Standing at the base of a tall tree, Han Yu looked at its distant crown.

"Let's see if this helps," he murmured.

He shifted his halberd onto his back, secured it with a strap, and began his ascent. His movements were steady and careful, each grip calculated. His hands and boots found purchase on the thick roots and protruding knots as he climbed higher and higher.

While Core Condensation realm cultivators could fly, it didn't mean that they could do it instinctively. It took a lot of practice and guidance to do it properly. Doing it improperly could lead to one falling from a great height, or worse... Entering a Qi deviation.

As such, all disciples were instructed to receive guidance from elders about flying before they attempted it on their own and were told to use their spirit weapons as an aid.

Flying with a Spirit weapon was different from flying with their own power. The Spirit weapon acted as an anchor or filter that could tune one's qi, making it easier to fly. Plus, flying on a stable platform was easier to grasp than flying without anything to ground you.

The Elders when teaching how to fly often compared flying on a spirit weapon to rowing a small kayak. One needed to maintain their balance, but once they got it, at least they won't drown. Getting tired just meant one needed to take a break.

But flying was like learning how to swim. If one got too tired or made a mistake, they could very well down. Besides, there was another reason Han Yu didn't choose to fly with his Halberd.

It simply consumed too much qi to fly. In a place like this, where danger was still unknown, Han Yu chose to reserve his qi stores.

When he finally broke through the mist and emerged near the upper branches, he paused, breathing heavily. The air was slightly clearer here, though still cool and damp.

He looked around.

From his elevated position, he could see little more than a vast sea of green and gray stretching endlessly in every direction. The forest continued beyond the horizon, shrouded in fog that seemed to swallow everything.

There were no mountains, no rivers, no visible ruins... nothing that could serve as a landmark.

He frowned deeply. "So much for that plan."

For a moment, he simply stood there, balancing on the thick branch and watching the pale sky above. The light filtering through the illusionary clouds had dimmed further, signaling that it was late in the day. Night would fall soon.

"It'll only get worse from here..." That realization made him uneasy.

The darkness in a normal forest could be managed. But in a place like this, where even the day felt wrong, night might bring something far worse.

He looked up at the sky again. The stars here were faintly visible through the mist, scattered like silver dust. He stared at them for a while, then chuckled dryly and smacked his forehead.

"Right, even if the stars are the same as outside, what good does that do me?" he muttered to himself. "I couldn't read the stars even if I wanted to."

Chitterfang let out a tiny squeak from within his robe, as if questioning his sanity for talking to himself.

Han Yu chuckled again, though his voice carried a weary edge. "Yeah, I know, I know. I'm no mariner or cartographer. I couldn't navigate with the stars if my life depended on it."

He sighed, leaning his back against the tree trunk. "Maybe some of the sect's scouts could. They always trained to use landmarks and astral positions to move across strange terrains. But me? I just swing my halberd, stir chaos, taste Lin Mei's random pills and read old books."

His tone was lightly self-mocking, though the weight in his voice betrayed his worry.

He looked down at the fog beneath him. "If I were a mortal sailor, I'd probably do better than this," he murmured. "They at least have to rely on the stars to find their way. We cultivators just use our Qi sense and fly if we get lost."

The irony wasn't lost on him. Here he was, a cultivator capable of manipulating Qi, rendered nearly helpless by a bit of mist and the absence of landmarks.

He sighed again, rubbing the back of his neck. "Alright, thinking about it won't help. I need to get moving before it gets darker."

With a final glance at the illusory sky, he climbed back down the massive tree. The descent was quicker, his movements precise and practiced. When his boots finally touched the damp earth again, the gloom felt even heavier than before.

The mist had grown thicker during the time he was above, swirling like a living thing between the trees. The faint traces of light were fading, replaced by a murky half-darkness that made the forest seem even more alien.

Han Yu adjusted his grip on his halberd and began walking again, every sense alert.

His pace was slower now, more deliberate. He no longer sought a direction, there was no point. Instead, he simply moved forward cautiously, marking trees with shallow arrow shaped cuts to avoid walking in circles.

Every few minutes, he would hear a faint rustle or whisper, but when he turned, there was nothing. Not even a ripple of Qi.

The deeper he went, the more oppressive the atmosphere became. His instincts told him that this place was not merely a forest but something else entirely, something that perhaps was never meant to be entered.

He brushed his hand over his robe absently, feeling Chitterfang's warmth inside. "Don't worry," he said softly. "We'll be fine."

Yet even as he said it, a faint chill crept down his spine.

Because somewhere in the darkness ahead, he thought he saw movement... something pale, shifting briefly through the mist before vanishing again.

Han Yu froze, heart pounding, and his hand tightened around his halberd.

The forest had finally made a sound.