"These people are so strange," An Tao said, her eyes wide as she watched the cultivators frantically hacking at marsh snakes. "They don't seem to be in their right minds."
"Mm."
Chu Lingwei nodded, quickly backing away. This place was too bizarre.
"We need to find a way to wake them up, otherwise, who knows what else might happen," Chu Lingwei and An Tao retreated back to Lei Tao and his group, trying to speak with Lei Tao. "Daoist Friend Lei, can you hear me?"
Seeing Chu Lingwei return, surprise flashed in Lei Tao's eyes. "Daoist Friend Chu, why did you come back?"
Chu Lingwei and An Tao exchanged a glance. Lei Tao seemed different from the other cultivators; he was conscious.
"Daoist Friend Lei, why did you suddenly stop and come here to kill marsh snakes?" Chu Lingwei asked, helping him fend off a marsh snake lunging at him.
"I just found these marsh snakes particularly easy to kill, much weaker than the ones we've encountered before," Lei Tao thanked Chu Lingwei.
"He seems fine?" An Tao's magical artifact flew out, instantly slicing many marsh snakes into pieces.
The cultivators killing marsh snakes nearby cast displeased glances at An Tao when she did this.
"Little Cat, what's going on with them?" Chu Lingwei observed closely. There were no formations here, no poisonous gas, and no illusions.
Everything seemed normal.
Yet, these people were extremely abnormal.
"Weiwei, I haven't found anything wrong here," the Illusion Cat was also perplexed. It had searched many times but found nothing out of the ordinary.
Chu Lingwei remembered the incense burner that the great cultivator Zhuo Yu had gifted her. She took it out from her storage bag, infused it with spiritual energy, and wisps of spiritual energy emerged from the burner.
An Tao stood beside Chu Lingwei and immediately felt a sense of clarity.
Lei Tao smelled a faint fragrance, stopped his actions, and had a moment of confusion.
"How do you feel?" Seeing Lei Tao pause, Chu Lingwei stepped forward.
Lei Tao turned his head, saw the piles of marsh snake corpses around him, and realized his own strangeness. "Daoist Friend Chu, we just..."
"Yes, not just you, but those cultivators ahead were even worse."
It seemed they truly had a problem. Chu Lingwei infused more spiritual energy into the incense burner and stepped onto her flying sword, heading towards where all the cultivators were gathered. In less than two breaths, the incense burner took effect, and the spellbound cultivators slowly regained consciousness.
"What in the world is happening?" Lei Tao looked in horror at the ever-increasing number of marsh snakes. Their movements were still slow, but now they seemed somewhat unsettling.
"I don't know," Chu Lingwei shook her head. "But we should leave here as soon as possible. My artifact can only treat the symptoms, not the root cause."
Lei Tao thought of how he had suddenly stopped to kill marsh snakes and a chill ran down his spine. He nodded repeatedly. "Yes, I'll take them away now."
Having said that, Lei Tao quickly retreated. He wasn't willing to risk his life for a small reward.
The cultivators who had regained consciousness, realizing their recent actions were abnormal, nodded their thanks to Chu Lingwei and quickly departed.
Chu Lingwei waited until all the cultivators had awakened, then left with An Tao.
"Let's go first. We don't know what's happening here, so we should retreat," she mused. It now occurred to her that this was how those Lingdong stage cultivators had died suddenly in the past.
"Alright, we must report this matter."
They had all accepted tasks from Wangtian City. Now that the danger level of the mission had clearly increased, they had to report it. Their current mission would be voided, and the Mission Hall would re-issue it based on its increased danger level.
This way, they wouldn't be accused of failing to complete the mission.
"Someone must have already reported the situation here," Chu Lingwei felt her identity token vibrate. As expected, there were one hundred points under the task she had accepted to kill marsh snakes, and their mission had been canceled.
"Only a hundred points? That's too little," An Tao pouted. After completing a mission, they would receive the appropriate rewards, and this mission would have had corresponding points.
The higher the points, the more privileges they would have, and they could also exchange them for artifacts, spiritual items, or elixirs from the Mission Hall.
The marsh snake killing mission had problems, so the Mission Hall directly canceled it and compensated them with a hundred points, which was indeed a bit meager.
After all, with the mission having issues, cultivators could easily lose their lives.
"It seems all the cultivators have retreated," Chu Lingwei looked towards the center of the marsh, the place where the cultivators had been killing marsh snakes. "Do you think, if all the cultivators retreat, those snakes might come out?"
An Tao was still complaining about her meager points when she suddenly heard Chu Lingwei's words and shuddered. "Yes, with so many snakes, if we weren't blocking them, they would have come out in no time."
"I want to go in and take another look," Chu Lingwei was very eager to find out what exactly had happened inside.
"I'll go with you," An Tao was somewhat eager to try. They weren't afraid of being confused by the marsh snakes.
"Daoist Friend An, it's very dangerous inside. If we two encounter danger and get separated, I might not be able to save you immediately," Chu Lingwei shook her head. "Although my artifact can temporarily lift the confusion, it's not effective all the time. During combat, I might not have time to infuse it with spiritual energy."
Once the artifact lost its spiritual energy, it would cease to function.
An Tao's face fell. After some thought, she realized it made sense and nodded. "Alright then, I'll wait for you here. I believe the Mission Hall will send people to investigate soon, and perhaps by then, we can go in."
"Okay, I'll just go in to take a look and come out quickly." Chu Lingwei didn't openly enter in front of everyone. She first retreated to a secluded spot and then circled around to re-enter the marsh.
Seeing Chu Lingwei leave, An Tao, to avoid drawing attention to herself for secretly entering the marsh, retreated and found a hidden place to conceal herself.
Chu Lingwei's artifact earlier was too conspicuous; some people might harbor ill intentions.
"Weiwei, I think those marsh snakes are also problematic," Feng Ming could finally appear openly by Chu Lingwei's side, staring in the direction of the marsh. "Fourth-rank marsh snakes shouldn't behave like that."
"You don't need to tell me that, Weiwei obviously knows," the Illusion Cat jumped onto Feng Ming's body and retorted loudly. "Everyone knows that fourth-rank spirit beasts aren't that useless."
"Do you think it's possible that, like the cultivators, the marsh snakes were also disoriented and were easily slaughtered?" Chu Lingwei watched the densely packed marsh snakes below, slowly swimming towards the outside of the marsh.