Chapter 303 - The Sha Guards
"Swordsman Training Hall, Special Price: One Hundred Essence Elemental Beans!"
Sha Wuduan stood in front of the dilapidated wooden board and listened to his subordinate's report of the investigation results. His eyes had never left the wooden board for a single second.
As the leader of the Sha Family’s elite unit, Sha Wuduan would be extremely eye-striking wherever he went. He was more than two meters tall and his body was muscular and sturdy. His bulging bronze muscles were bursting through his tight-fitted clothes. His eyes were very small and squinty. Instead of containing the urge to seek revenge, his eyes contained an abnormal calmness and steadiness.
He did not spend too much effort on investigating the destruction of the Sha Family’s branch compound as there were too many observers.
Every detail regarding the incident were clearly presented before Sha Wuduan. The culprit was Wang Han, an elementalist that had attained elemental externalization. His swordsmanship was superb and he used a high-altitude diving technique to cause the destruction. He was also able to use fire-type sword moves.
The ruins of the Sha Family’s branch compound and the corpses lying everywhere had proven this point. Every slash inflicted upon the victims left behind a high-temperature charred mark.
From this, Sha Wuduan conjectured that Wang Han was a fire elementalist, not a metal elementalist. He felt that a metal elementalist would not be able to unleash such scorching fire attacks.
Wang Han’s capabilities did not surprise Sha Wuduan. If he could kill Sha Wuyuan and attack the Sha Family’s guarded branch compound, there was nothing odd with his capabilities. For someone that dared to mount a sneak attack on Sha Wuyuan, what was attacking the Sha Family’s branch compound to him then?
Instead, there was another news that caught Sha Wuduan’s attention.
The Sky Edge Division’s elite unit, which had been ordered to oversee Peace City, had arrived. A lot of people had seen them descended from the God-subduing Peak and entered the mayor residence in Peace City. Roughly within these two days, they would have taken over the mayor office and took over the control of Peace City.
Sha Wuduan knew that he had to be fast if he wanted to seek revenge.
The captain of the Sky Edge Division’s elite unit was Jiang Wei. Sha Wuduan had heard of this name. This fellow was rather reputable in the Sky Edge Division and was viewed by many as a young man with bright future. The fact that Jiang Wei was chosen to oversee Peace City showed Sha Wuduan that he was highly valued by Sky Edge Division. Once the lesser Avalon of Five Elements was successfully established, his mission of overseeing Peace City would greatly decorate his resume.
Peace City used to be a small border city at the lowest part of Silver Mist River’s lower reach. The mayor office was very weak and could not resist against the invading powerful prestigious families.
In the current Avalon of Five Elements, the Elder Guilds could no longer solely depend on their stature to suppress these brazen prestigious families.
Sha Family needed to take action before Jiang Wei officially taken control of the public security of Peace City.
If the Sha Family was to take actions after Jiang Wei officially took over the city, they would openly challenge Jiang Wei. Sha Wuduan was not worried about Jiang Wei, but rather, he was afraid of offending the Sky Edge Division and Elder Guilds. If he took action before Jiang Wei’s official takeover of Peace City, even if he blew up the incident, he could say that he was unaware of the new law. Worst came to worst, he could make use of his personal connections to think of a way out.
A ruthless glint flashed across Sha Wuduan’s calm-looking eyes.
He looked around at his subordinates. After taking a break, everyone looked much energized. As they were rushing for time, they could not travel using the slow-moving Fiery Moving Cloud. Instead, they had to fly using azure wings and travel day and night.
Long-distance raid was a huge challenge to an elementalist’s willpower and elemental energy. Even though Sha Wuduan’s subordinates showed some signs of fatigue on their faces, they still maintained their neat and orderly formation.
"I know everyone had worked very hard and are very tired, but we don’t have time to rest. If Wang Han knows we had arrived, there’s a possibility that he might escape. Listen to my command, advance to the Swordsman Training Hall and kill Wang Han to avenge the Sha Family!"
All the elite troops of the Sha Family stood up in unison. Their faces were filled with sinister kill intent.
When Sha Wuduan led the Sha Family’s elite unit to the alleyway of Swordsman Training Hall, various families’ informants received the news in an instant. After witnessing the epic performance from Wang Han yesterday night, everyone was extremely interested in the upcoming battle.
In a blink of an eye, Sha Wuduan discovered that they were surrounded by many observers.
These observers looked from a distance and did not attempt to get any closer. Occasionally, Sha Wuduan could hear discussions that made him clenched his fists in anger involuntarily.
"The Sha Family is really in a slump!"
"That’s right. Nothing can be done anyway, the Yellow Sand Corner had already fallen to the Blood of God. What else can the Sha Family do?"
Before he came here, Sha Wuduan’s master had already reminded him that victory was a must. Victory was the only way to ensure the survival of the Sha Family. Sha Wuduan promised his master but it was only until now that he realized his master’s worries were not unwarranted.
Not only must he win this battle, he must do it in a beautiful and epic fashion!
Only by doing this then he could intimidate those who were after the Sha Family.
The signboard of the Swordsman Training Hall could already be seen at the end of the alleyway.
Sha Wuduan maintained his composure and gave a stopping hand gesture. The elite unit behind him immediately stopped.
If one counted the number of members in the unit, he or she would realize that there were twelve people, including Sha Wuduan.
"Muster the troops from the sandpit."
Sha Wuduan ordered. The elite unit immediately channeled their elemental energy and the ground beneath their feet turned into a yellow-colored sand sea. Sand puppets began to climb out of the sand sea continuously.
These sand puppets were fully-armored. Their armors were fully filled with fine decorative designs. A huge "Sha" was written on the back of each of their armors.
