Chapter 118 Lost in the Gray Mist, Whispers of the Dead
"Ajiu, is this the direction?" Chu Xuanyi slowed down his horse and rode parallel to Ajiu.
Ajiu closed his eyes and sniffed gently in the cool night breeze with his small nose.
"Hmm..." She nodded and pointed with her little hand at the outline of a mountain range ahead. "Right over there... the smell is getting stronger."
Xiao Yu urged his horse to catch up, frowning and asking, "What's that smell? Why can't I smell anything?"
All he smelled was the night dew and the earth.
"I don't smell it with my nose," Ah Jiu explained seriously, "I smell it with... my heart. There's a smell that's very similar to the old locust tree in my yard. The bark smells wet after it rains. And... it's a little bit like the sweet-scented osmanthus cake my mother made for me, sweet... but..."
Her little face suddenly fell and her voice became lower.
"But there's another smell inside... cold, like the choking smoke of a stove that's not burning well in winter... and... and the smell of radishes that have been left in the cellar for a long, long time and have gone bad... It's very unpleasant..."
The warmth of home and the coldness of death.
Kindness, and fear.
The two completely opposite auras intertwined strangely, making Jiu feel both familiar and frightened.
Chu Xuanyi and Xiao Yu looked at each other, and their hearts sank.
They were almost certain that what Ah Jiu smelled was the lingering scent of the Lin family's ancestral land, even after the family was exterminated. The warm scent was the mark of the Lin family's bloodline for generations, while the cold, decayed scent was the lingering resentment and death left by the brutal massacre.
"Everyone, be on alert!" Xiao Yu suddenly raised his hand. "The situation ahead is unclear. Stretch out your formation and protect the Imperial Master and Miss Jiu!"
"yes!"
The twenty Black Armor Guards immediately changed their formation, protecting Chu Xuanyi and Ajiu firmly in the center, like a moving steel fortress.
As they went deeper into the mountains, the surrounding environment began to undergo strange changes that were visible to the naked eye.
A forest path covered with fallen leaves and humus. The trees on both sides of the road are becoming more and more twisted, and the trunks are covered with knots and cracks, like old and painful human faces; the bare branches are waving in the night wind, like the withered arms of a dying person reaching towards the sky.
The strangest thing is that the chirping of insects and birds around has all disappeared.
The entire forest fell into a deathly silence. Only the sound of their horses' hooves and breathing seemed particularly abrupt in this dead silence.
"Something's wrong..." A veteran of the Black Armor Guards looked around warily and whispered to his companions, "It's too quiet, not even a rabbit can be seen. This place is weird!"
At this moment, wisps of gray-white mist rose from the forest floor without warning.
In a short while, the fog became thicker and thicker, like rolling smoke, swallowing up the entire team.
Visibility dropped to less than three feet in an instant!
"Stop!" Xiao Yu immediately pulled the reins and shouted sternly.
The horses seemed to sense the uneasiness in the fog, and they snorted and pawed their hooves restlessly.
"What the hell is this fog?!" Xiao Yu waved his hand in front of him, but the fog seemed to have life, sticky, damp and cold, and could not be dispelled at all.
"This isn't ordinary fog." Chu Xuanyi's voice came from the front. "This is the dead energy leaking from the earth veins. Mixed with the residual power of the formation here, it forms the 'bewitching miasma'. It can corrode people's minds and induce hallucinations!"
Before he could finish his words, Ajiu's little hand tightly grasped his sleeve.
"Sir... I... I feel a little cold..."
Chu Xuanyi looked down and saw that Ajiu's little face was pale and his lips were trembling slightly.
"And... this fog smells so strange..." Jiu sniffed, his big eyes filled with confusion, "It seems to be... talking to me..."
"What did you say?" Chu Xuanyi immediately asked.
"It said... 'Going home'..."
Chu Xuanyi's heart trembled, and he immediately activated his spiritual power to cast a light golden shield around Ajiu to isolate the gray mist.
"Ajiu, don't listen or believe it. Just stay focused and follow me. Okay?"
"Yeah!" Ajiu nodded heavily.
"ah!!!"
At this moment, a terrified scream suddenly came from the flank of the team!
"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"
A black-armored guard suddenly drew the sword from his waist and slashed wildly at the empty space next to him!
"Go to hell! You bastards of the Black Bone Tribe! Go to hell!"
His eyes were red and his face was ferocious.
"Chen Qi! Are you crazy?!" His companions were horrified and rushed forward to try to snatch his knife.
"Get out of the way! Don't stop me from killing the enemy! Look! They are right there! There are so many of them! Wearing black robes, with weird paintings on their faces! They are coming!" The soldier named Chen Qi pointed at the thick gray fog and yelled hysterically.
"Bullshit! There's nothing there!"
Xiao Yu's face turned pale and he shouted angrily, "What are you still standing there for?! Subdue him!"
Two black-armored guards immediately pounced on him, one holding his waist and the other locking his throat. It took a lot of effort to pin the mad Chen Qi to the ground.
"Let me go... General... save me... they... their hands are so cold... they are... they are going to get into my body..." Chen Qi was still struggling frantically, his voice filled with endless fear.
"Xuan Yi!" Xiao Yu looked at Chu Xuan Yi.
Chu Xuanyi's expression remained unchanged. He took out a piece of yellow talisman paper from his arms, and with his fingers like swords, he quickly drew a golden rune on it.
"Edict!"
He snapped his fingers, and the talisman paper turned into a golden light and stuck accurately on Chen Qi's forehead.
laugh--!
Like a red-hot iron touching cold water, a black gas suddenly emerged from Chen Qi's head and then dissipated into the air.
The mad Chen Qi's body trembled violently, the blood red in his eyes quickly faded, and he seemed to be exhausted. He collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath.
"What happened to me just now?" He looked at his companion with a confused look on his face.
"You almost mistook me for a Wugut tribe member and chopped me to pieces!" His companion cursed with lingering fear.
Everyone felt a chill in their heart.
Chen Qi was one of the most determined veterans among them, but even he was caught in the trap in just a short moment. The weirdness and horror of this gray fog was beyond everyone's imagination.
"This is just the beginning," Chu Xuanyi said coldly, "The soul-bewitching miasma will evoke everyone's deepest fears and obsessions. You have killed countless people in the northern border, and your hearts are filled with the heaviest evil spirit, making it the easiest to be aroused. Everyone, concentrate your minds, bite your tongue and stay awake! If you see anything unusual, speak up immediately!"
"Yes!" everyone responded in unison.
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