Chapter 85: The Restorer

Chapter 85: The Mist

“Master, what is this mist?”

The scene before him left Su Xiaofan somewhat stunned.

He had never seen fog appear under the blazing sun before. Even stranger was the fact that this mist was completely invisible to the naked eye.

“Mist? Where?”

Tong Dongjie followed Su Xiaofan’s gaze, but he couldn’t see any sign of fog.

“You can’t see it, Dongjie,” Jing Shizhen explained. “Any place with a spatial rift will be surrounded by this kind of gas. Within the range of this mist, all modern electronic devices become unusable.”

“Electronic devices don’t work in here?”

Hearing Uncle Jing’s words, Su Xiaofan’s mind stirred.

His father’s phone failed to connect nine times out of ten. Could it be that his father was also in an environment like this?

“Ah, this is one area where our ancient martial arts inheritance falls short compared to yours.”

Tong Dongjie sighed. They were both ancient inheritances, but throughout history, ancient martial arts seemed to have always been a step below internal cultivation.

“Just this one area? There are plenty more ways you fall short.”

Jing Shizhen chuckled. “Your body-tempering inheritances basically make you martial men. You’re useful for charging into battle, but when it comes to other things, forget it.”

“That’s not necessarily true.”

Tong Dongjie muttered under his breath but didn’t continue arguing with Uncle Jing. Deep down, he knew that the Daoist internal cultivation practitioners of ancient times were often the strategists and military advisers. They had plenty of advantages, but they never personally took the battlefield.

“Master, was this also the reason for the airplane accidents in the Bermuda Triangle?” Su Xiaofan asked thoughtfully.

“That’s right. Even compasses stop working once they enter it.” Jing Shizhen nodded.

“Uncle Jing, can it be dealt with?”

This was what Tong Dongjie cared about most. It concerned the future direction of his publicly listed company for the next several years.

“The affected area doesn’t look very large. But we’ll have to go to the location where the spatial rift appeared and take a look. We can’t be certain yet.”

Jing Shizhen carefully observed the mist ahead, his expression extremely serious.

About ten minutes later, the men carrying the equipment finally caught up with them.

“Xiaofan, take two backpacks. Dongjie, if you’re going in, take one as well.”

Jing Shizhen looked at the several muscular young men and said, “You stay here and wait. Remember, do not take a single step beyond the riverbed.”

The men instinctively looked toward Tong Dongjie.

After all, their boss was the one paying their wages.

“Do as Uncle Jing says. Stay here and wait. You can go back to the vehicles tonight if you want.”

Tong Dongjie was quite considerate toward his subordinates.

“Boss, the equipment is a little heavy.”

One of the young men took the backpack off his shoulders.

Once placed on the ground, the backpack stood nearly as tall as the young man himself—around 1.6 to 1.7 meters. Seeing the sweat covering his forehead, it was obvious that it weighed quite a bit.

“I’ll take it.”

Su Xiaofan stepped forward, grabbed the backpack with one hand, swung it behind him, and effortlessly hoisted it onto his back.

There were three backpacks of this size in total. Su Xiaofan took another one from another man and simply stacked it on top of the first backpack.

“It’s only a little over a hundred kilograms. Not that heavy.”

Su Xiaofan estimated the weight in his mind. It was completely within his capabilities.

Aside from the backpacks’ enormous size, which might affect his movements, their weight placed absolutely no pressure on him.

Seeing Su Xiaofan carry two backpacks so effortlessly, the muscular men all clicked their tongues in amazement.

They knew better than anyone just how heavy those backpacks were.

“Let’s go, Xiaofan. Watch your footing.”

Jing Shizhen waved his hand and was the first to leap down into the riverbed.

Su Xiaofan didn’t even see how Jing Shizhen moved his feet. In the blink of an eye, his master was already standing on the other side of the riverbed.

“Master, what kind of technique was that?”

Jing Shizhen’s movement nearly left Su Xiaofan staring in disbelief.

Although he felt that his body had become much lighter after opening the Great Heavenly Circuit, there was no way he could move with the same ghostly speed as his master.

“That’s the Shrinking Earth Technique of your internal cultivation.”

Tong Dongjie stood beside Su Xiaofan with an envious look on his face.

“Although the ancient saying about shrinking the earth to an inch is somewhat exaggerated, the Shrinking Earth Technique is still much more useful than our Movement Technique.”

“Shrinking the earth to an inch? Brother Dong, can ancient martial artists use techniques like that too?”

Su Xiaofan had heard of the term before. He had also heard of the Movement Technique. The Divine Traveller Grand Protector from Water Margin seemed to be capable of using something like it.

“We can use some techniques that don’t require true qi.”

Tong Dongjie nodded. “Most people who practice ancient martial arts focus on tempering their bodies. They use secret methods to vibrate and strengthen their physical bodies, thereby strengthening their internal organs, bones, and muscles.”

“How do you vibrate your body?”

Su Xiaofan asked curiously.

“Secrets of the arts aren’t to be casually passed on, Xiaofan. From now on, don’t ask people questions like that when you’re outside.”

Tong Dongjie glanced at Su Xiaofan.

Then he suddenly shut his mouth and let out a deep nasal hum.

“Hmm!”

As the sound emerged, Su Xiaofan saw the muscles throughout Tong Dongjie’s body begin to tremble continuously. A fluctuation somewhat similar to true qi appeared around his body.

At the same time, Tong Dongjie’s physique seemed to become even more imposing.

