“Boom! Boom! Boom!” A mysterious power engulfed the canyon.

“Croak.” A frog didn’t know anything and jumped out of its hole onto a rock near the village entrance.

“Buzz.” It immediately turned into stone and stopped moving, similar to being frozen by extreme cold.

It still had its jumping posture with the right leg raised. Its left leg couldn’t touch the ground before the petrification.

“It’s here.” s.h.i.+ Wawa warned Li Qiye again: “Don’t stay near the entrance, that power is terrible.” He then moved back deeper into the village.

This wasn’t his first time seeing the perilous phenomenon. Alas, the fear still struck him each time.

He went back into his house and only extended his head out the door for a look.

Li Qiye remained standing by the entrance in order to sense the mysterious power in the fog.

“Hurry, come back here!” Wawa shouted.

Everyone in the canyon was hiding in their own house. That’s the only way to guarantee safety. Taking one step out of the village meant certain death.

“Boom. Boom. Boom.” The sounds approached like an indistinct whisper.

It resembled an ancient grand dao echoing in one’s ears, a type of mantra wis.h.i.+ng for someone to understand it.

Li Qiye carefully listened. “Boom. Boom. Boom.” All could hear the sound despite how quiet it was. There was an unknown rhythm belonging to an old period.

“They’re right there at the entrance! Come back to the house or it’ll petrify you!” s.h.i.+ Wawa panicked.

Li Qiye didn’t heed the warning.

By this point, one could only see the fog outside the entrance, nothing else.

The pillar became even brighter and shot out more rays in order to strengthen the barrier around the village. This looked like sparks suddenly shooting out of a bright lamp.

“They’re right there.” The reaction of the pillar told Wawa what was going on. He hid inside the room.

“Boom. Boom. Boom.” Li Qiye heard this sound as clear as possible.

There was a lack of fanfare and divinity but the most majestic force suddenly emerged. This power could crush the firmaments. However, the fog was keeping it under control, not letting it erupt.

Li Qiye continued sensing this power. “This is…?”

He became surprised because this power and rhythm were very familiar to him.

A figure finally emerged inside the shrouding fog, barely visible. It seemed to be jumping forward.

One more figure emerged not long after and another after and another. These figures moved too quickly for anyone to tell. This only served to scare people even more.

A spectator would a.s.sume that there were corpses jumping in the fog or some other evil creatures.

The lack of identification sp.a.w.ned multiple explanations about the fogs. One said that evil creatures in the fog were finding food.

But why the petrification? Because these evil creatures immediately sucked the victims’ soul and essence, leaving behind an empty stone sh.e.l.l.

Another theory stated that the fog came from the opening of a terrifying world with dreadful existences. Alas, these beings couldn’t come through this opening. They could only breathe out the fog to suck the life essences from this world. This theory made some people think that the canyon contains a portal to a dangerous realm.

“How odd.” Li Qiye raised his brows while looking at the figures. He stretched his hand forward through the barrier to touch the fog.

“Buzz.” The petrification process immediately turned his hand into stone.

“Are you insane?!” s.h.i.+ Wawa saw this and was scared out of his mind.

He mustered courage out of nowhere and ran out of his house towards the village entrance, pulling Li Qiye back from the fog.

The power permeating through the barrier truly affected him, causing him to stagger backward in fear. Nonetheless, he didn’t let go and continued pulling Li Qiye back.

“Do, do you have a death wish?!” He was furious and shouted at Li Qiye: “Do that again and the monsters in there will eat you!”

Li Qiye smiled and stared at his stone hand.

“No, no, no! Your hand is done for, nothing can cure this petrification, not even the greatest alchemist. It’ll shatter tomorrow.” Wawa became aghast.

“Says who?” Li Qiye chuckled and channeled his vitality using Chaos Mantra. The stone hand became resplendent and vitality returned.

“Buzz.” The stone affinity melted like snow and disappeared from sight. His hand turned into normal, completely undamaged.

“See, still good.” Li Qiye touched it, amused.

s.h.i.+ Wawa became slack-jawed. This was his first time seeing a recovery from the petrification.

“What?” He started touching Li Qiye’s hand. Sure enough, it was made from flesh and bones. “Is this magic? How did you chase the petrification away?”

“Because I’m Li Qiye.” Li Qiye smiled, not revealing the actual reason.

“...” Wawa had no choice but to believe it since he witnessed the whole thing with his own eyes.

“Stay in the village.” Li Qiye turned and walked towards the entrance.

“What are you doing?!” Wawa became afraid.

“Going to take a look outside.” Li Qiye said flatly.

“No, don’t do it! No one can survive in the fog!” Wawa panicked and tried to stop him.