Episode 65: The Commoner's Choice

The roar of the sand-beast scraped against the eardrums like sandpaper. When Lu Chen’s bone blade cleaved the final lunging sand-scorpion, the edge of the blade had already rolled and dulled.

The civilian convoy was trapped on the dry riverbed, with over thirty camel carts forming a circle. The sand beneath the wheels was soaked through with blood, turning into a dark red mud. The three outermost carriages had already been overturned by the sand-beasts, scattering fabric and wooden crates across the ground, revealing infant swaddling clothes and shriveled desert dates within.

"Brother Lu! The southeast corner is about to break!" Chen Yu’s heavy machine gun jammed. He grabbed a nearby entrenching tool and smashed the head of a sand-beast lunging at the wounded. "These beasts are targeting women and children specifically!"

Lu Chen’s gaze swept across the battlefield, his heart sinking to the abyss. They had brought fewer than fifty fighters to face over a hundred sand-beasts while also protecting nearly two hundred civilians—it was merely a drop in the bucket. To make matters worse, the sandstorm was intensifying, reducing visibility to less than ten meters. The golden light of the Tang army skeletons flickered uncertainly in the wind and sand, their energy clearly nearing exhaustion.

"Alicia! Buy another five minutes for the Silver Bird Totem!" Lu Chen roared into his headset while hurling the throwing knife at his waist, piercing the eyes of three sand-beasts. "I’m taking a squad to link the carriages into a defensive formation!"

"We can’t hold out that long!" Alicia’s voice was laced with gasps. Standing atop the highest camel cart, the blue light of the Silver Bird Totem condensed into a translucent barrier above her head, emitting dull thuds as sand-beasts crashed against it. "The sand-crystal thorns are almost spreading to my heart!"

Lu Chen glanced back, his heart tightening sharply. Half of Alicia’s neck was already covered in a grayish-blue sand-crystal. Every time the blue light barrier flickered, her complexion grew a shade paler. Resisting Williams’s shockwave at the main altar last night had clearly accelerated her sand-crystallization.

"Hold on a little longer!" Lu Chen gritted his teeth, severing the pincer of a sand-beast. "Once the defensive formation is set up, we can—"

His words cut off abruptly.

Beneath the third overturned carriage, a curled figure was exposed. It was an elderly woman clutching a child, her headscarf slipping to reveal a wrinkled face—bearing a pale red scorpion-shaped birthmark on her temple, the mark of an S-tribe aristocrat.

What made his pupils contract even more was that the wooden crates scattered around her were stamped with the S-tribe’s granary insignia.

"They’re S-tribe people!" A young X-tribe warrior suddenly roared angrily. His father had died beneath the S-tribe’s sand-crystal cannons, and now, with reddened eyes, he raised his bone spear. "Captain Lu! Are these scum even worth us saving?!"

"Put it down!" Lu Chen’s bone blade met the tip of the warrior’s spear, his voice cold as ice. "We are saving lives right now, not settling old scores!"

"Old scores?" The warrior’s teeth ground audibly as he pointed toward the corpse of a comrade being dragged away by a sand-beast. "Just now, Little Wu died protecting that S-tribe woman! Are they worthy?!"

The surrounding X-tribe warriors halted their actions one by one, their gazes shifting between Lu Chen and the S-tribe civilians. Several older warriors tightened their grips on their weapons, clearly remembering family members slaughtered by the S-tribe; yet others looked at the crying infants in the carriages, hesitation flashing in their eyes.

Seizing the opportunity, the sand-beasts broke through the defense line. Three massive sand scorpions lunged toward the innermost carriage, which was crowded with children.

"Watch out!" Alicia’s blue light barrier slammed downward, knocking the sand-scorpions back. Looking down at the opposing factions, she suddenly shouted sharply, "Take a good look!"

She grabbed a nearby torch and hurled it toward the nearest carriage. The flames illuminated the scene inside—a dozen ragged people huddled together, old and young, each with deep purple rope burns around their wrists, clearly the marks of iron chains.

"They were driven out as bait by Williams!" Alicia’s voice pierced the sandstorm with undeniable force. "I saw those exact same rope burns in the Father Temple’s dungeon! These people are either opponents of Williams or useless old and weak—they aren't warriors at all!"

The elderly woman with the scorpion birthmark trembled as she raised her hand, the child in her arms crying in terror. The old woman drew a filthy piece of cloth from her bosom and carefully unfolded it—inside lay half of an X-tribe beast-tooth necklace, carved with the character "Peace".

