After resting and observing the portal for nearly a couple of hours, Mu Ran jumped down from the tree and decided to sneak in again. Han Xuhan had ran back to the town all by himself in the meantime and returned with a bag of clothes he had purchased from there. Mu Ran had no idea why Xuhan was suddenly so confident about figuring out an way into the foggy area this time. But he didn't question his underling and followed his lead impatiently.
"Let's change into another pair of clothes first and put on some masks. If we really face those guys again, we can pretend to be cultivators who found the trace of the portal and came in to explore, just like them."
Following Han Xuhan's suggestion, both of them changed into a new pair of clothes. Outer sect disciples always carried spare clothes with them whenever they took up a dangerous mission. After all, it was hard to keep clothes intact during a deadly, superpower fuelled battle. But Xuhan and Mu Ran were rookies who hadn't figured out the meanings behind such rules and hadn't bothered to carry extra baggage with them other than what was necessary.
Carrying things around would have been much easier if there were space rings being sold in the sect's markets, something that Han Xuhan had taken for granted. But apparently, spatial magic was something so difficult to comprehend that whoever managed to do so had already reached the apex of the world of cultivation. Why the hell would they waste their time making space rings for juniors who weren't even a part of their family or a direct disciple?
One could ask, but it's such an awesome industrial opportunity!
Were cultivators not in need of any money?
The answer was very simple. Cultivators who could comprehend the laws of space are already so mighty that money was no different from dirt to them. The amount of money they could earn by undertaking the industrialisation of space rings, space bags and similar gadgets wasn't even worth the time they'd have to waste on the whole process. The pursuit of dao was their only goal.
Besides, it wasn't exactly a piece of cake to operate such gadgets that operate on heavenly laws. To even open or close the spatial storage, one would need a certain amount of comprehensive knowledge regarding the spatial laws of the world. Cultivators like Xuhan and Mu Ran would need to reach a realm far beyond their current goals to even begin to start contemplating such esoteric scriptures.
"Boss, it's your time to shine. Take a peek inside and return immediately if they're still hanging around the edge of the foggy area instead of going in. I'm not fast enough to take such risks."
No one had come out of the portal in the last two hours. Mu Ran sincerely hoped that they had found an way into the fog so that he could try his luck again.
While Han Xuhan waited at a distance, Mu Ran jumped inside for the third time that night and vanished from his sight. A few seconds later, he returned with an energetic hop and gestured at Xuhan signalling the coast was clear.
Han Xuhan went in behind him swiftly and entered the strange world for the second time. The edge of the cliff was devoid of any presence. The rough footprints showed that the cultivators from the stardust sect had indeed entered the foggy area. Mu Ran turned around and looked at Han Xuhan expectantly as soon as he recovered from the moment of disorientation after the jump.
Instead of going toward the edge of the fog, Han Xuhan walked toward the edge of the cliff. Mu Ran watched with surprise as Han Xuhan looked down carefully from the edge and shouted one word.
"Zhanxian !"
Before Mu Ran's widened eyes, a crimson coloured skeletal arm reached out toward Xuhan's outstretched hands from the walls of the slope. Xuhan caught it and pulled hard, resulting into a popping sound as the rest of the skeleton followed its arm and appeared in his line of sight.
"While we were watching them fight the zombie, I already understood that we needed their help if we wanted to explore the foggy area. But the risk of being used as cannon fodder was too high, and I didn't know if they could actually figure out the way to protect ourselves from the poison in the fog. So i summoned Zhanxian and had him hide on the straight slopes here where he couldn't be seen easily. After all, he is all bones; quite hardy at that too. He can use his arms as spikes to penetrate the soil and use his joints as hooks to stick to the walls. Zhanxian might not be useful in a fight, but fighting isn't the only way to solve problems now, is it?" Han Xuhan explained off handedly.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
Mu Ran's mouth opened and closed a few times. Suddenly, he felt that Xuhan's trashy cultivation technique wasn't actually that trashy at all. It had saved his life once and even helped them eavesdrop on other cultivators during such crucial moments ! Should he start cultivating this technique too?
