Chapter 113: The Mountain of Mist

After examining several people and finding the same condition, he noticed that although they appeared unharmed on the surface, a faint scent of putrefaction emanated from beneath their skin. Suddenly sensing something amiss, he looked up and asked, "Village Chief, could you tell me if there are any demons remaining in the vicinity of the village?"

Ling Xiaolei and Bai Shengye were also puzzled by his question.

The village chief pondered for a moment. "After the mages who fought the demons left, there were no more demons in the surrounding forests, and the nearby villagers have not been attacked again... If there are any residual demons, they certainly aren't in the forest. I fear they must be in the Azure Dragon Mountain behind us."

He looked up at the cloud-shrouded Azure Dragon Mountain, and everyone followed his gaze.

"Azure Dragon Mountain is a forbidden peak. Villagers have been forbidden from climbing it for a long time. The reason is a sinister mist within the mountain that seems to follow people intentionally. The deeper one goes, the thicker the fog becomes; once you are trapped within it, it is nearly impossible to find your way out."

"Shall we go up the mountain to take a look?" Hei Yu suggested.

"I am at my wit's end regarding the blindness, so it seems we have no choice but to investigate the mountain," Bai Shengye agreed.

The village chief looked panicked and hurriedly tried to dissuade them. "Honored guests, please don't go. That mountain is not to be trifled with. So many who went there never returned..."

Bai Shengye patted him on the shoulder. "Relax. We will be back before dark. If there are truly demons on the mountain, we shall eliminate them for you while we are at it."

Behind the village lay an abandoned gravel path leading up the mountain, though it was rarely traveled—not because of the steep terrain, but because it remained shrouded in mist throughout the year.

Billowing vapors and hazy fog drifted like ribbons around the mid-slope, obscuring the sky.

The trio temporarily bid farewell to the villagers and walked to the foot of Azure Dragon Mountain. They were already some distance from the settlement, surrounded by uncultivated wasteland where the path up the mountain had been swallowed by wild grass. Just as they were about to move forward, a rustling sound erupted from behind a nearby thicket.

"Who's there!"

Ling Xiaolei cast a binding chain that struck the thicket with precision. A villager behind the brush let out a cry of "Ouch!" as he was bound.

"Mercy! Mages, have mercy! Please, spare me!" the villager cried out.

He sprawled on the ground, kicking his legs, yet stubbornly refusing to let go of a rope he was holding.

"What are you doing here, and why were you hiding?" Ling Xiaolei demanded.

"Mercy, have mercy! I am a villager from God-Guard Village. I snuck up the mountain—please don't tell the Village Chief! If he finds out, he'll surely scold me!"

"Sneaking up the mountain?" Ling Xiaolei exchanged glances with Hei Yu and Bai Shengye before asking, "Azure Dragon Mountain is a forbidden area; why would you sneak up here?"

The villager was released, and the binding chain was undone. Trembling, he dared not hide the truth. "I... I happened to pass by here once and discovered that after the villagers fell ill with blindness, the animals around the mountain also went blind. They were easier to hunt than those in the nearby forest, so I snuck up here to hunt. But I never dared to go further up the mountain..."

To prove his claim, he pulled a small deer from behind the tree. The deer’s eyes were covered in a black mist; it was already blind.

"My family are hunters in the village. Sometimes we can go a whole day in the nearby woods without catching anything, but here at the foot of the mountain, the prey seems to fall from the sky, stumbling down the slope. A deer like this, sold for meat, can feed my family for several days. That is why I risked coming here..."

Hearing this, Hei Yu’s suspicions were confirmed. "Not only have the villagers gone blind, but the beasts on the mountain have as well. If my guess is correct, the source must lie within this mountain."

Bai Shengye spoke to the villager, "We will soon find the cause of this blindness. You should not sneak up here again."

"Thank you, thank you!"

The villager thanked them profusely and hurried down the mountain with the deer.

The higher they climbed, the thicker the fog became. Everywhere they looked, blind beasts stumbled through the forest, unaware even when they collided with trees.

Higher still, the towering canopy blotted out the sun, and under the shroud of thick fog, the light was so dim that it was impossible to discern direction.

The path they had taken was buried in the mist. Looking back toward the mountain's base, they could see nothing but a vast expanse of white—the village and the forest had completely vanished.

An ordinary person would have been lost in the labyrinth long ago, but fortunately, Ling Xiaolei possessed keen scouting abilities, and Hei Yu possessed the Eyes of the Demon. Under the activation of these eyes, the forest became as clear as if the fog had been swept away.

As they pressed on, the atmosphere in the forest grew increasingly ominous. The blind beasts were not only wandering aimlessly but were growing weaker, collapsing in the woods and rotting away. Carcasses of animals, either dying or already dead, were scattered everywhere.

Waves of a more intense, putrid stench drifted from the deep forest, and the buzzing noise of demons began to echo in Hei Yu’s mind.

"The demons are just ahead," Hei Yu said.

Bai Shengye drew his Profound Ice Staff, but burdened by a heavy medicine chest, he found movement difficult and chose to stand behind Hei Yu to provide support. Ling Xiaolei’s magic book hovered by her left shoulder, her staff by her right, and she clutched the pendant of her summoning grimoire, ready for battle.

After a moment of silence, a storm of darkness surged from the depths of the forest, rising into the sky like a black cloud that spread out to obscure most of the sky above them. Hei Yu and the others watched as the heavy black clouds pressed down, plunging their surroundings into darkness.

"What is that!" Ling Xiaolei exclaimed in alarm.

A ghostly wind rose, sending the remaining weak animals into a panicked scramble, though they soon collapsed, unable to move. Before their eyes, wherever the black storm swept, the rotting carcasses and the immobile beasts were stripped of their flesh in an instant, leaving nothing but bleached bones behind!

"I want to go home!" Ling Xiaolei screamed, grabbing the back of Hei Yu’s clothes and hiding behind him, afraid to emerge.

The shrieks of countless demons echoed from the black clouds, sharp and hoarse, as they circled the group. Hei Yu realized that the dark clouds hovering above were composed of countless black shadows with wings, their rapid movement causing the light to flicker erratically.

"They must be scavenger-type demons like crows," Hei Yu said. "The reason they left the animals on the mountain alive was to wait for them to rot before feeding. It seems they spared the villagers at the foot of the mountain for the same reason."

Ling Xiaolei pondered this, a chill running down her spine. Based on her sensory perception, she immediately judged: "Although these demons are small in size, each one possesses over ten thousand years of cultivation! With so many of them gathered together, we cannot afford to be careless!"