Chapter 275: White Mist
The fleeting spark of insight was like a slippery fish, briefly surfacing in the shallows of consciousness before vanishing into the depths of thought.
Jie Ming froze in place, acutely aware that he had grasped something critical, yet he couldn’t recall what it was!
This sensation was profoundly unsettling, even ominous.
As a wizard specializing in mental energy, perfect recall and clear thinking were fundamental, and as a cultivator, tracing the threads of his own mind was effortless.
Yet now, the content of that fleeting realization was a blank in his memory, leaving only a strong, rootless intuition that he had “discovered something.”
“Something’s off…” Jie Ming’s brows furrowed, a chill running down his spine at the sense of his thoughts being invisibly tampered with.
He didn’t give up. Instead, he swiftly summoned his two black giants to stand guard on either side.
Sitting cross-legged in midair, he banished all distractions, his consciousness plunging like a probe into the deepest layers of his mind, meticulously retracing and searching for that lost spark.
Initially, the search yielded nothing; the memory was as if erased, clean to the point of despair.He even began to wonder if mental fatigue from relentless campaigns had caused a hallucination.
Yet, the body-forging technique once again proved its heaven-defying adaptability.
As Jie Ming focused on “retrieving lost thoughts” and recognized the anomaly, the technique began to operate autonomously, activating a targeted resistance or “information retrieval” ability.
His mind seemed coated in an invisible filter, resisting the intangible “forgetting” force.
After an indeterminate time—perhaps a moment, perhaps an arduous struggle—Jie Ming finally caught a faint, concealed “trace” in a corner of his consciousness, amplifying it!
“Filter-feeding… creatures… microorganisms… white mist!”
Fragmented keywords reconnected! He reclaimed the fleeting thought: since the Void Plane hosted so many giant beasts thriving on filter-feeding the white mist, it must mean the seemingly empty mist contained vast quantities of microorganisms or other minute lifeforms suitable for consumption!
The logic was almost blindingly simple.
Yet why had no wizard, including himself, ever truly “noticed” this?
He had frequently used the All-Purpose Eye, capable of microscopic observation, to scan the environment, yet overlooked the “mist ecology” right before him!
“…No!” Jie Ming’s eyes snapped open, a sharp glint bursting forth. “I didn’t ‘fail to notice’—I was ‘guided to ignore’ it!”
Instinctively, he activated the All-Purpose Eye again.
The moment runes lit up in his eyes, an anomaly occurred.
The dense white mist around him, as if alive, retreated with an eerily natural motion, almost like a physical law, silently withdrawing.
It precisely skirted the edge of the All-Purpose Eye’s detection range, forming a two-meter-wide, mist-free “absolute clean” spherical space around him!
His All-Purpose Eye observed only this deliberately cleared zone, naturally finding nothing!
“So that’s it!” Jie Ming’s face lit with a mix of shock and exhilaration. “It’s not absent—it’s ‘hiding’! It’s precisely evading any means that could deeply probe it!”
He deactivated the All-Purpose Eye, and the mist surged back like a tide, seamlessly filling the void.
The process was so smooth, so “natural.”
Undoubtedly, a powerful cognitive interference force caused all observers to overlook this highly unusual phenomenon, including any other potential anomalies within the mist itself.
“There’s a force… subtly guiding, even distorting our perception and mental focus,” Jie Ming murmured, his gaze sharp as a blade.
He extended his hand, cautiously constructing a simple energy barrier.
As the barrier formed, some mist was naturally trapped within, showing no signs of active escape or repulsion.
“No clear self-awareness… more like an instinctual, rule-based ‘concealment’ trait,” Jie Ming analyzed. “And if this thing had immediate malicious intent, Wizard Dionysius Spencer would never have dared lead the entire expedition here.”
At this point, Jie Ming was nearly certain that this white mist, enveloping both planes and dismissed by most wizards as mere backdrop, was Dionysius Spencer’s true focus!
The so-called plane conquest might be incidental, perhaps even a necessary step for some greater purpose.
He had a clear understanding of his own strength.
Even with the body-forging technique’s adaptive evolution allowing him to detect the anomaly, it suggested the cognitive interference’s power was limited.
He speculated its influence capped below the fifth tier.
Coincidentally, aside from Dionysius Spencer himself, the expedition had no other fifth-tier or higher beings!
Coupled with the conspicuous absence of overseers from the three major factions… Jie Ming was almost certain Dionysius Spencer was fully aware, perhaps even orchestrating this as part of his plan.
Opening the spatial gate to the Sacred Continent must have a deeper reason, possibly tied to the mist’s properties or Dionysius Spencer’s fate-aligned schemes.
“Since he hasn’t intervened, it implies tacit approval, at least within limits…” Jie Ming mused, his gaze sweeping the seemingly harmless mist.
No longer hesitating, he began carefully collecting the mysterious white mist using various methods.
He was certain that, with a seventh-rank fate wizard’s abilities, the moment he broke through the cognitive barrier and noticed the mist’s anomaly, Dionysius Spencer had sensed it.
Since no intervention had come, his actions were within the permitted scope.
—
In the core chamber of the floating city, Dionysius Spencer lounged in his chair, a light screen clearly displaying Jie Ming meticulously collecting the white mist.
Watching Jie Ming’s blend of excitement and caution, he couldn’t help but smirk, his face showing a mix of resignation and reluctant pain.
“Tch, what a sharp little guy… Fate’s backlash comes quick,” he muttered, his fingers absently tapping the armrest. “All I did was borrow your fate’s trajectory as a ‘guide,’ hitched a comfortable ride, and paid the price for it, yet I still have to share a portion with him? Talk about bad luck…”
His gaze seemed to pierce the screen, landing on the mist Jie Ming painstakingly gathered, his expression complex.
Within it lay something even a seventh-rank wizard like him valued greatly.
Yet now, by some “equivalent exchange” of fate, he was compelled to tacitly allow—almost “passively grant”—a portion to this second-rank wizard who had stumbled upon the truth.
“Fine, fine,” he shook his head, a cryptic smile forming. “This is part of fate too. Let’s see what you can glean from it, little guy.”