Unbeatable! Invincible! Unparalleled!

"Round and round, robin came spinning on the streets~" a man riding atop of a desert camel sang loudly amid travelling on one of the infinite sand hills peak joyously, his voice echoing throughout the desert like a man releasing his pent up stress.

"Shut up! What if your bad singing attracts the desert centipede king?!" a person behind him shouted in anger, unable to hold the annoyance any longer.

They were nomads of the desert, travelling from one oasis to another constantly from time to time.

"Haha! You still believe in such-" just as the man was about laugh off at his friend for being such a paranoid, the tip of his mount's feet seemed to kick a metal lever on the ground and turned it around.

Peng!!

"Huh?" the man immediately stopped his camel from moving before he saw the shape of that lever, and his face quickly went pale.

Noticing that something was wrong, his friend behind him hastily galloped his camel and came around to the side, feeling weirded out by his friend's reaction.

"What's wrong?" he asked, looking at the sand below the camel's feet before his expression also froze.

A lever was accidentally turned on!

"Y-You.. what have you done?!" he shouted in horror.

"I.. I didn't notice it!" the man replied in a panicked voice.

It was a known fact that the desert held many ancient ruins hidden deep beneath the sand dunes, and more often than not, the entrance was opened by mechanism as such. However, it was also known among the people living in the desert that the opening of an ancient ruin also leads to the releasing of whatever monsters they have inside!

Brrrr!!

The ground beneath their feet began to tremble, and a hole started to open not too far away from where they are!

"R-Run!" the two nomads gallopped downhill to the opposite direction.

KREEEE!!

The screech of a certain monster echoed from within the hole, sending shivers down their spine as they urged their camels to run faster.

Then, a giant shadow seemed to cast over them, causing them to turn their head. What they saw will forever then be the nightmare in their sleep!

"A g-gigantic... Centipede King!"

The grotesque shape of a huge centipede, reaching almost a hundred meter in length, crawled out from the hole they opened and stood still as it saw the sun for the first time in its life.

When it turned its body to face the two nomads, only the high pitched scream of a two grown men could be heard before the entire desert became silent again.

...

"Reporting! Our scouts had just received an information that an entrance leading to an underground ancient ruin was opened this morning!" a soldier single-kneeled on the ground as he reported his findings to Princess Meixiu.

Hearing this, Princess Meixiu stood up from her seat in excitement, "The Heavens are helping us with this lead! Round up all the soldiers that could go on this expedition, we will be leaving in ten minutes!" she commanded.

"Yes, Princess!" the soldier replied and quickly left the main tent.

"We should assume the enemy to know about this information too." Ling Shin said to the Princess with a grim expression.

The Princess nodded, "That's right. But the real question is, are we going to be in front, or should we let them test the water first?" she then smiled playfully.

"You mean..." Ling Shin widened his eyes, seeming to understood the intention behind those words.

Elder Cheng Chao chuckled, intrigued by the ideas of the Princess. "It seems that we need to put on an act then!" she suggested, before everyone in the tent began to laugh.

...

"Hey, Brother Wang Dong, wake up!" Shen Murong slapped Wang Dong's cheek repeatedly.

For someone thick skinned like them, the method to wake them up was naturally far from ordinary. After all, they sleep like dead logs, unperturbed even if the world was ending around them, just like the ancient sages that had severed themselves from the happenings of the mundane world.

"Ah? What's going on? Is it time for breakfast? I smell something good!" Wang Dong finally woke up from his dreams, wiping the drool from his mouth.

After last night's 'Operation Sabotage', they decided to retreat further away from the enemy camp and found a small forest with thick bushes around a small oasis. Setting up a camp there, they rested for the night with wide smiles on their face, excited with the fact that the enemy will have a terrible morning ahead of them.

Shen Murong nodded, "Yes Brother Wang Dong! This is really unexpected, Wei Wang could actually cook!"

Wei Wang woke up earlier than the two of them, and as part of a daily routine, he cooked his own breakfast as usual. However, since he was now with Wang Dong and Shen Murong, he had to cook for them too.

Since child, he and his older brother Wei Shang had to live frugally because their clan was poor. More often than not, they only ate rice with a grain of salt everyday. After they were a bit older, they trained and hunt wild animals for their nutrition. Learning how to cook properly was then just part of the natural process, and they now could basically make a delicious dish with simple ingredients.

