The Blade's Edge moved at extreme speed.
They had already covered half of the intended journey, which was nearly a hundred kilometers.
And this had taken less than two hours.
As for when “the dying” would take their final breath, although Blackbeard had given a rough estimate, his accuracy wasn't high.
An elderly person who appeared somewhat resilient on the surface might keel over and pass away in the very next second.
This was why hunters entering the Wall of Sighs would bid for at least two guides.
If one were to die unexpectedly early, the other could still lead them out of this desperate situation.
Because of this, they were putting everything they had into sprinting through the mist.
Time was precious enough to be calculated in minutes and seconds.
Though they were fast enough, Theia—who had long ago lost her sense of speed due to Lin Gui's antics—gradually began to feel bored at this relatively sluggish pace.
Lin Gui was up front, still staring at the two old men, completely enthralled.
With that focus and the excitement stirred by his curiosity, anyone who didn't know better would have thought he was looking at some peerless beauty.
Behind him, Eve was also acting strangely. Her eyes were slightly downcast, and she looked preoccupied.
Theia didn't want to disturb her.
Under normal circumstances, all sorts of strange whispers should have been echoing in her mind by now.
Those were auditory hallucinations caused by the mental erosion after inhaling the mist.
Even the “Iron Will” potion couldn't completely block it.
Theia had actually been quite curious about what that experience would be like.
But with a single Clarity spell from Lin Gui, let alone auditory hallucinations, her mind was so clear right now that it felt completely washed, formatted, and transparently clean.
It felt as if her skull had been pried open.
Out of boredom, Theia reached out and tapped Lin Gui on the shoulder.
“Lin Gui, grab that novel in my wooden box for me, would you?”
“I want the one called... 《The Domineering Magic Dragon's Sweet Little Wife》.”
Lin Gui didn't even turn his head, merely waving a hand backward casually.
The small wooden box in the corner of the flying vessel let out a soft click.
The lid automatically lifted slightly, and a book with a pink cover and slightly curled corners floated out from between the clothes and miscellaneous items.
It glided gracefully through the air, landing steadily in Theia's already open palm.
《The Domineering Magic Dragon's Sweet Little Wife》 was a novel Theia had been reading lately.
The plot wasn't complicated.
A domineering magic dragon at the pinnacle of the dragon race was bored to death on a daily basis.
It saw other dragons constantly going to human kingdoms to kidnap princesses, after which the humans would send heroes to defeat them, putting on a grand show.
The heroes would win and take the princesses back, and the dragons would gain bragging rights. Over their long lives, this had become a popular “recreational project” among the dragon race.
The domineering magic dragon felt it should try it too, otherwise it would seem out of date.
So, it also went to a human kingdom and kidnapped a princess at random.
But that princess seemed to have been secretly drugged by someone. Within the dragon's lair, the two unexpectedly mated.
Afterward, the princess discovered she was pregnant and, feeling humiliated, intended to end her own life.
The magic dragon, however, acted against its nature and began to treat her in various forceful yet clumsy ways.
A story of entanglement where there was a child before there was love thus unfolded.
In truth, Theia wasn't particularly interested in this kind of plot device.
She preferred romances between strong, brave girls and gentle, introverted men.
Yet for some reason, this novel had firmly caught her eye.
Likely because... she vaguely saw herself in it.
The magic dragon loved the princess deeply, but the princess eventually left because of racial differences and her own mission.
Before long, she might experience something similar.
Except she was not the princess forced to leave. She was the magic dragon watching the loved one depart... As for the princess, naturally, that was the “heartbreaker” who would one day go their separate ways.
She gently flipped through the pages.
When she reached the passage where the magic dragon persistently tried to win the princess back with the young dragon, Theia's eyes shifted, her gaze quietly lifting from the page.
Ultimately, it settled on Lin Gui's oblivious back ahead of her.
Complex and obscure emotions swirled in her emerald eyes.
There was the gloom of the inevitable future separation. There was the stubbornness of the dragon in the book that refused to let go. And deeper still, there was a small determination that she herself hadn't quite clarified yet.
Her gaze lingered on his back for a long time.
Then, she lightly curled her lip and gave a mischievous smile.
“A mere rookie High Rank little mage.”
“Thinking of running? It won't be that easy...”
Contrasting sharply with the “peaceful” atmosphere on the flying vessel, the four members of Blade's Edge within the thick fog were already pale-faced.
Cold sweat continuously seeped from their brows, sliding down into their collars.
Even their breathing had grown heavy with suppressed fear.
Ryan, the leader, had considered turning back more than once.
The other members also showed terror in their eyes, only able to grit their teeth and try to use the exhaustion and sweat of frantic running to cover the growing sense of wrongness in their hearts.
That was... there were no sighs.
As veterans who had struggled in this forbidden zone for years, Ryan and the others had never encountered this situation.
During his first deep foray, if he hadn't heard that spine-chilling sound for a moment, he would have counted himself lucky for picking a “clean” route or for the guide happening to repel nearby demons.
But now... it had been two full hours and over fifty kilometers!
Aside from the sound of wind and footsteps, there was only dead silence.
Those omnipresent sighs and hisses that usually felt as if they were pressed against one's ear hadn't sounded once.
This completely overturned all of Ryan's experience.
“The dying” could not possibly have such a massive deterrent range.
They were like a tiny flicker of fire in the dark, only able to illuminate a few steps around them and repel threats that were close by.
There was no way they could make the “darkness” of the entire region retreat completely.
This feeling, this terrifying silence, made it seem as if they were being followed by an incredibly dreadful devil, causing all the gruesome spectral demons that had torn apart countless bounty hunters to back away.
“...What is going on?” the scout carrying the guide asked in a dry, trembling voice.
If it weren't for the messy auditory hallucinations appearing in his mind due to inhaling the mist, he would have thought he was already lost in this fog and that everything he was doing was just his life flashing before his eyes.
He couldn't help but look back repeatedly, as if something were silently following behind them.
But in the thick mist, nothing could be seen.
This unknown, total “quiet” was more hair-raising than facing a demon directly.
Ryan gripped his weapon tightly, his knuckles white.
Above, sensing the extreme unease of Ryan and the others below, Lin Gui was very confused.
He scanned the surroundings carefully with his Eyes of the Netherworld again.
In the grayish-white mist, there were only a few scattered, extremely faint blue glows lingering in the far distance, which then...
Sensing “the dying” carried by Ryan approaching, they sped far away with a whoosh.
Other than that, within his field of vision, there were indeed no signs of any spectral demon activity.
Lin Gui couldn't help but mumble in bewilderment: “There's nothing there.”
“What on earth are they afraid of?”
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