Chapter 115: The Obstruction at the City Gate

Zhang Liu turned back, confused. "This is a 'Ghoul-Driver' type of Occultist," he explained. "They primarily control corpse-based anomalies and refine them for combat. Is there a problem with that?"

He had noticed the look Fang Mu gave earlier and realized Fang Mu was trying to probe his background. Now that Fang Mu was suddenly asking this, he wondered if the man had something specific in mind.

Fang Mu patted Zhang Liu on the shoulder. "Leave this kind of Occultist to me."

Zhang Liu was taken aback. After a moment of hesitation, he didn't say anything, sheathed his short blade, and stepped back. He, too, wanted to see the true strength of the person who had earned the appreciation of the Chief.

Behind the dozen corpses stood a graceful figure whose face remained obscured. Sensing Fang Mu’s gaze, the figure let out a cold sneer, and then vanished.

The dozen corpses seemed to receive an order, rushing toward Fang Mu in unison. A variety of attacks descended like a torrential downpour, targeting Fang Mu and his companions.

Fang Mu mused to himself that it was truly bizarre how these refined corpses could still retain the supernatural abilities they possessed in life. As the attacks drew closer, Fang Mu raised his hand, and a ferocious tiger head formed behind him.

A roar erupted from the tiger head, sending a terrifying, fiery-red sonic wave crashing into the corpses. When it came to area-of-effect attacks, the Tiger Force Fist was truly top-tier. Under the impact of the fiery-red true energy, all the incoming attacks were dissolved into nothingness.

Leaving an afterimage behind, Fang Mu utilized the Twin Shadow Evasion, slapping each of the charging corpses as he passed.

[You have touched a Corpse Puppet, obtaining a wisp of true energy.]
[You have touched a Corpse Puppet, obtaining a wisp of true energy.]
...
The notifications chimed one after another; Fang Mu had gained a total of twelve wisps of true energy. As they merged into his body, the scales on the true energy fish within him were now one-third illuminated.

The corpses, having been slapped away, scrambled up and continued their assault. Fang Mu raised his left hand, and the ferocious tiger head manifested once more. The fiery-red sonic wave was even more powerful than before, sweeping through all the corpses. In less than a breath, they were reduced to nothing but charred remains.

Fang Mu lowered his fist and looked at the ruins ahead. The graceful figure had fled, leaving the area empty.

Witnessing Fang Mu’s overwhelming display of power, the group’s reactions varied. Chen Yan and his five companions felt nothing but fear and relief, thankful that they had recognized him earlier, or they might have ended up as charred piles themselves. Zhang Liu, observing Fang Mu’s behavior of slapping the corpses before killing them, wondered if Fang Mu possessed some peculiar, unsavory traits. Tie Suanxian, meanwhile, was sighing, feeling utterly dejected. He had thought that breaking through to the Fish-Leaping Realm made him a prodigy, but compared to Fang Mu, he felt remarkably average.

Fang Mu turned around, about to speak, when a sudden anomaly occurred. The empty ruins in the distance began to distort, as if the air were warping due to extreme heat. Within the distortion, a towering city gate appeared; from where Fang Mu stood, only the faint outline was visible.

Fang Mu found the wall familiar—it looked very similar to what he had seen when he first entered the pillar of light.

"It seems enough people have died," Zhang Liu said, walking up. "That should be the true Relic of the Profound Occult."

Fang Mu headed toward the wall. "Whether it is the true relic or not, we must take a look."

The group moved toward the gate. As they drew closer, a sense of profound sorrow became increasingly palpable. This feeling of grief seemed to well up from the depths of their hearts; though it felt abrupt, they found it strangely fitting.

When they got closer, Fang Mu saw the situation beneath the city wall. Two armored soldiers were guarding the entrance. Their spears and armor were covered in rust. What was most striking was not the gear, but the faces visible beneath their helmets: rotting, pale, and entirely inhuman.

Fang Mu looked up at the wall, where several mangled corpses lay. He recognized two of them from when they were in the clearing earlier. He stroked his chin; it seemed people had already met their end upon arrival.

The anomalous soldiers seemed to sense their approach. Pointing their rusted spears at the group, they shouted, "Who goes there? How dare you trespass into Cangyun City!"

"Cangyun City?" Zhang Liu was stunned at the question.

"You’ve heard of it?" Fang Mu asked.

Zhang Liu nodded. "It was a faction that once flourished. A very, very long time ago—even the Heaven Surveillance Bureau doesn’t know how long—it was destroyed."

"Destroyed?" Fang Mu frowned.

"To be a qualified Occultist," Zhang Liu said sternly, "one must be well-versed in all kinds of ancient records."

The remark was strange; Fang Mu felt as though the man was subtly trying to lecture him.

"Audacious! How dare you ignore my command!"

The guard spoke again, red light flickering on his rusted spear. Fang Mu pondered for a moment before drawing his butcher’s knife. He swung, and a fiery-red blade-web passed through the soldier's body, carving deep furrows into the ground.

"Rule-based?" Fang Mu frowned. His true energy was effective against ghosts and corpse-based anomalies—the only exception being the Ghost Market from before. Since it had no effect here either, he naturally gravitated toward the idea of a rule-based anomaly.

The guard stepped forward and repeated his question for the third time: "If you do not answer, you shall be executed!"

As the words left the guard’s mouth, an aura of deathly silence emanated from him. Zhang Liu gripped his short blade, ready to strike. Fang Mu made a gesture, pulling Zhang Liu and Tie Suanxian back a safe distance.

Just then, the guard withdrew his spear and returned to his original position, as if he had never seen them at all.

"You know more about rule-based anomalies than I do," Fang Mu glanced at Zhang Liu. "Don't force it."

Zhang Liu held his goose-quill blade, saying nothing, his gaze fixed gloomily on the soldier. He felt as if the roles had been reversed—he had come to evaluate and perhaps mentor Fang Mu, but now it seemed the other way around.

Rule-based anomalies clearly required rule-based solutions, but what rule was needed to enter a city gate?

Tie Suanxian, who had been keeping to himself, suddenly wore an expression of realization. Seeing this, Fang Mu patted him on the shoulder, his intent clear.

Tie Suanxian looked left and right. "Brother Fang, when I used to tell fortunes, I once heard a storyteller say that a long, long time ago, one needed something called a 'Passage Permit' to enter a city. Without it, you simply couldn't get in."

A Passage Permit?

Fang Mu stroked his chin. Could he really need something like that? But where on earth was he supposed to find one?