Gou Zai Fei Men made up myths

Three days later, everything was ready. Late at night, the moon was hidden and the stars were few.

Four inconspicuous streaks of light quietly left Qingyun Mountain, merging into the deep night, and sped off towards the Black Swamp in the southwest.

The Black Swamp, a thousand miles beyond the Boiling Bone Pool, lies an unnamed hill.

This place is deep inside the Black Swamp, where the gray-black poisonous miasma that hangs in the air year-round is so thick that it cannot be dissolved, like a heavy shroud that blocks out the sun.

Beneath their feet lay a soft, bubbly swampy mud that reeked of a pungent, rotten stench. Scattered throughout were bizarrely colored poisonous pools, twisted and menacing dead trees, and low-level poisonous insects and miasma beasts lurking in the shadows, their scarlet eyes gleaming.

The air was filled with a nauseating, fishy smell and a deathly stillness.

Shen Mo and his companions moved stealthily, their bodies enveloped in a faint, ever-flowing light that kept the poisonous miasma and deathly aura at bay.

This is a simplified, portable version of the "Small Heavenly Array" that Zhao Qingyan set up in advance, which has the effects of concealment, protection, and purification.

Su Xiao moved like a ghost dozens of feet ahead, his figure appearing and disappearing among the poisonous miasma and withered trees, silently clearing away any possible sentries and traps.

Behind the Stone Iron Hall, Tongling's large eyes warily scanned the surroundings, the giant axe in his hand gleaming coldly.

A-Yuan was protected in the middle, her little face tense, following closely behind Shen Mo. Her big eyes, however, looked around restlessly, and deep in her pupils, there was a faint light that was hard for ordinary people to detect, as if she was sensing something.

The closer one gets to the Boiling Bone Pool, the harsher the environment becomes. The poisonous miasma is as thick as ink, mixed with wisps of grayish-white, eerie aura that stings the soul—that is the extremely thin, leaked death energy of reincarnation.

The mud beneath my feet turned icy cold, as if it could freeze my blood. The withered trees twisted into grotesque shapes, like ghosts struggling in their death throes. Faint, indistinct auditory hallucinations began to appear in the air, like the low weeping and wailing of countless people, disturbing my mind.

"Sect Leader, fifty miles ahead is the final warning line reported by Gui San. Further ahead, the concentration of death energy increases dramatically, the effectiveness of ordinary concealment formations is greatly reduced, and wandering 'yin spirits and vengeful souls' have begun to appear. Although they are weak, there are quite a few of them. They cannot be killed off completely, and alerting them would only cause trouble."

Su Xiao's figure appeared beside Shen Mo like ripples on water, reporting in a low voice. Her clear, cold voice was particularly distinct in the deathly silence.

Shen Mo nodded, his gaze fixed on the dark, seemingly endless depths of the poisonous miasma.

His divine sense had already spread out like a tide, but it was greatly suppressed here, only able to extend for less than a hundred miles, and his perception was blurry, as if he were looking through a thick, filthy frosted glass.

But he could clearly sense that something was "wrong" about the area ahead.

It wasn't the lifeless stillness of extinction, but a deeper, more unsettling "nothingness" and "chaos," as if the very rules of that world had been distorted and polluted.

"Ah Yuan, can you sense anything?" Shen Mo looked at the girl beside him.

Since stepping into this area, A Yuan's face had turned pale and her body trembled slightly, but her eyes were unusually bright, even carrying a hint of... confused familiarity.

Upon hearing this, she closed her eyes, took a deep breath (despite the poisonous miasma and deathly aura in the air), and opened them a moment later, pointing to the left front, her voice trembling with uncertainty:

"Over there... the crying is clearer... there are many... chaotic 'shadows' floating... the feeling of water... the black water feels stronger... deep underground over there..."

The direction she pointed was precisely where the Boiling Bone Pool was located! Moreover, she sensed "crying sounds" and "shadows" (vengeful spirits).

They even sensed the "black water" deep underground (a pool of decaying bones?).

Shen Mo and Su Xiao exchanged a glance and nodded.

A-Yuan's perception matched the Shadow Guards' investigation and the records of the Heavenly Mystery Pavilion, and was even more specific and clear. Her divine soul talent was indeed remarkably effective here.

"As planned, establish a temporary camp here. Qingyan, set up the 'Two Elements Dust Array' to conceal your presence and isolate yourself from death energy. Junior Brother Tie, be on guard. Su Xiao, A Yuan, follow me to explore another ten miles ahead and ascertain the situation at the edge," Shen Mo ordered.

"Yes!" the crowd responded. Zhao Qingyan immediately took out the array plates and flags and began to set them up. The giant iron axe slammed into the ground, standing guard around the camp like a gatekeeper. Su Xiao's figure flickered, disappearing once again into the poisonous miasma ahead.

Shen Mo, along with A Yuan, concealed their auras and, like two wisps of green smoke, silently slipped away towards the Boiling Bone Pool.

The ten-mile distance was covered in the blink of an eye. But the environment here was completely different from the surrounding area.

The grayish-white deathly aura of reincarnation was no longer wisps, but had formed a faint, misty haze that drifted in the air.

One breath sent a chill through me, as if my soul were about to leave my body. The ground beneath my feet hardened and turned black, like scorched earth burned by flames, barren of vegetation, yet icy cold.

The sky was shrouded in an even denser, churning gray-black miasma, blocking out every ray of light. Only in the distance could one vaguely see a chilling "dark area" that seemed capable of swallowing all light—that was the location of the spatial rift.

Between them and that dark area, countless translucent, distorted, grayish-white shadows—ghosts and vengeful spirits—drifted about, emanating an aura of pain and resentment.

They wandered aimlessly, emitting silent howls, and even the grayish-white aura of death gave way to them.

"This is it." Shen Mo stopped and hid behind a huge, dark rock that looked as if it had been twisted by a tremendous force, staring intently at the dark area.

Even though they were nearly a hundred miles apart, the terrifying spatial fluctuations and suffocating pressure of reincarnation were already coming in waves, causing the spiritual power within his golden core to become somewhat sluggish.

The Myriad Laws Source Pearl slowly rotated in the sea of ​​consciousness, emitting a soft, clear light that protected the soul, while also emitting faint fluctuations that carried a sense of vigilance and inquiry.

Ah Yuan hid behind Shen Mo, her small hands tightly gripping the hem of his clothes, her face as pale as paper, her body trembling like a leaf in the wind.

Her eyes widened as she gazed at the endless darkness in the distance, and within that darkness, the spatial rifts that seemed to pierce the sky like the fangs of a colossal beast, and deep within those rifts, the indistinct yet infinitely desolate and majestic outlines of ancient palaces. Her lips trembled, and she could barely utter a complete sentence:

"It's...it's right there...the houses...the dilapidated...big houses...under the water...no, in the sky...so many...so many people are crying...falling in...they can't get out...they'll never get out..."

She was incoherent, overwhelmed with fear that nearly made her fall.

Su Xiao quietly appeared beside him and whispered, "There are a great many vengeful spirits, but they are of low intelligence and wander around on instinct. They are sensitive to life force. No other cultivators have been found within a hundred miles."

"However, in the southeast and northwest directions, about three hundred miles away, there are still faint spiritual energy fluctuations, which are suspected to be spies from the Lieyang Sect and Tianjian Sect who have arrived nearby and then retreated."

"Further away, there is a faint, lingering aura characteristic of the Xuan Yin Sect's techniques, very faint and difficult to detect."