Eternal Life: I Can Control My Essence Qi-Chapter 77: Northbound Observations

In the sky a thousand feet high, the Gang Feng roared.

Zhang Yao steered the Flying Sword, transforming into a streak of yellow light streaking across the firmament.

"The view from this height is truly magnificent beyond words..."

Zhang Yao stood on the Flying Sword with his hands behind his back, overlooking the vast mountains and rivers below, feeling carefree and joyful.

With cultivation at the Middle stage Qi Refining, maneuvering a Low grade Magical Artifact Flying Sword, the speed is just a few dozen feet in an instant, not much different from employing the Divine Movement Skill on the ground.

But this feeling of flying through the vast sky, free and unfettered, is something ground travel cannot compare to, making it quite intoxicating.

"Boom!"

After flying several hundred miles in one go, Zhang Yao lowered his Flying Sword Escape Light, landing in a deep mountain.

His magical power isn’t particularly strong; he can only fly this far in one go and is reluctant to refine Spirit Stones, thus can only meditate and refine qi to slowly replenish his magical power.

On average in a day, he can fly more than a thousand miles.

However, this is straight-line distance, without considering the obstructions of mountains and rivers, flying northwards, he arrived at the border of Lu Kingdom in three days.

"The Desolate Zone is approaching..."

As he neared the border, Zhang Yao’s expression carried a hint of solemnity.

From high in the air, he could see a hundred miles away, at the horizon’s edge, a touch of deadening yellowish-brown.

After flying one hundred miles:

Seen, no more green mountains and waters, open fields, and hills, only an endless, flat, barren earth and stone surface, devoid of a single blade of grass or tree.

A vast yellow-brown land, bearing an aura of desolation and dead stillness, as if abruptly breaking into an unfamiliar world.

This is the Desolate Zone dividing national borders.

"This thing isn’t naturally occurring; it’s baffling how it came to be..."

Zhang Yao flew in in the high sky, a trace of contemplation in his eyes.

Over a hundred years ago, while traversing the Nineteen Provinces in search of traces of the Immortal Family, he came to the border but dared not cross, hence remained spinning within Lu Kingdom.

In the records handed down from the Nineteen Provinces, there is documentation about foreign lands, but hardly any records of trade or marriage, only occasional grandmasters attempting to cross over, and all with travelogues marking foreign customs as not much different from the Nineteen Provinces.

Later, he learned from records in Lunan that the border line separating the "Hundred Countries of Central Plains" is called the "Desolate Zone."

These Desolate Zones, narrow as a few hundred miles, wide as thousands, where life is extinct, spiritual energy depleted, nearly impassable for mortals, and cultivators must be exceedingly cautious.

"The Nineteen Provinces territory of Lu Kingdom has existed since ancient times, no matter how many times dynasties have changed, it has never increased, nor decreased."

"From this it is clear, the configuration of the Hundred Countries of Central Plains has formed at least several thousand to tens of thousands of years ago, quite possibly connected with the rumored Ancient Great Destruction..."

As Zhang Yao thought of this, he sensed his condition with a frown.

The depletion of spiritual energy in the Desolate Zone is much thinner than in Lu Kingdom; he can barely absorb any outside Spiritual Qi and must rely solely on his magical power.

This being the case, the magical power will be depleted very quickly during flying without supplement, meaning he must refine the treasured Spirit Stones.

"Ah, still poor after all."

Zhang Yao revealed a trace of pained expression, but had no choice but to take out a Spirit Stone, holding it in his palm, refining and absorbing as he flew.

One cannot stay in the Desolate Zone for long, or risk spiritual energy dispersion and magical power reversal; he rather spends two more Spirit Stones than delays.

"No wonder outsider cultivators relocating to Lu Kingdom are a rarity once a century."

"Crossing the Desolate Zone is this difficult, who would venture into a barren land for no reason?"

He recalled Zhao He and Jiang Rou back then.

The two had no Spirit Stones, therefore pre-stored large amounts of Jade Dew and Fasting Pills, only relying on this supply of spiritual energy to embark north towards Wei Kingdom.

