Cultivation Begins From The Desert-Chapter 177 - 175: Encountering Injustice [Request for Subscription]
Chapter 177: Chapter 175: Encountering Injustice [Request for Subscription]
"Not good, this old man made a miscalculation!"
At the Divine Weapon Workshop caravan’s station, Jia Yunzhen suddenly stood up with a drastically changed expression, looking towards the direction Zhouyang had left with a face full of regret and anger.
In that distant direction, a powerful aura had just erupted. From this aura, he felt Zhu Ziyu’s presence, who had previously fought against him.
Clearly, the fact that Zhouyang would leave the team alone had been anticipated by Zhu Ziyu long ago, and he had waited until Zhouyang left the range where Jia could support him quickly before choosing to take action.
At this moment, with a face full of regret, Jia looked over there and paused for a moment before suddenly turning to Hua Yuerong and the others and said, "Wait here, the old man will be right back!"
Without caring about how Hua Yuerong and the others reacted, he released his flying sword and rushed towards the site of the incident.
However, by the time Jia Yunzhen arrived at the scene with sword control, neither Zhouyang nor Zhu Ziyu were anywhere to be seen.
After inspecting the area around the site, the regret on his face suddenly vanished, replaced by a look full of uncertainty as he stared at the deep sword mark left by Zhu Ziyu’s attack on the ground, and uttered softly, "Huh, there’s no trace of resentful evil qi left by a cultivator’s fall, that kid actually escaped Zhu Ziyu’s ambush!"
He couldn’t help but be surprised; although Zhu Ziyu’s strength was nothing in his eyes, a seventh-layer Purple Mansion cultivation was undeniably true.
Such a Purple Mansion cultivator used an ambush to attack a fifth-layer Foundation establishment cultivator and still didn’t succeed; who would believe it if he told them?
"Escaped is good, it’s good he escaped alive! If he can escape with his life, it shows that kid truly has great fortune, maybe he might even find the next two layers of the ’Great Derivation Sword Technique’ in the future!"
Jia Yunzhen’s face lit up with joy, exclaiming "Good" multiple times, finally relieved, he returned to the caravan.
Meanwhile, hundreds of miles away from the incident, in a certain forest, Zhouyang, looking pale and appearing as though he’d lost too much blood, leaned weakly against a tree, gasping for breath.
Back when he encountered Zhu Ziyu’s ambush, although he had relied on his strong divine sense to detect the ambush ahead of time and quickly summoned the Soul Suppressing Bell for defense, he still couldn’t block Zhu Ziyu’s deadly sword strike.
So upon realizing the ambusher was a Purple Mansion cultivator, he immediately activated the "Wood God Escape Talisman" he’d kept on himself since leaving Zhenyue Immortal City, using this tier-four escape technique spirit talisman to escape Zhu Ziyu’s flying sword range, fleeing tens of miles to a towering ancient tree.
Yet, fearing this wasn’t safe enough, and worried Zhu Ziyu might have other means of tracking him down, he used the "Blood Escape Technique" to flee without hesitation.
Normally, using "Blood Escape Technique" once wouldn’t leave Zhouyang in such a weakened state.
But previously, when he was in the caravan, his magical power had only recovered sixty percent; later, the Soul Suppressing Bell he’d been refining for a long time was shattered by Zhu Ziyu’s sword, causing him some mental anguish, and using the "Wood God Escape Talisman," a tier-four lower-grade spirit talisman, consumed a lot of magical power.
With all these factors affecting each other, even though he only used "Blood Escape Technique" once, he looked as if he had used it twice, looking frightfully haggard.
"Zhu Ziyu, damn you! I’ll remember this feud, once I successfully open my Purple Mansion, today’s grudge will be paid back tenfold!"
With a difficult expression, Zhouyang supported himself against the tree trunk, gasping for breath, his heart filled with unrelenting hatred.
Today’s experience truly made him realize the harshness of the outside world and the cultivation realm, giving him a profound lesson.
Previously, he had just gone through the event of Dong Jianping repaying kindness and seen the good side of the cultivation realm, retaining some beautiful fantasies about this world.
But what happened today ruthlessly shattered that beauty, telling him with his own blood that the cultivation realm would always be that survival of the fittest world, never changing because of a single person!
Even those like Zhu Ziyu would secretly manipulate things at underground exchange meetings, intending to rob and kill a Foundation establishment cultivator they were trading with and not to mention those with lesser status, wealth, or rank?
Meeting a cultivator like Dong Jianping, worth befriending, was a lucky start in Liuyun Continent’s cultivation realm, but not everyone there would be like Dong Jianping or Jia Yunzhen, who were clear about right and wrong and kind-hearted.
People like Zhu Ziyu, who were vindictive and extremely wicked, might not be the majority, but they definitely weren’t few.
Purple Star Sect!
Zhu Ziyu!
These six words, from today onwards, were deeply branded in Zhouyang’s heart; he would always remember these six words, the name of this enemy and the sect they belonged to.
Revenge has its path and debts their owner, once his cultivation was strong enough, he would definitely personally collect on this debt and revenge!
Afterwards, Zhouyang, who had sustained significant internal injuries, dared not continue wandering outside, finding a place to stop, set up the "Small Five Elements Maze Array" he carried with him as protection, and immediately sat down to take medicine and heal.