"This is... this is my daughter-in-law's." The old woman’s voice was heavy with an accent, mixed with sobs. "She was an X-tribe captive, forced by Williams to marry my son... She resisted the sacrifice last month and was burned alive..."

The young warrior’s bone spear clattered to the ground.

Lu Chen recognized that beast-tooth necklace. Three years ago, he had given it to a female captive, telling her to use it as a token if she escaped. At the time, the girl had smiled and said she would wear it back to the oasis to see the peach blossoms.

"And them!" Alicia suddenly leaped down from the camel cart, ignoring the excruciating pain of the sand-crystal thorns, and rolled up the sleeve of a young boy. The boy’s arm was covered in whip marks, old and new intertwining, the most prominent being a brand—the incomplete totem of the Anti-Entropy Array. "This is the mark of a Sand Guardian! Williams tortured him for half a year because of this!"

The battlefield fell into an eerie silence.

The roar of the sand-beasts continued, but the X-tribe warriors had all stopped fighting, staring at the S-tribe civilians cowering beneath the carriages. Among them were mothers holding babies, old men with missing legs, and terrified youths—completely different from the ferocious sand-crystal warriors of their impressions.

"What we protect is life, not slaughter!" Alicia’s voice was laced with blood vessels as she stepped in front of the old woman and child, the blue light of the Silver Bird Totem flaring behind her. "Williams is the enemy! These people are just like us—they are his victims!"

A bearded warrior suddenly discarded his bone spear. His younger brother had died in an S-tribe concentration camp, but now he bent down to scoop up an S-tribe child too terrified to cry. "Damn it... I became a soldier to protect people, not to be an executioner."

With the first came the second.

The young warrior picked up the entrenching tool from the ground and turned to slash at an incoming sand-beast. Two medics ran toward the wounded S-tribe elderly, tearing open their first-aid kits. Even the most stubborn cook handed his remaining water to the boy bearing the Sand Guardian brand.

"Captain Lu?" Chen Yu looked at Lu Chen, the hesitation in his gaze turning into resolve.

Lu Chen’s gaze swept over the warriors who had taken up arms anew, over Alicia’s pale yet stubborn face, and finally rested on the half-beast-tooth necklace in the old woman’s hand.

"All units, listen up!" He raised his voice suddenly, pointing his bone blade toward the boulder on the riverbed. "First Squad, use the carriages and boulders to build a defensive perimeter! Prioritize protecting the children and the wounded!"

"Second Squad, clear the perimeter sand-beasts with me!"

"Alicia!" He turned to the girl, where the golden light of the Three-Ring Totem suddenly flowed onto her, temporarily suppressing the spread of the sand-crystal thorns. "Hold on! Once the perimeter is set, we’ll rotate!"

Alicia’s eyes brightened, and she suddenly smiled, the froth of blood at the corner of her lips failing to conceal that brilliance. "I told you long ago you weren't cold-blooded."

The most unexpected development came from the Tang army skeletons.

(End of Section 1/3)

(Start of Section 2/3)

Those ancient undead, which had previously only obeyed Lu Chen’s commands, suddenly split into nearly two halves, automatically forming lines to block the outer perimeter of the defensive circle. Though their rusted swords were tattered, they pierced the joints of the sand-beasts with absolute precision, constructing a moving wall of bones for the civilian convoy.

"They..." Chen Yu stared in utter astonishment. "They can make decisions on their own?"

"Sand Guardians have never protected a tribe; they protect the vitality of the great desert." Lu Chen cleaved the final sand-beast with his bone blade, watching the skeletons escort the civilians toward the defensive circle as he finally understood the Sand-Speaker’s words. "These ancestors of ours know right from wrong far better than we do."

The defensive circle was rapidly established.

Over twenty carriages were linked end-to-end, wheels facing outward, carriage panels upright to form an elliptical fortress. The Tang army skeletons guarded the outermost layer, X-tribe warriors took charge of the second layer, medical teams treated the wounded at the center, and civilians helped each other reinforce the carriage panels. Even the old woman with the scorpion birthmark was teaching children how to fashion simple weapons from desert date pits.

The attacks of the sand-beasts gradually weakened, their momentum clearly thwarted by this temporary fortress. The sandstorm also subsided somewhat, sunlight piercing through the clouds to cast a golden rim upon the white bones and carriage boxes alike.

