Chapter 90: Midnight holds a mystery

Boom!

The ground rumbled, and shattered stone burst outward.

Terrible deadly poison spread everywhere.

Thick poisonous gas filled the surroundings; Fan Dongyang's body lay on the ground, his corpse qi barely dissipated, fear still on his face, and the terrible poison had already penetrated his five viscera and six bowels.

It melted his five viscera and six bowels completely.

"Family, family will not let you go."

Fan Dongyang revealed a grim smile, conveying a deep resentment.

In the next moment, his body began to rapidly swell, flesh bulging, hair standing on end, his body like a balloon, quickly growing larger.

Fang Yi frowned, sensed something wrong, was greatly startled, and instantly vanished.

Boom!

A violent explosion sounded, the earth shook and mountains trembled, countless poison and corpse qi shot wildly.

Several strands of corpse qi shot out directly, turning into streaks of green light, as if possessing consciousness, emitting silent howls like ghosts, and rushed straight toward Fang Yi at extreme speed.

Although Fang Yi had almost reached his limit, he was still pursued by those eerie green lights; poison fire erupted all over his body with a clanging sound, his golden diamond armor quickly turning into a golden bell that blocked in front of him.

Only the sound of clanging could be heard.

Those several strands of incoming corpse qi shook the golden bell continuously, its surface runes cracking as if about to burst.

Fortunately, the golden bell managed to block that green light.

Several kinds of deadly poison within his body quickly wrapped those corpse qi, merging them into one, which floated in the space before him.

Only then did the corpse qi wrapped in deadly poison reveal a strange shape.

It seemed like a strange rune.

"What is this?"

Fang Yi's eyes narrowed as he stared intently at that strange rune.

He subconsciously used his mental power to probe it.

In an instant, his mental power seemed to cross space, discovering that inside the rune lay another world, with a yin-cold aura, extremely ancient, as if connected to some mysterious netherworld.

Through the rune, one could feel waves of icy, oppressive aura from the other side, filled with death, as if a pair of cold eyes swept over him.

In an instant, the hairs on Fang Yi's body stood on end.

Goosebumps rose all over.

He quickly severed that mental thread, his heart greatly startled.

"Is this a mark? Fan Dongyang wants to implant this into my body so his family can find me and avenge him? What a scheme! What a calculation!"

"What kind of existence is this?"

Merely sensing it from afar almost made his mind collapse.

Could it be of the level of a corpse ancestor?

This Fan Dongyang definitely has a significant background deep in the mist.

Unfortunately, however, I have successfully blocked this mark.

"If I implant this into someone else's body, could I shift the conflict, letting the Black Zombie Family trouble another person?"

Fang Yi's eyes flickered as an idea suddenly occurred to him.

After a moment, he still felt it unsafe.

Forget it.

Carrying this on his person is like a time bomb.

Although it wasn't implanted into his own body, no one can be sure whether the opposing family might sense it.

Therefore, the correct course is to discard it as soon as possible.

Fang Yi thought it over, carefully controlling it with deadly poison, and finally came to a corpse on the ground, carefully injecting the mark into the corpse.

Swish!

Upon encountering the corpse, the mark took root like a plant leaving the ground, instantly flourishing firmly within it.

Fang Yi picked up several large spears from the ground, absorbed the surrounding poisonous gas, turned and left, heading out of the city.

The city lord is dead!

From now on, the vast sea lets the fish leap!

He intends to go to the true great city—Chifeng City!

"And the shopkeeper—I don't know if the shopkeeper is still alive."

The whole city was in turmoil, countless figures fleeing in panic.

Almost everyone was rushing north, carrying families, calling friends, numbers unknown.

Even many gangs were relocating their whole groups.

Just as Fang Yi had left a short half-hour ago, suddenly a bright, deafening crane cry came from the south of the city, breaking through the thick mist; a snow-white immortal crane carrying three figures rushed from afar, returning to the city.

As soon as they returned, their faces changed, they controlled the crane and hurried toward the northern city.

As the crane landed, they leapt down directly and inspected the surroundings.

"Someone forcefully broke through, killing all the soldiers? Not good, these corpses contain deadly poison—it's that Ouyang Feng!"

One of them let out a startled shout.

The nearby young woman waved her hand, with a swish grabbed a passerby, and coldly demanded: "Tell me, what's going on?"

"I don't know either; I heard people say the Poison King Ouyang Feng appeared, poisoned the city guards, opened a convenient gate for us, spare my life."

That person spoke in panic.

"Where is the city lord Fan Dongyang now?"

The lovely young woman shouted.

"I haven't seen it either, please spare me."

That person spoke in terror.

"Get lost!"

The woman casually tossed him, throwing him flying on the spot; the three then decisively leapt onto the immortal crane again and rushed toward the City Lord's Mansion.

"Fan Dongyang, come out and see us!"

One of the blue-robed men let out a loud shout.

But the entire City Lord's Mansion was utterly silent.

