Ambusher in the Smoke

Ning Rongrong jerked her head up, her body instinctively wanting to dodge to the side, but she forced herself to stop.

Ning Fengzhi and Gu Rong were right in front of her; it was impossible for them not to have noticed. In a situation like this, it was best not to startle the snake.

At the very least, being a Trapped Beast gave her the confidence to protect herself.

Sure enough, Gu Rong's hand had already reached behind him, palm splayed. The next instant, a barrier appeared behind Ning Rongrong, blocking the flying blade.

The blade collided with the barrier, emitting a crisp, metallic ring.

"Ugh!"

Ning Rongrong was startled by the sound and turned her head.

Gu Rong also turned around, looking toward his front. In the vast, white space, he could only see a single hand. The owner of that hand, seeing the sneak attack fail, quickly retracted it and hid once more within the mist.

"Playing hide-and-seek with a Title Douluo—isn't that a bit overestimating yourself?" Gu Rong looked toward the direction where the hand had vanished, the corners of his mouth curling upward.

Gu Rong looked at Ning Fengzhi, and Ning Fengzhi nodded.

The next moment, Gu Rong lunged into the mist, toward the direction where the attacker had disappeared.

Ning Rongrong watched the direction Gu Rong had left in, feeling a sense of unease.

This smoke had the ability to interfere with perception. Beyond being unable to see people within the fog, even spiritual perception was useless; this was why the three of them hadn't detected the opponent earlier.

This situation couldn't help but remind her of Donald's soul skill.

She remembered that time, the Holy God who controlled her had adjusted something, allowing her to see Donald's figure. But after the Holy God left, that extraordinary observational power had vanished as well.

She couldn't help but clench her clothes tightly.

"Rongrong, don't be afraid. Your Bone Grandpa is a Title Douluo, after all."

Ning Fengzhi patted Ning Rongrong on the shoulder, and she finally snapped back to reality.

Afraid?

That's right, why was she afraid? Bone Grandpa was a Title Douluo, and the opponent was at most a Soul Douluo...

Perhaps it was because this space was too eerie, or perhaps it was because this place was linked to that Holy Spirit Sect and that Saintess Ritual.

The knot in Ning Rongrong's heart refused to loosen.

Her father and the others were already by her side; unlike that time when she was all alone, she shouldn't have to be afraid.

Seeing his daughter's worried expression, Ning Fengzhi smoothed out Ning Rongrong's hair, his tone quite gentle: "Rongrong, shall we continue looking for clues?"

"Mm... mm!"

Ning Rongrong nodded vigorously, deciding to use action to crowd out her wild thoughts.

The two took the torches, ignited them with the purple flame, and began walking outward in circles, using the largest purple flame as their center.

With the torches, their field of vision widened significantly.

In Ning Rongrong's eyes, many withered bones had already appeared—beast bones, non-beast bones, ordinary ones, and bizarrely shaped ones; they were all there.

Besides the bones, there were corpses that hadn't yet turned to bone. The expressions on their faces were exceptionally ferocious, yet it seemed this was their natural state, rather than the result of some sudden fright.

Moreover, there was still black energy lingering on their bodies.

After her training at the Silver Dragon King Palace, she had become much more sensitive.

The corpses before her must have been Evil Soul Masters of the Holy Spirit Sect while they were alive.

But why would Evil Soul Masters die here? Was there infighting within the Holy Spirit Sect?

Ning Rongrong felt that this thought was ridiculous, yet she couldn't think of anyone else who would enter this space.

"Father!" Ning Rongrong's voice carried a hint of surprise as she pointed at the corpses. "It's Evil Soul Masters! And there are quite a few of them!"

Ning Fengzhi scanned the tragic scene around them and said in a low voice: "This place appears to be even more complex than we imagined."

He recognized the Evil Soul Masters before him clearly. Unlike Ning Rongrong, he knew that the Holy Spirit Sect memory fragment was "undercover," so he naturally assumed this was the work of that "mole."

It was just that, judging by the current situation, the mole might be in grave danger.

"Clang!"

A sound of metal colliding echoed not far away; it was a hidden weapon striking a barrier.

Ning Rongrong looked in the direction from which the hidden weapon had come, but she only saw Gu Rong, who had stepped out to block it.

He can see us, but we can't see him? Could this smoke be his soul skill?

Ning Rongrong frowned, but her brow soon smoothed out. It looked like Bone Grandpa was about to catch that person.

She turned back and continued to explore.

The clothes on the Evil Soul Masters on the ground were tattered, and there were no pockets or similar places to store items, so Ning Rongrong naturally had no intention of looting them. After walking a bit further, Ning Rongrong stopped.

Before her lay a relatively well-preserved corpse. Judging by the skeleton, the person had likely been someone who often hunched their back while alive.

This corpse not only lacked wounds on its skin, but its clothes were also relatively intact—a black robe, very similar to the one from the Great Soul Arena, though the face looked different from that person's.

"This..."

Ning Rongrong couldn't help but step forward a few paces, observing the face closely.

It was an incredibly aged face, eyes tightly shut, the eyelids sunken in an unnatural manner.

Ning Fengzhi reached out before Ning Rongrong could, prying open the eyelids—there was nothing inside.

"They were gouged out."

Ning Fengzhi said in a low voice.

"Furthermore, I have some impression of this person's aura; it is the same person from outside the Great Soul Arena." Ning Fengzhi turned his head to look at Ning Rongrong, who was staring blankly at the corpse, so he added, "The person from before was his clone; I am not sure if this body is another clone or the original... Wait, Rongrong, what are you doing?"

Ning Rongrong had already quietly begun to move, her hand instinctively reaching toward the black robe's pocket. She fumbled for a moment, then withdrew her hand with a look of disgust.

There was nothing in her hand.

Only after finishing all this did Ning Rongrong suddenly snap back to reality, realizing that Ning Fengzhi was speaking to her.

"Hm? What is it?"

She turned her head, putting on a well-behaved expression as if she hadn't been the one doing those things just a moment ago.

In truth, Ning Rongrong didn't know why she had done that either. In her mind, there was only one existence who would so proactively loot others: her Holy God. Thus, she naturally attributed her actions to the instincts the Holy God had helped her cultivate, even though she hadn't managed to snag anything this time.

Ning Fengzhi held his forehead and sighed.

He hadn't stopped her earlier because he felt that what Ning Rongrong did was actually quite right. And now, seeing this well-behaved expression, he was even more convinced—there was nothing wrong with his daughter!

"It's nothing," Ning Fengzhi said calmly, rubbing Ning Rongrong's head.

Just then, a shout of "Got you!" from Gu Rong echoed from not far away.

The two of them left the corpse behind and looked toward the direction the voice came from.

They saw Gu Rong emerging while pinning down a young girl.

Her long, ink-black hair cascaded down like a waterfall, and she wore a black, wide-sleeved dress with vibrant red trim along the collar and cuffs, matching the red tassels hanging from her waist.

Setting aside the current situation, this delicate-looking girl could easily have been the daughter of some noble family.

But right now, the girl's face was full of unwillingness, her hands—locked by Gu Rong—restlessly reaching toward her hidden weapons, only to be stopped by him.

She was undoubtedly not a well-behaved individual.