The sky was gradually darkening.
Lin Hui put away his wooden staff, wiped the sweat from his face with a towel, and walked quickly toward the communal sleeping quarters.
The communal sleeping quarters were located to the right of the martial arts training ground. At a glance, they resembled a long, blackened intestine laid horizontally on the ground.
The "creases" on the outside of this "intestine" were the individual, partitioned rooms. Each room could sleep up to about ten people.
Lin Hui lived in a relatively clean and well-ventilated room on the far right.
He pushed the door open and entered, his eyes sweeping over the Tuyue Jade Talisman hanging on the wall. Everyone else in the room had already returned. Two were playing cards, while the others were silently practicing moves with small wooden sticks in their own spaces, most of them looking focused and serious.
"Ah Hui, you're back?" Chen Zhishen looked over, rolling to his feet and walking closer. "You weren't here just now. Some people were talking about how the masters from the temple caught a monster today. You should have seen it! That monster's claws... one of its arms was at least as tall as one of us!"
He seemed both excited and thrilled.
After all, most people who lived in the city had never seen what a monster looked like.
The monsters of legend were almost all hidden within the fog outside, mysterious and unpredictable.
Legend had it they were cruel, savage, and insane, and that they carried unimaginable poisons and diseases.
The vast fog completely separated them from humanity, as if they were two different worlds.
"A monster? I was training all day, I didn't notice anything else." Lin Hui's curiosity was piqued as well.
To be honest, having grown up in Xinyu Town in the Outer City, he had never seen a monster either. It seemed the creatures rarely ventured into the city districts, only attacking pioneers, merchant caravans, and messengers who went out into the Fog Area.
But the pioneers were mostly death-row inmates who had committed grave crimes. As for merchant caravans, only the largest trading houses had the resources to form intercity caravans. And messengers were top-tier experts beyond the imagination of ordinary people.
Anyone who could travel between major cities alone was definitely an elite master of the highest caliber.
"They say the monster was over four meters tall, covered in black scales, and had no eyes or nostrils—just a huge mouth that took up its whole face! It was terrifying!" Chen Zhishen said in a low voice.
"You've been reading too many storybooks and are just making that up, aren't you?" a skinny, bespectacled guy nearby said with a sneer.
"Storybooks? I saw it with my own eyes! I saw Master Mingde dragging that monster past the Daoist Temple before people from the Government Office took it away. No more than ten people saw the whole thing, and I was one of them!" Chen Zhishen retorted, annoyed.
"Then do you know what other path there is for us martial artists, besides joining the security details or becoming bodyguards for a Nursing Home? Or let me ask you this: have you ever thought about why a monster carcass would show up in the No-Fog Zone, where monsters don't even dare to enter? Why would Master Mingde drag a monster's corpse here for no reason?" the skinny guy asked in a low voice, pushing up his glasses.
"W-why?" Chen Zhishen was taken aback. He really hadn't considered these questions. He was just an ordinary farm boy who could barely read, and his greatest source of knowledge was this very Qingfeng Temple.
Beside them, Lin Hui was also captivated by the boy's words. It wasn't just him; several other temple disciples nearby had also shifted their attention to the skinny guy.
Realizing his topic had captured everyone's attention, the skinny guy grew a bit smug. He didn't keep them in suspense, rubbing his nose and saying,
"Because we martial artists have always been the main force for exploring the fog."
He sighed.
"The Three Greats of the Inner City, and the other major powers in the districts below them, are all actually exploring the surrounding Fog Areas. Although there are monsters in the Fog Area, there are also all sorts of rare medicinal herbs, precious mineral deposits, and even mysterious ruins filled with treasure."
"Ruins? But isn't the Fog Area uninhabitable for people?" a boy with a gentle face couldn't help but ask.
"It's uninhabitable now, but in the past, some of those places were also No-Fog Zones. They only became Fog Areas later for various reasons," the skinny guy said in a mysterious low voice. "Besides, I heard from my uncle that most of the ruins in the Fog Area weren't actually left by us humans, but by other, unknown beings."
Unknown beings!
This statement immediately piqued the interest of all the boys around him.
"Unknown beings can leave ruins? Does that mean they're like us humans? That they can build houses, farm the land, and raise livestock for meat?" the boy who had asked before continued.
"I'm not sure, but probably. How else could they have left ruins behind?" The skinny guy smiled. Seeing more and more people gathering around, his spirits lifted, and he began to describe in detail how he had come by this information.
It turned out his uncle had once been one of the Martial Artists who explored the Fog Area. He was powerful, but during one of his many expeditions, he was unfortunately crippled and severely injured. In the end, he could only rely on his past savings to live out his days at home, waiting to die.
All this information about the Fog Area came from stories his uncle told him in his spare time.
Lin Hui listened from the side, completely captivated. He had never encountered any of this before.
Through the skinny guy's words, it felt as if a curtain was slowly being pulled back, revealing a new understanding of the world.
According to him, the world wasn't inhabited by just the Human Race. There were many other humanoid races, as well as some non-humanoid ones.
Some of these humanoid races had even secretly infiltrated the No-Fog Zones within the cities, living there under disguised identities. Other races would trade amicably with humans, and even intermarry and have mixed-blood children. None of this was a particularly great secret in the Inner City.
Finally, as the fog outside grew thicker and thicker, it was time to extinguish the lamps.
The skinny guy concluded with one last sentence.
"All right, all right, I've talked so much my mouth is dry, and not a single coin for tea. If you're really interested, you can go to Fissure Town on the border when you have time. They say there's a garrison stationed there because a humanoid race called the Cloud Race appears from time to time. Many of the residents of Fissure Town are of mixed human and Cloud Race blood."