Aside from the many servants, there was no response at all.

The three swept with their mental power, and their expressions changed dramatically.

Fan Dongyang was not at home.

"Could it be that they discovered Ouyang Feng's trail and went to pursue him?"

The three's hearts surged, and they once again headed toward the Northern District to track.

At the same time, the lovely young woman took out an ancient jade from her person, cast a mysterious spell, and began contacting the others of her sect.

Moments later, she received a response, her face lighting with joy as she said: "Two junior brothers, Senior Brother Lu will pass by here shortly; he possesses the supreme treasure 【Chasing Shadow Mirror】, and we can use his supreme treasure 【Chasing Shadow Mirror】 to seek Ouyang Feng!"

"Great, Senior Brother Lu is actually coming too!"

"Then we'll track while contacting Senior Brother Lu!"

The two said delightedly.

The immortal crane's clear cry rang out as it swept across the high sky, heading straight north.

But there were simply too many fleeing people, the chaos was total, and they could not possibly discover where Fang Yi was, nor see any trace of battle.

During this time, several sweeps of their mental power turned up nothing abnormal at all.

In the chaotic crowd, Fang Yi restrained his aura, making him no different from an ordinary person.

He gazed at everything above him, simply pressing forward.

"I never expected that the ones who came chasing first would be them themselves; aren't they supposed to be seeking the great treasure?"

However, they probably wouldn't be able to detect him.

Just like that, time passed.

Amid the frantic escape of the crowd, a day passed unnoticed.

The immortal crane above flew back and forth four times.

They also swept with their mental power seven or eight times, yet each time found nothing.

Night fell.

The wilderness area began to rapidly cool, the fog grew thicker, surging and vast like an endless black tide coming from all directions, seeking to engulf everyone.

Even the sounds around them suddenly grew much quieter.

"The fog is rising, everyone stop quickly and set up camp on the spot! Set up camp on the spot!"

"The fog has come, stop!"

"Don't walk any further!"

Some itinerant merchants in the crowd couldn't help but shout loudly, their faces panicked, immediately urging their own people to stop quickly.

At the same time, their subordinates also shouted, urging the crowd ahead to stop one after another.

Those who were marching forward also clearly sensed something amiss, their expressions involuntarily shifting as they hastily halted.

This fog arrived far too strangely.

This road is clearly a safe trade route, one that should not be shrouded by thick fog.

Yet all of this somehow fogged up.

Even the temperature suddenly plummeted seven or eightfold.

"What's going on? How did it suddenly get so cold!"

"There won't be any problems, will there?"

"Jinx, don't talk nonsense."

The crowd began to discuss.

Even Fang Yi couldn't help but frown, looking at the surrounding fog, feeling that something was unnatural.

Cultivating at his level, his bodily perception is extraordinarily keen, especially in crisis, sometimes giving rise to a profound and mysterious sixth sense.

At this moment, that sixth sense became extremely uneasy.

Finally, under the greetings of those itinerant merchants, the crowd quickly gathered, lighting bonfires all around and linking the vehicles end to end to form a barrier.

The thick fog came swiftly, and the wilderness was soon completely shrouded in darkness.

Looking around, it was gloomy, and one could not see one's hand before one's face.

"The shopkeeper isn't among this group; he's probably still ahead."

Fang Yi glanced around the crowd, thinking to himself.

"What's with tonight's fog? How did it suddenly get so thick? Shopkeeper Zhou, you've been doing business in both places year after year, traveling night roads—has it ever been like this before?"

A Blood Qi Realm martial artist couldn't help but ask an experienced itinerant merchant.

This itinerant merchant is over fifty, himself also a third-level Blood Qi Realm practitioner; his face is very uneasy, filled with tension as he looks around and says: "It rarely occurs; I've only heard some rumors from elderly itinerant merchants."

His face turned pale, and he kept wiping away cold sweat.

As if he were afraid of something.

"Could it be that this fog actually has some explanation?"

Everyone was greatly startled, being stunned by his words and demeanor.

Even Fang Yi looked over doubtfully.

"Forget it, can't mention it; mentioning it usually brings trouble."

Shopkeeper Zhou said nervously.

"No way, this road is a safety route stipulated by the dynasty; what could happen? Weren't there agreements with the entities in the deep mist?"

"Could it be that you're just too nervous?"

Everyone looked at Shopkeeper Zhou, puzzled.

"Legend has it that the night mist is not formed from ordinary water vapor, but from the condensation of yin energy and resentment; whenever the night fog blankets the sky, the yin-yang boundary blurs, allowing evil spirits to run rampant, and terrifying events occur endlessly."

Shopkeeper Zhou whispered, saying: "Someone once saw a huge black shadow in the night mist, its outline neither human nor non-human; with each step it caused the ground to seep black blood, anyone who saw it would fall into madness, eventually their eyeballs crawling with blood vessels, exploding and dying; others would find their own shadow suddenly detach from the ground, twist into another entity, and begin mimicking the body's movements, devouring the body's flesh."

