Cannon Fodder Cultivation Guide

Chapter 38 - Mutant Sand Rats

"ah!" 

"Ouch!" 

"What's going on!" 

......

Suddenly, various cries of surprise rang out. Those flying on their artifacts inexplicably fell from mid-air almost simultaneously.

Luckily, they hadn't been flying too high, and the ground below was all soft sand. Despite their embarrassing landings, no one seemed to be hurt.

"Senior Sister, are you okay?"

Zhang Yiyi pulled Yuan Ying out from the sand, where she had fallen not far from her. Yuan Ying was almost half-buried in the sand. Compared to the others, Zhang Yiyi, whose body was much more agile and strong from reaching the fourth stage of body refinement, had landed firmly on her feet without even losing a strand of hair.

"I'm fine."

Yuan Ying stood up with Zhang Yiyi's help, brushing off the sand stuck to her body while warily scanning the surroundings, ready for any unexpected danger.

It soon became clear that not only the six of them had fallen, but the large group of disciples from other sects behind them had also suddenly dropped from the sky.

"Senior Brother Mo, I seem to have lost all my spiritual power. I can't absorb or use any external spiritual energy," Zhang Tongtong quickly realized the severity of the situation and asked Mo Yan for confirmation. "What about you?"

The two of them had been flying close to each other, and after the fall, they were still nearby.

"I'm the same!"

Mo Yan tried again, his expression turning grim. "This must be a natural restriction in this area, but it should only be temporary."

"What should we do? Should we retreat and try another direction?" others suggested, realizing something was wrong and unsure of what to do.

"Retreat where? Didn't you notice that the group behind us, even at a distance, experienced the same thing? Once this kind of restriction is activated, we have no control over when it will end."

Mo Yan, more experienced than the rest, quickly dashed their hopes. Fortunately, they had only lost their spiritual power, and there seemed to be no immediate negative effects on their bodies.

"But without spiritual power, we can't fly on our artifacts. Senior Sister, are we going to have to walk out of this desert?" Yuan Xiaoqi complained to Yuan Ying, "How long will that take? By the time we're out, the time limit might be up, and we'll still be wandering around in the desert, nowhere near finding the celestial artifact!"

Trapped in the desert without spiritual power, they could no longer fly, rendering their cultivation almost useless.

"Isn't safety our main concern right now, given that we've lost our spiritual power?" Zhang Yiyi interjected, reminding them, "Now we're like ordinary people. Any danger we encounter could easily kill us."

Disciples from major sects were indeed too sheltered. Compared to independent cultivators who fought for resources daily and relied on no one but themselves, they were still a bit too naive. At a time like this, their first thought was the inconvenience of walking instead of flying, without considering how to survive in the mystic realm without spiritual power for the remaining fourteen days.

"Yiyi is right. Everyone, stay alert!" Yuan Ying's expression changed as she sternly reminded her junior brothers not to lose focus.

They hadn't encountered any danger all day, which was unusual for the highly perilous Luoxian River Mystic Realm. Now it seemed it wasn't luck that kept them safe; instead, it was all part of a bigger trap that had only just begun.

"What is that?!"

Yuan Xiaoqi, who had just been reprimanded, suddenly went pale and pointed ahead. He didn't even have time to curse Zhang Yiyi for jinxing them.

Everyone turned to see a large swarm of mutant sand rats, each the size of a cat, rushing towards them like a storm.

"Ah!"

"Run!"

Screams quickly filled the air again. The disciples closest to the swarm were the first to be attacked, and the scene was horrifying.

Accustomed to thinking highly of themselves, the disciples hadn't yet adjusted to being ordinary mortals again. In the panic, the mutant sand rats quickly caused serious casualties.

"Where are you running? Can you outrun them? If you don't want to die, fight! They're just first-level demon beasts!" someone shouted. They raised their weapon and slashed at an approaching sand rat.

The strike landed!

The sand rat didn't manage to dodge in time, and a deep gash appeared on its body, causing blood to pour out as it screeched in pain.

That one strike brought everyone back to their senses. In a life-or-death moment, there was no time to think. Each of them quickly grabbed their weapons and fought against the swarm of sand rats.

Although they couldn't use spiritual power, their bodies and skills were far superior to ordinary humans. They weren't so weak as to just wait for death.

Zhang Yiyi and the others were soon surrounded by the mutant sand rats. These creatures were agile, fast, and had extremely sharp claws and teeth. If you weren't careful, they could easily tear off chunks of flesh, making them especially ferocious.

The worst part was, there weren't just a few dozen of them but hundreds—an endless, grey swarm that seemed impossible to kill off, making everyone's hair stand on end.

After the initial chaos settled, the battle between the disciples and the mutant sand rats grew fierce. Both sides fought with no restraint—either they killed or got killed.

The only fortunate thing for the sect disciples was that when the spiritual energy disappeared, they had been flying on their artifacts, which meant they still had weapons. At least they didn't have to fight these creatures barehanded.

"Yiyi, stay close to me and be careful!"

Yuan Ying slashed down a sand rat that was about to bite Zhang Yiyi, keeping the unarmed girl behind her for protection.

There were simply too many of these disgusting creatures. While she couldn't protect Zhang Yiyi all the time, she could help occasionally. Hopefully, the girl had enough sense to fend for herself.

"Senior Sister, don't worry about me. I can take care of myself."

Zhang Yiyi punched another sand rat trying to ambush Yuan Ying from behind, sending it flying. It landed with a thud, twitched a few times, and stopped moving, dead.

Yuan Ying blinked in surprise. She realized that while she had been helping Zhang Yiyi, she had almost been bitten in the neck by another sand rat. Fortunately, Zhang Yiyi had reacted quickly and accurately.

But more impressive was the fact that this girl had killed a difficult-to-handle mutant sand rat with just one punch! She was clearly stronger than Yuan Ying at the moment.

"Be careful," Yuan Ying reminded her. Seeing that Zhang Yiyi could defend herself, she focused on dealing with the growing number of mutant sand rats attacking her.