Cultivation Begins From The Desert-Chapter 174 - 172: Six-winged Flying Centipede [Seeking Subscription]
Chapter 174: Chapter 172: Six-winged Flying Centipede [Seeking Subscription]
The merchant caravan in the Cultivation Realm and the one in the mundane world are two completely different concepts.
The merchant caravan of the Divine Weapon Workshop only had three beast vehicles, but the amount of goods these three beast vehicles could transport was something that even three hundred beast vehicles in the mundane world couldn’t match.
Each of these three beast vehicles was a kind of box-type carriage, with a carriage length of four zhang, width of about one zhang, and height of one zhang and two chi. The entire carriage was a special space container jointly refined by Tier Five Artificers and Tier Five Array Masters, with an internal space as vast as a thousand zhang! freeweɓnøvel~com
Moreover, the defensive capability of this kind of carriage was extremely strong. Without the key token to open the carriage, even a typical Golden Core Stage Cultivator would have to spend half a day painstakingly to break it open.
The cost of refining such a carriage was over a hundred thousand Spirit Stones.
As the saying goes, a good horse needs a good saddle.
A good carriage naturally needs to be paired with good spirit beasts to pull it.
The spirit beasts pulling such a special goods vehicle were the Tier Three High-Grade Demon Beasts, the "Six-winged Flying Centipedes."
The "Six-winged Flying Centipede" of Tier Three High Grade had a body length of nearly twenty zhang, with three pairs of black wings each four to five zhang long, resembling enlarged versions of dragonfly wings. This kind of demon beast had no other merits except that it could fly, endure beatings, and was obedient.
The ability to fly meant that the "Six-winged Flying Centipede" could fly for an entire day even with a cargo-filled carriage before needing to land for rest.
Enduring beatings meant that its body shell was invulnerable to blades and weapons, impervious to water and fire, and not easily killed.
Being obedient meant that as a low-intelligence insect demon beast (I know centipedes are arthropods), after being reared and trained from a young age by a beast tamer, it would only listen to the beast tamer. Even if Tier Four Demon Beasts or Tier Five Demon Beasts tried to block its path, they would certainly not be affected by the aura of high-tier demon beasts.
When Zhouyang first saw the three "Six-winged Flying Centipedes" each bearing a carriage, he was inwardly filled with shock.
Compared to the Divine Weapon Workshop, which used Tier Three High-Grade Demon Beasts like the "Six-winged Flying Centipede" as cart-pulling beasts, the Zhou Family, which was still using Tier One High-Grade Demon Beasts like the Shatuo Beasts for cargo transport, was truly like a student among students.
The gap between the two was as vast as the divide between a train in the industrial era and an ox cart in the feudal era!
"Alright, everyone board the back of the Flying Centipedes first. We will depart shortly."
While Zhouyang was still in awe, observing those three "Six-winged Flying Centipedes" on the ground, Hua Yuerong and several other cultivators from the Divine Weapon Workshop leaped onto the backs of the spirit beasts, beckoning the guard cultivators to join them.
The back of the "Six-winged Flying Centipede" was broad, more than one zhang wide, spacious enough to place a mahjong table without crowding.
When Zhouyang and the unfamiliar cultivators climbed onto the creatures’ backs, those three "Six-winged Flying Centipedes," busy tearing into pieces of demon beast meat, remained relatively calm, only twisting slightly before continuing to eat.
The only exception seemed to be Jia Yunzhen. When he got close, the three "Six-winged Flying Centipedes" grew slightly restless, evidently frightened by the blood evil qi accumulated from the countless demon beasts he had slaughtered, even though he had very little of it remaining at the moment.
"Forget it, I won’t get on. Otherwise, these creatures might not even dare to take the skies!"
Jia Yunzhen shook his head, seemingly expecting this situation to arise, and promptly ceased his approach.
Sure enough, as soon as he moved away, the three demon beasts returned to normal.
By the time the three beasts had finished eating, it was already nightfall.
