Early the next morning, Chen Chuan checked out of his hotel room and boarded an airship bound for the uncharted territory marked on his map.
The journey would likely take several days. Aboard the airship, he maintained a steady regimen of training, and in his spare moments, he flipped through an illustrated compendium of common Confluence creatures.
Obtained from the Martial Artists Council, it cataloged the traits and weaknesses of various beasts dwelling deep within the Confluence, specifically highlighting parts with nutritional value and the benefits they provided to humans.
However, species within the Confluence evolved and mutated rapidly, varying drastically from place to place. Furthermore, many martial artists couldn't be bothered to report new species they encountered, so the compendium fell far short of capturing the true complexity of the Confluence.
Fortunately, he had no need to understand everything. As a martial artist, he would naturally sense what he required during the hunt.
After three days of flight, Chen Chuan looked down and immediately sensed an aura entirely alien to civilized lands. It was a profound, untouched savagery whose vastness and primeval splendor far exceeded any uncharted territory he had visited before.
Because the Confluence creatures here were exceptionally fierce and formidable, only martial artists dared set foot in this realm. Even members of the former imperial house had rarely ventured here.
Taking a deep breath, he recognized that for martial artists, such a domain was the ideal environment. The rich nutrients within its native beasts supplied everything needed for their training and exertion. To them, this was a hunting ground.
Just then, an armed crewman walked over, snapped a salute, and called out, "Reporting, Commissioner Chen! In another half minute, we will reach the garrison's farthest outpost."
Chen Chuan glanced outside and spotted a stone fortress built in an antiquated style perched atop a cliff in the distance. Before coming, he had learned that Great Shun had converted an old stone tower erected by the former imperial house into this forward post. Martial artists had likely participated in its initial construction, intending it as a foothold for their own use.
It lacked a mooring mast and served solely as a landmark. A squad of exiled felons was stationed there, receiving airdropped supplies once a month. If they perished, another batch was transported from the rear to ensure the post remained occupied at all times.
"Halt directly above it," he said.
"Understood!"
The airship hovered over the fortress, its propellers roaring loudly. Normally, someone should have come out to greet them, or at least to receive supplies. But the ground below was utterly quiet. On the path leading out from the fortress, one could even see drag marks left by human bodies. Unsurprisingly, this latest contingent had vanished as well.
The scribe calmly made an entry in his log, preparing to bring another batch of convicts on the next run.
Chen Chuan picked up his luggage case, which held the Xuejun Saber, stepped out onto the airship's open platform, and leapt down, landing soundlessly on the ground below.
Chaoming also flew out from the airship and circled overhead for a while, scouting the surroundings. Although Chen Chuan's mental power could detect dangerous threats in advance, it still could not match the bird's sweeping vantage from the sky. In the Confluence, creatures typically grew more dangerous the larger they were—while not an absolute rule, it generally held true.
Chen Chuan nodded up toward the airship and walked into the fortress. Inside, everything was in disarray, showing clear signs of a struggle. Spent cartridge casings and snapped arrows littered the floor, but there were no corpses left behind, nor even a single drop of blood.
This was hardly surprising. In the Confluence, even the minutest scrap of organic tissue or bodily secretion was coveted by some creature; not a single scrap was ever wasted.
He had no interest in investigating how those men had vanished. With a sweeping glance, the overturned tables and chairs floated up into the air and settled back upright in their proper positions.
It was already past four in the afternoon. He decided to stay the night and set out early the following morning.
During the fortress's renovation, a substantial amount of protective material had been integrated into its structure, allowing its occupants to endure the nights of the Confluence.
Yet this place was different. Located deep in the Confluence, the nighttime influences were vastly more pronounced, requiring the materials to be replenished at regular intervals. That upkeep was part of the duties assigned to the exiled convicts; failure to perform it meant forfeiting their supplies and high-consumption armaments.
He inspected the warding materials and found the previous occupants had done an adequate job; there was no immediate need for replenishment.
He had already come to understand what happened during nights in the Confluence. Put simply, when darkness fell, the influence of the other world over the Confluence intensified.
It was like a tug-of-war between two worlds, or the ebb and flow of the tide. By day, the material world held sway; by night, the spiritual realm descended and enveloped everything.
With strong, stable protection, one could anchor oneself firmly in the material world, experiencing at most faint seepage and disturbances from the other side. As long as one kept calm, no real harm would come of it. But if one were caught completely unprotected, the outcome went without saying.
