Chaotic Times and Disasters: I Hunt Down Martial Arts Masters and Become a God

...

The sheep demons grew increasingly alarmed as the fight progressed—the human's blade was becoming faster and heavier. The two great demons, along with their companions, were not only unable to defeat him, but were instead forced to retreat step by step. Any other lesser demons who tried to come to their aid were killed with a single blow!

He forced Fu Qing's blade back with his staff, then turned and roared at the snake demon, "Don't fight him head-on, just hold him off!"

Just as the snake demon was about to create distance, Fu Qing's thirteenth slash struck the snake demon's bone spear, shattering it. Fu Qing then slashed horizontally, taking off its head.

The snake demon raised its hand to touch its neck, but found nothing, and then collapsed.

Seeing that things were not going well, the sheep demon feigned a strike with his staff to force Fu Qing back, then turned and ran.

He was the only one among the demons who was unharmed, and the only one who managed to escape.

The remaining demons were either dead or wounded, and those who survived turned and ran away.

After the battle ended, Fu Qing stood there with his sword in hand, opened the panel, and tallied his loot.

In the battle just now, we killed two ninth-level demons and several seventh- or eighth-level demon warriors, and plundered a large sum of money.

He added all the plunder points to his cultivation progress bar, which jumped from the initial stage of the ninth level of the Meridian Opening Realm to 76/100 before stopping.

I'm less than a third away from achieving perfect meridian opening.

An Sheng walked over, looked at the scattered demon corpses on the ground, and shook his head.

"As expected, the fastest way to cultivate is through combat! Call me more often for these kinds of good things!"

Ling Yuxi stared thoughtfully in the direction the sheep demon had fled.

"That sheep demon might run back and bring even more demons with it. We shouldn't stay here any longer."

Yunnan, whose wounds had already been bandaged, stood in front of Fu Qing, her expression complex.

"General Fu, I owe you a favor."

She paused, "I don't know how to repay you, but I know now is not the time to part ways. That sheep demon has escaped, and who knows how many other demons are still in the secret realm..."

"Although you have more men, the risks are greater for both sides if they are separated. It would be better to join forces."

"What does 'joining forces' mean?"

"Let's travel together from now on, fight the demons together, and find treasures together..."

She looked at Fu Qing and said, "You choose first. This is the greatest sincerity I can offer."

Fu Qing glanced at the crowd behind him as Su Wen leaned against a withered tree stump, flipping through a pharmacopoeia.

An Sheng leaned against the sand dune, his arms wrapped around the silver spear. Yu Fu, who was packing his things, looked up and chuckled upon hearing this.

"Brother Fu, my dad said there are no permanent rivals in business, and the same goes for fighting. Let's join forces to fight the demon today, and we'll deal with tomorrow's problems tomorrow."

Ling Yuxi nodded.

"Let's make a decision, General Fu."

Song Zhiwen unfolded the bamboo slips,

"With the demon race at hand, cooperation will benefit both sides."

"Alright, let's join forces. If we encounter any demons, we'll fight them together. If we find any treasures, I'll pick them first."

Fu Qing reached out to Yunnan.

Yunnan held his hand, a slight smile playing on her lips.

"General Fu is indeed straightforward."

She released her grip and turned to the crowd, "Friends of Jing Kingdom, from now on we are allies. Although my cultivation is not as high as General Fu's, I should still be of some use on the journey ahead."

"You're too kind, Your Highness Yun."

"Don't call me Your Highness anymore. There are no Your Highnesses in this secret realm, only teammates."

Yunnan pulled at her wristband. "What's the next step?"

"Let's get across this desert first."

Fu Qing looked up into the depths of the desert. "There are still more than ten days before the secret realm closes. Time is running out. We'll just have to go wherever the road takes us."

The group got up from the sand dunes and continued walking deeper into the desert.

What they didn't notice was that the demonic corpses in the desert were losing their flesh and blood at an extremely rapid pace, turning into a pile of white bones shortly after they left, which were then buried by the yellow sand.

...

The group walked in the desert for a day.

The pale golden light overhead distorted and warped in the desert heatwave, and the sand beneath his feet was scorching hot. An Sheng carried the silver spear on his shoulder, the shaft burning hot to the touch. He changed hands several times, and finally simply tore off a strip of cloth and wrapped it around the shaft.

Xiahou Jun hung the golden mace at his waist and walked beside Fu Qing, his dark purple outfit covered in sand and dust.

Yu Fu lagged behind the group, carrying his enormous bundle, wiping sweat from his brow with his sleeve as he walked.

"Damn it, I'll never complain about the heat in Jingjing again after we go back!"

Suwen walked behind Fu Qing, the straps of her medicine box leaving two shallow marks on her shoulders.

As dusk fell, the sky suddenly darkened, and Fu Qing was the first to stop.

He had fought on the border and seen sandstorms on the grasslands, but the scene before him was completely different from a sandstorm—it was a moving sand wall that stretched across the entire field of vision from east to west, like a giant wall made of yellow sand rolling towards them.

"It's a tornado! No—it's a sandstorm!" An Sheng gripped the gun barrel tightly.

"run!"

Fu Qing roared and grabbed Su Wen, but it was too late.

There's sand all around, where can I go?

Moreover, the sandstorm moved much faster than they had imagined; before they could even run a hundred steps, they were swallowed up by the yellow sand.

All that remained between heaven and earth was yellow sand and the sound of the wind. Visibility instantly dropped to the point where you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. The sand felt like countless needles pricking your face at once, making it difficult to breathe.

Everything seems insignificant in the face of the power of nature.

