The longer Lu Qingshan observed, the more he felt the five were not simple. Secret medicines for immortals were one of four major professions listed on the beginner’s manual. Making these special medicines — spiritual pills — required knowledgeable and respected alchemists, and from the way they were freely consuming them every day, they seemed to have a stable source. That likely meant they had a notable background.

  There was no way to tell what realm they were. An Embryonic Breathing cultivator was still manageable even at the Mystic Membrane stage, though their power was a considerable risk if he fought them openly without ambushes. But there were five of them. He could only kill one or two in close range with the Heavenly Demon Disintegration Technique before the backlash became too strong.

  And for all his invincibility among all current martial artists, he would be powerless before a full Qi Refinement realm cultivator, especially if they had auxiliary means such as spiritual pills. Even martial artists had secret medicine recipes to help recover blood energy and inner force. He didn’t doubt that immortal cultivators had an equivalent method.

  Lu Qingshan signaled the flies for his elders to return. The situation had gotten a lot more complicated. Remaining low-profile was not what he’d expected, but a simple change of plans was within reason. Something that could attract immortal cultivators to an area, especially when their backgrounds were decent, would obviously hold great value. He wanted to find out what it was and take it all for himself.

  He let the Seven Mysteries Gate elders know about his discoveries as soon as all of them arrived back in their carriages.

  “What do you all think?” he asked. “This is a delicate situation. We must not stand out from all the other martial artists, or the enemy will place their focus on us instead. I’m not looking forward to dealing with five at the same time.”

  “We could kill them early,” Liu Yingting said. “Figure out where they’re going. Then lay some traps to poison them one by one. I don’t believe they can survive everything we throw against them.”

  “That wouldn’t work,” Qin Ye said. “Mundane poisons can be flushed out of their bodies through the use of spiritual qi. I don’t doubt your knowledge, but you might need stronger poisons.”

  “Why do they need so many martial artists though?” Jin Teng asked. “If they’re so powerful?”

  “I suppose it’s time for me to explain our background,” Lu Qingshan said, mulling over his next words. “We used to have an…immortal mountain.” It counted — those five monster beasts that could match Qi Refinement didn’t come from nowhere.

  “Then immortal cultivators attacked, sending in waves and waves of martial artists to confirm our information. In battle, any one of them could crush me, but their scouting abilities were no match. I think they’re here because the rumors of treasures are real, and these cultivators also happen to be searching for them.”

  Jin Teng nodded. “I understand,” he said. “Then should we consider targeting the martial artists?”

  “Remove their support base, and their willpower crumbles,” Liu Yingting muttered. “Good idea.”

  Lu Qingshan was inclined to agree. Slaughtering their recruited men might not make a difference in the beginning. But it would eventually unnerve them. Then he’d gain more chances to probe at their abilities, giving him the initiative to strike if they were found lacking.

  But first, they had to enter the forest and reach a faraway area where leaving became more difficult. Otherwise the victims could simply turn around and flee.

  “Go continue observing the martial arts groups surrounding those five,” Lu Qingshan instructed. “But be very careful to not let them know your strength. Too strong a spy might alert the enemy.”

  ——

  A week later, one of the immortal cultivators looked down into his bottle of pills and shook it. Nothing came out.

  The man stood up. Still dressed in his opulent robes, he walked out and beckoned to a stern-looking man. After a brief conversation, the immortal cultivator followed him outside, where a crowd of martial artists were conversing with one another. Beside them were large bundles of traveling gear and supplies, ready to go.

  Lu Qingshan saw them begin to leave the city. He then switched his senses through each of the four Bloodseeker Fly clusters watching the other four groups. They didn’t seem to be leaving yet, until a person came running to tell them about what they’d seen.

  All four of them stood up and followed the first out of the city.

  The Seven Mysteries Gate elders quickly caught onto what was happening. They rushed back just in time to follow Lu Qingshan into the forest with a few other groups. These people had been driven into action as well by the actions of the five groups.

  Lu Qingshan had his elders blend into the crowd. Following the wave of martial artists made it easy to enter the forest. Their numbers simply made all the monster beasts in the area avoid them. Eventually, the whole group split up into their own pre-approved teams, but by then Lu Qingshan and his sect was quite close to the marked area.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  Checking the map, he confirmed their location. Then he went and found a human-faced spider crawling on a nearby tree. His sect elders converged nearby, awaiting his commands.

  But just as Lu Qingshan peered through his Bloodseeker Fly swarms who had gone on ahead, a thick mist descended into the forest.

  The spiritual connection broke. Lu Qingshan found himself deep inside a cloud of fog, barely anything a few steps in front of him. Such an unnatural situation made him keep quiet while he searched for his sect.

  Fortunately, they had stayed relatively close together, and Lu Qingshan’s insects were still on them. He maintained a murky connection with the insects in his immediate vicinity. They eventually managed to regroup without anyone disappearing into the fog.

