Thick fog spread out through the dense jungle on the mountains, rapidly reaching Xu Qing and the Captain. Within moments, they were enveloped. It was so dense that they couldn’t see even half a meter around them. Everything was hazy and indistinct. Not even the sky was visible overhead.
It came so quickly, and was so cold, that there was no way it was naturally occurring. In all likelihood it was summoned by a grue. What was even more telling was that when Xu Qing touched it, he could tell that there were countless minutely small entities in the fog, trying to bore into his body through his pores. Thankfully, with the defenses of his life lamp, the attack of the gruish fog didn’t do anything.
This reminds me of the Fog of Confusion back in the forbidden region by the scavenger basecamp. However, there’s a clear difference in level between the two. As Xu Qing looked around, he realized that the fog was making it impossible to sense the Captain’s aura. A moment ago he had been right next to Xu Qing, but now Xu Qing had no idea where he was.
That said, Xu Qing wasn’t worried about the Captain. Though Xu Qing might have an advantage in forbidden regions and grounds, even he wasn’t sure who was fiercer, he or the Captain….
That was especially true considering that his shadow, which had just devoured something similar to itself, emanated a sense of thirst with the arrival of the ghostly fog. In fact, it immediately began absorbing streams of icy water vapor. It reminded Xu Qing of wanting to have some water after eating a big meal, and then having someone pass you a big cup of water. That was how excited the shadow was right now.
As the shadow devoured the fog, it thinned in front of Xu Qing. Looking calm, he proceeded forward, hoping to find the source of the fog. He was very curious to see what kind of grue would maliciously target him in this way. The further along he went, the more of the fog his shadow devoured, revealing more and more of the surrounding trees. They were vile in appearance, like demonic monsters, and the atmosphere was even more eerie given the sinister laughter which echoed faintly through the jungle. It was impossible to say if the laughter came from male or female lips. Perhaps it was both. It weaved left and right, surrounding Xu Qing but also seemingly coming from nowhere.
Xu Qing narrowed his eyes and reined his shadow in, worried that its devouring of the fog would scare whatever grue was responsible for it. After all, he currently planned to find the malicious grue and kill it! With his shadow in check, Xu Qing concealed his killing intent and proceeded onward through the jungle.
Eventually, he found himself climbing a slope. About an hour later, a vague shape appeared ahead of him in the fog. Soon, it resolved into a log cabin. As he got closer, he was able to see it more and more clearly. It was a very old structure. The logs that made it up were rotting, and in many places had crumbled away, leaving gaping holes in the walls. It was in such bad shape that it looked like it might collapse at any time.
An old rocking chair rested in front of the door, facing it, and it looked like it might fall to pieces at any moment as well.
There had once been a little courtyard and a garden in front of the cabin, but the courtyard was full of weeds and the garden had long since succumbed to the elements. The place seemed to have seen a lot of changes through many years, and at the same time, appeared a bit strange. He was halfway up a mountain in the middle of the jungle. Yet here was this random log cabin.
As Xu Qing approached, a sinister wind blew, causing the rustle of the leaves to sound like countless people whispering to each other. He took in the scene, then focused on the rocking chair.
There was obviously no one sitting in the chair, yet it was moving. It rocked back and forth, not dramatically, just a bit, almost like it might be moving in the wind. Or it could have been rocking back and forth as a dying old man sat in it, thinking back over the many years that he had lived.
Xu Qing’s face was expressionless as he looked at the rocking chair. He was certain that the chair had been completely motionless when he approached the cabin. But then he blinked, the wind kicked in, and the chair started rocking.
He blinked again.
All of a sudden, a noose appeared, hanging in the door of the cabin.
Xu Qing blinked a few more times, and ripples appeared around the noose. Then he saw a corpse. .
It was the corpse of an old man, hanging from the noose. It had obviously been hanging there a long time, as the corpse was withered up, with its long white hair hanging dry and brittle down from its head. The face was skeletal, with its eye sockets nothing but dark holes. And its mouth was open, as though it had been instinctively gasping for breath in the moments before death.
Xu Qing blinked a few more times.
The rocking chair stopped moving as a blurry figure stood from it, then approached the corpse of the old man. As it got closer, it became easier to see. It was a hunch-backed old woman. She had a stone bowl in her hand, within which was something like a congee, made from blood. She took a spoonful of the blood congee and put it into the mouth of the corpse. Then another. Then another.
The cold, sinister wind seemed to laugh and cry at the same time as it swept through the area. The weeds swayed like waves, making the atmosphere even more eerie. Both the corpse of the old man, and the old woman feeding congee, had very pale faces. Yet both of their lips were bright red.
As Xu Qing watched, the old lady fed about half of the bowl of blood congee to the old man. Then, without any warning, the old lady suddenly reached up and snapped the old man’s skull off his neck.
