Several MPVs pulled up before the roadblocks, their doors sliding open as Natsuki's Love led the team out. MPVs were the official standard vehicles, favored by everyone from Money Prince, who won people over with virtue, down to team captains.
On one hand, high-end MPVs came in a wide range of luxury options, offering a model suited to any rank or standing. On the other, they were simply the most practical vehicle for deploying a team.
Small sedans were limited in passenger capacity, while minivans were undignified—no one could expect Spirit Realm walkers to roll out on missions crammed into a cheap Wuling Hongguang.
*Thump!*
Zhang Yuanqing shut the car door and peered past the roadblock at the thick mist rolling about a dozen meters away. "Has anyone managed to come out of the fog?"
"Within the outer thirty meters, people can come and go freely," Natsuki's Love said. "Go any deeper, and you completely lose your sense of direction. For now, we've already evacuated all the civilians from the perimeter."
"An incident on this scale won't be easy to explain to the public, will it?" Zhang Yuanqing remarked casually.
This young aunt had an exceptional figure, her snug army-green tank top accentuating a full bust, tapering down to a slender waist and long legs. Outfitted in military combat boots, she exuded a crisp, heroic demeanor that blended with her aloof, striking looks, resembling a frosty female drill instructor.
The other female deacon, Yu, was quite attractive as well. She had a round face with a trace of baby fat, fair skin, and large, circular eyes. Dressed in a pleated dress, she wore a sweet smile at the corners of her mouth, easily giving off the impression of an obedient, meek girl ripe for bullying.
Though a deacon, she carried an airy, gentle aura rather than a stern one, appearing to be around twenty-five.
"They'll suppress what's circulating online, post an official refutation on government platforms, and prohibit discussion across major social networks. In time, it'll blow over. Those are headaches for Public Relations to deal with," Natsuki's Love replied patiently to the young Yuanshi Tianzun.
*You make it sound like official rumor-busting platforms specialize in spreading rumors instead,* Zhang Yuanqing mused inwardly. Noticing the hulking Saint of Fire and Jiang Jingwei both wearing expressions of restless impatience, he spoke up immediately:
"Let's head in. Colleagues below the Saint stage will stay behind on guard. If we lose communication and haven't emerged by nightfall, notify the Hang City branch at once and request an Elder's intervention."
Losing contact within the heavy mist didn't necessarily mean they were trapped; the fog itself could simply be jamming communications.
That was why he added the condition "by nightfall."
With that, Zhang Yuanqing brought out the Daluo Astrolabe and naturally took point, leading the team into the dense fog.
Close behind him followed Guan Ya, Jiang Jingwei, and the yin corpse Blood Rose. The four Saints from the Hang City branch trailed several meters back.
Once inside the fog, Zhang Yuanqing held up the Daluo Astrolabe. Cast from black iron, its body was heavy and archaic, its surface painted with the celestial constellations in silver lacquer.
As he channeled astral power into it, the silver-lacquered stars were activated, casting a brilliant river of stars into the air like a frozen holographic projection above their heads.
Zhang Yuanqing said, "As long as we follow the positions of these stars, we'll never lose our way."
The Daluo Astrolabe possessed no direct positioning or navigational compass function, but the constellations on its surface corresponded to the celestial stars, mirroring a real night sky.
Using their entry point as coordinates and cross-referencing it with the map of Jinhui City on their phones, they could navigate toward the museum without ever getting turned around.
Seeing this, Natsuki's Love and the other two Saints finally set their minds at ease. Saint of Fire broke into a hearty, boisterous laugh.
"This works! Let's hurry up, find the museum, and get this mess sorted out. Haha, I take back what I said earlier, Yuanshi Tianzun. You're actually pretty useful."
"Of course he is! I'm the one who brought Yuanshi Tianzun up!" Jiang Jingwei chimed in from ahead, tilting her chin proudly.
Saint of Fire quickened his pace to catch up, asking curiously, "Little Princess, are you Yuanshi Tianzun's captain now?"
