Chapter 42: Farming Recipes

Chapter 42: Farming Recipes After the flash of travel faded, caused by the Qi in the air being "ignited" by the teleportation-like movement, Xu Tao opened his eyes. The same familiar scenery of desert sand extending in all directions... and a familiar crater just ahead. "...I’m back," Xu Tao whispered lightly. When he was here, he had no cultivation at all, alone, and naked. But now, he’s at the 2nd Stage of Qi Gathering, fully equipped, and even with a weapon in hand. He had nothing to fear! "First, I need to set up a formation here..." But of course, before he started looking for monsters, he needed to ensure his way back home. Right now, he’s just about 30 kilometers away from their base. It’s an extremely short distance, way too easy for a technique named "Thousand Li Step," implying it could cover hundreds of kilometers in a single step. But well, that’s only when it’s used by someone at the right cultivation level, with the right level of mastery. Xu Tao, who’s just at the Qi Gathering Stage, was definitely too "weak" for the full distance use of the technique. "Can’t use all my Qi just for travel expenses." He shrugged as he crouched, touching the sand. "But setting a formation on sand might get it buried right after..." Formations need precise calculations of location, distance, angle, and other variables. It’s not as simple as laying down a few runes and you’re done—no way it’d be that easy. Else, everyone would be using it left and right. As such, shifting sand is technically the worst possible choice to set up a formation over... Normally, that is. "Hup!" But Xu Tao had a different idea. Using telekinesis, he moved a large amount of sand and "HAAAP!" Crushed it into a cube of about half the previous volume, roughly a meter across on each side. It was so packed there’s no gap anywhere for air to slip in, not even water. It’s as solid as can be! "More!" But he didn’t stop at just one. He made a few more of those compressed sand, placing them aside in a pile. This was simply his preliminary setup for the formation he’ll make, after all. After making hundreds of those, making him sweat under the heat, he finally stopped. "Next..." He turned to face the ground beneath his feet. The spot he landed must be where he set up the formation, or the previous calculations he made back in the settlement would be for naught. He then focused his Qi, making the sand around him tremble. "P-Pui...? PUI!" And the next moment, he flattened the surroundings in one go, almost as if a road roller made a few rounds through the space. A wide space of about ten meters on each side, just the perfect size. The little pumpkin, who was floating right by Xu Tao’s shoulder, raised a funny, surprised cry from the sight. He quickly checked the stability of the "platform" by tapping it with his feet... It did feel solid enough to not suddenly collapse arbitrarily. "Hehe, I’m not done yet!" Xu Tao chuckled, before forming a sword hand sign. With a flick of his fingers, the previously collected—or rather, crafted—blocks of sand began to move. They arranged neatly through the flattened area, raising the surface back to its previous height, perfectly. "Good." Xu Tao nodded as he confirmed his handiwork... But he was still not done. For the blocks at the edge, he drew a few inscriptions—formations that prevent sand from going "past" the block. This way, he could prevent sand from covering the formation entirely. And with all the preliminary preparations over, Xu Tao finally began to draw the formation—using the same method as when he made the first one, complex footwork. Deep impressions of his foot were left over the hardened sand, creating a complex design of seemingly random footsteps. But with this, just by infusing Qi into it, he could quickly travel between two points. Not only does it save activation time, it’s even more efficient in Qi usage! The only problem is how troublesome it was to set up. "Alright, with this..." Xu Tao sighed, facing the desert again—but away from the mountain in the distance. "I can finally start my hunting!" Right, his main purpose for coming there wasn’t to set up a permanent travel method. It was to release some steam by beating monsters and, in turn, increase his level. "If only those wave monsters from earlier offered experience points, I wouldn’t be out here now..." He lamented, recalling the events that happened not that long ago; literally just yesterday. All monsters around their camp, and at the edge of the desert, already had white names. And white-named monsters don’t give experience. ’Thus, to level up, I need to find stronger monsters.’ His aim before was to simply raise his level and increase the cultivation stat limit. But now, even if he reached level 250, he doubted he could raise the stat cap high enough. His cultivation stat was now 2200, after all! "Let’s go, Pepe!" After his setup was done, Xu Tao finally began walking. Pepe trailed a step behind, moving as if hopping across the sands. "Oh? So suddenly?" But barely even moving 100 meters, he already came to a stop. Ahead of him, he could feel the presence of hundreds of Sand Beetle Larvae. Monsters with levels ranging below 20... Way too weak to get experience points from but— "Monsters still drop loot boxes!" Xu Tao stomped, loading it with his Qi. The next moment, feeling the shockwave, all of the worms popped out of their hiding spots. A sight that’s definitely not for the faint of heart. "Time to work, buddy!" But after pulling his sword out, waving it once—all the worms stopped moving. A second later, the deafening sound of notifications appearing at the same time assaulted his ears. Windows appeared before him, towering into the sky in an instant. "That’s a lot of kills..." He grinned, satisfied. "And loots!" "Pui~!" Knowing his role, Pepe didn’t delay and began running around, collecting the dropped Loot Boxes. Of course, Xu Tao did the same, starting on the other side. "Hmm?" But right as he claimed the 10th loot box, he raised a brow. The notification showed him a curious item... [Opening Small Loot Box... You receive Water (1 bottle), 1x Strength Potion Recipe (Mix), and 1x Iron Sword Recipe (Craft)] From the boxes, recipes were received. Curious, Xu Tao quickly confirmed them. And to his surprise, the said recipes did appear on their respective panels—Crafting and Mixing. "So recipes drop from monsters too..." Xu Tao nodded, finally figuring another question he long had. "I thought you can only get it from quests... Lucky!" With this, the more recipes he got, the more "advanced" their settlement could get. "Then, no need to hold back!" He was half-reluctant to waste his energy on monsters that offer no experience before—but with new knowledge that they actually drop recipes, things changed. Xu Tao ran, making sure the mountain was right behind him, to not lose sight of his return "flight." Along the way, he killed all the weak monsters he met, not missing or letting a single one survive. In just three hours, he collected hundreds of new recipes, some sounding convenient, making him want to try making them instantly. But after three hours of travelling, a few kilometers deeper into the desert... things changed. Before him, stood a giant scorpion. Its body covered with hard-looking purple carapace, and the large stinger raised high up dripping with green liquid—poison. It had a red name, making Xu Tao grin. [Death Stinger – Lv. 160] "Finally... A worthy opponent!"