His Gaze

At noon, everyone ate a little dry food along the way, then continued on.

They still had forty kilometers to go. Lin Shan glanced at the Watch; it was already two in the afternoon. Reaching their destination before the Red Moon appeared was almost impossible. None of the others had attained Transcendence yet, so their stamina was nowhere near his.

Looks like we'll have to spend another night in the Ash Fog...

Lin Shan felt a little anxious. Alone, he would have been fine, but this time he had so many people with him. More than half the Human Race's pioneers were here. If they ran into danger, they could all be wiped out in one fell swoop... the pioneers would die halfway through their journey before they could even lead the Human Race to rise.

That was a joke with nothing funny about it.

Night fell, and the Red Moon hung overhead. Everyone gathered around a campfire, talking quietly. They were now just fifteen kilometers from their destination.

"Didn't you say the Ash Fog was dangerous? We've walked all day without seeing so much as an ant."

"No danger is a good thing."

"Isn't there a saying about the calm before the storm?"

"Shut up! Don't jinx us!"

While everyone spoke in low voices, Lin Shan leaned against a tree, keeping watch over their surroundings.

The journey had been far too quiet. There had not even been a beast's roar. It was nothing like his first trip through the Ash Fog.

Lin Shan did not sleep a wink all night, his nerves stretched taut.

Nothing happened before dawn.

Lin Shan breathed a sigh of relief and took the lead as they continued on.

Suddenly, he noticed something wrong. It came from the Red Lantern in his hand.

The Red Lantern was trembling!

The Parchment offered a warning of its own accord.

Parchment: [He is watching you... beneath His gaze, all that exists and does not exist, the living and the dead, bow in submission. He will watch the new sparks depart... His gaze pierces the nine...]

The writing stopped abruptly there. Many of the words in the middle were blurred, as though they had been erased.

The next second.

Crack...

Lin Shan's mind and heart shuddered. The Parchment had actually been torn. It was only a tiny tear... but this was happening inside his mind!

Yet none of those present, Lin Shan included, felt anything unusual. This unknown power was specifically targeting the uncanny!

The Red Lantern trembled incessantly in his hand, while the Parchment fell utterly silent within his mind.

Their path remained clear all the way to the Purple Soul Flower Forest.

Before they entered the forest, Lin Shan's heart jolted again. Not far ahead, an old man was watching them quietly. It was the same old man he had seen that day, his cold, deathly still eyes devoid of any emotion.

Fortunately, the old man did not come out to block their way this time. He simply stood there in silence.

Could he be helping us? No. If it were him, the Red Lantern wouldn't be so afraid. The first time, it traded blows with this old man on equal footing. It's only been a few days; his gaze alone shouldn't be enough to make it tremble.

Seeing Lin Shan staring fixedly ahead, Zhao Xiao An asked, "Lin Shan, what are you looking at?"

"Nothing." Lin Shan came back to his senses. "Nothing at all." The Ash Fog blocked Zhao Xiao An and the others' vision, so they could not see the uncanny old man in the distance. He decided not to frighten them by mentioning him. For now, the uncanny old man did not seem hostile.

When he looked over again, the old man had vanished.

They walked another few hundred meters. The Ash Fog gradually dispersed, and a broad river appeared before them.

"This is the forest we arrived in when we first crossed over, isn't it? I never thought we'd come back."

Zhang Zhonghua spoke with feeling.

"Those who didn't pick flowers back then have come to pick them now. Our brothers and sisters who died picked theirs too soon," Wu Wang said, gazing at the flowers ahead.

Huang Ying smiled. "Half a year has passed, and this place still looks like a fairyland. The seasons don't seem to affect this forest."

"True. The trees outside have lost all their leaves, but the ones here look just like they did back then."

"Enough reminiscing. Let's cross the river." Lin Shan interrupted their empty musings.