"Nope!" Jiang Jingwei answered. "Yuanshi Tianzun and I aren't on the same squad. I'm with Sister Guan Ya—she's my captain."
"What? How could a pure-blooded Fire Master like you be placed under a Scout? The Songhai Branch must be singling you out! Why don't you transfer over to our Hang City branch instead?" Saint of Fire said indignantly.
*Fire Masters really do offend people without even trying...* Zhang Yuanqing looked back and saw both Guan Ya and Natsuki's Love frowning with displeasure.
***
Outside the fog, Queen sat in the MPV scrolling through the forums on her phone, occasionally glancing outside to monitor the surroundings.
Surfing the internet was one of her few hobbies, and she left her footprint under most trending posts.
Unsurprisingly, the bronze sculpture incident in Jinhui City, Jiangnan Province, had topped the trending charts today. Official walkers in Jiangnan Province had posted threads detailing the phenomenon of the expanding mist in Jinhui City.
*"Latest update: The Hang City branch deployed five deacons and over a dozen captains. But so far, another deacon-led squad entered the deep mist and lost contact. Counting the team lost last night, fifteen colleagues are now missing, and the situation remains out of control."*
The comments below were bustling:
*"Ridiculous. Even sending out that many deacons didn't work? The threat level must be higher than what most evil classes cause. Are the colleagues trapped inside okay?"*
*"How could they be okay? The longer you stay in that fog, the more prone you are to going mad. It's still unclear whether it causes permanent mental damage to innocent bystanders. My friend went missing during yesterday's operation, and there's still no word. I'm worried sick. I had no idea our branch's deacons were this incompetent."*
*"Watch your mouth, guy above. I'm at the scene right now. Here's what's going on: the mist's level is a bit too high, and the deacons can't tell directions inside. It's too easy to get lost. If they can't find the museum, they can't target and neutralize the source. That's an innate trait of Mist Lords—there's no helping it. The deacons are planning to wait for the Songhai Branch's backup to arrive before forcing their way through."*
*"Finding directions? A compass definitely won't work, so they'd need a Starlord. But it seems none of the major branches have Starlords stationed there. What are they supposed to do?"*
*"Sounds like we can look forward to the Songhai Branch's backup team. Grabbing my popcorn. Drop updates as soon as there's news!"*
*"My head is still spinning. An ancient tomb? A bronze sculpture? Mist blanketing an entire city? Shouldn't all this belong in an instance? How did it show up in reality? What on earth is up with that tomb? Feels like there's some massive secret behind it."*
*"Breaking news! Songhai's backup team has arrived—it's Yuanshi Tianzun! He provided a way to navigate! Whew, this mess might finally get resolved!"*
*"Lord Tianzun is here? Oh right, I almost forgot he's a Starlord!"*
*"Waiting for updates..."*
*It's blowing up so fast. As soon as they hear Captain is here, these guys get blindly confident. His reputation among lower- and mid-tier members really is unshakable. Still, this exposes that Captain is in Jinhui City. Honestly... what if this draws the attention of big shots from evil organizations?* Queen frowned secretly.
***
Inside the dense fog, visibility dropped below five meters. Even sound seemed swallowed by the mist; along their entire walk, the group hadn't heard a single noise.
Streets, greenery, vehicles, buildings... "Soaked" in the thick mist, the world lay in utter silence.
Holding the Daluo Astrolabe, Zhang Yuanqing pressed forward briskly. Suddenly, the mist ahead churned, and a snarling silhouette lunged straight at him and the astrolabe in his hand.
Beside him, Guan Ya stepped out and kicked the assailant down, planting her long leg firmly on his chest.
It was a middle-aged man with a noticeably receding hairline, his eyes bloodshot and saliva dripping from the corner of his mouth. A beast-like growl rumbled from his throat. Having lost his self-awareness, he had turned into a violently aggressive beast.