Every sand puppet looked exactly the same. After they climbed out of the sand sea, they stood quietly and motionless, resembling a battalion of well-trained soldiers.
Initially, the observers were still exuberant. However, very soon, they began to cry out in alarm.
The sand puppets emerged from the sand sea in a seemingly endless stream.
Densely-packed armored sand puppets occupied more than half of the alleyway. All of them were in a neat and orderly formation.
There was a battalion of one hundred and twenty armored sand puppets. They were motionless and expressionless. The demonic yellow in their eyes were flickering in unison.
The sea of yellow sand beneath their feet looked as if it was alive, slowly wiggling and climbing up the bodies of Sha Wuduan and the eleven members of the Sha Family’s elite unit.
The yellow sand engulfed their bodies completely, only exposing their eyes. The yellow sand continued to wiggle and transformed into exquisite armors that were similar to the ones on the sand puppets. A huge "Sha" was written on back of each of their armors.
The twelve elementalists’ eyes were flickering with the same yellow glow as the sand puppets’.
No one could clearly differentiate the earth elementalists from the sand puppets.
Such a creepy sight sent a cold shiver down the observers’ spines.
"The Sha Guards!" someone yelled in astonishment.
Many of them came to realize that the Sha Family was serious this time around!
The Sha Family was famous for their sand puppets. There was not a single type of sand in the world that they could not make into sand puppet. Among so many types of sand puppets in their arsenal, there was one unique type of sand puppets, the Sand Guards. The outside world knew little about this type of sand puppets. However, every time the Sha Family encountered crises, the Sha Guards would always appear.
So these were Sha Guards!
Everyone widened their eyes as they were afraid to miss out on any fine details regarding the Sha Guards.
Boom!
As the Sha Guards took a step forward in unison, the earth shook and the mountains trembled.
At this point of time, those doubtful observers had their faces turned white and their bodies were trembling in fear.
Boom boom boom!
Every movement the Sha Guards made were sharp, precise and uniform.
Every step they took gave off a thunderous boom. If it wasn’t witnessed with their own eyes, they would have thought there was a gigantic ancient beast walking towards Peace City.
A 132-men battalion of armored sand puppets was advancing in a neat and orderly formations. Their movements were sharp and uniform, giving off a surging aura of killer intent. Their eyes were flickering with a devilish yellow glow in unison. Their faces were emotionless, as if they were a battalion of lifeless killing machines, sending a cold shiver down everyone’s spine.
Only their thunderous footsteps could be heard in the midst of dead silence in the alleyway.
Su Huaijun’s face turned pale-white. She clenched her fists so hard that they turned pale. She kept telling herself not to be intimidated by the Sha Guards’ terrorizing aura.
An intense feeling of helplessness engulfed her.
They were unstoppable!
Anything that was standing in the way of this lifeless robotic army would be crushed to death.
After taking a few deep breaths, Su Huaijun regained her composure and some rosiness returned to her pale-white face.
However, what she saw next stunned her. The twelve earth elementalists that she locked onto previously had vanished into thin air. The formation of the entire army did not seem to have any changes. However, she knew that the twelve elementalists had left their original positions. She did not know how they did it. Usually, for a high-leveled elementalist like her, it was very difficult for someone she locked onto to escape from her sight. Furthermore, she did not once blinked her eyes!
The Sha Guards were indeed formidable!
With an imposing stance, the Sha Guards advanced towards the Swordsman Training Hall slowly and steadily.
Even as the Sha Guards got closer and closer to the entrance of the training hall, the Guards did not slow down their advancing speed. They continued to walk uniformly with their eyes blinking at the same frequency. It was as if they did not see the training hall in front of them.
It was as if there was nothing but just a mere praying mantis that was in their way.
At this very moment, everyone realized the Sha Guards were going to raze Swordsman Training Hall to the ground just like this! They wanted an awe-inspiring victory to show off Sha Family’s might.
Yes, everyone understood what they were doing. Even so, they were still shocked by Sha Family’s formidable display of strength.
Without even executing any moves, the Sha Guards had already made everyone believed that Wang Han would face an imminent death!
All the observers had their eyes wide open. Even though they knew the Sha Family was showing off their might, they did not want to miss out on a single detail.
The Sha Guards had reached the entrance of the Swordsman Training Hall.
The Sha Guards did not stop and continued to advance.
Boom. The main door of the Swordsman Training Hall was blasted to smithereens. Like crispy biscuits, the walls surrounding the training hall were easily crushed to fine powder.
Like an unstoppable flood of steel, the Sha Guards charged into the courtyard of Swordsman Training Hall.
The various training equipments in the Swordsman Training Hall were being stomped and crushed to smithereens.
Boom boom!
Wang Han was standing at the entrance to the main hall of the training hall, motionless and alone. He looked especially helpless and did not make any retaliation. Perhaps he was shocked by the might of the Sha Guards that he had lost the ability to think. Or perhaps he knew that all his tricks would be useless against this unstoppable army of Sha Guards.
Every step that the 132-men Sha Guards took was filled with power and viciousness, causing the ground to tremble.
Wang Han stood alone with a sword in his hand. His eyes were closed, looking fragile and helpless.
The contrast between the two parties was extremely distinct, so much so everyone felt this battle was one-sided and Wang Han was extremely foolish.
The battle had ended.
At this very moment, just as the last Sha Guard entered the training hall, Ai Hui opened his eyes in an instance.
He plunged his Dragonspine into the ground and countless dazzling light spots appeared in every nook and cranny of the training hall. Following which, fine beams of light shot out from the light spots, making the training hall looked as if it was covered with glowing spider webs.
An interweaving light web appeared and revolved beneath Ai Hui’s feet unexpectedly. Subsequently, the countless fine light beams began to rise towards the sky.
The battle had just begun!