A Celestial Phenomenon Never Seen Before, Wula Station

Seeing there was no way to dodge it, Elder Mingli told everyone to keep their horses under control. They must not let their horses panic and carry them off somewhere unknown.

At this moment, anyone who left the group would face certain death.

Lu Feng listened, his heart as still as water, and merely chanted mantras in silence. The horse-tending monk in front of him, however, clung tightly to the horse's head.

Lu Feng glanced at the horse-tending monk. He knew the monk also understood that his chance of survival was tied to Lu Feng.

The horse-tending monk, Zawa, did indeed understand this clearly. The kindhearted holy master before him could not ride. If, amid the chaos, a frightened horse carried this kindhearted Lama away before his eyes, he would certainly savor suffering worse than falling into hell before he died.

So he clung tightly to the horse, constantly soothing the mare that had already begun to kick, holding her and staring into her eyes as he spoke to her, calming her.

Sometimes, staring into a horse's eyes was hardly a good thing. Often, looking an animal in the eye amounted to a provocation. But this horse-tending monk understood horses well. At such a desperate moment, he made a risky move, hoping to calm the horse down.

Lu Feng looked down at him, then lowered his head and stroked the horse. "If something happens in a moment, stay close to me, Zawa."

As his hand stroked the mare, she inexplicably quieted down.

Lu Feng straightened up and sat upright in the saddle, letting no scrap of information escape him.

He was like a sponge, constantly learning from the people around him. He knew his foundations were far too weak. Like a child who had just left school, he knew nothing of this world's rules for now, and had no idea how to respond to any danger.

For Lu Feng, this journey was a rare opportunity to gain experience. With Elder Mingli in the mounted party, he had no standing to command these attendant monks. And in terms of experience, Elder Mingli was far more seasoned at handling situations like this. All Lu Feng needed to do was learn.

Everyone was busy. Before the rain reached them, Lu Feng put the undamaged scripture scrolls in his hands into the saddlebags and fastened the cowhide bags' two cord clasps. These fine cowhide saddlebags were waterproof and would keep the scriptures inside from getting wet. Just as he finished, Lama Mingli gave an order. "Find the grease in the chests, spread it on the torches, and light it all."

Elder Mingli spoke without losing his composure in the face of this upheaval. The Dharma Protector Lamas immediately took grease from the chests and spread it over the torches in their hands. Once they lit the torches, dim flames shone from them, and a nauseating, fishy smell drifted from the dark torches.

Elder Mingli tossed a burning torch to Lu Feng, who caught it and held it beside him. At the same time, the rain in the sky swept straight over them like a curtain, moving on ahead of them.

Rain poured down in torrents.

Yet no matter how heavy the rain was, it could not extinguish the flames of these torches. Instead, the torches burned with "vigorous life" in the rain. Their dim, cold light illuminated the entire curtain of rain, revealing the beings within it.

The flames smeared with this grease could indeed protect everyone, but not everyone could endure the foul, fishy stench coming from the torches.

At least, Lu Feng saw many attendant monks smell it in the rain and drop to the ground to vomit, all at once.

Some were so overwhelmed by the fumes that they could not even open their eyes, and nearly choked to death on their own vomit.

Lu Feng himself remained unmoving as a mountain, the arm holding his torch never wavering in the slightest. In the dim light of the grease torches, he saw numerous towering "human figures" within the curtain of rain.

These figures walked through the rain, passing them in utter silence.

And high in the clouds above, a female body flickered in and out of view. She was far larger than an ordinary woman; even at that height, her body could be seen appearing and disappearing amid the clouds. At the sight of this thing, Lu Feng entertained no strange thoughts, for even his immovable mind had begun to waver.

Lu Feng lowered his gaze and looked at nothing. He also reached out and gave Zawa, who was in front of him, a hard slap on the head to help him still his thoughts.

Even the horse beneath Lu Feng dared not raise her head.

Screams came from behind. Lu Feng glanced back and saw that some people's trousers were soaking wet. Not only that, their drenched clothes soon took on a dreadful scarlet hue. These people hunched over and howled in agony, but no one could save them.

Excruciating pain came from their bodies as they steadily lost moisture. In the end, they became whole sheets of skin, which flew toward the vault of heaven when the wind blew.

Lu Feng frowned at the sight. Elder Mingli signaled for everyone to stay put and wait for the curtain of rain to pass-or, more precisely, to wait until these Outer Gods had passed through before moving on.

But who could have known that, just as all the towering "human figures" vanished under the surrounding dim, cold light, a sound like "a hundred thousand people beating drums together" would come from outside? Even the curtain of rain falling straight down began to slant!

Elder Mingli's expression shifted, and he glanced behind him.

"This is bad!"

At that sound, Elder Mingli's expression immediately grew utterly grave. He did not understand why Wild Gods were passing through one after another when this clearly was not an uninhabited region.

But after just one glance behind him-

Elder Mingli immediately knew that this was not merely a Wild God!

This was another dragon-type Wild God, descending upon this place in the night.

He immediately said, "Move forward! Abandon the packhorses and head for Wula Station!"

As Elder Mingli spoke, he seized Lu Feng, paying no attention to anyone else. The Malevolent Ghost beneath him released its Ghost Resonance, and in that single instant, Lu Feng felt every last trace of fiery vitality throughout his body crushed firmly down by this Malevolent Ghost!

This Malevolent Ghost was definitely far more powerful than a monk at his Sixth Stage of the Gradual Path. A wash of gray-white descended before Lu Feng and enveloped him directly, leaving him utterly unable to tell whether this was the Malevolent Ghost's Ghost Resonance or the thing of Great Terror approaching from behind.

Elder Mingli shielded his disciple and paid no heed to the others. Some of the other attendant monks had already clutched their hearts and fallen to the ground in agony. Their faces turned deathly pale. It was unclear where the problem lay, but after falling to the ground, they too became Malevolent Ghosts in an instant.

Elder Mingli had already taken Lu Feng away. The other Dharma Protector Lamas each used their own methods, trying to preserve their lives in the night. Elder Mingli knew full well that the road they were traveling overlapped with the paths of certain Wild Gods.

More importantly, Elder Mingli recalled what the Abbot Venerable had said not long ago: in recent years, Wild Gods, Outer Gods, and Malevolent Ghosts had been appearing around the monastery more and more frequently. After Elder Mingli left, something flew close to the ground within the curtain of rain not far away.

Vast quantities of rain and muddy water from the ground surged backward into the body of the thing in the sky.

Sucked upward!