Xiandao Linglong

Black Mist Mountain, just like its name suggests, the whole mountain is covered with black fog. In this world without day or night, there is no direction at all.

The mountains were overgrown with weeds. I had been walking for so long but didn't see even a path people walked on. However, I was not surprised by the snakes, insects, rats and ants!

"Tick tock! Tick tock! Tick tock!"

In this black fog, Ye Qi leaned towards Jing Shu in a panic and asked, "Did you hear the sound of water?"

"Did you hear that too?"

Suddenly realizing something was amiss, Ye Qi turned his back to Jing Shu and looked around in the light of the torch, but still found nothing unusual. Confused, he muttered to himself, "This dripping sound has been with us all the way. No matter which direction we go, the sound remains the same. What's going on?"

Jing Shu remained silent, staring intently ahead. After a moment, she reached out and patted Ye Qi behind her, asking, "Look, what is that?"

Just as he finished speaking, there were sudden roars of monsters, and pairs of scarlet blood eyes were scattered throughout the forest like blood-red night pearls.

The originally stalemate situation ended after they stared at each other for a few breaths. The scarlet blood-red eyes flew over like fireflies in the pitch-black night where one could not see one's hand in front of one's face.

"What are you still daydreaming about? Run!"

Jingshu was the first to react. She pulled Ye Qi and ran, not daring to slack off at all along the way. She only stopped to catch her breath when she ran to a pool of water emitting crystal cold mist!

Ye Qi panted and collapsed on the edge of the pool, looking up at the sky and gasping for breath. After taking two breaths, he asked, "We should have gotten rid of them. Did you see what was chasing us?"

Jingshu's condition was much better than his, perhaps because she was light and lithe, so running wasn't as tiring as it was for him. However, she was still breathing heavily. After pondering for a moment, she replied solemnly, "It seems to be... a person?"

The two of them no longer cared about what species was chasing them. It seemed that there was no normal living creature in this black fog forest except the two of them.

Even the flowers, plants and trees on the ground look a little weird. After all, they can grow under the cover of this dark fog. No one would dare to believe that they are normal plants!

Ye Qi looked at the water in the pool beside him and found it so attractive. He was already thirsty from running all the way.

But the water in this pond was clearly not normal water. He could only look at it and swallow his saliva, which was already very thin, like looking at a plum to quench his thirst. He sighed and said, "Nature is truly amazing! Look at this pond. It's freezing cold, with a layer of ice all around, but the water in the middle is bubbling and emitting mist like boiling water!"

"This pool of water is the reason why the monsters here have become so violent. I was here a year ago. I sensed an extremely cold and sinister aura, so I came in to explore. However, I had only just reached the outskirts when I met Ning Wanqing, disrupting all my plans. Then, Ning Family Castle was invaded by the evil monsters from the Black Mist Forest, so I gave up the idea of coming in!"

"I really don't know where the eldest daughter of the Ning family got the courage to enter this Black Mist Forest alone. If nothing unexpected happened, she should have already met with an accident!"

Jingshu laughed and said, "Why? Are you scared now?"

"I'm not scared, but do you think it's a little scary how quiet it is here?"

Ye Qi's words made Jing Shu realize something. The two of them stood up with their tired bodies, but unexpectedly, a shriveled bone claw suddenly stretched out from the ground and grabbed Jing Shu's ankle tightly. Ye Qi quickly swung his sword to cut it off!

"I was wondering why it was so quiet, it turns out these disgusting things are all underground!"

Seeing a hard-shelled beetle crawling out of the broken hand bone, Jing Shu stabbed it with her spear, picked it up and took a closer look, then exclaimed, "It's a tarsal beetle, don't let it bite you!"

As he spoke, the water in the cold spring pool behind him began to churn more violently, and humanoid monsters crawled out one after another.

Seeing the current situation, it was impossible to escape. The two of them, one holding a sword and the other holding a spear, stood back to back and blocked the group of zombies that were attacking them.

"These monsters are impossible to kill! What should I do?"

Jingshu also realized that the humanoid monsters that crawled out of the cold spring had no sense of pain at all, and even a spear piercing their hearts would not stop them at all.

Suddenly, he remembered a tarsal beetle that had just emerged from the ground, and he understood the reason. He quickly reminded it, "Tarsal beetles are afraid of fire. Quick, light a torch!"

Under Jingshu's cover, Ye Qi quickly took out a tinder and rekindled the torch that had just gone out. However, even with the torches for illumination, it was still difficult to repel the group of humanoid monsters. After all, there were too many of them, and there was only one torch!

Seeing that there were more and more monsters, it seemed that the noise here was too loud, and the sleeping monsters around gradually showed signs of waking up.

Ye Qi immediately thrust the torch into Jing Shu's hand, then turned around, found a weak spot, and charged out a bloody path. He ran recklessly forward, shouting at the top of his lungs, "Monsters! Come after me!"

Jingshu subconsciously reached out to grab him, but he shook her hand off and she stayed where she was.

When the monsters saw Ye Qi leaving the range of the fire alone, they all chased after him. The few remaining humanoid monsters were dealt with by Jing Shu.

Looking at the flickering torch in her hand, she knew that it was about to go out, which was why Ye Qi sacrificed himself to divert it.

"What a fool!"

Although he was saying bad things about Ye Qi, he was still worried in his heart. As the sky gradually brightened, he knew that in at most an hour, those humanoid monsters would fall into a deep sleep again.

Jingshu found some dry grass and branches, lit a bonfire, and added some wet leaves to it. Suddenly, thick smoke came out. She prayed in her heart that Ye Qi could see the smoke and find her location!

As the sunlight shone through the black fog and illuminated this deserted world, Jingshu fell asleep in a daze without knowing when.

When she woke up again, there were a few ragged villagers beside her. She was so scared that she stood up with a start, holding a spear in her hand and making a defensive posture.

"Don't be afraid, girl! Judging from your clothes, you must be from outside, right?" An old lady with a dark yellow complexion saw Jingshu so excited and spoke to comfort her.

"who are you?"

"We are villagers from Black Rock Village. We found you because we saw the thick smoke you had set ablaze here. Don't be afraid, girl! Those evil spirits won't come out during the day!"

A young girl saw Jingshu let down her guard and noticed her lips were dry and pale, so she took off the water bottle from her waist and handed it to her, saying, "Sister! Are you thirsty?"

Seeing that the girl in front of her, who was of the same age as her, was very real, Jingshu took the water that was handed to her, gulped down a few big gulps, and then fell down in a daze.

With a shred of consciousness left, he heard the girl say happily, "Grandma! This girl has such a fair and clean body. If we offer her as a sacrifice to the Mountain God, he will surely protect our Black Rock Village and keep it safe!"