Chapter Sixteen: Home is where Master is.

Ye Chi woke up a little late; everyone else was already awake and patrolling the area.

Ya Feiyu sat beside him, holding a sword in her hand, her brows furrowed, her silver eyes sweeping across the surroundings like a hawk. Ye Chi propped himself up and realized that fog had risen again in the forest.

But this thick fog looked unusual.

Normally, fog in the early morning is just a bit hazy, and unless it's in a particularly remote place, it's not that fog is too thick. But the fog in front of me is as thick as a wall, and I can't shake it off even if I wave my hand.

Ye Chi felt a chill run down his spine.

Noticing that he was awake, Ya Feiyu gently tapped his temple with her index finger, and a silvery light flowed into his body, instantly clearing Ye Chi's mind. Ya Feiyu said, "This thick fog seems to have a hypnotic effect, be careful not to fall asleep."

"Who knows what might happen while you're asleep?"

As he spoke, Ya Feiyu pointed towards the abandoned temple, where two people lay sprawled. Upon closer inspection, they were a man and a woman, two cannon fodder passersby who had barely uttered a word along the way. Clearly, they had become pitiful guinea pigs, their purpose being to help the main group discover the purpose of this strange fog. Xu Miaomiao sat by the campfire, her brocade pouch open, revealing various medicinal herbs and basic pills.

“We’ve been trapped here for two hours.” Shen Rong walked over with a frown. “Elder Tianxue, even you don’t know the origin of this thick fog?”

Ya Feiyu slowly shook his head: "I'm sorry. Even I have things I don't know."

Shen Rong didn't seem to blame her at all. She nodded, but her brows remained furrowed. She said heavily, "I just searched the area and didn't find any useful clues. This fog seems to be targeting us, but it doesn't seem aggressive at all. It's very strange."

Ye Chi, who had little knowledge of cultivation, said, "Perhaps it's just some kind of special phenomenon?"

“If it were just a special phenomenon, it wouldn’t have remained so stable for two hours.” It was Cen Dao who spoke, his expression also not good, as if he had been tricked, and he was probably thinking quickly for a solution.

Ye Chi wasn't too worried, after all, the main characters and Ya Feiyu were there. Even if something went wrong, there was nothing that his cheat-like abilities couldn't solve. However, he couldn't really appear nonchalant, so he feigned seriousness upon hearing this, "That would be troublesome..."

“No matter who it is, we must remain vigilant,” Ya Feiyu said. “Continue patrolling. I will continue to maintain the barrier. If there are any unusual phenomena, notify me immediately.”

The group readily agreed. Since the main characters were all working diligently, Ye Chi felt embarrassed to continue slacking off and also got up from the ground, only to be suddenly stopped by Ya Feiyu: "Wait."

Ye Chi stopped in his tracks. "What's wrong, Master?"

Ya Feiyu reached into his pocket and pulled out an exquisitely crafted jade pendant, which he then placed in his palm.

"This is a jade pendant I condensed with my spiritual power last night. It has the effect of warding off evil spirits and protecting the wearer. The spiritual power contained within it can also be used; you just need to smash it." Her silvery-white eyes gazed at him quietly. The moment their eyes met, Ye Chi felt as if his heart skipped a beat. "Be careful in everything you do. Safety first."

Ye Chi snapped out of his daze and nodded vigorously: "Master, you can rest assured!"

Ya Feiyu shook his head, a hint of indulgence in his eyes, and said helplessly, "Go."

"yes!"

Ya Feiyu silently watched him leave until the boy's figure gradually disappeared into the thick fog. There was no one around; the tranquil forest made it impossible to tell whether it was night or day. Even the chirping of insects and birds seemed to be blocked out, let alone the sound of the wind.

It was as if they were trapped in a sealed space, where time had been frozen for all of them...

...Wait, pause?

Ya Feiyu tensed up; this keyword reminded him of terrible things.

In Jinyu City, the secret realm they were trapped in was similar, unknowingly creating layers upon layers of illusions around you, making it impossible for you to distinguish whether you are in reality or an illusion.

There seemed to be a similar mist shrouding the illusion at that time.

But those dense fogs weren't like the wall-like structure we see now. Instead, they were diffuse. To be more precise, they couldn't even be considered fog. They were just demonic energy that had dispersed to the point of no return and piled up together, which is why they looked like fog.

But what's in front of us is genuine fog.

Ya Feiyu frowned, reached out, and gently touched the thick fog.

Immediately, as if suffering a huge backlash, a powerful spiritual energy wave struck. He couldn't dodge in time, and the barrier he had specially erected to protect his disciples also developed slight cracks due to this change.

Once the barrier dissipates, they will all be unable to maintain their clarity in this thick fog!

