Chapter 216 - 17: Heading to Qingyang Prefecture City

Chapter 216: Chapter 17: Heading to Qingyang Prefecture City

"What’s wrong? You want to play too?" She held the fat silkworm out to Chen Ye.

The corner of Chen Ye’s mouth twitched. He silently turned his head and quickened his pace.

"Hey, don’t walk so fast! Wait for me!" Su Yuan shouted from behind, hurrying to catch up.

The two of them traveled at a leisurely pace, stopping and starting as they went.

During the day, they traveled in the open, and at night, they would find a cave or a dilapidated temple to make do for the night.

Three days later, they entered the true wilderness. By now, the official road had become even more rugged and difficult to travel.

Dense trees flanked both sides of the road, blotting out the sky and making the already gloomy day seem even darker.

The forest was dead silent. Not even the sound of birds or insects could be heard, only the rustling of their footsteps on fallen leaves, which seemed exceptionally clear.

"Doesn’t this place feel a little... strange?" Su Yuan put aside her playful mood and muttered under her breath.

"Be careful. Don’t stray too far," Chen Ye said in a low voice.

As he spoke, he activated his Asura’s Eye, taking in everything around them.

In his blood-red vision, a faint, greyish-black mist permeated the forest.

This was no ordinary water vapor, but a condensation of resentment and deathly energy, carrying a sinister chill and a sense of foreboding.

’A lot of people must have died here.’

"Oh." Su Yuan obediently acknowledged, silently falling into step just half a pace behind Chen Ye.

While remaining vigilant of his surroundings, Chen Ye asked tentatively, "Are you familiar with this Qingzhou Prefecture?"

He wanted to pry some useful information out of Su Yuan.

"Not at all." Su Yuan shook her head.

"This is my first time here too."

"Then how did you know about the grand trade meet?" Chen Ye found this a bit odd.

"I heard about it, of course," Su Yuan said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Qingzhou Prefecture’s annual grand trade meet is famous throughout the entire south. I’ve wanted to check it out for ages, but I never had the chance."

"This time, my master sent me out for training, so I thought I’d come by and have some fun." She said it casually, but Chen Ye picked up on some key information.

’Sent out for training... This means Su Yuan’s Identity is probably even more significant than I imagined.’

To be sent out for training by her master without any guardians or protectors meant one of two things: either her master was incredibly careless, or he had absolute confidence in her strength.

Chen Ye was inclined to believe the latter.

"Your Gu Saint Sect, where are you guys usually based?" Chen Ye asked, feigning nonchalance.

"In the Hundred Thousand Mountains of the Southern Border," Su Yuan answered offhandedly, seemingly not too secretive about such information.

"It’s full of poisonous insects, miasma, and all sorts of strange Demon Beasts. It’s the perfect place for us to raise our gu."

Chen Ye nodded. He was starting to get the picture.

The Southern Border was one of the most remote and chaotic regions. The mountains are high and the Emperor is far away; All Walks of Life, Demons and Ghosts—you could find anything there.

To be able to establish a foothold in a place like that and become a Major Sect, one could only imagine the strength of the Gu Saint Sect.

As they walked and talked, the atmosphere between them became somewhat more harmonious than before.

Chen Ye also took the opportunity to learn quite a bit about this world.

For example, that there were higher Realms beyond the Seventh Realm of Qi Refiners.

That besides Qi Refiners like them, there were various other Cultivation systems, such as the Buddhist Sect, the Daoist Sect, and the Demon Sect.

That Qingzhou Prefecture City was the core of the entire Qingzhou Prefecture, jointly governed by the Court and Qingzhou’s number one Sect, Celestial Sword Manor. It was a place teeming with masters and hidden experts.

This was all information he could not have found in the case files back in Yu Huo County.

Su Yuan also seemed happy to show off her extensive knowledge, telling him everything she knew without holding back.

Of course, only she knew how much of it was true and how much she was just making up on the spot.

After they had traveled about a dozen li deeper into the forest, the greyish-black mist around them suddenly grew thicker.

What had been a faint layer was now like thick, undiluted ink, shrouding the entire forest.

Visibility instantly dropped to less than three meters.

"Something’s wrong." Chen Ye stopped abruptly, his gaze turning incredibly sharp.

"What is it?" Su Yuan, on the other hand, wasn’t nervous at all, still toying with the plump white silkworm in her hand.

"There’s something strange about this fog," Chen Ye said grimly.

Under his Asura’s Eye, he could see countless twisted, Ghost Shadow-like things weaving through the dense fog.

They had no physical form and were composed entirely of resentment and negative emotions, exuding a heart-stopping, icy aura.

Moreover, these Ghost Shadows seemed to be rapidly converging on their position.

"Is it miasma?" As she spoke, Su Yuan took a small vial from her bag. When she opened it, a faint fragrance wafted out.

"It’s not miasma." Chen Ye shook his head, his expression grave.

"It’s something more troublesome." The words had barely left his mouth when a faint, almost imperceptible sound of weeping suddenly arose from all directions within the dense fog.

The cries were mournful and desperate, sometimes distant, sometimes near, like the whispers of countless vengeful souls in one’s ear, filled with a bewitching power.

"Hmph, a cheap trick!" Chen Ye snorted coldly. With a slight tremor of his Power of the Divine Soul, he dispelled the corrupting sound that had invaded his mind.

Su Yuan, however, looked completely unfazed, as if she were not affected at all.

At that moment, Chen Ye let out a low shout and drew his long saber halfway from its sheath.

A cold gleam flashed on the icy blade, reflecting his own equally cold eyes.

Meanwhile, Su Yuan produced several bizarrely shaped insects from her sleeve, pinching them in her palm.

Some of the insects resembled beetles, some scorpions, and others spiders. Each one exuded a dangerous aura.