I fabricated myths to guide the revival of spiritual energy.

In the seventh region on the far side of the moon, there is no wind in the deathly still vacuum.

The outer ring of the stargate, painstakingly constructed with countless resources, now only displayed a faint, dark gold pattern. There was no earth-shattering roar of a massive formation, nor any dazzling beam of light tearing through the universe.

At the center of the stargate, a thin, grayish-brown film of water silently appeared. Nothing could be seen behind the film, only a profound and eerie darkness that sent shivers down one's spine.

Behind the thick, explosion-proof glass of the Guanghan base, Wang Mingyuan stared intently at the screen. The screen displayed nothing of the outside world, only faint, suppressed life-marking dots representing the nine individuals.

"The channel is stable, and the boundary marker feedback is normal." Zhou Lan gripped the microphone of the communication station, his voice as cold and sharp as ice. "As planned, we will pass through within three breaths."

In front of the Star Gate.

The military captain, Han Zhao, dressed in coarse linen clothes, did not turn around. He simply raised his hand slightly and made an extremely crisp gesture of advancing.

Nine people, like nine weightless shadows, stepped into the layer of gray water film one after another.

The process of crossing boundaries is extremely short, perhaps only a moment, but it feels incredibly long and painful.

It was like forcibly stuffing a living person into a narrow crack with no up, down, left, right, or even a concept of time. In that brief void, Lin Xiaolu clearly felt her heartbeat being slowed down infinitely, the spiritual power in her body being squeezed into the cracks of her bones by an irresistible dimensional pressure, and even her memories were briefly blank.

"Smack."

A very light footstep treads on the decaying fallen leaves.

The location was deep within the uninhabited mountain range where the boundary marker was driven in.

Beside it was an abandoned, moss-covered well, and not far away was a withered, dead old locust tree, with a single dark golden new leaf hanging on its branch, spurred on by the boundary marker.

The surrounding area was overgrown with waist-high weeds, rustling softly in the wind. Occasionally, the hoarse, unpleasant cawing of crows could be heard in the distance. The air was thick with the pungent smell of damp, decaying leaves and the strange odor of burnt paper money.

"call……"

Xu Chenzhou, a close-combat swordsman, breathed a barely perceptible sigh of relief, his brows furrowed.

"The spiritual energy here... is too thin, like a person lacking oxygen on a plateau." Array master Lu Yan slid a seemingly ordinary copper coin from his sleeve, quickly stuck it to the edge of the dry well, confirmed the bottom signal of the boundary marker, and reported to the guide in a low voice.

Han Zhao squatted on the ground, his right hand pressing on the magical weapon disguised as an old iron knife at his waist, his eyes scanning the surrounding dense forest like a hawk.

Ten seconds later, Lu Yan gave a "stable signal" gesture. The team quickly confirmed the number of people, vital signs, and the status of the seal. Everything was normal.

"Phase one mission begins."

Han Zhao issued a cold, stern command in a whisper that could be heard by only a few people:

"From this moment forward, all flying and escape techniques are forbidden; spiritual senses must not extend beyond ten zhang; cultivation levels must not be revealed; every three hours, Lu Yan will transmit a simplified life status back to the boundary marker."

"Our primary task is to find inhabitants, and to ascertain their language, currency, government system, and the area where demons are active. Remember, we are now a lost caravan of smugglers."

Folklore and language expert Meng Changlu walked to a spot not far from the dry well, parted the thick vines, and revealed a broken stone tablet.

He ran his fingertips along the weathered markings, a glint of light flashing in his eyes: "Captain, the script resembles a variation of ancient seal script and clerical script. It says... 'Da Yu Calendar... Qingzhou...'. We should now be on the border of a feudal state called the 'Da Yu Dynasty'."

"The Great Yu Dynasty." Han Zhao chewed on these words, then waved his hand. "Follow the mountain path down. Xu Chenzhou, lead the way. Fang Bai, make sure to remove our footprints and scents."

The team moved silently along the desolate mountain path.