If utterly destitute without assets, even lacking the qualification to leave Lu Kingdom, they’ll be trapped in the shallows.

Several hours later, having spent most of a Spirit Stone’s spiritual energy, Zhang Yao finally flew out of the Desolate Zone and saw green waters and mountains again.

"Buzz!"

At the moment of crossing the Desolate Zone, his body’s magical power flowed abundantly, devouring the surrounding spiritual energy greedily.

Zhang Yao paused his Escape Light, exhaled deeply, his expression considerably eased and put away the Spirit Stone.

"Truly feels like returning to the human world..."

He turned to glance at the Desolate Zone behind him and then at the green mountain forest ahead, involuntarily sighing.

"By the time I reach Wei Kingdom, I’ll probably need to consume at least three to four Spirit Stones."

Hundred Countries of Central Plains is a figurative term; in reality, there are far more than a hundred nations, truly vast.

The distance from Wei Kingdom to Lu Kingdom is over ten thousand miles, requiring crossing three Desolate Zones to arrive.

This is within the Nineteen Provinces of Lu Kingdom, the closest and well-known great cultivation country.

"Boom!"

Zhang Yao lowered his Flying Sword Escape Light, landed on the mountaintop, began sitting cross-legged, absorbing spiritual energy to replenish his magical power.

During this refining session, he keenly noticed that the spiritual energy of this unfamiliar nation is conspicuously more abundant than Lu Kingdom.

"Looks like the cultivation realm rumors are true."

"The closer to the central region of Hundred Countries of Central Plains, the more abundant the spiritual energy, like all rivers converging."

Zhang Yao upon realization, his mood lifted.

......

Half a month later.

The southern border of Wei Kingdom.

"Boom!"

A streak of yellow light tore through the sky, traversing the Desolate Zone, gently landing in a valley.

Zhang Yao put away the Flying Sword, took a deep breath, tried to absorb spiritual energy for refining, immediately feeling a touch of surprise.

The surrounding spiritual energy is as rich as two to three times that of Lu Kingdom!

"Though still not as abundant as Celestial Capital Mountain Spirit Vein, this is in a regular region."

"No wonder Lu Kingdom’s cultivators, once they break through the Middle stage Qi Refining, possessing self-preservation power, rush to Wei Kingdom; the disparity in spiritual energy environments is too vast!"

"Even indulging in luxury and comfort, the environment abundant in spiritual energy is obviously much more pleasant..."

Zhang Yao immediately sat cross-legged, meditating and refining qi, striving to restore magical power swiftly.

Several hours later.

Zhang Yao, rejuvenated, with magical power fully restored, retrieved the Jade Scroll left by Lunan, infusing magical power into it.

The content of the Jade Scroll, over the years he had memorized it by heart, but to avoid errors in memory, he still wants to cross-check.

"Hmm... This should be one of the southern provinces of Wei Kingdom."

"At least over five thousand miles from Qingyunfang City in the Three Rivers Valley..."

Zhang Yao examined the map comparison, then put away the Jade Scroll.

Wei Kingdom’s territory is far more extensive than Lu Kingdom, the national name has been passed down for thousands of years, the imperial family has changed many times, but the underground Spirit Vein remains unchanged.

Due to the frequent entry of Loose Cultivators from Lu Kingdom to Wei Kingdom, occasionally some return, thus the cultivation realm of Lu Kingdom is not lacking in basic intelligence regarding Wei Kingdom.

Qingyunfang City is Wei Kingdom’s largest marketplace, established on a small Spirit Vein, a center for numerous cultivators to trade and exchange with each other.

"First take a turn around the marketplace, if there’s little difference from the intelligence, then find a way to join."

Zhang Yao soon formulated his next step.

With his current cultivation, regardless of which faction he joins, he can only be a peripheral member, in the event of a war, just cannon fodder.

Relatively speaking, marketplace management is more relaxed, information more accessible, truly if something happened, one can receive the news early and escape.

Therefore, joining Qingyunfang City is his preferred goal.