West of Qingshan County Town, at the gate of Tianyi Studio.

    Chen Mu, who had just uttered harsh words, was kneeling on one knee, his face pale as paper, gasping for breath.

    He quickly surveyed his surroundings; the dense fog that once enveloped the entire town had thinned somewhat.

    The exotic force that had muddled his sense of direction had vanished, and he could barely make out which way to go.

    "I must leave immediately!"

    Just as he thought about getting up, a wave of weakness swept over him from the inside out, making him long for sleep at that very moment.

    "The Five Ghosts Moving Mountain does indeed enhance my strength, but the consumption has also increased manifold," Chen Mu said with a wry smile.

    "Too bad I don''t have Bigu Pill 3.0." Chen Mu immediately took out the old version of Bigu Pill and stuffed three pills into his mouth, trying to quell the overwhelming hunger that filled his mind.

    "The side effects are stronger too!" Chen Mu shook his head, "Fortunately, I have the Soul Locking Curse."

    "I can''t stay here any longer." Find more to read at empire

    At this moment, the vast Qingshan County was still shrouded in fog.

    A faint, chilly breath permeated the sky.

    Screams and the sounds of combat were intermittent.

    "The suppression has lifted, Qingshan County is once again covered by ghosts."

    An Autumn paper effigy emerged, rapidly transforming into a ghostly presence.

    Chen Mu was enveloped in black mist, and with a punch, he lifted about a foot off the ground.

    Then he thrust out his right leg, covered in Soul Strength, and fiercely kicked off the ground.

    Like a black bolt of lightning, he dashed straight towards the east of the city.

    "I must quickly break free from Cui Cui''s controlled area."

    ...

    The next day, on Bailang River.

    As the sun rose, Zheng Yuan felt a blur of light and shadow before his eyes and opened them, slightly dazed.

    The glaring sunlight made him squint and raise his hand to block the light.

    It took a good while for his vision to recover.

    The sound of rushing water reached his ears from nearby. Zheng Yuan turned his head to look and realized he was sleeping on a black-awning boat.

    "Isn''t this boat moving a bit too fast?" he thought.

    The scenery on both banks was speeding backward!

    "Now that you''re awake, come over and row!" Chen Mu, standing at the stern of the boat, said with no good humor.

    "Oh, Oh, Oh..." Zheng Yuan responded instinctively, quickly got up, and started rowing.

    The speed of the boat immediately slowed to half.

    Only then did Chen Mu have the chance to crawl under the black awning to rest.

    "They shouldn''t be able to catch up now."

    Last night, after leaving Qingshan County and rushing to the Bailang River''s mooring spot, he rowed away as soon as he got on the boat.

    With the enhancement of seven Shape Cultivation Techniques, his explosive power and endurance were off the charts; he rowed the black-awning boat as fast as a speedboat!

    Even Lin Que, the former White Tiger Hall''s front hall master, couldn''t row as fast as he did.

    "Such a geomantic treasure spot..." He had no desire to come back.

    ...

    On the spacious streets, dead bodies with faces full of terror lay everywhere.

    Patches of black bloodstains covered the streets.

    "What in the world happened here?" Zhang Ye and the other two were at a loss as they surveyed the scene.

    Last night, they had fled the cellar in panic but were scared back by the terrifying screams outside.

    Huddling in the tunnels, trembling with fear throughout the night, they dared to crawl out from underground only when it was bright outside and all had gone silent.

    "Boss... they''re all dead!" Zhen Fan''s face was pale, and he shook uncontrollably.

    The burly Kui Tuo was also terrified.

    Zhang Ye looked around the eerily quiet Qingshan County, so familiar yet now strangely alien, leaving him bewildered.

    In just one night, a large group of living people had bizarrely perished.

    As the sun shone brightly overhead, Zhang Ye couldn''t help feeling a chill all over.

    "An empty city, a ghost city, once again..."

    "What on earth happened to Qingshan County?" For a moment, Zhang Ye felt an inexplicable sorrow amid his fear.

    ...

    Outside the Jian''an Gate to the east of Nanyang Prefecture City,

    Chen Mu looked at the familiar city walls and felt as if he were in a different world.

    "Now that we are here, it''s time for us to part ways," Chen Mu said, turning to the three who were travel-worn.

    "Your vital energies have been greatly depleted on this trip north."

    "After you return, eat more tonic medicines."

    The Netherworld Thread remained within the three of them,

    but it was as if in slumber, lacking the frenzied growth it had shown in Qingshan County.

    "This is probably the normal state," Over the past month or so of traveling together, Chen Mu had observed their condition many times.

    The dormant Netherworld Thread was slow-growing, and it did help enhance their constitution.

    "As long as it isn''t extracted, it''s a blessing in disguise." However, the lifespan lost due to the extraction of their vital energy probably could not be restored.

    "Dawang, what plans do you have for the future?" Sun Enqi asked hesitantly after hemming and hawing for a while.

    Chen Mu looked at his nominal uncle and smiled. After such a long time of traveling together, his uncle must have noticed something. On the journey south, his behavior became increasingly cautious.

    Chen Mu gave a suggestion after pondering, "Find a place where no one knows you and live incognito."

    "After all, so many of us traveled north, and yet we are the few returning. The Shangguan family probably won''t let it go easily."

    "Everyone who went to Qingshan County... Are they really all dead?" Zheng Yuan asked with lingering fear.

    "Not sure, but the likelihood of survivors is low," Chen Mu shrugged.

    "Take care, everyone." Chen Mu smiled, then turned and walked through the city gate.

    His face and height changed with each step, and he soon vanished into the crowd.

    "I''m not seeing things, am I?" the scrawny logistics soldier Zheng Liu, pining for his wife, rubbed his eyes in confusion.

    Zheng Yuan and Sun Enqi exchanged a smile, "You saw it wrong."