Inside the Ling Family's special armored vehicle, the group remained silent.
They were leaving the city, but encountered a small mishap on the way.
A man, shouting his own name, suddenly darted onto the road and was struck dead by a small truck.
This traffic accident caused a jam, and their vehicle was stuck, unable to move forward or backward.
Left with no choice, Long Yutian directly contacted the Ling Corporation's person in charge, asking them to clear the lane so their vehicle could pass first.
"Another person deeply afflicted by the curse," Mo Di concluded after glancing at the corpse on the road. "He offered his true name to the Black Sky Buddha Mother, which led the curse to induce his suicide."
"Again, the Black Sky Buddha Mother, again, the curse." Long Yutian could no longer count how many suicide incidents had occurred due to curses in recent times.
These suicides only exacerbated the chaos, leaving the residents of Greenlawn City, who had just begun to stabilize, in a state of panic.
"In this new era shrouded by mist, chaos is inevitable. At least Greenlawn City is much more stable than other cities." Mo Di leaned his hand idly on the window, pulled out his phone, and began reading intelligence.
Relatively speaking, the curse in Greenlawn City wasn't a major problem, as there were always cities more unlucky than them.
Red Cedar City was occupied by Frost噬 Giant Spiders, with this titan beast nesting in the city center.
Haiyan City was submerged as mist surged with giant waves, and it was said that someone had photographed the silhouette of a colossal creature in the waves.
Furthermore, zombies, ghosts, and other supernatural entities rampaged in various cities. Compared to them, the Black Sky Buddha Mother's curse hovering over Greenlawn City truly wasn't much.
At least Greenlawn City could maintain a certain degree of order.
'This realm should have developed to a cyberpunk stage, but with this disruption, it directly veered into a global mist apocalypse.'
Mo Di couldn't tell whether this change was good or bad.
The Ling Corporation's efficiency was quite strong. After a short wait, the lane gradually cleared, and their vehicle continued towards the border.
At the front-line camp, an armored vehicle stopped.
As Mo Di and the others stepped out, they were met with the smell of blood. Looking around, the edge of the mist was littered with severed limbs, though none were human.
"There was another beast tide just now," the camp leader explained. "We don't know where all these damned beasts keep coming from."
"Most likely, a large portion aren't native creatures but come from another world," Mo Di speculated.
As research into the mist deepened, the theory that the mist connected to other worlds gained increasing belief.
Besides, there weren't that many wild animals outside Greenlawn City to be mutated by curses.
"After this beast tide, it will probably be another twelve to twenty-four hours before a new one appears. During this time, the cursed creatures within the mist should be significantly fewer."
After speaking, the leader saluted Mo Di.
In his view, venturing deep into the mist was an almost certain death sentence, but someone had to do it.
Mo Di returned the salute, then turned and led his people away.
In just seven short days, the curse had grown stronger. If he didn't eliminate the Black Sky Buddha Mother soon, his flesh puppet would explode.
Although he had made several backups, it was merely drinking poison to quench thirst; he would still die eventually.
Standing before the mist, the group did not hesitate, stepping into it.
The mist surged, and looking back, the path they came from was gone, replaced by the faint glowing outlines of their companions.
This was the effect of the spell 【Marking Spell】, used to determine the position of marked objects within a certain range, ensuring no one got lost.
"Everyone, follow me."
Mo Di took the lead, striding forward through the mist, guided by the connection established between himself and the village through the 【Curse Tracing】 ritual.
The others followed behind him, remaining vigilant.
The scene they saw was no longer a vast expanse of white, but a new vision provided by various spells.
【Bloodline Perception】, 【Malice Detection】, 【Danger Perception】... In addition to perception-enhancing spells, they also had various spells and ritual effects to conceal their presence.
【Assassin's Footwork】, 【Aura Concealment】... Mo Di had gone to great lengths to ensure they wouldn't be discovered by the Black Sky Buddha Mother's curse.
Just the spell materials alone were reduced by more than half. Fortunately, the Ling Corporation had already begun research into plant-based spell materials and was attempting artificial cultivation.
After traveling through the mist for about an hour, Mo Di suddenly stopped, making a gesture of alert.
Everyone halted, readied their guns, and became vigilant.
Although the mist would disable precision electronic instruments, most firearms were still usable.
Staring intently ahead, Mo Di raised his right hand, and a bloodthorn shot out, piercing deep into the mist.
With a "thump," the mist returned to calm.
The bloodthorn returned, dragging a corpse—a rabbit-shaped cursed creature. Similarly, its head was nothing but a tube of flesh.
Sucking the cursed creature's blood, he quickly drained it into a mummified corpse via the bloodthorn.
"Tsk, the replenished Cold Blood True Qi isn't enough to cover the consumption."
Despite killing a cursed creature that had been ambushing them, 【Danger Perception】 told him that the true danger had not yet vanished.
With a flick of his hand, he deliberately flung the mummified corpse into a certain spot in the mist.
A tiger's roar echoed, and a fierce wind rushed towards them as a tiger-shaped cursed creature burst from the fog.
With less than a meter between them, he suddenly drew his greatsword, wielding it as deftly as a dagger, easily splitting the cursed creature vertically in half.