Han Xuhan didn't wait for Mu Ran's thoughts to catch up and turned to look at the crimson skeleton idly gazing at the fog.
"Little Zhanxian, what did those cultivators say after we left?"
Zhanxian sighed. Then he ignored the questions and continued gazing at the fog.
"...Zhanxian, don't make me ask again," a blue vein throbbed on Xuhan's temple.
Wordlessly, Zhanxian pushed out a bony hand toward Xuhan and showed him his empty palm.
Gritting his teeth, Han Xuhan took out a small piece of crystallized bone nourishing qi from his pocket and dropped it on Zhanxian's outstretched palm.
Nodding as if satisfied, Zhanxian put the crystal in one of his eye sockets for safekeeping and started speaking.
"After you left, those cultivators praised their leader, Feng Jun, for not trying to use you as cannon fodder while exploring this...What was that word? Right, this world fragment. Apparently they all think you two are cunning, greedy devils who would deceive and betray them had they tried to use you. Then they walked closer to the fog and I realized that I couldn't hear most of their words from where I was originally hanging on.
So i slowly moved up and around until I caught some of their discussions. It took them a while to figure it out.
I don't know what method they used, but the final decision they came to regarding the fog is that once you enter, there is no way to avoid being poisoned. What matters is that you have to find the antidotes of the poison as soon as possible.
The balls of light floating inside might be the clues to the antidotes because that is the only way somebody inside the fog can preserve their life. As you can see, there are signs of people moving around loudly deeper inside the fog. If you look closely and long enough, you'll catch the shadowy figures running from one ball of light to another, deeper and deeper into the fog.
The ultimate consensus was that this world fragment is a not so well hidden inheritance ground. The fog is just one of the many obstacles meant to test the ability of cultivators with potential who can inherit the legacy inside. After reaching this part of their conversation, they all decided to enter the fog, one team after another. I don't know if they succeeded or not, but none of them made any sort of ruckus like that zombie. And the last team didnt sound particularly nervous when it was their time to enter the fog.
Zhanxian's words were enough to bring an exuberant expression on Mu Ran's face. He immediately turned around and ran toward the fog. Han Xuhan gave one final glance at the crystal in Zhanxian's eye socket and followed him.
"Underling, in terms of contribution, you're already way ahead of me. So I'll take the risk to enter first and find out if this strategy really works. In any case, this is our only shot. I have to do this."
Mu Ran took out a small green piece of jade and handed it to Xuhan.
"Here, this is a precious soul signature jade. As long as this jade emits warmth, it means I'm not dead yet."
Han Xuhan didn't have any complaints. He stood still and summoned Zhanxian back into his dao tower. Mu Ran lightly jumped up and down and stretched his legs for a few seconds before standing at the edge of the fog and targeting one floating ball of light in particular. It was one of the biggest red orbs from their point of view, thus easy to keep track of.
Taking a deep breath, Mu Ran glanced at Xuhan and nodded one last time before running inside the fog in a superhuman speed. Han Xuhan barely blinked once and realized that Mu Ran's shadowy figure was almost undetectable in the fog. If he hadn't specifically kept his eyes on it from the start, he wouldn't notice it at all. The fast moving figure reached the orb within a few seconds and leaped toward it vigorously. Han Xuhan closely observed the jade in his hand.
It was slighlty warmer than his own body. As Mu Ran vanished within the fog after leaping toward the orb, it suddenly lost its warmth for a few seconds before starting to burn fiercely again. Carefully, Han Xuhan kept his palms closed around it and felt its heat.
There was no other particular change. For nearly half an hour, the jade's warmth didn't change in the slightest. But Mu Ran didnt return either.
Feeling confident that the strategy had worked, Han Xuhan put the jade inside his pocket and rushed toward the fog in breakneck speed. His aim was the same as Mu Ran's, the biggest orb of light in the outskirts of the fog.