Lu Chen leaned against a carriage panel, panting, the Three-Ring Totem in his palm growing slightly warm. He watched the bustling figures within the circle—X-tribe warriors handing water to S-tribe elders, S-tribe women bandaging X-tribe wounded, and the boy bearing the Sand Guardian brand learning sword-gripping postures from the Tang army skeletons with surprising accuracy.

"It seems we made the right choice." Alicia sat down beside him, the blue light of the Silver Bird Totem now very faint. "Auntie just said that Williams brands everyone who opposes him as a 'sacrifice' to feed the bone cores."

"Expected." Lu Chen handed her a compressed biscuit. "That old bastard never cared about the tribes; he only wants the power of the bone cores."

"Where do we go next, then?" Alicia nibbled the biscuit, the sand-crystal thorns having receded back to her wrists. "The second altar..."

Her voice trailed off. Williams had claimed that the key to the second altar was her mother’s skull—a piece of news that pierced her heart like a poisoned thorn, causing even the Silver Bird Totem to ache faintly.

Before Lu Chen could comfort her, an anomaly erupted from the Tang army skeletons outside the defensive circle.

Those previously stationary undead suddenly turned toward the northwest, raising their rusted swords in unison to form a defensive array. Heavy footsteps echoed through the wind and sand—not the scampering scuttle of sand-beasts, but some massive sound accompanied by metallic friction.

"What’s going on?" Chen Yu hoisted his heavy machine gun, muzzle trained on the source of the sound. "Could it be Williams’s pursuit force?"

Lu Chen’s Three-Ring Totem burned violently, growing so hot he almost dropped it. Observing the reaction of the Tang army skeletons, he recalled the scene at the first altar—these undead only adopted such defensive postures when sensing extremely dangerous energy.

"Not a pursuit force." Lu Chen’s voice tightened as he recognized the outline vaguely emerging through the sandstorm—it was a massive black carriage, its wheels forged from a mixture of sand-crystals and white bones, the carriage body carved with scorpion incantations. "It’s the sacrificial carriage!"

A mobile altar recorded in the ancient texts of the Sand Guardians, a tool used by Williams to transport sacrifices. This carriage was itself a miniature energy field, forcibly extracting the vitality of living beings to provide nourishment for the bone cores.

The black carriage stopped a hundred meters outside the defensive circle. The carriage door slowly opened, and a pale hand reached out, grasping a staff inlaid with bone shards—it was Williams’s elite commander, the sand-crystal giant!

"Lu Chen, come out and face your death." The giant’s voice grated like a rusted iron gate. Fresh blood and flesh stained his sand-crystal armor, clearly indicating he had just massacred another team. "The chieftain said, hand over Alicia and the Sand Guardian descendants, and these civilians will be spared."

The civilians within the defensive circle stirred instantly. Several S-tribe members grew pale, glancing furtively toward Alicia with eyes reflecting fear and... hesitation.

"Don’t listen to him!" Alicia stood up abruptly, the Silver Bird Totem flaring once more. "Williams never keeps his word! He wants everyone dead!"

But it was already too late.

Two middle-aged S-tribe men suddenly grabbed the boy with the Sand Guardian brand, shoving him toward the outside of the defensive circle. "We’ll hand over the Sand Guardian! Let us go!"

"Are you out of your minds?!" The old woman shrieked as she lunged forward, only to be shoved to the ground by one of the men. "He’s still a child!"

"Better than all of us dying together!" The man’s eyes were bloodshot, consumed by overwhelming fear. "Williams said, as long as we hand over the Sand Guardian..."

His words were cut short by the crack of a gunshot.

Chen Yu’s heavy machine gun had somehow been reloaded. A bullet grazed the man’s ear, striking the sandy ground beside his feet and kicking up a spray of dust.

"Who dares touch that boy?" Chen Yu’s eyes were bloodshot, his muzzle aimed squarely at the restless crowd. "I’ll blow the bastard’s head off first!"

Dead silence fell over the defensive circle once again.

The civilians stared at the dark muzzle, at Lu Chen and the warriors gripping their weapons tightly, and at the rusted swords of the Tang army skeletons that never wavered—finally realizing that this hastily formed defensive circle was no longer a simple division of X-tribe or S-tribe, but a unified entity forced to face death together.