Furthermore, creatures native to the Confluence had long been steeped in this influence, growing exponentially more lethal by night. It went without saying that spending the night in the open wilds of this region would be suicidal; not only were his esoteric rituals incapable of warding off the anomaly, but the Confluence beasts themselves could easily tear such defenses to shreds.
Fortunately, as a martial artist, he could rely on his formidable biological field and mental power to endure the phenomenon without being adversely affected. However, doing so drained substantial physical stamina and prevented any rest throughout the night. If he still had to operate during the day, his effective active hours would be severely curtailed.
Thus, the fortress proved invaluable: it provided a base to which he could return and recover after intense excursions. That was likely the very reason it had been erected in the first place.
The two Generals of State Subjugation from the former imperial house had probably both stayed here.
Seeing that twilight was already approaching, he called Chaoming back from prowling outside and sealed the fortress gates. Foregoing training for the evening, he rested thoroughly throughout the night.
Early the next morning, the moment night receded and dawn illuminated the earth, Chen Chuan pushed open the fortress gates. Carrying his luggage case with the Xuejun Saber mounted on it, he walked outside and headed into the dense woods. As he stepped forth, his biological field naturally expanded outward.
He could tell this place was indeed different. Creatures brimming with vigorous vitality were everywhere, far surpassing anything he had seen in the past.
As he ventured deeper, approaching midday, he spotted a great moss lizard pictured in the compendium. The creature was immense, stretching over ten meters from snout to tail and standing over two meters tall even while crouched against the ground, its entire body covered in carnivorous parasitic flora.
Yet its life tier was not high, relegating it to nothing more than food on his menu. Stepping forward, he killed it with a single punch, reached in to yank out its tongue, peeled back the dense, tough tongue muscle, and extracted a finger-length strip of translucent pink tendon from within.
Without the slightest hesitation, he consumed it directly, instantly feeling the mutated tissues throughout his body quicken with activity.
This was the most nutritious part of the great moss lizard; aside from this, he intended to discard the rest of the carcass.
It was not that the other parts were inedible, but in a place like this, the time spent slowly consuming them would be better spent hunting down other prey of equal or greater value. Wasting time here made no sense; the most efficient approach was precisely what he had just done.
After standing in place for a moment, he stowed the Xuejun Saber and departed.
Shortly after he left, countless unnamed creatures crawled out from unseen crevices, swarming the moss lizard's carcass to tear and fight over the flesh. Even from a distance, he could hear the wet crunch of gnawing behind him. Before long, the carcass would be stripped entirely clean, without so much as a bone remaining.
Within this ecosystem, he stood at the absolute apex of the food chain. Only after he had made his choice would other creatures dare emerge to squabble over the scraps he left behind. For this very reason, this domain was his personal hunting ground.
Yet this did not mean nothing here could pose a threat to him.
Certain specialized microorganisms, for example, could exert an adverse effect on martial artists or even infect them with illnesses.
But this was where his background in the Purist Faction shone. The Heaven and Earth Furnace breathing technique could flawlessly filter and eradicate such pathogens, keeping him pure at all times and in all places. Even without relying on his Second Self, the Grand Radiant Light Forms could repel and purge external contamination and filth.
Even when acting alone, members of the Purist Faction were formidable individuals, as most possessed the ability to survive in the Confluence entirely unaided.
The deeper he ventured, the greater his harvest became. Along the way, he hunted several more creatures listed in the compendium. Well before nightfall, the ingredients he had gathered far exceeded his expectations. The high-grade nutrients he obtained were not only sufficient to offset the energy expended during the day's travels, but also more than enough to fuel his daily cultivation.
By evening, just as he was preparing to make camp, he unexpectedly discovered a Confluence rusted-iron hornet nest with Chaoming's help.
The honey produced by these venomous hornets was not only extraordinarily delicious, but also packed with exceptionally rich nutrients capable of replenishing the massive energy consumed during cultivation. However, the hornets typically numbered in the millions, darkening the sky whenever they emerged, making the honey exceedingly difficult to obtain.
For him, however, this posed little trouble.
Taking a glance, he directed Chaoming to ascend into the high sky, unleashed his biological field, and strode directly up to the nest. As he approached, the venomous hornets rained down around him like falling drops of water.
Slicing the hornet nest open with the Xuejun Saber, he broke off a piece to taste. His eyes instantly lit up. With just that single small mouthful, he felt the mutated tissues within his body surge with vigor.
After a moment's thought, he set down his luggage case and planted the Xuejun Saber into the ground beside him. As he slowly settled into a martial posture, a brilliant glow blossomed from his body.
He decided not to travel any further today. He would remain right here, eating the honey while training his martial arts.
Chapter 879