Chapter 347 - 342: The Young Man Cultivator in a Gang

The young Cultivator was only in his early twenties, at the Qi Cultivation Third Layer.

Faced with Du Youqian’s Possession, he could do nothing but tremble in fear.

Du Youqian sighed inwardly. ’It’s my first time performing Possession, so I’m not very skilled at it.’ He even felt a pang of pity for his target.

He asked using his Divine Sense, "Do you have any last wishes? This Seat will fulfill them for you."

The young Cultivator gave a bitter smile. "My parents are both dead. My older sister endured countless hardships to raise me. But ten years ago, she was spotted and abducted by a passing Cultivator, Master Luo Fan. I don’t know if she became his concubine or a Furnace Cauldron. That Luo Fan Wanderer is far away in the Eastern Domain of the Endless Desert Sea. The journey is long and perilous, filled with countless factions, large and small, and man-eating members of the Demon Race. I am young and weak, and I never worked up the courage to search for my sister. To this day, I don’t even know if she is still alive. Senior, if you want this body, it is yours. If you have the chance, please ask about my sister’s whereabouts. If she is still alive and you could help her in some small way, I would be eternally grateful."

Du Youqian sighed. "This Seat agrees to your request. Now, open your Divine Sense and allow me to perform a Soul Search. Afterward, I will let your soul go to be reincarnated."

The young Cultivator offered no resistance, allowing Du Youqian to read his memories.

Afterward, Du Youqian kept his promise and let the young man’s soul go to be reincarnated.

Occupying the new body, Du Youqian clumsily climbed to his feet.

The body’s injuries were too severe. He staggered over to his own corpse, picked up the Elixirs he carried, and poured one out. Without bothering to find a secluded spot, he consumed it on the spot and sat down to regulate his breathing.

An hour later, the body was finally out of critical condition. It could leave the ICU, so to speak.

But it would still require a period of continuous treatment.

Du Youqian wobbled to his feet and took a moment to get used to his brand-new body.

After the Possession, his Cultivation immediately surged to the Qi Cultivation Fifth Layer. His Divine Sense, however, remained at its original level, far surpassing that of an ordinary Golden Core Perfect Cultivator.

But he didn’t dare unleash his Divine Sense completely. It would be like a three-year-old trying to swing Li Yuanba’s great hammer—the hammer wouldn’t move, but he’d break his own bones first.

He stood before his own corpse, gazing at his handsome face for a while before touching his current one.

"Sigh, my good looks have dropped by thirty percent!" Du Youqian mocked himself, trying to find some humor in his misery.

He dragged his own corpse for quite some time before finding a suitable burial spot. He buried the body deep and set up a simple Array to conceal its aura.

If he left the corpse, it would be temporarily covered by the yellow sand, but it wouldn’t be long before the Demon Race dug it up to eat, or an Evil Cultivator dug it up to use as a top-grade material.

The corpse of a Perfect Foundation Establishment Cultivator could sell for dozens of Spiritual Jade. A Golden Core Perfect Cultivator’s corpse from Body Refining Core Formation was as tough as a Treasure, making it an excellent material for refining certain Demon Artifacts, creating wicked Arrays, or concocting sinister Elixirs.

Cultivators who practiced Corpse Refinement would be ecstatic to find it. With this corpse, they might even be able to create a Quasi-Nascent Soul Level zombie.

Therefore, this corpse was extremely valuable, probably worth several Treasures.

If Du Youqian didn’t have a Treasure Vault stashed away somewhere, he might have considered selling his own body to make his first fortune...

However, he was also considering that after his new body reached Nascent Soul Formation, he could try refining his original corpse into an Outer Body Incarnation. Waste not, want not.

’Keep the good stuff in the family!’

This new body’s injuries hadn’t fully healed, and the exertion left him exhausted. Du Youqian sat on his own grave to rest and sort through the new memories.

This region was the Endless Desert Sea—or, to be precise, the western part of the Endless Desert Sea.

The Endless Desert Sea was vast and boundless. According to the young man’s memories, its Western Domain alone was twice the size of Momenan.

