I Am Your Natural Enemy

Chapter 433: Chapter 181 Departure, Underworld City (5k)

The things delivered this time can’t be assembled into a crossbow, so he can only take apart the decorative stuff—those are the real deal.

Such a huge piece of Blood Warm Jade, carved into a crossbow machine—who knows how much that cost. Anyway, the material itself definitely isn’t cheap. The fact that it arrived so quickly probably means it was in Fuyu Mountain’s stockpile.

With such a big piece, if he used it for regular cultivation, it would last him at least half a year.

And that’s assuming he keeps spamming Scorching Sun and training punches like a madman. If he’s a bit more chill, it could easily last a year or two without any problem.

He opened that thick, hollow pen, and inside was a bunch of wax-sealed Strengthening Bone Pills, plus some Cold Qi Wine that Wen Yan mailed home, brewed by Old Ghost Ji.

These people really know how to find loopholes and play tricks.

After testing it once, he found that the size of crossbow machines, incense candles, scripture scrolls, and so on doesn’t actually affect their function. Decorations don’t matter either—in fact, the more precious the item, the easier it is to be taken into the Netherworld as a ritual object.

So people just started letting loose. If there wasn’t some weight limit, make it any heavier and Fu Guangfei probably couldn’t bring it down at all.

Wen Yan figured the Scorching Sun Department folks would probably end up making some pen several meters thick, with a mechanical warhead stuffed inside for balance.

Even that scripture scroll had more than thirty talismans snuck in as stashed goods. According to Mount Mao, scriptures copied onto scrolls can count as burial items, and those thirty-something talismans are in the same category as the scriptures themselves, so it’s not really cheating the system.

Fair enough, makes sense.

After this round, Wen Yan doesn’t have to worry about running out of Blood Warm Jade and Scorching Sun Jade on him anymore. As long as he uses them regularly, he won’t need to stress for at least a year.

He did burn through a lot when fighting that Mountain’s Demon, but even then, he could pull that off a dozen more times with his stockpile.

That’s all whatever—what really interests Wen Yan is the positioning device. The button-sized locators can only be used relative to each other, but they’re just perfect for this place.

They do a location ping every minute. If you don’t activate the light part, it lasts half a year no problem. If you do, then you’ve only got three days of juice.

Wen Yan took out the simple receiver to try it out. After flipping the switch, a tiny little black-and-white screen, less than an inch wide, showed a blinking dot—that’s the direction of the positioning device.

The whole receiver is just a bit over an inch long, feather-light, crazy basic, but the good thing is it’s rugged and low-power.

Wen Yan grabbed a handful, tossed them in his pocket, then headed out. Every twenty meters or so, he’d chuck one on the ground. After walking a few miles, he checked the receiver; on the small screen, a string of dots lined up, pointing the way back.

Each little dot is a locator device. Even if some of them died, he’d still know which way to go.

Even if worst case, all of them in a given area failed, he could circle around and probably still find his bearings. Tossing one every twenty-something meters—that’s an insane density.

He tested it: the higher off the ground, the worse the interference—just like that mist. The higher you go, the thicker the fog gets.

This place is as flat as the eye can see. Totally open, no cover, no complicated electromagnetic environment. You drop them two hundred meters apart and the signal still gets through—just not super stable.

Him tossing four every hundred meters—that’s more than enough density.

Then there’s his vision, getting sharper and sharper—the range he can scout just keeps expanding.

Previously, he was just using the northern mountains as reference points, and even Wen Yan felt that was kinda unreliable. But now that he’s got the positioning devices, plus Mount Mao’s talismans, Wen Yan figures it’s finally time to get out there and look around Zhou Wei.

No point waiting for someone else to figure out how to rescue him. He might as well work on his own escape plan—definitely more reliable that way.

The biggest threat—getting lost—is at least partly solved. There’s a few hundred kilometers he can explore safely.

He hasn’t tried out Mount Mao’s talismans yet, since there’s no way to test exactly how far apart two talismans could work. He can only take the Scorching Sun Department at their word and play it safe, shave off a bit as a buffer.

Back in the manor, Wen Yan told everyone about his plans to head out and explore. Lin Jue insisted on tagging along, since his ability to stay in Nether Soul form relies on Wen Yan keeping him alive. If he didn’t stick with Wen Yan, and Wen Yan stayed out too long, then he’d be done for as well.

The Grave Walker wanted to come too, saying that if they happened to find an unclaimed Desolate Tomb outside, he could lead them back to the manor at top speed.

Here, he doesn’t dare randomly run between tombs outside the manor, and Wen Yan wouldn’t let him experiment anyway. After all, in the Netherworld, there shouldn’t normally be any Desolate Tombs—better not to run wild and get lost for real.

But, if they really do find a Desolate Tomb outside, just getting back to the manor, at least, won’t get them lost.

The Grave Walker’s most familiar with the Desolate Tombs near the manor. It used to be where he rested every day—right on top of the tombs near the manor, where you can avoid the Scorching Sun during the daytime.

Now that they’re in the Netherworld, he doesn’t have to go back to the tombs to rest anymore.

The Steward wanted to come too, saying he could take care of Wen Yan’s daily needs, cook for him and all. Wen Yan didn’t let him, told him to stay and guard the manor.

He handed the updates for this round to Fu Guangfei to bring back, and since Fu Guangfei was heading off, Wen Yan didn’t rush out right away either. With fresh Blood Warm Jade, Wen Yan had started using Scorching Sun in a slightly extravagant way.

Besides training his punches every day, he set a fixed time to bless each paper doll in the manor, hoping a few more could get enlightened. Even if they didn’t, at least he hoped their strength would increase enough to defend the manor.