Extremely hard to kill, a swarm of remarkably resilient monsters; if forced to choose between the Sand Scorpions and the Sand Wyrms, any sane person would opt to face the Scorpions.

"Haven't left?" Qian Jin looked up toward a dark speck in the far reaches of the sky. Divine Archery wasn't just about perfecting accuracy; it was also an excellent test of one's eyesight.

"Lucifer Flowing Water?" Qian Jin sucked in a sharp breath. Damn those wings! Damn those Blood Bat Demon Knights! These Sand Wyrms must have been brought by them! They were deliberately using their flight capability to lure these sand dunes into an attack!

"Princess, he seems to have spotted us."

"So what?" Lucifer Flowing Water stood with both feet planted on Raphael's back, gazing down haughtily at Qian Jin in the distance. "Does he have time to worry about me now? Chekeflitte took a palm strike from me; he must be lying injured in a cave right now. Does he dare leave? If he leaves, Chekeflitte is dead! Don't forget these are Sand Wyrms—they possess special abilities."

"Damn special abilities! Why the Sand Wyrms specifically?" Qian Jin frowned slightly. Sand Wyrms were different from ordinary earthworms. Most earthworms could only move through soil, but Sand Wyrms could move through stone as easily as regular earthworms moved through dirt.

This massive mountain could not serve as a defensive fortress. Even carrying Chekeflitte and fleeing now, they would likely be overtaken by these magical beasts moving at high speed through the sand.

"The Sand Wyrms must have a Sand Wyrm King," Duan Feng Bu'er said cautiously. "Qian Jin just needs to kill that fellow."

"Good! You keep watch here!" Qian Jin sprang down the mountain. "Kuangge, carry Chekeflitte on your back and be ready to retreat at any moment!"

Flipping down the slope, Qian Jin sprinted several hundred meters across the desert, his feet churning rapidly to dig a hollow in the sand, quickly burying himself completely. Only his eyes peered through the sand, fixed intently on the Sand Wyrms approaching from the side.

Nearly a hundred Sand Wyrms, differing in size—the smallest only about a man's height, the largest over four meters long—were present. In the center of this mass, a colossal sand dragon thrashed about, easily more than twice the size of the previous Sand Scorpions.

Could it really be ten meters long? Qian Jin finally saw the approaching Sand Wyrms clearly. Their golden skin resembled thick, calloused scar tissue, forming a heavy protective membrane.

The massive body possessed fifteen or sixteen monstrous mouths, all lined with sharp teeth, and nearly thirty bulging sacks the size of human heads dotted its entire surface. These were the Sand Wyrm's eyes, though they weren't used for sight, but for smelling and hearing!

"Planning a sneak attack?" Lucifer Flowing Water soared high above on Raphael's back, looking down at the concealed Qian Jin and letting out a cold sneer. "A surprise attack? If it were Sand Scorpions, that would be a good tactic. But your opponent is the Sand Wyrm—the Sand Wyrm! A Sand Wyrm's vital spot shifts with the passage of time. Can you find its weak point? Any sneak attack on a Sand Wyrm will only incite more of their anger and savagery."

Raphael secretly glanced back at Lucifer Flowing Water, nodding subtly. No wonder the Princess didn't lure stronger magical beasts, but specifically chose these! Sand Wyrms were practically creatures without weaknesses.

"What a shame I can't go down there to lure them some more. It would be even better if I could disrupt his ambush setup again."

Lucifer Flowing Water eyed Qian Jin hidden in the sand warily. He had not forgotten that archery display from that day; descending rashly, he genuinely feared being struck down by a single arrow.

"Exactly!" Raphael nodded again. "The Sand Wyrms are a swarm with no weak points! Hoo!"

In the raging storm of the Ancient Barren Sand Sea, the tip of the Moon-Shooting Bow suddenly erupted with a dazzling flash of light. The arrow grazed the sand dust near the ground, spinning at high velocity, grinding out a piercing roar that forcefully drowned out the sound of the windstorm from the sky.

On the golden-yellow sand, a golden-yellow trail of sand immediately appeared. These grains were instantly sucked into the high-speed airflow generated by the spinning arrow, followed by even more golden sand, resembling a meteor falling from the sky. Except today, this meteor was rising from the ground, not falling from above!

One arrow, two arrows, three arrows... five arrows... nine arrows!

As his strength surged, Divine Archery's rapid-fire technique also increased. Qian Jin unleashed all nine heavy arrows from his quiver in one breath.

Fast! Lucifer Flowing Water’s single visible eye snapped wide open in utter astonishment as he watched the nine flying arrows appear simultaneously. If he had descended even slightly, he would have been shot dead!

"How is this person so powerful?" Lucifer Flowing Water’s heart pounded wildly. Perhaps only a Heavenly Demon Eye Archer from the Demon Race could rival him! Was he a Bloodline Warrior of the Divine Archery lineage from the Jieyu Clan of the True Policy Dynasty? If he had shot at me like that back then, I would have been killed immediately!

Why didn't he shoot me? Oh, right! Lucifer Flowing Water swallowed hard. It was because his arm was fractured back then! But how did his bone heal so quickly? I gave him a superior Demon Race medicinal agent, and it still looks only seventy or eighty percent recovered.

