Chapter 20: Please find them

Feng Xin made his way to the large pavilion that had the words 'PENG PAVILION' name on it. The words had a simple yet tenacious aura to them. This made even Feng Xin raise his brow, not due to the strength of the aura but the spirit of the writer. It was an undaunted tenacity, the kind even in the face of death would not waver.

He went to the entrance and pushed open its door. The protective arrays of the building seemed to have been disabled. Once the doors were opened a thick purple-black smog burst open with the doors as it flowed out. The mirage dragonfly rapidly moved away in fear once it saw the amount of purple-black smog coming out of the pavilion.

The smog spread out increasing its coverage to the whole grounds of the peak. The buildings, plants, and the river were soon drowned by it. Visibility became obstructed in the area.

Sounds of footsteps softly echoed in the area. It was Feng Xin making his way into the hall of the pavilion.

"Should I let the rainbow mist frog out to take care of this mess? Aah, no, better to do it myself. I wonder what it'll taste like," Feng Xin said as he put on a contemplative look. The mirage dragonfly was hundreds of meters above the pavilion at the moment with its altitude rapidly rising.

"All devouring funnel."

Feng Xin silently muttered as his whole body turned pale white down to a few strands of his hair. A huge suction force was produced the moment Feng Xin gently inhaled inwards. All the purple-black smog that had widely spread in just seconds, was dragged back towards the Peng pavilion and then swallowed by Feng Xin. It took less than 3 minutes before all the smog was cleared out, returning the peak to its previous clear and serene atmosphere.

The mirage dragonfly made shrieking inaudible voices in shock and disbelief at what had just happened. It couldn't believe all that smog had been swallowed by Feng Xin. Just the brief exposure it had earlier was enough to make it a little faint, yet Feng Xin had swallowed the whole cloud that had almost covered the entire peak.

"What is this human's body made of? Only Bolin, that rainbow mist toad can deal with this smog as easily as he did," thought the mirage dragonfly as it quickly made its way downwards into the pavilion.

Feng Xin walked into the pavilion and stood in the middle of the hallway surrounded by numerous bodies lying down on the floor. The bodies numbered in the thousands. Young, middle-aged, and elderly, all were lying down on the floor seemingly dead or unconscious.

The mirage dragonfly silently flew to Feng Xin's side whose body at this moment had already gone back to normal. Feng Xin stood still for a while as he scanned the whole pavilion with his spiritual sense before his face relaxed.

"So this is where the members of the sect were? Luckily they are not dead. They seem to have only passed out," said Feng Xin with a sigh of relief.

"This is quite the interesting concoction Peng Zhen and the rest brewed. The smog seems to have the effect of knocking someone out and stagnating their qi flow to ensure its effects last longer. The potency is strong enough too, though it may not knock out someone at the core formation realm, it is strong enough to disorient them for a while.

I can't believe all this was done by people at the foundation establishment stage. They have some skills. It seems the survival of the sect in a place as dangerous as the Green Fog Region wasn't for naught. They do have some budding talent in alchemy.

They don't seem to be in any immediate danger, leaving them by themselves for a bit shouldn't pose any risk, but just in case, leaving the dragonfly to keep watch wouldn't be a bad idea," Feng Xin silently thought before he turned to the mirage dragonfly and ordered it to watch over the sect members of the Green fog swamp sect while he made his way to the central peak which was where he detected the strongest arrays and qi.

He guessed the area was the sect master's residence or a place of extreme importance to the sect.

"Don't try and eat any one of them. I've memorized every single person here. If even a single one goes missing..." 

Feng Xin didn't have to finish his statement, the dangerous glint in his eye was message enough for the terrified Mirage dragonfly.

Once he was done, Feng Xin swiftly made his way to the central peak. It too had the same winding stair steps just like the one he had come from. Without having to hold back on account of the mirage dragonfly, within a few minutes he had already arrived at the top of the peak.

The scene before Feng Xin was truly beautiful. The area was also flat and three times larger than the area housing the Peng pavilion. The qi was also richer and cleaner. There was a single pavilion in the area, though not extravagant, it had an aura of authority to it. The other patches of land were filled with hundreds of herbs of different grades and varieties. There was a river that slowly flowed around the areas that had herbs. The river just like the herbs was also filled with qi. This added further richness and vibrance to the area.

Feng Xin didn't spare a look at the various herbs there as he made his way to the pavilion. There was an old board in front of it with the words 'sect master bode' written on it. There were three names written on a small board at the side of it. The three names were; Liao Heng which had a carefree and adaptable aura to it, Tang Shanyuan which had the aura of the vibrance of a mountain spring to it and the last name was Cheng Yuan which had an aura of stability and steadfastness.

Seeing Cheng Yuan's name, Feng Xin guessed the other two just like Cheng Yuan, were sect masters of the Green Fog Swamp Sect.

Feng Xin bypassed the pavilion and went to the area behind it. The land behind had fewer herbs compared to the front but they were of better quality. There were a few Earth-grade herbs growing there and a single budding Sky-rank herb. The air that filled the area was cool and refreshing. Feng Xin couldn't help but take a small deep breath with an approving nod.

"Seems like the Tupelo tree is a rare oddity. The calmness and the richness of this place rival the effect of some top-tier Monarch-rank herbs and treasures.

Mmmh, the effects seem to boost the clarity of the mind. Getting into a meditative state should be easy with such effects," Feng Xin silently thought to himself as he continued forward to an area that was absent of any vegetation. It was as if the area was sacred and inviolable.

In the middle of that area there was a massive hole that was a couple of hundred meters deep with other trenches spread about the area. There were mounds of Orange red soil around the area. Feng Xin moved forward towards one of the trenches before he bent downwards and picked a tiny leaf. The leaf didn't have any special qualities at first. It seemed like just any typical leaf before it suddenly swapped colors. It went from green to orange. After another few seconds, it changed once more from orange to red then later it swapped back to green again and repeated the cycle over and over.

Feng Xin scrutinized the leaf closely before he took out 3 talismans from his storage ring. He split the leaf into 3 pieces and then ignited the talismans that turned into 3 green swallows that seemed to be composed purely of wind. They floated around Feng Xin chirping around his head joyfully.

Feng Xin silently stared at them as he thought, "Yang Qing has some strange abilities. One could easily mistake them for a live creature instead of a spell."

Talismans could be used to store cultivation spells and moves of an expert. The better the quality of ingredients used in their making the more power it could exert. Low-grade talismans could exert at most 10% of the ability of the one whose spell/moves were being stored. Medium grade could exert 50-60%, while high grade could exert 70-80%, which was the maximum power that could be exerted by a talisman without risk of instability and implosion.

Talismans were life savers though they had their restrictions. For example, it would be impossible for Feng Xin to activate a talisman made from the power of a domain-level expert. The most he could handle activating safely was one from a palace-level expert and it could only be from one at the early stages. If it was one made by someone at the later stages, he would have to pay a price to activate it, in addition, there was the risk he may get swallowed up in the attack too because of its sheer scale.

Feng Xin fed the three leaves to the three green swallows.

"Please find the owner of that leaf as fast as possible." Feng Xin said to the green swallows. The swallows chirped once more before they flew away at an alarming speed causing wind gales in their movement. Feng Xin decided to wait for their signal from the roof of the pavilion.

He calmly sat down and decided to meditate awaiting the results from the three green swallows. He doubted Peng Zhen and the rest had made it far. With the speed and the senses of the swallows, they would soon be spotted no matter where they tried to hide.

The effects of the talisman would last for at most three hours, which was ample time for them to be tracked down.