Hmm... is it only me or is the mist thickening ever since we got here?" Wan Ling softly said, looking at the dense mist in front of her.
"We haven't even entered the goddamn forest yet. And this mist is making visibility hard," Han Qingyu annoyedly said.
Shen Yuan chuckled softly, he calmly said, "Settle down, you two. It's just a bit of mist. We've not even encountered the Mist Shades. What would you two do when you encounter those ghostly creatures?"
Han Qingyu tightened her grip on the reins, as her expression turned annoyed. "Hmph, we will deal with them when they come in front of us."
Wan Ling chuckled from the side, seeing Han Qingyu's annoyed expression.
The mist grew thicker as they ventured deeper into the forest, the atmosphere started to become eerie with each passing second.
The forest became denser as only sparse moonlight came down through the dense leaves.
Wan Ling's eyes narrowed as she saw the mist getting thicker as they headed deeper into the forest, "This mist is unnerving. It feels like it's observing us, or as if it's alive."
Han Qingyu tightened her grip on her spear, her silver aura faintly glowing in the dark of the night as she used it to sense the surroundings, "The air is filled with Qi here, and this mist is being attracted to us due to Qi. No wonder the Mist Shades are said to be drawn to cultivators."
Shen Yuan, riding ahead of the group, remained calm. His sharp gaze scanned the forest for any possible ambush or attack from the Mist Shades. Just then, Yue Lan's voice echoed in his mind,
[She is not wrong, Yuan'er. The Qi density here is unnatural for such a barren area. It feels as if Qi is artificially being infused into the forest by someone or something.]
'Hmm, this might explain the artifact the innkeeper mentioned—' His eyes widened as he noticed a small problem.
He pulled the reins as the horse stopped in its tracks, Wan Ling and Han Qingyu also caught up and stopped alongside him.
"Hmm? What's wrong, Brother Yuan?" Han Qingyu asked.
Shen Yuan frowned his brows as he tried to think hard to himself, but after not getting anywhere, he turned to Wan Ling, "Do you remember the name of the tavern?"
Wan Ling looked at him in confusion before nodding her head, "Of course, wasn't it named—" She paused as her eyes widened, she couldn't recall the name of the tavern where they were eating the meal.
He then turned to Han Qingyu and asked the same question, "And what about you?"
"The name of that tavern was—" Just as she was about to say the name, her brows frowned as even she couldn't remember the name.
"Weird... how weird..." Shen Yuan muttered to himself as he fell into thought.
"Well, looks like we won't be solving this tavern mystery anytime soon." Shen Yuan shook his head before putting the map back and turning back to the deeper forest.
Han Qingyu looked at him in confusion before asking, "Won't we go back to see what is up with that tavern?"
"No point in doing so if the innkeeper doesn't want us to meet with her." He shook his head before moving forward with his mount.
Han Qingyu and Wan Ling exchanged glances before moving forward to join up with him.
...
As they moved deeper, the mist grew denser and the visibility dropped to mere feet ahead. The horses began to grow restless in the darkness, their nervous whinnies echoing in the silence.
Shen Yuan dismounted first, patting his steed to calm it down. "We'll continue on foot from here. The horses won't be able to handle this environment for long."
Han Qingyu and Wan Ling exchanged glances before dismounting as well.
Wan Ling placed a calming hand on her horse's neck, whispering softly, "Stay here and wait for us. We'll be back."
"Huh? No, we're taking them with us." Shen Yuan smiled and said before spending 10,000 chaos coins and putting the three horses in the Beast Companion Space.
"Huh?" Wan Ling and Han Qingyu's eyes widened in shock as they had never heard about a storage ring being able to store a living being inside.
Shen Yuan glanced at them with a smirk, "Don't be too shocked, this is nothing much."
They could only nod their head along with his words.
...
They proceeded on foot, but even the sound of their footsteps seemed to be muffled by the thick mist.
All of a sudden, the air grew colder, and an unnatural silence settled over the forest. Shen Yuan raised his hand, signaling them to stop, "Be alert. Something's coming."
A faint, chilling wail echoed through the dense trees, causing Han Qingyu and Wan Ling to instinctively grip their weapons tighter.
The wail grew louder, and from the mist emerged ghostly figures, their translucent forms glowing faintly in the dim light.
"Mist Shades," Wan Ling whispered, unsheathing her sword as it pulsed with Radiant Qi.