Chapter 131: Enemies? What Enemies, Your Eyes Must Be Playing Tricks on You

“Where did this white fog come from?”

Right after the gate of Gui City was broken, a large amount of white fog suddenly surged out from behind the Min City Army. This puzzled many officers of the Min City Army.

But at that time, it was not the moment to dwell on these matters. After all, the city gate was breached, and entering the city was the priority. The white fog was not a big deal—could it possibly eat them?

Actually, it could.

Chen Xiyi walked through the mist. One by one, the charging soldiers abruptly collapsed around him.

There were no wounds on their bodies. It was as if they were robots that had lost power; they just fell to the ground with a thud.

Chen Xiyi watched this scene without any particular feeling. Instead, he felt a bit of pity.

“It’s a pity the Yang Qi enhancement came too late. If it had been a bit earlier, these corpses wouldn’t have gone to waste.”

The moment their souls were pulled out, they naturally died.

Chen Xiyi felt his Primordial Spirit grow stronger with sufficient Nourishment Resources. This sensation not only boosted his Primordial Spirit but also made his thoughts more active as his Primordial Spirit strengthened.

“But it doesn’t seem too late now.”

Within the mist, faint, illusory human figures appeared. These were the ghost spirit puppets, similar to the Chang Ghosts that served tigers.

As the mist churned, one ghost spirit puppet after another was spat out.

These ghost spirit puppets dragged the fallen bodies. The bodies melted like wax meeting fire, turning into eerie forms that were collected and then dissolved into the mist.

This made the originally illusory ghost spirit puppets become more solid.

If the initial ghost spirit puppets were constructs based on Yin Qi, now they were a blend of Yin and Yang, resembling a combination of Ghost Creatures and Jiangshi.

“Is this the ability of the ‘number’ among the Six Arts?”

Chen Xiyi watched the figures that were both mist-like and semi-illusory, semi-solid. The feeling of controlling them as easily as moving his own arm gave him great maneuverability.

The large-scale fog cover alerted the officers of the Min City Army, because wherever the white fog covered, none of the soldiers came out.

It was obvious there was a problem; no one would foolishly insist on testing it out.

What was more frightening was that the mist seemed to surge forward with a consciousness of its own.

“Close the city gate! Block the white fog! Hurry!”

But as soon as the order was shouted, it became awkward—they had blown the gate to pieces with cannons to enter the city.

“There’s something in the fog!” Someone shouted, and everyone noticed that hands sometimes reached out from the mist chasing the soldiers. Caught off guard, soldiers were pulled into the fog, and then there was no afterwards.

The soldiers pulled into the fog never reappeared.

And with that shout, more hands reached out. Those with better luck managed to escape, while the unlucky ones were directly dragged in.

Fear began to spread instantly. None of the soldiers wanted to be pulled into that eerie mist.

Some turned and ran in fear, while others faced their fear and fired into the mist.

But the bullets flew into the fog and vanished without a trace. By the time the fog drew near, they turned sharply, but by then it was too late.

The white fog visibly advanced toward Gui City. Large numbers of Min City Army soldiers desperately tried to rush into the city to escape; their original intent to kill had long disappeared.

But before they could enter, all the Min City Army soldiers began circling at the city gate, causing a pile-up of troops there.

Chen Xiyi casually tossed away the fox head that had turned to powder. “Sigh, the output was too violent. It actually burst a Ritual Implement. But if it weren’t violent, the Illusion Art might not have been able to trap these people. So, time to speed up.”

He sacrificed one Ritual Implement to stall the Min City Army. Otherwise, once they entered the city, it would have been hard to find them.

If not for the fairies/spirits stacking numerous buffs on him, plus the growth of his Primordial Spirit from the White Cloud Method devouring souls, he might not have been able to hold so many people with the Illusion Art.

After all, such vast Yang Qi and Human Qi could easily obliterate the illusions Chen Xiyi created.

Even so, Chen Xiyi could only hold them for fifteen seconds. To be honest, he was still too weak, or else it wouldn’t have been so troublesome.

For him, fifteen seconds was enough.

The Formless Astral Energy erupted, and he arrived in an instant. The mist followed closely, as the White Cloud Method was an area-type spell centered on Chen Xiyi—like a passive aura. So wherever Chen Xiyi went, the mist followed.

The ghost spirit puppets in the mist couldn’t leave it yet; moreover, they were part of the mist itself, so they moved with it.

In that moment, the mist enveloped all the remaining soldiers of the Min City Army.

Souls were devoured, flesh melted away, leaving only clothes and various personal items scattered on the ground.

It was hard to tell that many people had been there just moments before.

“I’m a bit stuffed. Must have reached the limit of Nourishment Resources. Probably because I temporarily added the Yang Qi structure to the White Cloud Method.” Chen Xiyi found that his Primordial Spirit couldn’t handle the accumulated resources.

There were too many Nourishment Resources, and the Spiritual Energy couldn’t digest them quickly enough to convert them into Primordial Spirit growth, causing a backlog in his Primordial Spirit.

