Chapter 26: A Person Within the Fogbound Game

Before nightfall arrived, everyone thoroughly searched the area assigned to them, yet still discovered nothing.

Now the setting sun hung low, its color as red as blood.

Because the fortress walls were relatively high and blocked the sunlight, the interior of the fortress was even dimmer.

The sixteen people gathered together once more, all wearing serious expressions.

“There are now two choices.”

Xu Saifeng glanced at the setting sun and said,

“One is for us to remain here and continue until we’ve fully investigated everything before leaving, but that is very dangerous.”

“The second is for us to leave immediately and simply return to inform the County Magistrate about what happened here.”

Someone immediately said,

“I choose to leave. Something is wrong about what happened here. Staying any longer is too dangerous. I keep feeling like someone in the darkness is watching us.”

But someone else said,

“The reason the soldiers of the military town died and why the True Lord disappeared, none of that has been figured out! If we go back just like this, the County Magistrate will probably think we’re occupying positions without doing any real work.”

“But that’s still better than dying. What happened here is too strange. Even the True Lord disappeared.”

“The True Lord may not necessarily be dead. I think we still need to investigate thoroughly. Otherwise, it will be difficult to explain ourselves when we return. Do you really think County Magistrate Huang is easy to talk to?”

Thus, everyone began arguing, and it seemed the quarrel was only growing more intense.

After listening to them argue for a while, Li Lin suddenly spoke.

“Let’s leave this place first and spend the night somewhere safer. Then we can come back during daylight to continue investigating. Why must the choice be between fleeing and staying?”

Everyone looked at Li Lin.

Their expressions all seemed somewhat strange, as though twisted by conflict and struggle.

Xu Saifeng slapped both of his cheeks with his hands and then said,

“We old hands were all clouded in mind just now. Shameful. There really is something wrong with this place. Patrol Hunter Li is right. Let’s leave first and make plans tomorrow.”

With that, the sixteen of them rode out of the fortress before the sun had completely set.

“I know of a cave nearby. We’ll spend the night there.”

After speaking, Xu Saifeng took the lead.

The group rode for some time when someone suddenly shouted,

“Look at Bobai Town. Something’s very wrong.”

Everyone turned around.

Then they discovered that the entire military town had been covered by a layer of black fog beneath the blood-red glow of the setting sun.

It looked extraordinarily ominous.

During the day, when sunlight was present, that thing had not existed at all.

Xu Saifeng instinctively sucked in a breath.

“The resentment has become so dense that it has condensed into visible fog. It can bewilder the mind. That place was a trap. No wonder none of us thought about leaving. We only thought about arguing. If we’d delayed a little longer, we truly would have been unable to leave.”

Bai Bufan asked curiously,

“What would happen if you stayed inside that fog? How do you deal with it?”

“Either you have cultivated a spirit-soul technique, or your body’s yang energy is strong enough. Both are sufficient to resist the influence of that fog.”

Everyone suddenly understood.

Old Hou laughed.

“No wonder Patrol Hunter Li was able to remind us!”

Everyone burst into laughter.

The fact that Li Lin still possessed a virgin body was known by all the Spirit Hunters in Yulin County.

At that moment someone asked,

“Patrol Hunter Bai should still have a virgin body too, right?”

A look of shame appeared on Bai Bufan’s face.

When he was thirteen years old, he had already experimented with relations between men and women with one of his maidservants.

Seeing his expression, everyone laughed even harder.

Amid the laughter and cheerful conversation, Xu Saifeng led the group to a high slope.

There truly was a cave there, and before the entrance was a flat patch of earth.

Standing there, one could still see Bobai Military Town in the distance.

At this moment, the white jade plaques hanging at everyone’s waists had already begun emitting a faint red glow, indicating that gui were already nearby.

Xu Saifeng took seven yellow triangular soul-summoning banners from his saddlebag.

Starting from the cave entrance, he planted them in a circle around the patch of earth before returning to the entrance.

Bai Bufan curiously asked his uncle,

“What kind of formation is this?”

Bai Liwei shook his head.

He did not know either.

“This is a formation passed down in my family. I won’t mention its name.”

Xu Saifeng smiled.

“Its purpose is to gather the nearby yin energy and create the illusion of a grave. At least, it makes the feral gui think this place is a tomb, and that all of us are lonely wandering ghosts from within a great grave, causing them not to trouble us.”

Everyone looked down and discovered that the red glow from the white jade plaques at their waists had indeed vanished.

“Then this formation is incredibly powerful. If it were used outside villages and counties, wouldn’t it save countless lives?” someone said.

Xu Saifeng laughed.

“It can deceive gui for a time, but not forever. Besides... how large is a single grave? And how large is a county or a city? How can the two be compared?”

That made sense, and everyone understood.

The group tied up their horses and lit a fire inside the cave.

After the smoke drove out some venomous insects, the Spirit Hunters entered to rest.

After arranging the order of the night watch rotations, Xu Saifeng silently began eating his travel rations along with everyone else.

Since it was not Li Lin’s turn to stand watch, he hugged the Gui-Hiding Cloak, which resembled a thin blanket, sat inside the cave, leaned against the earthen wall, and rested with his eyes closed.

Logically speaking, this location was excellent.

Combined with the formation Xu Saifeng had set up, it should have been very safe.

Yet disaster still arrived.

During the latter half of the night, the white jade plaques belonging to all the sentries emitted dazzling red light at the exact same moment.

Every Spirit Hunter was startled awake.

Except Bai Bufan.

He was still sleeping soundly.

Bai Liwei crossed the distance in two strides and directly slapped the top of his head, waking him up.

“What’s happening? What happened?”

Bai Bufan shook his head, still groggy from sleep.

The Spirit Hunters ignored him.

Each grabbed a weapon and walked outside the cave.

There was nothing outside.

However, the dense muttering voices had already become extremely clear.

When Xu Saifeng saw that two of the soul-summoning banners he had planted were missing, his expression immediately became extremely ugly.

“Who’s on watch right now...”

Before he could finish speaking, he discovered a Spirit Hunter collapsed near the cave entrance, blood bubbling from his throat.

The other person responsible for keeping watch had disappeared.

Without saying a word, Xu Saifeng took out two more soul-summoning banners from his saddlebag and replanted them.

The red glow from the white jade plaques at everyone’s waists gradually weakened and disappeared.

“Patrol Hunter Shi had his throat slit. He’s beyond saving.”

Bai Liwei pulled his nephew backward, separating themselves from the other Spirit Hunters.

“The missing person is Old Hou.”

At this moment, every Spirit Hunter instinctively increased the distance between themselves and everyone else.

Although Old Hou was the most likely culprit, who could guarantee that none of the remaining people were his accomplices?

Xu Saifeng’s expression was extremely ugly.

He was the leader of this mission.

Now that something like this had happened, even if the mission were completed and they returned safely to Yulin County, he would not escape the charge of inadequate supervision.

It would affect the amount of stipend he could receive in the future.

Xu Saifeng took a deep breath.

“Everyone, it seems we must first identify the traitor among us.”

“How?” someone asked.

Xu Saifeng’s face darkened.

“The Soul-Searching Technique. What do you all think?”