Once the three demon beasts were sated, the beast tamers from the Divine Weapon Workshop simply blew a whistle, and the three "Six-winged Flying Centipedes," their bodies tautened, flapped their six wings vigorously, taking flight.
Why did the merchant caravan of the Divine Weapon Workshop choose to depart the city at night?
Because the vast majority of middle-to-low-tier avian demon beasts do not have good vision at night.
When the caravan leaves the city at night, the avian demon beasts outside the city would hesitate to take flight in pursuit.
Without those avian demon beasts chasing and entangling them, it wouldn’t be easy for just the few flying demon beasts capable of night flight and the land demon beasts without flying abilities to intercept this powerful human merchant caravan.
As for the Tier Five and Tier Four Demon Beasts, they dared not act lightly, as once they launched a large-scale pursuit of the caravan departing the city, cultivators like Ren Tianxing and other Golden Core and Purple Mansion Cultivators in the city would seize the opportunity to slaughter the remaining Tier Three Demon Beasts outside the city.
However, merely watching a human merchant caravan swagger out of the city clearly did not align with the demon beasts’ purpose of besieging the city.
Thus, as soon as the three "Six-winged Flying Centipedes" flew out of Zhenyue Immortal City, two Tier Four Demon Beasts accompanied by some flying demon beasts capable of night flight gave chase.
The number of Demon Beasts ultimately surpasses that of human cultivators. Therefore, the temporary departure of the two Tier Four Demon Beasts would not yet cause an imbalance in high-tier power between the two sides.
Thus, Ren Tianxing and other high-tier cultivators within Zhenyue Immortal City merely observed the scene without moving lightly, only releasing their auras to threaten the high-tier Demon Beasts outside the city, warning them not to act rashly.
"I’ll handle the two Tier Four Demon Beasts. You all shouldn’t get entangled with these beasts. Prioritize escorting the convoy away from the Immortal City!"
As the chief appointed guardian by the Divine Weapon Workshop, Jia Yunzhen unceremoniously issued orders to Zhouyang and the other escorting cultivators, and then faced the pursuing two Tier Four Demon Beasts alone.
Zhouyang gazed from afar at Jia Yunzhen’s silhouette, pondered briefly, and dared not employ the "Great Derivation Sword Technique," opting to attack the incoming Demon Beasts using the original Sword Technique he cultivated before.
With years of cultivating the "Great Derivation Sword Technique," his Sword Control Skill had improved significantly. Even without deploying those killing moves from the Sword Array, the destructive power generated by several flying swords was not inferior to that of a common Late-Stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator.
During the battle, Zhouyang also divided his attention to observe others’ tactics against the enemy, particularly focusing on the two Ninth-Layer Foundation Establishment cultivators among the ten guardian cultivators.
Then he realized, indeed, the power difference between these Ninth-Layer Foundation Establishment cultivators and ordinary Late-Stage Foundation Establishment cultivators was substantial.
Having reached the Ninth Layer of Foundation Establishment, without opening the Purple Mansion, there is no further advancement in cultivation, so Ninth-Layer Foundation Establishment cultivators usually spend their cultivation time learning various Tier Three spells to enhance their Magical Combat capabilities.
In the face of sudden attacks from Demon Beasts, both Zhouyang and the majority of Late-Stage Foundation Establishment cultivators relied on magical artifacts for defense, but the two Ninth-Layer Foundation Establishment cultivators not only released a defensive spiritual artifact to protect themselves but also skillfully cast various spells, unleashing one adept Tier Three spell after another against those Demon Beasts.
Naturally, casting spells isn’t as convenient as using magical artifacts, but without activating the inherently attached Divine Techniques, the power of magical artifacts cannot compare with spells of the same tier.
When attacking with magical artifacts, Zhouyang and others might need to strike more than a dozen times to severely injure a Tier Three Flying Demon Beast, forcing it to land and retreat from the battle.
In contrast, for the two Ninth-Layer Foundation Establishment cultivators casting spells, a single Tier Three Middle Grade spell could kill or severely wound a Tier Three Lower Grade Demon Beast with one blow.
