Disguised as an ordinary human old man, Xiaosa's duplicate slyly slipped a silver coin into the entry tax box of Wanshan City and entered the city. By her side, a long-distance carriage pulled by oxen was slowly leaving the city. Gazing from within the carriage, Ge Zheng nodded amiably to those around him.
In this world, without planes or cars, and with magical teleportation still in the theoretical stage, long-distance travel could only rely on slow-moving carriages. The oxen, a type of hardy magical creature, easily tamed and hardworking, were the most widely used magical creature on the continent. When Ge Zheng entered the city, he saw an ox pulling the tax box, the very kind called an ox.
Xiaosa entered Wanshan City and easily found Ge Zheng's alchemy shop - the conspicuous flagpole made it hard to miss. However, at this time, only an honest guy stood inside the shop. With several attempts to inquire, Xiaosa had no choice but to learn the details through careful inquiry. People in Wanshan City all said that Master Ge was quite impressive, but they did not realize that Master Ge was not the ordinary guy in the alchemy store. It wasn't until three days later that she realized her mistake, but by that time, Ge Zheng had already ventured deep into the Feichong Desert and was nowhere to be found.
Failing to complete the mission, Xiaosa dared not return to Cloud Lake. Instead, she lingered in Wanshan City, sending back a message to report the situation.
After leaving the Feichong Desert, Ge Zheng's carriage reached Oba City, the capital of the Maris Principality, where he caught another carriage and continued north.
Oba City was indeed far superior to Wanshan City. Although Ge Zheng only stayed briefly, he was able to appreciate the vibrancy of the capital. However, his amazement didn't last long, as ten days later, he arrived at Delson Royal City, one of the five major cities on the continent and the imperial city of the Austa Empire.
Following this, Ge Zheng switched to the west and, after another ten days of traveling by carriage, finally caught sight of the looming Sweating Wilderness.
The Sweating Wilderness was typically arid, often going a whole year without a single drop of rain. There was a saying that jokingly remarked that in the wilderness, the sweat of adventurers provided the most vital water supply, which was the origin of the name.
The wilderness was home to some rare fire and earth magical creatures, which was the main attraction for adventurers. Regardless of who they were, everyone had to make sufficient preparations before entering the Sweating Wilderness. Food and water were essential supplies, as there was almost no magic element for water within the wilderness. Even if one were a water mage, it would be impossible to conjure water within the wilderness.
Therefore, every adventurer had to stuff their storage rings to the brim. Yet, storage rings were unable to store other storage rings. The set of storage rings would cause spatial disruptions, and everything stored inside would be lost within spatial rifts.
As a result, the high-capacity storage ring that Ge Zheng possessed proved its invaluable worth at that time.
The long-distance carriage heading for the Sweating Wilderness stopped at a small town on the edge, Wote Town. This small town was similar to the predecessor of Wanshan City, but the produce from within the wilderness couldn't compare to that of the Flowing Su Mountain Range, so after hundreds of years, the town remained just that, unable to transform into a city.
Ge Zheng moved his somewhat stiff body and hopped out of the carriage. The entire horizon was a dark red scree that extended from under his feet to the very end of the earth, connecting with the edge of the sky. The town had a dozen dilapidated stone houses, scattered sparsely across the wilderness.
The air was parched, and as soon as he inhaled, the moisture from his nostrils was all dried out, leaving a burning sensation all the way to his lungs. They hadn't had their fill yet.
He felt as if he were the filling of a dumpling, and the heavens and earth were the dumpling skin, wrapping him up in a dark red dumpling skin, with the horizon being pinched together by two large hands.
Wherever there were adventurers, there was a tavern, and the group that arrived with Ge Zheng were all adventurers. As soon as they got off the carriage, they subconsciously made their way to the only tavern in town. Outside the tavern was a crude bottle sculpture of the same dark red scree, showcasing the owner's artistic talents.
Ge Zheng also followed these people into the tavern. It was also the branch office of the adventurer guild in Wote Town, and the adventurers were all queuing up at the counter to register and inquire about potential missions. Ge Zheng looked around the tavern; the music was somewhat desolate, matching the atmosphere of the place and draining one's spirit. In the spacious tavern, there were only ten or so adventurers divided into three tables, quietly chatting amongst themselves.
Although Ge Zheng ordered a drink, just as he sat down, a clever fellow jumped over, "Hello, human adventurer, do you need a guide? I'm a native desert fairy. Even if you want to find a rock in the Sweating Wilderness, I can help you find one."
The desert fairy in front of him was somewhat similar to Horns, the alchemy materials shop owner in Hope Mountain City. In fact, in the eyes of outsiders, the fairies all looked much alike. Except that this fairy was obviously still in its prime, much more vigorous than Horns, and was not sitting honestly across from Ge Zheng, constantly fidgeting as if there were splinters on the chair.
