Forge a path to success.

Chapter 82: Exploring Key Points Always Leads to Powerful Monsters Blocking the Way

The mountains were silent, shrouded in a thick fog. Chu Hengkong walked cautiously, and Fan De remained silent. They remembered the beasts in Yingluo Mountain; if they were attacked from both sides by the beasts and the jade fox, even Chu Hengkong in his current state would not fare well.

But this time, apart from the lemur in the forest earlier, the two of them rarely encountered any wild animals. It seemed that in the past ten days or so, all the animal herds had migrated for some unknown reason. If Vande hadn't vaguely recognized a familiar "path," they would have thought they had wandered into the wrong place due to some kind of spatial distortion.

The road was pitch black, stretching like a bridge up the mountainside, its surface smooth as a carapace. There lay the charred corpse of a giant centipede, burned to a crisp by the flames of ambition, tumbling down from near the summit, smashing through countless trees and mounds along its path. A vast area around the body was reduced to scorched earth, offering a glimpse into the grandeur of its death.

"It slid down from the mountaintop, and the fire spread along its path. The nearby beasts were burned alive to ashes, and all the survivors who were still breathing ran away," Vande whispered. "Your all-out attack turned Yingluo Mountain upside down."

That wasn't my full strength.

“Go ahead and brag,” Vande scoffed. “The more you brag, the funnier it seems that you almost starved to death.”

Chu Hengkong pinched it twice and climbed up the centipede's corpse. The giant insect was so long that it looked like an iron suspension bridge hanging down from the mountain, and the mist around it was like a gray veil.

“The fog is thinning,” he said suddenly.

When they first arrived in the mountains, the fog was extremely thick, so thick that they couldn't see their own hands in front of their faces. At that time, the strange beasts were almost invisible, hidden in the fog. The mountains were shrouded in gloom, and even the rocks right next to them were not clearly visible, let alone their location. Now, although the fog is still there, it is much thinner, and they can see their surroundings with little effort, a world of difference from before.

After pondering for a moment, Vande slowly said, "Two possibilities. The first is that the fog is related to the strange beasts. You killed two big guys, and the fog in the mountains dissipated..."

"That's a stretch. None of them have the ability to create fog."

“Then that’s the second possibility. Perhaps this fog has nothing to do with the strange beasts.” Vande twisted his tentacles, looking uneasy. “I’ve always been a little puzzled. There are tens of thousands of strange beasts in the mountains, but they have never attacked Yingshi Town, which is so close by. This is just not very reasonable.”

"They are mechanical, just like the Jade Fox."

“But that day, the Shadow Giant came directly to smash the town, and the Jade Fox often used stones to smash the town as well,” Vande retorted. “You saw the strength of Qi Su’s broken barrier. To be honest, it would have been more reliable for her to go into battle herself. No matter what kind of thing is controlling the beasts behind the scenes, at least it has the ability to attack the town and it also has malice towards the town. It has no reason to leave the town unattended.”

Indeed, what followed the strange beast… that red eye that seemed to have caused so much bloodshed… wouldn't be friendly to the town. So something else must be hindering its progress. It couldn't control the strange beast to descend the mountain, and that sudden attack also came from the grasslands… and the grasslands have no fog…

“Assuming this fog was set up by someone else to protect the town,” Chu Hengkong gradually sorted out his thoughts, “then this fog should remain in a state of no entry and no exit year-round to achieve complete isolation from the outside world. But this state has been broken… because we have entered the fog…”

"Stop, buddy, stop!" Vande crossed his tentacles in an X shape. "You're making it sound like we've disrupted the peace of this place, but we both know we're victims, right? We're the innocent tourists who wandered in like in a horror story. Our goal isn't to uncover the eerie truths hidden deep in the mountains, but to get out of here! What's the point of thinking about this now? Do you think these fogs and strange beasts will help us get out of this hellhole?"

Chu Hengkong shook his head.

“Then don’t even think about it, buddy,” Vande continued earnestly. “The town has been good to you, but as an outsider, you haven’t wronged the people of the Kingdom. Think about your hometown you’re planning to go back to; there must be someone waiting for you there, right? Protecting yourself is the most important thing.”

Chu Hengkong was about to say something, but upon hearing these words, he couldn't help but think of the people in Huilong City. He knew their temperaments; Ji Huaisu was definitely frantic, and the others were surely busy searching for him. The people in the city were simple; if you treated them sincerely, they would treat you sincerely in return.

When you have someone to care about, going back becomes your responsibility. You're no longer alone, so you can't just think about nothing.

You're right.

Finally, he gave a bitter laugh, suppressing his thoughts and ceasing to dwell on them. They walked the entire length of the centipede-like bridge, arriving at its head. The giant worm's head was charred, but its former dark color was still faintly discernible.

As he climbed onto its head, the centipede's corpse trembled violently, suddenly smashing through the rocks and falling to the ground. The rocks shattered into dust, raising gray dust in the mist. This section of the mountain wall seemed to have been weakened by the crazed centipede's attack; the previous impact had been the last straw. Chu Hengkong waved away the surrounding dust and looked up to find that the centipede's head had smashed a large hole. A much deeper cave than he had expected.

"..."

Each of them peered into the cave, and Vande timidly asked, "...Shall we take a look?"