Observing this, Zhouyang was secretly amazed and couldn’t help but compare himself with the two Ninth-Layer Foundation Establishment cultivators.
He discovered that if he were to duel with a Ninth-Layer Foundation Establishment cultivator without using the "Godslaying Needle," even with two Qianyang Celestial Swords in hand, the outcome would likely be a draw.
However, if he used the "Godslaying Needle," with his strong Divine Sense formed after absorbing part of Blood Nether’s Divine Soul power, even a Ninth-Layer Foundation Establishment cultivator would lose consciousness for several breaths after taking a hit, making the victory incontestable.
This result greatly satisfied Zhouyang.
Up till now, he had cultivated for just sixty years. Most Foundation Establishment cultivators only begin their Foundation Establishment at this age, yet he was already at the Fifth-Layer of Foundation Establishment.
To possess such cultivation at this age, and to have the strength to defeat Ninth-Layer Foundation Establishment cultivators at this stage, what was there to be dissatisfied about?
In this sortie from the city battle, apart from the two Ninth-Layer Foundation Establishment cultivators, the cultivator who caught Zhouyang’s attention the most was Hua Yuerong, an Inner Sect disciple of the Valley of Ten Thousand Flowers.
Hua Yuerong’s cultivation was at the Sixth-Layer of Foundation Establishment, similar to Dong Jianping, but she hailed from the prestigious major sect Valley of Ten Thousand Flowers and worked as a shopkeeper at Divine Weapon Workshop, so her strength naturally surpassed Dong Jianping’s.
After first interacting with Hua Yuerong, Zhouyang specifically noticed Valley of Ten Thousand Flowers sect. He knew this sect’s cultivation technique and Divine Techniques were mainly flower-related, and he had wondered what flower-related Divine Techniques could possibly be used in combat.
Seeing Hua Yuerong in action now, he realized the extent of his ignorance.
Although Hua Yuerong’s speed and number of kills couldn’t match those of the Ninth-Layer Foundation Establishment cultivators, her style of killing was, indeed, delightful.
If one could endure the scene where a Demon Beast suddenly sprouts a fresh, blood-red carnivorous giant flower from its head as it flies, draining its essence blood, then such scenes could be considered delightful.
Hua Yuerong possessed various plant seeds, which, under the urging of Valley of Ten Thousand Flowers’ cultivation techniques and Divine Techniques, could quickly grow into flowers with diverse functions with the nourishment of magical power.
There were the "Mind-Bending Flower," dissipating hallucination scents to lure Tier Three Demon Beasts into dreams, the "Iron Leaf Chrysanthemum," whose petals could breach Tier Three Demon Beasts’ defense, and the "Umbrella Immortal Sunflower," with petals that open to form a flower umbrella defending against Tier Three spell attacks.
Cultivators from Valley of Ten Thousand Flowers could always accomplish what other spells and Divine Techniques could do, but in the form of "flowers."
Zhouyang didn’t know if this was some compulsion but had to admit that the sect founder of Valley of Ten Thousand Flowers was indeed a predecessor with an artistic flair.
Unbeknownst to Zhouyang, as he escorted Divine Weapon Workshop’s convoy out of Zhenyue Immortal City, a white-haired elder with crane hair and child-like features stood atop the city wall of a secondary peak, muttering in the direction of Zhouyang’s departure: "Boy, do you think in association with Divine Weapon Workshop I can’t deal with you? The Foundation Establishment Pill you took from me, the Sword Technique from Old Scoundrel Jia, even the Earth Dragon Worm relics left in your Storage Bag—all belong to me!"
Concluding his self-talk, the elder moved in an instant, following Zhouyang out of the city wall, also leaving Zhenyue Immortal City.
Upon witnessing this, a Deputy City Lord of Zhenyue Immortal City remained expressionless without any reaction. This prompted fellow Purple Mansion cultivators and Foundation Establishment cultivators, aware of someone departing, to keep silent—no one dared to ask more.
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