ATEG Chapter 105.1

That patch of grayish-yellow cloud rose soundlessly, gathering and dispersing as it shifted, then settled into the grass.

It flowed through the deep forest constructed by grass stems, like the fog that drowns in from the distance at dawn, seeping all the way to people’s feet before slowing its pace, pursuing them forward like a shadow.

Wherever the great python passed, the grass was flattened, creating a pale-colored path through the boundless green plains. This resilient, tall wild grass would slowly recover on its own not long after the python moved away. The flattened traces closed back together behind the group, as if they were walking a path from which there was no return.

The flattened grass could hide nothing. The grayish-yellow smoke and cloud flowed silently and tranquilly, and the python seemed to sense something, its movements becoming increasingly anxious and restless.

The lean man suddenly called for a stop. The grass marsh was quiet, with nothing but the rustling of green grass stirred by the wind.

The moment this group stopped, the grayish-yellow smoke and mist also instantly froze motionless, like a shadow.

The lean man observed his surroundings alertly—ears, eyes, nose, even his skin receiving all environmental information, while his divine consciousness had long since enveloped the area. Yet apart from instinctive unease, everything told him that all was normal.

The lean man frowned. They had lived in this valley for generations and naturally had methods to protect themselves, even when they didn’t always understand where the danger came from. There were many strange existences in the valley. Creatures like iron-armored crocodiles were dangerous demon beasts, but they had clear solutions. However, there were also presences in the valley that people couldn’t even imagine—dangers with no solution at all.

Every villager wore bells made of beast horns or beast fangs. These bells contained the power of the totem. Though they couldn’t help resist demon beasts, they could protect against invasion by other peculiar existences. Sometimes they might avoid dangers they hadn’t even perceived, only knowing they had encountered something when they heard a bell chime.

“Gelowa’s bell—take it out and wear it,” the lean man said to Ding Qin, then looked at Bai Hong. “You… be careful.”

He had chosen this route half to avoid others in the village, and half to test Bai Hong’s strength. Crossing the grass marsh through an unopened path would inevitably encounter dangers. Though the Chen Guang Lotus’s medicinal properties hindered Bai Hong’s cultivation flow, she was far from powerless. By watching her responses, he could gauge her abilities and have a reference for their future plans.

But he didn’t want the two of them to actually come to harm. His group surrounded Ding Qin and Bai Hong in the middle, half for surveillance and half for protection. The protective range of several bells was enough to cover them both, but the problem was, the python he controlled had also remained within the bells’ protective range all along.

The bells hadn’t rung, nor had he detected any abnormality, yet the python had grown anxious, and warning bells kept ringing in his instincts.

The lean man made a gesture, and the group that resumed moving suddenly accelerated.

The instant the group moved, the grayish-yellow smoke hiding in the grass beneath their feet also moved simultaneously, following closely like a shadow. A wisp of smoke clung close to a bit of grass root exposed on the ground, slowly closing the distance with the python…

After walking for some distance, the village still far from sight, the python at some unknown point stopped being anxious, as if it had returned to normal, moving across the grassland with regular, steady motions. Ding Qin’s gaze fell on the python with seeming casualness, saying nothing, still leaning against Bai Hong looking timid and weak as before.

The grayish-yellow smoke drew inward beneath the grass meadow, gradually pressing closer and closer to the group…

It finally moved beneath Bai Hong’s feet in the formation, quietly climbing along the grass stems. Just as it was about to touch her shoe sole, it suddenly crashed into a blast of cold wind. The grass stems were soft and resilient, crisscrossing in the space between stalks. The wind wrapped around the smoke like the sharpest, finest blades, tearing the grayish-yellow cloud to shreds, yet those soft, pliable grass stems didn’t tremble even slightly.

Bai Hong walked with light steps and an indifferent expression. Beneath her feet, between the blades of grass, a subtle slaughter was underway.

The villagers remained completely unaware, while Bai Hong observed with detachment.

The grayish-yellow smoke spent some time gathering itself back together. Unable to touch this one, it retreated to the outer circle and selected another person…

Just as it was about to touch the trouser leg of someone in the group, a piercing bell sound suddenly rang out!

The horn bell’s sound was heavy and muffled, its urgent, harsh ringing making scalps tingle. The lean man stopped abruptly, his eyes sharply scanning the area around the person in the group.

There was nothing.

The grayish-yellow smoke had retreated the instant the bell rang.

