The soldiers stationed at the boundary of Mount Taihun checked Jiang Kai's pass documents. After a simple registration, they allowed the five people to pass.
After entering the dense forest, Jiang Kai temporarily stopped.
"Brother Zhao, do you have a map of the nearby area?"
Zhao Tiequan nodded, "There are some records left from before, but I couldn't possibly explore every area on my own."
"No problem, share the map where you left your tracks with everyone."
The other four people opened their wristwatches and received the map shared by Zhao Tiequan.
Zhao Tiequan had explored many areas in the unknown region and left traces in numerous places. His wristwatch had directly and completely recorded the terrain of the areas he had passed through.
Mountains, rivers, and plains were all very detailed.
After receiving the map on their own wristwatches, others could display the received content in full detail. Only Jiang Kai's Wuweizhe had extremely low image resolution, with no elevation markers on the mountains, making it hard to read.
It seemed Zhao Tiequan's wristwatch model was too advanced, and Wuweizhe couldn't fully render the same results.
Jiang Kai was already used to this.
"Old Hu, see if you can make out anything."
Hu Yan frowned and kept examining the projection. "Not easy to read... Huh? Captain Kai, your map is good!"
Jiang Kai said in surprise, "Mine? It's this blurry, and you're saying it's good?"
Hu Yan directly turned off his own wristwatch, walked to Jiang Kai's side, and looked at the projection from Wuweizhe's wristwatch. "You don't understand. Reading feng shui doesn't require seeing every blade of grass. You just need a general view, as long as you can see the terrain."
"Zoom out the map a bit more. I want to see a wider area."
Jiang Kai didn't quite understand but followed Hu Yan's instructions.
Hu Yan carefully observed for over ten minutes and finally focused on a certain area. His frown grew deeper and deeper.
"This solitary mountain is quite peculiar. Roads are straight on all four sides, with killing intent rushing straight up. The surroundings are either swamp, where surely many beasts have died, or wilderness, where not a single blade of grass grows... this place is definitely a land of great misfortune!"
"If anyone buries a grave here, their family line will probably end!"
"Captain Kai, I didn't find a blessed land, but I found this land of great misfortune."
Jiang Kai didn't understand anyway, so in any case, this place seemed rather unusual.
Before Jiang Kai could speak, Zhao Tiequan became excited first.
"Damn, Old Hu, your eyes are sharp! I've been to that place once — and it was the only time — when I died while training in the unknown region!"
"What kind of place is it?" Jiang Kai asked.
"Some people call it the Ghost-Imprisoning Ground. That means, even ghosts can't get out of it!" Zhao Tiequan's expression was quite serious, adding a sense of mystery.
"It's said that even transcendents don't dare enter easily."
"Half of the surrounding area is swamp, filled with mire that has extremely strong suction. Once you sink in up to your calves, even if someone pulls you, amputation might be required!"
"There are many beast skeletons inside. I reckon even wild beasts don't dare get close."
"The other half is wasteland, often shrouded in poisonous mist. Visibility is less than ten meters. Strange sounds come from within the poison fog—possibly some kind of ghost."
Ouyang Yi asked curiously, "It's so dangerous, and you still went in?"
"I had to train." Zhao Tiequan said. "My family used to say I lived a pampered life. I had to prove to them that I'm strong!"
Jiang Kai looked at the location of the Ghost-Imprisoning Ground. It was about thirty kilometers away.
Thinking it over, Jiang Kai said, "Since the War God's relic still hasn't been found, it definitely won't be in a conspicuous spot. Let's go check out the Ghost-Imprisoning Ground!"
With a clear target, the five-man squad ate Mashen fries to reduce their human scent and immediately set off straight for the Ghost-Imprisoning Ground.
Zhao Tiequan was familiar with the area ahead, and with the effect of the Mashen fries, the squad avoided threatening beasts and arrived at the Ghost-Imprisoning Ground two days later.
The east side of the Ghost-Imprisoning Ground was the Devouring Swamp; the west side was the Bewitching Fog Zone.
"Captain Kai, which side do we enter from?" Hu Yan asked.
