Lu Ming sat atop a watchtower, his expression grave as he gazed beyond the medicinal garden. The sky there had turned completely dark, and thick, cold black fog flowed slowly through it. The fog was so dense that it not only severely obstructed his vision, but even made his Primordial Qi perception sluggish.
In this black fog, even a Great Divine Ability Practitioner could easily lose his way.
Lu Ming swept his gaze over the medicinal garden. Clusters of lights had been lit, while overhead, a dome of light formed by the Divine Ability Restriction known as the Azure Light Restriction covered the garden like an overturned bowl. The faint azure dome finally gave people some sense of security.
"How is it?"
An elderly voice came from behind Lu Ming. Lu Jin walked over and sat down beside him, lighting the pipe in his hand and sending up hot smoke.
"Pretty frightening," Lu Ming said honestly.
The cold, damp black fog blotted out the sky and sun. Outside, deathly silence reigned, as though the medicinal garden were the only place in the entire world where life remained.
"This is only the rain fog spreading out from it. Inside the actual Black Rain Zone, that's where things are truly frightening... Oh, I forgot you encountered it once when you were little," Lu Jin said.
A look of lingering fear crossed Lu Ming's face as a long-buried memory rose from the depths of his mind, the horror of that night.
He and Jingyi had hovered on the edge of life and death countless times.
If they had not been so insignificant that they could not attract more of the cold probing from within the curtain of rain, they probably could never have lasted until the next day.
"You weren't even born when this Black Rain Zone outside Qingyuan Market appeared. Back then, the rain zone was only a few dozen li across, but now it has expanded more than tenfold. Quite a few neighboring market towns have become death traps within it. Who knows how many bones lie buried in that black rain?" Lu Jin said, his expression somewhat complicated.
"Grandfather, this Black Rain Zone is so bizarre and brings endless calamity. Why doesn't Fengyang Prefecture send powerful experts to wipe it out completely?" Lu Ming asked, puzzled.
"Because once a Black Rain Zone appears, it's almost impossible to eliminate."
Lu Jin's aged face grew more solemn, and he said in a low voice, "Black Rain Zones are utterly bizarre. They say the power behind them doesn't belong to this world, and wherever one appears, it means a spatial rift has opened there, leading to some unknown place. Black rain descends through the rift, never stopping."
"A Divine Ability Grandmaster once came from Fengyang Prefecture, but all he could do was set up a Divine Ability Restriction to slow the Black Rain Zone's expansion. Eliminating it was beyond his power. Perhaps that would take a power greater than a Divine Ability Grandmaster's..."
"Besides, ours isn't the only Black Rain Zone."
"The one here at Qingyuan Market is only a small Black Rain Zone. They say there are far larger ones in the Great Luo Domain and throughout the Great Shang Kingdom... Compared with those, the one at Qingyuan Market is no more than a small, poisonous sore on the body."
"I once read some accounts in our ancestral records. Our Lu Clan forebears fled here from their ancestral land. Beyond Great Shang, there are entire kingdoms shrouded by Black Rain Zones. Some of the vast ones have even formed barriers, cutting the domains off from one another."
"..."
Listening to the old man's aged, low voice, Lu Ming could not help feeling his scalp tingle. The Black Rain Zone before him at Qingyuan Market already gave him a suffocating sense of oppression. He could scarcely imagine how terrifying one that could shroud an entire kingdom must be.
In a Black Rain Zone of that magnitude, even a Divine Ability Grandmaster would probably struggle to take a single step, wouldn't he?
Did such a thing truly exist?
Seeing Lu Ming somewhat dazed, Lu Jin smiled and changed the subject. "Although this is only rain fog, it has another useful property. Try circulating your Qi Refining Art here."
Lu Ming did not understand, but he did as he was told and circulated his Qi Refining Art.
The next moment, surprise appeared on his face. He discovered that circulating his Qi Refining Art here allowed him to absorb Heaven and Earth Yuan Qi even faster than he could at Thunderfire Hall.
That was not because the Heaven and Earth Yuan Qi here was denser than at Thunderfire Hall.
Rather, it was as though the Heaven and Earth Yuan Qi were fleeing in panic from a pursuer, taking his body for a place of refuge and actively burrowing into it.
"Black rain dissolves and contaminates Heaven and Earth Yuan Qi. Heaven and Earth Yuan Qi seeks good fortune and avoids calamity, so it tries to find somewhere to hide. That's why cultivation actually becomes much more effective when this black rain fog spreads. It's... the same principle as birds looking for shelter under the eaves when it rains."
"That's also why all kinds of top-grade cultivation resources and natural treasures keep appearing in Black Rain Zones. Heaven and Earth Yuan Qi is left with no choice but to seek shelter, so the chances of such things coming into being are far greater than outside," Lu Jin explained.
Lu Ming finally understood. No wonder so many adventuring parties knew full well how perilous the Black Rain Zone was, yet still risked their lives to enter it.
In the end, it came back to the saying: people die for wealth, just as birds die for food.
Lu Ming sighed inwardly, though he also understood that, with his current strength, he was in no position to concern himself with a problem like the Black Rain Zone. One should eat only as much as one's strength allows. His most pressing task was still to work hard and grow stronger, first helping Thunderfire Hall deal with the upcoming hall meet.
So he said no more. Instead, he took out a High-Grade Bone Refining Pill, seizing the opportunity presented by the black rain fog to increase his Primordial Qi even a little.
Watching Lu Ming swallow the Bone-Tempering Pill and immediately begin cultivating, Lu Jin smiled. He did not disturb him, simply sitting quietly at his side and drawing on his pipe again and again.
Clouds of pungent smoke spread out, bringing a trace of security at this particular moment.
Meanwhile, at other positions nearby, Lu Qingyan, Lu Jinglei, Qian Shan and the others dared not relax. Leading their men, they kept their eyes fixed on the cold, damp black fog churning outside the medicinal garden, constantly on guard.
A hush hung over the medicinal garden.
Two hours passed like this. Lu Ming was cultivating when he suddenly felt the air turn cold, prompting him to hurriedly stop.
When he opened his eyes, he saw Lu Jin rise from his seat beside him. Powerful, violent Primordial Qi flickered over his somewhat gaunt body, while his aged face remained expressionless as he stared beyond the medicinal garden.
"Grandfather? Is that..." Lu Ming started.
Lu Jin nodded slightly and said calmly, "The Rain Spawn have probably come."
Lu Ming's pupils contracted. Rain Spawn were bizarre beings spawned in the black rain, things that struck terror into the hearts of countless people who entered Black Rain Zones in search of treasure.
He raised his gaze and stared fixedly beyond the medicinal garden.
The damp rain fog flowed slowly there, its depths unfathomable. Suddenly, a glimmer of warm yellow lamplight appeared in the profound darkness.
The warm yellow light stood out starkly in the darkness. It even brought a faint sense of security, giving one the urge to approach it and use its glow to drive away the dark.
Yet when Lu Ming saw that glimmer of warm yellow light, his breath caught sharply, and he felt as though a hand had closed around his heart, suffocating him.
For on that deeply memorable rainy night, he and Jingyi had nearly been deceived by that same warm yellow light...
The moment the light appeared, the expressions of Lu Qingyan, Lu Jinglei, Qian Shan and the others in the medicinal garden all changed. Powerful Primordial Qi surged from their bodies as they braced themselves as though facing a formidable enemy.
The light grew clearer and clearer in the black fog.
At last, the thing within it revealed itself.