"How much to get to Perdition Canyon?" Ge Zheng asked. The desert fairy fanned its dry and thin palm, as if using a fan, and said, "Perdition Canyon? No problem, it's on me. Khanmings is knowledgeable about it. Everyone who comes here wants to go to Perdition Canyon, right? No problem, it’s on Khanmings. Khanmings is the most famous fairy guide in Water Town. It just takes three gold coins, and Khanmings can take you anywhere you want to go."
"Three gold coins?" Ge Zheng shook his head. "I don't mind the money, but I don't want to be taken for a ride." The desert fairy Khanmings jumped onto the chair with a strange cry, "Taken for a ride! Oh my, human adventurer, do you think that honest and reliable Khanmings is deceiving you? You really saddened me. Three gold coins is already a very low price. To be able to hire a native desert fairy guide at this price, except for generous Khanmings, it's simply unimaginable!"
The fairies were not tall, and even standing on the chair, it was about the same height as Ge Zheng sitting. Its bulging frog-like eyes glared angrily at Ge Zheng. Unmoved, Ge Zheng shook his head. "One gold coin." Khanmings gritted his teeth. "Two gold coins! You're responsible for food and water!"
"Deal," Ge Zheng shrugged.
"Ah, simple-minded Khanmings has been deceived again. Crafty human, from now on, Khanmings will no longer deal with human adventurers!" vowed the desert fairy. Ge Zheng didn't believe him; who knows how many people he had said this to.
After replenishing supplies at nearby stores, Ge Zheng packed his storage ring full and tossed a backpack to Khanmings. Relative to Khanmings' size, the backpack was quite large. The talkative desert sprite was about to complain when he saw that Ge Zheng was also carrying a backpack three times larger than his. "Who knows what might happen in the desert, so it's better to bring more supplies," Ge Zheng stated.
"Hey, you seem to know what you're doing," Khanmings remarked. Ge Zheng didn't know that the cunning desert fairy had something else in mind with his words. "Seem to know what you're doing" meant that in fact he was not skilled in handling such situations.
Adventuring in the desert was important, but bringing too many supplies could slow down the journey and make it not worth it in the end.
Wrapping his head and face with cloth to fend off the blowing sand, an individual adventurer, accompanied by a small desert fairy, entered the Sweating Desert.
Ge Zheng dared to go alone into the Sweating Desert because he had already found out that there were basically no level-seven or higher monsters in the wasteland. With his abilities, it wasn't difficult to handle. The reason the area was desolate was precisely because there were no high-level monsters, so it only occasionally attracted small adventurers and could not draw in large adventure teams. If it weren't for the few unique monsters in the desert that couldn't be hunted elsewhere, the Sweating Desert might have truly become off-limits for intelligent life forms.
Despite the desolation, provision was important. However, due to carrying too many provisions, the journey was hindered.
As the sun set and evening came, Ge Zheng saw a campfire lit by adventurers in the distance, with smoke rising straight up. The sun had not yet completely set, but half a crescent moon had already risen in the sky to the east.
In the evening, the desert steamed, and the two took shelter behind a rock to eat rations and drink water. Ge Zheng wrapped his head in a blanket and paid no attention to Khanmings' incessant prattle, falling soundly asleep.
"Ge, are you a warrior or a wizard? I saw you carrying several magic rings, so you must be a wizard, right? But then why are you carrying such a heavy backpack..." Khanmings was industriously helping Ge Zheng with his backpack in the morning until he tried to lift it onto Ge Zheng's back, only to be unable to lift the weight and fall to the ground. Ge Zheng smiled and put the backpack on himself. "I'm an alchemist."
"An alchemist only knows magic and doesn't use Qi. But if you haven't cultivated Qi, how can you carry such a heavy backpack so effortlessly?" Ge Zheng regretted listening to the talkative fairy's words, and since he couldn't explain to him properly, he just bluffed, "I was born with supernatural strength."
Unexpectedly, the desert fairy's two bulging eyes lit up with excitement. "Really? Then can the elixirs made from your blood make me incredibly strong too? You're an alchemist, so you should be able to do it, right? If you help me, I can take you to Perdition Canyon for free." Ge Zheng used his finger to clean his ear and walked away.
Khanmings followed with a small backpack, running around like a monkey and constantly saying, "Hey, Ge, can you consider this? It's only a drop of blood for you, but it's important for me. Although I'm very handsome, I don't have powerful abilities, so the beauties in the tribe don’t even consider me. So I need power. Hey, Ge, have you heard what I'm saying? We're friends now, and you humans value loyalty to friends, right? Ge..."
In his heart, Ge Zheng prayed to the heavens, hoping someone would make the fly shut up.
"Enough!" After enduring for two hours, Ge Zheng finally couldn't take it anymore and gritted his teeth to interrupt him. "If you bother me again, I'll use a bottle of voice loss potion to make you never speak again!" Khanmings was indeed scared and quickly covered his mouth with his hand, but his natural loquacity still made a faint sound in his throat.