Chapter 3 - The Mist Realm Appears.

“Master, why are you sealing the main hall's entrance? Many fellow disciples haven't returned yet!” Seeing the doors and windows completely sealed with a wave of Ouzi's hand, a disciple beside Ouzi couldn't help but ask.

“It's too late. The strange things have already spread throughout the entire mountain gate. If they haven't returned by now, given the cultivation of the disciples on this mountain, it's impossible for them to still be alive. If not for the formation's protection, this hall wouldn't be able to shelter us either.” Ouzi calmly responded to the disciples present, then turned his gaze towards the door: “From now on, any disciple outside is no longer human.”

As if to confirm his words, at that moment, the hall's door seemed to be violently struck, emitting an unsettling sound.

“Master!! Open the door! Master!! Don't lock us out!...” Along with the loud banging, the voices of former fellow disciples successively appeared from behind the hall's door.

“The door isn't locked at all. If you are truly human, you can naturally open it and walk in.” Ouzi merely replied calmly to these voices.

Upon hearing Ouzi's words, Xu Xuan then noticed that none of the hall's doors and windows were actually locked. A normal person could open them with just a push. But to Xu Xuan's surprise, the fellow disciples outside were just desperately banging on the door. And despite the door not being locked, they seemed unable to force it open.

Soon after, not only the door but also the windows began to experience violent banging sounds.

“Junior Brother Xu Xuan, Junior Brother Xu Xuan, open the window!! It's Chen Qing!! I'm not dead yet! Please help me, save me, those things are coming!! They're going to kill me! Really, I'm truly Chen Qing, remember when you borrowed money from me to buy wine? You don't owe me for the wine, just let me in!!”

Next to a window near Xu Xuan, a familiar voice rang out in Xu Xuan's ears.

“Damn it! Again!!” Hearing this voice, Xu Xuan subconsciously looked out the window, but he didn't approach it; instead, he instinctively took a step back.

There was nothing he could do; after all, he had already encountered similar strangeness when activating the formation. They had clearly mutated into monsters, yet their mouths were still speaking words from their former lives.

“If you're human, come in yourself.” Finally, Xu Xuan mimicked his master's tone and tossed a sentence towards the window. Xu Xuan was met with a brief silence, followed by even more violent banging.

“What exactly have we encountered, Master?” At this moment, a disciple beside Ouzi asked.

“Can't you tell? A Blood Moon hangs high, mist envelops everything. Ghosts and monsters are mutating. We've encountered the Mist Realm.”

“!!!”

The moment Ouzi uttered the words “Mist Realm,” everyone present was plunged into shock. After all, almost everyone, when descending the mountain to eliminate demons, would be warned by the sect members to immediately stay away if they encountered the Mist Realm or saw an area shrouded in mist that lingered for a long time.

“Master! Didn't the Mist Realm only move fifty years ago? Why would it suddenly move here?!” Hearing Ouzi's words, the leading disciple couldn't help but ask.

Hearing this answer, Xu Xuan's heart also trembled!! After all, he had heard about the Mist Realm since childhood.

Legend has it that the Mist Realm is a world shrouded in mist. Once one enters it, it's like stepping into another bizarre and kaleidoscopic world! It is filled with powerful Demon-Ghosts. Many years ago, Qi Practitioners from the common folk, along with numerous masters, repeatedly entered the Mist Realm, attempting to destroy the strange entities within it. They wanted to make the Mist Realm disappear completely, but ultimately, almost all of them returned without success, and moreover, they all seemed to have paid a considerable price.

What's more terrifying is that almost every place the Mist Realm passes through eventually transforms into something eerily transcendent; areas once covered by the Mist Realm often give birth to powerful Demon-Ghosts.

Fortunately, the Mist Realm usually only moves once every few centuries. It is said that the last time it moved was decades ago, when the last co-ruler of Great Zhou died, and all of Huaxia once again fragmented.

This was one of the reasons for everyone's shock; after all, no one had expected the Mist Realm to move again after only a few decades, and even more coincidentally, this time it had moved right over their heads...

“Human hearts are corrupted. In this chaotic world, what strange things can't one encounter?” Ouzi still maintained his calm expression: “However, since we've encountered the Mist Realm, it seems your Martial Uncle Yezi and those disciples who went down the mountain didn't die in vain.”

Just as Ouzi's voice fell, a flash of green light streaked across the doorway and outside the windows.

And with the flash of green light, Xu Xuan and the others finally saw the shadows of the disciples banging on the door outside. They were a group of headless figures. The headless figures flashed past. The next moment, the area outside the door became completely silent.

“That light... it's Longyuan. It seems the eight divine swords protecting the mountain have begun to slay demons and eradicate evil. It's good that I didn't have to go out and face these creatures of the Mist Realm myself.” Ouzi said, drawing the long sword from his back.

“Master, we'll go out with you to slay demons and eradicate evil!!” At this moment, several disciples stepped forward and said.

