Cultivation Begins From The Desert-Chapter 48: Escape from Heaven

"Phew, that was really close! If it weren’t for this Black Gold Armor, made from the skin of a Gold-Eating Rat, I would have been in serious trouble today, overturning the boat in a safe harbor!"

On the desolate mountain, Zhouyang stood up from the ground with a look of relief on his pale face, shouting his luck while looking at the dead sand bandit corpse on the ground.

This incident just now taught him a vivid lesson, never assume that when the enemy falls to the ground, everything is fine.

Cultivators have strong life force, and there are endless unique secret techniques in the Cultivation Realm. Until the enemy’s head is cut off and the divine soul is obliterated, one cannot assume they have laughed to the end.

Just like earlier, if it hadn’t been for the Black Gold Armor he had been wearing since acquiring it, made from the skin of a Gold-Eating Rat, that blood arrow would have pierced him through.

And even with this Tier Two Top Grade Defensive Inner Armor, being hit by a blood arrow at such close range, his chest is still terribly painful, probably suffering from a severe internal injury.

To avoid any further trouble, Zhouyang dared not linger here. After immediately taking a Healing Spirit Pill, he dragged his injured body and the spoils of battle away from the desolate mountain.

Fearing the Foundation Establishment sand bandits patrolling the sky, Zhouyang dared not use any magic to enhance himself after leaving the desolate mountain, relying solely on his physical strength to traverse the desolate mountains and wilderness with difficulty.

Though this made his moving speed as slow as a crawling turtle, it indeed provided great concealment, as several times sword light flew past nearby in the sky, without discovering him, who was so close.

After several days of continuous walking, Zhouyang’s internal injuries gradually recovered more than half under the effect of the spirit pill, and he had already reached the famous Baisha River by the Baisha River Oasis.

Using the Baisha River to hide his breath and escape was a suggestion given to Zhouyang by his foster mother, Zhou Xuan Yu, when he was at the marketplace. fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓

Cultivators in the Boundless Desert Sea, due to spirit root attributes and cultivation techniques, generally dislike places rich in Water Spirit Qi and are also not proficient in the Water Escape Technique.

This holds true for both Foundation Establishment cultivators and Qi Cultivation Stage cultivators.

Zhou Xuan Yu specifically gave Zhouyang several ’Water Escape Technique’ spirit talismans when suggesting he escape using the river water of the Baisha River.

The ’Water Escape Technique’ and ’Earth Escape Technique’ are both Tier Two Lower Grade techniques, but in the Boundless Desert Sea, it’s hard to find even a handful among a hundred cultivators who practice this technique, as it’s basically useless in the desert.

Only a talisman maker like Zhou Xuan Yu, wanting to diversify her spirit talisman repertoire, would specifically learn some techniques mismatched with her cultivation technique attributes, and since the Five Elements Escape Technique is the most commonly used magic for cultivators, it’s natural she would learn it first and always carry some ’Water Escape Technique’ spirit talismans with her.

These ’Water Escape Technique’ spirit talismans usually accumulating dust in her storage bag turned out to be very useful today.

After reaching the Baisha River, Zhouyang took out a glistening blue ’Water Escape Technique’ spirit talisman and slapped it onto himself, his body quickly merging into the river water and using the flowing river to escape downstream along the Baisha River.

While escaping via the river water, Zhouyang several times sensed the powerful aura of Foundation Establishment cultivators flying over the river, knowing that these Foundation Establishment sand bandits had not left the Baisha River Oasis.

Understandably so, for beyond the Chen Family’s Baituo Ridge ancestral land and the Golden Dawn Mountain Marketplace, there are several other Foundation Establishment clans in the Baisha River Oasis.

With the Chen Family’s Foundation Establishment cultivators being watched by Purple Mansion Cultivators, a dozen Foundation Establishment sand bandits acting together could basically walk unchallenged across any Foundation Establishment clan’s territory.

Since Ancestor Chen Yaohui and others left to hunt Tier Four Demon Beasts, they wouldn’t be back in less than half a month; Tier Four Demon Beasts generally reside deep in the desert away from the oasis, or they’d have been wiped out by cultivators long ago.

In other words, for at least half a month, these sand bandits could essentially run rampant across the Baisha River Oasis.

Zhouyang was now convinced that the Foundation Establishment clans in the Baisha River Oasis probably ended up like the ones in Golden Dawn Mountain, otherwise, the Foundation Establishment sand bandits wouldn’t be spreading across the whole oasis to hunt them, the fleeing cultivators.

"I wonder how my foster mother and the others are doing, hopefully everyone can make it through this crisis safely!"

At a forest along the Baisha River shore, Zhouyang hid in a cavernous underground cavity dozens of meters below the forest floor, beginning to worry about the other Zhou Family cultivators.

At this point, he was essentially safe. As long as he stayed hidden here for half a month and didn’t come out unless a Foundation Establishment cultivator fell into the forest and fully extended their divine sense underground to investigate, no one could find him buried so deep.

Considering this forest is not a convergence of spirit veins, the likelihood of discovery is almost negligible.

