Strange Fog

First of all, it couldn't be about the Red Fire Mine.

Otherwise, Meng Qingshan, with a Cocoon-Breaking Realm expert at his side, wouldn't need to hold back. He would have attacked him at the first opportunity.

Most likely, Meng Qingshan couldn't see through his "Divine Strength Realm" disguise.

He regarded Wu Dao as the biggest threat in the fight over the treasure, which was why he had Yingsha keep a close eye on his every move.

In fact, it wasn't just Meng Qingshan.

Along the way, Yun Tianliu and even Mao Ba had occasionally shot Wu Dao wary glances.

With lice crawling all over you,

you stopped caring about a few more. Wu Dao didn't mind, but remained on high alert, wary that they might suddenly try to stab him in the back.

"Strike!"

Before the fog, Mao Ba chanted a spell and tried several times, but Green Crane still circled at the fog's edge, refusing to advance. Like a navigation device that had lost its signal, it spun about in every direction.

"Daoist, this fog..."

Yun Tianliu stared at the dense fog that blotted out the sky and moon. He had sensed something amiss, but couldn't make out its mystery, so he asked uncertainly.

"Places where demons and evil spirits breed are often shrouded in gloomy, bizarre phenomena. There's definitely something wrong with this fog."

Mao Ba put Green Crane away, then turned back and said earnestly, "Everyone, this fog is strange. It blots out the sky and moon, and possesses a strange power that can block the five senses.

"My studies are shallow, so I can no longer direct Green Crane to track our quarry. I can only make a rough guess that the Flesh Tai Sui is hidden in the heart of Canyun Mountain.

"But I must remind you of one thing.

"Any demon or evil spirit that has cultivated into a spirit can command 'Chang Ghosts' as soldiers. Chang Ghosts can be any kind of living creature. The Green-Clad Ghost in Panshui Town won't be the only one of its kind.

"So...

"Be extra careful from here on out."

With that, Mao Ba took a deep breath, removed the Tianpeng Ruler from his waist, and used the talismans wrapped around it to cast a faint yellow glow. Still taking the lead, he stepped into the thick fog first.

The others heeded Mao Ba's warning.

Naturally, they didn't dare let their guard down. They all steeled themselves and followed close behind.

Whoosh~

The fog churned, thick and unyielding.

The instant he entered, Wu Dao felt as if he'd plunged into the deep sea. The oppressive, silent darkness made him frown despite himself.

Most importantly,

his keen senses, honed to the pinnacle of the natural world, felt as if they'd been wrapped in a cocoon. Outside the fog, he could just barely make out things a hundred meters away.

But once he entered the sea of fog,

he could barely see ten meters ahead. His sense of direction turned hazy, and he couldn't tell north from south, east from west. It was suffocating.

The extraordinary world truly held wondrous secrets. What he'd seen so far was only the tip of the iceberg...

Wu Dao marveled to himself, his gaze fixed on the faint yellow glow from the Tianpeng Ruler in Mao Ba's hand at the head of the group, so he wouldn't lose sight of him.

In a strange fog like this, the darkness hid unseen dangers.

Once he went deeper, if he lost his guide,

he couldn't guarantee he'd find his way out safely before daybreak.

The mountain slopes were steep, and ancient trees clawed at the sky.

The ground was damp and muddy.

The group didn't dare charge through the strange fog. Like ordinary people, they felt their way forward in the dark, taking one careful step after another. The fog flowed past like gauze and water, bringing with it threads of icy cold.

The farther they climbed,

the quieter their surroundings became. They couldn't even hear insects chirping or the wind blowing.

The people present felt increasingly oppressed and stifled. Even their blazing qi and blood seemed to be cooling, their circulation growing sluggish.

The three Internal Strength Martial Artists at the rear even began to shiver, growing uneasy and suspicious of every sound.

"Beast! You dare?!"

Clang!

Suddenly!

Mao Ba's furious shout rang out from the front, followed by the clang of metal striking metal and a flash of sparks that flared and vanished.

In that fleeting glimpse,

Wu Dao saw only a shadow the size of an ordinary person's head collide with the Tianpeng Ruler in Mao Ba's hand before darting away. Unable to prevail, it fled into the dark fog.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Mao Ba seemed enraged. With a shout, he shot after it like a bolt of lightning and disappeared from sight in the blink of an eye.

"After him!!"

The others came to their senses, their expressions darkening. They suspected Mao Ba was using the terrain as an excuse to ditch them.

"Damn that bull-nosed bastard! Brother Wu..."

Zhao Wei cursed furiously and was about to call out to Wu Dao, only to discover that Wu Dao, who'd been not far to his left, had vanished.

