. What would have taken them days to traverse was now only a matter of hours, all thanks to the formidable mount carrying Xuan Yi and his group.
As they pressed forward, a soft exclamation from Gui Yiyi interrupted the moment.
"Eh? Sister Xinmeng? Second Elder, look! Isn't that Sister Xinmeng?" Gui Yiyi cried out, her voice trembling with excitement as she pointed downward.
The Scarlet Flame Sparrow, seemingly attuned to its master's emotions, slowed its pace slightly as it noticed the shift in atmosphere.
Below, amidst the bloody chaos of the battlefield, a desperate struggle was unfolding—a battle that was, in reality, more of a one-sided slaughter.
Three figures—a young man and two women—were surrounded by a large group of ruthless bandits. They fought with all their might, but the odds were insurmountable.
Gui Yiyi's finger trembled as she pointed at one of the women in white robes, now stained a deep crimson. In her arms, she cradled a bloodied zither, her delicate fingers strumming the strings to release powerful sonic waves against the encircling enemies.
"It's really her!" the Second Elder exclaimed, his voice tinged with disbelief.
"Sister Xinmeng is alive!" one of the Gui Clan disciples shouted, his voice shaking with emotion.
"Sister Xinmeng?" Gui Yiyi gasped. "We thought she was…"
Tears welled up in Gui Yiyi's eyes as she struggled to process what she was seeing.
As they looked more closely, the Gui Clan disciples all recognized the woman holding the zither: Gui Xinmeng.
Although they called her "Sister Xinmeng," she had been five or six years older than Gui Yiyi and the others. She had once been the pride of the Gui Clan—the leader of the previous generation, an exceptional talent who had shown great promise.
But three years ago, she had left for training, and then… nothing. She had vanished without a trace. Despite the Gui Clan's best efforts, no one had been able to find her. It was as though she had disappeared from the world altogether.
Three years had passed since then. Most had assumed the worst—that Gui Xinmeng had perished somewhere in the wilderness.
But now, here she was—alive, still fighting with everything she had, her zither singing the song of defiance amidst the storm of bandits surrounding her.