"Original Heavenly Sovereign, Original Heavenly Sovereign..." The voice drifted on the breeze, mingling with the rustling of the leaves, faint and strangely eerie. In the dim, sun-filtered forest, hearing someone call one's name suddenly was genuinely unsettling. How could it be that, after only having walked for such a short time, danger had already arisen? And yet, he couldn't respond. Zhang Yuanqing hadn't expected such swift encounter with the peril mentioned on the signposts. He maintained his forward pace, not pausing, as though he hadn't heard the call behind him. Yet, driven by curiosity, he guided the Blood Rose to turn and glance back. "Shh...shh..." Walking through the soil layered with decaying leaves, it took a few minutes before the calls behind him finally faded. "It seems that as long as we don't respond, there's no danger. Given the current situation, the notices posted on the signage appear reliable. Then, the real crisis must unfold after we reach the central region?" Zhang Yuanqing walked on, pondering. “So many people have died so quickly?” Zhang Yuanqing hurriedly opened the leaderboard and found the total number of participants had dropped to 180. His own rank remained unchanged—at 73rd. This indicated that the three deceased pilgrims ranked below him. Notably, the first place had shifted from Zhao Chenghuang to "Wu Wo Du Zun" with a score of 9 points. Zhao Chenghuang now held the second position with a score of 6 points. Everyone else’s scores remained the same. "Among the three deceased pilgrims, exactly one was a villainous profession. If all three were killed by 'Wu Wo Du Zun,' then his score would reach exactly nine. If this hypothesis holds true, then Zhao Chenghuang’s score increase must have come from the instance. Based on my current observations, there are no additional sources of score gains around me. No urgency—only the beginning of the instance. The early rankings in terms of scores are therefore not yet meaningful... Zhang Yuanqing turned his attention to the character 'Wu Wo Du Zun.'” Lawful and chaotic forces unite to eliminate him—clearly, this individual leans toward chaos. As he delves deeper, his chances of encountering other spiritual realm travelers grow significantly, and among them, the likelihood of meeting official colleagues is one in five. Furthermore, considering that Night Rose has embedded informants within the official ranks… Zhang Yuanqing decides to conceal himself first. He draws forth a seldom-used item—the disguise ring. Wearing the ring, he raises his palm to cover his face, gently massaging it. The otherwise handsome features subtly warp into a ghostly shimmer, then settle into an ordinary, unremarkable countenance. Wang Tai! To blend in effectively, one must avoid being either exceptionally handsome or exceptionally plain. Indeed, Wang Tai’s unassuming appearance—so ordinary that he seems to vanish into the crowd—makes him perfectly suited for such a role. Just as he completes his transformation, a subtle movement in his ear catches him: a heavy, deliberate footfall, breaking dry branches, comes from just to his left. Turned immediately to look, and there stood a middle-aged man dressed in black hiking attire, carrying a hiking backpack and walking with a wooden cane, his head down. Not a spiritual realm traveler—someone from the quest realm... Zhang Yuanqing suddenly remembered the etiquette of not making eye contact, so he promptly shifted his focus away. At the same time, he试探ly asked, "Mr. Elder, good day. I'm a visitor from outside the mountain, and I've gotten lost." "A visitor from outside the mountain?" the man hurried forward, "Are you indeed from outside? How do I get out of the mountain? Tell me quickly, tell me quickly..." Though Zhang Yuanqing glanced at him at a 45-degree angle and couldn't see his expression, the tone of his voice suggested excitement and enthusiasm upon hearing that he was from outside the mountain. "I'm sorry, I've gotten lost too, and I'm also trying to find the way out," Zhang Yuanqing replied. Hearing this, the light in the middle-aged man's eyes instantly faded, replaced by disappointment and resignation. He sighed, "I've been trapped in the mountains for six days now. My companions have all gone missing. I don't know how much longer I can hold on. I can't find my way out, and the entire city is going to be cut off deep in the mountains." Upon hearing this, Zhang Yuanqing knew the plot had begun. "Uncle, what do you mean by that? Is there a city inside the mountains?" he asked. The man nodded, then exhaled, "It's not that there's a city within the mountains—it's that this mountain range simply shouldn't exist at all." Zhang Yuanqing kept his gaze slightly lowered, saying, "I'm from outside the region, so I'm not entirely clear. Could you explain it to me?" The man seemed to have walked far and leaned against a tree, breathing deeply. "About two months ago, a new mountain range suddenly appeared outside the city where I lived. This mountain range is like an iron barrel, completely enclosing the city. We can't find our way out, and our communication devices have stopped working altogether." "Everyone in the city had endured two months, and gradually food and drinking water were running low, while order began to unravel—robberies, killings, assaults on the vulnerable..." "Seeing that rescue forces were not arriving, the survivors organized four groups, each heading in a different direction, seeking a path out of the mountains and seeking aid from the outside world." "The group I'm part of headed south. We all had extensive experience in wilderness survival—ordinary mountainous terrain could not hold us back. Yet, to our surprise, the very first night we entered the forest, our group encountered a crisis..." "South? The location I'm currently in is indeed the southern part of the lost city. Zhang Yuanqing confirmed the direction and asked, "What happened?" "The middle-aged man looked visibly frightened, as though a vivid memory of terror was being stirred up, and replied, "That very night, one of our team members went missing." "According to someone who shared his tent with him, that night the missing team member said he heard someone calling his name—a voice that sounded like his mother who had passed away many years ago." "Yet the person sharing the tent with him heard nothing. After a full day of hiking, everyone was exhausted, so the companion simply ignored it and fell asleep soundly. The next morning, we found the person missing." His mother, who had passed away many years ago, was calling his name... Is there a supernatural element at play here? It could very well be a hallucination—perhaps the missing person had responded to the call before vanishing. Zhang Yuanqing thought to himself and asked, "Have you looked for him?" The middle-aged man nodded. "The next morning, the team leader organized us to search for a long time, but we couldn't find him. With our duties to fulfill and limited supplies of food and drinking water, we had to continue on our journey without him. We kept our bearings and headed south, eventually setting up camp when the light grew dim." The team leader had arranged for everyone to gather branches to start a fire. As I was picking up branches, a sudden scream broke out, and I rushed with the others to investigate. There, one of the team members was lying motionless beneath an ancient tree, trembling violently, pointing at it—so shaken that he was nearly paralyzed. As he spoke, the middle-aged man's expression grew increasingly fearful, and his face grew paler. Unfortunately, Zhang Yuanqing couldn't see it. He said, "That tree has a face on it—exactly the face of the teammate who went missing last night." Could the face of the teammate have grown into the tree? That was even more eerie than a ghost story. So, was the real danger in the forest actually the trees? Zhang Yuanqing suddenly thought of something and asked, "Uncle, when I came into the mountains, I saw people setting up signs outside—did you have those posted?" The middle-aged man paused, startled: "Signs? What signs?" ...Zhang Yuanqing felt a weight settle in his heart.