*I found it!*
Caelus wanted to shout but held his concentration. It wasn't easy but everything was worth it.
He realized that because the veins pathway and the waypoint he was looking for were just there. In his eyes were veins pathway and waypoint invisible to humans, he wasn't able to imagine what it would look like. Even when he was feeling it with his Qi, he had a hard time finding the veins pathway and waypoint.
Nevertheless, when he tried to grasp for any information the original Sho might have read, he finally found his eureka moment.
The original Sho once read about periorbital veins that were not usually visible in the eyes unless someone gets old or in some cases when a person was getting sickness that could lead to blindness. Of course, it could also be just that the person is tired. In Sho's case, he just read it and didn't self-diagnose himself. Diagnostics should be left to the professionals after all.
Anyway, with the knowledge of the periorbital veins, he was now able to have a concrete path to follow. And once he scanned himself, he was able to find the invisible veins. It was also almost invisible in his Qi vision because he was extremely healthy, thanks to the System and him exercising a lot.
Finally able to find the veins, he started to create a new breathing pattern that included the periorbital veins. It took him a whole day before he was finally able to see through the Wandering Soul's form.
As he continued exercising the new breathing pattern that was close to technique. He felt himself becoming one with nature. And the next moment, he was shocked to see a transparent smoke that had blackness inside them. And boom, his concentration was gone. It only took one second for him to maintain the Qi Sight, but he was incredibly happy with the achievement.
"Yes! Now, I just need to follow through this!"
In the death stillness with Wandering Soul constantly attaching and hovering over him, Caelus continued to concentrate on the utmost important matter at hand.
***
"Okay. Now I can maintain my Qi Sight for one hour. It's time to look at the Wandering Souls."
After three days of practicing his Qi Sight, he was finally able to maintain it for an hour. Truthfully, he wanted to maintain it for at least six hours. But realizing it won't be easy, he made a deadline of one hour.
He was locked out from the world. He couldn't really afford to stay too long inside the Hidden Zone even if the reward was too good. He needed to make sure everyone was alright. He wasn't naive enough to think there would be no problem even if stayed here for a year.
He had been lucky to be safe alone. However, the rest was not as lucky as he was since the Super Phenomena began.
In the first day of the three days, he was able to discover that when he practiced Qi Aura Cloak, the Wandering Souls started to scatter away from him, as if he was a virus they didn't dare to touch. He just tried it because he was slowly becoming tired with the Wandering Souls making him unable to move.
An unexpected discovery he was glad to know.
And so, he felt reassured to go outside. Stepping out of the cave, he activated his Qi Sight. Once again, he saw the transparent smoky figures of Wandering Soul. Focusing on it, the figure was shaped in different forms. There was a humanoid, animal, mythical creature or even creatures he never imagined could possibly be shaped.
He was awed seeing them.
"Is this what a soul looks like?" He looked down on himself but failed to see the same thing. Maybe it was because his body was hiding his soul or maybe his Qi Sight wasn't enough to see through living souls.
Without achieving success, he looked back at the Wandering Souls. He noticed that there was something that every Wandering Souls has. A black core that spotted black smoke slowly making the transparent smoky figure turn into black in color.
He realized that those he could almost see without Qi Sight were actually Wandering Souls with more black smoke in them.
*Corruption…*
In his thought, that random idea popped up. He felt his hair standing at the ends. Yes. It was corruption. And as he observed them, the stronger the corruption, the more it affected the reality. One Wandering Soul was even able to destroy some rocks, while others could already lift it.
He didn't know if the more one stayed, the more corrupted they became.
"This is the reason why God's Army was tasked to ferry them. They're too dangerous to be left alone."
Oddly enough, he started to miss the damn angel Gabriel. Although he was irritating, he was right that without the God's Army, the situation was dire.
"They couldn't even take care of ferrying…"
He shook his head.
"Now is not the time for this. I need to find coins. I don't have any coins in me. There should be coins around here, right?"
He surveyed the abandoned village. He gulped. With the souls around, it was like a scene in horror movies.
*Ghost? Check. Abandoned village? Check. Resentful spirit? Of course, they are here, they're already practicing how to destroy things or throw stones. I should be careful when venturing out. Aside from Qi Sight and Qi Aura Cloak that wards them off, nothing else works on them. I can't hurt them, but they also can't hurt me directly. They could slowly seep negative thoughts in my mind but I'll just have to be aware of myself for that to be useless. Still, this is gonna be tricky.*
He could only sigh as he walked towards the abandoned village. He made sure to deactivate his Qi Sight because he was just going to look for some coins for now.
The village had an eerie feeling because of being abandoned for too long. From the distance where Caelus walked, he could see the tattered roof and walls of the houses. It felt like a disaster had hit the village.
As he grew closer, he noticed the pavement that had cracks and broken stones all over the place. The damage wasn't unilateral. Instead, different types of damage could be seen on them. There was a trace of claws, weapons, elemental assault and many more.
*It looks like a war has happened here…*
He silently thought as he continued to observe. Of course, him walking alone in the abandoned village with a whole Wandering Souls following him was a sight that would invoke fear. Nevertheless, since he was alone there, he continued moving forward.
*Nothing. No living being at all.*
He immediately noticed when he finished walking that it was indeed an abandoned village. Of course, he had a hunch that it was. However, he needed to confirm it to be safe. Not even a rat or cockroach was left in the area.
*What disaster hit this? It looks like both war and natural disaster. If it's just war, then there should be insects or rats alive. But nothing was here. This is the first Zone I've been, that didn't have any living beings aside from the Safe Zones.*
Of course, he didn't recklessly make conclusions just yet. Compared to others, Caelus was lagging behind with his experience on Zones.
When he returned to where he entered the village, he finally made up his mind to enter a house. To be honest, he was hesitant. The house looked like they would collapse if he opened the door. But having no choice but to look for coins, he braved himself and walked towards the nearest house.
Releasing a deep sigh, he opened the door.
~Creaaaaak~
A sound that said how old the door hadn't been opened welcomed Caelus as he pushed forward the old door.
As soon as he opened the door, he gasped in amazement by the sudden surprise he never expected to happen.