Chapter 348 - Fraud
In the darkness, Chen Chen slowly opened his eyes while a wave of soreness spread throughout the body.
He looked around to see that there was sand everywhere, and the sun couldn't be seen either. It was as if he was in a sandstorm.
He looked around with his divine senses, only to realize that it was the same scene within 50 kilometers.
"Why are my divine senses so badly suppressed?"
Chen Chen sat up straight and rubbed his forehead. At this moment, he realized that the spiritual energy in his body had long been depleted. The desert was likewise devoid of spiritual energy. Even though he had an innate spiritual body, his spiritual energy couldn't be replenished.
Besides, there seemed to be a strange power that suppressed his divine senses..
"I'm not going to ascend to the lower realm, am I?"
Chen Chen stood up and sighed in his heart.
He imagined that there would definitely be a few fairies to guide him and give him an official position or something after he ascended to the upper realm. However, he ended up in this shitty place where there weren't any lives at all.
He subconsciously touched his inner pocket, only to realize that there were no storage rings but a bunch of sand.
Chen Chen took a deep breath and got a whiff of a scent that he hadn't smelled in a long time.
The scent was that of poverty. Although it was bitter, one will never be able to understand the preciousness of wealth unless they have had a taste of poverty before.
Fortunately, his personal treasure, the Omni Divine Blade was still in his body.
"Since I'm here, I'll make do. I can't possibly fly up to a withered world where there is no one, right?"
Chen Chen comforted himself, shook off the sand on his body, and then chose a random direction to run in.
There was no aura, Spirit Stones, or any spiritual objects. Even he, as a peak Void Refinement realm cultivator, would have to travel on his feet.
However, at the Essence Soul realm, he would be able to run quickly. Each step he took would allow him to travel a few thousand meters, so it wasn't a problem for him to travel 5,000 kilometers a day.
...
After running wildly for most of the day, the surrounding scenery did not change the slightest. Chen Chen closed his eyes and restrained his divine senses.
Otherwise, he would easily go insane while watching the unchanging desert.
As soon as Chen Chen closed his eyes, he began to miss his friends and family in the mortal world.
The moment of distraction made the feeling of uneasiness in the mind vanish gradually while time passed faster and faster.
Some time passed and Chen Chen's heart gradually turned numb.
At this moment, a slight breezy sound rang in his ears.
Hearing the sound of the wind, Chen Chen suddenly opened his eyes, and a look of exhilaration appeared on his face.
He never thought there would be birds in this kind of place!
Without hesitation, he stepped hard into the sandy ground under his feet.
A large pile of sand and stones rose in the air. Like an eagle, Chen Chen focused his eyes on the largest piece of sandstone and kicked it.
Boom!
With a muffled thud, the sandstone was kicked into pieces that started flying towards the sky at an amazing speed.
"Ah!"
A miserable scream came from the sky, and a huge shadow fell straight down.
Chen Chen smiled. Even though he couldn't use his spiritual power now, a demonic beast that had just stepped into the Nascent Soul realm was no match for him.
That was the strength of powerhouses!
Of course, he was even happier that the realm he had ascended to was not some deserted and uninhabited place.
Since there were demonic beasts that could fly, it meant that there were habitable environments in other parts of this realm that would allow demonic beasts to cultivate.
Seeing the shadow in the sky falling straight towards him, Chen Chen subconsciously wanted to dodge, but in the next moment, his expression suddenly changed as he sensed that something was wrong...
The demonic beast seemed to be carrying someone on his back!
With a flash of inspiration, he didn't dodge, and the massive demonic beast landed on his head.
"Ah!"
There were two muffled grunts. One was real, but the other from Chen Chen was even more real.
"Who is it!?!"
Amidst the flying sand, a crisp voice filled the air. Next, a young girl dressed in a yellow shirt who seemed to have blended in with the desert appeared in front of Chen Chen.
Chen Chen had a look of misery on his face when he saw the young girl. He seemed to have been smashed hard against the ground.
The young girl in yellow covered her mouth in shock and subconsciously tried to escape on the big bird-type demonic beast beside her. However, it was already unconscious, and its eyes were out of focus.
"Ash, what's wrong with you?"
The young girl in yellow was in a great hurry and ran over to shake the demonic beast a few times, but it didn't react.
In desperation, she took out a bottle of elixirs and poured out two of them to feed the demonic beast.
She had been sleeping on the demonic beast's back just now, so she had no idea what happened at all. Otherwise, she wouldn't have fallen from the sky too.
Looking at the young man whose clothes were all messy, she was a little terrified because her demonic beast, Ash had suddenly passed out and even hit someone.
'What if the other party wants me to compensate? I can't afford to pay, would I have to sell my body?'
...
Looking at the expression of the young girl in yellow, Chen Chen fell silent.
She was obviously still young and inexperienced. Otherwise, she wouldn't have been unable to cope after such an accident.
After pondering for a while, he extended his hand and said with difficulty, "Girl... you give me an elixir, so I won't hold it against you."
"Okay... okay..."