He stretched his body and leaped down into the riverbed.

Unlike Jing Shizhen’s profound technique, Tong Dongjie simply relied on the overwhelming strength of his body.

Su Xiaofan noticed that several places where Tong Dongjie stepped had actually had their stones crushed beneath his feet.

“Looks like ancient martial arts aren’t completely useless after all.”

Su Xiaofan secretly thought to himself.

If he could learn a method for tempering his body, he wouldn’t have to keep wrestling with barbells anymore.

Speaking of which, having more than a thousand kilograms of weight pressing down on him was no joke. Even the sixty-kilogram barbell bar had nearly bent into an arch. Sometimes, Su Xiaofan was genuinely worried that the floor might not be able to bear the weight.

Seeing that his master and Tong Dongjie had already reached the other side, Su Xiaofan didn’t waste any more time and jumped down into the riverbed as well.

Compared with the other two, Su Xiaofan’s movements were much more ordinary.

He carefully watched where he placed his feet, stepping from stone to stone until he crossed over.

“Hm? This gas feels a little uncomfortable.”

The moment Su Xiaofan’s body entered the misty region, he immediately noticed something different.

The invisible gas seemed to exert an intangible pressure on him. Even the backpack on his back seemed to have become heavier.

Su Xiaofan could tolerate the increase in weight caused by the pressure, but what surprised him was that the invisible mist seemed to be continuously invading his body, as though it wanted to seep inside through his pores.

Su Xiaofan took a deep breath and circulated his cultivation method.

In an instant, he sealed all the pores throughout his body.

“Hm? The magical artifact is working?”

Su Xiaofan had been using the Qi Observation Technique the entire time.

Just as he felt the pressure, it was as though his true qi had activated the magical power within the artifact. Su Xiaofan suddenly noticed a faint glow emanating from the Vajra Bodhi bracelet around his wrist.

The glow spread continuously across his body, instantly enveloping him completely.

The pressure brought by the mist disappeared at once.

“So this is what magical artifacts are actually used for. No wonder Master never told me.”

A realization dawned on Su Xiaofan.

Previously, whenever he had asked about the purpose of magical artifacts, Uncle Jing had always told him to figure it out for himself someday.

Now, Su Xiaofan finally understood.

“Master and Tong Dongjie both have protective magical artifacts on them.”

Su Xiaofan looked up at Jing Shizhen and Tong Dongjie, who had already reached the other side.

He noticed that both of them were surrounded by faint glows as well. Clearly, they had magical artifacts protecting them too.

Su Xiaofan took out his phone to check it.

To his surprise, it wasn’t that the phone had lost its signal—it had shut down completely.

Even after he pressed the power button, there was no response whatsoever.

“Now you know what magical artifacts are for, right?”

By the time Su Xiaofan reached his side, Jing Shizhen spoke.

“Master, what exactly is this mist? What effect does it have on the body?”

Su Xiaofan didn’t ask about the magical artifact. Instead, he looked around carefully.

Being surrounded by the mist made him feel uneasy.

“This is something that disperses from spatial rifts. We still haven’t figured out exactly what it is.”

Jing Shizhen’s expression had become much more serious after entering the misty region.

“Some people believe it’s a form of energy that can be applied to many fields, but it’s extremely difficult to extract. Countries around the world have been researching it for many years.”

“Energy?”

Su Xiaofan sensed the Restoration System in his mind, but there was no reaction whatsoever.

This left him somewhat disappointed.

It seemed the Restoration System couldn’t absorb this energy.

However, what Uncle Jing said might very well be true.

The plants and trees growing within the mist-covered region were all unusually tall and robust.

Coming here was like entering a primeval forest. Even the mountain paths were covered with vines, and anyone wanting to enter the mountains had to step over them.

“Have they made any progress in their research?” Su Xiaofan asked.

“I don’t know. Perhaps they have, perhaps they haven’t.”

Uncle Jing shook his head.

After all, he was essentially a self-taught cultivator. He had no way of knowing about matters that had already risen to the level of state secrets.

“Then what kind of harm can this energy cause to people?”

When the gas had surrounded him earlier, Su Xiaofan had vaguely sensed a feeling of danger.

Clearly, this stuff wasn’t particularly friendly toward humans.

“It’s extremely dangerous to ordinary people.”

Jing Shizhen explained, “Without the protection of a magical artifact, an ordinary person will begin experiencing hallucinations after spending at most three hours in this environment.

“If they stay for more than twelve hours, even if they’re rescued afterward, they’ll suffer symptoms such as organ failure.

“If they remain here for more than twenty-four hours, there’s usually no saving them.”

“Then the village really does have to be relocated.”

Thinking back to the checkpoint they had encountered before entering the mountains, Su Xiaofan immediately understood.

The area had already been sealed off from ordinary people.

If the issue with the spatial rift wasn’t resolved, there was no way Tong Dongjie could continue his development project.

“Master, if we don’t use magical artifacts, how long can we survive in here?”

Su Xiaofan asked again.

He had noticed that after switching to internal breathing, the gas was completely blocked outside his body and couldn’t enter.

“Our cultivation methods can isolate and expel this kind of gas.”

Jing Shizhen glanced at Tong Dongjie.

“If we don’t use magical artifacts, Dongjie should be able to stay inside for about three days. The two of us should be able to last around seven days before reaching our limits.”

Jing Shizhen clearly understood this environment extremely well.

It was obvious that this wasn’t his first time entering a similar place.

(End of Chapter)

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