Tang Peng continued his journey uneventfully. Although he could feel the sand shift under him sometimes, he could always hasten his pace to avoid the cavernous mouths, as they were quite slow. As long as he did not stand in one place for too long, he would be fine. This was a pity, as Yin Qi was aplenty in a desert like this.
Tang Peng was totally confused at the amount of mouth monsters. With this many monsters, shouldn't Mingtian Empire already killed some? Was there something preventing them from doing so?
After travelling for 9 days endlessly, without any rest, Tang Peng could see something else besides sand. It was a long line of walls. He had finally seen the periphery of Long City, which made him jump a bit in joy. The destination was just within his reach already.
However, there was a carriage in front, which obscured his view of the Long City walls. There were sounds of clanging steel, which made Tang Peng wonder if that carriage was being robbed. He decided to check out what was happening.
"Hey, what are you guys doing?" Tang Peng inquired into their situation, as he sprinted over to the carriage's side. The sounds of fighting that he heard immediately stopped.
"Who are you? What organisation do you belong to?" A lanky scarred man with a gruff voice pointed a sword at Tang Peng. Tang Peng ignored the sword, and stared at corpses of men strewn around him.
"He probably belongs to the Beggar Sect! Look at how unkempt his hair and beard is! Not to mention, he doesn't even have shoes! Hahaha!" A fat bellied man made fun of Tang Peng's appearance, and started to laugh heartily.
"Eh? Do I really look like that?" Tang Peng touched his face and head, when he grimaced. The fatty was right. His hair had grown to the level of his torso. His beard was like the size of an overgrown bush.
"So you're a beggar from the city. Take out that purple robe and give it to us. Otherwise, we can easily chop you into half!" A muscular man exuded a powerful aura around him. His muscles swelled up, to the point that it seemed like they were about to burst.
"The Brutal Pirates is actually robbing us? They have a cultivator with them! We're doomed!" A muffled voice came from inside the carriage. Everyone inside of it were watching the confrontation between Tang Peng and the bandits earnestly.
"Xiu Yan, don't just look at the Brutal Pirates. Look at that person. He's no simple character. He's standing on the hot sand without any shoes!" Another voice whispered to Xiu Yan, who had spoke earlier. Xiu Yan looked at Tang Peng's feet, and was shocked to see that his feet was not harmed by the sand.
"Over my dead body! This is my inheritance, so fight me if you will!" Tang Peng was not afraid of the bandits. Even though that burly man was a cultivator, he was absolutely mediocre compared to the likes of Xuan Yu or the rest of the cultivators in sects.
"A beggar has no right to bargain. Die!" The scarred man started to swing his sword wildly at Tang Peng as a display of power. The muscular man took out two butcher knives, and jumped towards Tang Peng.
"Now's our chance! While they are distracted, we run!" Xiu Tan's father informed the driver of the carriage to go out and start whipping the horses again. He was pretty sure that the beggar was some sort of martial expert, who could distract the Brutal Pirates for a while.
The moment the driver came out, he was sent back by a powerful whip. It slammed so hard against the driver that he stopped only after hitting three other people. He vomited our blood, before collapsing on the carriage's floor.
"Don't think just because we're preoccupied with this dumb beggar, that we're easily distracted. Do it again, and all the men will die. Maybe that girl inside can be sold for one golden coin. Guahahaha!" The fat man, who was wielding a thick whip, guffawed at his own statement.
Even though Xiu Yun was pissed off by that statement from the fatso, she could not afford to offend the trio Brutal Pirates. She could only hope that the mysterious man outside could deal with them.
As the muscular and scarred man coordinated their attacks on Tang Peng, his agility allowed him to dodge them with ease, resulting in them clanging their swords against each other.
"That's impossible! You can't possibly dodge our attacks, you lowly beggar!" The scarred man seethed in anger, as Tang Peng skilfully avoided more of their attacks.
"If I'm a beggar, then you're a dog!" Trang's Peng slapped both of them on their faces, which sent them staggering back. A purple mark was left on their faces.
"What's happening? Kgh!" The scarred man immediately lost the strength in his legs when the purple mark appeared. He started to cough without stop onto the sand, before the area affected on his face melted, showing exposed bone.
"Hand over the purple robes! It will be mine eventually! My Ox Head Tempering Art resists all your puny attacks!" The muscular cultivator was increasingly convinced that the purple robes were the source of the beggar's powers. Otherwise, why would this shabby looking person obtain such overwhelming prowess?
"You actually turned me into a freak like you! Die!" The scarred man seethed in rage. It was fine for him to have scars, as it showed off his battle prowess. However, now that his face melted, he looked like a hideous ghoul! He dashed in on Tang Peng for one desperate attack.
"A villain like you should die!" Tang Peng viewed himself as a hero, which vanquished evil from the world. He used his hand to driver a chop to the scarred man's neck, which immediately broke. A minuscule amount of Yin Qi escaped from that person. Tang Peng grabbed the sword that the person held as loot.
"How dare you kill my comrade! Whips of Endless Demise!" The fatso actually had a skill that he could utilise. The whip shimmered with Qi, with numerous other whips formed of Qi attacking Tang Peng at the same time.
"What foolishness!" Tang Peng snorted and used his powerful constitution to rush at the fatso. The purple robes blocked all the attacks from the whips, making the muscular man want it more. It even acted as a defense!
The fatso looked in surprise as all his whips got deflected. He had gotten this magical whip from their master, who wanted them to rob certain carriages in exchange for great powers.
This whip could cut humans like butter, only that he could only use its special ability once a day, which could cut even rocks without any effort. Seeing his whips get deflected, this demoralised him, and he started to run away.
"Running away is not an option!" Tang Peng caught you with the fatso and pinned him onto the ground with his leg. He then repeatedly punched the fatso until he was swollen to the point that he became unrecognisable. The whip was taken as a weapon too.
With a sword and a whip in hand, Tang Peng walked towards the muscular cultivator. The muscular cultivator was confident in his ability to defend against every blow that Tang Peng could deal.