The information Jie Yu had compiled for Du Youqian included an introduction to the Endless Desert Sea.

It seemed that in the eight thousand years that had passed, the powers within the Endless Desert Sea had changed time and again, and the races had come and gone.

But the overall situation was no different from eight thousand years ago. It could be described in a single word: chaotic.

The young man’s name was Zong Li, and he was a disciple of a gang in the Endless Desert Western Domain called the "Zouma Gang."

Just from the name, you could tell it wasn’t a respectable faction.

As for Cultivators joining gangs... that wasn’t uncommon in the Endless Desert Sea.

There were no Mortal Realms in the Endless Desert Sea, only a few tribes and City-States with sparse populations. It was difficult to even find a promising candidate for Cultivation, so what Major Sect would be willing to establish itself in such a godforsaken place, plagued by year-round sandstorms?

At most, there were some Wild Chicken Sects that couldn’t survive elsewhere and came here to swindle people.

Therefore, someone born in the Endless Desert Western Domain with Cultivation Talent either had the ability to leave the Desert Sea to seek a master, or they joined a gang to learn some crude Cultivation Techniques and Magic just to get by.

Zong Li, with no guidance and no resources, had managed to reach the Qi Cultivation Third Layer while practicing a terribly incomplete, garbage Cultivation Technique. This was a sign of his exceptional talent. Not only was his Comprehension astonishing, but he also possessed a Middle Grade Spirit Root, which was quite remarkable.

Although he was only in the Qi Cultivation Early Stage, he was considered a senior minor leader in the Zouma Gang. He managed two old Cultivators whose Cultivation was even lower than his—that’s right, old Cultivators—as well as dozens of Mortals.

He had appeared here on the brink of death because the Zouma Gang’s headquarters had been ambushed by a rival gang, the "Sanquan Gang," today. The kid was sharp; seeing things were going south, he bolted. Unfortunately, the Sanquan Gang had somehow found a Foundation Establishment Cultivator to back them, and their attack was devastatingly swift.

Zong Li’s Cultivation was too low, and he couldn’t escape quickly. He was caught and took several heavy blows.

His attacker didn’t finish him off on the spot only because they spotted another "fat sheep" and went to deal with that first.

Zong Li had fled in a daze for who knows how long before finally collapsing, which was when Du Youqian stumbled upon him.

It must have been fate.

After carefully sorting through Zong Li’s life story and relationships, Du Youqian had a preliminary plan for his next steps.

The reason he had chosen Possession over reincarnation was mainly to first understand the current state of the Human World, including the distribution of major powers and the relationships between them.

A young gang member from the Endless Desert Sea would certainly not know any of this.

Therefore, he had to leave the Endless Desert Sea...

Furthermore, he also had to make a trip to the Eastern Domain of the Endless Desert Sea to find that Master Luo Fan and inquire about the boy’s sister.

’Since I’ve taken his body, I must also bear his karma.’ Although Du Youqian didn’t fully understand what was so frightening about karma, all the novels he had read back on Earth said it was a force to be reckoned with. There was no harm in believing it for now.

With his thoughts settled, Du Youqian tidied up his own grave once more, then picked a direction and started walking toward the Zouma Gang’s headquarters.

Of course, he wasn’t going to avenge the Zouma Gang, nor did he plan to single-handedly slaughter the rival Sanquan Gang.

It was just that, according to Zong Li’s memories, as a member relatively close to the gang’s core leadership, he had discovered that the Zouma Gang’s higher-ups had hidden some treasures near their headquarters.

’Granted, these so-called "treasures" are probably just junk that I wouldn’t have given a second glance before. But I’ve just started a new playthrough and haven’t inherited my Divine Armor from the last run. Every little bit counts.’

’I’ll go take a look and see.’

It was possible that one of the higher-ups had undergone a Soul Search and couldn’t keep the secret, meaning the treasures had already been taken by the Sanquan Gang.

Du Youqian didn’t really care. With the attitude of ’nothing to lose by trying,’ he casually made his way toward the Zouma Gang’s headquarters.