The further you go, the more obvious the traces of the local world become, but the more oppressive it also feels.

Occasionally, one can see the charred remains of paper money in the grass along the mountain path; faded and tattered red ribbons hang from a few crooked old trees, as if praying for the protection of some strange deity; and at a bend in the mountain path, a mountain god temple that has collapsed halfway suddenly appears before one's eyes.

The temple gate was long gone. The faces of the deities inside had been maimed with sharp weapons, making their original appearance unrecognizable. On the decaying offering table, there was no incense, only a pool of dried, blackened blood, emitting a pungent, fishy stench.

Meng Changlu walked to the remaining pillars of the mountain god temple, on which were haphazardly carved characters with knives and swords. The characters were deep and revealed the despair and fear of the carver at the time.

"Nighttime is not for entering the mountains..." Meng Changlu read the words aloud, "The Demon Suppression Bureau... has abandoned this place."

In just a few words, a picture is drawn of a decaying world that is rapidly falling into chaos and being abandoned by official forces.

Just then, a series of hurried and disorderly footsteps, accompanied by the cracking sound of a tree branch breaking, came from the dense forest behind the mountain god temple.

"Be on guard!" Han Zhao shouted in a low voice.

Xu Chenzhou instantly drew his old iron sword from his waist, his figure flashing as he blocked Han Zhao and Lin Xiaolu's path. Xie Wujiu's withered fingers emerged from his sleeve, his fingertips gripping a soul-binding order paper imprinted with Yellow Spring mud and sealed with Forgetful River ash.

"Huff... huff..."

A boy dressed in tattered animal skin stumbled out of the bushes. He was the same young hunter who had looked towards the mountains before the boundary marker was lowered.

His face was ashen, the bowstring of his hunting bow was broken, and there was a deep laceration on his calf that exposed bone, from which black blood was oozing.

He collapsed in front of the mountain god temple. Looking up, he saw nine strangers dressed in coarse cloth. His first reaction wasn't to cry for help, but to stare wide-eyed in terror and shout hoarsely in a heavily accented, ancient language:

"Run! Run! The mountain spirit is chasing us!"

Before the words were finished, a chilling scream echoed from the depths of the dense forest.

The sound resembled a woman crying, but the tone was eerily distorted and drawn out. Immediately afterwards, a nauseating stench, a mixture of corpse odor and rotting incense, assaulted the senses.

A monster the size of a calf pounced down from the treetop.

The creature had a body similar to a mandrill, covered in stiff black hairs. But what was truly chilling was that its face was a distorted human face, with its mouth split to its ears and bits of flesh hanging from its fangs.

This is not the kind of demonic beast that mutates by absorbing spiritual energy on Earth, but a half-demon, half-monster, evil creature born under the distorted rules of this world.

Xu Chenzhou's eyes narrowed, and he pushed off with his feet. The old iron sword in his hand had no fancy sword light; he simply used the purest physical strength and basic swordsmanship to slash fiercely at the neck of the human-faced demon.

"Xu Chenzhou! Don't behead him!"

Lin Xiaolu, observing from the rear, sniffed, her gaze sweeping over the black blood on the human-faced demon's claws—identical to that on the offering table—and quickly offered a professional tactical assessment: "It reeks of rotten incense; its soul isn't in its head! It's a demon parasitizing this abandoned temple! Cut off its roots, smash the offering table!"

Upon hearing Lin Xiaolu's reminder, Han Zhao immediately ordered, "Xu Chenzhou, switch targets! Xie Wujiu, Fang Bai, take control of the situation!"

Xu Chenzhou possessed extremely high combat skills; the sword blade, which was originally aimed at the monster's neck, unexpectedly turned in mid-air.

Instead of confronting the incredibly strong monster head-on, he rolled over and slammed his old iron sword down like a heavy hammer onto the blood-stained offering table inside the mountain god's temple!

"Bang!"

The decaying offering table shattered with a crash.

The moment the offering table broke, the human-faced demon in mid-air let out an extremely shrill scream, and its aura visibly weakened.

