Chapter 259: Trapped in the Mist

Ever since Li Xue boarded the flying boat, the cultivators of the Four Great Sects had not spent a single peaceful day. This person was like a mischievous spirit, wandering among everyone every day, her mouth like a door that could not be closed, chattering incessantly!

In the end, Zhang Nuo and the Sect Masters of the Four Great Sects had no choice but to use Restrictions to seal off their surroundings, preventing her from conversing with them! Li Xue, however, did not mind at all and simply sought out those disciples at the Foundation Establishment Stage to chat. These disciples had lower cultivation than her, so even if they set up Restrictions, it was of no use to Li Xue; they could only bite the bullet and keep her company!

The dull flight continued for more than two years. On this day, Nanxuan Laozu was meditating when his brows suddenly twitched slightly, and then he stood up involuntarily and walked directly onto the deck of the flying boat.

His aged gaze looked toward the hazy mist in front of the flying boat! He saw that the further they went, the thicker the mist became, until the visibility was less than half a zhang. This meant that if two people stood facing each other, it would be difficult to see the other's face without speaking!

"Strange! How could such a thick mist have risen?"

Lost in thought, he pondered that since entering the Mist Sea, he had never encountered such a dense fog. Closing his eyes slightly, Nanxuan Laozu probed the surroundings with his Divine Sense. Suddenly, his complexion turned deathly pale!

Because his Divine Sense could only leave his body for a few zhang before it could no longer advance! This was too eerie! Under normal circumstances, with his Nascent Soul Stage cultivation, his Divine Sense should have been able to cover an area of several hundred miles.

"What happened?"

Zhuge An also walked out of the flying boat at this time. Seeing the grave expression on the Laozu's face, he guessed that something major might have occurred!

"Release your Divine Sense and try!"

Without answering Zhuge An immediately, Nanxuan Laozu turned his head and said to him. Upon hearing this, Zhuge An was slightly stunned. He did not understand what this meant, but he did not dare to ask too much. He followed instructions and released his Divine Sense, but in an instant, Zhuge An's expression also changed drastically! He looked at Nanxuan Laozu in astonishment, unable to speak for a long time.

"It seems you are the same as me!"

Seeing Zhuge An's expression, Nanxuan Laozu knew what had happened without asking! He rolled his eyes slightly and then said:

"We must stop!"

After speaking, Nanxuan Laozu flipped one hand and took out a magic disk, then pointed at it several times. The flying boat, which had been moving at full speed, came to an abrupt halt and hovered quietly in mid-air.

"This mist is so strange; it can actually block Divine Sense!"

Zhuge An was still feeling suspicious about the mist. Looking around, the surrounding area was filled with thick fog; they did not know when they had already sailed into the depths of this mist.

"Something's wrong!"

Suddenly turning his head, Zhuge An seemed to have remembered something. He searched the deck incessantly. After a moment, he returned to Nanxuan Laozu's side in terror, his face devoid of any color, and said:

"Laozu, the two disciples who were standing on the deck guarding the course are gone!"

"Hmm?"

Nanxuan Laozu gasped. It was almost impossible for two people to go missing right under his nose! The two of them flashed into the interior of the flying boat simultaneously, and after counting the heads, two disciples were indeed missing! This time, even the Laozu's expression was very unnatural!

At this moment, the other cultivators saw this and, not knowing what had happened, cast their gazes upon the two. Zhuge An briefly explained the situation to everyone.

After listening, Zhang Nuo was the first to rush out of the flying boat. Upon seeing it, he was also stunned for a long time; his Divine Sense was likewise unable to probe very far, only able to linger within a few zhang around his body.

Returning to the interior of the flying boat, all eyes were now fixed on Li Xue. Two disciples had gone missing mysteriously, and since she was the only outsider on the boat, they naturally suspected the young girl.

"Don't look at me like that! This has nothing to do with me; I have been with you all along!"

Curling up in a corner of the flying boat, as if she had suffered a great grievance, Li Xue pouted and said unhappily.

Nanxuan Laozu was much calmer than the others. With his insight, Li Xue had never left this place and could not have had the opportunity to act. Furthermore, with her cultivation, even if she did act, she would have been discovered.

"This matter has nothing to do with her!"

With these words, the siege on Li Xue was finally lifted.

"Then who could it be?"

Leng Xinghun was usually not one to speak, but faced with such an eerie event today, he could no longer sit still.

"I think it has to do with this mist!"

Looking up at the outside of the flying boat, the hazy mist had still not dissipated. Nanxuan Laozu was equally puzzled.

He had just stood on the deck, and the mist had no effect on a cultivator's body, so how could those two cultivators have gone missing? Due to the mysterious disappearance of the two cultivators, the flying boat had sailed directly into the depths of the thick fog. Now, they could not even distinguish the direction and it was impossible to proceed rashly!

After thinking for a while, Nanxuan Laozu said slowly:

"Return to the sea surface and see what is happening!"