"Enough, enough, don't say more."

"It's really creepy."

"Talking about ghosts at night inevitably brings strange occurrences."

The crowd spontaneously dispersed, each person's hair standing on end.

Before they knew, they were still curious.

But after learning, they wished to get as far away as possible, wishing they had never heard of it.

The bonfire burned, emitting crackling sounds.

Fang Yi sat cross-legged on a large stone, eyes closed, cultivating his spirit, pondering the road ahead.

The map he had purchased earlier, all routes already imprinted in his mind.

Azure Yang City to Chifeng City is a journey of several thousand li, with seven or eight supply points of various sizes in between.

The nearest one is also over a hundred li away.

His thoughts wavered, suddenly a chill rose in his heart, feeling his back prickle.

Behind him it was cold and eerie, as if something were approaching.

Fang Yi suddenly opened his eyes, coldly sweeping his gaze backward.

Yet his pupils contracted slightly; he saw, within the thick night mist, a black huge shadow's outline appear there, neither human nor non-human, neither far nor near, silently gazing this way.

When he rubbed his eyes and looked closer, the huge shadow's outline vanished again.

As if nothing had appeared at all.

"Hiss!"

He secretly drew in a cold breath, unconsciously gripping his precious sword.

"No way!"

"Did it really let him win the prize?"

Time passed slowly, all around only the crackling of burning dry firewood could be heard.

Most people had already fallen asleep.

Even the few who weren't asleep detected no abnormality whatsoever.

Fang Yi gripped his sword tightly, maintaining a hundred and twenty percent vigilance in his heart.

In his left hand, his index and middle fingers slightly bent, deadly poison condensed between them, gradually compressing as if forming a drop of black liquid, immense power, brewing terrifying energy.

Just as time trickled by.

In the distance, two white immortal cranes continued to fly in midair.

On one of the immortal cranes sat the two men and one woman seen earlier that day.

On the other immortal crane was a youth with a stern visage, wearing a reddish-yellow robe, his face cold, seeming to show no favor to anyone.

"Senior Brother Lu, you've worked hard coming all this way."

That young lady smiled, her eyes seeming to gleam with light.

"It's nothing, I just didn't expect that a few days' delay would actually lead to Junior Brother Zhou's demise; this is my fault, I must quickly find Ouyang Feng to seek justice for Junior Brother Zhou!"

The yellow-robed youth, out of face, still softened his tone and said a few more words.

After all, a beautiful maiden inevitably inspires some goodwill.

"With Senior Brother Lu's help this time, we will surely find them."

The young lady Zhou Mei chuckled lightly, saying: "Right, Senior Brother Lu, did you encounter anything along the way?"

The yellow-robed youth frowned, originally not wanting to bother, but couldn't help saying: "The Great Teaching in the deep mist is in turmoil, each seeking opportunity; along the way I encountered followers of the Seek God Path."

"Followers of the Seek God Path? What are they doing?"

The young lady expressed astonishment.

The two people beside her also exclaimed in surprise.

"It seems they discovered a great treasure matching their path, now gathered at a supply point, forming a scale; many have thus been forcibly detained there, I myself almost ended up detained as well."

The yellow-robed youth said.

"There's still such a thing?"

The young lady was shocked.

"Eh, there's a situation below!"

The yellow-robed youth looked down from above, his gaze narrowing, saying: "A mountain monster is forming?"

"There are many refugees below; Senior Brother Lu, should we check it out?"

Zhou Mei looked downward.

"Get lost!"

The yellow-robed youth casually tossed out, several talisman papers fell from high altitude, instantly landing in the surrounding mist, emitting crackling sounds, as if turning into lightning that struck into the mist.

"Ah!"

In an instant, a shrill, miserable cry burst from the surrounding thick fog, the sound piercing to the ears.

As if some terrible monster had been wounded.

The eerie sound made everyone instantly awake, shuddering violently.

Soon they were shocked to discover that the dense fog that had enveloped them was rapidly receding at a visible speed, like a tide ebbing, and in the blink of an eye the original road was revealed.

Fang Yi also felt a start in his heart and looked up.

It's them!

The people we saw in the daytime!

They've come again!

"The way of seeking immortals is truly wondrous; it can so easily dispel the thick fog."

Whoosh!

Only to see a yellow-robed youth in midair, after driving off the mountain monster, casually flick his wrist and cast out a mysterious mirror, which shot out a pale yellow light toward the crowd below.

One by one, silhouettes were swiftly swept by the mirror's light.

When the mirror's light fell on Fang Yi, suddenly, motionless, the originally pale yellow light intensified several times over, like suddenly becoming a blazing sun, its radiance splendid.

Fang Yi's heart sank; without thinking, he instantly drew his bow toward the sky.

An arrow shot forth!

Two-in-one!

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(End of chapter)