The transition from the corrupted grove to the Valley of the Blind was marked by a sudden, jarring absence of color. The thick, green mist of the Southern Weald didn't dissipate; it turned into a heavy, monochromatic fog that seemed to swallow light itself. As the squad crossed the threshold of the valley's jagged entrance, the world became a blur of charcoal greys and bone whites.
"My Divine Sense is being suppressed," Xue Lianhua whispered, her hand tightening on the hilt of her frost-sword. "It's like trying to see through a wall of cold lead."
"I can't even see five paces ahead," Shen Yuanxing growled. He flicked his fingers, attempting to ignite a ball of golden Solar Qi to illuminate the path, but the light was smothered instantly by the fog, flickering out like a damp match. "The atmosphere is eating my energy."
Mu Ruxin gripped her sensing-compass, but the needle wasn't just spinning—it was vibrating so violently that the glass casing cracked. "The 'Silent Rot' is concentrated here. It's creating a sensory-deprivation field. If we lose sight of each other, we're finished."
Lin Qingyu lingered at the back, his hands tucked into his sleeves. He didn't look bothered. While the others were frantically trying to push their Qi outward to "see," Lin was doing the exact opposite. He pulled his awareness inward, focusing on the soles of his feet and the subtle shifts in air pressure against his skin. To him, the valley wasn't "blind"—it was a map of vibrations.
[Emotional Stability System]
Zone Hazard: The Valley of the Blind.
Effect: 90% Sensory Suppression (Sight, Sound, Divine Sense).
Enemy Detected: The Rot-Stalker (Entity Type: Stealth-Hunter).
System Note: The Rot-Stalker feeds on 'Active Qi.' Shen Yuanxing's golden light and Xue Lianhua's frost-aura are like beacons in the dark.
Advice: You are currently the 'invisible' one because your Qi is so balanced it blends into the background noise of the forest. However, the Stalker is currently hovering three meters above Mu Ruxin's head.
Noted, Lin thought. Time for a 'clumsy' intervention.
The squad moved in a tight diamond formation. Shen at the front, Xue at the rear, Mu Ruxin in the middle, and Lin trailing just behind her. The silence was absolute—even the sound of their own footsteps was muffled by the oppressive fog.
Suddenly, Lin felt a shift in the air. A cold, oily draft was descending from the canopy of a dead willow tree.
"Is it just me, or is it getting really cold?" Lin asked, his voice intentionally shaky. "Like... 'ghost-breathing-on-your-neck' cold?"
"Quiet, Lin," Shen hissed. "Don't break our concentration. I think I hear something to the left."
Shen turned his focus toward the left, his golden Qi humming as he prepared a strike. Xue Lianhua turned toward the right, her eyes scanning the fog for movement. They were both looking at the horizontal plane, expecting a demonic beast to leap from the mist.
They weren't looking up.
The Rot-Stalker—a spindly, multi-limbed horror made of twisted shadows and calcified bone—began to lower itself. It moved without a sound, its long, needle-like talons inches away from Mu Ruxin's shoulder. It didn't have eyes; it had pits in its skull that tracked the "Qi heat" of its prey.
"Oh! A butterfly!" Lin shouted.
He lunged forward, "tripping" over a protruding root. As he fell, his heavy backpack slammed into Mu Ruxin's hip, knocking her roughly to the side.
"Lin! What are you—!" Mu Ruxin started to complain, but her words were cut short.
SHING!
The Rot-Stalker's talons slammed into the exact spot where Mu Ruxin had been standing a split second before. The impact was so powerful it cracked the stone beneath the fog.
"CONTACT!" Shen roared.
He spun around, his sword erupting in a burst of Solar Qi. But the light only illuminated a flicker of shadow as the Rot-Stalker vanished back into the grey mist. The creature was too fast for their suppressed senses. It was using the fog as a cloak, darting in and out of their range.
"It's hunting by our Qi!" Xue Lianhua realized, her breath hitching. "Every time we flare our energy to find it, it knows exactly where we are!"
"Then how do we fight it?" Shen asked, his sword trembling. "We can't see it, we can't hear it, and if we use our Divine Sense, we're just ringing a dinner bell!"
Lin Qingyu was currently lying facedown in the dirt. He didn't get up immediately. He stayed low, his cheek pressed against the damp earth. He could feel the Rot-Stalker's movement through the vibrations in the soil. It was circling them, its many legs tapping the ground in a rhythmic, predatory code.
It's coming from the twelve o'clock position in three... two... one...
"I think I'm going to be sick!" Lin wailed.
He scrambled to his feet, "staggering" backward in a blind panic. As he did, he "accidentally" kicked his water flask—the one he had complained about earlier. But this time, the flask wasn't filled with water. He had filled it with the volatile "Fire-Spore Essence" he had salvaged from the previous node.
The flask flew into the fog, directly toward the approaching vibration.
"Lin, stay down!" Xue shouted, lunging to grab him.
At the same time, Lin "panicked" and threw his arms out, his fingers brushing against a jagged rock. He pulsed a tiny, concentrated spark of "Friction Qi" into the stone as it flew.
CRACK-BOOM!