Fissure Town...
Lin Hui silently committed the name to memory.
WHOOSH.
The oil lamps were extinguished, and everyone lay down in their spots. But no matter who it was, they were all too excited by the skinny guy's words to fall asleep.
It was the same for Lin Hui. His mind replayed everything the skinny guy had described. His impression of the Fog Area gradually shifted from a dead-end place of pure danger to one where danger and opportunity coexisted.
The night passed without a word. Outside the door, only the constant howling of the wind could be heard, making the door planks RATTLE. RATTLE.
「The next day.」
As soon as the sky brightened, more than half the boys in the room were already up, Lin Hui included.
Just like any other day, he fetched water, chopped firewood, and then practiced his swordplay.
He finished his practice close to noon, but this time, he had a different plan.
After hearing the skinny guy's stories yesterday, Lin Hui decided he wanted to go see the border of the No-Fog Zone for himself during the day.
Back in Xinyu Town, he wouldn't have been able to travel that far. But this was Qingfeng Temple, which was already close to the edge of the No-Fog Zone. There was even a small path through the Fog Area that merchant caravans often used, so it was actually possible to walk there and back.
His mind made up, Lin Hui immediately returned to the communal sleeping quarters to pack his things. He grabbed a waterskin, checked his direction, and decisively headed for the Daoist Temple's side gate.
To the north of the Daoist Temple was the immense Tuyue City. To the south was a vast expanse of grayish-white fog.
From the side gate to the edge of the fog was a distance of less than three hundred meters.
Lin Hui exited the side gate, found a large tree, and climbed it to get a better view of the terrain.
The shortest path to the border from here was to follow the small river that ran alongside the Daoist Temple.
This river was called the Gut River. As its name implied, it was a small river resembling an intestine. Its source passed through Xinyu Town in the Outer City, meandered all the way to Qingfeng Temple, then flowed through a dense forest before finally disappearing into the vast, endless fog.
Lin Hui's departure didn't attract the attention of the Daoist Child at the gate. After all, the most common task for disciples like them was to go out and chop firewood.
Masters from the temple also patrolled the surrounding area frequently to mitigate any risks.
As for monsters like the Gate-Breaking Ghost, at least so far, they had never seen one actively invade the No-Fog Zone.
With a waterskin on his back and a sharpened, thick wooden staff in his hand, Lin Hui, dressed in simple gray clothes, walked quickly along a faint path toward the Fog Area.
The sky was overcast, with no sun. Thick clouds were piled high, the wind howled, and it looked like it could rain at any moment.
Lin Hui walked alone on the overgrown forest path.
He was surrounded by thick, straight, grayish-black trees.
Lush, dark green grass and shrubs grew half as tall as a man, completely obscuring everything off the path.
CRUNCH.
CRUNCH.
Lin Hui hurried forward cautiously. Following the path, his gaze soon fell upon the gray mist filtering through the trees ahead.
The thick, gray fog was like a wall connecting heaven and earth, cutting the forest in two.
At the same time, Lin Hui's steps faltered. He saw an old man in black Daoist robes sitting cross-legged at the foot of a large tree beside the path.
The old man had a kind face, with a white beard and hair. He had a sturdy build and carried a jet-black longsword on his back.
Hearing footsteps, he slowly opened his eyes to a squint and looked toward Lin Hui.
"Every few days, some curious kid shows up to gawk. Can't you lot just stay put?"
Lin Hui recognized the insignia on the old Daoist's robes as the style of Qingfeng Temple. He knew the man was stationed here specifically to maintain security.
He immediately stepped forward and bowed respectfully.
"Disciple Lin Hui greets you, Master."
"I am Mingchen. Although not many monsters get in or out of this place, you still shouldn't come looking for trouble. If you wander into the Fog Area, you'll surely die without a complete corpse," the old Daoist warned.
"I understand, Master. I was just curious and wanted to take a look from the edge. I will not enter," Lin Hui replied earnestly. That was what he thought, and that was what he intended to do.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have specifically sought out a path trodden by those before him.
"Good. Take your look and then head back." The old Daoist Mingchen nodded, no longer looking at him, and resumed his silent meditation with his eyes closed.
The soughing wind rustled the leaves.
A few leaves drifted down over their heads from time to time.
Lin Hui stared intently at the Fog Wall not far away, his eyes trying to pierce through the mist and see what lay within.
SWISH.
Vaguely, he saw a gray shadow taller than a man flash past inside the fog, moving very quickly.
"If I may ask, Master, why don't the monsters from the Fog Area enter our territory?" Lin Hui asked softly.
The old Daoist Mingchen remained motionless, as if he hadn't heard a thing.
Seeing this, Lin Hui knew the man had no intention of talking to him. After a moment of silence, he glanced around. Feeling that it would be a bit boring to just run back, he picked up his sharpened wooden staff and forcefully carved a line of text onto the trunk of a nearby tree.
'Lin Hui was here.'
"..." Mingchen heard the scratching, opened his eyes to look, and was instantly rendered speechless.
After doing this, Lin Hui turned to leave. But he had only taken two steps when he bent down and picked up a dark purple shard of something from the grass.
The fragment was cold to the touch and seemed to be a piece that had broken off from the edge of some kind of equipment.
Having acquired his souvenir, Lin Hui was satisfied and quickened his pace back to the Daoist Temple.
Seeing this, the old Daoist Mingchen was once again at a loss for words. 'That shard is nothing more than a fragment of hide or horn left behind by a Fog Area monster during its nightly comings and goings. It's worthless. And this kid is taking it back like he's found a treasure.'