“Second brother, there’s a saying: when something seems out of the ordinary, there’s likely something strange going on,” Huang Quan said. “This place is the same.”
“No matter how you look at it, this environment shouldn’t exist, yet it does,” Huang Quan continued. “Considering what Jing Chen just said, there may be something here.”
“Something?”
“Yes,” Huang Quan nodded. “It could be something, or it could be a beast.”
But whether it’s a beast or something else, it must be connected to Jing Chen.
Only this way can it explain why Jing Chen is always brought along whenever they search.
“Jing Chen, has your father searched here several times and found nothing?”
“No,” Jing Chen replied.
“Then why don’t we search for it ourselves?” Chu Lang suggested. “After all, we’re here for training, and searching for something in this place counts as part of our training.”
“Yes,” Huang Quan agreed. “We don’t know what that thing is or if it’s dangerous, so everyone stay together and search together.”
“Got it.”
“Good.” The group responded.
…
In Jing Xue Palace.
The teacher looked at the young man sitting across from him and sighed, “You’re really the same as always.”
“Twenty years ago, you looked just like this, and now you’re still the same,” the teacher continued. “Jing Lin, have you found some secret method to slow down aging?”
“If you have one, don’t keep it to yourself, tell me,” the teacher added. “I’d like to try saving my own face.”
After hearing the teacher’s words, the man named Jing Lin smiled slightly. “I don’t have any secrets. Maybe it’s just that I age slowly.”
“Tsk…” the teacher said. “That’s a real blow to the ego.”
Jing Lin smiled again, then said, “Thanks for your help this time.”
“You don’t need to be so polite,” the teacher replied. “Even if you didn’t come to the Xuanling Empire, I’d have gone somewhere else. But I don’t understand, why did you suggest they come to the Snowfield?”
“The Snowfield is considered a dangerous place,” Jing Lin said with a gentle smile, his tone calm. “Xiao Chen has been very curious about a certain area of the Snowfield because I once took him there multiple times.”
“When I took him there, it was to search for something. But it seemed fate wasn’t on my side, and we never found it. So when I heard you were taking your students for training, I decided to contact you,” Jing Lin continued. “Xiao Chen is curious about that place, and he will definitely lead them there.”
“Among those people, there might be someone fated to find that thing.”
“Fated person?” The teacher asked, puzzled. “Who?”
Jing Lin smiled but did not speak.
Xiao Chen wouldn’t keep anything from him, and Xiao Chen had told him about Huang Quan seeing a dragon before.
Because of this, he suggested to his old friend that they take the students to the Northern Snowfield for training. Maybe Huang Quan would be the one to find what they were searching for…
—
“Ah!”
A scream of pure terror suddenly echoed through the air. Upon hearing the sound, Huang Quan and the others were startled. The closest person, Nangong Yan, immediately moved and appeared next to Qing Le, who had let out the scream.
“Help!”
Before Nangong Yan could ask what had happened, Qing Le saw him and immediately hid behind him.
As soon as she moved, Nangong Yan saw what had caused her to scream.
It was a bug—pitch black, with many legs, densely packed, making it extremely uncomfortable to look at.
But it wasn’t just the bug that caused Qing Le to scream. What terrified her was that on the bug’s forehead was an eye that looked strikingly human…
As Nangong Yan looked at the bug, its eye also stared back at him, blinking like a human’s.
385
The scene was incredibly eerie.
No wonder Qing Le, a woman, screamed in fear. Even Nangong Yan, upon seeing it, felt uneasy.
“Shit!”
Chao Lang walked over, and upon seeing the bug, immediately took two steps back in shock. “What the hell is that thing?”
As the young master of the Danlou clan, who had seen many strange things, he had never encountered anything so bizarre. His face turned pale in shock.
Jing Chen and Feng Jiuyuan had come with Chao Lang, and while they didn’t step back, both frowned at the sight of the bug on the ground.
Jing Chen gazed at the insect and frowned. “This is not right.”
Feng Jiuyuan asked, “What do you mean?”
Jing Chen explained, “I’ve been here several times with my father. We usually encounter some beasts down here, but we’ve never come across a bug like this.”
“One time would be normal, but we didn’t encounter anything like this in the past. Now, suddenly we do. Something doesn’t feel right.”
“It’s definitely not normal,” Huang Quan said, looking at the bug on the ground with indifference. “How could something like this appear in this place?”
Upon hearing Huang Quan, Jing Chen asked, “Huang Quan, do you recognize this bug?”
Huang Quan nodded. “Yes.”
“It’s called ‘Mokong.’ It’s also known as the ‘Ghost Bug.'”
“Ghost Bug?”
“Yes.” Huang Quan nodded again. “There’s a legend. It says that when a person dies with immense resentment, their soul refuses to rest and usually turns into a vengeful ghost. But not everyone with strong resentment turns into a vengeful ghost after death.”
“Especially for the elderly,” Huang Quan continued. “When old people pass away from old age or frailty, no matter how strong their resentment, they can hardly become vengeful ghosts. In such cases, their soul attaches itself to a bug, causing it to grow human-like eyes.”
“This way, the bug can exact revenge on those who caused their death.”
The five of them were silent after hearing Huang Quan’s explanation.
This was the first time they had encountered such a bug in all their years.
“Huang Quan, its eyes really are…”
“No,” Huang Quan interrupted. “The Mokong is a type of insect that specializes in weaving illusions. However, the environment it appears in is quite unique.”
“What do you mean?”
“Rare treasures.”
Huang Quan explained, “The Mokong is skilled at creating illusions, but the illusions they weave are usually meant to alter the surrounding environment, not to affect people directly.”
“This is their special ability, and it’s not easily detectable. The Mokong creates illusions mainly to conceal rare treasures.”
“They are guarding something.”
“Wait!”
Chao Lang grasped the key point and looked at Huang Quan. “You said ‘they’?”
“It’s not just this one?”
Huang Quan looked back at him. “The Mokong’s eyes can create illusions, but they use their illusions to alter the surroundings. To create such a massive illusion, one bug alone wouldn’t be enough.”
“At least a few dozen are needed.”
Before Chao Lang could respond, Huang Quan continued, “Based on the scene below, there must be at least a hundred.”
Chao Lang: “……”
He probably shouldn’t have said he’d rather be in a more dangerous place than up there.
Unlike Chao Lang, Feng Jiuyuan was quite intrigued by Huang Quan’s mention of the rare treasure. “To have so many illusion-weaving bugs guarding something must mean that treasure is extremely special.”
“Huang Quan, let’s go see.”
Jing Chen spoke up. “I’ll go too.”
He had thought of something.
When he came here with his father in the past, he had never seen any of these bugs. Could it be that they had been inside the Mokong’s illusion back then?
