Unlimited employment

Chapter 164, Section 163: [The Alchemy Furnace and the Qin Warriors]

The crimson sun sank halfway below the horizon, and the orange sunset dyed the clouds on the horizon red, as dusk settled over the desolate Gobi Desert.

Wow!
A wooden bucket fell to the bottom of the well, creating ripples in the sunlight-reflecting water.

Chen Sheng turned the well wheel and lifted a bucket of slightly murky, discolored well water. After thinking for a moment, he finally poured the water back into the well.

He then used his icy breath to condense the moisture in the air into an ice ball the size of an egg, held it in his mouth, and slowly melted it with his blood and qi, moisturizing his dry throat.

The alchemy furnaces scattered across the Qin Dynasty land have almost drained the surface veins of this fruit. Who knows what strange components might be contained in the water veins of this desolate land?

The so-called clean water source that this small tribe relies on for survival is actually undrinkable.

However, as a tribe living at the very bottom of the wasteland, they were already grateful to have water to drink, so they couldn't afford to worry about anything else.

On ordinary days, Chen Sheng's tribe would carry water from the well and plant a grove of jujube trees nearby as their staple food, supplemented by catching scorpions, lizards, spiders and other small insects in the Gobi Desert as a side dish. Occasionally, they would also rob a few passersby, using every means they could think of to survive.

Food shortages, raging sandstorms in the Gobi Desert, hordes of monsters, raids by large tribes, and the increasingly severe dragonification disease that worsens with age will take turns ravaging their lives, ultimately leading to a miserable death, with no one able to die a peaceful end.

In the hundreds of years since the Dragon Blood Apocalypse, the common people living in this fruit have become accustomed to their current lives.

But Chen Sheng was not used to it.

He had already gone inside to check, and the woman's child had long been killed by a fleeing werewolf.

At this moment, in the entire tribe bathed in the afterglow of the setting sun, there was only the crackling sound of sand hitting the roof, and he was the only living person there.

It was not a good idea for Chen Sheng to live alone in an empty tribe.

After all, his purpose in this reincarnation was to find a way to access and entrust himself with the Jambudvipa Fruit, and he couldn't afford to waste so much time on mere survival.

"The shell, pulp and pit of the Jambyl fruit are one piece."

Judging from the First Emperor's tyrannical rule of insisting on building alchemy furnaces across the country to extract the earth's veins after conquering the six kingdoms, this person is very likely to have mastered the secret techniques related to the kernel of the Jambudvipa fruit. This clue is extremely clear.

It seems that once they become powerful enough, they'll have to resort to the old path of rebellion.

As for the initial goal of reincarnation, it is still to improve one's cultivation level as soon as possible.

After the Yama-Fu insect transforms into a Yama-Fu adult insect, it can bring its cultivation of the Dao of Fate back with it upon reincarnation. Coincidentally, this is a world where the Dao of Fate is flourishing, so this time, cultivation will focus on the Dao of Fate.

However, this tribe isn't a suitable place for early-stage reincarnation development. I should go check out Yangcheng County first.

With a heavy heart, Chen Sheng leaned against the pillar of the pavilion built over the well, sucking on an ice cube as he watched the sun slowly set.

Time passed slowly, and half an hour after he had slaughtered all the members of the Dragon Wolf tribe, the nine talents of the [Martial Saint] class were finally fully activated.

This transformed him into a powerful being who possessed only the physique of a Martial Saint, but no true qi, and who also possessed two supernatural abilities.

Admittedly, compared to a normal fourth-level cultivator of the Dao of Fate, possessing supernatural powers at the second or third level does not allow them to fully unleash their power.

However, in battles at the second or third tier, supernatural powers can still create a decisive effect.

Chen Sheng was very satisfied with the two supernatural abilities he had unexpectedly acquired.

Moreover, unlike others whose bloodline inheritance awakens supernatural powers that are limited to one type, the "Ten Thousand Dragons Scripture" he cultivates is known for its complex and diverse methods.

After he begins to cultivate this skill, he only needs to continuously fuse new dragon demon bloodlines to create a body with the power of ten thousand dragons.

The requirements for cultivating this skill are also a reason why he must leave this place.

Night had completely fallen.

In the gray sky where no stars could be seen, beautiful fluorescent lights began to appear at some unknown time, spreading across the entire firmament and looking like a celestial river floating in the sky.

Those were the dregs from the alchemy furnace, which had accumulated over hundreds of years, never touching the ground, and had severely polluted the atmosphere surrounding the fruit.

After observing the spectacular sights in the sky for a while, Chen Sheng sat down cross-legged in the tribe and meditated to circulate his qi and blood throughout the night.

