Chapter 394 Rain Shadow
In the silent and dark city, several figures hurriedly passed through the rain.
With the advance preparation of Qianfeng Lingshan, Yu Sheng and his party took a short rest in the hotel and then changed into clothes that were not so eye-catching in this city.
Zheng Zhi followed the local style and wore a dark-colored coat that looked like a straw raincoat but was actually made of some advanced composite material. He also wore a bamboo hat with silver-gray patterns. This outfit was obviously very suitable for coping with the weather in Mo City. The weak force field formed around the bamboo hat could completely block the wind and rain, while the straw raincoat was light and warm, blocking out the dampness and coldness in the rain.
Yu Sheng was dressed similarly to Zheng Zhi, except that there was a bulge under his straw raincoat - Irene was hanging under his clothes like a koala, with only her head sticking out of his arms, looking as lazy as she could be.
Taoist Yuan Hao didn't really change his style. The monk's attire from the "Capital Planet" was considered a popular "trend" in this border city. He simply took off all the decorations that revealed his identity as a monk from Qianfeng Lingshan. He wore simple and plain clothes and looked no different from an ordinary passerby (if you don't consider how handsome he is).
Hu Li changed into a fairy-like moon-white long skirt with light blue flowing water patterns on the hem. The pendants on her waist swayed with her steps. She held a dark blue oil-paper umbrella in her hand and walked obediently beside Yu Sheng - half of her nine tails were outside in the rain, and she shook them off when they were wet. The hand that was not holding the umbrella was holding a chicken leg, and she would take a bite from time to time.
By the way, she left her tail outside in the rain on purpose - because shaking off water is fun.
Luna was the most special one around Yu Sheng: the "features" of the artificial saint were too eye-catching, not only her perfect but cold and pale face, her metallic shell, but also her full two meters in height. Considering that this look would be more eye-catching if she wore the clothes of the locals, Qianfeng Lingshan simply arranged a different style of dress for her in advance:
She was wearing a black robe, dotted with silver-white stars and religious star-shaped patterns, plus the black veil she had always worn, and she looked like a nun. According to Master Yuan Hao, this outfit was actually very similar to the "star maid" costume of the Algrad people.
That is a general term for Algrade women who listen to the stars and are good at astrology.
The border area where Shuji is located is very close to the territory of the Algrade people. There is also a large star gate one light year away that can lead directly to the deep star field of Algrade. Therefore, the people in this city are not unfamiliar with "alien visitors" of similar style. And because most of the "Star Maids" are mysterious and have many unique dressing habits, even if Luna reveals some inhuman characteristics, as long as she wears this "nun's uniform", it will not cause too much surprise and attention from the locals.
The rain at this moment was lighter than when everyone had just landed, but it was still falling continuously from the sky. When the fine rain lines approached Luna, they would be shaken away by the invisible force field around her, thus forming a hazy, veil-like curtain beside her - she raised her head through the curtain, and the multi-frequency radar quickly and continuously scanned the surrounding environment.
"Multiple, high-energy units," she drawled. "Non-hostile."
"I've noticed that, too," Yuan Hao nodded. "It should be a cultivator passing by nearby. Although this place is far from the city center, it's close to an ancient refining tower. The spiritual energy is rich, so it can be considered a good place to practice."
Yu Sheng thought for a moment, then turned to look at his nephew: "Did you see or feel anything?"
Zheng Zhi adjusted his bamboo hat with one hand and shook his head: "No, it's quite normal here."
As soon as he finished speaking, Irene, who had just poked her head out from Yu Sheng's collar, asked, "Can you tell what is 'normal' and what is 'abnormal'? Have you seen something weird but didn't realize it?"
"Ah... in most cases, we can tell them apart," Zheng Zhi was a little embarrassed, but he quickly explained, "Based on experience, those abnormal things must be obviously inconsistent with the surrounding environment. We can actually judge them from the 'atmosphere'..."
At this point, he was suddenly stunned for a moment, then suddenly raised his hand and pointed across the street: "Wait! There seems to be something wrong with those two people over there..."
Yuan Hao immediately looked up, then quickly pushed Zheng Zhi's hand back: "Friend Zheng, don't make a fuss. That's just a kid dressed up as a character in the play. I checked before I came here. There is a comic exhibition nearby..."
Irene was very surprised when she heard this: "...You have this kind of activity in your land of immortal cultivation?!"
As a result, when she said this, Yuan Hao Zhenren became a little confused: "Why can't there be one?"
"How frivolous," the little puppet blurted out, "It doesn't fit in with your fairy-like style of painting..."
Yuan Hao was amused when he heard this: "This is a stereotype - dressing up in strange costumes and gathering together. This has been around since ancient times. Miss Irene, haven't you ever heard of 'divine drama' and 'witch dance'?"
Irene had a question mark on her face: "......?"
