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As the sky gradually darkened.

Lin Hui put away the wooden stick, wiped the sweat from his face with a cloth, and strode toward the communal dormitory.

The communal dormitory stood to the right of the martial arts training ground. From a distance, it looked like a long, blackened large intestine lying across the ground.

The grooves along the outside of the intestine were rooms partitioned off from one another. Each room could sleep a dozen or so people at most.

Lin Hui lived in a relatively clean, well-ventilated room at the far right.

He pushed open the door and glanced at the Tuyue Jade Talisman hanging on the wall. Everyone else in the room had returned. Two were playing cards, while the rest silently practiced their moves with little wooden sticks in their own spots, most of them focused and serious.

"A-Hui, you're back?" Chen Zhishen looked over, rolled out of bed, and walked closer. "You weren't here just now. People were talking about how the uncles at the temple caught a monster during the day and brought it back. You should've seen its claws. One of its arms was at least as tall as one of us!"

He looked excited, even worked up.

After all, most people who lived in the city had never seen what a monster looked like.

The monsters of rumor were almost all hidden in the mist beyond the city, mysterious and unfathomable.

They were said to be cruel, savage, and insane, and to carry unimaginable poisons and diseases.

The vast mist completely separated them from humanity, as if they belonged to two different worlds.

"A monster? I've been practicing martial arts all day, so I didn't notice anything else." Lin Hui couldn't help feeling curious too.

To be honest, he had grown up in Xinyu Town in the Outer City and had never seen a monster either. They rarely seemed to enter the city. They only attacked people who ventured into the Mist Zone, such as pioneers, merchant caravans, and messengers.

But the pioneers were mostly death-row convicts who had committed serious crimes, and only large trading houses could afford to form intercity caravans. As for messengers, they were top-tier figures beyond the reach of ordinary people's imagination.

Anyone who could travel alone between the great cities was an elite among the elite.

"They say the monster was over four meters tall, covered in black scales, with no eyes or nostrils. It had nothing but a huge mouth taking up its whole face. It was terrifying!" Chen Zhishen whispered.

"Isn't that just something you made up after reading too many storybooks?" A thin, bespectacled man nearby scoffed.

"What storybooks? I saw Uncle Mingde dragging that monster past the temple with my own eyes, before the yamen men took it away. Fewer than ten people saw the whole thing, and I was one of them!" Chen Zhishen immediately protested.

"Then do you know what other path is open to those of us who practice martial arts, besides joining the guards or working as bodyguards and estate guards? Or have you ever wondered why a monster's corpse would show up in a No Fog Zone where monsters supposedly don't dare to enter? Why would Uncle Mingde drag a monster's corpse here for no reason?" The thin man adjusted his glasses and asked in a low voice.

"W-why?" Chen Zhishen was taken aback. He really had never considered those questions. He was just an ordinary farm boy who could barely read a few characters; the Qingfeng Temple was the greatest source of knowledge he had.

Lin Hui was just as captivated by the man's words. He wasn't the only one. Several of the temple's students nearby had quietly turned their attention to the thin man as well.

Realizing that everyone was interested in the subject he had brought up, the thin man grew rather pleased with himself. Instead of keeping them in suspense, he rubbed his nose and said,

"Because we martial artists are the main force exploring the mist."

He sighed.

"The Three Greats in the Inner City and the major powers in the districts below them are all exploring the Mist Zones around the city. There are monsters in the Mist Zones, but there are also all kinds of rare medicinal herbs, precious mineral deposits, and even mysterious ruins full of treasure."

"Ruins? But isn't it impossible for anyone to live in the Mist Zones?" A gentle-looking young man couldn't help asking.

"No one lives there now, but that's only how things are today. Some places used to be No Fog Zones, then became Mist Zones for various reasons." The thin man lowered his voice mysteriously. "Besides, I heard from my uncle that most of the ruins in the Mist Zones weren't left behind by humans like us. They belonged to other unknown creatures."

Unknown creatures!

His words immediately piqued the interest of all the boys around them.

"Unknown creatures can leave behind ruins too? Does that mean they're like us, able to build houses, grow crops, raise livestock, and eat meat?" the young man who had asked before continued.

"I'm not sure, but probably. Otherwise, how could they have left ruins behind?" The thin man smiled. As more and more people gathered around him, he grew even more animated and began describing in detail how he had come by this information.

It turned out that his uncle had once been a powerful martial artist who ventured into the Mist Zones to explore. After suffering serious injuries and becoming disabled during one of many expeditions, he had finally been forced to live out his remaining years at home on his savings.

His uncle had told him all about the Mist Zones as stories whenever he had some free time.

Lin Hui was entranced as he listened. He had never encountered any of this before.

As the thin man spoke, it was as if a curtain were slowly being drawn back on Lin Hui's understanding of the world.

According to him, humans weren't the only race in this world. There were also many humanoid races, as well as some non-humanoid ones.

Some of the humanoid races had even secretly made their way into the city's No Fog Zones long ago, disguising themselves and living among the people. Some were friendly toward humans, trading with them and even intermarrying. None of this was much of a secret in the Inner City.

At last, as the mist outside grew denser and it neared time to put out the lights, the thin man summed things up with one final remark.

"All right, all right. I've talked so much my mouth's gone dry, and you haven't even paid for tea. If you're really interested, you can visit Liefeng Town on the outskirts when you have time. They say there's a garrison there because members of a humanoid race called the Yun Clan often show up. Quite a few residents of Liefeng Town are mixed-blood, descended from both humans and the Yun Clan."