Jiang Kai thought for a moment. The Devouring Swamp didn't have beasts, but if someone fell into it, someone might get injured.
There were no medics in the squad. Injuries or disabilities would be troublesome.
However, the Bewitching Fog Zone wasn't easy either. He wasn't afraid of ghosts inside, but the mist was poisonous, and without a medic present, they definitely couldn't approach.
Thinking of this, the Fire God Squad could only enter from the swamp.
As they reached the edge of the Devouring Swamp, a foul stench hit their faces.
On the outer edge of the swamp's surface, a few exposed white bones could still be seen deeply stuck in the mire. The whole swamp was very calm, with only the occasional bird flying overhead.
That was just what could be seen on the surface. Who knew how many more skeletons lay beneath this calm swamp.
"Brother Zhao, did you go through the swamp before?"
Zhao Tiequan nodded. "The Bewitching Fog Zone is poisonous. I didn't dare approach, so I could only go this way."
"And you made it across?"
Zhao Tiequan shook his head. "I got halfway. I stepped on those white bones to cross, but after about forty or fifty meters, there were no more bones ahead."
"The bones I stepped on began to sink after I stepped on them. Worse still, even other bones started sinking along with them."
"The bones under my feet were also sinking. At that moment, I had to either charge forward or turn back and quickly get ashore using bones that hadn't sunk yet. In the end, I wanted to make a final dash and tried to speed up, charging through the Devouring Swamp."
Their speed was already fast enough to run on water. It would be even easier to dash across the swamp surface.
"It was going well at first. But just as I ran about twenty meters, a huge suction came from the swamp and directly pulled me in."
"Even though I tried my best, I was still seven or eight meters away from the island center. My wristwatch recorded the lone mountain on the island, but I didn't make it ashore."
After understanding what happened, Jiang Kai was quite shocked.
Even Zhao Tiequan couldn't successfully cross the swamp. That showed this swamp wasn't ordinary at all!
"About one kilometer from the center, with no footholds, and the swamp has extremely strong suction..." Thinking it over, Jiang Kai looked at Hu Yan. "Old Hu, about one kilometer — can you get us across?"
Hu Yan shook his head. "Too far. My control range isn't that wide."
Jiang Kai nodded. It was indeed too far. Hu Yan's Wind Whisper Spell could only control a few dozen meters at best. No way he could send someone a kilometer away.
At that moment, Hu Yan suddenly said, "Captain Kai, although I can't directly send someone a thousand meters away, I do have a bold idea."
"What is it?"
Hu Yan looked at Ruan Yu. "You remember those wings you made before? Can you make a few pairs for us?"
Ruan Yu said, "I did make some, but they all failed. They couldn't fly."
Hu Yan nodded. "Of course, we can't fly. But if we glide down from somewhere else, we'll have a better chance."
As he spoke, Hu Yan turned to look at a tall mountain behind them.
Jiang Kai looked at the tall mountain behind and immediately understood.
"Ruan Yu, just make five pairs of wings. They don't need to fly — we'll glide over!"
Probably no one expected the Fire God Squad to start doing extreme sports on Ghost Star.
The squad climbed the tall mountain opposite the island. This mountain was several dozen meters taller than the lone mountain, but the distance was too far, so they couldn't see clearly what was on the other side.
Ruan Yu immediately used feathers from some beast to make five pairs of wings — one for each person.
Everyone strapped wings onto their backs, faced the lone mountain, and stood in a row.
Ouyang Yi frowned. "Are you sure this will work? Don't end up diving straight into the swamp. That'd be sending ourselves to death."
Jiang Kai laughed. "There's no other way. This is our only option now."
Hu Yan had already taken out his Wind Thunder Staff, and the mountain winds around them grew stronger and stronger.
Jiang Kai looked at Hu Yan. The latter nodded, signaling he was ready.
"Alright!" Jiang Kai withdrew his gaze and looked toward the lone mountain. "Three, two, one — jump!"
At the same time, Hu Yan activated the Wind Whisper Spell.
A strong gust of wind assisted the five people as they glided toward the center of the island.
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