The Fiend Palace squad finally arrived at the location marked on the map, ten days after Evan Yang had entered.
"He must be out of his mind, running this far!" After stopping, Captain Shaw's team began to complain.
Captain Shaw frowned and said, "Take a break, everyone. We'll head in soon."
"Captain Shaw, what if he's already left?" Someone voiced a grim possibility—that Evan might have entered and quickly exited.
"Left? Haven't you heard the legend about Grimshade Valley?" Captain Shaw replied.
"What legend?" The group asked, curious.
"I keep telling you all to study more, but you never listen. Now look—if it weren't for me, you'd already be lost." Captain Shaw chuckled.
The group awkwardly looked at their Fifth-Rank General.
Captain Shaw began to explain, "Grimshade Valley—the outermost layer is a mist belt. It's said to be made of overlapping spaces, so it looks small from outside, but inside, even at our usual speed, it takes at least half a month to cross."
"What?" The group exclaimed in shock.
"Don't believe me? That's fine—you'll see for yourselves soon enough. But to prevent him from escaping, ten of you stay here. The rest, follow me inside." Captain Shaw looked at the crowd behind him as he spoke.
So ten of the stronger Sixth-Rank generals were chosen to stay outside, guarding against Evan Yang's escape, while Captain Shaw led the remaining dozen or so men into the valley.
"Interesting—so as soon as that kid goes in, the Fiend Palace people show up too." An old man muttered from not far away.
Evan Yang was still inside the mist belt. One day, after finally stepping out of the mist and seeing what lay within, he was stunned.
"Is this a new space?" After leaving the mist, Evan found himself in a vast chamber—nothing like the foggy exterior.
Not only that, but the space was dark, with only a faint glow overhead. Everything else seemed shrouded in black gas.
"These gases?" Evan felt their sting—and worse, his body began to tremble uncontrollably.
The gases even seeped into Evan's body, making him feel as if he couldn't control his limbs.
"Is this baleful qi?" Evan guessed.
Just as the gas tried to invade Evan's Divine Spirit region, a flash of light appeared around its boundary, blocking the intrusion.
"Demon-Ward Eight Arts? Or the Heaven-Cold Seed?" Evan muttered, noticing the change in his Divine Spirit region.
He'd encountered baleful qi invading his soul before—always protected by a ring of light.
Right now, Evan's Divine Spirit region was shielded.
"Whatever—so long as I don't go mad, that's all that matters." Evan muttered, shaking himself out.
Unfortunately, his head stayed clear, but his limbs refused to obey.
"Man, this place is weird. Whatever—let's just start searching." Evan sighed. He spread out his divine sense, only to find it limited to a hundred meters.
"This is rough—I'll have to check everything one by one." Seeing his divine sense only reached a hundred meters, Evan muttered helplessly.
And so Evan flew through the air, his whole body trembling. He knew that as long as the baleful qi didn't invade his Divine Spirit region, he'd be fine.
The space was huge. Evan's first impression was its vastness, but now he could only search within a hundred-meter radius.
To make sure he didn't miss anything, Evan slowed his speed to a tenth of normal, sweeping his divine sense across every detail.
After Evan searched the space for half a month, another group arrived—it was none other than Captain Shaw and his men.
They were stunned by what they saw inside.
"Captain Shaw, what do we do now?" Seeing the vast area, the group realized searching would be exhausting.
"I never expected Grimshade Valley to be like this," Captain Shaw said, surprised. He'd only known the mist outside took ages to cross—he hadn't imagined the interior would be so vast.
Soon enough, the group realized their divine sense was restricted here.
"Captain Shaw." His men looked to him for guidance.
"No choice—start searching. Keep a hundred meters apart. Use your eyes, they're better than divine sense here." Captain Shaw instructed.
So they spread out every hundred meters, forming a wide net that covered a kilometer. Any unusual findings could be passed to the next person.
This made it easy to spot a living person.
They flew through the area, keeping their distance and speed, checking every visible corner.
There were rocks and trees here—but no water or animals. Plenty of other plants, though.
The plants were all oddly shaped, and some were wrapped in black gas.
After a while, the men began to tremble all over—just like Evan.
At first, they barely felt anything. Being Fiend Realm natives, they were used to baleful qi, but not at this intensity. Human World cultivators can't last long in the Fiend Realm, but Fiend Realm natives can. That's why their symptoms were delayed.
"Captain Shaw, what's happening?" One man started trembling, beginning at his feet.
Captain Shaw was alarmed. "Quick—protect your souls!"
The men panicked. Some quickly pulled out their treasured soul-protecting artifacts, but others had none and could only look to Captain Shaw for help. "Captain Shaw, I..."
"Damn it." Captain Shaw only had one soul-protecting artifact himself, and aside from him, only five others did. The rest were at risk of losing themselves to the baleful qi.
Those without artifacts didn't want to lose themselves, so they all pleaded with Captain Shaw.
Captain Shaw sighed. "Retreat, now!"