"It seems you’ve chosen the path of death." The sand-crystal giant’s staff slammed heavily into the ground. The sand grains around the black carriage boiled instantly, countless sand-crystal arms bursting from beneath the earth like a proliferating forest. "Then don't blame me..."

Before he could finish, the cry of an infant pierced the defensive circle.

The child held by the old woman had somehow awakened, its dark, glossy eyes wide open as it reached out a tiny hand to grasp the rusted sword of a Tang army skeleton. Strangely, the razor-sharp blade lost its edge upon touching the infant’s skin, transforming into a smooth bone rod.

The Tang army skeletons collectively turned, bowing slightly toward the infant as if saluting.

Lu Chen’s Three-Ring Totem erupted with unprecedented golden light, resonating with the half-beast-tooth necklace hanging around the infant’s neck. Only then did he notice that right beside the "Peace" character on the necklace was carved an extremely tiny Silver Bird Totem—the mark of Alicia’s mother!

This child was Alicia’s niece, the offspring of the burned X-tribe woman!

"So that’s how it is..." Lu Chen’s heart raced as he finally understood why the Silver Bird Totem had consistently protected this convoy. "Williams’s true target is this child!"

(End of Section 2/3)

(Start of Section 3/3)

The sand-crystal giant evidently realized this as well. His massive sand-crystal pincer pointed straight at the infant. "Seize that child!"

The sand-crystal arms surged toward the center of the defensive circle like a tidal wave. The defense line formed by the X-tribe warriors and Tang army skeletons was instantly battered to the brink of collapse. To protect the infant, a young warrior was impaled through the chest by a sand-crystal arm. In his final moment before falling, he locked his arms around the limb, preventing it from advancing an inch further.

"Lu Chen!" Alicia’s Silver Bird Totem and the Three-Ring Totem flared simultaneously. "Use the Anti-Entropy Array! We can trap them!"

Lu Chen watched the warriors continuously falling, watching the courage reignited in the eyes of the civilians—the man who had moments ago sought to surrender the boy now braced his body against the trembling carriage panels; the old woman clutched the infant to her breast, striking at the encroaching sand-crystal arms with her walking stick.

He drew a deep breath and raised his bone blade.

The golden light of the Three-Ring Totem flowed along the blade, merging with the rusted swords of the Tang army skeletons to forge a massive Anti-Entropy Array above the defensive circle. Alicia’s Silver Bird Totem transformed into a blue radiance, fusing into the focal point of the array and rendering its brilliance even more dazzling.

"In the name of the Sand Guardians—" Lu Chen’s voice overlapped with a war roar from a millennium ago. "Repel the enemy!"

The Anti-Entropy Array slammed downward. Wherever the golden light touched, the sand-crystal arms shattered successively, and the incantations on the black carriage melted away like snow before the sun. The sand-crystal giant emitted a painful roar, his sand-crystal armor cracking inch by inch, clearly severely suppressed by the array.

"You can't win!" Half of the giant’s body had crystallized into sand as he pointed toward the northwest, where the sky was once again shrouded in black-purple clouds. "The Chieftain’s Sand-Scorpion Legion has arrived! Sooner or later, you'll all be nourishment for the bone cores!"

Lu Chen ignored his threat.

He looked at the people supporting one another within the defensive circle, at the reforming figures of the Tang army skeletons, and suddenly understood the true meaning of this battle—not for any single tribe, not for vengeance, but to prove that even beneath the curse of sand scars and blood feuds, humanity could still choose kindness.

The sand-crystal giant completely dissolved within the golden light, the black carriage reducing to a pile of splintered wood. Yet Lu Chen knew this was merely a temporary victory.

The black-purple pallor in the northwest drew closer, Williams’s oppressive aura pressing down upon everyone’s hearts like a boulder.

Alicia walked to his side, gently grasping his hand. The totems in both their palms lit up, interweaving gold and blue into a warm vortex.

"No matter what lies ahead, we face it together." Fear was absent from Alicia’s eyes, replaced solely by steadfast resolve.

Lu Chen nodded, intending to speak, when an abnormal stir erupted from the Tang army skeletons outside the defensive circle.

Those previously stationary undead suddenly pivoted toward the northwest, raising their rusted swords in unison to form a defensive barrier. Heavy footsteps echoed through the wind and sand—not the scuttling scurry of sand-beasts, but some massive sound accompanied by metallic friction.

"What’s going on?" Chen Yu hoisted his heavy machine gun, muzzle trained on the source of the sound. "Could it be Williams’s pursuit force?"

