The area a hundred miles in radius around of the Barren City was a desolate desert.
This was the territory of the Fourteen Sand Dao Kings.
Back when Sha Dulong was looking for a place to set up their base, this was the first place he caught sight of. Hence, that single decision had them here for the years later on.
And in these few years, Sha Dulong had crafted out quite a name for himself. Everyone from the Barren City knew that the Fourteen Sand Bandits resided here in these hundred miles of desolate desert.
However, these residents of the Barren City knew that these Sand Bandits were nothing to be fearful of, and they would never rob poor people such as themselves.
As for the merchants, they were really fearful at the very beginning. But after the first brave merchant made his trip through this place, things changed entirely from there on.
The Fourteen Sand Bandits then became overwhelmingly welcomed. From time to time, there would even be merchants who would intentionally stay here, hoping to be robbed by the Fourteen Sand Bandits.
From then on, the Fourteen Sand Bandits were then referred to by the merchants as the Fourteen Sand Dao Kings.
These were reasonable bandits!
In the eyes of those merchants, these Fourteen Sand Dao Kings were bandits with ethics and morals.
"Today looks like yet another wonderful day for robbing." Sitting on a small slope, Sha Dulong looked at the scorching, radiant sun and exclaimed.
"Big brother, you're right! The weather IS pretty good today!" The masses accompanying him replied.
"I believe that we're finally started to peek at the entrance of the Dao of Robbery by now. Our big brother hadn't lied to us back then. The Dao of Robbery does exist!" Sha Dulong's face was full of nostalgia.
At this moment, everyone quietened down. In the past few years, their entourage had strengthened, and they had taken in a number of people. However, at this moment, everyone knew that their Leader was thinking about someone right now.
During these moments, they had to maintain their absolute silence. Otherwise, the Leader would get mad. And if the Leader got mad, that would be a bad thing. The least of the punishments would be a couple of days without food!
"Let's go. Let us continue to rob." After god knows how long, Sha Dulong finally came back to his senses and waved out with his hand. The word 'rob' was said with such grandeur as though there was nothing wrong with it at all.
For these Fourteen Sand Bandits, the only times when they would feel alive and find meaning in their lives was when they were conducting a robbery.
"Why are the Fourteen Sand Dao Kings not here yet?"
At this moment, a convoy stopped in the middle of the desert. The leading carriage of these convoys had a bright flag perched on its top. If any resident of the Barren City were to catch sight of it, they would recognize it immediately.
This was the flags of one of the trading companies within the Barren City.
A middle aged man walked out of the lead carriage and asked, "They're not here yet?"
"Nopes." A servant who had been gazing across the distance shook his head.
The middle aged man looked at the desolate desert. He then caught sight of a couple more convoys that were arriving from the distance.
"Damn it! To think that we would be so unlucky this time around. Seems like there are quite a number of merchant convoys here." The middle aged man said with displeasure. It was as though he was heartbroken that there were others coming to snatch his position of being robbed.
If anyone who did not know of the situation passed by here, they would definitely be astounded. To think that there would even be queues for robberies right now?! Had the world changed or what?
When one of the convoys made its way over, the middle aged man frowned. He had caught sight of his competitor in the same trade. Not only did they have to compete in terms of business, they even had to compete here! Damn it!
"Oh? Seems like you're here too, Shopkeeper Wang." From the convoy that arrived in the distance, a fat middle aged man chuckled out.
"Shopkeeper Li, you were the ones who were robbed previously. Don't tell me that you intend to steal that away from me this time around as well?" Shopkeeper Wang asked with displeasure.
"Shopkeeper Wang, you're speaking of it the wrong way now. The able ones get robbed. Furthermore, you're not the only one waiting to be robbed here, Shopkeeper Wang!" Shopkeeper Li replied.
"Hmph!"
They were both merchants of the Barren City. When they headed out to the other cities with merchant convoys, they would have to go through treacherous paths where dangers lurked at every corner.
Even though they had employed numerous powerful beings under their watch, they would still lose about four out of ten of their trips. This was quite the troubling issue for them.
But now, things were different. Any convoy that was lucky enough to be selected by the Fourteen Sand Bandits would enjoy a carefree trip, free of disasters. They would definitely arrive at their destinations safely!
Therefore, for any merchant of the Barren City, it was one hell of a good luck if they were to be selected as robbery victims for the Fourteen Sand Bandits!
