The deeper they ventured into the path, the wider the passage between the mountains became. The mist also thickened, making the mist dissipating sand ineffective. Beibei took out a handful of tiny balls, which looked like they had been made from rough clay. She threw one on the ground before them.
The ball exploded soundlessly, creating a mini vortex, sucking in all the mist in its vicinity, then returned back into the state of being a ball. Except now it had changed color, taking on the color of the mist. Then it slowly sank into the ground. A large portion of the front immediately became visible.
The number of shadow creatures too had increased. Initially Nanate was focusing on mapping the area, as he his spiritual energy was purer and stronger than Kunwa's. But Kunwa fell short in physical attacks, and was soon being chased by a large shadow beast which looked like a giant wingless cicada.
His shrieks finally broke Nanate's concentration, making him so irritated that he rushed forth and beat the cicada to black dust, and then started beating up Kunwa for disrupting his map charting. After that he threw the map charting task at Kunwa and joined Beibei in guarding the other flank of the three manned team.
"These creatures die without leaving behind any carcass. They all turn to black dust. Do you think they are not actually live creatures, but born from the mist itself?"
"Hmmm.....that is what the studies deduced as well. No one had been really able to study these creatures. Even if you manage to capture the creatures in any sort of vessel, they immediately turn to dust. They can't seem to exist without the mist. It is believed that whenever this mist becomes extremely dense, it joins together and takes on the form of a mutated creature. Since they can't exist without the mist, you'll not find them anywhere outside this Visionless Path."
"But why would the Totram Tribe settle in these parts? This place is so creepy, and these shadow creatures are endless!"
Beibei glanced at Kunwa with disdain written all over her face.
"Oh? Then do tell me about any one place in these lands which is totally free from demonic beasts!"
"Ah!.....Well.....that is demonic beasts....they are different! And at least you can see your surroundings clearly."
"These people have been living here for tens of thousands of years. Do you really think a few creatures born from gray mist can daunt them? Moreover the mist provides them with the perfect cover to remain anonymous and hidden from the rest of the lands. Unless someone purposely enters the mist, and manages to find out their settlement, they are almost unreachable."
Kunwa pursed his lips and stopped talking. He was still not sure why those tribe members would help them at all. He was more afraid they would be tied up and barbecued as fresh meat. After all.....even if you could live amidst the shadow creatures, you couldn't exactly eat them!
Beibei sensed some changes in the surroundings up ahead, and threw a few Suction-Balls towards the mountain walls around them. As the mist cleared, each of them gasped in awe and surprise. Massive statues were carved out of the mountain, lining both sides of the path. Humans, beasts, and even some strange creatures which looked more like beasts, but had human bodies.
As they walked more inwards, smaller paths started opening up from the main path, leading towards the inside of the mountains on either side. Beibei hesitated at the mouth of some of the paths, but then chose to ignore them for the time being, moving on ahead.
"Why didn't we take one of those earlier paths?"
"They are not the right one."
"Oh? But then where do they lead to? Were there anything mentioned about these paths in the olden scriptures?"
"Most of these paths lead to hidden traps. But a few of them lead to ancient cities which once existed underneath these mountains. However there was no information available about these ancient civilizations. When the Guardian Families disappeared, all the information and documents related to these cities also disappeared. Most probably someone stole them."
"Why would they steal the records of an ancient civilization?"
"Don't know. Maybe it was related to whatever happened all those thousands and thousands of years ago."
"...Don't you feel....."
Beibei glanced at Nanate, raising an eyebrow at his half finished question. Nanate had a frown on his forehead, looking lost in thought. He finally raised his head and noticed both Kunwa and Beibei staring at him.
"I mean.....don't you sometimes feel that these lands which we live in is rather small?.....I mean, like, sometimes I keep feeling as if there should be more...like....more land...more places which we know of. Places which should exist on the map of the lands!"
Kunwa snorted, returning his focus back to his current task of map charting. Beibei turned front, but no one saw the sharp light which passed over her eyes and disappeared. More lands?.......looks like Nanate too was starting to question his existence in these lands. It was much too surprising that none of them had any memories of their past.....that none of them remembered anything beyond the past 5 years and 6 months. Shockingly, all three of them had been in this place for the exact same time!
None of them spoke anymore, moving on at a steady pace. Beibei and Nanate would dash forth once in a while to hack away at any shadow creature which came in their path. With more experience under their belt, now they no longer found it difficult to deal with these strange creatures.
Perhaps due to the lack of spiritual energy, but most of these creatures were neither very strong nor intelligent. When they came across the really strong creatures, Beibei and Nanate would team up and use shadow attacks. These were special assassin techniques which Nanate had been researching upon for the past two years. They were very precise and lethal.
"The path has ended."
The three of them looked towards the front, where the two mountains suddenly turned inwards and merged to become one, and the path disappeared into the rocky walls. They looked all around, but could not see any other path nearby.
"Is this really the end? O is this another illusion?"
"Probably an illusion.....though the path is also supposed to end here. The records spoke of a large door which leads to the inside of the mountain."
"How long ago were those records written? What if the door has changed since then? In so many thousands of years the way inside the mountain itself might have disappeared!"
"Most of the records were written around the time the Hidden Families disappeared. Many cultivators came to track down the hidden families. Some came to check out the ruins of the ancient cities. But after some thousand years, when no trace could be found of the hidden families, the Sect decided that the families had probably shifted off from here, and the people coming here gradually lessened."
"Does that mean that we are the first humans coming to this place in a few thousand years?!"
"Not necessarily. Lone cultivators have come here often. I also think the Zodamone Group came here when they were searching for a place to set up their base. However, for reasons unknown, they finally didn't select this place. These random records too have some mention of seeing the people of the Totram Tribe. Though there is no mention if anyone made it to their settlement."
"That doesn't solve the problem of how to enter the mountain.....if at all a way exists."
Beibei threw some of the Suction-Balls upwards, towards the mountain walls around them. A number of small vortexes sucked in the mist around them, at once clearing their visibility to a large extent.
The mountain wall was very steep but exceedingly smooth, shining like polished jade. The surface gave off a shimmering luster in the hazy light of the mist. The difference of this part of the mountain wall from the rest of the surrounding mountain itself told them that it must be an illusion.
They decided to set up camp a little away from this mountain wall. Searching around the place, they soon found a sort of cave nearby. Kunwa was tasked with setting up a set of defense, offense and suction arrays around their space, as both Beibei and Nanate sprawled out in separate corners, exhausted from their long journey though the path.