Chapter 33: No Man’s Land

I stayed here for one night at Master Ge’s kind invitation.

During the whole day, we spent almost all of our time chatting. From Master Ge, I learned a lot of useful information. To summarize, there are only a few things about me.

First, Master Ge’s ten quotas for the year were not used up at all, and there were still four left. But after my accident last month, the rumor spread in the circle, and Master Ge began to announce to the outside world that all the quotas were used up, because there were too many people who wanted to buy information about me and my fellow students from him.

Second, regarding my life and death, if I hadn’t appeared before Master Ge, he wouldn’t have known either. He could only guess that I had a 30-40% chance of not being dead, based on some speculation. After all, from the inside information he got, the person who killed me was a great power (he didn’t know it was Jiang Yi), and the power that targeted me was a huge monster. So I only had a 30-40% chance of being alive. The biggest reason for this was that I was never found dead.

The third is the so-called big market. This big market is of course also a ghost market, but it is not purely a ghost market. Unlike the ghost market that I once participated in, which was held every six months, the big market is a real “event” in the circle, and the part where people trade with each other is also the focus! It is held every five years, and basically all major forces, even foreign forces, will go. It will be held for 10 days. In short, people in the circle will try to go to the big market once in their lifetime.

Apart from the third piece of news, the first two pieces of news have their pros and cons for me. The advantage is that no one is sure that I am still alive, and they think that it is unlikely that I am still alive, so it is convenient for me to move.

The downside is that my partners are being targeted, and there is doubt about whether I am dead or alive, so I have become ‘hot’ and everyone, whether they mean to or not, wants to find me. Not to mention that it is absolutely possible to find me and ‘claim credit’ for the forces against me there, not to mention other benefits. After all, this incident, which even I don’t know about, has made me a person of great interest to the powerful. If this mystery is solved, it may be possible to reach the top in one step.

The result of analyzing this information was a wry smile on my face. I never cared about things in the circle, but one day I became a “hot” figure because of a mysterious shooting, but I didn’t know why.

I left Master Ge’s house early the next morning. He said something to me that I didn’t understand, but the gist of it was that since he knew I was alive, he couldn’t just let me be and let me do whatever I wanted.

But who will protect me? This made me think of a wry smile, but Master Ge did not say anything.

An hour later, I was already on the train to City C. After arriving in City C, I would transfer to X Province. I would never forget that my first priority was to find my fellow apprentices.

After buying the ticket for the soft sleeper, my money was really tight. After having this relationship with Master Ge, I was of course embarrassed to sell medicinal herbs to Master Ge, so I could only think about going to C City and finding a larger pharmacy to sell some of the medicinal herbs I had in my hand. Of course, I didn’t want to take advantage of the price, but that was also something I had to do.

With this in mind, I began to pack my bags. I took out the small bag of medicinal herbs and counted out the herbs I needed to sell. I was stunned to discover that not only had my herbs not decreased, but there were even more of them.

In addition to this, there were two envelopes in the small bag. One of the envelopes was thick. I opened it and found a very thick stack of money inside. After counting it, there were as many as 20,000.

The other envelope was a letter from Master Ge. The letter was simple: he hadn’t seen me for many years, and as an elder, it was only right to give me a gift as a token of his appreciation. He said that the gift was nothing to him, and that I should take it as a token of his protection.

I kept the letter, and I was moved. This is the master’s friend, or just a friend who is well-regarded by Master Liu… I naturally remember this kindness in my heart.

The big market was held three days later, and most of the people gathered there in advance. According to my schedule, I would definitely not be able to make it on the first day of the event, and even the second day would be a problem. However, with the money, I dared not take a plane, which required an ID card, so I could only pray that my fellow students would not leave early.

The train arrived in City C late at night. I hurriedly bought a ticket for the night bus to X Province.

I slept through most of the bus ride, and when I woke up, the bus had already entered the province of X.

I got off the bus in the city of L. In this sacred and legendary city, I couldn’t stop to experience everything. I didn’t have any so-called altitude sickness. I just felt that the atmosphere of this city was much purer than that of many other places. This was an intuition from a cultivator. It was a good place to purify oneself.

After asking around, I found a place to rent a car, but the process was not very smooth because the destination I was going to was a no-man’s land, which was feared by people, that vast no-man’s land.

Fortunately, the money that Master Liu gave me was more than enough. With a generous reward, I was able to rent a car and a Tibetan man who looked extremely tough and hearty as a driver. Together, we set off on my journey.

“Are you going to cross the uninhabited area on foot? Many brave men have done so before, but not many of them have returned successfully.” During the quiet drive, while I was quietly enjoying the world around me, the Tibetan driver spoke up. He spoke Mandarin, but not very fluently.

Crossing the uninhabited area? It sounds like a very appealing thing to do, but obviously I wasn’t going to do that. I replied with a smile, “It’s not crossing the uninhabited area, I just came here to see and feel what it’s like to be alone in the world.”

“Take my advice, it’s very dangerous! If you want to see and feel this place, you can actually change your route and go somewhere else, and you won’t be disappointed.” The driver was very enthusiastic and sincere.

Unfortunately, how can I tell an ordinary person about the circle of cultivators? Even many cultivators, especially those who cultivate alone, may not know about the existence of this big city.

I smiled and said nothing, refusing his kindness.

“I really don’t want to see you die. Your equipment doesn’t look very good, and you’re not even prepared at all.” The driver’s lips curled up when he said this, and it was obvious that I wasn’t just poorly equipped, I didn’t even have any equipment at all.

In the end, we didn’t talk about this topic anymore. Compared to the driver’s enthusiasm, I seemed a bit cold, although I had to admit that he talked about some interesting stories about here, which made me full of curiosity.

After four days, I finally arrived at the venue of the Grand Market, the gathering of the circle of the repairers.

For the rest of the journey, I traveled alone to the location of the fair in order to maintain confidentiality.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to wait for you here for a few days? It’s a great place to experience the wilderness. Just stay for a few days, don’t go too far, and don’t get lost.” The driver was still very enthusiastic, trying to persuade me or solicit business.

“No, I’m just going ahead. In a few days, my friend will drive here. All I need to do is wait. Before that, I just want to feel what it’s like to be alone with the sky and the earth.” I refused, I had to refuse.

“I believe you won’t be able to feel it. Why are people so keen on the no-man’s land these days? I believe you will be protected.” The driver saw that I was adamant and had no choice but to leave.

As for his last sentence, it was not without reason. This was originally an uninhabited area, but along the way, there were suddenly many more cars, mostly luxury SUVs. According to his understanding, there must be more people visiting and experiencing the uninhabited area. He would never have thought that there would be a grand gathering of cultivators here.

After bidding farewell to the driver, I continued along the road. Just as the driver had seen, there were suddenly more people interested in the no-man’s land. On this road, I actually met several groups of people, some traveling alone like me, and others traveling in groups.

They were dressed like ordinary hikers, but in fact, through the sense of smell, they were all cultivators.

During this time, cars occasionally passed by! On this road, it is still possible to drive, but cars that hire ordinary people as drivers cannot move forward.

This is the rule of the city, and it is all recorded on an invitation card.