104. The Fog Has Rolled In

Before answering Lu Ban's question, Momiji realized something more important.

"It's getting foggy."

A faint mist rose from the corpses.

These mists looked no different from the mountain mists, but Lu Ban's intuition told him that they were dangerous.

Ultimately, it's highly suspicious that the bodies of these people, who died a month ago, have remained uncorrupted.

According to his limited knowledge of biology, after a person dies, the microorganisms in the body should begin to decompose the body. A body that has been in the wild for a month, in such a humid environment, would have long since become unrecognizable without preservation treatment.

But the bodies were perfectly intact.

Lu Ban could only think that all the microorganisms in these corpses and in the air had died.

So, what can do that?

The fog began to dissipate, drifting towards Lu Ban and Momiji with the wind.

"It's time to run away."

Lu Ban immediately grabbed Momiji's wrist and dragged her outside.

However, outside the shrine, a thick fog seemed to be enveloping them as well.

"Try not to breathe in this fog, cough cough."

Momiji coughed and covered her mouth with her sleeve.

She and Lu Ban exchanged a glance, and seeing that the pure white mist was about to envelop the road down the mountain, they rushed straight towards it.

Lu Ban casually scooped the bottle into the fog and quickly put the cap back on.

The two entered the fog.

Unlike normal fog, this fog doesn't feel moist; when it hits your face, it feels like a sandstorm with a distinct grainy texture.

Even with his mouth and nose covered, Lu Ban still inhaled a little mist. Instantly, he felt a burning sensation in his throat and lungs. The fine particles in the air combined with the alveoli, blocking their oxygen intake channels. Instead, the mist flowed into his bloodstream, triggering further changes.

Lu Ban's eyes were bloodshot, as if they were about to overflow. He glanced at Momiji beside him. This priestess also had bloodshot eyes, and the whites of her eyes were full of blood vessels. However, a faint light emanated from Momiji's body, which seemed to form a barrier to prevent the fog from invading.

"Is this the 'technique'?"

The supernatural system in this world seems to be based on spells and barriers centered around the prayers of priestesses. Lu Ban and Momiji rushed out of the mist and returned to the mountain path full of Torii Gate in a rather disheveled state.

The mist continued to swirl around the mountaintop, like a wild beast. Lu Ban could even see the mist rising and falling like breathing. However, most of the mist quickly gathered and disappeared.

The faint light on Momiji's body disappeared. She coughed for a while, spitting out a few mouthfuls of dark blood. When she turned her head, she saw that Lu Ban was already lying on the ground.

"Cough cough cough, cough cough cough"

Lu Ban coughed incessantly, the sound like his throat was being torn apart. This persistent and violent cough was enough to cause the muscles in his back to cramp. He curled up into a ball. When Momiji approached, she saw that dark blood was flowing from Lu Ban's eyes, nose, mouth, and ears.

"Erosion is the erosion of Corrupted Ones."

Momiji had no idea that the Harmony Island Shrine had completely fallen, and even the shrine maiden in charge had died. This meant that the Shrine Officials on Song Island was completely paralyzed, and the ordinary people on the island would have no power to resist the influence of the Corrupted Ones on the sea.

No, perhaps she should have realized that when she saw that bloody, fleshy monster rushing into the street, Momiji should have understood that the island had undergone unimaginable changes. It was just that the Shrine Officials responsible for the initial investigation made her lower her guard. After all, as a shrine maiden of the Harmony Island shrine, Momiji knew very well how difficult it was to control a shrine on an island.

She could never have imagined that her proud Harmony Island Shrine would be so utterly vulnerable in the face of that power whose true form was yet to be known.

But now is not the time to dwell on faith. As Momiji reached out, preparing to use a purification spell to treat Lu Ban, she saw the man's cough turn into vomiting. He bent over and vomited out a filthy, black substance.

The thing was the size of a palm, shocking to the eye, making Momiji's eyelids twitch.

If the erosion reaches this level, Lu Ban's life will likely be in danger.

Upon closer inspection, as she tried to discern what kind of internal organ it was, she discovered that the filthy thing was actually a clump of grass.

Like a clump of grass that a cow has eaten and then ruminated on, that sticky, disgusting stuff really is a clump of grass.

Lu Ban vomited a second vomit, a third vomit, and so on until he vomited a tenth vomit. Only then did the coughing and vomiting subside slightly, and the violent trembling of his body calmed down.

Momiji saw that Lu Ban's arm was pierced by thorns, his body was covered with ivy-like plants, and several twigs hung from the corner of his mouth like saliva.

Why are you backing away?

When Lu Ban saw that the shrine maiden suddenly took several steps back and adopted a defensive posture, he asked her a question.

Are you alright?

Momiji asked in a deep voice, staring at Lu Ban with a slightly wary look.

This appearance has far exceeded the degree of erosion; it is no different from those humanoid monsters that have been severely polluted and mutated. If it goes any further, it will probably become true Corrupted Ones.

Momiji had witnessed her parents, the villagers she knew, and her familiar friends being corrupted and transformed into monsters by the Corrupted Ones, begging her to kill them in agony. After becoming a shrine maiden, she also saw people who originally had their own lives, their own dreams, and lived ordinary lives, but were turned into mindless monsters by the unintentional passage of natural disasters.

Seeing Lu Ban's appearance, Momiji felt a surge of emotion, but she immediately suppressed it.

"No problem, it's a pity there's no sun right now, otherwise it would heal even faster."

As Lu Ban spoke, he pulled the twigs out of his mouth one by one. The twigs were very long, as if they were flowing back from his stomach, mixed with gastric juices and black, Filthy Blood.

"Don't worry, I'm just an ordinary person. These are my friends who help me digest, you know? Just like chickens eat Stone to help grind their feed, turtles also eat Stone to help digest. That's what they are."

He explained earnestly.

"You call this an ordinary person?"

Momiji glanced at the branches on the ground that were still trembling and crawling like worms.

"By the way, are you alright?"

Lu Ban seemed to remember something and looked to the side.

This made Momiji take another half step back, because there was no one by Lu Ban's side at all!

Who are you talking to?

Momiji immediately asked.

"My air friend, and doesn't everyone on the island have an air friend?"

Lu Ban countered with a question.

"Who told you that?"

Cold sweat broke out on Momiji's forehead. She carefully chose her words and looked at the void beside Lu Ban. With the help of the priestess's power, she concentrated her mind and was able to see the illusory thing.

It was the silhouette of a person standing next to Lu Ban, seemingly uninterested in the presence of the shrine maiden, simply standing there.

"Air Friend. In Harmony Island, it's a kind of Corrupted Ones existing in ghost stories. It usually comes from one of twins who died young, or the lingering obsession of a close friend after their passing. Its very existence is a form of pollution!!!"

Momiji noticed that the silhouette next to Lu Ban suddenly changed.

It seemed to turn its head to look at the Momiji, and then it grinned.

The mouth split open from the shoulder, across the chest and abdomen, ending at the other shoulder.

It noticed the Momiji!