The moment they entered Black Mist Forest, the light dimmed, and they couldn't see very far.
Gray poisonous miasma smeared across their skin, damp and sticky, with a strange, sweet and fishy smell.
"There's a mud pit three steps to the left. It's deep enough to swallow half a person."
Lu Qingshan warned him.
He walked ahead, hunched over, planting each step firmly and choosing only safe spots.
Li Pingsheng followed right behind him.
Having a living map really came in handy.
Without Lu Qingshan leading the way, even with all his skills, he'd be stumbling blind through this poisonous miasma.
Li Pingsheng's heart suddenly clenched. His meridians were in terrible pain, and he stopped in his tracks.
He rolled up his sleeve and saw blood-red threads crawling beneath the skin of his arm.
The first Pulse-Suppressing Pill had worn off.
He hurriedly fished a small porcelain bottle from his robes, poured out the second Pulse-Suppressing Pill, and popped it into his mouth.
The medicinal power spread through him, suppressing his surging qi and blood. The red threads beneath his skin faded, and the pain stopped.
There was only one pill left.
He had to get the Red Marrow Vine.
After walking for another incense stick's worth of time, Lu Qingshan stopped in front of an old tree. Several clumps of pitch-black poisonous mushrooms grew beneath its roots.
"The miasma ahead is a strange color."
Lu Qingshan pointed forward. The fog there was pale purple.
"It's more poisonous. Hold your breath."
As he spoke, he took an oil-paper packet from his robes, grabbed some dried herbs, and stuffed them into his mouth to chew. Then he handed Li Pingsheng a black pill.
"Poison-Avoiding Pill. I made it myself. It'll hold out for a while."
Li Pingsheng took it and swallowed it at once.
Footsteps and the sound of branches snapping came from behind them.
They'd caught up fast.
"Pursuers."
Lu Qingshan listened. "Are they the people from the ruined temple?"
Li Pingsheng said, "Ignore them."
Behind them, Zhou Kuang's face was flushed. He was using his inner force to drive the poisonous miasma he'd inhaled back out. He was a little dizzy, but didn't think much of it.
"A good-for-nothing and a sweeper thought they could get away from me?"
He chuckled when he spotted footprints in the mud, washed over by the rain. They were deep, with scuffs all around them—obviously left by someone who was running out of strength.
Zhou Kuang was delighted.
"They can't have gotten far! That brat's definitely finished! Move your asses!"
He had no idea that Li Pingsheng had deliberately left those tracks as bait.
"They're catching up," Lu Qingshan said, listening to the commotion.
Li Pingsheng wasn't worried at all. He pulled Lu Qingshan behind a large tree, and in the next instant, his presence vanished without a trace.
Breath Concealment Art!
He blended into the tree trunk and its shadow, his heartbeat and breathing fading until they were almost nonexistent.
Lu Qingshan stared in astonishment.
It wasn't long before Zhou Kuang came cursing beneath the tree, only a dozen or so yards away from them.
He kicked a nearby bush and panted heavily. Rain mixed with sweat ran down his flushed face, and his eyes darted about, frantic and confused.
Watching from the shadows, Li Pingsheng saw everything clearly. Zhou Kuang's breathing had already fallen into complete disarray.
The man was a brute, with no idea how to deal with the poison in this forest.
He was using his inner force to expel the poison, but it had already spread to his internal organs. He was slowly killing himself.
Only after Zhou Kuang chased off in another direction did Li Pingsheng lead Lu Qingshan out from behind the tree. The two continued deeper into the forest.
After walking for nearly half an hour, the scenery changed. A stretch of dead trees draped in white spiderwebs loomed before them.
The mist here was neither gray nor purple, but pink. An overwhelmingly sweet fragrance drifted through the air.
The moment Lu Qingshan saw the webs, his whole body stiffened, and he couldn't help trembling.
He stared fixedly at the pink mist.
"This is the place..." His voice shook. "Five years ago, it was here... that I heard my little sister's voice..."
"She said she'd recovered, and that she'd made dinner at home and was waiting for me to come back..."
His eyes were bloodshot. That memory had tormented him his entire life.
"This mist is wicked. It can bring out the things people want most. Once you're caught in it, you lose your mind. In the end, you become that beast's food, drained dry."
Lu Qingshan drew in a sharp breath, forcing himself to calm down.
Li Pingsheng looked at the pink mist too. His Martial Wisdom talent stirred.
To his eyes, the mist wasn't mist at all, but countless spores capable of affecting the mind.
Once inhaled, they magnified whatever was in a person's heart, then made them see illusions.
Use one man's blade to kill another.
An idea came to him.
"Wait here."
After speaking, Li Pingsheng activated his Light Body talent and darted to the edge of the pink mist.
He didn't go in. Instead, beside the thorn bushes covered in spiderwebs, he deliberately made a few deep footprints, then tore off a piece of his hem and hung it on a thorn.
Once he'd finished, he led Lu Qingshan to shelter behind a large rock upwind and went completely still.
Everything was in place.
Sure enough, before long, Zhou Kuang reached the edge of the deadwood forest.
He followed the scrap of cloth and the footprints to the spot. The poisonous miasma in his body was already beyond his control, and his mind had grown hazy.
His eyes held nothing but menace and greed.
"The Zhao Family... the Zhao Family's reward money... it's mine!"
He saw the pink mist and smelled its cloying fragrance. The poison and greed surged through him together. He noticed nothing amiss; the scent even seemed pleasant.
"Li Pingsheng! You good-for-nothing, get out here!"
He shouted and stepped straight into the pink mist.
The pink fog swallowed him at once.
Zhou Kuang's eyes went blank for a moment, then filled with delight.
He seemed to see Li Pingsheng kneeling before him and kowtowing, while Zhao Zhentian, head of the Zhao Family, smiled at him with a plate of gold ingots in his hands.
"Hahaha! Li Pingsheng! Die!"
"The reward money is mine! All mine!"
Zhou Kuang had fallen completely into the illusion. Thinking he'd killed Li Pingsheng and was about to collect the reward, he swung his steel saber wildly at the surrounding dead trees.
"Die! All of you, die!"
His saber qi smashed the rotten wood to pieces, sending splinters and dust flying everywhere.
The uproar woke the master of this territory.
A spider as large as a water buffalo crawled out of a pitch-black cave.
Its body was jet black, with eight long, pointed legs. On its back grew a woman's face, eyes closed and the corners of her mouth curved in a smile.
A second-rank demonic beast, the Phantom Face Spider!
It climbed to the top of a dead tree and watched Zhou Kuang hack wildly at the trees in his hallucination.
The closed eyes on its back opened, revealing two hollow black pupils.
Zhou Kuang had no idea. He still thought he'd smashed Li Pingsheng's head with a single blow, and he was laughing with glee.
"Ha... hahaha... huh?"
His laughter caught in his throat.
A strand of purple spider silk descended from above, binding his arms, legs, and torso tight in an instant.
The constriction and stinging pain snapped Zhou Kuang awake.
He saw the woman's face right in front of his own, and those hollow black eyes, devoid of emotion.
The blood in his veins turned cold, and his mind went blank.
He was about to scream, but the spider silk tightened sharply, forcing the cry back down his throat.
The Phantom Face Spider moved all eight legs at once, dragging its still-struggling "prey" toward its pitch-black lair.
The muffled cries in Zhou Kuang's throat grew fainter and fainter, then finally stopped.
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