Chapter 697: An eerie fog
By the time the group arrived at the foot of Mt. Shenchi, it was already the morning of the fourth day since they set off from the black market. To be ready to deal with the devious Mt. Shenchi, everyone even made sure to rest well for the night before coming here.
During this period, the monster that attacked the campsite at night did not appear again. It seemed that it sensed lethal danger from “Old Xu” and decided to temporarily give up attacking any further.
However, Ren Xiaosu felt the other party would come back. Thinking about it from another perspective, if someone had killed his pet, he would surely seek revenge against them for a while too.
But when Ren Xiaosu thought about it again, he felt it was impossible he would have a pet at all. Anything remotely edible would have already been used to fill his stomach.
This was a result of his many years of living as a refugee. People like him were unlikely to have any pets at all. He had even turned an offensive plant like the Potato Shooter, which was a reward from the palace, into a crop, so how could he possibly own a pet?
In the past, a young Yan Liuyuan had asked Ren Xiaosu if he were afraid of snakes, but Ren Xiaosu said he was only afraid they were not fresh.
At that time, Ren Xiaosu loved winter the most. That was because it was the safest time to catch snakes.
Mt. Shenchi was indeed as strange as the Great Hoodwinker had claimed. The entire mountain seemed shrouded in clouds, like a different world altogether.
Only at this moment did Cheng Yu confirm the Great Hoodwinker had really been to the periphery of the Sacred Mountains before. As a matter of fact, many of the guides back at the black market were always swindling, lying, cheating, and stealing. It did not matter whether they had really been there before. As long as there was money to be made, they would claim they had “been there” before.
Before entering Mt. Shenchi, Cheng Yu had his assistants bring out a 200-meter rope. Then he made everyone tie it around their wrists.
At first, everyone was worried this would affect their mobility. But when they realized later it was not really a hindrance, they felt relieved.
Cheng Yu smiled and said, “There’s still about two or three meters of rope between each of us. This length should be enough for everyone to move around freely, so even if you encounter any danger, you won’t get impeded by other people’s movements and there will still be time to loosen the rope.”
Everyone agreed unanimously, that was, until Ren Xiaosu started jumping rope while they were marching.
This time, Ren Xiaosu did not even have to use his own rope. He just untied the one around his wrist and had Yang Xiaojin swing it for him.
After entering Mt. Shenchi, the visibility between each person went down to only about five meters. Cheng Yu could suddenly feel the rope tied to his hand starting to sway frequently. When he turned around, he discovered that Ren Xiaosu had started jumping rope at some point in time.
Ren Xiaosu was jumping rope this time with one end of the rope tied to Cheng Yu’s hand, while the other was tied to Yang Xiaojin’s hand. When Yang Xiaojin swung the rope, Cheng Yu’s arm swung as well.
Cheng Yu felt a strange sense of participation.
What the fuck! He really did not want to be a part of this!
Cheng Yu shouted at Ren Xiaosu, “Why are you jumping rope in a place like this?!”
With Mt. Shenchi covered in thick fog, who knew when a dangerous creature might suddenly jump out and attack them? With everyone already feeling so anxious, a person in their group had started jumping rope and marching at the same time? It really couldn’t be any stranger than this.
Ren Xiaosu frowned when he heard Cheng Yu shouting at him. “What are you shouting for? Just mind your own business and keep walking. It’s not like I’m affecting you by jumping rope.”
Cheng Yu nearly collapsed. This guy could still calmly ask him why he was shouting? He even looked annoyed when he said that.
If this were the past, Cheng Yu would definitely have beaten him up already. However, when he thought the other party might be Luo Lan’s backer and felt he was probably not a match for him, he calmed down and dismissed the idea.
But who could possibly regard a lunatic like him as their backer?! And that girl behind him, why would she be so cooperative and swing the rope for him?!
Ren Xiaosu stopped jumping and asked in his mind, “What’s the completion level for the quest this time?”
“Perfect!”
Ren Xiaosu breathed a sigh of relief. He was still a bit worried his quest’s completion level would get affected if the others could not clearly see he was jumping rope in this thick fog.
As the Great Hoodwinker led them through the mountains, at least half of Cheng Yu’s attention was focused on him now. He wanted to see what the guide was relying on to bring them out of Mt. Shenchi.
The Great Hoodwinker muttered as he walked, “150 steps ahead to the left…”
Cheng Yu silently counted the Great Hoodwinker’s steps as they marched. When he reached 150, he saw the Great Hoodwinker standing in front of a huge rock before muttering again, “370 steps ahead to the right…”
Cheng Yu was shocked to realize the man was completely relying on this stupid method of memorizing landmarks to slowly feel his way forward. But wouldn’t it take at least a 100,000 steps to walk out of Mt. Shenchi. How could he even remember all that?
The people at the back of the group gradually came to a stop.
Cheng Yu asked out loud, “What’s going on at the back? Why have you all stopped moving?”
His voice could only reach the middle of the group, so someone in the middle responded, “We can’t see anything, so we’re not sure why they’ve stopped moving.”
With that, everyone stopped talking. They were waiting to hear how the person at the back of the group would respond.
In this moment of silence, Ren Xiaosu suddenly heard a strange rattle come from the white fog. It sounded like bones clattering against the ground, as well as like countless insects moving at a fast speed.
“Surely it’s not the face bugs, right?” Ren Xiaosu had a bad feeling. This sound was almost the same as when they encountered the face bugs back in the Jing Mountains. Moreover, these two places were also known as the legendary hallowed grounds.
Suddenly, a scream reverberated through the mountains. Almost in unison, Luo Lan, Zhou Qi, Ren Xiaosu, Cheng Yu, and Song Qiao all looked toward the source of the sound.
But the fog was so thick no one could see what was going on.
They could only feel the rope getting tighter and tighter, and it was even shaking violently. It was as though some of the group’s members were struggling against something.
Eventually, the rope got so tight it went taut. Song Qiao, who was standing behind Yang Xiaojin, had his arms yanked straight by the rope. He ended up looking like a cross as Yang Xiaojin and another person held tightly onto the rope on either side of him.
Ren Xiaosu immediately rushed over to Song Qiao and cut off the rope around his wrist with a dagger. Right after, the severed rope was pulled out into the white fog!
He quickly loosened the rope around Yang Xiaojin’s hand and shielded her behind himself. Meanwhile, Luo Lan and Zhou Qi had already loosened their rope by themselves and taken cover behind Ren Xiaosu.
Cheng Yu could finally confirm Luo Lan had only dared to sleep soundly without someone keeping watch for him at night in the campsite because he had encountered Ren Xiaosu.
A person’s first reaction to danger would definitely be to seek safety!
Ren Xiaosu and the others stood there quietly. Every now and then, they would hear cries of grief coming from within the white fog There were even some inexplicable light and shadows flashing inside the white fog.
“There’s supernatural beings fighting,” Cheng Yu said.
However, none of the remaining dozen or so people were willing to go in and rescue them.
Since this was a group of people with different intentions, who would be willing to plunge themselves into the fog to save others at a time like this?
Only Song Qiao was worried, because his assistants were now in that fog!