That night, Lu Chen spent the entire night meditating in the camp, bringing himself to peak condition.
At daybreak the next morning, he took Zhang Tiezhu and sped toward the edge of the mist.
Though Zhang Tiezhu had been eroded by deathly qi, his foundation remained. He could barely keep up with Lu Chen's pace. The two hurried onward, reaching the edge of the mist an hour later.
Lu Chen stopped and looked at Zhang Tiezhu. "From now on, stay close to me. No matter what you see or hear, don't panic, and don't make a sound."
Zhang Tiezhu swallowed and nodded.
Lu Chen raised a hand, and a blue-gold curtain of light spread from his palm, enveloping Zhang Tiezhu. It was the Dragon Soul Mirror's purifying power, capable of warding off the erosion of deathly qi.
Then he stepped into the mist.
Zhang Tiezhu hurried after him.
Within the mist, vision was obstructed and spiritual sense suppressed. But Lu Chen possessed the Godslayer Thunder Eyes, which could pierce the fog and reveal the road ahead.
He led Zhang Tiezhu through the mist, avoiding areas where the deathly qi was especially dense as they headed north.
After walking for roughly an hour, a low roar suddenly sounded ahead.
A demonic tiger.
Lu Chen halted and focused his senses.
The demonic tiger was patrolling about thirty li to their front left. The demonic python and demonic bear were farther away, respectively to their front right and directly ahead.
Their current position lay precisely in the gap between the three Demon Kings, arranged in a triangular formation.
Lu Chen led Zhang Tiezhu onward, proceeding with the utmost caution and trying not to alert the three Demon Kings.
Another hour later, the view ahead suddenly opened up.
The mist here was much thinner,