Wondrous Sight Beyond the Poison Mist

The three did not travel quickly—if anything, they were rather slow. The main reason was that Tang Fu'er was not carrying the other two through the air this time; instead, they spent most of their time traveling on the ground.

This had been Ming Lunyu's suggestion. One reason was that he wanted to see more of the Soul Beast Forest's scenery, and the other was for Ma Hongjun's sake.

At that moment, Ma Hongjun's second Soul Ring shone brightly. Her already magnificent Phoenix wings were draped in a golden-red cloak of flame, and her graceful figure floated high in the air like a goddess of fire descending from the heavens.

Ma Hongjun skillfully swooped and spun through the air, scattering strings of silver-bell laughter behind her.

That was right. Ming Lunyu had chosen to travel slowly so Ma Hongjun would have more time to become familiar with flying.

As the owner of the Phoenix Martial Soul, the king of all birds, the sky should have been Ma Hongjun's main battlefield more than any other environment. Thus, the ability to skillfully control her body in the air was something she had to possess.

"Brother! Fu'er! Come look! Something's happening up ahead!"

Ma Hongjun suddenly shouted from midair.

"What is it?"

As Ming Lunyu spoke, he took Tang Fu'er's hand.

Tang Fu'er immediately understood. Her Soul Power surged as she carried the two of them into the air until they were level with Ma Hongjun.

"Look." Ma Hongjun stretched out a slender, pale finger and pointed into the distance.

"Poison Mist."

Tang Fu'er recognized the green gas filling the valley ahead. It was a vast Poison Mist formed from an extremely potent toxin.

"Is this a natural phenomenon?" Ming Lunyu asked.

Tang Fu'er shook her head. "I can't tell either. Maybe we'll only know if we get closer."

"Will it be dangerous?" Ming Lunyu asked gravely.

"Don't worry, Brother. There isn't any poison on Douluo Continent that can threaten me. Even if there were, it couldn't possibly be this one." Tang Fu'er patted her small chest confidently.

Ming Lunyu was relieved as well.

Although he knew Tang Fu'er was an immensely powerful rank ninety-nine Douluo, her excessively youthful appearance always made Ming Lunyu subconsciously treat her like a child.

Yet Tang Fu'er was actually more than twice as old as Ming Lunyu and Ma Hongjun combined.

"Then let's go take a look." Ming Lunyu made his decision.

Great danger was often accompanied by great opportunity. Since there was no threat, they might as well investigate. Perhaps they would find something unexpected.

With a destination in mind, the three no longer traveled at a leisurely pace. Tang Fu'er once again carried the other two through the air.

However, unlike before, Tang Fu'er used her Soul Power to create an exceptionally thick protective barrier to keep the poison at bay.

Flying above the Poison Mist, the three could see the situation below more clearly.

"What terrifying poison. It's hard to imagine how a place like this could arise naturally," Ming Lunyu remarked as he gazed at the bones scattered across the ground.

"I don't think this Poison Mist formed naturally at all. I don't know much about poison, but I know a little about formations. It feels like there are traces of a formation here."

"Is that so... Then who could have set up such a powerful Poison Mist here? And what was their purpose?" Ming Lunyu silently pondered.

Countless Soul Beasts and Soul Masters who had wandered into the Poison Mist had died here after the poison took effect. Their flesh had been completely corroded away, leaving only heaps of white bones.

At first, there were many corpses, but the farther they flew inward, the fewer there were.

At the very center lay the enormous skeleton of a beast. Judging from its remains, it had likely been a Scale Beast around seventy thousand years old when it was alive.

Perhaps many of the Soul Beasts and Soul Masters had not stumbled into this place by accident. They had likely come to explore because they too believed there was some great treasure deep within the Poison Mist. They simply had not expected the poison to be so potent, and all of them had died before reaching their destination.

The three had already flown very deep inside. Emerald poison fog sealed off everything around them.

"We're close," Ming Lunyu said with a premonition.

Sure enough, it was as though they had passed through a membrane. The Poison Mist abruptly cleared, and the three arrived at the summit of a mountain within the valley.

This place had not been affected by the Poison Mist at all. Instead, the air was fresh and brimming with spiritual energy. The mountaintop was lush and verdant, overflowing with vitality.

The three instinctively lowered their gazes into the valley, and the sight below stole their breath in astonishment.

Within the valley stood a breathtaking spectacle wrought by nature itself.

It was a vast lake, half red and half white. The red and white waters were sharply divided, touching but never mixing.

