Chapter 223: Fog Beast Assault · Deciphering the Palace Ruins

Chapter 223: Fog Beast Assault · Deciphering the Palace Ruins

They hadn’t walked far when nine forks suddenly appeared ahead.

The paths grew increasingly narrow, barely wide enough for a single cultivator to pass—about 0.6 meters across.

Faced with this unusual terrain, many cultivators hesitated.

Even the Zhang Clan’s team, one of the Eight Great Clans, paused to reorganize their formation.

Seeing this, Yu Zhenyang immediately stepped forward as planned, taking the lead. Ma Wenbo deliberately fell back to guard the rear.

They once again avoided the more formidable competitors. However, many solitary cultivators had the same idea, so the chosen path ended up crowded. Fortunately, everyone maintained a safe distance, avoiding chaos.

This calm lasted only three quarters of a quarter-hour.

“Ahhh!”

A scream suddenly erupted from the rear.

Xiao Chen turned around to see a solitary cultivator—his left arm torn off—frantically staunching blood while summoning a spirit shield. The shield faced not the front or rear, but the mist on his left side.

“Beware the mist! There’s a third-rank spirit beast inside!”

The cultivator behind him shouted a warning, raising his own spirit shield. He’d seen everything clearly: the strange yao beast had emerged from the fog, instantly shredding the protective mystic light on the victim’s robe.

But the fog obscured both sight and spiritual sense, hiding the beast’s location. No one knew if it had fled or was preparing to ambush another target.

“Stick closer together! Protect both sides!”

Yu Zhenyang raised his water-ring shield and turned to command, “The protective range of spirit shields is wide. Standing near each other—left and right—makes us safer than moving alone.”

Their five-member team could form two pairs. Cao Mingjie had already stepped back to stand with Ma Wenbo. Yu Zhenyang hesitated, then pulled out a Guīyuán Hòutǔ Talisman and said, “Golden Light Technique Fellow Cultivator, please guard Fellow Cultivator Qiu’s right side. I’m a body cultivator—those beasts won’t dare touch me.”

The proposal was sound, but Xiao Chen disliked crowding. Accustomed to solo combat, he disliked teamwork and shook his head. “You handle it, Fellow Cultivator Yu. I’ll manage on my own.”

Qiu Fanghui, secretly uneasy about Xiao Chen, had wanted to stand back-to-back with Yu Zhenyang anyway. He stepped forward eagerly.

Yu Zhenyang, seeing this, gave up persuading them. “Fine. Golden Light Technique Fellow Cultivator, stay between our two pairs. Ma Junior Sect Brother, move closer. Let’s shorten our formation.”

Originally, they’d kept a hundred-meter gap between him and Ma Wenbo to avoid being caught together in wide-area spells or traps. But now, the threat came from the mist on both sides. Shortening the formation improved coordination—and especially protected Xiao Chen in the middle.

Though unnecessary, the gesture was appreciated.

Most cultivators slowed, wary of yao beasts in the fog. Those eager to rush through were forced to follow the crowd. Their caution seemed rewarded—nothing happened for a long stretch.

But soon, the vanguard discovered the path twisting like lightning. Every ten meters required a sharp turn, and the fog completely blocked sight.

Before Xiao Chen’s group could enter, screams echoed from ahead, followed immediately by explosions.

“Boom! Boom!”

The battle lasted about ten heartbeats before silence returned. The rear cultivators cautiously advanced, hearing nothing new.

When Xiao Chen’s team reached the arc-shaped zone, they saw spirit shield fragments on the ground. The residual spell energy marked the user as a Golden Core Middle Stage cultivator—but he was likely dead.

“Guīyuán Hòutǔ, protect my body!”

Cao Mingjie activated his talisman, forming a yellowish light ring around himself. As a Golden Core Initial Stage cultivator, he felt uneasy. Though third-stage talismans were costly, frugality wasn’t an option now.

“Boom!”

“Thousand-Edge Spikes!”

“Crazy Blade Seven Severances: Break the Army!”

Explosions erupted again, shouts ringing from front and rear.

Now they saw the truth—the yao beasts weren’t just on both sides. Dozens lurked in the fog, attacking multiple cultivators simultaneously. Solitary cultivators were especially targeted.

The passage erupted with chaotic five elements spiritual energy, gusts of wind carrying fresh blood. Yet, Xiao Chen’s ten-meter stretch remained eerily quiet. Though he heard fierce fighting, he couldn’t see the chaos.

“Move closer! Ma Junior Sect Brother, come here too!”

Yu Zhenyang retreated slightly, signaling his juniors to tighten the formation.

“Senior Sect Brother, won’t this be too cramped?” Ma Wenbo hesitated. In a relic, sealing formations and traps were always a concern.

“Three Junior Sect Brothers, watch out!”

Yu Zhenyang shouted as a bloodied dog-headed beast lunged from the mist behind Cao Mingjie.

“Crack!”

The yellow light shattered instantly, but the delay let Cao Mingjie raise his spirit shield.

“Dong!”