The young lady in yellow answered softly before carefully tossing that elixir bottle to Chen Chen.
Chen Chen opened it and saw that there was an ordinary Qi Replenishment Elixir in it.
Such an elixir was suitable for Core Formation realm cultivators... Although he knew about such an elixir, he had never taken it in his life.
It was too low-end.
However, it wasn't the time to be particular about this. After sighing softly, he swallowed the elixir again.
Right on the spot... he recovered 0.01% of his spiritual energy.
'Well, it's better than nothing.'
Chen Chen sat up helplessly. The person he tried to scam was a penniless person, so he decided that it wasn't necessary to continue pretending.
"Ahem, girl, when flying in such places, it is better to pick a healthy demonic beast. A demonic beast like this is too dangerous. You have to remember that safety comes first. An unhealthy demonic beast will cause huge misery."
The young girl in yellow lowered her head after hearing this. She said with some embarrassment, "Ash is the last Sand Eagle I have... It's usually quite healthy."
Chen Chen looked at the large gray-feathered, bird-like demonic beast and nodded.
'This demonic beast is called a Sand Eagle... I see.'
"Girl, since your demonic beast is unconscious, what are you going to do next?"
With a look of bewilderment, the young girl muttered, "Of course I'm going to wait for Ash to regain his consciousness. What else can I do?"
Hearing this, the Core Formation realm sensed her cultivation level...It was at the late-stage of the Core Formation realm, which was even worse than the demonic beast on the ground.
It was indeed hard for cultivators of such a low cultivation level to be here. He reckoned that she was probably compelled by her circumstances.
Since the other party was a young girl who was not experienced enough, he decided to be straightforward with her.
"Girl, do you know how far it is from the exit of the desert?"
The young girl in yellow didn't think much about it and merely calculated the time before answering, "Ash should be able to fly out on another day. There should be a distance of about 15,000 kilometers."
Chen Chen secretly calculated and realized that he would need about two days to cover that distance by foot.
As for the spiritual energy that he had just replenished, it was completely negligible.
While thinking about it, Chen Chen looked at the sand sculpture on the ground and said somewhat embarrassingly, "Girl, this demonic beast has an ailing body, but at least it has a cultivation level of the Nascent Soul realm. Why don't we roast it and eat it to replenish some spiritual energy? Maybe we'll be able to fly out of this desert."
Hearing this, the young girl in yellow hurriedly grabbed the Sand Eagle on the ground with horror in her eyes. She exclaimed anxiously, "No, the flesh of Sand Eagles doesn't taste good!"
Seeing this, Chen Chen had no choice but to put off the idea of eating that demonic beast.
It wasn't easy to see humans and demons getting along harmoniously with each other so he thought that he shouldn't ruin it.
As for the Sand Eagle, he did not strike it with the intentions to kill it. Thus the injuries it sustained weren't serious. Otherwise, he would have used the Omni Divine Blade instead of the sandstones.
"It's a pity I lost my storage ring, otherwise I wouldn't be lacking this meager amount of spiritual energy."
Chen Chen sighed.
Before ascending, he had given away the vast majority of his assets but he kept a small stash for himself. Yet, it was now gone too…
"Girl, what's your name? Where are you from?"
Since he decided to wait for the demonic beast to wake up, Chen Chen stopped being impatient and begun chatting with the young girl in yellow. At the same time, he tried to find out more about this so-called upper realm.
At the same time, he took out half of the spiritual energy that he had just recovered and used it to shake the dust and sand off his body.
Soon, his handsome and dashing appearance was fully revealed.
Although the young girl in yellow remained vigilant, she nevertheless answered, "My name is Huang Li and I'm from Sandstorm City. How about you, Fellow Daoist?"
"I'm Chen Chen, a cultivator from Wufeng City."
Chen Chen blurted.
Huang Li nodded. Although she had never heard of Wufeng City before, she didn't have any suspicions.
The vast desert was hundreds of thousands of miles long and shockingly large. There were too many cities around so it was normal that she had not heard of it.
After some small talk.
Chen Chen generally understood the girl's situation.
She was from a declining family in Sandstorm City, which was best at nurturing Sand Eagles.
The Sand Eagle was one of the few demonic beasts that could cross the vast desert and sea.
Huang Li's family started building their empire by trading Sand Eagles with the people in the cities across the desert, but later on, they received a large order but there was a hiccup and many members of the family and Sand Eagles vanished in the vast desert, resulting in the decline of the family.
Chen Chen also learned that the mainstream cultivators in this upper world were native cultivators. Ascended cultivators like him were very rare.
Void Refinement realm cultivators were considered experts in this realm and the girl in front of him had never met any before.
The most impressive person she knew was her grandfather, who was an Essence Soul realm cultivator.
"Ah, my grandfather is a Essence Soul realm expert, how could he be lost in this desert? He must have met a powerful enemy halfway, or maybe, he has met the True Spirit Heavenly Scorpion of the vast desert."
Huang Li began sobbing as she spoke.
If her family hadn't fallen, she would have never dared to traverse the dessert, especially since she was just a cultivator of the Core Formation realm.