Yu Sheng coughed twice and continued to make up stories based on what Yuan Hao said: "From the perspective of freedom of form, the ancient people's shaman dance can be regarded as the earliest 'comic exhibition'..."
The little doll thought about it, then said in shock: "Yes, really?!"
This little thing is too easy to be fooled. Seeing her like this, Yu Sheng felt embarrassed to continue fooling her...
As they were talking, the group had passed another intersection. As they continued to walk towards the outskirts of the city, the number of passers-by in the vicinity became increasingly scarce.
Zhenren Yuanhao began to frown from time to time, as if he was carefully using his spiritual sense to sense the changes in the surrounding aura. Occasionally, he slowed down his pace and looked up in the direction of the ancient refining tower standing in the rain, which looked quite oppressive at this distance.
"It's a bit strange," the handsome old man suddenly said, muttering to himself, "Why is it gone again..."
Irene poked her head out of Yu Sheng's arms again: "Ah? What's gone?"
"I felt the stagnation of spiritual energy and the sluggish flow of the meridians before," Yuan Hao Zhenren said slowly and thoughtfully, "When we descended before, I used my spiritual sense to roughly scan the surface of the earth. At that time, I did notice a few places that were wrong. Even when we were in Huixianzhou not long ago, I could still feel the abnormalities in these directions, but now that I am close, that feeling is gone."
"Did they run away when they noticed we were approaching?" Irene said without thinking.
"...What I felt were changes in the earth veins and spiritual energy. They were not living creatures, so how could they escape in the natural environment?" Master Yuan Hao immediately shook his head. "If I have to say, it can only be hidden."
He paused for a moment, then said uncertainly, "But it's not something that an average person can do to hide this kind of change from my consciousness..."
Yu Sheng did not say anything, but just looked into the distance thoughtfully.
The rain was hazy, and the spirit ore refining tower at the end of the city reached deep into the clouds. The two transportation tracks rising from the edge of Mo City were like thick blood vessels connecting to the ancient, magnificent, mountain-like giant structure. The lights on the tracks and the refining tower flickered, and all of this was hazy due to the obstruction of the rain. Occasionally, lightning would suddenly streak across the sky, and in the strong light that lit up in an instant, the towering tower was reflected with a striking outline, and in the flashing strong light, it presented an oppressive feeling as if it was about to collapse and was shaky.
The fox girl who was swinging her tail hard to get out of the water suddenly stopped, frowned a little puzzled, and then sniffed in the rain, as if she smelled something.
"My benefactor," she reached out and tugged at Yu Sheng's sleeve, "I smell blood."
"Blood?" Yu Sheng was shocked when he heard it, "Where?!"
"It's hard to tell in the rain," Hu Li said as he sniffed around in the air. His big silver-white fox ears twitched from time to time, as if catching the slightest sound in the wind and rain. "But it suddenly appeared just now, so it should be not far away."
As soon as she finished speaking, Yuan Hao Zhenren beside her frowned slightly, then raised his hand and lightly tapped in the air, and said in a deep voice: "Qingjing——"
A ripple as light as a breeze suddenly spread out from the air where his finger passed, and some invisible and intangible force instantly covered every inch of the surrounding space. Then, there was a clear sound in the air, and the rain in the sky stopped briefly, as if it was frozen in mid-air as if time and space were stagnant.
The next second, he and Hu Li raised their heads together and pointed in a certain direction: "Over there!"
Yu Sheng had no time to marvel at the old commander's amazing move, because in the brief moment when the rain stopped, he also sensed something strange - it was not the smell of blood, he did not have as good a nose as Hu Li.
What he felt was the fading of vitality, the breath of some powerful creature on the verge of death.
The group immediately rushed towards the direction sensed by Hu Li and Yuan Hao Zhenren, and ran towards the dimly lit and particularly desolate city area near the towering tower.
The rain curtain that had stopped briefly began to fall again, and low thunder could be heard from afar from time to time in the continuous rain curtain. The silhouettes of the city buildings became blurred in the thunder and hazy rain curtain, as if all the buildings had become abstract outlines between light and shadow, and turned into a false background projected on the screen of space. There were even a few brief moments when all the buildings in the distance seemed to disappear at once, turning into a barren wilderness with jagged rocks, and turned into the appearance of this planet before it had been developed or even discovered by humans.
Zheng Zhi simply couldn't keep up with the pace of the group of supermen around him, but just when he was about to fall behind, Master Yuan Hao turned his head and looked over here, and he immediately felt a breeze surrounding his ribs - he felt like he was flying for a short time, and easily caught up with the team, and during this moment of relaxation, he raised his head and looked forward again.
The huge ancient refining tower that stood on the edge of the city disappeared.
Instead, there was a pitch-black crack that looked like extreme nothingness, running through the entire space from the sky to the earth as if it was about to split the entire planet.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
