A thick fog was in the way; it was almost thick like a wall. Hao Ren stopped. He looked to the left as well as the right, and the wall of fog stretched out into the horizon on both sides.
Dense fog had sealed off the entire town and there was no road ahead.
“This is probably the boundary of the town,” Vivian said. She reached her hand into the thick fog; she immediately felt a strange, slippery and warm touch to her hand. “The mysterious realm has a limit. I think we have reached that limit.”
“Why stop? Hurry up, hurry up—” Heimerwin said from the side as he was about to step into the fog. “Hurry up, hurry up, the devil may get away…”
“Can’t you see the fog?” Hao Ren pointed to the fog wall in front of him. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to just go in like that.”
Heimerwin was a bit stunned. He turned around his head looking at the foggy border of the town. “Fog? What fog? Is there a better weather than this? I can see the silhouette of the old mill from here.”
Everyone was stunned. Did this ‘ghost’ not see fog had sealed off the border?
Just when Hao Ren wanted to ask again, Heimerwin already stepped into the fog. Something incredible happened.
The dense fog gave way as if it was some kind of living creature. Road and vegetation gradually emerged as if they were born from the fog. The fog cleared out ahead as Heimerwin moved.
Hao Ren could not make of what happened. He pulled Vivian a little by her arm and said, “Everyone, let’s keep up.”
The fog seemed to be omnipresent. A few minutes into the journey, they had lost track of where they had come from. All they saw was fog rolling a few metres around them and visibility was poor. Lily grabbed Hao Ren’s sleeves nervously. “Mr. Landlord, will we get lost?”
“Can’t you sniff your way out?” Vivian rolled her eyes at Lily. “As a canine, you are afraid of getting lost? You wasted your talent on the spicy stick?”
Lily blinked and rubbed her nose. “Hmmm, you’re right.”
“Don’t worry,” Hao Ren comforted Lily. “I’ve left behind a beacon transmitter outside before I came in. We just stick together. And, we can teleport back if something happens.”
Nangong Wuyue looked at Heimerwin who was walking in front. She then pulled her brother’s sleeve and asked, “How does a ghost do that? Even the fog is giving way!”
“Because he ‘remembers’,” Nangong Sanba replied, frowning. “Though I’m not very sure, it seems that the town is composed of two parts: the physical world is the main body of the town while the supernatural parts, such as the spirits, the ashes, Heimerwin himself, and the dense fog that locked the town up are derived from the ‘memory’. The whole town is a large consciousness, and the things that remain in the memory become the phenomena before us. The phenomena are basically supernatural, they are unstable.”
Hao Ren looked at Nangong Sanba, feeling puzzled. “Where did you learn all these?”
“I didn’t learn anything other things except how to deal with the world of ghosts for the past one hundred years,” Nangong Sanba said, holding his head high. “Since I couldn’t defeat the Werewolf and Blood Clan, the only thing I could do is exorcism. This is the first time I see such a massive spiritual field. Anyway, the basic principles are the same; material, memory, soul together form a supernatural space. That’s what we see right now.”
Hao Ren nodded. But in his mind, he was wondering how Nangong Sanba still could be so proud to unashamedly admit his own inferiority.
They followed Heimerwin deeper into the fog. Hao Ren could now feel they were going uphill under his feet. Hessiana began to lose her patience. She asked the guide in front, “Hey, Heimerwin, how far do we have to go?”
Heimerwin almost jumped out of his skin when he heard a voice suddenly came from behind. He pointed to the front. “We should be there in a moment, right ahead. It’s within sight now, that black house. Ahh! It’s changed so much after I took a nap.”
The rest of them could not really see the ‘house’ Heimerwin was talking about. But no one said a word. After for long while, the road became gradually level and they came to an open space. This was the so-called ‘hiding place’ of the witch.
A ruined, old mansion stood alone on the open ground surrounded by dense fog, which made the mansion appeared spookier than it was. The layout of the mansion was simple; two storeys, and except a stable on the outside, there was no other annex. Judging from the size of the building, it belonged to the wealthy, at least commoners of that era could not be possibly afford this kind of residence.
Heimerwin flinched a little as he pointed to the entrance. “He lived here but he would not let anyone come close.”
Hao Ren nodded. He got closer and examined the exterior of the mansion curiously. Except the main entrance, all windows were sealed with wooden planks. Some planks had rotten so much that thick curtain behind the windows could be seen through the gaps. The building was horribly sealed that no sane humans would want to stay here.
Vivian looked at Heimerwin. “Haven’t you gone inside?” she asked.
“Err… I did. Once,” Heimerwin looked visibly frightened. “Everything inside was blasphemous. Books of the heresy piled on the tables.”
“Sounds like you are quite resentful of the ‘scholar’.” Hao Ren stared at Heimerwin, observing the changes of his expression. “But according to our investigation, you had given the ‘scholar’ your unfaltering trust, as if you wanted to hire him as a consultant. And you often held discussion with him.”
Heimerwin was stunned; there was a disgusting and uneasy expression on his face. “I was bewitched at that time! It was black magic, the power of black magic! The devil had brainwashed me with spells. I couldn’t even remember what was happening during the bewitched period. But I am awake now; I can recall some of the things that happened at that time… I think you are right, the devil is dead, and the spells he cast on me is gone.”
“Maybe,” Hao Ren nodded, pretending to be agreeable. He then brought Heimerwin into the house. “You have to come with me. I need a guide.”
Heimerwin resisted at first; he seemed to be wary of the house. But when he saw the wicked stares of Kassandra and Hessiana, he relented and bowed his head saying that he would cooperate.
The door creaked open when Hao Ren gave it a little push. Dust began to rain down from the beam above. He stepped back a little waiting for the dust to settle before he went inside.
Lily yanked out her Flamejoy as a torch. Heimerwin screamed in shock when he saw the torch popped up out of nowhere. Turcan poked Heimerwin with the hilt of his sword as if saying “shut up and keep walking.”
The inside of the house was messy with tables and wooden shelves just lay randomly around. But they were delighted to see items and books of black magic piled on the tables and shelves. The wizard had indeed been here.
“Looks like the fog hasn’t come into the house,” Lily said. She sniffled as she examined the furnishings. She had sneezed several times outside because she was allergic to the fog. She felt much better inside. “It’s weird, there’s no ashes in here.”
There was dust but not the black ash. It seemed that the weird ash existed only in the town.
Everyone searched through the materials and books. Noticing no one was looking, Heimerwin sniffled, and sat down carefully in a corner like a statue.
Hao Ren saw a big book that sat open on the big table in the middle of the house. The first words on the page attracted his attention:
“The opposite side of the door, the secret knowledge of the distorted kingdom.”