For example, the breakfast that he just made was berries that he gathered from the bushes around them and fish from the oasis. Normally, people would only cook these food over a fire, but he brought with himself innumerable amount of spices within his spatial ring, making him able to cook food more creatively.

"I made our breakfast into skewers so that we could eat while travelling. The enemy should already be awake by now." Wei Wang scribbled on the ground.

"Aha is that so? Junior Wei Wang is really considerate! This Brother Wang Dong of yours appreciates your good thoughts!" Wang Dong laughed out loud in satisfaction.

After dismantling their camp, they then headed towards the direction of the Doulou's military camp. Standing atop of a sand dunes, they could see a long line of people screaming at the toilet while cursing it with countless slurs and curses as if the toilet had just murdered their grandparents.

Seeing this, both Wang Dong and Shen Murong could not help but to laugh.

"Hahahaha! Junior Wei Wang, behold, our masterpiece!" Wang Dong raised both arms while laughing, thoroughly satisfied with the results he saw.

"Hahahahaha! Come, let us roll out the mat here and enjoy our breakfast! I have some tea here by the by!"

Just like that, the three of them had their breakfast while watching the chaos inside the Doulou's military camp. Chomping down on their skewers and drinking their tea with a peaceful expression.

"Eh? Brother Wang Dong, I thought that last night we added aphrodisiac as well... they don't seem to be on heat?" Shen Murong cupped his chin.

"Oh, its probably diluted with the laxatives. The effects should be showing later on I think?" Wang Dong replied with a little uncertainty in his voice.

"Huh? Look over there!" Shen Murong pointed towards the exit of the Doulou's military camp and saw a dozen groups of soldiers marching.

"Aha! The people leading them must be this Princess Meixiu! Those two beside her are Ling Shin and Ruo Hen that I was talking about last night! But as for that old lady..." Wang Dong narrowed his eyes, looking a little serious.

The three of them nodded with a grim expression.

A Nascent Soul realm expert!

"Where do you think they are going Junior Wei Wang?" the both of them asked.

"I think they must've already found the location of an anciet ruin. We should follow them!" Wei Wang replied with a scribble.

Thus, they decided to tail the expedition party from behind.

...

"Honorary Guest, the teleportation array can now be used." an elder said to Duan Li who was still donning on his white mask.

"En." Duan Li replied simply with a nod. He was feeling quite weird with the elders of the Shen clan using such a polite title on him.

I guessed that they really respect the Patriarch to even call an intruder like me as an Honorary Guest...

Stepping onto the teleportation array, Duan Li's figure flashed with a blinding light before disappearing!

Wengg!!

...

"Woah!" Duan Li's figure reappeared ontop of a similar teleportation array and felt a little dizzy.

After he felt a bit better, he then looked around at his surroundings and found that he was inside a cave with a long pathway ahead of him, lit by torches on each side.

Tap! Tap!

"Hmm?" the closer Duan Li was to the exit of this long pathway, the more sure he became.

Through the ripples of spiritual Qi pressing on him as he moved, increasing dramatically with each step, he was able to identify that the spiritual Qi assault was coming from eight different people!

By combining their might, the level of spiritual Qi assault on him right now would make even the knees of a Pinnacle stage Nascent Soul realm experts to collapse!

But against Duan Li? Honestly speaking, it just felt like the sea breeze to him!

With light footsteps and his hand placed behind his back, Duan Li continued to trudged on with consistent walking speed without any difficulties at all. Before long, he finally reached the end of the pathway and arrived at a massive open space inside the cave.

Raising his head, what he saw in front of him was nine tall pillars. Except the last one, on each of them, could be seen figures sitting cross-legged, their silhouette shrouded in darkness as the light from the torches below could not reach them, appearing very mysterious.

"I thought I was supposed to face only one of you at a time?" Duan Li asked casually with a light chuckle behind his mask.

Whooshh!

Below each pillar, their individual torches began to lit one by one, revealing a single character etched on each one of them, starting from the pillar with no one on top of it:

Sui...

Ding...

Shi...

Fei...

Wei...

Xu...

Wang...

Shen...

and finally...

Jiu!

The Nine Great Clans of the Jiu Empire!

...