“You stay. If you go out, you'll only be a hindrance.” Ouzi merely glanced at the disciples present, then turned and walked towards the continuously burning censer placed in the main hall.

It was at this moment that a thunderous crash seemed to erupt overhead. The entire hall began to shake.

Most of the previously tightly shut doors and windows in the room were directly forced open by this impact. Read at Novels Haven (novelshaven.com)

It was then that Xu Xuan truly saw the scene outside. Through the window, Xu Xuan could clearly see a blood-red light piercing through the mist. That should have been the moonlight, and at this moment, everyone noticed with horror that within the mist outside the window, numerous grotesque, male-shaped black shadows writhed continuously around the periphery of the hall. They seemed to want to enter the hall, but upon contact with the hall's interior light, they all stopped. It was as if the hall's light possessed the power to destroy them.

And behind those twisted monsters, in the depths of the mist, Xu Xuan saw a sight he would never forget. It was the shadow of a colossal humanoid creature, at least a thousand meters tall.

Although humanoid, it was clear that where its head should be, the shadow appeared as if two hands were holding something aloft.

And elsewhere outside the window, Xu Xuan saw a gigantic shadow resembling a two-headed flying dragon. However, the dragon's second head was located at its tail. And judging by the contours of the dragon's two heads, they looked more like two human heads no matter how one looked at them.

At this moment, several beams of light surrounded that monster; those lights were undoubtedly the divine swords protecting the mountain.

And as Ouzi bowed towards the great censer in the center of the hall, everyone noticed that one arm of the colossal humanoid shadow, as tall as a mountain in the distance, lifted. Then, to everyone's horrified gaze, the massive shadow slammed down towards the hall.

In an instant, the black shadow almost enveloped the entire hall.

A thunderous crash once again resounded above everyone's heads. This time, cracks appeared on the pillars supporting the hall, and large areas of roof tiles fell from above.

It was then that Xu Xuan truly understood how powerful their Sword Hall's mountain-guarding formation was. Facing an attack from a palm that resembled a small mountain slamming down, the hall withstood two blows without collapsing.

However, this was clearly not the time to ponder such things. Xu Xuan and the other disciples almost simultaneously turned their gaze to Ouzi, who was bowing towards the censer. Despite the recent tremors, Ouzi showed no reaction.

“Later generations of Sword Hall disciples, I summon the Sword Ancestor to emerge!!!” As Ouzi's voice fell, right before everyone's eyes, the long sword, constantly being tempered in the great censer, began to emit a faint red glow.

As the light emanated, a soaring aura began to spread outwards from the hall's center, even dispersing much of the mist around the hall. The monsters within the mist retreated one by one as the mist dissipated.

Until they fled back into the mist.

As for the people inside the hall, they felt a terrifying aura and an uncomfortable, chilling sensation, as if of killing intent.

In fact, this feeling was precisely the legendary 'Sha Qi' (Malevolent Qi).

The traces of time on the long sword in the censer were slowly fading, replaced by a feeling of rebirth. Even two ancient symbols finally appeared on the sword's body.

Coincidentally, the meaning represented by these two symbols had been passed down to this era. Xu Xuan had also happened to see them in bamboo slips.

‘Chiyou!’

Indeed, the symbols on the sword represented Chiyou, the ancient God of War of Huaxia.

It was at this moment that the mountain-like shadow was preparing to bring its hand down once more. However, this time, before its hand could descend, it was severed by a blood-red sword light...

Immediately after, a blood-red light struck the monster's chest before everyone's eyes. The terrifying, mountain-like monster fell straight backward. It was at this moment that Ouzi stood up, wielding the long sword in his hand, and charged out of the hall. However, as he left the hall, he waved his hand once more, and the hall's doors and windows were firmly shut again.

“Everyone, guard the hall! Wait for my return.” With Ouzi's final words, he too vanished into the mist.

Ultimately, only the many disciples in the room remained, nervously facing the surrounding doors and windows. Simultaneously, the long swords in everyone's hands were drawn one after another. Only Xu Xuan held a broken sword.

Looking at the broken sword in his hand, Xu Xuan felt for the first time that time was passing incredibly slowly.

The atmosphere in the hall was particularly oppressive at this moment. After all, outside were hordes of monsters. No one knew when, but the sounds of knocking and banging on the doors and windows once again echoed in everyone's ears.

Among them were even curses directed at specific individuals.

“Hahaha! You're finished!! Your master is dead!!”

“Run! If you fight your way out, maybe you'll have a chance to live.”

“Yes, yes! Alright, your master isn't dead. Actually, your master has abandoned you and run down the mountain alone.”

“How about this: you kill each other! We promise, we absolutely won't harm the last one of you who survives.” Read at Novels Haven (novelshaven.com)

...

Such words, designed to disturb their minds and impossible to discern as true or false, continuously drifted in from outside.