Deep Into the Mist

Zheng Lei agreed with Zhou Haichao's proposal to redistribute the spoils and began giving it serious consideration.

A companion with the strength of a Junior War God deserved a larger share.

"As for dividing the spoils, the Spirit of Vegetation I found is definitely off the table." Zheng Lei spoke firmly, leaving no room for objection.

Zhou Haichao and Chu He had no objections.

As far as Zhou Haichao was concerned, Chu He had paid a hefty sum to buy that information from him. If Zhou Haichao couldn't even get a single Spirit of Vegetation out of it in the end, he'd have failed at being a decent person.

As for Chu He...

Well, Chu He hadn't been entitled to any share of the spoils in the first place.

If he hadn't made a breakthrough in the past few days, reaching Elementary War God Level in Spiritual Force, Zhou Haichao and Zheng Lei would never have been interested in befriending him. This trip would probably have been nothing more than a perfunctory test.

Chu He knew that he hadn't been training for long. Being given a share at all was already more than enough for him.

He immediately said, "Thank you, Supervisor Zhou and Senior Brother Zheng, for being so generous. If there's only one Spirit of Vegetation, of course it should go to Senior Brother Zheng. I'll just discuss how to divide the rest with Supervisor Zhou."

"Haha, you're selling yourself short." Zhou Haichao laughed heartily. "All that talk about a test earlier was just an excuse."

"How about this? I won't take a single thing from the spoils this time. You two can divide everything between yourselves."

"Supervisor Zhou, this..." Chu He started to protest.

"Hey!" Zhou Haichao cut him off at once, feigning anger. "I already sold you the rights to the profits from this place. It'd be shameless of me to take part in dividing them now."

"Besides, I already got a great deal by offering to introduce you to the War God Training Camp at my Thunder Dojo. If you want to repay me, just do what your Senior Brother Zheng does and lend me a hand whenever you have the time."

"I've said my piece, Chu He. If you refuse again, you'll be looking down on me!"

Watching Zhou Haichao glare at him with his mustache bristling, Chu He sighed inwardly. Sure enough! Once you grow strong, most of the people you meet are good ones.

He stopped refusing and readily agreed.

Once Chu He had agreed, Zhou Haichao nodded with a deeply satisfied expression.

He looked as if he'd gotten the better end of the deal.

Of course, all this was under the assumption that there was only one Spirit of Vegetation.

If there were more, they'd naturally follow the Martial Artist Squad's usual rule and divide them according to each person's contribution.

All three understood this, so they didn't discuss it further.

They chatted as they traveled.

Two days later, the three arrived at County 0316.

With Chu He leading the way, they easily found the entrance to Mist Residential District.

The hazy fog before them seemed like an invisible curtain, cutting the entire residential district off from the outside world.

Looking at the bright sun overhead and the district before them, where not even a ray of light could penetrate, Zhou Haichao turned to the other two and asked, "What do you think? Take a break to recover our strength and energy, or go straight in?"

"Let's go straight in!" Zheng Lei took the Cold Iron Giant Axe from his back and spun it lightly in his hand. "The sooner we deal with this, the sooner we can wrap things up."

The Giant Axe cleaved through the air with a low whoosh.

"We rested this morning, and it's noon now, when the sun is strongest. There's no point in waiting." Chu He gripped his War Blade in one hand and raised his shield with the other. He had also finished adjusting the sheaths for the nine Flying Daggers strapped to his legs.

Seeing that they were both in agreement, Zhou Haichao nodded. "All right. It's rare to get such clear weather in the northeast during winter. Better to do it today than put it off—today it is."

The outline of the residential district flickered in and out of the fog. Its former splendor had been reduced to crumbling ruins.

The three exchanged glances and nodded in tacit agreement, then stepped over the long-vanished alloy barrier gate.

With visibility limited in the fog, it was only natural for Chu He, the Spirit Reader, to take the lead.

Clutching the Jueying Battle Blade, Chu He walked at the front. Its blade reflected a cold gleam in the faint light.

The other two scanned their surroundings, keeping watch for any monsters sneaking up behind them.

Chu He warily surveyed the fog, each step seeming to test its depths.

"Thud! Thud! Thud!"

The sound of their footsteps echoed through the fog.

"Watch your step. The ground might be unstable here," Zhou Haichao reminded them quietly.

In the silence, even a whisper carried clearly.

The three followed the district's main road, but nothing unusual happened around them.

It was as if this were simply an ordinary abandoned residential district shrouded in fog.

Streetlights leaned at all angles. Some had collapsed completely, leaving only a few broken poles jutting diagonally from the ground.

After years of wind and rain, the road signs along both sides had rusted. Their lettering had faded until it was impossible to make out.

The signs had once guided residents home. Now they pointed only toward desolation.

The buildings around them had once been luxurious villas, but their walls were now mottled and their windows shattered.

The neatly trimmed lawns between the buildings had been overrun by weeds and vines.

Some vines had even completely covered the crumbling walls.

Yet amid the ruins, they flourished.

After walking for dozens of minutes, the three realized they'd been worrying for nothing. They hadn't encountered a single problem.

"All right!" Zheng Lei frowned. "Let's stop taking the safe routes. Head straight for the densest fog. We'll go in a straight line!"

"Chu He, can your Spiritual Force sense which direction has the thickest fog?" Zhou Haichao turned to him.

"The thickest fog? No problem." Chu He nodded.

In fact, over the past few dozen minutes, together with his earlier view of the district from the rooftop, he had already formed a rough picture of the entire place in his mind.

The thickest fog was over in a small park inside the district.

Soon, with Chu He leading them, they arrived at the park.

There was no shortage of exercise equipment, and the children's playground had slides, swings, trampolines, climbing walls, and all kinds of other facilities.

Now, all of them lay in ruins.

As the fog around them grew thicker and the light dimmed, the three finally began to spot strange medicinal herbs here and there.

These strange herbs gave off a faint glow in the fog.

But to Zheng Lei and Zhou Haichao, herbs that hadn't developed intelligence couldn't be considered Spirits of Vegetation. They were merely expensive cultivation resources.

In Chu He's eyes, however, the Spirit Machine on these herbs was so dense that he had rarely encountered anything like it!

Moreover, when he sensed them, most of the Spirit Machine turned out to be mental in nature.

With a quick sweep of his Spiritual Force, Chu He found quite a few Spirit Materials that could be paired with those Crystal Antlers.

And the most precious of them all was the enormous fruit tree in the depths of the fog, which Chu He's Spiritual Force had just discovered!