During his stay in Zhenyue Immortal City, he specifically bought some healing Spirit Pills, including those used to restore depleted Essence Blood.
Now, in the perilous wilderness, he couldn’t afford to be sentimental about the Spirit Stones spent on these pills; survival had to come first.
It was entirely worth it, because on the third day of Zhouyang’s healing, the "Small Five Elements Maze Array" was seen through by a Tier Two High-Grade Demon Beast "Wind Blade Leopard" that drifted over from somewhere, initiating an attack.
At this point, after three days of healing, Zhouyang had finally regained some of his strength, and a mere Tier Two High-Grade Demon Beast was naturally dispatched by him with ease.
In the subsequent half-month, the "Small Five Elements Maze Array" protecting Zhouyang underwent several more demon beast attacks. Although these were quickly resolved by him, the constant interruptions to his healing and recovery process nonetheless irritated him.
So after some thought, he decided not to linger there any longer and packed away the array to continue his journey slowly.
His injuries had stabilized after half a month of recuperation. Although his strength was still somewhat affected, normal travel posed no issue.
Additionally, having been trapped in Zhenyue Immortal City for several years, Zhouyang was worried that if Cao Wenjin didn’t meet up with him in Immortal Sun City, he might mistakenly believe Zhouyang had perished in the Broken Cloud Mountain Range and return prematurely to the Boundless Sea of Sand Cultivation Realm.
If that happened, he would truly be in trouble!
Keep in mind that although the Yellow Sand Sect possesses "Hidden Spirit Incense," a secret incense allowing Purple Mansion or above cultivators to travel between the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm, the materials for crafting "Hidden Spirit Incense" are extremely rare and insufficient to allow frequent travel for the sect’s cultivators.
Moreover, even though "Hidden Spirit Incense" can significantly increase the chances of a cultivator crossing the Broken Cloud Mountain Range safely, it is not entirely foolproof. None of the high-tier cultivators of the Yellow Sand Sect would risk traversing between the two lands lightly unless necessary.
If Cao Wenjin returned to the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm, even if he later learned from Zhouyang’s Soul Token stored in the clan’s ancestral hall that he hadn’t perished, it would not mean he’d dare to venture back immediately to fetch him.
Most likely, Zhouyang would have to wait in the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm for decades until the Yellow Sand Sect sent someone there for trade, and only then could he be brought back—assuming they’d agree to take him!
For Zhouyang, regardless of whether the sect member dispatched next time would agree to take him back, the simple fact of being unable to return to the clan for decades was unbearable.
Before leaving, he had exhausted all the Zhou Family’s resources and was deep in debt.
If he couldn’t return for several decades, even if Cao Wenjin returned the Spirit Stones left with him to the Zhou Family, the family would suffer severe damage and achieve nothing for decades, casting him as the clans’ true sinner!
Therefore, he must rush to rendezvous with Cao Wenjin in Immortal Sun City.
Fortunately, because the "Beast Tide" from the Broken Cloud Mountain Range had cleared out most of the Tier Three Demon Beasts from this buffer zone, Zhouyang could travel via sword flight in the sky without much obstruction from demon beasts.
With sword flight, traveling tens of thousands of miles would only take a few days.
The reason it would take a few days is that Zhouyang had to constantly reserve at least seventy percent of his Magical Power to handle emergencies, unlike when he traveled at full speed from Yuquan Lake Oasis to Baisha River Oasis.
On this day, after flying nearly twenty thousand miles, as he was preparing to find a place to land and rest, he suddenly saw the light of an array flashing on a mountain peak dozens of miles away.
Curiosity flashed in his eyes at this sight, and he immediately moved a bit closer to observe.
Deliberately restraining his aura and approaching on foot, it wasn’t until he reached within twenty or thirty miles of that mountain peak that neither party engaged in magical combat on the mountain noticed him.
From this distance, employing the "Celestial Eye Technique," Zhouyang could clearly see the situation there.
The peak wasn’t high, perhaps four or five hundred feet, but the Spiritual Qi concentration was high, reaching a Tier Three Lower Grade. Notably, the array protecting the mountain was also a Tier Three Lower Grade Array.
The only pity was that the person controlling this Tier Three Lower Grade Array appeared to be a female cultivator who had just recently succeeded in Foundation Establishment.
From such a distance and with the shield of the array, Zhouyang couldn’t see her features clearly but deduced from her red dress that she was a woman.
The assailants of the array were three male cultivators, all with Foundation Establishment Cultivation, among whom one even had Mid-Stage Foundation Establishment.
By the time Zhouyang arrived, the Mountain Protection Array on that Spirit Mountain was showing signs of collapse after a long assault by the three Foundation Establishment cultivators.
He soon heard the arrogant laughter of the Mid-Stage Foundation Establishment cultivator attacking the array: "Hahaha, Junior Sister, stop struggling. Now, quickly withdraw the array, obediently hand over Master’s alchemy inheritance and Magical Artifacts to the three of us, and in the spirit of our shared sect, if you sign the {Nether Blood Contract} and agree to be my Dao Companion, I might spare your life. Otherwise, once the array breaks, my brothers and I will enjoy your tender body!"
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