Guan Ya inspected him for a moment and sighed in relief. "His mind is shattered, but he'll recover after a period of rest. It seems the bronze sculpture inside the museum can only exert shallow influence over targets in the fog."
Zhang Yuanqing relaxed as well. "Or perhaps broad-scale bewitchment can only accomplish this much."
As long as it didn't cause permanent mental damage like the Lust Divine General, it was manageable.
The group continued on, using the Big Dipper to verify direction and their phone maps to calibrate their course. As they advanced deeper into the fog, they encountered more deranged civilians and spotted more corpses lying along the roads and greenbelts.
Although they knew casualties were inevitable in an event of this scale, their hearts grew undeniably heavy.
Fortunately, these maddened citizens attacked living beings purely on instinct rather than sabotaging city infrastructure, sparing the city from far worse destruction.
Fifteen minutes later, they finally reached their destination. An off-white marble archway bore a brass plaque that read: *Jinhui City Museum*.
Beyond the archway were stone steps and a plaza. The main museum building remained hidden in the mist, obscured from sight.
Zhang Yuanqing stowed the Daluo Astrolabe and was about to ascend the steps when Natsuki's Love called him back.
The cool, striking drill instructor offered a smile. "You three from Songhai watch the rear to prevent ambushes. I'll take the lead."
The sweet and quiet Yu stepped forward naturally to walk alongside Natsuki's Love.
*Are they worried our strength isn't enough and that we'll be in danger up front? That's quite considerate...* Before Zhang Yuanqing's thought could fully form, Saint of Fire spoke up:
"The mist is at level 4 or higher. You three just became Saints, so your power isn't up to par yet. Just play support."
Fire Masters never minced words.
Yu and Natsuki's Love looked helpless, able only to offer an apologetic explanation: "Don't take it to heart."
The unspoken subtext was that they shared Saint of Fire's assessment.
"Used to it!" Zhang Yuanqing chuckled.
His response drew empathetic smiles from Yu and Natsuki's Love.
Now that the elephant in the room had been addressed, Natsuki's Love spoke frankly: "Based on existing intel, the bronze sculpture has only demonstrated two properties: bewitchment and dense fog. It's still unclear whether it possesses sentience. If it does, its level is at least level 5.
"That's far too dangerous for you, especially Yuanshi Tianzun. You're a core talent cultivated by the Five Elements Alliance. If anything happens to you, our Hang City branch won't be able to bear the responsibility."
*Well, on my very first mission after joining the patrol team, I'm already being looked down on...* Adept at social nuances, Zhang Yuanqing nodded repeatedly. "Deacon Natsuki is very thorough. We'll proceed according to your plan."
Jiang Jingwei wore an indignant scowl, but Guan Ya pressed her down.
The group reorganized their formation, with the three deacons from the Hang City branch taking point as they climbed the steps and crossed into the plaza.
Only a few steps in, several shadowy silhouettes emerged in the fog ahead, accompanied by mindless, beast-like growls.
Immediately after, low snarls echoed from all directions. The still mist churned violently, and countless silhouettes flickered into view all around them in dense throngs. They were surrounded.
The entire plaza outside the museum was packed with deranged civilians.
Figure after figure burst through the mist, crossing into their five-meter visibility and swarming toward the group like an army of ants.
"Don't strike to kill! They're ordinary civilians!" Yu cried out in her white dress.
She dropped into a half-crouch and pressed both palms against the ground. The plaza's stone pavers cracked and shattered with sharp snaps, and emerald vines erupted through the stone, growing rapidly.
Like writhing tentacles, they flared outward and bound the frenzied civilians tight, immobilizing them hand and foot.
Yu stood up and said, "Let's go!"
Pressing forward, the group swiftly crossed the plaza and entered the museum's interior.
Here, the fog was even thicker, visibility dropping to a mere three meters. Anyone walking slightly faster became nothing more than a faint outline.
The lights inside the museum shone brightly, but their beams could not pierce the mist; instead, they refracted endlessly through the dust-like particles, turning the off-white fog glaringly bright.
