Outside the tent, a line of western warriors riding camelsnakes and giant scorpion-beasts stared at this place with narrowed eyes. A deadly stillness settled over the oasis like a suffocating shroud.

These desert marauders from the Lam Sect were no mere raiders. Their crimson robes ignored fleeing merchants entirely, all gaze locked on Ji Changkong's tent as they drove their steeds into encircling formation.

An emaciated old man perched atop the largest scorpion loomed forward. His gaunt frame radiated a pungent stench that attracted swarms of venomous creatures from distant dunes, their shadows undulating through the shifting sands like serpents.

Ji Changkong stepped out to survey the horizon where hundreds of scorpions now clustered around the oasis perimeter. Merchants had barely escaped ten steps when both small and monstrous arachnids surged forward with sickening efficiency. The air filled instantly with guttural screams as flesh was torn apart by venomous mandibles.

Massive scorpions the size of horses moved alongside fist-sized relatives, forming a writhing tide that made onlookers feel physically ill. Their shrieks echoed through the desert - some creatures burrowed inside victims' bodies, crawling beneath skin to feed in ways too grotesque to describe.

The thin-limbed Lam patriarch now hovered close beside his sect's high priestess, bowing repeatedly while gesturing toward Ji Changkong and his companions with nervous urgency. His calculating eyes pierced through the crowd to fix on Li Hentian.

"Tuo," Tuo Baliao warned gravely, cutting ropes binding Ee Jia and Ee Ru who shrank back in silent horror rather than protest as their gag was removed.

Ji Changkong joined his companions at a distance, frowning as he assessed the enemy. The Lam patriarch's aura felt unnaturally warped to him - the man's mana flow was so strange it defied cultivation theory entirely.

After listening to his subordinate's report, the scorpion-riding warlord signaled their advance with a dismissive pat on his beast. "The Lam King says you may leave if you surrender those two girls," the translator declared, repeating this in both languages as the high priestess watched Li Hentian through narrowed eyes.

Ee Ru clung to Tuo Baliao's arm with trembling fingers, begging for mercy even as her sister Ee Jia nodded frantically. Their terror had broken their usual defiance now that they recognized the Lam Sect's deadly reputation.

Li Hentian remained impassive as always, his sunken eyes narrowing when Tuo glanced toward him. Without preamble, the Solar Wheel burst from his sleeve in a flash of searing light and oppressive heat.

The oasis temperature skyrocketed instantly. Scorpions recoiled with pained squeals, scrambling for shade while Lam acolytes collapsed from heatstroke under the weapon's glare. The high priestess leapt down from her scorpion-king, shouting orders as she summoned a sandstorm to charge toward Li Hentian.

"Protect Ji!" Li barked at Tuo before snatching his weapon and vanishing into the maelstrom. The Lam King had underestimated him - his mastery of desert combat was legendary even among Manichaeist darklords who backed their sect's rise in the wastelands.

The storm transformed the dunes into living tides, sandwaves crashing like ocean surges as Li vanished within them. A deafening shockwave erupted from the maelstrom followed by the sound of scorched flesh and quaking earth.

Tuo dragged Ji back toward the tent even as Ee Jia and Ee Ru scrambled inside with him. The battle ended almost before it began - when Li emerged from distant sands, only scattered marauders remained in flight.

"He'll recover," Li declared grimly, "though his Sand Serpent techniques gave him an edge here."

Tuo exhaled relief as Li turned toward the tent where Ee Jia and Ee Ru awaited. The older sister's trembling halted when she spotted the dead warlord - her blade had already found his throat.

"Forgive me!" the old man begged, but his pleas were silenced by Ee Jia's fury.

"This one was worse than any desert bandit," she spat through gritted teeth as Li and Tuo watched in disapproval.

Ji stiffened when he learned about the "boy" from Manichaeism - a child no older than thirteen yet radiating unnatural evil. Now it made sense why this sect had been so desperate to capture them.

"You met him?" Tuo asked suspiciously, but Ji only smirked at the two trembling girls. "Time for our bath in the oasis," he added with false cheer as his eyes gleamed like hot coals.