Everyone nodded in agreement. They did not know when the mist in front of them would dissipate, and waiting bitterly in the air like this was simply not a solution.

The flying boat slowly descended toward the sea surface. With a 'splash' of water, the entire flying boat moored on the water. Everyone stood on the deck and looked around; the situation on the sea was the same as in the sky, still foggy, and their Divine Sense was greatly obstructed.

'Splash! Splash!'

A series of water sounds came from afar, as if a ship's hull was slapping against the waves, sailing toward them.

Because both their Divine Sense and vision were restricted by the thick fog, the group could not see what was coming, and each of them prepared for battle.

After about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, the sound of water drew closer and closer. Everyone's heart was in their throat, each clutching a Magic Treasure in their palm, ready to strike the moment they discovered something amiss.

'Whoosh!'

A gust of wind blew, and the mist was scattered quite a bit. At this moment, a Giant Ship appeared in the sight of the Four Great Sects' cultivators. They saw that this Giant Ship was wrapped in spiritual light, and its sailing speed was not fast. Just as the mist in front dissipated, the people on the Giant Ship also saw the flying boat.

"Young Master, there is a giant boat ahead!"

At the bow of the Giant Ship, a man with green whiskers put away a Magic Treasure in his hand and turned back to say to a beautiful woman in purple robes behind him.

"Oh! It seems someone is trapped by this mist just like us!"

The purple-robed young girl was not panicked. With light steps, she walked toward the bow. Her eyes, like autumn water, looked toward the flying boat, and her heart could not help but stir! This flying boat looked so familiar; it seemed to be the ship that had followed them a few years ago.

At the same time, the cultivators of the Four Great Sects also saw the Giant Ship sailing from the side, especially that purple-robed woman, whom many remembered clearly!

"Why is it them?"

Nanxuan Laozu frowned. To be honest, he did not know why, but he had always felt a sense of wariness toward the purple-robed woman.

"Fellow Daoists ahead, have you also lost your way in this place?"

The purple-robed young girl stood at the bow, silently circulating her Mysterious Technique, and shouted loudly toward the flying boat. The voice was like heavenly music; even though it was just a simple question, it still made several disciples' hearts flutter!

"Indeed! Have the fellow Daoists ahead also strayed into this place?"

Zhuge An also used his Mysterious Technique to transmit his voice back. By this time, the Giant Ship had approached the flying boat, and as a gust of wind blew past, the mist between the two had dissipated a lot.

The purple-robed young girl's bright eyes flickered as she glanced at the people on the flying boat. Seeing that there was a Nascent Soul Stage cultivator present, her heart sank slightly, but she did not show the slightest bit of it on her face.

"So there is a Nascent Soul Stage senior here; this junior has been disrespectful!"

The young girl was quite tactful; she stood at the bow and gave a slight bow to Nanxuan Laozu.

"No need for formalities! It is a form of fate that both our ships are trapped in this mist!"

Nanxuan Laozu gave a light smile, not putting on the airs of a senior expert, and spoke to the young girl in purple with extreme courtesy.

"May I ask when you were trapped in the mist, Senior?"

Seeing that the other party was amiable, the young girl in purple felt much more at ease.

"It is shameful to say! I do not know when it happened myself; the two disciples who had been maintaining our course unexpectedly went missing!"

Once these words were spoken, the girl's expression changed slightly, because on the Giant Ship she was on, the two disciples who had been steering it had also mysteriously vanished—neither alive nor dead, with no bodies to be found!

Upon seeing the girl's expression, Nanxuan Laozu guessed that the situation they had encountered was likely the same as his own!

"I will not hide it from you, Senior; two disciples on our ship have also gone missing!"

The young girl in purple was quite candid and did not deliberately conceal anything, stating the truth directly.

"This matter cannot be this simple!"

If it were only the Four Great Sects that had lost two disciples in charge of navigation, it might be called a coincidence, but since the two disciples steering the Giant Ship had also disappeared, this could no longer be attributed to coincidence.

After lowering his head and pondering for a moment, Nanxuan Laozu uttered this sentence!

"Your view is the same as mine, Senior! I only wonder if you have any way to escape, so that you might take everyone on our ship with you!"

The young girl in purple spoke with extreme courtesy, calling him 'Senior' at every turn, as if she regarded Nanxuan Laozu as a straw to clutch at for survival, pinning her hopes on him.

Upon hearing this, Nanxuan Laozu shook his head and gave a bitter smile; he himself was trapped here, so how could he have any good solution!

"It is shameful for me to say! If I had a way, I would not be trapped in this place! However..."

Before he could finish his sentence, a bell toll suddenly rang out from the depths of the mist; this sound had great penetrating power, as if it came from a distant place, yet it was exceptionally clear to everyone's ears, and even some disciples with lower cultivation had their minds shaken by it.

The expressions of the cultivators from the Four Great Sects and the Giant Ship all changed drastically; what did this sudden bell toll signify? Could it be that there were other cultivators in the depths of the mist?