Thoughts flashed through Lucifer Flowing Water's mind like lightning, but Qian Jin's arrows were faster than lightning! In the blink of an eye, the nine heavy arrows reached the Sand Wyrm King.

A sudden change! Some unseen organ within the Sand Wyrm's body emitted a piercing, strange shriek, and its massive form rapidly dove deep into the sand!

The arrows were too sudden! Magical beasts have stronger instincts for danger than humans, but the Sand Wyrm only perceived the threat the moment Qian Jin struck.

Thwack! The Sand Wyrm screamed as an arrow struck its body. The other charging Wyrms instantly changed direction, swarming toward Qian Jin in unison.

Thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack... Eight consecutive arrows! Every single one hit its mark!

The arrows piercing the Sand Wyrm King's body acted like drills, sinking into its flesh and continuing deeper without stopping!

Blue blood sprayed out from nine different points. Qian Jin felt a pang of agony in his heart—these were one of the primary ingredients for making the Berserk Potion! Wasted so carelessly? Ah, what extravagance!

Screech, screech, screech, screech! The Sand Wyrm thrashed violently in pain among the gravel. The nine arrows shot out from the opposite side of its body. One of the arrowheads carried a chunk of earth-yellow stone the size of a fist.

The Demon Core! The Sand Wyrm King’s only vital spot was its Demon Core! Unlike other magical beasts, the Sand Wyrm King’s Demon Core could shift. It changed with the passage of time, and upon encountering an attack, it could use its innate ability to control the core’s movement to evade being struck in its vital area.

This near-invincible ability made the Sand Wyrm one of the most troublesome medium-tier magical beasts! If combined with defensive magic, it became even more vexing.

However, today, Qian Jin's arrows were simply too fast. The speed was so great that the Sand Wyrm King couldn't manage to release its magic; it only had time to shift its Demon Core.

"How is this possible?" Lucifer Flowing Water’s single eye widened, and he cried out in disbelief, "How could he hit the Sand Wyrm's Demon Core vital spot with nine arrows? How did he find it?"

"Impossible... Impossible..." Raphael shook his head repeatedly. Only Blood Bat bloodline Demon Knights were the natural nemesis of beasts like the Sand Wyrm King, using sonic wave echoes to locate the possible position of the Demon Core—but even they couldn't find its exact location with ten-tenths certainty instantly.

The Sand Wyrm King also had its natural defenses, capable of using magic internally to simulate several false Demon Core locations to mislead enemies.

But none of it mattered today! Qian Jin struck the Demon Core with nine arrows—a feat Raphael himself couldn't guarantee!

After a few shrieks, the Sand Wyrm King crashed heavily onto the ground. Blue blood erupted outward like an underground water spring exploding, and in moments, the ten-meter-long body of the Sand Wyrm King shrank to eight meters.

"Bad luck!"

Qian Jin retrieved his strong bow and turned to flee wildly, glancing back repeatedly with regret at the body that was rapidly shrinking. He had encountered this creature more than once in the Western Mountains; it was truly an old adversary. After death, its body would shrink rapidly, soon becoming no bigger than a fingertip.

"How can this be?" Lucifer Flowing Water looked at Qian Jin, who held a bow and arrows but was turning to flee. "It must be luck! If he truly could find the Sand Wyrm King's weakness, he would also know where the other Sand Wyrms' Demon Cores are! Why kill the King and not kill the Wyrms?"

The strong wind carried Lucifer Flowing Water's words down from the sky. Qian Jin ran in an elliptical path across the Ancient Barren Sand Sea, looping toward the location of the dead Sand Wyrm King. He occasionally looked up and let out a cold sneer. This Demon Race princess had seen a lot, but perhaps rarely engaged in true, hands-on combat?

The Sand Wyrm King's Demon Core shifted, making it hard to locate, but if the change followed a pattern based on time, combined with multiple previous battles, he knew where the Demon Core would instinctively move in the split second of pain after injury—naturally allowing him to hit it with one arrow!

The common Sand Wyrms were different; their Demon Cores couldn't move, but each one was located in a different spot. They were the truly difficult targets to find a weak point on. One might be in its mouth, another perhaps inside one of its bulges, and some might even be in the tail.

"No! We can't let him take the Demon Core!" Lucifer Flowing Water stomped on Raphael. "Descend! We must seize the core before he does!"

"Yes, Princess."

Raphael's body suddenly plunged downward at high speed. Lucifer Flowing Water’s left eye shimmered with the light of a hexagram, and black flames descended from the sky, shooting directly toward the path Qian Jin was running.

Destruction Demon Eye! Qian Jin tensed his waist and forced his body violently to the side. The strange flames emanating from that eye could leave pits even on a ninth-level Fighter, and even a cultivator in the Wind and Cloud Golden Body Steel Body Realm could not withstand a direct hit.

A terrifying Demon Eye! Qian Jin looked at the ground beside him, where the once golden sand had instantly turned white crystal after being sprayed by the Destruction Demon Eye’s flames. A light breath of wind was enough to turn these crystals into even finer powder.