Late at night, the starry sky stretched boundlessly overhead.
Bright moonlight spilled over the mist drifting above Misty Forest, serene and mystical, like an illusionary realm of the heavenly palace.
The forest was utterly silent. Not even the faint chirping of insects could be heard.
At a certain moment.
Crack!
The sound of dead leaves breaking shattered the silence.
As the mist churned, a white-haired old man in tattered clothes emerged from it.
His graying hair was tangled and disheveled, and his body was so withered that he seemed to be nothing but skin and bones. Yet he moved with remarkable vigor, his limbs brimming with strength, and his complexion was as rosy as that of a robust middle-aged man.
The old man's eyes were half-open, but his pupils were dull and unfocused. His face was expressionless, as though he were sleepwalking.
Step, step, step...
A set of orderly footsteps approached from afar. A group of people broke through the mist and appeared in the middle of the forest, standing there blankly just like the old man.
There were men and women, young and old, tall and short, fat and thin. There were even two or three black water buffaloes and seven or eight Big Yellow Dogs.
Their eyelids drooped as they silently walked deeper into Misty Forest. Their movements were perfectly uniform, like puppets on strings.
Farther away, moonlight filtered through gaps in the mist and shone into the woods.
Countless shadowy figures were concealed in the fog, slowly advancing.
Step, step, step...
The orderly footsteps echoed through the deathly silent Misty Forest in the depths of night, eerie enough to make one's scalp tingle.
Several days later, Peach Blossom Valley.
Chen Mu was mixed in with the people of the Hundred Illusions Division, putting on a show