The beast slammed into the shield, sending Cao Mingjie stumbling back three steps. But the beast itself froze, stunned by the impact.

“Water Ripple Sword Qi!”

Ma Wenbo struck immediately, his sword beam slicing down like a dragonfly skimming water.

Unexpectedly, the beast stood still, blocking the attack with its fur alone.

“What?!” Ma Wenbo’s eyes widened in disbelief.

“Puff!”

A burst of ice crystals exploded against the beast’s head, shattering into frost. Yu Zhenyang’s long-range spell finally arrived—his warning and attack delayed by distance.

The frost spread, frosting the ground, but the beast wasn’t frozen. Instead, the cold seemed to revive it, retreating into the mist.

“This…!” Yu Zhenyang opened his mouth, speechless.

This wasn’t a third-rank spirit beast’s defense. The relic was dangerous—dangerous beyond their capacity.

They’d held nothing back, using their most mastered spells. Yet the beast hadn’t even been scratched. The gap was terrifying.

From the sounds, at least dozens of yao beasts were hunting. Now they focused on solitary cultivators, but once those fell, the group would face a swarm.

“Senior Sect Brother, what do we do?” Cao Mingjie paled, “Let’s retreat!”

“No. It’s too late,” Ma Wenbo shook his head. “Escaping would take at least three quarters of a quarter-hour. These beasts waited until we were deep inside.”

They’d already ventured far when the first beast attacked. Now, more yao beasts lay in ambush.

“We’ll charge forward. This relic can’t be all narrow paths,” Ma Wenbo’s eyes flickered. “Find a side hall or open space. We’ll use formations to defend.”

Portable formation disks required precise placement—impossible in the narrow path.

Both looked to Yu Zhenyang for the decision.

“We… we…”

Yu Zhenyang knew time was critical, but the stakes paralyzed him. A wrong choice could mean death.

“Fellow Cultivator Qiu, what’s your opinion?” he finally asked Qiu Fanghui, the highest-ranked cultivator.

“Uh…”

Qiu Fanghui hesitated. His strength lay in overwhelming opponents with puppets, but his four puppets were useless against countless beasts in the fog.

“Golden Light Technique Fellow Cultivator, what do you think?”

“Wait—where is Golden Light Technique Fellow Cultivator?”

Ma Wenbo blinked. “Wasn’t he in the middle earlier?”

They’d been too focused on survival to notice.

“Crap!” Cao Mingjie gasped, “He wasn’t taken, was he?”

Yu Zhenyang doubted it—but where was he?

“Run?”

A familiar voice suddenly rang out from not far away.

Moments later, they saw a figure emerge from the mist ahead, carrying the dog's head they all recognized.

Looking closer, it was indeed Xiao Chen.

"Golden light technique fellow cultivator?"

Yu Zhenyang's eyes widened in disbelief at the sight before him.

Was that dog demon really dead?

"Ah, how did I end up ahead of you all?" Xiao Chen scratched his head, slightly puzzled. "This mist really messes with your sense of direction."

"Good thing I remembered the general location."

As he spoke, Xiao Chen dragged the dog demon's body out of the mist. Reaching into the large hole torn in its belly, he pulled out a gleaming golden demon core.

Truthfully, Xiao Chen had originally planned to extract the demon core right in the mist without dragging the corpse back, but visibility was practically zero in there. In the end, he chose to return to the path to avoid accidentally dropping the demon core and losing it.

"It's definitely a Mutated demon core—earth attribute too. No wonder its hide was so tough."

Feeling the active earth mana within, Xiao Chen immediately understood why the dog demon had been so durable. The misunderstanding was cleared up—apparently not all yao beasts possessed such strong defense capabilities.

"Golden light technique fellow cultivator, you actually went into the mist?"

Cao Mingjie stared in shock, as if seeing a human-shaped yao beast.

"Of course", Xiao Chen shrugged. "It's just mist, not poison mist. Why wouldn't I go in?"

"Ah?"

Cao Mingjie was momentarily speechless. Xiao Chen's logic was unassailable.

"Golden light technique fellow cultivator, you killed that dog demon directly?"

Ma Wenbo still struggled to accept it. "How did you manage that? Do these yao beasts have some special weakness?"

After all, they were all at the Golden Core Middle Stage. His sword qi had barely scratched the dog demon's hide, yet Xiao Chen had taken it down outright. Ma Wenbo instinctively assumed the answer lay in the beast itself.

"I'm not sure", Xiao Chen shook his head. "Maybe it's because I'm a body cultivator."

That did play a small role—body cultivators could unleash incredible bursts of power.

Silence fell over the group. Yu Zhenyang especially looked utterly baffled, questioning whether he was even a real body cultivator at all. Qiu Fanghui, meanwhile, stood quietly—not from composure, but because his mind was completely blank.

From the start, he hadn't paid attention to Xiao Chen. After all, the man had the audacity to ignore proper etiquette toward a senior cultivator like himself, someone with a cultivation realm above his and even a chance at breaking through to Golden Core.

