By dawn the next day, the deathly aura in the west had advanced another twenty li.
Lu Chen stood atop the western wall, watching the black fog.
Something was moving within the fog—not the Grayrock Ghouls or Corpse Generals from before, but something much larger.
He could not make out their shapes. He could only occasionally see eerie green points of light flash within the black mist, like eyes, yet also like lanterns.
"Zhou Tieshan, have the scouts been sent out?"
"Three groups. Two never came back. The last group returned, but the man had gone mad." Zhou Tieshan's voice trembled. "When he came back, his eyes were green. He kept saying, 'They're coming, they're coming.' He only calmed down after we fed him two of the Heart-Calming Pills Miss Yun left behind."
Lu Chen said nothing.
He descended from the wall and entered the mad scout's tent.
The scout lay on the bed with his eyes shut, but his eyeballs rolled rapidly beneath his lids.
He was still muttering, so softly that Lu Chen had to lean close to hear him clearly.
"Not human... not human... empty... they're empty..."
Lu Chen straightened and turned to leave the tent.
Tuoba Shan was waiting outside. "What's going on?"
"There's more than Corpse Generals within the deathly aura. There's something else. The scout saw it, but it scared him mad."
Tuoba Shan tightened his grip on his saber. "No matter what it is, we kill one for every one that comes."
Lu Chen glanced at him. "Is your left arm fully healed?"
Tuoba Shan raised his left arm and rotated his wrist. "Completely healed. The medicinal power of the Dragon Blood Grass strengthened the entire arm. It's even twenty percent stronger than before I was injured."
Lu Chen nodded.
He walked to