Half a month after leaving Li country.
Zhang Yao went all the way north, crossing seven barren belts and tens of thousands of miles, and finally arrived at Lu State.
To the north of the Lu Kingdom, after passing through a vast barren belt, is the prosperous age of immortality that everyone in the southwest countries longs for - the Dali Immortal World.
But the last part of this journey is not easy to walk and is full of dangers.
At this moment, on the northern border of Lu State, in a canyon:
On the cliffs on both sides of the canyon, there are densely packed caves of various sizes, with streams of light traveling back and forth, making it very lively.
In the central area of the canyon, many immortal cultivators were wandering and browsing at the stalls. It was like an informal market with a large scale.
"This border area of Lu State is really chaotic..."
Zhang Yao, dressed in white, was among the crowd and was observing the market in the border canyon.
The barren belt in the north of the Lu Kingdom is thousands of miles wide, and even a cultivator who has perfected his Qi refining would find it difficult to cross it in one go using only his own magic power.
The road is far and wide, and it is difficult to cross it with magic power, so I just paid it off.
The main reason is that among them, there is a greater danger, which is the large number of robbery and cultivator gangs entrenched on the edge of the deserted zone, ready to take advantage of the opportunity.
Killing people and grabbing treasures is the quickest way to get rich.
The composition of these robbery cultivator groups is very complex. Some are from Dali; others are from the southwestern countries; there are often some demon cultivators and evil cultivators mixed in among them.
They regarded the monks from the southwestern countries who were yearning for Dali and trying to cross the barren belt to go north as prey, like cancer, blocking the only way to go north.
"In the desolate zone, the spiritual energy is almost exhausted, causing any fluctuation of spiritual energy to be particularly conspicuous, like a torch in the dark night."
"If you go on the road alone, you will easily become a living target and be targeted by a steady stream of robbery cultivators..."
Zhang Yao couldn't help but look up at the highest point of the canyon when he thought of this.
There, there is a solemn palace that has been built for many years. It is a special branch of Tianbao Tower. There is a foundation-building monk sitting in it all year round.
At the border of Lu State, there are usually only two ways to cross the deserted zone -
First, wait for a large number of Qi Refining monks to gather, and everyone will act collectively and go north together to fight against the powerful Tribulation Cultivator group with a huge number of people;
The second is to pay a high fee for spiritual stones and go to the branch building of Tianbao Tower to wait. After ten people are gathered, they will be escorted there by the Foundation Establishment monks.
"Forget it, let's not get into trouble."
Zhang Yao shook his head secretly and withdrew his gaze.
Please ask the foundation-building monks to escort you. One place requires a thousand spiritual stones. Most Qi-refining monks do not have such a large reserve of spiritual stones.
Although Zhang Yao was rich, he was not prepared to ask the foundation-building monks to escort him.
With his current strength, he has a certain degree of confidence in crossing the deserted belt alone. Choosing the first method is basically a sure thing.
Moreover, unless he had to, he was not prepared to deal with any more Foundation Establishment monks before he was promoted to the Foundation Establishment Stage.
"In three days, the new northbound team will set off!"
On one side of the canyon, beneath a banner, several monks shouted loudly:
"Fellow Taoists who want to sign up, hurry up!"
"Currently, more than 130 fellow Taoists have participated..."
Amidst the noise, many Qi Refining monks came over and chose to join.
In the border area of Lu State, there are a steady stream of Qi Refining monks from all over the world. Most of them are casual cultivators, but there are also often those with families.
Often in two or three months, a team of one or two hundred people can be gathered to travel north across the barren belt.
"Count me in!"
Zhang Yao also came under the banner and signed up to join the team three days later under the pseudonym 'Zhang Qing'.
"Fellow Taoist, don't forget, we will gather in three days!"
After burning Zhang Yao's name and appearance, the monks gave some instructions.
"Um."
Zhang Yao nodded slightly, turned and left.
"Fellow Taoist, wait a moment!"
He hadn't taken a few steps when he was stopped.
Zhang Yao was slightly shuddered, turned around and looked back, and found a beautiful middle-aged woman wearing a blue palace dress with a graceful figure.
Judging from the aura on the woman's body, it was clear that she was a monk who had perfected his Qi refining skills.
"Fellow Taoist, you are polite."
Zhang Yao bowed politely and said:
"I wonder why my friend suddenly asked me to stay here?"
"I hope fellow Taoists won't be surprised if I speak rashly."
The beautiful woman in the palace skirt bowed and asked tentatively:
"Can I take a moment to speak?"
"……good."
Zhang Yao hesitated for a moment, then nodded in agreement.
Anyway, within the confines of the border canyon, it was impossible for her to take action openly and unprovoked. This would only lead to her being attacked by a group.
"This fellow Taoist."
The two came to a corner of the canyon, and the beautiful woman in the palace skirt said enthusiastically:
"If I'm not mistaken, fellow Taoist should also be a monk who has perfected Qi refining, right?"
Zhang Yao's expression remained unchanged, he nodded and said:
"good."
With his current magic power, no one can detect his true state during the Qi Refining Stage unless he is directly inspected by the divine consciousness in the Foundation Establishment Stage.
The beautiful woman in the palace skirt couldn't see his depth, so she made this misjudgment, which is really unusual.
"That's right."
The beautiful woman in the palace dress smiled slightly and said:
"I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Chen Qingju, and I am a casual cultivator from Tao Kingdom."
"I am interrupting you this time because I saw that fellow Taoist has signed up to join the northbound team in three days, so I wanted to join forces with fellow Taoist."
"Join forces?"
Zhang Yao raised his eyebrows, slightly surprised:
"I heard that the chances of successfully crossing the barren zone for previous northbound teams are as high as 70 to 80 percent."
"With your fellow Taoist Qi refining and perfect cultivation, there is no need to join forces with me, right?"
As the saying goes, you must be on guard against others.
Among the many casual cultivators gathered at the border of Lu State, none of them knew each other. Who would bother them rashly?
Looking after each other with strangers may be even more dangerous.
Chen Qingju suddenly came to him, making him subconsciously wary.
"Fellow Taoist, you don't know something."
Chen Qingju shook her head, her face showing a trace of solemnity:
"The so-called 70% to 80% probability was a rumor in the early years. In fact, the current success rate is only about 50% to 60%."
"In recent years, there have been an increase in the number of robbery and repair gangs on the Dali border, making this journey more and more dangerous."
"In the last expedition to the north, even the monks who had perfected their Qi refining skills had fallen into decline. How could I dare to take it lightly?"
"this……"
Zhang Yao frowned slightly and explored:
"I don't know, Fellow Daoist Chen, but do you know the reason behind this?"
As far as he knew, many of the leaders of the robbery cultivator groups were only cultivators who had perfected their Qi refining skills.
The huge number of people heading north seemed to be a huge force, but in fact it was just making up the numbers.
No one knows each other, and there is no trust in each other. If there is real danger, they will just break up and fly away when disaster strikes.
to be honest--
I don't need to run faster than Jie Xiu, I just need to run faster than my companions around me.
Under such circumstances, the probability of a perfect Qi Refining monk encountering a siege and dying is very low, and may not happen even once in dozens or even hundreds of years.
"I do know a little inside information..."
(End of chapter)