The lean man surveyed the surroundings, mentally calculating the changes in each person’s bell’s protective range. Different things triggered different warning ranges from the bells. The group’s positioning wasn’t random—it was accumulated village experience. Each person’s different position drew circles large and small, and whenever someone’s bell rang, many things could be deduced.

The person whose bell just rang was positioned near the center of the formation. If his bell had rung…

The lean man’s expression suddenly changed as he looked at the python beside them.

If that thing could reach the bell of someone in the group, it could certainly also reach the range where the python was!

The python swayed its tail ignorantly in the grass meadow, as if still following his commands, not understanding why they’d suddenly stopped, and simply wagged its tail idly.

But once suspicion had formed, when the lean man looked at the python’s movements again, they seemed somehow unnaturally stiff and strange.

He decisively slashed at it with his blade, the edge cutting into the python’s flank. The cut wasn’t deep, just a test—if he was overthinking, this wound would heal with some care.

But after the blade broke through the python’s skin, no flesh or blood appeared at the wound. Only a mass of grayish-yellow smoke suddenly surged out, rushing toward the lean man. It triggered bell chimes three inches from his body, unable to approach due to the bell’s deterrence, then suddenly dropped down and vanished into the grass meadow.

The original python now lay flattened in the grass—nothing but an empty skin.

Without needing the lean man’s reminder, this experienced team had already contracted to the maximum. But…

Three inches. This thing could actually compress the protective range of his horn bell to three inches! With such a range… it couldn’t encompass Ding Qin and Bai Hong in the center of the group. But the young woman wore Gelowa’s beast fang bell, and she was pressed close to Bai Hong. The horn bell hadn’t rung, meaning Bai Hong hadn’t yet been touched by the grayish-yellow smoke, but afterward might be a different story…

The lean man gritted his teeth and suddenly removed the horn bell from his neck, handing it to Bai Hong. “Wear it! We move quickly!”

Bai Hong hooked it with a fingertip, catching his beast horn bell and toying with it, raising her brows. “Since it’s like this, I’ll save you.”

“Wha…” The lean man’s words were cut short.

Bai Hong pointed at the ground beneath his feet, and a patch of grayish-yellow smoke immediately scattered in the grass, triggering a series of bell chimes. The lean man’s eyes widened in shock, but the smoke scattered in such quantity and chaos that he had nowhere to dodge. Yet just as those small wisps of smoke were about to touch him, they scattered again as if hitting an invisible barrier.

…It was wind.

The grayish-yellow smoke was torn by the wind until it was on the verge of dispersing but couldn’t quite scatter, unable to pounce on anyone yet unable to leave the vicinity. Finally, the wind rolled them into a ball like a snowball, dropping it before Bai Hong.

“Keep your things yourself.” Bai Hong casually tossed the bell back to the lean man, paying him no more attention as she looked at Ding Qin and gestured, “Come.”

Ding Qin looked at that ball of grayish-yellow and couldn’t help tensing the corners of her mouth. This thing was only forced to gather together due to the wind’s suppression and kept struggling. With Ding Qin’s eyesight, she could naturally see that this wasn’t cloud or mist formed by dust or water vapor, but countless extremely tiny flying insects. Now these insects were writhing restlessly on the surface…

The sight made her scalp tingle. Ding Qin couldn’t help looking away. “What is this?”

“This thing is called Wind-Drill Dust,” Bai Hong said. “It seems to be a swarm of flying insects, yet can also be considered a single entity. You could say it’s alive, but also that it’s dead. It’s said to have formed from resentful evil qi. It’s somewhat similar to ant colonies, but there’s no queen ant, so it has no weakness. Fine as dust, moving soundlessly—if it drills into flesh and blood…”

Bai Hong glanced at the python skin beside them.

“If it’s formed from resentful evil, can it be purified?” Ding Qin asked.

“Let’s try. I haven’t seen this thing many times before either.” Bai Hong was also somewhat curious.

Ding Qin cast a divine technique, and the Wind-Drill Dust indeed showed signs of dispersing, yet didn’t truly dissipate. Apart from the resentful evil, there seemed to be another force maintaining its existence. After several divine techniques for purifying resentful evil qi, the Wind-Drill Dust stopped struggling and clustered there in a daze. The grayish-yellow color on it also faded, gradually becoming amber-like in appearance, no longer making scalps tingle as before.

The resentful evil qi was like the Wind-Drill Dust’s driving force. Now that the resentful evil qi had been completely purified, what remained of this ball of stuff was temporarily indistinguishable. Ding Qin had a sudden idea. “Since it can absorb resentful evil qi and become Wind-Drill Dust that devours living flesh and blood, could it also absorb other qi and become something else?”