But now, Qiu Fanghui felt both relieved and regretful. At least he hadn't offended Xiao Chen before—they'd barely exchanged words. But what a shame he hadn't befriended such a formidable body cultivator earlier.

"Golden light technique fellow cultivator", Yu Zhenyang finally spoke, his voice steady despite his shock. "Do you think we should press forward or retreat?"

"What's there to hesitate about?" Xiao Chen answered decisively. "We've come this far—might as well enter and see what the Relic holds."

...

"Why are there so many yao beasts?"

"We've been tricked! All of us!"

"There's no end in sight—we never should've chosen this path!"

Desperate cries echoed through the front of Tianxing Island. Of the eighty-one narrow paths, battles erupted almost simultaneously.

Golden Core Late Stage yao beasts lurked within the mist, freely hunting cultivators. The winding trails proved far longer than anticipated, devastating most cultivators. Only a few major factions managed steady progress.

Yet on the seventy-sixth path, the situation was completely different.

Xiao Chen led the way, growing increasingly puzzled by the lack of yao beasts seeking him out.

"This isn't right. Something's off", he said, turning to Yu Zhenyang's group. "Haven't you noticed? These yao beasts seem coordinated."

"We haven't encountered a single new one in the past quarter hour. That's unreasonable."

"Golden light technique fellow cultivator is absolutely right!" Qiu Fanghui eagerly agreed. "I suspected a leader directing them too!"

Of course, his opinion carried little weight—he'd been reflexively agreeing with everything Xiao Chen said for the past half hour, abandoning all independent thought.

Yu Zhenyang opened his mouth but said nothing. He'd been silent for the past half hour, ever since witnessing Xiao Chen grab a black-spotted colorful snail and punch straight through its shell—armor-like as a spirit shield—with his bare hands, piercing two layers at once.

As a fellow body cultivator, Yu Zhenyang understood better than anyone the vast gap between them. He couldn't fathom how, despite cultivating a Heaven-Tier Body Tempering Legacy obtained from a Relic, his strength fell two tiers below Xiao Chen's. It was as if Xiao Chen practiced a true Heaven-Tier manual while his own was merely Mystic Rank.

Ma Wenbo smirked inwardly. Aren't they all just scared off by you? he thought. Golden Core yao beasts possessed intelligence—seeing their companions torn apart in seconds, witnessing fourteen killed in two ke, any beast with sense would flee. No need for a commander.

Thanks to the lack of interference, Xiao Chen's group advanced unimpeded. After nearly two hours, they reached the path's end.

The mist dissipated, revealing side halls and pavilions adorned with spirit herbs. Though overgrown from neglect, the herbs remained contained within their garden boundaries. In the distance, a wide Grand Avenue led directly to the core area.

Ma Wenbo wiped cold sweat. He'd thought moving forward meant survival, never expecting such a grueling journey. Without Xiao Chen, they'd likely be yao beast fodder by now.

"Damn! There's two White Jade Auspicious Cloud Fungi!" Cao Mingjie exclaimed, pointing at the pavilion ahead. "They're using Third Stage spirit herbs as decoration—this pavilion must hold treasures!"

"Great!" Ma Wenbo grinned. "Those two alone are worth forty thousand spirit stones."

"Luckily we arrived early", Cao Mingjie added, pointing to another pavilion about five kilometers away. "Look—three Sea Green Vines on that wall! Each sells for fifteen thousand spirit stones."

"I'll collect those first, then come back to unlock the pavilion."

While individual spirit herbs wouldn't excite seasoned Golden Core cultivators, the sheer quantity here was staggering. Xiao Chen, however, remained calm—he'd seen far more in the Baicao Forbidden Realm. Two White Jade Auspicious Cloud Fungi at twenty thousand spirit stones each? His Jade Casket held a hundred. As for Sea Green Vines, he had one hundred and sixty. Tianxing Island's entire spirit herb collection likely couldn't match his Storage Ring.

"This sealing formation is absurdly complex—who designed this?"

Qiu Fanghui stood at the pavilion entrance, attempting to breach its defenses. The structure bore three layers of sealing formations, each with nine intricate variations.

"This is ridiculous! Who puts so many seals on their own pavilion?" He grumbled, "You'd think they were imprisoning yao beasts inside!"

Of course, that was impossible. Even if beasts were sealed here, they'd long since perished. Yu Zhenyang, prepared for such challenges, deployed his Yin-Yang Separation Formation. By placing eight formation disks and channeling true mana, the group accelerated the unlocking process. Even with assistance, it took half an hour.

"Finally done", Yu Zhenyang retracted the disks, then gestured to Xiao Chen with a smile. "Golden light technique fellow cultivator, after you!"

Xiao Chen entered without pretense. Surprisingly, the vast pavilion was mostly empty. While various ornamental items filled the space—vases, screens, paintings—all of high quality—there were no spirit herbs for cultivation or spiritual artifacts for combat.

In the main chamber sat a square table. At its center rested a tray of spiritual artifact quality, holding a smooth, lustrous pearl.

"What is this?"

Xiao Chen examined the orb. Neither a spiritual artifact nor a spirit pearl, its purpose remained unclear.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end