Lu Chen’s Three-Ring Totem burned violently, growing so hot he almost dropped it. Observing the reaction of rumbling Tang army skeletons, he recalled the scene at the first altar—these undead only adopted such defensive postures when sensing extremely dangerous energy.

"Not a pursuit force." Lu Chen’s voice tightened as he recognized the outline vaguely emerging through the sandstorm—it was a massive black carriage, its wheels forged from a mixture of sand-crystals and white bones, the carriage body carved with scorpion incantations. "It’s the sacrificial carriage!"

A mobile altar recorded in the ancient texts of the Sand Guardians, a tool used by Williams to transport sacrifices. This carriage was itself a miniature energy field, forcibly extracting the vitality of living beings to provide nourishment for the bone cores.

The black carriage stopped a hundred meters outside the defensive circle. The carriage door slowly opened, and a pale hand reached out, grasping a staff inlaid with bone shards—it was Williams’s elite commander, the sand-crystal giant!

"Lu Chen, come out and face your death." The giant’s voice grated like a rusted iron gate. Fresh blood and flesh stained his sand-crystal armor, clearly indicating he had just massacred another team. "The chieftain said, hand over Alicia and the Sand Guardian descendants, and these civilians will be spared."

The civilians within the defensive circle stirred instantly. Several S-tribe members grew pale, glancing furtively toward Alicia with eyes reflecting fear and... hesitation.

"Don’t listen to him!" Alicia stood up abruptly, the Silver Bird Totem flaring once more. "Williams never keeps his word! He wants everyone dead!"

But it was already too late.

Two middle-aged S-tribe men suddenly grabbed the boy with the Sand Guardian brand, shoving him toward the outside of the defensive circle. "We’ll hand over the Sand Guardian! Let us go!"

"Are you out of your minds?!" The old woman shrieked as she lunged forward, only to be shoved to the ground by one of the men. "He’s still a child!"

"Better than all of us dying together!" The man’s eyes were bloodshot, consumed by overwhelming fear. "Williams said, as long as we hand over the Sand Guardian..."

His words were cut short by the crack of a gunshot.

Chen Yu’s heavy machine gun had somehow been reloaded. A bullet grazed the man’s ear, striking the sandy ground beside his feet and kicking up a spray of dust.

"Who dares touch that boy?" Chen Yu’s eyes were bloodshot, his muzzle aimed squarely at the restless crowd. "I’ll blow the bastard’s head off first!"

Dead silence fell over the defensive circle once again.

The civilians stared at the dark muzzle, at Lu Chen and the warriors gripping their weapons tightly, and at the rusted swords of the Tang army skeletons that never wavered—finally realizing that this hastily formed defensive circle was no longer a simple division of X-tribe or S-tribe, but a unified entity forced to face death together.

"It seems you’ve chosen the path of death." The sand-crystal giant’s staff slammed heavily into the ground. The sand grains around the black carriage boiled instantly, countless sand-crystal arms bursting from beneath the earth like a proliferating forest. "Then don't blame me..."

Before he could finish, the cry of an infant pierced the defensive circle.

The child held by the old woman had somehow awakened, its dark, glossy eyes wide open as it reached out a tiny hand to grasp the rusted sword of a Tang army skeleton. Strangely, the razor-sharp blade lost its edge upon touching the infant’s skin, transforming into a smooth bone rod.

The Tang army skeletons collectively turned, bowing slightly toward the infant as if saluting.

Lu Chen’s Three-Ring Totem erupted with unprecedented golden light, resonating with the half-beast-tooth necklace hanging around the infant’s neck. Only then did he notice that right beside the "Peace" character on the necklace was carved an extremely tiny Silver Bird Totem—the mark of Alicia’s mother!

This child was Alicia’s niece, the offspring of the burned X-tribe woman!

"So that’s how it is..." Lu Chen’s heart raced as he finally understood why the Silver Bird Totem had consistently protected this convoy. "Williams’s true target is this child!"

The sand-crystal giant evidently realized this as well. His massive sand-crystal pincer pointed straight at the infant. "Seize that child!"

The sand-crystal arms surged toward the center of the defensive circle like a tidal wave. The defense line formed by the X-tribe warriors and Tang army skeletons was instantly battered to the brink of collapse. To protect the infant, a young warrior was impaled through the chest by a sand-crystal arm. In his final moment before falling, he locked his arms around the limb, preventing it from advancing an inch further.

