To the southeast lay the Mist Swamp.
Gray-white miasma, so thick it seemed impossible to dissolve, shrouded the deathly silent swamp like a heavy curtain. The air reeked of rotting leaves, sludge, and deadly fumes, with visibility stretching less than a hundred feet. Bottomless bogs lay underfoot. Occasionally, enormous bubbles rose from deep within the sludge, releasing a nauseating stench as they burst. Twisted dead trees stood in the mire like monsters struggling at death's door, baring their claws and fangs and deepening the gloom.
Han Li's figure flickered in and out of the dense fog. He deliberately slowed his pace, his aura disordered, blood seeping faintly from the wounds on his left shoulder and right leg to stain his gray robe dark red. He stumbled and coughed violently from time to time, looking every bit a gravely wounded man fleeing blindly in desperation. Yet deep within his lowered eyes lay a frozen lake. He calmly calculated where every step should fall, while his spiritual sense spread silently like the most finely spun spider silk, sensing everything around him.
[Warning! Three cultivators at Foundation Establishment Great Perfection are rapidly approaching from three hundred zhang behind, suspected core disciples of the Black Fiend Cult. Two concealed auras two hundred zhang to the left; Spiritual Power fluctuations are cold and sinister, identified as Gold-Rank Assassins of the Shadow Killer Sect. Faint spatial fluctuations deep within the swamp to the right, suspected natural trap or remnants of an ancient restriction. Directly ahead... fiend qi concentration is rising abnormally. Powerful demonic beast aura detected. Estimated level: peak level three (False Core stage).]
The system's icy notification rang through his mind, marking each lurking danger around him. An almost imperceptible smile curled Han Li's lips. *Good. The bait has been cast, and the