Walker Of The Worlds

Chapter 3197: Exploring More Sites Of Snowfall

The decision to continue their investigation was unanimous.

Lin Mu and his companions knew that what they had found in the steppes and ravines could not be isolated incidents. The signs were too clear, the malevolent Qi too concentrated, and the strange blizzards far too coordinated to be natural.

The Ephemera Sect was moving across the Darkhan Dynasty with purpose, and the group had only begun to uncover the outer layer of their schemes.

Thus, over the next three months, Lin Mu, Elyon, Cattaleya, Meng Bai, Daoist Chu, Monk Hushu, and the beasts traveled tirelessly across the land, following the map Elyon had created.

The jade slip projection of the dynasty became their guide, glowing faintly every time they marked a new location they had visited. By the time the second month ended, it was filled with dozens of glowing red marks that represented corrupted sites.

Their first destination after the Eastern Steppes was the Frosted Valley of Duihan, a remote canyon system surrounded by glacial peaks. While this place did have snow, it was never this intense at this time of the year.

The snowfall there was still heavy when they arrived, coating the ground in layers of white that seemed to pulse faintly with spiritual energy. As they descended into the valley, Little Shrubby’s ears twitched, and he growled lowly. There was the faint scent of blood hidden beneath the ice.

They soon discovered the source: bandits, just like before.

Their hideout was a cave deep within the frozen cliffs, where dozens of corpses were found slumped against the icy walls. All of them were drained completely dry, their flesh and bone brittle like parchment.

Elyon crouched and touched the frost-covered ground, his darkness Qi spreading in thin waves. The air thickened as the shadows bent to his will, replaying fragments of the past. The illusory forms of the bandits appeared, arguing and laughing until a robed figure stepped into view.

Once again, no face could be seen. The figure raised a hand, and immediately the bandits froze, their bodies trembling violently as dark tendrils seeped from their mouths and eyes. The life force left them in silent streams of crimson light that coiled into the figure’s palm.

”It is the same man,” Cattaleya said grimly. ”Same posture, same aura.”

When they dug beneath the icy cave floor, Lin Mu found another malevolent mass of clotted blood energy.

This one was the size of a man’s head and pulsed faintly. Upon touching it, the ground shook, and specters burst forth. But the group was ready this time. Lin Mu’s sword intent sliced through the phantoms, Monk Hushu’s golden light purified them, and Elyon’s darkness devoured the rest.

From there, they moved on to The Withered Forest of He Lan.

This region was once a lush evergreen grove, known for its wood-type immortal herbs.

Now, every tree was leafless and pale, drained of life. The air was thick with a sour metallic smell that stung the nose. Lin Mu noticed faint human footprints, but they ended abruptly near a frozen lake.

When Elyon called upon the memory of darkness again, they saw farmers being dragged by unseen hands into the ice itself. Beneath the lake, buried deep, another large mass of blood Qi pulsed, half-frozen yet alive.

It too was destroyed after a fierce battle with the haunting spectres that erupted from it.

In the Blighted Hills of Oyran, they found signs of a small encampment of bandits again.

However, the bandits were not their main concern this time—the locals were.

The nearby village elders told Lin Mu that these so-called bandits had actually been the region’s protectors. They guarded the roads, collected tolls, and occasionally defended against actual marauders.

But more than a month prior, the group had turned violent, attacking travelers and seizing caravans. When Lin Mu’s group investigated, they found the bandits already dead, with the same drained corpses and foul Qi clinging to the walls of their caves.

This pattern repeated in several places: The Silent Grass Plains, The Icewind Gorge, The Crimson Hollows, and The Broken Valley.

In each of these, the tale was the same. Disappearances followed by unnatural snow, corpses without blood, and dark energy buried beneath the ground. The only variations were the number of victims and the size of the masses.

In places where the snowfall had persisted for longer, the masses had grown enormous, sometimes larger than a watermelon, pulsating like living hearts filled with corrupted Qi.

The fights against the specters grew more intense with each site. The dark spirits began showing signs of awareness, mimicking voices of people the group had lost in the past or even taking the shapes of fallen friends.

Meng Bai, who was still learning to control his mind under pressure, stayed at a safe distance each time while the others handled the threats. His job was to watch their surroundings and keep guard, ensuring nothing approached from beyond their immediate field of battle.

In one location, The Wolfhaven Grotto, Lin Mu and the others discovered something new.

The bandits they expected were absent, but instead, they found the guards of a small nearby town. The villagers believed the guards had been abducted by the same bandits who were plaguing the region, but Lin Mu’s instincts told him something was wrong.

With Little Shrubby’s sharp nose, they tracked a faint trail of blood and spiritual residue that led to an underground passage behind the town’s watchtower.

Inside, they found the truth...

The guards themselves had been working with the Ephemera Sect. Ritual circles drawn with blood covered the walls, and strange bone talismans hung from the ceiling. But even they had not escaped their master’s fate.

All of them were lying dead in the center of the chamber, dried and twisted, their faces locked in silent screams.

When Elyon examined the darkness of that chamber, the past replayed again. The guards were performing a ritual, summoning someone or something. A figure had appeared from within the shadows, speaking words that caused the guards to convulse.