Also, during this test, Chen Xiyi naturally discovered many bugs in the White Cloud Method. For example, the initial diffusion was too slow, sometimes conflicting with the Formless Astral Energy, and ghost spirit puppets occasionally failed to generate.

These were all bugs he needed to fix.

“Ugh…”

Chen Xiyi stood at the city gate and gagged, though nothing came out. This stuffed feeling didn’t come from his body but from his Primordial Spirit.

Translated to physical sensation, it felt like overeating to the point of gagging.

He had no choice but to make the three fairies/spirits—Tongmu, Zhangliu, and Moyan—work overtime to help him with Primordial Spirit cultivation.

Possession-type fairies/spirits could assist Chen Xiyi in automated cultivation. Each additional one sped up his cultivation, though this required the Spiritual Energy boosted by Tongmu; otherwise, it wouldn’t work.

But he didn’t have exact data on how much faster it was.

The mist gradually dispersed, flowing into Chen Xiyi’s shadow. This made his shadow appear somewhat swollen, and wisps of mist occasionally seeped out. Fortunately, it was just a little; without Chen Xiyi’s eyesight, one wouldn’t notice.

He rested at the gate of Gui City for a few minutes and finally felt a bit better.

“Brother Chen, what are you doing here?” Li Zhao looked puzzled. Wasn’t the city supposed to be breached?

So why didn’t he see the Min City Army, but instead Chen Xiyi, who was far from home? Glancing at the clothes and items scattered everywhere, he had a bad feeling.

“Oh, Li Zhao, how did you know I was coming? And you came to greet me personally? That’s so kind of you.”

“Ah? You’re asking what I’m doing here? It’s a long story, so I’ll keep it short. You mentioned you were making a living in Gui City, so I came to visit. On the way, I ate a few extra biscuits. You know I have a small appetite, and since they were filled, they made me feel stuffed.”

“What? Asking if I saw anyone else? No, when I arrived, there were just clothes all over the ground. I was wondering if you folks in Gui City were throwing some wild parties.”

Chen Xiyi chattered nonsense while slinging an arm around Li Zhao’s shoulder.

Previously, he had been indifferent because Li Zhao wasn’t useful, but now it was different. This was his sworn brother, the kind even extra money couldn’t sway.

Though filled with doubt, Li Zhao didn’t press further. After looking around, he turned to a city guard and said, “Notify everyone to stop evacuating. Tell Vice President Mi… Well, never mind, she’s already here. Everyone, go back to your duties.”

“Yes, President.” The guard looked fearfully at Chen Xiyi, who was arm in arm with Li Zhao.

Li Zhao hadn’t witnessed what happened, but the guard saw it: white mist devoured the entire Min City Army, and then this person emerged from the mist, now chatting with their top leader.

If he said the wrong thing, would he be swallowed by sudden white fog too?

“Why are you shaking?” Li Zhao noticed the guard’s odd behavior and asked.

“I… I…” The guard stared at Chen Xiyi, who was smiling at him, and stammered, “I’m excited, excited.”

“Alright, don’t be too excited. Go ahead.” After speaking, Li Zhao asked Chen Xiyi, “By the way, did you see the white fog just now? It was huge.”

“Of course I saw it, but the wind blew it away. You missed it—it was quite a sight.”

The guard watched as Li Zhao and Chen Xiyi walked toward Mi Hong and other members of the Salvation Society. His body stiffened; he wanted to shout: President, the one with his arm around you is the white fog that killed the Min City Army, leaving only their clothes.

But he only thought it; he didn’t dare speak.

He used to treat ghost stories as jokes, but now that such eerie events happened before his eyes, the fear was overwhelming.

Many saw the white fog, but only he witnessed it turning into a person. Almost everyone else had evacuated from the gate; he was the only one who refused to leave.

He struggled internally: Should he tell Li Zhao?

‘President Li is a good man, not like those warlords.’ He recalled Li Zhao arriving alone—surely to negotiate, not flee like the former warlord.

And over the past three months, Li Zhao’s actions had been clear to those at the bottom.

A good man shouldn’t be harmed by monsters.

‘My life is worthless anyway; I can die. But President Li must not die. Only he can give the people of Gui City a better life.’

…

“Pleased to meet you, Miss Mi. Li Zhao praised you like a flower in his letters, but it seems he didn’t praise you enough. And this must be Brother Wang? Hearing about you is not as good as meeting you—truly outstanding among men. And this must be…”

[You and the Salvation Society’s Vice President, Mi Hong…]

[You and…]

Relying on NPC names and backgrounds, Chen Xiyi knew exactly what to say to each person, boosting his Favorability rapidly.

He knew the guard might report what he saw, but he didn’t mind.

Even without the report, Li Zhao knew something was up. The disappearance of the Min City Army, leaving only clothes and gear, combined with Chen Xiyi’s sudden appearance—only someone with very low intelligence would believe Chen Xiyi’s rambling excuses.

But because his Favorability was so high, Li Zhao didn’t press the issue. He trusted that Chen Xiyi wouldn’t harm him and that there must be a reason for his evasiveness. He could ask later when the time was right.