Chapter 42 【Fog Sea】

After the game invaded reality, the real world was completely assimilated into “Xian Zong,” and former technology and history were all buried.

He didn’t know if the mountain in his hometown still existed.

But if that place wasn’t ordinary to begin with, it might not be so easily assimilated.

He had to find a way to locate that place and see what was really going on.

“Why do I feel like that imperial carriage is coming this way…” Consort Lian said hesitantly.

Eight Zheng beasts in the sky were seen pulling the imperial carriage as they rampaged forward, and directly in front of them was the cloud boat.

Qin Wu heard many Cultivators on the cloud boat cry out in alarm.

“Do not panic.”

A refined voice echoed in the ears of every Cultivator.

At that moment, a female Cultivator wearing wide robes and large sleeves flew out from the cloud boat and hovered in front of it.

Her hands continuously formed hand seals, and behind her, the phantom of a thousand-meter-tall White Bone Gate emerged.

In a daze, a “creak” seemed to be heard as the gate, forged from hundreds of millions of skeletons, slightly opened a crack.

At that instant, a vast, bloody, and cruel aura emanated from the crack in the gate.

The air solidified instantly, and even breathing felt like being strangled by this pressure. The surrounding light seemed to be swallowed, leaving only the hair-raising silence and brutality seeping from that narrow crack.

“Hee-ha-ha-ha…”

“Hee-hee… Ha-ha-ha…”

“Yi-hee-hee-hee…

Extremely frenzied laughter rang deep in his mind, and Qin Wu was dazed for a moment.

It wasn’t until a strand of hair suddenly slapped his head that he realized a twisted smile had somehow formed on his face, and he was also letting out frenzied laughter along with that sound.

“What’s going on?” Qin Wu asked in horror.

“This is the assimilation of high-level Cultivators,” Consort Lian said seriously. “You haven’t even seen her true body; just a leaked trace of her aura almost made you a part of her.”

“No wonder the Holy Land separates Cultivators of different cultivation levels.”

Qin Wu could feel a gentle aura constantly surging within the cloud boat, likely healing those who were nearly assimilated.

“True body?” He looked outside in confusion.

With that aura inside the cloud boat, there was no need to fear being assimilated again.

“Isn’t her true body that figure?” Qin Wu looked at the female Cultivator in front of the White Bone Gate.

“No.”

Consort Lian was silent for a moment: “The terror of high-level Cultivators lies not only in assimilation; what’s even more frightening is that they are no longer considered human.”

Her hair pointed toward the White Bone Gate: “The thing inside that gate is her true body.”

The White Bone Gate had already opened nearly halfway. Countless bone hands reached out from within, gripping the two doors as if trying to pull them wide open.

Through that crack, only a patch of Chaos could be seen inside, with frenzied laughter continuously echoing from it.

The imperial carriage drew closer and closer to the cloud boat. A massive bone hand reached out from the gate; it was crystal clear, like fine crystal.

Three blood-colored halos hovered around the wrist like bracelets, each larger than the last, with faint, dazzling patterns flowing upon them.

At the moment the Zheng beasts were about to collide with the cloud boat, the bone hand grabbed the boat in its palm. A huge rift opened on the other side, and the bone hand, along with the cloud boat, crashed into it.

Qin Wu saw the outside fall into darkness. After a period of jolting, dots of light appeared ahead.

Emerging from the other side of the rift, the bone hand and the female Cultivator had disappeared. The black sun still hung high in the sky, and the imperial carriage was nowhere to be seen.

Qin Wu sat at the table and poured himself a cup of water.

When the bone hand was carrying the cloud boat away, he felt as if the imperial shadow inside the carriage had glanced at him.

“Everyone, due to the accident just now, the cloud boat has deviated from its original route. We will now re-plan the route. Please remain calm.”

It was that refined voice again.

Because of the decaying Dynasty, Qin Wu couldn’t settle down to Cultivate. He and Consort Lian moved the table to the window, drinking tea and eating snacks while looking outside.

The black mist here was different from before; thick areas were as dark as ink, while thin areas shimmered with ghostly purple and grey-blue light, like a dream crushed by the wind.

Countless faint shadows floated in the mist. Consort Lian pointed toward the sky: “Look there.”

Qin Wu looked where the hair pointed and saw a shadow flash past deep in the thick mist. Its lower body was a thousand-meter-long tail, soft as silk. With a gentle sway, space rippled like seawater.

Even though it had left, Qin Wu looked out and felt as if he wasn’t in the sky, but in the sea.

This sense of displacement made him feel a bit dizzy.

There were also many shadows shaped like humans, but covered in stardust-like scales. Their faces were blurred, and they didn’t seem malevolent; instead, they possessed a detached, otherworldly beauty.

They glided silently past the cloud boat, sometimes near and sometimes far, as if observing or leading the way.

In Qin Wu’s impression, the monsters in the black mist were all terrifying and ugly, but everything before him was like a bizarre and magnificent long scroll, slowly flowing past the window.

Consort Lian held a Jade Slip, seemingly searching for something. After a while, she said: “Found it. This place is the 【Fog Sea】 within the 【Xian Mountain Sea of Mist】, one of the high-risk Forbidden Lands.”

“Fortunately, we’re on the outskirts, so it’s not a big problem. If we were in the central area, unless one is an Immortal, they could only wait to be assimilated into a part of the 【Fog Sea】.”

Qin Wu looked at the human-shaped shadows near the protective shield outside; they were likely Cultivators who had accidentally entered the 【Fog Sea】 and been assimilated.

When he first saw it, the scene outside was indeed magnificent, and he couldn’t take his eyes off it. But after a long time, Qin Wu just felt a bit bored.

He left the window and began to Cultivate again. After an unknown number of days, they finally left the range of the 【Fog Sea】.

The subsequent journey was even more boring, with nothing but the endless black mist and occasional monsters appearing faintly within it.

Qin Wu had already refined both spirit nurturing pills.

【Cultivation: Qi Refining Fourth Layer — 67%】

He let out a long breath. Without any more Medicinal Pills, it wouldn’t be so easy to increase his cultivation level in the future.

Consort Lian was still hanging by the window. Qin Wu walked over and asked, “Where are we?”

“I don’t know.” Consort Lian yawned, two teardrops welling in the corners of her eyes. “Anyway, we’re not back on the correct route yet.”

The black mist here wasn’t as thick, and the scenery below could be seen indistinctly. Qin Wu glanced down casually and could no longer look away.

“What is that…” he murmured in disbelief.

Even from a great distance and obscured by mist, he could recognize the collapsed ruins of a modern city below. There was steel and concrete—evidence that the modern world had existed three hundred years ago.

“There’s actually a place that hasn’t been assimilated?”

Qin Wu instinctively asked Consort Lian: “What place is this?”

“Didn’t I just say? I don’t know!” Consort Lian looked at him in confusion, wondering if something was wrong with his brain.

He immediately stood up and walked out. Consort Lian jumped onto his shoulder, not understanding why. The two of them found a boy on the cloud boat.

Qin Wu asked, “What place is this?”