This guy with the eyeballs is quite despicable; he gives a whole set of pre-emptive warnings and lectures, but when something new happens, he can't resist being the first to jump in. Chu Hengkong nimbly climbed the rocks and jumped into the cave. Seeing in the dim light wasn't difficult for them; the inner walls were still as white as jade and exceptionally smooth, making walking on them feel like walking on an ice rink. Chu Hengkong took a few steps forward and stepped on a protrusion. It was a broken cylindrical piece of jade with many blurry engravings on its surface, like a smoothed-down carving. He felt the design was somewhat familiar, and upon closer inspection, he realized it resembled the gateposts of an ancient mansion.

"I'm a little scared, maybe we should turn back..." Vande's voice softened.

Chu Hengkong stepped over the gatepost and strode forward. The cave wasn't too large, and he quickly reached the innermost part. It was a half-collapsed building, as if nearly half of it had been trampled by a giant beast. He deftly moved the rocks and entered the house. The house was completely destroyed, the only thing that survived was a bookshelf. On the shelf were several ancient books, all made of jade.

Van der jumped over and took a closer look, recognizing the original text: "The Long Song of the Mortal World, The Candlelight Poems... Oh, and Sreyer's Thirty-Six Lines of Wonders! This book is still quite new."

The jade-like books could actually be turned with difficulty, which made Vande very happy. He loved reading by nature and did not forget to look through the books even at this time.

This is a collection of limericks recounting strange tales and anecdotes from various places in the Mysterious Realm of Senluo. It is constantly updated according to the original author's travel progress. The copy in Vande's hands contains more content than the one he had previously seen in the library.

He flipped through a few pages and happened to come across a poem about the Netherworld Kingdom. It described the inhabitants as arrogant and haughty, who, because they were particularly concerned with appearances, were extremely hospitable, preferring to tighten their belts to lavishly entertain guests. The poet found this quite strange and initially intended to write a poem satirizing it, but the locals simply laughed it off, so he changed his mind and wrote a poem praising their etiquette.

"..."

As Vande recited the poem, reflecting on his experiences over the past few days, he felt a growing chill run down his spine. He suddenly lost all interest in turning the pages and quickly flipped to the bottom, where he saw a comment from the original owner of the book.

Its writing is absurd, yet its sentiments are sincere. The strange events and startling stories are not unfounded; the oddities are due to heavenly chaos, not human folly.

—Qi Su.

Vande, trembling, gathered the poetry collection and put it back, inwardly cursing himself for his meddling. There were many possible explanations for this, and it didn't intend to delve into any of them, simply pretending it knew nothing. "Vande!" Hearing the assassin's call, it jolted awake: "What's wrong? What's wrong?"

"Come and see this."

Chu Hengkong ignored Fan De, as he was focused on a more important discovery. He found several broken "jade artifacts" in the ruins and was piecing them together. When Fan De arrived, he had already seen the finished product: two jade sticks and a small vessel.

Chopsticks and a bowl.

"The people of the Netherworld God Kingdom don't need to eat, so why do they have tableware in their homes?"

"I guess I'm buying this to collect." Vande's eyelids twitched. "I already have a bad feeling about this, I want to leave here immediately..."

A soft thud came from behind them, like a pebble falling to the ground. Van der turned around, trembling violently, and saw a bright red eye open in the cave ceiling!

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!"

Vande darted into Chu Hengkong's pocket, rolling and screaming wildly, its cries so loud they shattered its own voice. Chu Hengkong turned and flicked his finger, a fallen leaf flashing in his hand as it pierced towards Red Eye. Now that the fifteen-day restriction had expired, he could use the leaf throwing knife again.

The crimson pupils shifted upwards, flashing, and light streamed down from the breach, revealing the truth. A small hole had been carved into the cave ceiling, and the beast outside had been silently observing the two. That beast was none other than the Jade Fox from the mountaintop; its once yellow eyes were now blood-red.

"This isn't your territory." Chu Hengkong narrowed his eyes. "Who modified your program?"

The jade fox did not respond, not even a threatening roar. At this moment, it showed none of the ferocity it displayed when pushing the stone; its red eyes were devoid of any emotion. It swung its claws, piercing through the cave, its slender body falling like water, its tail lashing out without warning. Its tail, made of jade, possessed the power to split mountains and shatter rocks with a single blow.

The tail whip struck, but the fox bounced back as if electrocuted. The blow cracked the rocks beneath Chu Hengkong's feet, but caused no damage to his body. Having undergone his previous bone-forging training, he could easily withstand such attacks. He stomped forward and threw a punch, his hard fist striking the jade fox squarely in the face, unleashing a burst of power that sent it flying!
The jade fox flew out of the cave, nimbly flipping and landing on its feet. Chu Hengkong had already attacked, his rock-hard blade aimed at the fox's neck. The fox raised its paws to protect its vitals, its long fur standing on end, transforming into hundreds of steel needles that rained down upon it. Chu Hengkong wielded his blade with impenetrable skill, deflecting all the needles.

Taking advantage of the moment, the Jade Fox opened its mouth and exhaled four wisps of white energy. Within each wisp of energy, tiny characters flashed, solidifying the gas into energy spheres that protected the Jade Fox's limbs. At this moment, the steel needle attack paused, and Chu Hengkong flashed forward, plunging his blade into the Jade Fox's left claw. The Jade Fox not only roared silently, but also showed no sign of pain.

The sphere attached to the left paw glowed, its light shifting and revealing a twisted "long" character. The jade fox's claws instantly grew longer, binding Chu Hengkong like ropes!
(End of this chapter)