With his own safety ensured, Zhouyang was most worried about his foster mother Zhou Xuan Yu and the brothers and sisters in the clan.

With his resources and abilities, he almost got killed by the sand bandits while fleeing; how much more for those family members with cultivation just reaching the mid-stage Qi Cultivation.

Unfortunately, all he can do now is pray; there’s nothing else he can do.

Nothing he can do, that’s the literal meaning.

Fearing that the fluctuation of spiritual qi generated during spell practice might expose his existence, Zhouyang even stopped his daily cultivation of spells. It was during this time that he finally had the chance to examine the spoils he acquired after killing three sand bandits.

After killing the three sand bandits, Zhouyang found a total of seven storage bags on them. Additionally, two storage bags were destroyed during the fight, and the contents inside couldn’t be retrieved, so he didn’t bother picking them up.

Among the seven storage bags found, four had a volume of one zhang each, while the remaining three each had a five-foot storage space.

In these storage bags, Zhouyang discovered a large quantity of spirit stones, totaling over sixteen hundred pieces. Clearly, these spirit stones were robbed by the three sand bandits.

He also found over a dozen Tier Two lower and middle-grade magical artifacts in the storage bags. Most of the artifacts were somewhat damaged, without a doubt these were also stolen items.

Besides spirit stones and magical artifacts, the most numerous items Zhouyang found were not elixirs or spirit talismans or spiritual materials, but rather over a hundred various books and dozens of precious jade scrolls.

These books and jade scrolls, which contained valuable knowledge, all had a mark very familiar to him—it was the Yellow Sand Sect’s external symbol, a yellow gourd mark.

Ordinary people might not know why the Yellow Sand Sect uses a yellow gourd as their sect symbol, but Zhouyang knew from the records left by his ancestor Zhou Yuquan that the Yellow Sand Sect possessed an extremely powerful inheritance artifact called the "Divine Sand Gourd." This artifact released divine sand that could even kill Golden Core stage cultivators; it was extremely formidable.

Recently, Zhouyang had researched a piece of blackish ore and went to purchase some books at the Yellow Sand Sect’s store in the Jinsha Marketplace. Upon seeing the classics in the sand bandits’ storage bags, he immediately knew these were from the Yellow Sand Sect’s store.

However, he never expected that these sand bandits would be so bold as to even rob items belonging to the Yellow Sand Sect!

Although only Qi Cultivation Stage disciples managed the Yellow Sand Sect’s store in the Jinsha Marketplace, it was still Yellow Sand Sect’s property; typically, Foundation Establishment stage cultivators dared not show any arrogance upon entering that shop.

"Normally, although sand bandits commit all sorts of evil, they always have some trepidation towards the Yellow Sand Sect, the major sect of the Boundless Desert Sea, and wouldn’t easily touch Yellow Sand Sect’s things."

"This time, however, these sand bandits broke the rules. It seems someone gave them the confidence not to fear reprisal from the Yellow Sand Sect!"

Zhouyang’s heart sank, suddenly realizing that this sand bandit attack might not be as simple as mere pillaging.

Come to think of it, while sand bandits usually operate in groups, they are small and uncoordinated, usually no more than a few or a dozen banding together with no connection to other groups.

However, this time, not only did over ten rarely seen Foundation Establishment stage sand bandits appear, but also more than a hundred ordinary Qi Cultivation Stage sand bandits.

Organizing such a large group of sand bandits is no simple feat; it’s not something achievable just by high cultivation, but requires sufficient manpower and well-connected intelligence channels.

"Moreover, whether those Foundation Establishment cultivators are really sand bandits is still uncertain!"

Zhouyang recalled the performance of the Foundation Establishment sand bandits during the battle at Golden Dawn Mountain, deepening the gloom within his heart.

He had a feeling this oasis attack incident might not end so simply, and the cultivation realm near the Baisha River Oasis might never return to its former peace.

Unfortunately, due to a lack of information, even though he suspected something, without concrete evidence, he dared not jump to conclusions and had to suppress these thoughts for future validation.

Nevertheless, with hundreds of books scavenged from the sand bandits’ storage bags, Zhouyang found the coming half-month time not difficult to endure.

These classics released by the Yellow Sand Sect for sale were certainly not valuable items; they were all low-tier techniques, spells, and basic introductory knowledge in artifact refining, alchemy, talisman making, spirit plant cultivation, beast taming, and other Hundred Skills of Cultivation.

This foundational knowledge of Hundred Skills of Cultivation and low-tier techniques could all be found in the Zhou Family’s Scripture Cave, so these weren’t necessary for Zhouyang to read.

However, the dozen jade scrolls were highly attractive to him, as they were travel notes and autobiographies written by Foundation Establishment or even Purple Mansion stage cultivators exploring the cultivation realm, documenting local customs, rare demon beasts, treasures, restricted areas, and legends, which were his favorite read.

Additionally, among a black jade scroll, Zhouyang found the Secret Technique of the "Blood Arrow Technique" that the sand bandit used to ambush him.

This Secret Technique was, surprisingly, related to the legendary demon cultivators and belonged to a branch of the Blood Demon Dao!