Right at this moment, yellow sand flew all over the sky as the area was filled with dust clouds.
"They're here! They're here…!!!"
All of the merchant convoys cast their sights into the distance with a look of anticipation. If they weren't selected this time around, they could only wait for the next time.
To them, the Fourteen Sand Bandits were an extremely credible assurance!
Back in the past, they had all attempted to spend a large amount of money to employ their services. However, for Sha Dulong and the others, this was nothing but an insult to their trade as bandits. Hence, he rejected them flatly.
"Leader, there're so many merchant convoys yet again this time around! Which one of them should we rob?" For some of the older members of the team, this was a troubling issue.
For some of the newbies, a sight like this had them stumped.
They had not expected being bandits to be this easy! There were merchants fighting at their doorsteps, fearing that they wouldn't get robbed!
For Sha Dulong, this was a sight he was long used to, "We'll let fate decide then."
At that moment, a long howl rang out as Sha Dulong leapt up into the sky with a majestic disposition.
"ROBBERY…!!!"
This cry of robbery was enough to shock the world and have Gods and Ghosts cry over it. This was impressive to say the least.
"The bandits are here! The bandits are here…!!!"
At this moment, everyone from the merchant convoys yelled out frantically. An aura of fear spread through the entire world.
Some of these merchants had arrived at the Barren City to collect some goods. And now that they had gotten their goods and were preparing to return, they came to test their luck upon hearing of the rumours of the Fourteen Sand Bandits.
But looking at the frightful looks that everyone was giving off right now, they were bewildered.
"Oh, the great Fourteen Sand Dao Kings! Please come and rob me! I'll be willing to offer a fixed amount!" One of the new merchant convoys shouted out.
As for those surrounding merchant convoys who were entirely engrossed in their acting right now, they looked at this new merchant convoy with the same eyes one would use to look at an idiot when they heard the cries.
"That merchant convoy must be new, right?"
"How dare they speak of such humiliating words!"
"That's right! Honestly, one can't blame the ignorant ones though. But these words are nothing but a direct insult to the Fourteen Sand Bandits!"
"Hmph! The Fourteen Sand Bandits will never ever rob a merchant convoy that is not afraid of us! Men, take them away!" The moment Sha Dulong heard those words, his face changed as he was a little peeved. The might of their Fourteen Sand Bandits was unparalleled. To think that after travelling for endless of miles out in the world, there would be a merchant convoy that didn't fear them!? What sort of a humiliation was this?
"Yes!"
"What's going on?"
The new merchant convoy was beyond confused, not knowing what this all meant.
"It's a robbery! Men on the left, women on the right! Trannies in the middle! Our Fourteen Sand Bandits will only rob your wealth and not your bodies or lives! But if you're not obedient, then you can't blame us for being merciless!" Sha Dulong burst out as a tremendous aura caged everyone within.
"Spare us! Please spare us!"
"Please don't rob us!"
Even though these experienced merchant convoys were begging for mercy in their mouths, their actions were swift as they started queuing up.
Men on the left, women on the right. Trannies in the middle. But, up till this day, they had yet to see a tranny standing in the middle just yet.
"Leader, someone's standing in the middle!" A voice yelled out.
Sha Dulong's face changed as he headed forth immediately.
Shopkeeper Li was giving off a terrified look right now. However, he still straightened his body as he stood there, "Don't kill me! Please don't kill me!"
"Hmph. Don't worry. We of the Fourteen Sand Bandits are professional and ethical men. We will definitely not take your life or f*ck you. Hand over everything that's valuable in your possession and place them all within this small bag!" Sha Dulong ordered fiercely.
"Y-yes…!!!" Shopkeeper Li was overwhelmed with joy in his heart as his hand motions did not stop at all. He commanded everyone under him to hand over everything that was valuable to them and tossed them all into that bag.
When the surrounding merchant convoys saw the Fourteen Sand Bandits robbing Shopkeeper Li, they were helpless in their hearts. They hadn't expected that they wouldn't be chosen.
Shopkeeper Wang was bearing the biggest grudges right now. How had things turned out as such? When he caught sight of the smug expression on the face of Shopkeeper Li, he was even more furious, without any way to vent it out at all.
BOOM!
All of a sudden, the ground started quaking up violently.
Yellow sands rumbled all over the skies in the distance.
"Leader, the army of the Barren City is here!"
"Huh? The army of the Barren City? Prepare for battle!" Sha Dulong yelled out.
"YES!"