Jin Ling couldn’t help but replied, “We never turned around. We’ve always been walking forward, following this path.”
If both of them were walking forward, then would it be possible that someone jinxed the path and made it into a cyclic maze array?
Wei WuXian asked again, “Have you tried using your swords to fly up and see?”
Lan SiZhui, “Yes. I thought that I flew a long distance upward, but it was actually not that high. And there were also some fuzzy shadows darting here and there. I did not know what they were and was afraid that I could not deal with them, so I came down.”
Hearing this, everyone was silent for a while. Since the Shudong area was foggy anyway, they never thought too much about the fog in the city. Now, it seemed that the fog didn’t form naturally and really was a ghostly mist.
Lan JingYi was shocked, “The fog wouldn’t be poisonous, would it?!”
Wei WuXian, “It probably isn’t. We’ve been in here for quite a while, and we’re still alive.”
Jin Ling, “I should’ve brought Fairy with me. It’s all because of your damned donkey.”
Hearing the dog’s name, goosebumps climbed all over Wei WuXian’s back. He then heard Lan JingYi shout, “We have not even blamed your dog yet! It opened its mouth to bite first, and then it ended up with Lil’ Apple’s hoove. Whose fault was that? Anyhow, neither of them can move at this point.”
Wei WuXian, “What?! My Lil’ Apple was bitten by a dog?!”
Jin Ling, “How can that donkey be more important than my spiritual dog? Fairy was given to me by my youngest uncle. If something happened to it, not even ten thousand donkeys could pay for it!”
Wei WuXian retorted in all absurdity, “Don’t use LianFang-Zun’s name to scare people off. Well, my Lil’ Apple is a gift from HanGuang-Jun. How could you take Lil’ Apple out to night-hunt? And even let it be injured?!”
The juniors from the Lan Sect responded in unison, “Liar!” They would never believe that someone like HanGuang-Jun would choose such a gift for someone. Even if Lan WangJi didn’t speak up, they firmly refused to believe it. Lan SiZhui clarified, “Uhh… Sorry, Young Master Mo. Your Lil’ Apple… Your donkey had been making noise everyday in the Cloud Recesses, and the seniors had been complaining for a long time, ordering us to get rid of it during this night-hunt. So, we…”
Jin Ling didn’t believe that the donkey was a gift from Lan WangJi either, “I can’t even stand looking at that donkey. And it’s even called ‘Lil’ Apple’. It’s so damn stupid!”
Lan JingYi thought that, if it really were from HanGuang-Jun, then they’d be in trouble. He immediately spoke up for it, “What is wrong with ‘Lil’ Apple’? It likes to eat Apples, so it is called Lil’ Apple. How down-to-earth. This is ten times better than calling your fat dog ‘Fairy’!”
Jin Ling, “How is Fairy fat?! Try finding me a spiritual dog that’s in a better shape than…”
Suddenly, all of the chatter ceased.
A few seconds later, Wei WuXian asked, “Is anyone still there?”
A series of oomph-s and mmn-s came from around him, which meant that everyone was there. Lan WangJi coldly stated, “Noise.”
… How could he silence everyone at once? Wei WuXian couldn’t help but touched his lips, feeling quite lucky.
All of a sudden, the sound of footsteps came amid the fog on the front-left side.
The footsteps staggered in an tremendously cumbersome way. Immediately afterward, from the front, the front-right, the sides, and the back came the same sound. Although the fog was too thick for any figures to be seen, the rancid stench had already drifted over.
Of course, Wei WuXian wouldn’t worry about just a few walking corpses. He whistled lightly, and ended on a note that curved upward, signalling for them to back off. As he had expected, after the corpses behind the fog heard the whistle, they briefly paused.
However, a moment later, they rushed over!
Wei WuXian didn’t expect this at all. Not only did the command not work, it actually provoked them. He would never have mixed up the two different commands of “back off” and “be stimulated”!
Yet, at the moment, there wasn’t any time for him to think. Seven or eight slanting figures had already appeared through the white fog. Judging from the thickness of the fog in Yi City, the fact that they could see them meant that the corpses were already extremely near!
Bichen’s icy-blue sword glare tore open the fog. Surrounding the group, it drew a distinct circle in the air, cutting all of the walking corpses in half then returning back to its sheath. Wei WuXian let out a breath of relief, while Lan WangJi lowered his voice, “Why?”
Wei WuXian was also wondering why, Why couldn’t the command control these corpses? With a slow pace and rancid scent, they definitely weren’t any high-level corpses. I should’ve been able to scare them away with just a few claps. It was impossible for my whistling to suddenly not work anymore, since it doesn’t use spiritual powers anyways. A situation like this has never…
Suddenly, he remembered something. A thin layer of sweat seeped from his back.
No. It wasn’t that “a situation like this has never happened before”. In reality, it had indeed happened before, and not only once. There really was a type of corpse or spirit that he couldn’t command—
Corpses or spirits that were already under the control of the Stygian Tiger Seal!
Lan WangJi lifted the silence spell, and Lan SiZhui could talk again, “HanGuang-Jun, is the situation really dangerous? Should we leave the city at once?”
“But the fog is so thick. We cannot use the path or fly out either…”
One disciple exclaimed, “I think more corpses are coming!”
“Where? I did not hear any footsteps.”
“I think I heard strange breathing sounds…” The boy only realized what a ridiculous remark it was after he said it, shutting his mouth in embarrassment. Another boy responded, “You really are something, are you not? Breathing sounds. Corpses are dead—how can there be any breathing sounds?”
Before he finished, another large figure crashed over. With Bichen unsheathing again, the shadow’s head separated from its body. At the same time, strange splashing sounds could be heard. The disciples who were near the scene all screamed in fright. Afraid that they were hurt, Wei WuXian immediately called out, “What happened?”
Lan JingYi, “Something spurted out of the corpse’s body. I think it was some sort of powder. It tasted both bitter and sweet. And rotten!” It was very unlucky for him. Since he happened to have wanted to speak, he opened his mouth, and a fair amount of powder went inside. Not caring about how he looked, he immediately spat a few times. The things that gushed out from a corpse were undoubtedly not trivial matters. The powder still roamed in the air. If it was accidentally sucked into the lungs, it would’ve been even harder to deal with than if it entered one’s mouth. Wei WuXian instructed, “All of you, stand away from that area! Come here quickly. Let me see you.”
Lan JingYi, “Okay. But I cannot see you. Where are you?”
One couldn’t even see their hand if it was right in front of them, let alone walk in this fog. Wei WuXian recalled that, whenever Bichen was unsheathed, its sword glare could penetrate the white fog. He turned to Lan WangJi, who stood by his side, “HanGuang-Jun, draw your sword for a moment, so that he can walk over.”