As one who often waged wars against the Sand Country over the years, Sasa was very clear on the Sand Country’s goals and way of doing things.
In the Sand Country, the title of ‘national hero’ had an extremely high status and great glory attached to it. To be unable to store the remains of their national hero in their holy temple after his death, it was one of the greatest blemishes of their lives.
Therefore, Sasa knew that they must be here to snatch Fang Xingjian's Heavenly Abyss Annihilation Armor which had been made from Domirov's remains.
Such feelings of vengeance took priority over the hatred they felt toward Sasa, despite the fact that he had killed countless geniuses and warriors of the Sand Country.
Amidst the sandstorm, the female assassin stared at Fang Xingjian who was sitting down cross-legged. Thoughts ran through her mind, and she continued to conduct high speed exchanges through information currents with the old man, who was also an assassin.
"Can Sasa's words be trusted?"
Sword Saint Sasa had spent many years in the Eastern Sand Region, waging wars against the Sand Country at the borders. His hands were stained with the blood of many Sand Country's warriors, and the feeling of vengeance which the Sand Country harbored toward him was tremendous.
The female assassin was instinctively unwilling to listen to Sasa’s words. However, when she saw the hostile-looking flame clouds and then looked at Fang Xingjian who was sitting cross-legged, she felt that Sasa did not seem to be lying.
The old man, who was also inside the sandstorm, said, "Those flame clouds were most likely created by Yaris, the Commissioner of Education and a level 28 Conferred Knight. It's true that he seems to be protecting Fang Xingjian.
"And previously, there were rumors that there had been a great feud between Fang Xingjian and Sasa over the deciphering of an ancient artifact. Seeing how Fang Xingjian is right now, it seems that he really has reached a crucial juncture in his cultivation to attain a breakthrough."
"If that's the case, is he going to be doing something?"
"Let's work together for now and wait for a chance. It's best if we can let both of them suffer from heavy injuries."
"Haha, if we can kill three of the Empire's Conferred Knights all at once, His Majesty will certainly provide us with great rewards when we get back."
Then a soft bellow emerged from the sand and swept out toward the sky, "Sasa, let us deal with Yaris together first. We'll attack Fang Xingjian directly after dealing with Yaris.
"In order to prove your sincerity, you can make the first attack."
Sasa gritted his teeth tensely. 'This idiot.' Although he wanted to attack Fang Xingjian, he knew that if he were to attack now, he would definitely be stopped by Yaris. Then the assassins from the Sand Country would find it even harder to believe him completely. However, if he were to be doubted for not agreeing to their request, then it would become even more troublesome since he would be making enemies out of them.
The Sand Country had him on a bounty all year around. Just in terms of individual value alone, they would want to kill Sasa more. That was, if the Heavenly Abyss Annihilation Armor was not brought into consideration.
The three parties were all very tense, with no one willing to trust each other.
Due to this, Sasa could only curse inwardly and soar up into the sky, bringing along sword Qis with him. The invisible sword Qis tore through the skies, and he dashed into the sea of flames.
"Alright, Sasa, then we'll lend you a hand to get rid of Yaris."
At the next moment, the sand trembled crazily and gushed toward the flame clouds Yaris was controlling.
Up in the air, the sand and flames clashed together fiercely. Flames were continuously put out by the wind and sand, while the waves of sand were also continuously being vaporized by the flames. Both sides were locked in a stalemate, with each taking up half the sky.
Concurrently, many streams of invisible sword Qis continued to sweep to and fro amidst the flames, searching for the location of Yaris' true form.
After all, it was impossible for Conferred Knights to really turn their own body of flesh and blood into flames. Instead, they would only be able to control flames or use their bodies to store them.
As Sasa maneuvered his sword Qis through the sea of flames, he cut off the transmission of heat energies time and time again, stopping the cooperation between the flames. Simultaneously, the two assassins from the Sand Country controlled the sandstorm and gradually got hold of the upper hand.
Streams of sand soared into the sky, like many jiaos [1] dashing toward a sea of flames. Each time they charged over, they would extinguish the flames incessantly, gradually encompassing the sea of flames like a great net and then compressing the flames.
The sea of flames tried to fight a way out from either side, but all of the attacks were cut off by Sasa's sword Qis.
Yaris felt that the area of movement for his real form was getting increasingly smaller, while the range of the sea of flames continued to be suppressed. He bellowed out furiously, "Sasa, are you crazy?! To think that you would dare to collude with the Sand Country's assassins to attack the Empire's Conferred Knights?
"This is an act of treason!"
Sasa let out a laugh and said, "Hahahaha, Yaris, I'll simply kill you here today. Who will be able to find out this matter after that? You guys kept me locked up underground for so long. Do you know what that felt like?
"That darkness and solitude, and those feelings of desperation... Do you really think that you'll be able to keep me locked up forever?"
Amidst his maniacal laughter, a myriad of invisible sword Qis sliced out in all directions. The violet force smashed into the air and formed strong gales which were like sharp blades, instantly extinguishing a large part of the sea of flames.
Yaris's heart sank. With three Conferred Knights joining forces against him, and with one of them even being a level 29 expert, it would just be in a matter of time before he was defeated.
Just as Yaris gradually found himself at an disadvantage, another two silhouettes dashed over toward them from the ground.
With each step the two people took, the ground would tremble and explode, and strong gales were sent out in all directions. They did not seem to care about concealing their presences and charged forth like two Tyrannosaurus rex. The two people left the ground in a shattered state and dashed toward the bottom of the battlefield.
It was the feminine-looking young man and his steward, who were both from the Terrene Shrine.
The arrival of the two people instantly destroyed the initial advantages of the battle. The sand retreated, and Sword Saint Sasa landed on the ground as well. All of them looked at the two new people warily.
Yaris was finally able to take a breather and made good use of the time to have some rest.
This showed that there was no trust at all between the Sand Country's assassins and Sword Saint Sasa. During the battle, the moment the new party appeared, both existing parties worried about the actions the other would take. Thus, it was impossible for them to continue their attack on Yaris.
Looking at the few experts present, the feminine-looking young man laughed out loud. "The Terrene Shrine has arrived. Those who don't wish to die, you can just scram."
Hearing the name 'Terrene Shrine', a hint of surprise broke out on everyone's faces. They did not seem to have expected that this force would suddenly appear.
Sword Saint Sasa let out a cold laugh and said, "The target of everyone’s scorn now dares to emerge and be this arrogant?"
"Hmm?" The feminine-looking young man's brows lifted up as he looked at Sword Saint Sasa. The young man’s eyes were filled with with a sense of superiority. "And here I was wondering who it was? Eastern Sand Region's Sword Saint? You dare call yourself a saint just because you know some simple sword techniques?"
As he spoke, the feminine-looking young man put his palms together, and streams of gray light burst forth from his body. At the next moment, a myriad of beasts' howls rang out incessantly, and the feminine-looking young man's body started to swell up continuously. Many beast faces started to pop up from various parts of his body, including his chest, shoulders, neck, and face. It seemed as if countless terrifying creatures were striving to be the first one to dash out from his body.
This was the level 7 black magic—Surge of Ten Thousand Dragons.