Everyone waded across. They were all pseudo-transcendents, with better physiques than Lin Shan had possessed back then. This river was nothing to them.

Lin Shan opened his backpack, took out the prepared potions, and handed them out. "Eat the flower first, then drink these two bottles of potion. After that, just find somewhere to sit."

"Don't go too deep into the forest, and don't spread out too far. The Ash Fog doesn't affect this forest. If anyone wakes up early, catch fish from the river to eat," Lin Shan added.

"You're leaving?" Zhao Xiao An asked.

"Yes. Didn't I already tell you?" Lin Shan replied.

Zhao Xiao An smiled. "Then you'd better come back alive, or none of us will be able to get home."

Lin Shan fell silent. He could not guarantee he would survive. Next, he would have to travel almost five thousand li straight through the Ash Fog. Such a distance, all within the Ash Fog...

Fortunately, he had a horse to shorten the journey. With luck, he might make the round trip in a month. Without it, never returning would be nothing unusual.

"Try to wait for me," Lin Shan said seriously. "If I'm still not back after half a year, leave on your own. With luck, you might find your way back."

"Ah." Zhao Xiao An sighed softly.

Lin Shan did not argue with her any further. He simply sat down beside a tree.

By now, Zhang Zhonghua, Xia Xuan, Huang Ying, Si Zhennan, and Chao Yuxin had all been wrapped in pale golden cocoons. Only Zhao Xiao An and Wu Wang had yet to take their potions.

Zhao Xiao An glared at Wu Wang. "What are you dawdling for? Hurry up and drink your potions!"

Wu Wang pursed his lips. "You haven't drunk yours either."

"Mind your own business." Zhao Xiao An gave a full demonstration of what it meant to be fiery. "Hurry up and drink!"

Wu Wang gave Zhao Xiao An a meaningful look. "Fine, I'll drink. I'll drink."

With that, he found an empty spot to sit and swallowed the Purple Soul Flower in one gulp. The moment his body began to feel strange, he immediately downed both bottles of potion as well.

Watching Wu Wang become enveloped in a golden cocoon, Zhao Xiao An walked over and leaned against the tree beside Lin Shan.

"Why aren't you drinking yours?" Lin Shan asked.

"Why aren't you leaving?" Zhao Xiao An countered.

"I'll leave once you've drunk them."

"I'll drink them once you've left."

"You drink first."

"You leave first."

"..."

Lin Shan stood up and headed straight into the river. He waded across, untied the horse, mounted, and rode straight out of the flower forest.

Zhao Xiao An watched quietly until Lin Shan disappeared into the Ash Fog.

The Ash Fog was still as silent as before, but the Red Lantern had stopped trembling.

It seems that unknown being has turned His gaze away, but the lingering weight of His power remains...

Lin Shan intended to use this opening to travel at full speed. The Red Lantern descended from the air into his hand, and his field of vision immediately returned to four hundred meters.

"Hyah!"

He galloped onward, covering nearly a hundred kilometers in just four hours. Throughout the journey, the Ash Fog remained utterly silent, and he encountered neither uncanny entities nor wild beasts. By now, the horse beneath him was slowing down more and more. Lin Shan realized it had reached its limit.

He had once read a book about horses that documented a long-distance riding competition held somewhere. The course was a hundred and twenty kilometers long, and the first to finish had been a Mongolian horse, which had taken more than seven hours to complete it.

He found a grassy spot and stopped. Lin Shan did not know what kind of grass horses ate, so he loosened the reins and let the horse find something edible on its own. Uncanny entities did not attack wild beasts unprovoked, so the horse was safer here than he was.

He checked the time on the Watch on his wrist. The Red Moon would appear soon, so he decided to camp here for the night.

He took the dry food from his bag and ate while calculating his traveling speed. Allowing for the horse's rest stops, he could cover nearly two hundred kilometers a day if nothing unexpected happened. That was more than three times his walking speed, and he would still have plenty of time to rest.