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Transformed into a Black Wolf, "Ice Wind" looked even more ferocious, capable of frightening many simply by its appearance. Therefore, Chen Xuanfeng and Jin Luosha could absolutely not be seen as "ordinary travelers." Before they even approached an oasis, the already on-edge desert tribes had raised the alarm. Dozens of camel riders surged out from the oasis, holding curved swords and bows, surrounding Chen Xuanfeng and Jin Luosha, who had stopped the Black Wolf without taking an aggressive stance.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" a middle-aged man with a big beard pushed through the encirclement formed by archers and confronted Chen Xuanfeng.

"I am Du Sifa, a Black Demon Knight from the Viking region. This is my sister, Lilin. We are heading south and just passing through here to replenish our water and food supplies," Chen Xuanfeng replied calmly.

A "Black Demon Knight" is a title given to those who can summon beast mounts. Unlike beast mages who raise their mounts from a young age, these knights must tame adult powerful beasts with their own strength, so their combat power is often very high. At first, the crowd assumed Chen Xuanfeng was a beast mage because of his black cloak and didn’t pay him much mind. However, upon hearing that he was a Black Demon Knight, and seeing the formidable appearance of the Black Wolf, they could estimate his strength. As a result, the surrounding desert warriors instinctively took a step back, adopting a defensive posture.

However, the bearded middle-aged leader, Barok, the warrior captain of the Hanos Tribe, showed no change in his expression and continued to speak sternly: "You come from the northwest, where there are no oases for thousands of miles, and countless beasts and poisonous insects. How did you pass through? Don't lie to me, or even if you're a Black Demon Knight, you won't escape the desert warriors' pursuit!"

Chen Xuanfeng, hearing this threat, merely gave a cold smile. If it were a few years ago, anyone who dared to defy him like this would have been cut down, and all witnesses eliminated afterward. However, his cultivation and temperament had matured over the years, and such provocations were like ants trying to show strength before an elephant, unable to stir any emotions in him. Thus, he replied indifferently: "My mount is a high-level beast, and it's very fast. We can cross the desert in just a few days. Moreover, this summoned beast, enhanced by secret techniques, doesn't require food or water, so we don't have to carry large amounts of supplies, making our journey easier."

After demonstrating how to turn the Black Wolf into mist and absorb it into his hand, the desert warriors finally let go of their hostility and opened the encirclement, allowing Chen Xuanfeng and Jin Luosha to enter the oasis. It was then that Chen Xuanfeng understood why the locals were so tense. The Hanos Tribe was situated in the northwestern part of the desert, behind them lay thousands of miles of uninhabited wilderness, and in front of them was a canyon hundreds of kilometers long, over a hundred meters wide and deep. The oasis where the tribe resided was near the central part of the canyon, with a cliff extending out, narrowing the distance between the two sides to just fifty or sixty meters. The tribe had built a suspension bridge over the canyon, which served as a passage in peacetime for herding livestock and as a chokepoint in wartime, capable of holding off thousands of enemies with just one warrior.

This natural fortress gave the Hanos Tribe the capital to resist the Mercenary Empire, allowing them to grow stronger amidst fierce conflicts. The sudden appearance of people from behind them naturally alarmed the tribe, who were currently engaged in intense conflicts with the empire. Their first thought wasn't that someone had crossed the vast desert but that someone might have discovered a shortcut across the natural barrier, threatening the terrain advantage the tribe relied on, which made them extremely tense and defensive.

After dispelling suspicion, Chen Xuanfeng and Jin Luosha entered the tribal settlement. They neither received a warm welcome nor any cold treatment. This tribe wasn't located on a commercial route and wasn't completely isolated, so they adopted a lukewarm attitude towards passing travelers. There were no merchants in the tribe specializing in trade with travelers, so Chen Xuanfeng had to visit a few obviously wealthy families' tents to conduct simple transactions and gather some information.

Due to the desert residents' lack of deliberate secrecy, Chen Xuanfeng also gained a rough understanding of the current situation in the desert powers.

The "Mercenary Empire" forced the mercenaries of the Kuta Tribal Alliance to join the battlefront under the pretext of jointly resisting orc invasions. Initially, many tribes had no reason to object and dispatched young warriors to participate in the war. However, the Mercenary Empire, after seizing command of the entire frontline, shamelessly used the tribal warriors as cannon fodder and human shields for their army. When the tribal forces suffered heavy losses, the empire intensified its pressure, demanding more manpower from the tribes and even calling back mercenaries working in other countries to join the fight, all without any intention of paying compensation to the fallen warriors' families. Any tribe that refused would immediately be accused of colluding with orcs and annihilated. This blatant exploitation finally provoked the Kuta Tribal Alliance into rebellion. Not only did large numbers of mercenaries on the frontline break away and return to their tribes to resist the empire's oppression, but mercenary groups worldwide also began to support the tribal alliance's resistance, openly or covertly, escalating the conflict between the two sides.

Although the Mercenary Empire had a population of only around twenty million, slightly more than each of the four major protector kingdoms of the Radiant Temple, very few of its citizens were involved in farming. Most of its people, who were primarily in the livestock industry, had the ability to fight, allowing the empire to mobilize up to seven or eight million troops during wartime. Sustained by the north-south trade routes, it maintained a standing force of twelve legions and three million soldiers, with exceptional combat capability. Even though half of its forces were concentrated on the northern frontline, it could still deploy hundreds of thousands of troops to crush the tribal alliance's resistance.

Lately, the primary threat to the Hanos Tribe had been the Mercenary Empire's Seventh Legion, specifically the second-in-command "Flame Sand Army," consisting of fifty thousand soldiers. They were currently gathered at a military town over a hundred kilometers east of the tribe, planning to wipe out the Hanos Tribe and eleven other surrounding tribes in one fell swoop. However, the desert people were natural fighters, and with the advantage of geography and the determination to protect their homes, they still had the strength to resist, even if they were at a disadvantage in terms of organization and equipment.