"There's a scent of blood!"
At the very front, Natsuki's Love frowned.
Following the scent, the party crossed the lobby and arrived at the entrance of an exhibition hall, where they were greeted by severed limbs strewn across the floor. Not a single corpse was intact; some had been decapitated, others sliced in half at the waist. Entrails and organs spilled across the ground, and blood had crusted dry against the polished marble tiles.
"Yunmeng!!"
Among the mutilated corpses, Natsuki's Love spotted a familiar face.
Her expression twisted in shock, and she hurried forward.
Zhang Yuanqing followed her gaze and saw the cool female drill instructor cradling a woman's severed head. The face was contorted, eyes wide in horror, as if she had witnessed something terrifying beyond imagination before death, the frozen terror permanently etched onto her features.
*That's Yunmeng? The missing Saint died just like that?!* Zhang Yuanqing's heart sank. He asked in a low voice, "Are these people all colleagues from the Hang City branch?"
The taciturn Houde Zaiwu nodded, his face lined with grief. "Every single one of them fell."
*Wiped out entirely...* Alarm bells rang violently in Zhang Yuanqing's mind.
Guan Ya stepped up to Deacon Yunmeng's body, inspecting it carefully before analyzing with composure: "Everyone was cut down by a bladed weapon—clean, swift cuts. Aside from Deacon Yunmeng, all the other corpses have calm expressions, which means they fell into some kind of illusion before dying, likely bewitched.
"Deacon Yunmeng must have realized it right before she died, but it was too late to survive. Deacon Natsuki, what level was she?"
Natsuki set down her friend's head and took a deep breath. "Level 4, eighty percent experience."
Guan Ya immediately stated, "Then the enemy's combat capability is at least level 5 with fifty percent experience."
Natsuki shook her head. "Yunmeng was a Plague God. She possessed a passive ability to ignore physical attacks, yet she was still killed without being able to resist. The enemy's combat power must be level 5 with over ninety percent experience—infinitely close to level 6, or perhaps level 6 outright.
"Everyone, this mission is far more perilous than we anticipated."
The party surveyed their surroundings with grim expressions. Within the thick fog lurked a terrifying peril; a single lapse in vigilance could cost any of them their lives.
Saint of Fire spat hard onto the floor, a ruthless glint entering his eyes. "Let's head inside. I'd like to see just how tough this damn thing really is."
With that, he strode into the exhibition hall.
The others hurried after him. Inside the hall stood rows of display cases containing predominantly pottery and porcelain like pots, censers, vases, and cups, along with a handful of calligraphy scrolls, paintings, and bronze cauldrons.
Deep within the hall, the group discovered another pile of severed limbs and bodies—the deceased members of the archaeological team and the film crew.
Zhang Yuanqing bent down to pick up a video camera and found it still held power. He said quickly, "Come take a look, everyone. The camera has footage recorded before they died."
The group crowded around him.
Zhang Yuanqing summoned Little Doubi and the Ghost Bride, setting the two spirit servants alongside the yin corpse on guard duty to prevent surprise attacks.
Then, he hit play.
The video first showed a two-meter-tall bronze sculpture clad in armor. It held a three-foot bronze sword, its bronze-bell eyes glaring with sheer savagery.
The armor's engravings and the facial contours were rough, reflecting mediocre craftsmanship. Yet Zhang Yuanqing and the others noticed that the bronze sword was extraordinarily sharp—its edge had been honed.
The audio captured the archaeological team's chatter, focused on academic topics like the sculpture's technique and the armor's design.
Right then, a youthful voice cut through the discussion.
The camera shifted to focus on the young man speaking.
With a strange expression, the young man said, "I'm hearing a weird voice..."
"What voice?" his colleagues asked.
The young man replied, "I heard that voice say: 'Those who trespass upon the Immortal Sect's demon-sealing ground shall be slain without mercy.'"
Chapter 321