The next morning, they headed towards the desert to the east of the tribe with a clear goal in mind.

Chen Sheng, who currently lacks true qi, cannot fly. Before embarking on his long journey, he needs to first integrate a suitable flying ability.

……

On the desolate Gobi Desert, a huge, smooth keel lies half-buried in the soil.

This could be a dragon corpse that fell from the sky back then, or it could be a powerful figure who died here during the wars between various countries over the past few centuries.

The long passage of time and the sandstorms have buried all its information.

Following his predecessor's memories, Chen Sheng stood on the dragon bone's head and looked into the distance. All he could see was a monotonous, unchanging gray-yellow landscape.

chirp——

A sharp, long cry suddenly rang out from the sky. A large bird with a wingspan of over ten feet abruptly folded its wings, transforming into a black shadow as it swept across the ground. Its two sharp claws pierced deep into the sand, pulling out a three-foot-long giant worm that resembled a centipede.

Then it unfolded its folded wings, made a graceful turn near the ground, and soared into the sky.

Just then, the ground nearby suddenly cracked open, and more than a dozen giant sandworms resembling lampreys burst out of the sand, forming a swarm to bite the predatory birds of prey.

The dense swarm of sandworms, like a well-prepared trap, awaited the prey that had walked right into it.

On this barren land, the roles of predator and prey can change in an instant.

At this critical moment, the giant bird suddenly shrank several times in size, nimbly flapping its wings to dodge the sharp teeth and gaping maws, escaping the sandworms' encirclement by the narrowest of margins.

Let them return empty-handed, falling back into the sand and disappearing.

"This second-tier dragon eagle is indeed quite good. It is large enough, fast enough, and agile enough. It is worthy of being the monster I have chosen."

Although the wasteland of the Great Qin Dynasty appears desolate, it is actually fraught with various dangers. If one can use its flying abilities to travel, it will certainly be able to avoid many troubles.

Chen Sheng, standing on the keel, was about to try to capture the giant eagle when he suddenly heard a sharp whistling sound.

His expression changed slightly, and he saw a scorching streak of light suddenly fly in from a distance, easily piercing and tearing apart the giant eagle that was feeding in the air.

It was shattered into flying feathers, blood, and chunks of flesh, which scattered on the ground and were eagerly devoured by several sandworms that rushed out from the ground. "Holy crap, what the hell is this?"

Chen Sheng turned his head toward the source of the sound with a grim expression. After becoming a [Mixed-Blood Dragonborn], his pupils had quietly become two vertical rings, extremely enlarged, and his gaze fell on something unusual more than twenty miles away.

It was a huge, dark-colored flying ship flying in the sky.

The fuselage was made of molten steel, and the airbags were even larger than the cabin. Inside the open cabin below, dozens of fully armed Qin soldiers were suspended by hooks.

All those soldiers looked exactly the same.

His muscular body, barely six feet tall, was covered in dark dragon scales. He had a pair of bat-like wings folded behind him, and held a cannon barrel resembling a Vulcan cannon in his hand. He was staring at this side with scarlet eyes.

The barrel of one of the soldiers' guns still gleamed with the intense red light that hadn't dissipated after being fired.

Directly below that airship, in the vast Gobi Desert, sat a building that looked somewhat like a blast furnace.

The blast furnace was roughly cylindrical in shape, over a hundred feet high and one or two feet in diameter. The exhaust vents at the top continuously spewed out waste slag that was invisible to the sunlight.

The alchemy furnace, deeply embedded in the earth, seemed to be constantly drawing scorching lava from the depths of the ground. At this moment, large amounts of golden-red magma were flowing freely along the cracks in the earth.

"When was an alchemy furnace built here? When my predecessor came two years ago, there was nothing there at all."

No wonder the imperial court deployed military troops here, and no wonder they were clearing out the nearby monsters.

Chen Sheng quickly looked away and slipped into the dragon skeleton below.

The Qin Warriors are a unique fighting tribe cultivated by the Qin Dynasty. Each warrior will possess second-tier strength upon reaching adulthood. Coupled with the terrifying weapons provided to them by the court, they will be veritable weapons of war when acting in groups.

During the wars between the Qin Dynasty and the six states, when there were enough elite soldiers, these warriors wielding powerful weapons could even surround and kill fourth-tier cultivators of the Life Path.

Therefore, despite Chen Sheng's formidable strength immediately upon reincarnation, he might not necessarily be able to defeat this troop of elite soldiers.

Moreover, even if you can win, it's best not to fight.

Because the Qin warriors had extremely advanced communication methods, they could summon their colleagues within a thousand miles to help them when they were at a disadvantage in battle.

