"Head in that direction for two more days, and you will start encountering desert wolves. That is their territory," said Ge Mote as he pointed in a certain direction.

"Ok. Here, I have100,000 mid-grade spirit crystals here and two stalks of emperor medicine. These are your rewards," said Xiang Shaoyun in a straightforward manner.

Ge Mote was only a second-stage Dragon Ascension Realm cultivator. Thus, he was wild with joy with the rewards and quickly put them all away.

"Goodbye, then," said Ge Mote as he prepared to leave.

But Xiang Shaoyun called out to him, "Wait. How should we return? Point us the way. Otherwise, things will be bad if we get lost."

"Hehe, not a problem at all. I'll teach you some tricks that will be useful for when you're finding your way back," said Ge Mote as he proceeded to teach them what he knew before leaving.

He left in a hurry, as though he was afraid Xiang Shaoyun would keep him behind. Through voice transmission, Ouyang Chuanqi asked, "This person is behaving oddly. Do you want me to tail him?"

"No. He is merely bait. Continue heading deeper. I'm sure he will be back soon," said Xiang Shaoyun with a snicker.

He had long noticed that there was something off about Ge Mote. When they traveled, every now and then, desert eagles would appear in the sky above them.

More importantly, the desert eagles had not bothered attacking Vicious One, Two, and Three. Xiang Shaoyun had also noticed that Ge Mote would leave secretly and get in contact with the desert eagles during the night. None of that had escaped Xiang Shaoyun's attention.

...

After jogging a distance away from Xiang Shaoyun's group, a crafty look appeared on Ge Mote's face as he muttered, "So these are the so-called geniuses of the Dragon Phoenix Academy? Do they actually dare to use us as training materials? Audacious!"

He soon arrived at a certain place. There, he took out an item and pointed it at the sky.

Bang!

Dazzling fireworks bloomed in the sky. It was clearly a signal. The moment the fireworks were launched, an army appeared from all directions. They were all dressed in cloaks and veils that hid their appearances, only revealing numerous pairs of ruthless eyes. Every one of them was mounted on a desert wolf.

There were at least 1,000 of them, and they were none other than the infamous bandit group plaguing the Desert of Despair, the Desert Shadow Wolves. Each of them reeked of blood. Their usual activity consisted of killing not only the demonic beasts but also the cultivators that were here to train. Additionally, the traveling merchants, and even the hamlets and towns at the desert border, were their targets.

They would do anything for profit.

"Greetings, deputy commander," Ge Mote greeted the group's leader respectfully.

The leader was tall and sturdy, and his mount was also the strongest desert wolf among this group. It was a ninth-stage Demon Emperor. From that, it was obvious how strong he was.

"Um. Where are the lambs?" asked the deputy commander.

His name was Yu Rongxin, a peak Emperor that was only a tiny bit away from reaching the Sovereign Realm.

"The lambs had entered the trap. They are currently at the territory of the sandpoison scorpions. If we rush over now, we will be just in time to capture all of them," said Ge Mote with a laugh. "However, these are all disciples of the Dragon Phoenix Academy. There are no fewer than 1,500 of them. If we take all of them, we will probably anger the Dragon Phoenix Academy. The consequences will be troublesome."

"Don't worry about that. The Dragon Phoenix Academy has actually listed us on their Missions Hall. They clearly intend to wipe us out. It is only proper that we take our revenge on their disciples. In any case, that is the territory of the sandpoison scorpions. The academy will at most assume that the scorpions had killed the disciples. It won't have anything to do with us. In any case, we have been ruling this desert for hundreds of years. Even if the Dragon Phoenix Academy has many powerful experts, it will still be impossible for them to actually find us among this desert," said Yu Rongxin confidently.

"That makes sense, deputy commander. Since the Dragon Phoenix Academy dares to let these disciples train here, they are probably ready to suffer casualties. We'll finish this big job and hide in the central desert for 10 years or so before coming back out," said someone beside Yu Rongxin.

"I heard the Dragon Phoenix Academy's female disciples all have tender skin. They will definitely be fun toys to play with. It has been quite a while since I last touched a woman," said someone else.

At that, the other bandits also voiced similar sentiments, their eyes filled with greed and ruthlessness. They started rushing toward Xiang Shaoyun's group. Meanwhile, Xiang Shaoyun's group had yet to enter too deeply into the desert.

Since Xiang Shaoyun and Ouyang Chuanqi had detected Ge Mote's abnormalities, they had Shou Xie send a pangolin beast to hide underground and tail Ge Mote. At the same time, he split the legion into two groups and made them hide while he waited for Ge Mote's return.

The others did not know what he was doing, but they obeyed readily. After one day, Shou Xie's pangolin beast returned.

When Shou Xie heard the report from his pangolin beast, he informed Xiang Shaoyun, "Overlord, you guessed correctly. Ge Mote is really a bandit. A massive army is heading our way."

"Um. Tell everyone to get ready. Today will be the first time we fight a team battle. We need to win a beautiful victory," said Xiang Shaoyun. He looked at Zhuge Zhantian, who was busy doing something not far away, and said, "Zhantian, is your formation ready? The bandits are closing in."

"Almost done," replied Zhuge Zhantian. Soon, he finished the final touches. He returned and smiled, "So long as they come, they won't be able to escape even if they grow wings on their backs."

"What if they don't choose to come this way?" Xiang Shaoyun asked.

"Lure them over," answered Zhuge Zhantian after giving it a short thought.

"Oh? And how should we achieve that?" Xiang Shaoyun questioned.

His question stumped Zhuge Zhantian. The bandits knew the desert very well. Thus, they could change their direction at any time. And if they did change their approach, the formation would be rendered useless.

"Don't worry. They will come this way," said Xiang Shaoyun with a look of wisdom in his eyes.