Liefeng Town...

Lin Hui silently committed the place name to memory.

Whoosh.

The oil lamp was blown out, and everyone lay down in their places. But the thin man's story had left everyone so excited that no one could sleep.

Lin Hui was the same. He kept replaying everything the thin man had described. Little by little, the Mist Zones in his mind changed from deadly lands full of nothing but danger to places where danger and opportunity coexisted.

The night passed quietly. Outside, the wind howled without pause, rattling the door.

The next day.

As soon as dawn broke, most of the boys in the room got up. Lin Hui did too.

As usual, he fetched water, chopped wood, and then practiced his swordsmanship.

By the time he finished, it was nearly noon. This time, however, he had other plans.

After hearing the thin man's story the day before, Lin Hui had decided to go see the boundary of the No Fog Zone for himself during the day.

Back when he was in Xinyu Town, he wouldn't have been able to travel so far. But Qingfeng Temple was already close to the edge of the No Fog Zone, and there was a little road through the Mist Zone that merchant caravans often passed along. He could actually make the round trip on foot.

Once he had made up his mind, Lin Hui immediately went back to the communal dormitory to gather his things. He took a waterskin, checked his bearings, and headed decisively out through the temple's side gate.

The enormous Tuyue City lay to the north of the temple. To the south stretched a vast expanse of gray-white mist.

From the side gate, it was less than three hundred meters to the boundary of the mist.

After leaving through the side gate, Lin Hui climbed a big tree to get a better view of the terrain.

The shortest route to the boundary followed the little river beside the temple.

The river was called Chang River. As the name suggested, it was a winding little river, snaking from Xinyu Town in the Outer City all the way to Qingfeng Temple. From there, it ran through a lush forest before finally disappearing into the vast, endless mist.

Lin Hui's departure didn't catch the attention of the temple attendants guarding the gate. After all, the students' most common chore was going out to chop wood.

The temple's elders also patrolled the surrounding area regularly to prevent any danger.

As for the Door-Breaking Ghosts, at least so far, no one had seen a monster dare to break into a No Fog Zone.

With his waterskin on his back and a gray short jacket and trousers, Lin Hui gripped a sharpened wooden stick and hurried along a vague little path toward the Mist Zone.

The sky was overcast, with no sun in sight. Thick clouds piled above, and the wind howled as if rain could fall at any moment.

Lin Hui walked alone along a forest path overgrown with weeds.

All around him stood thick, straight trees, gray-black in color.

The lush, dark-green grass and bushes grew half a man's height, completely hiding everything around the path.

Crack.

Crack.

Lin Hui hurried forward cautiously. Before long, as he followed the path, he began to see gray mist through the trees ahead.

The thick gray fog resembled a wall, reaching from the sky to the ground and cutting the forest in two.

Lin Hui stopped walking. Beside the path, at the foot of a big tree, sat an old man in a black Taoist robe, legs crossed.

The old man looked kind, with a full head of white hair and beard. He had a sturdy build, and a black longsword was strapped to his back.

Hearing the footsteps, he slowly narrowed his eyes and looked over at Lin Hui.

"Every few days, some curious kid comes to gawk. Can't you boys ever settle down?"

Lin Hui recognized the design on the old man's robe as the style worn at Qingfeng Temple. He knew the man had been stationed here to keep watch and ensure everyone's safety.

He went over at once and bowed respectfully.

"This disciple, Lin Hui, greets you, Elder."

"I'm Ming Chen. Monsters don't come and go around here much, but don't go looking for trouble for no reason. If you end up in the Mist Zone, you'll surely die without leaving a whole corpse behind." The old Taoist warned him.

"This disciple understands. I was just curious and wanted to take a look from the edge. I absolutely won't go in," Lin Hui replied earnestly. He meant it, and that was exactly what he intended to do.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have gone out of his way to follow a path that others had already blazed.

"Good. Head back once you've had your look." Old Taoist Ming Chen nodded, then stopped looking his way and resumed sitting quietly with his eyes closed.

The wind rustled through the leaves overhead.

Every so often, a few leaves drifted down above them.

Lin Hui stared intently at the wall of mist not far away, trying to see what lay inside.

Whoosh.

For an instant, he glimpsed a gray shadow, taller than a person, dart through the fog. It moved quickly.

"May I ask, Elder, why don't the monsters in the Mist Zone come into our territory?" Lin Hui asked softly.

Old Taoist Ming Chen didn't move, as if he hadn't heard a thing.

Seeing this, Lin Hui knew the man had no intention of speaking with him. He fell silent for a moment, then glanced around. It felt a little pointless to run all the way back just like that, so he picked up his pointed wooden stick and carved a line into a nearby tree trunk with all his strength.

"Lin Hui was here."

"..." Hearing the noise, Ming Chen opened his eyes. He looked utterly speechless.

After finishing that, Lin Hui turned to leave. But after only two steps, he bent down and picked a blackish-purple fragment of unknown origin from the grass.

The fragment felt cold in his hand. It seemed to have broken off the edge of some kind of equipment.

After obtaining his souvenir, Lin Hui finally returned to the temple, satisfied.

Old Taoist Ming Chen watched him go, once again at a loss for words. The fragment was nothing more than a scrap of skin or horn left behind by a Mist Zone monster passing through at night. It had no value whatsoever. Yet the kid had picked it up and carried it away like a treasure.