“Maybe.” Bai Hong said, “Then let’s keep it. We can try when we find other qi later.”

Bai Hong scooped it up with five fingers, sealed it, and transformed it into something like an amber pendant, putting it away.

Even if he’d been slow before, the lean man realized by now that the Chen Guang Lotus they’d arranged probably hadn’t worked at all. Looking at that young woman’s manner, where was the panic and unease from before?

He couldn’t help sighing bitterly and said, “Thank you. I’m sorry. I have nothing more to say, but I still ask that you please don’t leave and follow me to see someone.”

“First explain what’s going on.” Bai Hong said noncommittally.

The lean man wanted to use this to probe their abilities, but weren’t they also using this to see the village’s true strength? Since they’d already shown weakness, they couldn’t blame others for taking control of the pace.

“This matter…” The lean man looked at his beast horn bell, his eyes revealing helpless sorrow.

The “Saichi” people had lived in the valley for generations, but weren’t confined there. Before the Great Calamity, they weren’t without contact with the outside world—this could be seen from how most of them could speak the official language.

The terrain of this mountain valley was peculiar, with many dangerous places that became the Saichi people’s best barrier. When spirited, they could go live in the outside world; when weary, they’d return to rest in the valley. Here was peaceful and simple, without need to worry about deception and treachery or endless conflict. The village was everyone’s resting nest. But the prerequisite for enjoying such a paradise outside the world was that they possessed the ability to survive among the valley’s strange dangers.

Apart from the paths they’d developed and maintained over many years, the most important thing was the bells made of beast fangs or horns that everyone wore. Within the bells resided the power of the totem.

“The bell’s sound is like a command. Wearing it, those strange things cannot approach. But after the Great Calamity began, the totem’s power has grown weaker and weaker.” The lean man said in a low voice. Things like the horn bell’s protective range being compressed to three inches from one’s body had never happened before.

“Our totem… is dying.” The lean man said sorrowfully.

They didn’t stop walking as they conversed, and before long reached the village’s edge. The high board walls had no entrance left, but people constantly patrolled. Seeing them from afar, that person lowered a large bamboo basket from outside the wall.

Bai Hong glanced at it, said nothing, and got in with Ding Qin. The lean man also maintained his grave expression, as if unaware they were no longer affected by the Chen Guang Lotus, and rode the bamboo basket over the wall into the village.

The others dispersed separately, leaving only the lean man. He led the two of them in a winding route, avoiding the sight of others in the village, until they reached a tall house near the lake.

The person they’d seen before when they came here with Da Wu opened the door for them.

“Please wait here for a moment.” The lean man wanted to leave them on the first floor while he went upstairs first to announce them.

Bai Hong’s gaze swept lightly. “Is that really necessary?”

The doorman frowned, and a fierce air emanated from him. The lean man stopped him and said seriously to Bai Hong, “Wencha is responsible for guiding the totem sacrifices and is a very important person, like the Old Grandmother. We must announce ourselves first before meeting.”

Bai Hong laughed. “Before and after your announcement, we won’t be seeing the same person.”

Right now Wencha still thought they were both constrained by the Chen Guang Lotus, but after the lean man’s announcement, that would change.

Though the doorman didn’t know what had happened, he also sensed something unusual. His lowered hand moved to ring the bell on his wrist, when he suddenly felt a sharp pain at his fingertip and involuntarily released his force.

“Don’t act rashly.” Ding Qin said gently and mildly.

The lean man shook his head to stop the man and led Ding Qin and Bai Hong upstairs.

Wencha sat amid three braziers burning incense, wreathed in smoke that obscured his appearance. His body was thin and dry, sitting there almost like smoked preserved meat. When he spoke, his voice was hoarse as if smoke-cured. “I apologize for inviting you both here through such means.”

Bai Hong sat unceremoniously across from him and said, “Then explain why you wanted us to see you.”

Ding Qin sat down close beside her appearing timid, half-lowering her eyes, yet her gaze pierced through the smoke to examine each of the three incense burners one by one.

Wencha didn’t mind Bai Hong’s rudeness. Being forcibly invited here, displeasure was normal.

“You two may know of totems.” Seeing Bai Hong nod, Wencha continued. “Then I won’t explain further. After the Great Calamity began, the totem’s power sheltered us from the calamity, allowing us to recuperate in this valley and avoid the Great Calamity. But the totem couldn’t avoid calamity itself.

“Our totem is dying.”