"Move over here!" Ling Yuxi's shout was almost swallowed up by the sandstorm.

At that moment, Suwen took out a seed the size of a thumb from her bosom, squatted down and planted it in the sand. She then took out a small porcelain bottle from her medicine box and dripped two drops of emerald green liquid onto it.

The seed sprouted from the soil, first two tender shoots, then a vine as thick as an arm. The vine shot upwards like crazy, and in the blink of an eye, it grew into a towering ancient tree.

The tree trunk's roots are deeply embedded in the sand, and its lush canopy provides a brief respite from the sandstorm.

Fu Qing was stunned by the spectacle before him, then, regaining his senses, he gave Su Wen a quick kiss on the cheek.

"I love you so much! Come closer!"

Su Wen stood with her back against the tree trunk, looking helpless. It took her several breaths to come to her senses. She raised her hand to wipe her face, clenched her fists, and looked at Fu Qing.

Just as she was about to speak, Fu Qing plunged the knife into the tree trunk, gripped it tightly, then grabbed her wrist and looked at her, saying, "Don't let go!"

Suwen paused for a moment, then nodded silently.

Everyone immediately gathered behind the tree and used their own methods to resist the wind and sand.

Yu Fu took out all the Vajra Talismans from his bundle and stuck them on the tree trunk to reinforce it. Song Zhiwen unfolded the bamboo slips and recited the Confucian and Taoist protective mantras. A pale golden light enveloped everyone.

Just when everyone thought they could weather the storm, a gust of wind blew in through the gaps in the tree canopy, catching the strap of the medicine box that Suwen had placed at her feet. The medicine box was swept up by the wind and flew deeper into the sandstorm.

"medicine!"

Suwen reached out to grab it, her fingertips barely hooking the strap, but the weight of the medicine box combined with the wind pulled her out.

Her feet left the ground, and her body was swept up by the wind and thrown into the depths of the sandstorm.

"Suwen!" Su Xue's cry of surprise was swallowed up by the sandstorm.

The instant Suwen was swept away, Fu Qing's expression hardened, and he kicked off the tree trunk with both feet, shooting into the sandstorm.

The sandstorm stung his face like knives, and he squinted as he caught Suwen's hand amidst the swirling yellow sand.

He grabbed Suwen's wrist and pulled her into his arms, while his other hand gripped the strap of the medicine box tightly.

Suwen buried her face in his chest, and he could feel her fingers gripping his clothes tightly at the waist. The wind and sand swirled around them in the air, and all that remained in the world was the sound of the wind and their breaths.

...

After an unknown amount of time, Fu Qing crawled out of the sand pile with his mouth full of sand.

He spat several times to clear the sand from his mouth, then looked down at his chest—Suwen was nestled against him, her dark blue robes covered in sand, but her face was unharmed and her breathing was steady.

He loosened his grip on the strap of the medicine box, which was battered beyond recognition by the wind and sand, but still managed to retain its shape.

"Say something if you're not dead." Fu Qing helped Su Wen up.

"Squeak~"

Suwen opened her eyes, rubbed them where the sand had gotten in them, sat up from his lap, and looked around.

"Where is this?"

"have no idea."

The place they were in was no longer the desert they had been in before. Under their feet were broken bluestone slabs, and all around them were ruins. Half of a stone pillar was stuck crookedly in the sand, with ancient runes that were now blurred and indistinct.

Further away are layers upon layers of skeletons, some in human form, wearing tattered armor with insignia long since unrecognizable, others being the skeletons of demons, much thicker than human bones, with horns or fangs still remaining on their skulls.

The entire ancient city was shrouded in a deathly silence, so quiet that not even the wind could penetrate.

The pale golden light curtain was still overhead, but it was dimmer here, as if it were being obscured by something.

"It looks like the ruins of an ancient city..."

Suwen stood up and dusted himself off.

"Judging from the distribution of these bones, they didn't die a natural death. They died on the battlefield. Humans and demons fought a large-scale war here."

"Something from a thousand years ago?"

"It may have been even earlier; the bones had already weathered to this extent, at least several hundred years ago."

Suwen squatted down to examine the fracture of a human skeleton.

"The entire city was a battlefield. The fighting went all the way from the city gate to where we are now. No one cleaned up the corpses. After the battle, both sides either withdrew or—both died."

Fu Qing looked around. Everyone else was gone—An Sheng, Ling Yuxi, Yunnan Zhi, and Yu Fu were all nowhere to be seen.

The sandstorm scattered them, and they don't know where they were swept away to.

"Let's find the exit first. The others should be in the old city as well. Let's search as we go."

Suwen followed behind him, and the two walked along the main road of the ancient city. On the ruins on both sides, one could occasionally see the faded murals.

After walking for about half an hour, Su Wen suddenly stopped and spoke in a low voice.

"Do you still have my first-aid kit?"

Fu Qing handed her the medicine box. She opened the lid and checked the medicine bottles inside, then sighed, "Three bottles are broken, but the compressed medicine is still intact."

Fu Qing was taken aback. "So, you went to get the medicine box because there was my medicine in it?"

Suwen closed the medicine box. "Yes, and not entirely."

Just as Fu Qing was about to say something, a crisp "crack" sound came from ahead.

Fu Qing pressed his hand on the hilt of his knife and looked in the direction of the sound. A finger of a humanoid skeleton by the roadside twitched.

It wasn't an illusion; the skeleton's fingers were slowly opening, then the entire hand suddenly clenched, and the skeleton's spine sprang up segment by segment. It grabbed a rusty iron sword from the ground, stood up, and turned to look at Fu Qing and Su Wen.