The three martial artists at the very back had disappeared as well, as if they'd evaporated into thin air.

The vast sea of fog was silent and still.

It was as if Zhao Wei were the only person left between heaven and earth.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh~

The fierce wind tore through the thick fog, only for it to close up again in an instant.

Wu Dao strode forward, sprinting at full speed, his gaze locked on the hazy yellow glow flickering in the fog ahead.

The moment Mao Ba disappeared,

he'd been the first to chase after him. He ran at full speed, keeping behind him without ever losing track.

But...

Something was wrong!

Thud!

At one point,

Wu Dao cracked a stone beneath his foot and abruptly stopped, his expression turning stormy.

He'd fallen for it...

In—

Out—

The Stealing Heavenly Secrets Breathing Technique circulated, breaking through the limits of his brain. His consciousness sharpened and focused, and Wu Dao entered a state of absolute calm and clarity.

Crack...

On the level of consciousness, it was as if an invisible layer of ice had shattered. In an instant, his mind cleared and stilled, everything became distinct, and his perception more than doubled.

When he looked up again,

all that lay before him was the churning fog. There was no yellow glow at all!

This fog...

Wu Dao's consciousness was now as clear and keen as a god's. In an instant, he analyzed the strange phenomenon.

Mao Ba hadn't told the truth!

Or rather, he hadn't told them everything!

Besides blocking and obstructing their senses,

the fog could also create mental illusions!

And the illusions were powerful. Neither a Divine Strength Realm expert nor even Yingsha, a Cocoon-Breaking Realm expert, had noticed anything wrong!

From the moment they entered the sea of fog,

they'd all fallen for it and entered an "illusion."

After Mao Ba clashed with the unknown creature and left, every person had "seen" him go in a different direction!

What's more,

it was anyone's guess whether the encounter had even happened at all.

But one thing was certain.

Their group had been completely scattered. Now, they were each fighting alone, with their fates in their own hands.

And no one knew what dangers lurked in this vast sea of fog.

"Damn this information gap!"

Wu Dao muttered a curse. He swore that once he was settled, he'd make sure to learn everything he could about the extraordinary phenomena of this world.

When people didn't have the same information,

it was all too easy to be led down a ditch without even realizing it.

"Want to keep the whole treasure for yourself? I won't let you have your way!"

Wu Dao snorted, tamped down his anger at Mao Ba, and looked around before choosing the thickest giant tree.

Shhk—

His sharp claws dug into the trunk, and like a leopard, he scrambled up fifty or sixty meters in just a few breaths.

Whoosh~

A breeze swept past, with stars and moon faintly visible.

Light as a feather, Wu Dao stood atop a branch and gazed into the distance. He found that the fog had thinned a little fifty or sixty meters above the ground, but it was still hard to make out his direction.

But that didn't stump him.

Creak—

He bent his knees, bringing immense force to bear on the trunk beneath the treetop until it bent nearly to the breaking point.

Whoosh!

The next moment, using the force of his legs and the trunk's spring, Wu Dao shot nearly twenty meters upward like an arrow from a crossbow.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—

The night wind brushed past, and the stars and moon shone clear.

This time, Wu Dao saw the main peak of Canyun Mountain beneath the distant starry sky.

Only then did he realize that his whole sprint had taken him in the exact opposite direction from where he meant to go.

Another mile or two,

and he'd reach the edge of the fog. If he kept going, he'd leave Canyun Mountain.

Even if he entered again,

he'd only keep "walking into a Ghost Wall" in the fog.

But

you may have your Zhang Liang stratagem, but I have my ladder over the wall.

As long as he didn't get trapped in a mental dead end, there were plenty of ways to solve this.

The fog was strange, but nowhere near as impenetrable as Mao Ba had claimed. That was the key to breaking through it.

Still,

Wu Dao had to hand it to Mao Ba.

From the moment they left town to the moment they entered the fog, he'd always taken the lead, constantly planting an idea in everyone's minds—

Whatever he said and did was right!

Combined with his special status, which naturally gave him an air of authority, that was how he'd fooled the others into walking into the sea of fog on foot and entering the illusion.

If Wu Dao hadn't had Stealing Heaven's Secret to rely on,

he might have been misled by the illusion too, wandering around the sea of fog in circles.

Whoosh, whoosh—

His figure plunged downward at incredible speed. Wu Dao adjusted his posture in midair, then rode the wind down onto a thick branch at the top of the tree, shaking loose countless dead leaves.

Now that he had a way to break through,

things would be easy.

He turned into an ape once more, repeatedly using towering ancient trees as stepping stones to vault through the air, racing toward the main peak of Canyun Mountain.