“It’s time for you to feed me, hubby!” The old lady’s voice was immeasurably hoarse and grating, like two rocks rubbing against each other.
The corpse floated in place. Above it was the noose, and above that was nothing. Though it had no head, it didn’t fall down.
Meanwhile, the old lady put the old man’s head off to the side, then reached up and snapped off her own head and put it in place on the noose. Reaching down, she found the old man’s head and put it onto her own neck. After switching heads, the old man’s eyes started glowing. Picking up the bowl, he started feeding the old lady. They truly seemed bound by love. In fact, the old man seemed worried that the congee was too hot, and would carefully blow each spoonful before putting it in the old lady’s mouth.
It was an incredibly bizarre and gruish scene.
Xu Qing watched, his face expressionless. He didn’t interrupt as they fed each other congee. After all, they weren’t making any move against him. Finally, he decided he might as well just leave.
However, after he turned and took a few steps, the old man suddenly turned and looked at him. The log cabin shifted positions, and was now right in front of Xu Qing.
The old man grinned in a very sinister fashion, revealing sharp, crooked teeth. Then he spoke in a very chilling voice.
“You’re back, son! Want some congee?”
Hearing that, Xu Qing looked at the gruish couple, then started walking forward. At the same time, a gulping sound could be heard from his feet. A sticky fluid oozed out from his shadow, which started melting everything it touched. Obviously, his shadow couldn’t stop itself from salivating, no matter how hard it tried.
Seeing this, both the old man and the old woman reacted with visible shock.
“Go ahead and eat,” Xu Qing said quietly.
The shadow, which had pushed its patience to the limit, suddenly rose up behind Xu Qing in the shape of a huge, black tree.
It had over a thousand eyes, all of them open and staring at the old man and woman. What was more, it had an enormous, ghastly mouth that opened and exhaled a sinister wind.
The old man and woman shivered, and fear appeared in their eyes. All of a sudden, the log cabin turned blurry, as if they were trying to flee. It was too late. The shadow shot forward, and in the blink of an eye, had become a vast swath of black shadow that covered the entire cabin. Only the sound of chewing and screaming could be heard. After some time passed, the shadow shrank down and returned to Xu Qing’s feet, exuding fluctuations of delight.
“Very… delicious….”
With the death of the gruish couple, the surrounding fog faded away. After only a few breaths of time passed, there was no trace it had even existed. Xu Qing continued onward until he spotted the Captain up ahead.
The Captain strolled along eating a black apple.
There was clearly a grue sealed in the apple, and it looked similar to the old man and woman Xu Qing had just encountered. It screamed in agony as the Captain ate the apple bite by bite.
Upon noticing Xu Qing behind him, the Captain took another bite, waved in greeting, and walked over. By the time they were in front of each other, the Captain had finished the apple. Licking his lips in satisfaction, he said, “That was a nice appetizer. Now I’m really hungry. What do you say we keep looking around?”
Hearing the Captain’s words, Xu Qing’s shadows sent him fluctuations of longing. In fact, they almost seemed like the pleas of a little child…. It was still hungry and thirsty.
Xu Qing nodded.
That put Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior completely on guard. He could see that the shadow had really honed its fawning behavior to a high level of skill. The patriarch suddenly felt a deep sense of crisis.
It’s still acting like a spoiled child? Outrageous! Disgusting!
As the patriarch fumed in anxiety, Xu Qing and the Captain strolled through the jungle looking for grues. Unfortunately, grues usually showed up when you didn’t want them to. And since they were actively searching for them, they didn’t find any.
However, after some time passed, they did find an area where some immortal type of grass was growing. It was strange considering the high mutagen levels in the area.
“This place actually has spirit grass?” the Captain exclaimed.
Normally speaking, spirit grass couldn’t grow in a place like the Supreme Arbiter Salvation Mountains. Usually, it only grew where there was no mutagen. Powerful groups would then fortify those areas, using spell formations to keep the mutagen out and keep the grass growing. To find an area like this was very unusual. It was noteworthy that the leaves were very small, almost stunted. That was understandable. But what was really strange was that the area with the grass formed a straight line, with one section going deep into the mountains, and the other heading in the direction of the Everlasting Immortal Profundity River.
Xu Qing squatted down and plucked a blade of grass. He probed at the dirt, then looked in the direction of the river.
“There’s water running underground here.”
The Captain’s eyes narrowed as he looked down. However, only a moment later, they lit up, as if he could see what was underneath. He smiled.
“What gall! Someone is actually siphoning water from the Everlasting Immortal Profundity River. Underground!” Looking up, he peered into the depths of the mountains, then started moving in that direction.
Xu Qing frowned. It didn’t seem like investigating this way was the best idea, but considering the Captain was already on the move, he decided to follow. Before long, the two of them found the place where the water was running to.
It was… a huge grave!
And written on the gravestone were three, sinister, blood-colored characters.
Dark Serenity Sect.