The rock struck the flask mid-air, just as the Rot-Stalker leaped from the mist. The resulting explosion wasn't grand, but it was incredibly bright and filled the air with pungent, irritating smoke.
The Rot-Stalker let out a screech that sounded like metal scraping against glass. The explosion had blinded its heat-sensing pits and coated its sensory hairs in stinging soot.
"NOW!" Lin yelled, dropping his "panicked" persona for a fraction of a second. "SHEN, TWELVE O'CLOCK! XUE, ABOVE!"
The command was so sharp, so authoritative, that the two geniuses didn't even hesitate to think.
Shen Yuanxing lunged forward, his sword-light cutting through the smoke like a golden scythe. He felt his blade sink into something leathery and cold.
Above him, Xue Lianhua performed a mid-air twist, her frost-aura condensing into a spear of solid ice. She drove it downward, pinning the thrashing Stalker to the ground.
The creature shrieked one last time before dissolving into a pool of black, bubbling sludge.
Silence returned to the Valley of the Blind. The thick fog seemed to pull back slightly, as if the death of the Stalker had weakened the local array.
Shen Yuanxing stood over the dissolving remains, his chest heaving. He looked at his sword, then at Xue Lianhua, then finally at Lin Qingyu.
Lin was currently sitting on the ground, clutching his knees and "shaking."
"Lin," Shen said, his voice dropping to a low, intense whisper. "How did you know? You called the positions before the smoke even cleared."
"I... I just heard the screaming!" Lin stammered, his eyes wide with feigned terror. "I was just throwing stuff! I thought if I made enough noise, it would go away! Did we kill it? Is it dead? Please tell me it's dead."
Mu Ruxin walked over, helping Lin up. She was looking at him with a strange expression—a mix of her usual motherly concern and a new, sharp curiosity. "You threw the flask at exactly the right time, Qingyu. And you told them exactly where to strike."
"I was just pointing where the scary noise was!" Lin insisted. "I'm an 'All-Rounder,' remember? My hearing is... uh... very balanced? I think the adrenaline made my ears work better."
Xue Lianhua didn't say a word. She walked to the spot where Lin's rock had struck the flask. She looked at the debris. She knew that hitting a flying flask with a rock in total darkness was a feat of high-level kinetic calculation. She also knew that the rock had to have a "trigger" to ignite the essence.
She turned to look at Lin. He was currently dusting off his robes, looking like a man who had just survived a fall down a flight of stairs.
"You're remarkably lucky, Disciple Lin," Xue said, her voice like ice. "To survive the Ten Deaths with a 'potato soul,' and now to survive a Rot-Stalker with 'lucky rocks.' The heavens must really love you."
"I hope so," Lin said, giving her a nervous grin. "I'd hate to think I'm doing this all on my own."
[Emotional Stability System]
Mission Status: The Valley of the Blind cleared.
Squad Casualties: Zero.
Detection Level: Critical.
System Note: Xue Lianhua is no longer 'suspicious.' She is now 'convinced' that you are a hidden variable. Shen Yuanxing is starting to rely on your 'accidents' as tactical cues.
Warning: The next node is the 'Heart of the Weald.' There is a Soul Transformation level seal there. If you try to 'accidentally' break a seal of that level, you might as well just announce your identity to the entire sect.
The squad continued their trek, but the atmosphere had shifted. Shen Yuanxing no longer ignored Lin; in fact, he stayed slightly closer to him, his sword-hand ready. Mu Ruxin kept her compass tucked away, preferring to watch Lin's feet for where to step.
Lin Qingyu walked in the center of the group, his "average" face a mask of weary resignation. He knew the "Heart of the Weald" was the final objective of this expedition. In the original novel, this was where the Hero was supposed to find a "Heavenly Grade" herb that boosted his cultivation to Level 7.
But Lin could feel it. The "Silent Rot" at the heart of the forest wasn't a natural occurrence. It was a ritual site.
The Evil Sects aren't just refining marrow here, Lin thought. They're trying to open a gate. If I let Shen take that herb, he'll trigger the alarm. But if I don't let him take it, he won't be strong enough for the next arc.
"Senior Sister," Lin said, his voice dropping the "panicked" act and becoming unusually quiet. "Do you smell that? It smells like... burnt honey."
Xue Lianhua stopped. She sniffed the air. "I don't smell anything but rot."
"Exactly," Lin said, pointing toward a massive, gnarled tree at the end of the valley that was dripping with a golden, glowing sap. "It's too sweet. Like a trap."
Shen Yuanxing looked at the tree, his eyes widening. "That's... that's a 'Spirit-Gilding Willow.' The sap is a legendary cultivation resource! If I can get just a flask of that, I could reach Level 7 tonight!"
"Shen, wait!" Mu Ruxin cried, but the hero was already moving, his golden Qi flaring with excitement.
Lin Qingyu watched him go. Go on then, hero, he thought. But I hope you like surprises.
He looked at his own hands, his Qi circulating in its "balanced" rhythm. He knew that in the next few minutes, he would have to do something much more difficult than throwing a rock. He would have to save a hero who didn't know he was being used as a key.
"Ruxin," Lin said, his voice a whisper. "Get your defensive scrolls ready. The
'sweet' part is about to end."
The expedition was reaching its climax.