Blood and internal organs splattered across the ground, and the tiger-shaped cursed creature thrashed twice before becoming completely still.
Blood flames ignited, and the group put away their weapons, continuing forward.
Along the rest of the path, they occasionally encountered enemies, mostly ordinary cursed creatures like snakes and deer.
There were also some they had never seen before, such as cursed trees that fed on flesh and blood.
This large tree blocking their path had consumed a lot of blood, its vines all hollow tubes lined with sharp teeth.
To prevent it from harming the world, the benevolent Mo Di incinerated it completely with a single blood flame.
Because its roots were all flesh and blood, the blood flames were able to penetrate underground, sparing even the root system.
"Finally, we're here." Passing the cursed tree that blocked their way, the mist around Mo Di and his group finally receded, revealing a country dirt road before them.
"This is our destination?" Long Yutian frowned. Despite the bright sunshine, he felt waves of chilling cold.
As if he were in an underground tomb.
Mo Di, accustomed to tomb life, felt no discomfort. Rather, the chilling cold gave him a sense of returning home.
It would be even better if it wasn't brought by a curse.
They hadn't walked far along the dirt road when they stopped again. A hunched old man had appeared before them at some point.
The Claws Squad immediately raised their guns in alert, and Mo Di also placed one hand on his sword hilt, the other holding a gun, ready to unleash Ashina-style swordsmanship at any moment.
"If you go any further, you will surely encounter a bloody disaster."
The old man fanned himself with a tattered palm-leaf fan, holding a wooden staff, his expression helpless.
"Go back. Don't end up like those who went before, dying in vain inside."
【Malice Detection】 detected no malice, yet 【Danger Perception】 told him this old man possessed some capability.
Moreover... this old man was communicating with them telepathically, otherwise, they wouldn't have understood his words at all.
Sizing up this raggedly dressed old man, who didn't look like a modern person, Mo Di observed some anomalies through 【Aether Vision】.
Even in this place where the curse was so dense, the old man had not been tainted by any curse. Instead, he radiated a neutral and peaceful aura, unlike an ordinary person.
Deepening his perception, he suddenly caught a whiff of incense, and his spirits lifted considerably.
A guess formed in his mind. He raised a hand to signal the Claws Squad to lower their guns, cast 【Comprehend Languages】, and probed:
"Old man, why do you say that?"
"Judging by your attire, you seem to have come prepared, so I assume you already know, don't you?" The old man took a few steps, shaking his head. "Go back. You are no match for Her."
"How will we know if we don't try?" he retorted. "Besides, we are already afflicted by Her curse. Going back is just waiting for death. It's better to fight for a chance at survival."
With that, he didn't wait for the old man's reply and continued on his own:
"I see, old man, that you are no ordinary person. So why do you remain here and not venture into the mist?"
The old man fell silent for a moment, sensing something unusual about him, and activated his spiritual eyes, looking at him carefully.
In an instant, the multicolored spiritual light of spells almost blinded his spiritual eyes.
Tears streamed down his face.
"...I understand now why you dare to venture into Lianxin Village."
Turns out, each of them possessed extraordinary skills.
Wiping his tears, the old man dared not use his spiritual eyes to observe them again.
"Although I don't know which sect or faction your disciples belong to—oh, it's also possible you are cultivators from another realm—in any case, let me introduce myself first.
I, the old man, am the Earth God of Lianxin Village, or rather, I used to be. Now, I'm probably long forgotten."
Earth God? The Earth God?
"No wonder, old man, you have no trace of the curse on you and exude a scent of incense. So you are the Earth God of this land, my apologies for the disrespect."
As an old player of the Eternal Realm, Mo Di had naturally experienced many different worlds, including those of immortal heroes and mythology.
Therefore, he also understood incense gods and had even served as a righteous god conferred by the Heavenly Court in one of his save files.
The Earth God greatly appreciated Mo Di's compliments, stroking his beard with a smile.
However, he didn't forget the main point and continued to advise everyone: "The curse is growing stronger, and I fear She is about to break free. I advise you to reconsider and plan more carefully."
"Old man, could you tell us what the situation is like inside?" Mo Di attempted to gather intelligence on Lianxin Village.
"Come to my small temple. I'll explain everything to you there."
Led by the Earth God, everyone moved to a small temple.
Mo Di glanced around. It was indeed small, overgrown with weeds, and the altar and floor were covered in dust, clearly having been neglected for a long time.
"Ever since She bewitched the people of Lianxin Village, no one has come here for a very long time." The Earth God didn't mind the dirt and sat down on the ground.
The 'She' he referred to was clearly the Black Sky Buddha Mother.
When Mo Di asked about Her origin, the Earth God merely shook his head, indicating he didn't know much.
"I don't know Her origin, only that She is an evil god, skilled in the art of hexes. When She first came to Lianxin Village, She was already severely wounded and was sealed by me and the former village chief of Lianxin Village, with all our might."
"It's just a pity that with the passage of time, the villagers of Lianxin Village gradually forgot about this, and were bewitched by Her. And I, too, have gradually weakened due to the mist, my cultivation no longer what it was."
"If things continue like this, She is not far from breaking free."