Chapter 76: Concaved Desert

Once I was done with my purchasing spree, I decided against going back home. It was only a temporary place that I used to craft stuff, and I also needed to leave the imperial city, lest the man from the Seven Mountain Peak comes looking for me. Still, I needed to find a quiet place to start working on my new projects.

I found Zen Fei, and told him about my departure, though he felt saddened at my urgent and sudden need to leave, I left him with a few pills I had created, he was a playboy and not a hard-working cultivator, but still he was nice enough to help me whenever I needed without any back thoughts. It's a rare trait to find in any cultivator.

I also asked him to take care of Meng Hao and his friends. I would feel a bit more relaxed if Meng Hao was being taken care off by someone I knew, at least no one will try to poison him again, which also brings back the question, who dared do it?

But I shook my head, Meng Hao isn't so simple, he ended up winning the alchemy competition when I was removed from it, though he didn't look like someone who should get first place, he was the 'underdog' the one least expected to succeed, but I heard news that he also managed to create a pill with Pill Veins as the final product of the competition, securing his first place. The alchemy guild saw it only right for them to have him join with them. The only difference between me and him was, he actually made the pill using the orthodox way, unlike my inscribed cauldrons, he would find many a mentor to teach him how to improve upon his Dao of Alchemy, while my own Dao of alchemy was unheard of in this world, and I only have myself as a mentor.

In a sense, I'm treading the same path as the Poison God, only his path was lonely and unpaved as he forged through the Dao of Poison, mine is the Dao of Inscribed Alchemy and it is new and no one can help me but myself.

I'm a pioneer of my own Dao, and if I find success, I'll cause new waves in the world. And I plan on doing just that.

I left the city on top of the massive flying sword gifted by the poison god's book.

I needed to get a bit away from everyone, and the best spot would be somewhere where not many know of. For example, the Laughing Slaughterer's domain, though it would be a good place to go, I would rather not venture there right now, Xi Son might send someone there to guard the entrance or just to jealously keep it from prying eyes.

The other place would be the cave where I killed all those bandits, but it would leave a bad taste in my mouth to stay in a place where so many transgressions had happened.

Unable to decide on a place where I can sit down and cultivate and craft, I decided to follow the Seven Peaks Mountain map, at least it will allow me to get closer to the sect and enable me to find a desolate place where no one will bother me.

s

I spent days of travel above green lands and following the map. There were many places on the map that suggested I should travel away from, for example, there was a Sixth Grade twin-tailed Jade Scorpion occupying an area a few hundred kilometers to the east of where I was going. Approaching it will cause the scorpion to take notice of me, and I wouldn't want to deal with anything of the sixth grade, though the Yeti in the ice mountains was of the same level, it was asleep and was not fully focused when I battelled it, the scorpion will undoubtedly be awake and fully alert if I were to approach.

I continued following the map for days until I arrived at a desolate area, which was called the Concaved Desert. It was a place for many dangerous Demonic Creatures and was also ruled by a sixth-tier beast. The Armored Lion King. A lion that would stay on the prowl in these deserts and hunt any unfortunate prey. It was powerful enough that many sects would avoid this area entirely if they could. Though the armored was 'just' a sixth-tier demonic beast, it was still too tough for most of the cultivators to kill, and wouldn't bring them any benefits. As the effort that would be needed to kill it will actually waste the most precious thing about it, its own armor.

The fact that the Armored Lion King was nigh impossible to kill without destroying its armor made it a futile hunt for the powerful cultivators, as for the weaker ones they'd rather avoid him entirely.

But this was a good thing for me, at least this place would mean that it's going to be empty of people and I'd rather be in a place where the only danger was a monster instead of man.

I flew over the Concaved Desert which earned its name by the strange geography it had. It had ravines and canyons as far as one can see. It was a mixture of the Great Sahara Desert back on earth and the Grand Canyon. Golden sand had invaded the towering canyons as would sea does to a city of skyscrapers.

Sand was everywhere and you can still see the massive canyons spread all over the place, giving shade to some small critters and creatures from the scorching sun, and within the canyon's rifts grew some herbs that one would hardly find anywhere else in the country of Zhou.

This Concave desert was on the border of the Zhou country. Once one go past it, they'll find themselves in the Swamps of Balur, an enormous swath of land full of danger and would be the doom of any man unfortunate to cross it without a proper map. While the Swamps of Balur were great and large, they served as a natural barrier for the Country of Zhou and the Country of Zhen Yi.

The country of Zhen Yi is where I'm supposed to be after my journey as it is where the Seven Mountain Peak sect resided.

Once I traveled to deem enough and safe from any prying eyes, I dipped down with my flying sword and found a natural small cave within one of the towering canyons.

The cave was way above the ground, and would not be a good sleeping cave for any creature in the area as it will take them effort to just climb here. But it wouldn't hurt to be cautious as I approached the cave and slowly made my way inside it as I lit my finger in a green flame that reflected along the walls of the cave, giving me a view of what was within it.

Thankfully, it was empty and didn't look like it was occupied anytime soon, there was nothing unnatural within the cave, bare some small spiders that nestled themselves on the dark corners of the cave prying upon any unfortunate insects that were too dumb not to fall within their webs.

When I was within the cave, I sat down and ate a poison pill, I entered a meditative stance to consume the poison and recycle it to Poison Qi. Once my reserves of wasted Qi through flight were replenished, I opened my eyes and waved a hand, opening the poison god's book and pouring all the things I'll be needing for my upcoming crafting session and alchemy sessions.

I was far too below the power level required to contend against the most powerful of sects and secure my safety, however, using my own mind I can make gear powerful enough to stop anyone from coming at me with hostile ideas.

Even if I have to become Overgeared, I'll make sure that I'm able to instill fear within anyone stupid enough to risk crossing me.

s

First things first though, "X, stand guard at the cave entrance, if anything dangerous approaches alarm me to it."

The Puppet, still damaged as I haven't fully repaired him yet nodded and stood guard at the cave's entrance. Then I began my crafting.

First things first, I needed protection, because as good as an offensive power is, without proper defense I could easily be killed before I could even show any destructive powers I have.

Armor is too heavy and unwieldy, but what if I craft something light and powerful? I have an idea already. The serpent X killed back in the Laughing Slaughterer's cave. Its skin was durable enough that it contended with X's punches, and that's even before it was processed and modified.

"Right now, how about we start with making some indestructible armor?" I grinned as I pulled the snake from the poison god's book.