Mist Without Borders

In the fog, it was impossible to tell day from night. Xu Mingxi could only judge the time by observing the Starlight Concentration drawn down by his First Soul Skill.

Night was about to end. Ever since the two Soul Saints had entered, no one else had appeared.

The Xiao Family Soul Saint bade farewell and returned straight into the dense fog. He needed to go back and find Xiao Rui; that was the most important purpose of his trip.

Xu Mingxi sat alone to the side, watching the Xiao Family Soul Saint leave with cold indifference. Now that he could not contact his grandfather and had lost his backer, he still had to pretend to be utterly fearless.

He refused to believe that fog even Soul Kings and Soul Saints could not stop would pose any threat to his grandfather. At most, something had held him up.

"Let's go in and take a look."

Chen Qingting stood in front of the Ruins, looking at the broken gate before him, then glanced sideways at Xu Mingxi, the only outsider present. If he refused, they might have to resort to other methods.

His sister's lifesaver, the Chen Family's honored guest—none of that was real. The only things that made them wary were Xu Mingxi's strength and the mysterious background revealed by his ability to pull the Yuan Family into the game.

Xu Mingxi naturally saw the current situation as well. The way the Chen brothers looked at him had changed subtly, but then again, who knew whether his protector was truly present or not?

"Let's go. We'll go in and take a look together."

The Chen brothers exchanged a tacit glance and nodded. It was not yet time to fall out. What dangers lay inside were still unknown, and whether there would be gains in the end—and whether those gains would be worth turning hostile over—were all things they had to consider.

Chen Qingting remembered the Smoke Wolves they had encountered earlier. Although they had not posed much of a threat and had been forced through by brute strength until the group reached this place, that undying, tireless appearance still filled him with some fear. He shook his head at his younger brother, then stepped into the Ruins first.

Xu Mingxi followed the two brothers, while the Chen Family's Iguana Soul Saint walked at the very back. He constantly watched for movement behind them, but he also spared a good deal of attention for Xu Mingxi.

After they went in, the First Elder behind them likewise wanted to follow, but just as he was about to step into the Ruins, the broken gate suddenly closed, and thick smoke began to rise all around.

The First Elder's expression changed drastically. He actually could not see through this layer of smoke. His Fourth Soul Ring lit up, and he struck the gate directly.

The gate was blasted open at once. The First Elder walked in and saw that it was actually an empty hall inside. Xu Mingxi and the others had long since vanished.

After Xu Mingxi and the other three stepped into the Ruins, they heard only the creak of a door closing. They whipped around, only to see that the gate they had just entered through had disappeared.

Chen Qingting activated Martial Soul Possession and punched the spot where the gate had originally been. His explosive fist collided with the wall, yet it did not damage it in the slightest.

The four people present unconsciously retreated to the center. They saw thick fog beginning to rise all around them. They heard the hoarse roars of beasts within the dense mist.

Under Xu Mingxi's gaze, the smoke churned, and a Smoke Wolf charged out from within. Chen Qingting was just about to repeat his earlier trick, going up to take the hit head-on before scattering it with a punch.

But he had not expected this Smoke Wolf's attack power to be on a completely different level from before. Chen Qingting's arm was clawed open, blood splattering everywhere. The pain made him stop in his tracks involuntarily, and the Smoke Wolf seized the chance to shrink back into the smoke.

Chen Qingting withdrew back into the group, his arm still bleeding, no longer daring to attack recklessly.

The monsters in the smoke would not let this chance slip by. A wolf shape came from behind, a tiger shape from the front, and the two attacked the group from the smoke at the same time.

The Chen Family Soul Saint Chen Xi stopped the tiger shape, while Xu Mingxi used Star Net to slow the wolf shape down. Chen Qingting's Fifth Soul Ring lit up, and he struck out with one claw, shattering it.

The two smoke monsters were defeated, turning into mist and returning to the dense fog, preparing for their next assault. Xu Mingxi and the other three watched their surroundings warily, their hearts almost instantly sinking to rock bottom.

The monsters formed from mist were undying and tireless, but their Soul Power and physical strength were limited. They simply did not have the capital to wear this out.

"Let's go. We'll enter the smoke. You clear the path, and I'll protect our surroundings."

At the critical moment, Xu Mingxi stepped forward. Once they entered the fog, monsters could attack from every direction, and only Star's Protection could shield all four of them.

He could sense how dense the astral power around them was. It should already be nighttime now, which was exactly when he was strongest.

The others had no other solution and could only choose to believe that Xu Mingxi really could protect them.

Chen Qingfeng carried Xu Mingxi on his back. A dazzling star crown appeared, and his Fourth and Fifth Soul Rings lit up at the same time. Specks of starlight flickered, turning into a flowing curtain of light that wrapped around them.

This was the first time the three members of the Chen Family had seen Xu Mingxi's Fourth Soul Skill. Amid their surprise, they directly carried Xu Mingxi into the dense fog. This was their only option.

Inside the dense fog, there were not as many monsters as they had imagined. From Xu Mingxi's observations, it seemed that only one wolf shape and one tiger shape were attacking them.

The attack strength was roughly equivalent to a casual strike from a Soul Emperor. Xu Mingxi could still hold on for the time being, but every attack made his face grow even paler.

"Quickly. I can't hold on for long."

At Xu Mingxi's call, the three members of the Chen Family linked hands and sprinted madly in one direction. Their Soul Power was more than half depleted, yet it seemed as if they had never touched the boundary. They had not even seen the faintest hint of one.

"Stop. We can't keep going. If we continue, we won't even have enough Soul Power left to counterattack those two monsters."

Xu Mingxi was being carried on Chen Qingfeng's back, giving him time to observe their surroundings and think. He had not discovered the boundary of this dense fog at all.

His thoughts were a mess. He pinched himself hard, forcing himself to calm down, and began brainstorming.

On Douluo Continent, there were only soul beasts, gods, human soul masters, and Soul Tools. Gods could be ruled out first; the chances of encountering one were pitifully small.

Soul beasts and human soul masters were not very likely either. Something that could stop a Titled Douluo and also trap the four of them here had basically already left those categories behind.

Information Xu Mingxi had read in the Star Crown Sect, along with the original work he had read in his previous life, flashed nonstop through his mind. He was frantic.

Meanwhile, in the outside world, the First Elder looked at the four people lying in the empty hall, the strange Soul Tool floating above the center of the hall, and the Soul Bone inside it that radiated brilliant light. The worry in his heart was beyond words.

This Soul Tool was clearly targeting the mind. Even he had been deceived when he first came in. Could Mingxi really discover its flaw?

The First Elder badly wanted to act and directly destroy this strange Soul Tool, but he was also afraid of affecting Xu Mingxi's Mental Strength. He could only watch as the Soul Power in the boy's body drained away.

If, in the end, the Soul Power in Xu Mingxi's body was about to run dry, he would act directly. At that point, there would be no time to worry about so much.