Desperate Weather

After wandering around the small town for quite a while, Ling Li finally bought a crude map from an information peddler at a steep price. Most of the map was blank and looked rather old. It merely marked the approximate locations of the major cities in the northern Black Corner Region, provided basic information on the forces within them, and included an outdated Black List ranking. Yet such a map had sold for a full hundred Gold Coins!

However, Ling Li did not mind. After all, in a place like the Black Corner Region, it was already quite something for someone to dare set up a stall here.

Ling Li had actually bought a map of the northern Black Corner Region in Da Ling City before. That map had contained much more information, but much of it had been inaccurate.

The major powers in the northern Black Corner Region could be divided into twelve factions. Jia Nan Academy and Magic Flame Valley were transcendent powers, based in Peace Town and Magic Flame Valley respectively, and rarely involved themselves in outside affairs. Apart from them, there were ten cities named after the ten strongest people in the Black Corner Region.

At this point, the Black Corner Region's ranking of experts—the Black List—had to be mentioned. The Black List was much like the Gamma Empire's ranking of the ten strongest experts, but due to the utter chaos of the Black Corner Region, it was updated at an astonishing pace. Every year or two, several of the lowest-ranked names would be replaced. Thus, the only relatively famous cities in the Black Corner Region were Gold Silver City of the Gold and Silver Elders, Maple City of Medicine Emperor Han Feng, Fan Lao Mu's City of the Blood Sect, and Black Seal City of Yuan Yi's Eight Fan Sect. The other cities changed masters so frequently that they did not even have stable names.

"Black Seal City is the territory of Yuan Yi, ranked tenth on the Black List. The forces he established are the Eight Fan Sect, which takes assassination contracts, and the Black Seal Auction, which auctions all kinds of treasures." Ling Li studied the information on the map, his gaze eventually settling on Yuan Yi's name.

Yuan Yi being ranked tenth on the Black List did not mean he was the weakest. No one who could remain steadily on the Black List was weak. The Eight Fan Sect under his command not only handled most assassination jobs throughout the Black Corner Region—even taboo missions such as assassinating the leaders of forces in certain empires would still draw countless people eager to take them on, so long as the price was high enough.

"I should make a trip to Black Seal City and see if I can find a dark-attributed cultivation method. Come to think of it, being an assassin seems to suit me quite well." Ling Li thought to himself. As an assassin, he could earn bounties while using blood to improve Dark Night's quality. Constantly improving himself in battle seemed like a pretty good thing as well.

Travel in the Black Corner Region was extremely inconvenient, mainly because the land was vast and sparsely populated. Not to mention the countless Black Bandits gathered along the roads, which made transportation incredibly costly and highly dangerous.

The horned horse they had bought was dead, and Ling Li had damaged the Horned Horse Carriage as well. The two could only travel to Black Seal City on foot.

That had not originally been a problem. Though there was some distance between this town and Black Seal City, Ling Li had prepared enough fresh water and food before leaving Da Ling City. Even surviving outdoors for one or two months would not have been an issue.

Unfortunately, Ling Li's luck did not seem particularly good...

Under the gloomy sky, the deathly silence was occasionally broken by the irritating cry of a vulture. Such an environment should have cast a pall over one's heart, yet Little Doctor Fairy wore a happy smile as she examined the monotonous scenery around them.

Traveling across the continent had also been Little Doctor Fairy's dream. Especially with the person she loved, even such a desolate place possessed a unique charm.

"Ling Li, look at that black thing over there. What is it?" Little Doctor Fairy suddenly stopped and pointed at a patch of blackness on the horizon.

The skies of the Black Corner Region were already like a place abandoned by sunlight, gloomy all year round. Yet that patch of blackness on the horizon was exceptionally conspicuous, as though it had swallowed every last trace of light in the surrounding area. The breeze across the plains gradually picked up, as if something was slowly brewing.

Hearing this, Ling Li stopped and narrowed his eyes in the direction Little Doctor Fairy pointed. That mass of blackness was indeed strange. It even seemed to be drawing steadily closer to them.

"What the hell is that thing?" Ling Li stared at the black mass in confusion, his expression indescribably strange. He had the distinct feeling that red light was flickering in its center, and that red light seemed to have an inseverable connection to him.

Before Ling Li could make it out clearly, he discovered that the already dim sky had suddenly gone completely dark without warning. Soon after, a howling gale descended from the sky. Withered yellow grass swayed wildly in the air, while Little Doctor Fairy fearfully clutched Ling Li's arm, her white dress snapping loudly in the wind.

The flickering red light rapidly approached, and the gale grew ever more violent. In the darkness, Ling Li—whose vision was barely affected—finally saw what the thing rushing toward them actually was.

"Damn it, a tornado suddenly formed on this fucking plain!" Ling Li could not help swearing. That approaching black mass was actually a gigantic black tornado, while the flickering red light appeared to be its eye!

This enormous black tornado had a name that made people flee at the mere mention of it—Black Storm.

Merchants who traveled the Black Corner Region year-round never wanted to encounter two things. The first was the rampant Black Bandits, who often appeared in the thousands or tens of thousands. The second was the strange weather phenomenon known as the Black Storm.

If they encountered a large number of Black Bandits, they might still have a slim chance of survival by abandoning their goods and running fast enough. But if they encountered a larger Black Storm and were swept away, then even if they did not die within the storm, they would eventually starve to death after becoming lost in this wilderness.

After clearly seeing that the thing bearing down on them was an incomparably massive black tornado, Ling Li hurriedly took the damaged carriage, the large bed he carried with him, and other heavy objects from the System Space, placing them around them. He then looped a rope around his back and tightly bound Little Doctor Fairy in front of him.

"Hold on to me." After doing all this, Ling Li frantically directed Dou Qi toward his back, forcibly forming a layer of Dou Qi Armor over it. Then, without any concern for his appearance, he lay flat on the ground, drove Dark Night vertically into the earth, and gripped its hilt tightly with both hands.

As for Little Doctor Fairy, he pinned her beneath him. In a gale of this level, filled with sand and stones, even if he put Little Doctor Fairy on his back as a shield, her strength as a Dou Zhe would not last long before she was ground away. He might as well press her underneath him as a cushion, making himself more comfortable while lying there...

The gale howled beside their ears as cold rapidly spread, and an emotion called despair arose spontaneously...

Yet Little Doctor Fairy felt a warmth in her heart. She nodded slightly, and her arms tightened around Ling Li.

The man pressing her beneath him had allowed her to experience what it felt like to be an ordinary person. There was no Calamity Poison Body erupting every month, no constant fear of hurting others...

Though Ling Li had done excessive things to her at the beginning, hadn't all that already passed?

And over the past half year, honestly speaking, Ling Li had never done anything to wrong her. Not long ago, he had even spent two hundred thousand Gold Coins to buy her a fourth-tier Qi Gathering Powder to help her break through to Dou Zhe...

What a pity. Even until death, she had failed to become a true alchemist...

At least she had worn an Alchemist Robe. That dream would have to wait until her next life...