Most astonishing of all, the red water was as scorching as magma, while the white water was bone-chillingly cold, like ten-thousand-year black ice. Yet these two waters coexisted within the same pool, strange yet harmonious.

The spiritual energy around the lake was incomparably dense. A rough estimate suggested it was at least ten times richer than outside, while countless plants that looked extraordinarily mystical grew everywhere.

Tang Fu'er brought the two down into the valley. Her beautiful golden eyes were filled with shock.

Unlike Ming Lunyu and Ma Hongjun, who could only vaguely sense the extraordinary nature of these mystical plants, Tang Fu'er truly recognized some of them due to possessing most of Tang Chen's and the Dark Gold Three-Headed Bat King's memories. That was precisely why this place struck her even more deeply.

"Brother, let's claim this place for ourselves!"

For the first time, Ming Lunyu saw urgency and a trace of greed in Tang Fu'er's eyes.

He could not help but stare. "Are these things really that precious?"

Tang Fu'er nodded fiercely. "More than precious! Many of the immortal herbs here are absolutely one-of-a-kind, super—"

She exaggeratedly drew a circle with both hands, then felt it was too small to convey how precious these immortal herbs were. She spread her arms as wide as she could and drew an enormous circle.

"Super precious!"

"For example, this one—Aromatic Silk Beauty! As long as you stand near it, you won't fear any poison."

"And this one—Earth Dragon Golden Gourd! It contains dragon energy. If a Soul Master with a snake-type Martial Soul eats it, it could very well trigger Martial Soul Evolution."

"This Ten Thousand Year Snow Silkworm is extremely valuable."

"This Nine-Rank Purple Ganoderma..."

"The Cockscomb Phoenix Sunflower is suitable for Sister Jun..."

"This one..."

"And this one too!"

Tang Fu'er pulled the two along, pointing out the plants one after another as they walked.

Ming Lunyu and Ma Hongjun nodded, even though they did not fully understand how impressive it all was.

"So, so, we absolutely have to claim this place as our own!"

In the end, Tang Fu'er cried out excitedly.

Ming Lunyu pinched her little cheek. "I understand how you feel, but before talking about claiming the place, shouldn't we first ask the owner's opinion?"

"Hm?" Tang Fu'er followed Ming Lunyu's gaze and indeed spotted a Wooden Cabin built in one corner of the valley.

"This place already has an owner? Well, that makes sense. They're probably the one who set up the Poison Mist." Tang Fu'er muttered, then a fierce gleam flashed through her eyes. The aura of a rank ninety-nine limit Douluo surged from her, bending the surrounding trees and grass. "Why should I care about any of that? If they're not strong enough to guard a treasure land, then they deserve to have it taken away!"

"Alright, alright, there's no rush..." Ming Lunyu scratched beneath Tang Fu'er's chin soothingly. The little girl narrowed her eyes like a cat, her lovely face full of enjoyment.

This treasure land was indeed precious, but to be honest, Ming Lunyu had yet to truly grasp the immense benefits it could bring. Though he was greatly tempted by it, that was all.

Besides, strange as it might sound, Ming Lunyu did not want to achieve his goal through trickery and plunder.

It was not that his moral standards were exceptionally high. He simply did not want to barge onto someone's land for no reason, beat them up, and then seize all their possessions. After all, they had never met before and bore no grudge against one another.

He had experienced the tragedy of having his entire village slaughtered by someone with whom he had no enmity, losing his beloved Grandpa, and even being driven into a dead end with his Sister. Because of that, Ming Lunyu felt some aversion toward such behavior.

What concerned him more now was another question: what kind of person was the owner of this place, and were they worth recruiting?

That was right. He had not considered taking over someone else's territory, but he had set his sights directly on its owner instead.

A long time ago, Ming Lunyu had vaguely entertained an idea: one day, he would build a force of his own and work alongside them to eliminate Evil Soul Masters.

Though he did not often speak of it, Ming Lunyu had never forgotten the unforeseen disaster that had befallen Grass Chicken Village all those years ago. Especially after witnessing the countless absurdities and twisted human nature within the City of Slaughter, he had always harbored hatred for those Evil Soul Masters who wielded great power yet had lost all conscience.

Ming Lunyu thought that if he ever became a powerful figure himself, he would surely cleanse the entire continent of Evil Soul Masters—not for anything else, but so there would be fewer children in the world who suffered what he and Ma Hongjun had suffered.