Now, Ash, her greatest reliance, was still unconscious. The thought of it made her even more miserable.
"By the way... Fellow Daoist, how did you enter this great desert alone without any supplies?"
Huang Li looked at Chen Chen and asked, in a bid to get some comfort from him.
Chen Chen thought about it and said bitterly, "I was assassinated by a friend. Ah, let's not mention this."
Hearing this, Chen Chen thought about some tragic stories about betrayal in the human race and immediately felt much better.
Although he was good-looking, his situation wasn't any better than hers!
If she hadn't met him, he might have died in the vast desert!
With this in mind, she took the initiative to comfort, "Fellow Daoist, don't be too sad, there are no hurdles in life that you can't overcome..."
Before she finished speaking, the Sand Eagle next to her suddenly moved, and then slowly opened its eyes.
...
A few moments later...
Chen Chen also sat on the back of the Sand Eagle. Although it looked feeble, it flew rather quickly and the more amazing thing was that although it didn't have any divine senses, it could easily identify its direction in the desert. That was much stronger than the parrot he once rode.
Looking at Huang Li, who had completely let her guard down, Chen Chen smiled indifferently.
The first impression that others would form about someone is not based on their cultivation level but their appearance. Only with a good appearance, can they pass through all realms.
He dare be that if he had a hideous appearance and scars all over his face, Huang Li probably wouldn't have brought him away even if he forced her to.
He realized that he couldn't blame some rugged people for having boorish means. In fact, it's because the world is prejudiced against them, and over time, they develope a style of acting that matches their appearance.
"Fellow Daoist, what level of cultivation have you reached? To be honest, I thought you were going to die after being smashed because we're the same age but I didn't expect that you would recover as usual now."
Huang Li asked casually while smoothing Ash's hair.
"I'm at the peak of the Void Refinement realm," Chen Chen casually replied.
Huang Li covered her mouth and giggled. "Hehe, in that case, you should call me Senior. I'm actually an immortal in this world, I can easily kill ten cows with one punch."
Chen Chen smiled without saying anything.
"Chen Chen, do you have any relatives in the world, or a force to which you belong?"
Huang Li continued to ask.
"No." Chen Chen replied despondently.
At this moment, he was truly alone in this world. If he couldn't return in the future or his family were to be unable to ascend to this realm, it would be as good as dying.
Hearing this answer, Huang Li immediately became interested. She said happily, "How about you join our family? We may have declined but we still have some assets in Sandstorm City and I've also brought a lot of..."
At this point, Huang Li immediately stopped. Only then did she realize that she had revealed too much to Chen Chen whom she had only met for about two hours, especially the fact that she didn't bring a large amount of goods.
Huang Li stuck her tongue out,in hopes that Chen Chen wouldn't be able to guess what she wanted to say next. At the same time, she subconsciously hugged Ash tighter.
Although Ash was usually responsible for transport and was now sick, it was still stronger than Huang Li since its cultivation level was at the Nascent Soul realm after all.
Chen Chen looked at Huang Li's back and shook his head slightly.
'This girl has probably been living a sheltered life since she was a child. Otherwise, she wouldn't have revealed her background to strangers, especially in such a shabby and remote place.'
Fortunately, she had met a decent gentleman like Chen Chen. If she were to meet a crook, her outcome would have been worse.
However... it's difficult to even meet a person in such a desert.
...
Before they knew it, Ash had already flown for an entire day and green gradually began to appear within his line of sight.
Chen Chen had also sensed a trace of spiritual energy between heaven and earth.
Afterwards, the green intensified and the spiritual energy became denser and denser. However,it was far from reaching his needs.
Soon, a large city enveloped by a defense formation entered the scope of his divine senses.
This big city was yellow in color and it seemed to have been built from sandstones of the desert. It appeared rather desolate against the surrounding environment and it should have dated back to a long time ago.
"Sandstorm City! We're here!"
Huang Li pointed at the Sandstorm City and exclaimed loudly while Ash let out a roar of joy before landing slowly in front of the city.
There were two guards standing in front of the city, and they both smiled heartily when they saw Ash and Huang Li, but after seeing Chen Chen, their expressions became wary.
"Sirs, I picked him up from the Great Desert and he shouldn't be a crook. Do some good and let him into the city. He has now joined our Sand Eagle Clan and is a cultivator of our clan!"
Huang Li pleaded after seeing the look of the two guards.
Seeing that Chen Chen was young, the guards hesitated for a moment before nodding and opening the formation passage.
Chen Chen felt dejected when he saw the guards.
One was a human, the other was a standard demon.
In the midst of his divine sense investigation, there was a large number of various other races in the Sandstorm City and he reckoned that less than 10% of them were humans.
However, regardless of race, none of them had the intention to fight as soon as they met. It seemed that they had gotten used to this environment.
'If the mortal world can be like this, there wouldn't be a need for war.'
Chen Chen said in his heart, and then followed Huang Li and the Sand Eagle, Ash, to Sandstorm City.
After ascension, he was now officially in contact with this world.