Surprises never lasted long. After witnessing Xiao Qing's power, Yu Zi Yu shifted his attention back to the matters that truly concerned him.
"Shroud of Mist."
With a low murmur, he activated his Unique Ability.
Fuuuuu—Like smoke rising from an ancient furnace, thick mist billowed from the towering Willow Tree's body. From afar, it looked as if a natural sauna had sprung to life in the canyon.
There was a vast difference between instinctively releasing the mist and actively controlling it. Now, under Yu Zi Yu's will, the fog spread at an astonishing speed. Within half a day, more than half the canyon was already submerged in the hazy veil.
The canyon wasn't large, which saved him considerable time.
"First I'll blanket the canyon… then expand outward from here, pushing the fog deep into the mountains."
Having settled on a plan, Yu Zi Yu concentrated fully. This was a matter of life and death—there was no room for carelessness.
Even though the mist's control wasn't extremely precise, he could still guide its general movement. And more importantly, the fog was connected to him. Anything large enough to move through it would send ripples through his senses.
For instance, he could feel that the Honey Badger had already dug a four-meter-deep pit in its attempt to escape the tree-root cage.Unfortunately for it, Yu Zi Yu's roots grew denser the deeper they went.
"If I can tame that fellow… its resilience alone would make it a terrifying companion," Yu Zi Yu mused.
These creatures could no longer be seen as ordinary animals.The Golden Monkey swinging on his branches, for example, already possessed the intelligence of a 7–8-year-old child—and it grew smarter by the day.
In the future, it wouldn't be strange if extraordinary talents rose among mutated beasts and plants.
Just like him—a Willow Tree evolving into… something far beyond nature.
Yu Zi Yu chuckled internally, already imagining the expressions humans would make the day they discovered him.A sentient Willow Tree rivaling human intelligence… the thought alone was terrifying.
But what unsettled him the most was the unknown.
"The scariest thing is not danger—it's uncertainty. Am I evolving into something even I don't understand?"
To push away that thought, he decided to invest his Evolution Points.
His mist needed to spread much faster.
Yu Zi Yu's focus locked onto the rapidly thickening fog.
Shroud of Mist (Level 2) – Release a dense fog capable of covering dozens, even hundreds of kilometers. Visibility is reduced to 4–5 meters. Wind cannot disperse this Spiritual Energy mist.
Yu Zi Yu froze.
This ability was insane.
If unleashed in a city, it could paralyze everything.A visibility of less than five meters meant constant collisions, panic, and chaos.
The mist wasn't offensively powerful…But its passive threat was overwhelming.
More importantly, it could envelop a hundred kilometers.
And the wind couldn't disperse it.
A sense of security bloomed in him.No one could easily clear what he created.
"Haa…" Yu Zi Yu exhaled, excitement rising within him.
He could already glimpse a possibility—
The Kingdom of Mist.
A forbidden land drowned in fog, where vision failed, where senses dulled, and where ferocious mutant beasts roamed unseen. A place humans would fear long before they entered.
"With Shroud of Mist combined with Hallucinogen… a Kingdom of Mist isn't a dream anymore."
Already, the canyon lay buried beneath rolling layers of fog. A massive shadowy tree loomed inside it, its faint silhouette appearing like a monstrous titan prepared to swallow all things.
The beasts around him had grown uneasy.Wolves howled. Cranes screeched.Even apex predators trembled beneath the suffocating atmosphere.
"Adapt. You must adapt quickly." Yu Zi Yu murmured.
He wouldn't help them. He wouldn't weaken the fog.
This was an era of rapid evolution.
These creatures would adapt—they had to. Sooner or later, they would evolve to thrive in the mist.
And when that happened… the fog would become the perfect natural barrier, and the beasts living within it would transform into the most terrifying hunters in the Kingdom of Mist.
Predators worthy of the throne atop the food chain.