Chapter 76: Desert City
Seeing that his master didn’t mention the embarrassing incident from earlier at all and was entirely focused on eating and drinking, Shen San let out a massive sigh of relief.
Thank goodness!
He had read that people in ancient times were deeply conservative, and if a man accidentally crossed a line with a woman outside, he was practically forced to marry her. He had just been agonizing over how incredibly awkward it would be if his master demanded marriage! He had always respected her as an elder and a mentor; how could he possibly marry her?! Even within the confines of a game, the mere thought made him incredibly uncomfortable.
Now, it was obvious his master had absolutely no intention of holding him to any such standard.
That was a relief.
He gradually relaxed, a smile returning to his face. Following his master’s example, he carefully sliced open a section of cactus and took a slow, tentative bite of the hydrating flesh.
The oasis featured not only a sprawling, pristine lake but an abundance of lush vegetation flourishing along its banks. The cacti alone provided enough sustenance to keep them fed for days. The master and disciple relaxed instantly, the grinding exhaustion of their endless journey through the desert evaporating in a single moment.
“Let’s rest here for a few days before we push on,” Lu Yunxi said. She was far more concerned about Shen San’s physical condition than her own. Shielded by the Gold-tier cloak, she faced no risk of dehydration, but Shen San had stubbornly refused to take turns wearing it, insisting that she keep the protection for herself.
Shen San nodded, readily agreeing to follow her lead.
Once the master and disciple pitched their fabric shelter, they settled in to recover. Just two days prior, Lu Yunxi’s protective barrier skill had leveled up to the Master tier. Once activated, the localized shield could sustain itself for the better part of a day, completely liberating them from the need to take turns keeping watch through the night.
As the night deepened, the quiet rustle of the desert was suddenly interrupted by the distinct flapping of wings.
Lu Yunxi cracked one eye open. Confirming that her master-tier barrier remained completely intact, she closed her eyes to drift back to sleep. But in the very next second—
Blam! Blam! Blam!
A deafening, artificial racket reverberated from the sky.
She rolled over and bolted upright. Crawling out of the tent, she squinted up at the night sky, her expression utterly bewildered. A massive carrier pigeon was circling above the oasis, a comically large megaphone strapped securely to its back.
“Shen San! Shen San! You’ve been MIA for months! Are you too busy flirting with girls to check your inbox? Even if you’re living it up with a lady, get your butt over here and help me first! I’m in a massive bind—Your dear little brother.”
Hearing the broadcast, Lu Yunxi turned to look at Shen San in profound surprise. Her apprentice’s face was rapidly shifting through brilliant shades of blue and purple, his expression twisting into a mask of pure mortification.
To save her disciple from dying of sheer embarrassment on the spot, she silently retreated back into the tent, doing her absolute best to pretend she hadn’t heard a single word of the megaphone’s announcement.
The following day, Shen San spent the entire time drafting messages, deeply engrossed in corresponding with whoever was on the other end of the line.
The sight of carrier pigeons constantly looping overhead made Yunxi’s mouth water. Had it not been for the system design protecting the messaging birds from player interference, she would have long since plucked them out of the sky and roasted them over the campfire.
The pigeons seemed to possess a highly sensitive danger radar. Every time they caught sight of her hungry gaze, they steered clear, fluttering far out of her reach to land strictly beside Shen San.
While Yunxi was staring intently at the bird perched behind her apprentice, he suddenly turned around, a distressed expression on his face. “Master, do you know where I can procure an antidote?”
“An antidote?” She managed to tear her gaze away from the bird, pulling open her spatial inventory to scan her stock. “What kind of poison are we dealing with?”
“Uh… I’m not entirely certain. Let me draft another letter to ask for the specific status debuff,” Shen San muttered, furrowing his brow as he quickly prepared a fresh sheet of parchment.
But Lu Yunxi had already located the universal detoxification pills she had masterfully refined during her seclusion. She casually tossed a small ceramic bottle into his lap. “Don’t bother asking. This elixir neutralizes all known poisons. Just send him that.”
Shen San caught the bottle, a wave of awe washing over him. His master was truly incredible! It wasn’t as though his real-world companions hadn’t apprenticed under native NPCs before, but none of their mentors possessed such an absolute command over alchemical arts, worldly lore, and high-tier combat execution. He was willing to bet that across the entire server matrix of Ancient, no NPC possessed a broader database than his master!
“Thank you, Master,” he said earnestly. He carefully packed the bottle into a secure delivery pouch and fastened it to the carrier pigeon’s leg.
That evening, as the two resumed their march under the stars, another carrier pigeon equipped with a speaker horn intercepted their path.