Under heavy siege, no strongman can gain the upper hand.

Due to the unique environment of the wasteland, the Qin Dynasty was a country with extremely chaotic internal governance, where large tribes slaughtered small tribes at will, and no one cared.

However, at the same time, the Qin Dynasty was a country with strict laws. The First Emperor sent an official to every county in the country to manage and guard the local alchemy furnaces and suppress the rebellions of the remnants of the six states.

Normally, officials would not concern themselves with trivial matters in their jurisdictions, but if any unrelated person dared to appear near the alchemy furnace, they would fully experience the military might of the Qin Dynasty.

Chen Sheng had just been reincarnated and was not yet fully developed in strength. He had no desire to clash with the court at this moment, so he immediately turned and fled into the distance.

He ran for more than ten miles through the Gobi Desert along a safe route explored by the tribe, and only breathed a sigh of relief when he found that no one was chasing him.

In fact, Chen Sheng was also very curious about what exactly was being refined in the alchemy furnace of this fruit, but unfortunately, it was not the right time to explore these secrets yet.

The encounter during this operation was completely unexpected. Since the monster he was going to collect the supernatural power from had been killed, he had no choice but to change course and head to another alternative monster's lair.

As for why Chen Sheng was so insistent on integrating the supernatural powers of a flying demon?
That's because if you can't fly, it's extremely difficult to move around on the territory of Qin.

Take the vast Gobi Desert where Yangcheng is located as an example. Hundreds of years ago, this place was a fertile and open plain where people could be fed by planting any kind of crop.

But after the earth's veins were extracted, this place became a desolate wasteland where few crops could grow.

Beyond the territory of human tribes, the relatively hard ground is filled with all sorts of twisted and grotesque dragons and mad monsters, while the soft sand is teeming with sandworms, and fierce demonic birds fly in the sky. In the deepest part of the Gobi Desert, where few people venture, there are also various failed war behemoths bred by the dragon blood experiments of the feudal states in the past.

If Chen Sheng wanted to travel through this wasteland, he would need to be able to fly or have a flying mount.

If he wanted to cultivate his true qi to the point where he could fly for extended periods, it would take him at least several years. Since mounts were difficult to tame, flying-type supernatural abilities became the best option.

……

Bald Mountain, Amorous Cave.

More than a hundred miles southeast of the newly built alchemy furnace, there is a huge rock that protrudes from the ground and is shaped like a mountain peak.

Over countless millennia of natural wind and rain erosion, the rocks have been eroded into a dense series of caves. The howling winds of the Gobi Desert rush into these caves, creating chaotic currents that flow through them.

The name Fengliu Cave comes from this.

In the chaotic Gobi Desert teeming with all sorts of monsters, this cave changes its master every few years. Now, it is ruled by a second-tier dragon-bearded tiger.

Weary from his journey, Chen Sheng arrived at the foot of Bald Mountain. With a light leap, he jumped onto the lowest wind tunnel. After using the dense caves for leverage, he made several more leaps and reached the top of the rocky mountain.

He stepped into the windswept cave, where he frequently encountered the bones of dead people or animals. Among the piles of broken skeletons, he could even see scorpions crawling around.

Braving the fierce wind, they walked to the deepest part of Fengliu Cave, where a huge tiger, three zhang long, came into view.

It lay there quietly, fast asleep with its eyes closed, absorbing the ethereal wind energy that had been smoothed out by the complex cave.

As the strongest demon within a fifty-mile radius, Longxuhu seemed completely unconcerned about being ambushed, as evidenced by the piles of white bones in the cave.

Chen Sheng's undisguised footsteps made Longxuhu's ears twitch. He opened his eyes, looked at the guest in the cave, and revealed a cruel, almost human-like smile, licking his lips.

"Wow, food is delivered to my door whenever I'm hungry. Life in this brothel is just too wonderful."

"Men, state your names, and I will mercifully remember the names of everyone who has given me a meal."

Longxuhu seemed like a chatterbox, but Chen Sheng had no intention of wasting words with his prey.

With the physical attributes of a Martial Saint, he is essentially a half-third-tier expert, making it easy for him to kill a second-tier monster.

Under his abnormal dynamic vision, Long Xuhu's every move seemed as slow as if he were moving through glue.

The voice slowed down several times, turning into a ridiculous, strange sound; the hair, blown wildly by the gale, flew about wildly, and you could see the flying dander.

Before Longxuhu could even detect Chen Sheng's movement, his body had already blurred into a blur as he leaped to his side, raised his hand, and pierced through Chen Sheng's chest, pulling out a still-beating heart...

(End of this chapter)