"Lu Chen!" Alicia’s Silver Bird Totem and the Three-Ring Totem flared simultaneously. "Use the Anti-Entropy Array! We can trap them!"

Lu Chen watched the warriors continuously falling, watching the courage reignited in the eyes of the civilians—the man who had moments ago sought to surrender the boy now braced his body against the trembling carriage panels; the old woman clutched the infant to her breast, striking at the encroaching sand-crystal arms with her walking stick.

He drew a deep breath and raised his bone blade.

The golden light of the Three-Ring Totem flowed along the blade, merging with the rusted swords of the Tang army skeletons to forge a massive Anti-Entropy Array above the defensive circle. Alicia’s Silver Bird Totem transformed into a blue radiance, fusing into the focal point of the array and rendering its brilliance even more dazzling.

"In the name of the Sand Guardians—" Lu Chen’s voice overlapped with a war roar from a millennium ago. "Repel the enemy!"

The Anti-Entropy Array slammed downward. Wherever the golden light touched, the sand-crystal arms shattered successively, and the incantations on the black carriage melted away like snow before the sun. The sand-crystal giant emitted a painful roar, his sand-crystal armor cracking inch by inch, clearly severely suppressed by the array.

"You can't win!" Half of the giant’s body had crystallized into sand as he pointed toward the northwest, where the sky was once again shrouded in black-purple clouds. "The Chieftain’s Sand-Scorpion Legion has arrived! Sooner or later, you'll all be nourishment for the bone cores!"

Lu Chen ignored his threat.

He looked at the people supporting one another within the defensive circle, at the reforming figures of the Tang army skeletons, and suddenly understood the true meaning of this battle—not for any single tribe, not for vengeance, but to prove that even beneath the curse of sand scars and blood feuds, humanity could still choose kindness.

The sand-crystal giant completely dissolved within the golden light, the black carriage reducing to a pile of splintered wood. Yet Lu Chen knew this was merely a temporary victory.

The black-purple pallor in the northwest drew closer, Williams’s oppressive aura pressing down upon everyone’s hearts like a boulder.

Alicia walked to his side, gently grasping his hand. The totems in both their palms lit up, interweaving gold and blue into a warm vortex.

"No matter what lies ahead, we face it together." Fear was absent from Alicia’s eyes, replaced solely by steadfast resolve.

Lu Chen nodded, intending to speak, when an abnormal stir erupted from the Tang army skeletons outside the defensive circle.

This time, the commotion wasn't caused by the black-purple energy, but because their golden light was rapidly fading, leaving the bone surfaces with traces of weathering. More bizarrely, black liquid seeped from their empty eye sockets, resembling falling tears.

"What's going on?" Chen Yu’s voice carried a hint of terror. "Are they... are they melting?"

Lu Chen’s heart plummeted.

He watched the skeletons weather away at an accelerating speed, watching the dark liquid drip onto the sand and hiss into white smoke—a clear sign that they were being forcibly purified by some external power.

Aside from Williams, who else possessed such an ability?

Amidst the black-purple clouds in the northwest, a massive scorpion silhouette vaguely manifested, its stail slowly swinging to aim directly at the defensive circle. Dangling from the stinger's tip was something reflecting a familiar golden glint in the sunlight.

It was the Sand-Speaker’s bone flute!

Lu Chen’s pupils contracted sharply.

Williams had not only brought the Sand-Scorpion Legion, but had also captured the Sand-Speaker, using his bone flute to purify the Tang army skeletons!

Deprived of the undead army's protection, how were they supposed to withstand the impending full-scale assault?

The civilians within the defensive circle evidently recognized the peril as well; some wept, others prayed, while the infant alone continued to gurgle with laughter, extending a tiny hand to touch the weathering bones of the Tang army.

Lu Chen gripped his bone blade tightly, the radiance of the Three-Ring Totem shining brighter than ever before.

It seemed they had no choice left but to play their ultimate card.

Even if the cost meant... completely unleashing the fused power of the Three Rings and turning himself into a part of the sand scars.

The black-purple sandstorm was already right before their eyes, the grayish-blue figures of the Sand-Scorpion Legion darting to and fro within it. Williams’s frantic laughter pierced the gale, laden with the cruelty of absolute certainty:

"Lu Chen! Are you ready to serve as a sacrifice for the bone cores? This time, no one can save you!"

The battle had only just begun. And their remaining chips were down to almost nothing.