“Third Brother! My dearest sibling! You are an absolute lifesaver! Oh, by the way, is that god-tier master of yours still looking for apprentices? My current mentorship quest line is barely halfway done anyway; I am more than willing to abandon it right now! Don’t worry, once I’m initiated, I will absolutely revere our Master and treat you with the utmost respect as my Martial Senior! I’ll handle all the manual labor and grunts’ work from now on! What do you say, my good brother? I deserve a gentle, kind-hearted master too!”
As the echoes of the horn bounced across the dunes, Shen San’s face turned deathly dark.
Lu Yunxi froze for a fraction of a second before bursting into a fit of unbridled, helpless laughter.
“Master!” Shen San gritted his teeth, his ears burning. “Do not listen to a single word of that brat’s nonsense! He’s just an ungrateful scoundrel!”
“Haha! Your little brother is absolutely delightful,” she gasped, laughing so hard she could barely keep her balance. She had never imagined her professional crafting reputation would make her such a highly sought-after prize among the outworld players!
Shen San watched her double over with laughter, a wave of quiet relief washing over his frustration. He decided he would let his younger brother off the hook this time without a beating. After all, the brat had inadvertently done a good deed—his master hadn’t looked this genuinely happy since they had crossed into the brutal wastes of the desert.
“Master, look ahead. Is that an actual settlement? There are so many structures… it looks like a town,” Shen San murmured, his brow furrowing as he stared at the horizon. “Could it be another mirage?”
Lu Yunxi activated her high-tier exploration perception, then gave a firm shake of her head. “No. That is a tangible city.”
The two exchanged a cautious glance and slowly marched toward the settlement.
Though it was designated as a city, it possessed no external fortifications or defensive walls. It was impossible to deduce how many residents were sheltering inside the tightly shuttered buildings, but barely twenty or thirty people were actively walking the open thoroughfares.
After observing the citizens for a long moment, Lu Yunxi’s brow furrowed tightly. She reached up to pull the deep hood of her Gold cloak further over her face, her voice dropping to a sharp whisper. “Shen San, we’re turning back. Right now.”
Shen San was deeply puzzled by her sudden urgency, but his obedience was absolute. He immediately spun on his heel to follow her away from the perimeter.
However, before they could clear the outer boundary, a figure intercepted their path.
“Greetings, travelers from afar! Why turn away so soon? Why not step into our Desert City and enjoy our hospitality?” A man clad in sweeping robes with a traditional desert wrap covering his head stepped forward. He possessed deep, piercing eyes, and though his speech carried a strange, affected accent, his face was painted with an expression of intense enthusiasm.
Lu Yunxi took a seamless step backward, subtly positioning Shen San to anchor the front. She had just realized a deeply unsettling variable: every single person walking the streets of this city was a man. There wasn’t a single female entity visible on the map. Where had the women gone? Had some localized event cleared them out, or did this settlement simply lack female spawns entirely?
“Come inside quickly! I strongly advise against attempting to travel further right now; the storm wall is about to cross our coordinates,” the man said, casting a wary glance toward the darkening sky. “No traveler can survive the open wastes during this phase. Every merchant is currently retreating inside the city boundaries.”
Confirming via her system metrics that the man was telling the truth about the weather event, Shen San stepped forward. “How long does this particular storm cycle endure?”
“The black winds typically rage for half a month before the system resets,” the resident explained, gesturing toward the interior of the town. “You are welcome within the gates. The massive pavilion in the center and the lodgings along the perimeter are explicitly reserved for outworld tourists.”
After offering their polite thanks, the master and disciple navigated toward the nearest perimeter building to secure shelter.
“Two travelers? You require two separate rooms?” The clerk stationed behind the wooden counter let out a massive, lazy yawn. “We are currently operating under storm-season rates, so there is a mandatory structural surcharge. The total comes to five hundred silver coins for a half-month block.”
He reached for his ledger, but as his eyes tracked the movement, they caught the elegant lines of Lu Yunxi’s jaw peeking from beneath her hood. He froze. “A lady? In that case, you should migrate immediately to the grand estate in the city center. Within those coordinates, all lodging, amenities, and provisions are entirely free of charge for women.”
Lu Yunxi deliberately lowered her pitch, her voice flat. “You have my gratitude for the information, but we prefer to remain here.”
She smoothly dropped the currency onto the counter without a trace of hesitation. With her master-tier crafting wealth, she wouldn’t have blinked at five hundred gold coins, let alone a few hundred pieces of silver.
Seeing the coin, the clerk immediately ceased his attempts to persuade them. “Suit yourself. No one ventures out into the sand while the black winds blow. If you grow bored, there is an ongoing festival at the central estate where you can harvest free food. If you’re too lazy to make the trek, you can purchase rations directly from my counter. A standard meal runs ten silver pieces, though the menu selection is entirely randomized.”
