Chapter 16: A Pleasant Surprise

The Martial Arts Association had prepared a vast array of weapons—swords, blades, axes, staffs, spears, bows and arrows. Cold weapons of every kind filled the truck’s cargo hold, piled high for the candidates to freely choose. Tang Mubai selected a longbow, a quiver of arrows, and a broadsword. He weighed them in his hands for a moment, realizing that each weapon was fashioned from heavy alloy, crafted with meticulous care.

Over a hundred participants each chose their weapons and immediately set out for the barren mountain. This mountain, rising more than five hundred meters, was utterly desolate—no trees, no weeds—only a blanket of sand and gravel, crisscrossed with winding, labyrinthine paths that twisted across the slopes.

Once on the mountain, the group dispersed: some formed small clusters, others ventured alone, trekking along the narrow paths toward the peak, searching for the eight-legged sand worms.

At first, Tang Mubai paid little mind to these intricate paths, thinking them simple trails. But after climbing about a hundred meters, he suddenly realized these weren’t roads—they were the passageways carved out by the sand worms over countless years of crawling across the mountain. Just as mice and snakes leave their own trails, these were worm paths—routes the eight-legged sand worms favored.

With this realization, Tang Mubai quickly stepped off the “worm path” and continued on the gravel. The ground was uneven, sometimes soft, sometimes hard, making travel difficult. His actions drew the attention of those nearby—some looked puzzled, others seemed startled, and some hastily abandoned the worm paths themselves.

“What’s going on?” asked a handsome young man with long hair, brandishing a long blade. He walked and wondered aloud, “Why avoid a perfectly good path—ah!”

A sudden scream echoed. The young man vanished from sight.

All the candidates nearby jolted, spinning around, their faces taut with alarm as they scanned their surroundings.

“Where’s the giant worm? Did anyone see it?”

“There’s no sign of one—we’re nearly halfway up the mountain, and still haven’t spotted an eight-legged sand worm!”

“Who just cried out? Where did they go? Did the worm eat them?”

Questions and confusion swept through the tense crowd. The sudden disappearance of the screaming young man sent a ripple of fear through everyone.

“Eaten by a giant worm? Impossible!” Tang Mubai frowned. The system had issued no prompt for life recovery, indicating the young man was still alive. Yet he was nowhere to be seen…

He must be underground.

Just then, at the intersection of two worm paths where the young man had stood, an arm suddenly thrust out from the sand.

“Help me!” came the terrified, familiar voice. The young man's head emerged next, his face twisted in terror as he shouted, “Help me! Somebody, please!”

No one moved. Those nearby watched in shock and disbelief, but none acted. Whether paralyzed by fear or indifferent, they let the young man struggle, his upper body now exposed in the sand pit.

By chance, the hovering drone had drifted elsewhere, failing to capture the scene.

As the young man thrashed, sinking deeper into the pit, Tang Mubai’s eyes flashed with resolve. He drew a coil of rope from his waist—one of three issued by the Martial Arts Association for binding the bodies of sand worms. Though he hadn’t found a worm yet, the rope would serve to save a life.

With a swift motion, Tang Mubai flung one end of the rope toward the young man, landing it just in front of him.

“Grab the rope!” Tang Mubai commanded, his voice low.

Twenty meters separated them. In his desperation, the young man seized the rope’s end, tying it tightly around his wrists.

With a powerful tug, Tang Mubai pulled, hauling the young man clear of the sand pit.

Almost simultaneously, a monstrous worm burst out after him—its body reminiscent of a caterpillar, but gray-white, armed with eight sharp, centipede-like legs, over three meters long, its girth as thick as a barrel, bloated like a car. The beast leapt from the sand pit behind the young man.

Screams and shouts erupted.

The giant worm’s gaping maw, as large as a basin, lunged for the young man’s back.

Dangling in midair, dragged by the rope, the young man was frozen in terror, as if he’d plunged into hell.

Tang Mubai, already prepared, released the rope and snatched up the longbow, nocking an arrow and firing in a flash.

A sharp whistling cut through the mountainside.

In a burst of light, the arrow struck the sand worm’s head, piercing straight through.

A spray of yellowish fluid splattered into the air.

The young man crashed to the ground, rolling three times, battered and disheveled.

The sand worm landed with a heavy thud two meters away, sending a cloud of dust into the young man’s face.

He lay rigid, breathless, eyes wide with overwhelming fear.

For a moment, the entire scene was silent—dead quiet.

Fast… Too fast!

From the young man’s desperate emergence to the sand worm’s demise, less than five seconds had passed. None of the dozen people on the slope had recovered from the shock of the worm’s appearance before it was killed.

The three-meter-long corpse lay motionless beside the young man. The arrow, launched into the distance, was gone from sight.

Such swift, decisive action stunned everyone present, leaving them speechless.

The drone returned overhead, oblivious.

Tang Mubai, still poised with his bow, was elated.

“One eight-legged sand worm, reclaimed 3.5 years of lifespan!”

[Life Force +35]

This prompt had appeared as the arrow pierced the worm’s head, Tang Mubai responding instantly, harvesting the life force.

He hadn’t expected the sand worm to possess such vitality.

Indeed, it was because Tang Mubai sensed the disturbance underground just before—the moment the young man cried for help, a fierce energy surged beneath his feet, racing toward the young man’s position.

In that instant, Tang Mubai realized what it was.

An eight-legged sand worm!

His intuition was spot-on.

Just one worm had granted him an extra 3.5 years of life. By rough estimate, there were at least four or five hundred sand worms on this mountain…

A fortune! Tang Mubai’s heart soared.

He stowed away the bow and strode toward the young man, picking up the rope and binding the dead sand worm.

Each rope bore a tag with the candidate’s name—Tang Mubai’s three ropes were all labeled accordingly.

Once a corpse was bound by a rope, ownership was established.

The drone’s constant surveillance ensured no one dared to steal.

After securing the corpse, Tang Mubai dusted off his hands and moved on. He needed to explore further, assess the situation, and collect the life force released when sand worms were slain.

“Wait—wait!”