Fu Xiufang did not choose to use high-level spells. He simply took out two ordinary pieces of yellow paper from his pocket, bit his fingertip, quickly drew a talisman on them, and threw it towards the monster's eyes.

With a "poof," the yellow paper spontaneously combusted without fire, turning into two blinding plumes of smoke that instantly blinded the monster.

Immediately afterwards, Xie Wujiu, who had been silent all along, glided forward like a ghost.

He swung out a rusty iron chain. The chain looked ordinary, but the moment it touched the human-faced demon's body, it ignored its flesh and skin, and forcibly pulled out a howling, gray-black phantom from its spine!

The monster's massive body crashed to the ground, leaving only its instinctive convulsions.

Xu Chenzhou stepped forward, and the old iron sword precisely pierced its heart. With a twist, he completely ended the body.

The battle ended very quickly; it hardly even amounted to a confrontation, but rather a low-key and tacitly coordinated hunt.

Logistics recorder Luo Qi quickly stepped forward, took out a rough porcelain bottle, collected some blood and hair samples from the monster, and then immediately sealed it with a cork.

The young hunter lying on the ground was dumbfounded.

In his understanding, even the martial arts masters employed by the local officials would suffer heavy casualties if they encountered this thing called a "mountain spirit." How could these outsiders kill it so easily?

Tang Qinghe, a healer, stepped forward, took out a bottle of basic wound powder, and sprinkled it on the boy's leg injury.

Meng Changlu cleared his throat, quickly adjusted his pronunciation, and imitated the boy's ancient dialect accent as he squatted down and asked gently:

"Young man, don't be afraid. We are镖客 (bodyguards/couriers) from another prefecture, and we've gotten lost in the mountains. What kind of place is this?"

The young hunter gasped in pain, but looking at his saviors, he stammered, "This...this is Qingzhou territory...My benefactors, Huai'an County is just thirty li ahead."

At this point, a deeper fear flashed in the young hunter's eyes. He gripped Meng Changlu's sleeve tightly: "But you can't go! The Demon Suppression Division was disbanded three years ago, and there are more and more creatures in the mountains... Besides, Huai'an County is currently experiencing the 'Night Crying Case.' Every night, dead bodies come knocking on doors in the city... Going there is just suicide!"

A cold wind swept through the dilapidated mountain god temple, causing the coarse cloth clothes on everyone's bodies to flutter loudly.

After listening to Meng Changlu's translation, Han Zhao turned to look at the horizon. The not-so-bright sun was rapidly sinking behind the mountains. The dim, yellowish afterglow cast its light on the decaying forest, adding an eerie chill to the scene.

"Captain, shall we go into the city?" Xu Chenzhou asked in a low voice, wiping the black blood off his sword.

Han Zhao glanced at the sky, then at the so-called "Huai'an County" in the distance where lights were beginning to light up, his eyes calm and resolute.

"Not going into the city."

Han Zhao immediately issued tactical instructions: "We know nothing about the official forces, the supernatural system, or this so-called 'Night Crying Case' of this world. Entering a densely populated area where supernatural events are taking place at night is a major taboo for infiltration. It would easily expose our identities."

He turned his head and looked at each person in the line:

"Establish a defensive position and set up a concealment array near this mountain temple. We will hold our ground tonight."

After assigning the tasks, Han Zhao looked at Lin Xiaolu, who was standing quietly to the side, and gave her a final confirmation with his eyes. As the ballast of the team, Lin Xiaolu did not interfere with daily tactics, but her sensitivity to her surroundings was the highest in the team.

Lin Xiaolu felt the increasingly heavy chill in the air and nodded slightly. She didn't speak, but quietly and carefully put the dark golden new leaf that the boundary marker had nurtured into the spirit-sealing wooden box she carried with her.

"Received, set up the formation immediately." Lu Yan and Fang Bai acted swiftly, and several disguised formation flags silently disappeared into the soil outside the temple.

The wind grew colder.

In front of the dilapidated mountain god temple, the wild grass rippled like ocean waves in the wind.