Being trapped in such a situation without knowing your location is almost a death sentence!

Ya Feiyu had no energy left to think. He concentrated all his attention on gathering his spiritual energy in his dantian, his golden core laboriously managing it. Sure enough, even the most powerful cultivator would find it difficult to withstand such a massive drain on their energy in a short time…

He silently calculated in his heart that he could probably hold on for another incense stick's time.

If the time it takes for an incense stick to burn has passed...

That's hard to say.

...

After the thick fog, nothing could be seen.

Ye Chi was completely enveloped in the fog, without any light source or anything to guide him. To move around in such a pitch-black place and find useful clues was like looking for a needle in a haystack, a pipe dream.

He considered turning back, but when he turned around, he found himself surrounded by thick fog.

He tried to walk back a few steps, and then he completely lost his way.

That's it. After failing to find his way back after several turns, Ye Chi immediately gave up, his emotions quickly shifting from despair to numbness.

The thick fog created a vast emptiness, with neither an exit nor an entrance in sight; in short, there was nothing there. People are most prone to emotional breakdowns when in a state of nothingness. Although Ye Chi was calmer than the others, it didn't mean he was truly fearless. If he were truly fearless, he would have already descended to the Demon Realm. Even if he suffered a qi deviation, it wouldn't matter; perhaps an early death would lead to rebirth, and death would bring him back to the modern world—wouldn't that be perfect?

But he didn't have the guts.

So he neither went down to the demon realm nor figured out a way to leave.

But he didn't want to wait.

There's nothing here, but that doesn't mean there's really nothing here. It might just be obscured by an illusion, which is why he can't see it.

But what if someone else were to look at it?

It wasn't him who came to see it, but Ya Feiyu?

He gripped the jade pendant that Ya Feiyu had given him, and the cool spiritual energy slowly flowed into his body from his palm. He closed his eyes and focused for a while, then suddenly opened them. Something in the mist seemed to have become exceptionally clear.

A path appeared before his eyes.

But his intuition told him that this was the way out.

Without the slightest hesitation, Ye Chi grabbed the jade pendant and ran.

He didn't know how long he had been running, but the path seemed endless. His legs felt like lead, so heavy that even a physical education student would find it difficult to endure. Just as he was about to give up, a ray of sunlight suddenly pierced through the thick fog and shone on his head.

When Ye Chi came to his senses, he was already standing there...

At home.

He was completely stunned.

The pale light from the overhead incandescent bulb cast a ghastly white glow, making his shadow appear incredibly heavy.

How could it be... that he ended up back in his modern home while running?

Ye Chi was stunned for a long time before suddenly realizing what was happening and rushed to the mirror.

He was still wearing the Qinglian Sect disciple's robes, and his hair, which he had grown long from being a beggar for several months in ancient times, was still there. More importantly...

The jade pendant left behind by Ya Feiyu is also here.

As he realized this, the jade pendant suddenly flashed and gradually turned into a phantom. Ye Chi looked at the mirror in astonishment. His long hair was gradually disappearing from the ends, and his clothes were also slowly fading away, turning into the casual clothes he loved most in the modern world, slowly separating him from the world in the book.

He grabbed his phone; the page was still stuck on the plot of that novel, just as the protagonist was preparing to defeat the main villain, when it coldly and ruthlessly abruptly ended.

Could it be that... everything he experienced in that world was just a dream?

Is he... about to return to reality?

But is that all?

Is that really all there is to it?

He left many things in that world, and did not bring them all back.

Most importantly, what if his master finds out he's missing...

You'll be sad, won't you?

Just then, the sound of a wine bottle breaking came from outside the door.

Ye Chi's eyes darkened, and he gripped his phone tightly.

"You brat, get out here! Your mother's dead and you still dare to make me angry?! Come out here!!"

The locked wooden door creaked under its weight as it was kicked, and outside came Ye's father's roar: "Come out! Come out! If you don't come out, I'll beat you to death!!!"

Ye Chi curled his lips into a cold smile. His gaze fell on a photograph on the bedside table. It was the only family photo his mother had left behind.

The photo appears to have been cropped, showing only a young boy and his gentle mother.

Mom... I'm sorry.

He cannot stay here.

The only person in this world who cared about him was long gone. Rather than staying in the scarred reality, he might as well return to the beautiful world in the book.

At least there, someone will care about him.

At least there, he had someone he could truly rely on.

at least……

It won't be like this now, being threatened by the only person I can trust.

Just then, he turned his head and saw a huge rift appear behind him. Ye Chi smiled and, without the slightest hesitation, stepped into the void of no return the moment the door burst open.

He had little sense of belonging to his so-called family or the real world.

Thus, they were cut in two.

He was going back to find his master.