Chapter 524: Zhenjiang City

After leaving the small town, Li Luo and the two others followed the route leading to Zhenjiang City at full speed.

The dim sky and earth were filled with a viscous, blue-black mist. Within the mist swirled countless negative emotions, and unidentifiable whispers kept drifting over, seeping into the deepest recesses of the heart, stirring up the hidden malice within every person.

Moving through such an environment, if one did not keep their spirit taut at all times and maintain a state of vigilance, then before they knew it, their entire mind would begin to undergo changes, eventually deteriorating into a complete loss of control, becoming a mindless walking corpse.

Fortunately, all three of them had been tempered in the Dark Cave. The Eldest Princess was powerful, and her mental fortitude was naturally beyond question—these malicious contaminations would find it very hard to truly affect her. Jiang Jiang Qinge was even more formidable; the existence of her Ninth-Rank Light Phase meant that wherever she passed, the surrounding malice energy was almost like remnant snow meeting a blazing sun, constantly melting away.

The purifying power contained within the Light Phase force was indeed extremely effective against this malice energy filled with countless negative emotions.

Li Luo was the weakest and the most susceptible to erosion by the malice energy, so he put forward a request, hoping Jiang Jiang Qinge would hold his hand the entire way. That way, shielded by her Light Phase force, the malice energy naturally wouldn't be able to affect him.

Regarding his request, Jiang Jiang Qinge had originally not wanted to bother, because she knew that Li Luo actually also possessed Light Phase force within his body. That guy had hidden a Light Auxiliary Phase—although this Light Phase force was much weaker compared to his Water Phase and Wood Phase, it was more than enough to protect his own spirit from being disturbed by the malice energy.

So this guy's proposal was clearly a bit ill-intentioned.

However, Jiang Jiang Qinge ultimately still went along with his wishes. After all, this place was more dangerous than the Dark Cave, so being a little careful was always for the best.

Thus, during the journey, the two of them walked hand in hand.

As for this behavior of theirs, the Eldest Princess covered one smooth, fair cheek, revealing an expression of wincing distaste.

These two really were something.

Along the way, the three of them passed through several more small towns. There were still some residents in these towns, but most were the old, weak, sick, and disabled, along with some who couldn't bear to leave their homeland—they were struggling to survive in such a harsh environment.

This kind of survival was nothing more than a slow death.

The small towns exposed to the disturbance of malice energy were constantly affecting the residents' minds. Not to mention those with weak Phase force, even those at the Phase Master realm would inevitably become irritable over time, easily breeding many negative emotions.

And as this situation worsened, the changes in temperament would grow greater and greater, until eventually the mind was completely washed away by negative emotions.

At that point, although the person was still alive, they might as well be no different from a walking corpse.

So when Li Luo and the others arrived at this time, it allowed them to see a sliver of dawn light amidst their despair.

Under the townspeople's overwhelming gratitude, Li Luo and the others set up purification devices for the small town. These devices would prevent them from being exposed to the disturbance of malice energy. This way, they no longer had to live in constant fear that the people beside them would gradually be eroded by the malice energy and lose their rationality.

Traveling like this all the way, when Li Luo and the others reached the area where Zhenjiang City was located, five days had already passed.

Their points had also reached sixty-five thousand at this point.

On a hillside outside Zhenjiang City.

Li Luo and the two others looked down from a high vantage point, their faces solemn as they gazed at the large city not far away.

This city was vastly larger in scale than the previous small towns, but the malice energy here was also several times stronger than in those small towns.

In the three of them's field of vision, the dense, viscous malice energy seemed to have formed black clouds, covering the entire city. Even from such a great distance, they could still clearly sense the countless negative emotions contained within.

Unidentifiable whispers seeped in through every crack, burrowing into the mind, attempting to pollute the spirit.

"Such heavy malice contamination," Li Luo said slowly, Yan Shen Ning Zhong.

"The traces of Aberrations seem to be plentiful. It looks like to purify this city, a bitter battle is unavoidable," the Eldest Princess observed for a moment, azure light flowing within her phoenix eyes, and said.

Jiang Jiang Qinge's exquisitely beautiful face showed no particular ripple. She looked at Li Luo and asked, "What is our current ranking?"

Upon hearing this, Li Luo took out his Spirit Mirror and looked, smiling. "Ranked fourth, not too low."

"First is... the team from the Holy Bright King Academy, Lan Lan. They have eighty thousand points now. Actually, the points in the early stage were all about the same—probably no one has encountered any tough nuts yet."

The Eldest Princess smiled and said, "Not unexpected, the gap isn't large. But I feel the first watershed should be appearing very soon."

Li Luo nodded. Previously, everyone had encountered villages and towns with relatively light contamination, and the levels of the Aberrations weren't too high either, so as expected, they could all pass through smoothly. But going forward, as they gradually ventured deeper into Red Sand Prefecture, places like Zhenjiang City would become more and more frequent.

And Calamity-grade Aberrations would begin to appear frequently.

So some of the weaker teams would inevitably be held back, and the points would begin to show a gap.

"How should we proceed from here?" Li Luo humbly sought advice from the two big sisters.

The Eldest Princess looked at Jiang Jiang Qinge and smiled. "Qing'e, what do you think?"

Jiang Jiang Qinge's gaze turned toward Zhenjiang City covered in black fog. She pondered slightly and said, "The situation here is rather complicated. We can't even be certain whether only that one Calamity-grade Aberration, the Four-Armed Magic-Eye Serpent, exists within. So I feel we cannot act rashly. My suggestion is to first infiltrate the city, investigate the true situation, ideally map out the distribution and levels of the Aberrations inside, and then decide how to proceed."

The Eldest Princess agreed and said, "These are words of experience. The situation inside the city is unclear, so we must indeed investigate properly, to avoid being caught in a dilemma where we can neither advance nor retreat."

Li Luo swallowed a mouthful of saliva. The black energy permeating Zhenjiang City made it obvious at a glance that it was an extremely dangerous place, yet these two were actually planning to go in and investigate—they were truly brave beyond measure.

But since both main forces had decided this way, he, a sidekick tagging along, certainly couldn't object, so he obediently nodded.

The Eldest Princess then took out three black talisman papers from her spatial sphere. Mysterious patterns were drawn on the talisman papers, with faint light flowing across them.

"These are Qi-Concealing Talismans. Stick them on your body and they can conceal and shield your aura, which will prevent Aberrations from detecting you." She distributed the black talisman papers to Li Luo and Jiang Jiang Qinge.

Li Luo curiously took them and smiled. "Your Highness is truly generous. These things aren't cheap."

"It's rare for the two strongest students to grace me with their choice. Of course I can only splurge a little," the Eldest Princess said with a bright, beautiful smile.

Chatting and laughing, the three of them also stuck the black talisman papers onto their bodies. Immediately, the Phase force flowing around the three of them seemed to become extremely faint. Although one could clearly see the person before them with the naked eye, if relying on Phase force perception, one would feel that the space before them was completely empty.

Once preparations were complete, the three of them began to move.

However, for Li Luo's safety, Jiang Jiang Qinge and the Eldest Princess flanked him on the left and right, shielding him in the middle, as they quietly swept down the high slope. Finally, following the already broken road, passing through the shattered and collapsed city wall, they entered Zhenjiang City, which was permeated with black fog.