Dragon-Head Miasma

Xu Feng said yes, then began packing with Master Zhao.

But as they bent over their things, Xu Feng sensed the man standing in the courtyard craning his neck anxiously to peer inside.

For some reason, Xu Feng did not need to look back to "feel" the man's greed and impatience.

The scene stirred something in him. For no clear reason, Xu Feng thought again of that cold, sinister village on Yunjia Mountain.

He stood atop the Memorial Arch Tower.

Staring fixedly at the silent mountain village!

Many more old people seemed to have appeared in the village. They sat on their doorsteps, doing who knew what!

Yet their gazes all seemed fixed on Xu Feng!

That sudden, ghostly communion sent a shudder through him.

He severed the connection!

Master Zhao noticed Xu Feng's shudder too.

He glanced at Xu Feng, thoughtful.

Then he said, "It's getting cold. Put on another layer. I'll finish packing while you go get a coat.

"Oh, and grab two more handfuls of incense ash. I've hidden two packets of incense where the clothes are! Good stuff, both of them. Bring them along this time.

"Remember, use both hands to scoop the ash."

"Okay," Xu Feng said.

He went to fetch a coat, but when he came out of the side room, he saw that the man waiting in the courtyard had grown even more restless. He was practically on tiptoe, as if he wished he could stretch his neck right into the room and hurry them both along.

The moment he saw Xu Feng, he called out repeatedly.

"Young Master Zhao, are you done packing? Can we leave now?"

"Almost, almost. We'll be ready in a moment," Xu Feng said.

Whether they really would be ready soon, Xu Feng had no idea. But he could read the signs in the smallest details.

He had never seen anyone so eager to help someone else get rich. People usually looked this anxious when they were pushing someone into a pit.

Or when their own interests were at stake.

Judging by what Master Zhao was packing, anything that made him take such precautions could not be good. The last time Xu Feng had seen that look on his face was when seven corpses lay in the West Room.

After fobbing the man off,

Xu Feng found a coat.

Then, stealing a moment amid the rush,

he checked his Character Panel.

The day's events had been tense from start to finish.

From the moment they entered the Lost-Trace Forest until they made it out, Xu Feng had swung his shovel, bristled with fury, scattered incense ash, and cursed until his mouth went dry.

Amid the fine, unending rain,

with nine sticks of incense burning,

they had walked out.

A red cord hooked out the straight road; incense light showed the proper way.

Bold spirits went unled astray by ghosts; no hand could cover divine eyes.

After eating the fish, Xu Feng had displayed astonishing might. Only once he was inside did he understand why the place was called the Lost-Trace Forest.

Trees stood all around, yet a person lost all sense of direction. East and west, north and south meant nothing, let alone spring, summer, autumn, and winter.

He had lost count of how many sets of remains he dug up along the way.

And Yin Virtue Protection had shoved him out of danger who knew how many times.

Deep in the forest, setting aside the murky fog and the ghosts that blinded the eye, one thing alone would have kept Xu Feng from finding his way out without the help of the people he had saved.

The "pits" underfoot!

In more scientific terms, they were caves formed by erosion and unusual terrain. But in the Lost-Trace Forest, matters were hardly so scientific.

There was no pattern to them. No one knew what awaited at the bottom when their foot plunged through empty ground!

Even Master Zhao had been extremely careful! Despite having him and Yin Virtue Protection, Xu Feng had stepped into empty air several times. Each time, Master Zhao had hauled him back with an invisible red thread.

After Xu Feng took the corpse onto his back, they did not stop for a single step.

Master Zhao pulled the cart; Xu Feng carried the corpse.

They stretched their legs and ran for the exit!

Once they returned, Master Zhao put him through a round of tests. At last, Xu Feng managed to get him to relent and give him a strange book.

He had not even had time to read it.

Then the real harbinger of doom came knocking.

Xu Feng had not rested once through it all.

Now he finally had a moment, so he immediately checked his Character Panel.

The first thing he saw was, naturally, the [Skill Bar].

The [Skill Bar] had not changed.

He turned to the [Status Bar].

There, he found plenty of changes. [Great Fish Essence] was still on the [Status Bar], but its color had dimmed somewhat. Seeing that actually made Xu Feng happy.

After all, it meant the effect had a limit.

He had burned through it extravagantly, and now it was nearly spent.

That was good news!

Eating one fish had strengthened his blood and vitality and fortified his foundation.

That alone made it a divine treasure. Unfortunately, its side effects were enormous. For someone who lived beside the Yellow River, being spotted by things in its waters

was no good thing.

Xu Feng had asked around. Most people in Fisherfolk Village and among the Yellow River Corpse Collectors did not eat fish.

Not just Yellow River Carp—they did not even eat ordinary fish.

He did not know why.

So if the status disappeared, it would have "retired after a job well done"!

After [Great Fish Essence], Xu Feng saw the expected [Yin Virtue Protection]. This time, it would last a full seven days!

Xu Feng moved on from that familiar [Yin Virtue Protection] entry.

He looked farther down.

Unlike [Great Fish Essence] and [Yin Virtue Protection],

the status that followed was clearly different from the first two: it was red.

Xu Feng stared at the red status.

His brows drew together.

"Why have I got a debuff on me too?"

[Dragon-Head Miasma].

[Dragon-Head Miasma: Because of your daring actions, Dragon-Head Miasma has attached itself to you for ten days.]

[Dragon-Head Miasma: Qi turns to miasma; miasma gives rise to smoke. The smoke clings to the soul and cannot be driven away. To those who hate it, it is poison; to those who favor it, fragrance. While you are tainted by Dragon-Head Miasma, you will attract things that love it and things that loathe it. Your yang energy has been suppressed, greatly increasing your chances of encountering something inhuman.]

[Note: Gun died, yet his body did not decay for three years. When it was cut open with a Wu blade, he transformed into a dragon.]

Reading the explanation of [Dragon-Head Miasma], Xu Feng frowned again. This debuff seemed likely to make what he had to do next far more troublesome.

But above the debuff,

Xu Feng noticed another status after it.

[Land Spirit of Luoyin County's Protection]

Xu Feng was surprised to see it. He had not worshipped the local Land God today, much less asked him for anything. So where had this protection come from?

He opened the status.

Only then did Xu Feng discover the reason.

Because he had done another good deed, the Land God's favor toward him had risen sharply!

And as a side effect of that sharp rise in favor,

Xu Feng had gained the Land God's protection at all times!