The team advanced amid cries of alarm and angry curses, and with a night spent piecing together memories, Xiu Nuo had roughly figured out the specifics.
This Chu Nan started his journey in Ecuador, where the public security was relatively good—at least the best Chu Nan had experienced since he had started his journey.
Then, they took a vehicle into a country called Colombia. He had stuck with the main group and encountered the police who specifically targeted them three times, paying over a thousand US dollars in total.
However, some people fell behind on this route—two individuals in poor health contracted yellow fever.
The group reached a city in southern Colombia called Nei Cocli, where they boarded speedboats at night to take the sea route into Panama. Chu Nan remembered there being at least six small wooden boats fitted with motors sneaking through the ocean in the dark.
By the time they reached Pitu in Panama, only four of the six boats remained. The other two must have sunk to feed the sharks in the sea.
Next, the group entered the Darien Gap via rivers, a primeval rainforest where, according to Xiu Nuo, even the animals he'd used as sustenance were top predators.
Additionally, the muddy terrain, the climate, and the frequent need to wade across rivers meant that their clothing was perpetually wet, and their shoes were always muddy. Many suffered from festering foot sores, and those in poor health even developed accompanying ailments due to bacterial infections.
Yet, despite it all, everyone had to grit their teeth and follow the guide and the main group because without the guide's and the group's protection, death was the only alternative.
But even sticking close to the group wasn't safe—as before Xiu Nuo's body seizing, this Chu Nan had been robbed by local drug dealers. Indeed, within the group itself, there were acts of robbery, bullying, and sexual violence; after all, the guide was only responsible for leading the way, not for "dispensing justice."
Now, it was the third day since the group had entered the rainforest, and according to the plan, they were a day away from reaching a mudflat, where they could reach a temporary migrant camp.
A bustling city in Panama was not far from the migrant camp, but they were strict about catching immigrants, so the city and this group were unrelated. Once they reached the camp, they wouldn't even have time to rest before having to take a boat under cover of darkness to the border city of David in Panama.
There, they could briefly enjoy some semblance of civilized society before traveling by car to Nicaragua, then from Nicaragua to Honduras, onwards to Guatemala, into Mexico, and finally reaching that Demon Cultivation Holy Land.
But the real challenge lay in the three countries before the Demon Cultivation Holy Land.
As he pieced together these memories, Xiu Nuo realized that it was best to head to the Demon Cultivation Holy Land.
The people in this world were mostly ordinary, but they possessed a type of firearm whose destructive power Xiu Nuo currently couldn't withstand, based on the fragments of memories about the worldly forces these ordinary people held.
Let's not even mention something called a nuclear bomb; many conventional firearms required Xiu Nuo to at least reach the Nascent Soul Stage to ensure his safety completely.
In other words, only by recovering to the Nascent Soul Stage could he guarantee his safety. Furthermore, to use the Heavenly Demon Disintegration, he needed to be at least at the Nascent Soul Stage.
Now that he had seized a new body in this new world and wanted the Demon Path to flourish, setting aside reaching Nascent Soul Stage, he felt he needed at least to recover to the Golden Core Stage.
As he organized these memories, Xiu Nuo also wondered whether he should stay in this chaotic place, because the next stops—Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico—were even more chaotic than his ultimate destination, the United States. But after lengthy contemplation, Xiu Nuo realized those places weren't suitable for his current state.
Because Demon Cultivators weren't chaotic evil but rather lawful evil according to this world's classifications. After all, Demon Cultivators also needed to establish sects, and establishing sects required rules. Those truly chaotic evil were some individuals Demon Cultivators would refer to as Evil Cultivators.
Even among Evil Cultivators, those were typically Demon Cultivators driven mad or orthodox cultivators from the Immortal Sects. They shared one commonality—they were powerful. Those not powerful enough were killed by passing knights for reasons of eliminating demons and defending the path, lacking even the privilege to bear the title 'Evil.'
Xiu Nuo didn't need a purely chaotic place but rather one with some semblance of order. He also didn't desire to be some mad Evil Cultivator, as that contradicted the essential Dao.
Moreover, regardless of his fragmented memories or his current feelings, although this world lacked the familiar 'Great Dao,' there seemed to be a terrifying thing known as 'Trajectory.'
Similarly, whether it's from memories or his current sensing of Spiritual Energy levels, even if Magic exists, it's likely primitive. Yet, a thing called 'gun technique' from memories seemed particularly unreasonable.
Therefore, the more information integrated, the more Xiu Nuo solidified his plan to lay low. His great endeavor of ascension would best unfold after reaching that Holy Land!
After setting his long-term goals, Xiu Nuo now needed to figure out a way to restore the Ghostly Vicious Energy back to a usable level.
Currently, the Ghostly Vicious Energy, besides consuming, knew nothing else.
As a Demon Cultivator, though other skills could be lacking, mastering an Escape Skill was essential.
If he were to cultivate on his own, the simplest Escape Skill required at least the Qi Cultivation Stage to master, and if he wanted to recover without drawing attention, reaching the Qi Cultivation Stage was still a distant dream.
However, the Ghostly Vicious Energy inherently possessed a Shadow Escape Skill, which was the reason Xiu Nuo had chosen it as his Lifebound Magical Treasure in the first place.
As a Demon Cultivator, as long as you survived, there was always an opportunity to start cultivating.
"Thirty years on the east bank of the river, thirty years on the west bank, don't let the Demon Cultivator escape; otherwise, you never know when he'll cultivate enough to return, slap you in the face, and perhaps refine you."
At this moment, Xiu Nuo actually missed the "Netherworld Blood Scripture" from his sect.
His practice, "Netherworld Decision," primarily focused on refining the Divine Soul to enhance his cultivation, pursuing a mindset and the grand path where the Demon Path was among the three thousand paths, advocating following one's heart, yet it could not be without prohibition.
However, another faction's "Netherworld Blood Scripture" was about exclusive rule, killing to train corpses, seizing souls for oneself, one man's success built on the bones of many, and slaughtering a city for sacrifice were all basic operations.
But the people practicing the "Netherworld Blood Scripture" weren't too many anymore, no choice, who could blame you when you couldn't beat the six major Immortal Sects.
However, without those constraints, the Netherworld Blood Scripture was obviously more suitable for his current situation, but regarding the "Netherworld Blood Scripture," Xiu Nuo only knew some simple chapters of Blood Magic.
At this time, the team had to cross another turbulent river.
The guide was still calling out, "When crossing the river, be careful where you step, orderly crossing, no rush, if you get washed away, stay calm, try to stand up. If you want to hold hands while crossing, you can, but don't blame me for not warning you, beware of being dragged down by someone next to you."
After he finished speaking, the majority of the troops began crossing the river.
Although the river water in the tropical rainforest was chilly, it wasn't bone-chilling, and taller people had no issues crossing.
However, accidents always occurred.
In front of Xiu Nuo, someone cried out in alarm and fell into the river water; he tried to struggle to stand several times but lost balance and fell each time he almost got up.
After several attempts, the river had swept him increasingly further away from the crowd.
Many people saw this scene, only shook their heads, and kept moving forward.
The guide glanced over, shook his head helplessly, and gave up on him.
But the next moment, the guide was startled by the scene before him, "What are you doing!!"
Xiu Nuo had already dashed out of the crowd and was swimming down the river toward the man being swept away.
Facing a group that was indifferent even to death, it finally let out a cry of alarm, for no other reason.
It had been so long that everyone had become numb; they hadn't expected, at this moment, that someone would actually... want to save a person!