Strongest Scammer: Scamming The World, One Death At A Time
Chapter 233: Heading To Caldera Edge Town

Chapter 233: Heading To Caldera Edge Town

Han Yu threw on the plain inner robe, then layered the Mist Eye Sect’s uniform over it. His face was already wrapped, and his aura suppressed to the point of seeming like a Low-Stage Qi Refining cultivator at best. As long as no one scrutinized him too deeply, he’d pass for another grumbling lackey on a long walk.

He had read the logistical documents and personnel appointments which stated that other than the disciples assigned to the outposts, there were some that would patrol the area as well as a few that could independently wander the area to hunt for beasts or gather herbs as they pleased.

After all, this was officially in the territory of the Mist Eye Sect, so there was no problem in the sect’s disciples to do whatever they wished here. This also granted Han Yu quite a bit of freedom.

’I also have the three identity tokens of the disciples I killed. While I won’t be able to activate them, as long as no one checks deeply, just showing them would prove my identity for the most part.’ Han Yu hoped.

With the satchel on his back and glaive wrapped in cloth, Han Yu stepped out of the cave and began his descent into the craggy southern slope.

The road to Caldera Edge Town awaited. And with it, hopefully, the pieces of a puzzle far more ancient and dangerous than anyone had guessed.

He just had to survive long enough to put it together. But he had no idea his journey was going to be much harder than he thought.

The journey to Caldera Edge Town was far longer and more arduous than Han Yu had first imagined.

What should have been a twenty-five-kilometer trek turned into a brutal three-day ordeal across winding paths, hidden gullies, and treacherous cliffside ledges. The shortest route—so promising on the map—was immediately ruled out when he reached the first overlook.

Down below, the plains that connected directly to the town were crawling with Nakrels.

They looked like oversized, mangy hyenas with coarse, bristling fur, jagged claws, and powerful haunches. From his vantage point, Han Yu could see at least two dozen of them wandering the charred black plain, their snouts raised high as they sniffed at the wind. They moved with eerie coordination, their powerful jaws clicking occasionally, a sound that made Han Yu instinctively tense.

He recalled one of the notes he had skimmed from the Mist Eye documents.

"Nakrels—carnivorous pack beasts. Vary from the Low to Peak of the Qi Refining food chain on the volcanic plains. Acute blood-scent detection up to two kilometers. Approach with extreme caution. Avoid when wounded."

Han Yu glanced down at the bandages on his legs and arms. While he had rewrapped them cleanly and applied burn salve from the outpost, he knew there was still a lingering scent of blood on him—especially if something like a Nakrel had a nose for it.

"Guess that path’s a no," he muttered.

He turned, retreating deeper into the rocky outcroppings and began tracing an alternate route, higher up the ridgelines where vegetation thinned and stone ruled.

But the higher altitudes brought a different kind of danger.

The sky beasts.

The first time he saw one was just before dusk on the second day. A low, droning cry echoed over the cliffs, and Han Yu looked up just in time to see a Hook-Beaked Vulture spiraling down from the clouds. Its wingspan was massive—easily ten meters across—and its sickle-shaped beak glinted with a jagged sheen of spirit metal, likely a natural mutation.

The vulture wasn’t alone. It dove toward a group of Nakrels at the edge of a ridge, and in a few seconds, chaos erupted. One Nakrel leapt, trying to escape, only to be caught mid-air by another beast: a Long-Clawed Eagle.

That one was even larger.

It seized the struggling hyena-like beast and ascended again with slow, laborious flaps of its wings. Han Yu watched in grim silence as it perched on a distant cliff, talons digging in, and began to feast.

Even the Nakrels weren’t safe from predators out here.

"I’ll take the long way, thanks," Han Yu whispered, shaking his head and pressing onward.

Despite the danger, his journey wasn’t without confrontation. Smaller spirit beasts were common along the winding, higher paths. Most were at the low or mid stages of the Qi Refining realm—manageable, but still a threat when tired or hungry.

He avoided most with clever tricks.

A scattering of crushed dried spirit berries he had obtained from the outpost would distract a Stone-Horned Boar long enough for him to slip past. He covered his scent with ash and dried moss to confuse a Flame-Lizard’s tongue. And when he couldn’t avoid battle, he struck with precision.

One night, a Thorn-Tailed Monkey dropped from the trees and hissed, its four arms brandishing jagged wooden clubs fashioned from the tree’s branches.

Han Yu didn’t hesitate. He triggered a soul needle the moment it lunged, stunning it for just a second—long enough to bury the blade of his glaive in the creature’s throat. He didn’t enjoy the kill, but he knew hesitation was death here.

And by now, he didn’t feel much on killing. He had long since understood the rules of the cultivation world.

By the third day, his body ached from strain. His rations were dwindling, and his bandages were stained again—not from new wounds, but from cracked skin that hadn’t fully healed. He chewed on the last of his dried meat slowly as he climbed the last hill, heart pounding with the effort.

The area was much better than the rest of the plateau that was devoid of most vegetation. Here a few trees, bushes, and thorny shrubs could be seen everywhere along with grass. Giving Han Yu a bit of comfort.

Then, at last, he saw it.

Caldera Edge Town.

From the top of a narrow slope blanketed in tough brown grass, Han Yu crouched low behind a boulder and peered down at the basin where the town nestled.

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