  In here, sound was almost muffled, and they had to huddle in a tight circle in order to hear each other whisper. “What’s going on?” Lu Qingshan asked Qin Ye and Li Fanghua. Surely they’d know something.

  “I don’t know,” Qin Ye whispered. “I can only tell there’s spiritual qi inside this fog. It’s not a natural phenomenon.”

  Li Fanghua agreed. But the two could not come up with a solution to the fog. Their spiritual qi that had once been so effective on other people didn’t even make the fog shift in response.

  Lu Qingshan was forced to implement a rather unorthodox plan. The direction he was facing before the fog fell became “north.” Using that as his primary point of travel, he assigned his remaining Marrow Tempering stage Bloodseeker Flies as the markers for “north.”

  Then he called over all the insects in his immediate vicinity and separated them into several different species. Through them he mapped out eight cardinal directions that moved alongside them. With this configuration, he hoped they wouldn’t get lost in the sea of fog.

  Now, they could only follow the Bloodseeker Flies deeper into the forest. The human-faced spiders became the way out, as the species remained in the opposite direction of the flies. Lu Qingshan gave himself a pat on his back for practicing making sure his insects could work together. It would be so easy to lose control in this fog, but he managed to keep everything in control.

  Step by step, Lu Qingshan’s group made it towards the end of the sea of fog. Here, the mist became thinner, as if beckoning others to leave. As soon as they stepped through one of these spots, they found themselves in another patch of forest.

  The mist had entirely disappeared. It was still there though, and Lu Qingshan confirmed it by stepping back into the area. The whole descent of the fog sea was too sudden for him to observe.

  “So this is why nobody who went in was able to leave,” Lu Qingshan muttered once he exited again. “They couldn’t get themselves out.”

  Now that they had all left the fog, their voices had returned. His elders glanced around the area in curiosity. This section of forest looked the exact same, except it lacked the Bloodseeker Flies Lu Qingshan left scattered around the entrance.

  “Think it’s possible for anyone else to leave?” Liu Yingting asked.

  “Probably.” Lu Qingshan couldn’t say for sure, but he believed those immortal cultivators wouldn’t fall for such a trick. It was a shame about his lost Bloodseeker Flies though. Hopefully they’d find another way out.

  “I think I discovered something,” Qin Ye hesitatingly started, “I was able to sense different levels of spiritual qi in the fog. It seemed like a trail, but since we were already following the general direction, I didn’t mention it.”

  “I couldn’t feel anything,” Li Fanghua muttered. “Not that I’m disagreeing. But maybe this fog was meant to keep people out. Only those who were strong enough could make it through.”

  Lu Qingshan nodded slowly. That was certainly important information, to know that there was a hand behind this sea of fog, and that they had discernible motives.

  They quickly escaped the area in case anyone found them there first. Now was not the time for conflict. They needed to understand what was happening, and quickly.

  With only his swarm of Marrow Tempering flies and a singular massive Viscera Tempering fly remaining, Lu Qingshan had lost much of his most vital scouting tool. But he remained confident. This swarm was no longer as small as it had once been in the past. It was enough to do many things, like leave behind small clusters near the fog sea’s exit.

  A few clusters roamed ahead. Lu Qingshan had them fly relatively far before he felt it safe to assume that they were the first to leave the sea of fog.

  “Are we still setting up an ambush?” Jin Teng asked.

  “Not yet. We need to figure out the environment, find extra supplies, and create an escape plan if necessary. There were too many people in there — I don’t think all of their forces are going to make it out anyway.” He was planning to stay here for years, so consistent sources of edible food and water became a necessity.

  The Seven Mysteries Gate moved quickly. Lu Qingshan himself had to help scout the area as well. After a while, they came up with a few conclusions.

  First, the area contained no immediate threats. But there were no animals either. Not even insects could be found in the soil or the trees. It was all very eerie.

  The spiritual earthworm detested the taste of the soil. It could only go downwards a little bit before it was forced to exit, convulsing. This did not bode well for them, as insects were a stable food source that they could try following to find water.

  Secondly, the concentration of spiritual qi was greater here than outside the sea of fog. It surpassed mortal cities by many times, and even managed to peak slightly higher than the spiritual earthworm. At least Qin Ye and Li Fanghua would have a better place to cultivate.

  Third, there were no real landmarks in the area that could be easily spotted. Lu Qingshan’s elders paired up and went out in four different directions while Tian Du stayed with him. They came back in the time it took for two incense sticks to burn, without providing anything concrete. According to all of them, there was only a sea of trees here and nothing else.

  Lu Qingshan looked up at the sky. Their supplies would last them a while. And the sun was still there. He decided to follow it to see where it would take them. Maybe one of the five immortal cultivators would know what was happening, but it was too much of a risk to interact with them just yet.