39: Chapter 39 Outside the Border Wall
The next morning.
The first rays of dawn pierced through the clouds, landing on the rusted hatch.
"Creeeak—"
The hatch was slowly pushed open, and three heads poked out cautiously.
Six eyes darted around, scanning the outside with vigilance.
"Holy crap..." Lin Mo's eyes widened slightly.
Before them lay a boundless sea of sand.
Unlike an ordinary desert, this stretch of sand was half-buried with countless wrecks.
Mechs, rusted into scrap metal, lay with twisted limbs.
Tanks with broken treads were stuck in the sand, with only half their bodies visible.
There were also the bones of unknown creatures; massive skeletons cast eerie shadows in the morning light.
The wind whistled as it passed through the gaps in the wreckage.
It sounded as if it were recounting the brutality of the battlefield that once was.
Lu Mengmeng subconsciously shrank behind Lin Mo, her voice soft: "What... what kind of place is this? Why is there so much junk..."
Lin Mo frowned: "Judging by what we see, a great war between humans and exotic beasts must have taken place here..."
Lin Mo climbed out of the cabin and brushed the dust off his body.
His gaze swept over the wrecks.
He could tell that this global war had happened quite some time ago.
"Be careful, don't touch those wrecks. Who knows if there's any danger."
The three of them tiptoed out of the hatch, their feet making a 'crunching' sound on the sand.
It was terrifyingly quiet all around; only the sound of the wind echoed in their ears, and those silent wrecks felt like countless eyes.
Quietly watching the uninvited guests who had intruded into this sea of sand.
Lin Mo looked into the distance; the sea of sand merged with the horizon, and there was no trace of any living thing.
He suddenly recalled the grey mist that had seeped in last night.
Lin Mo quickly turned around to look behind him.
It was fine until he looked; the sight gave him a fright.
There, one kilometer behind them,
a wall of grey mist, like a canopy, blocked the path they had come from.
"Th-this, what is this thing!"
Hearing Lin Mo's surprise, Lu Mengmeng and Niu Dachun hurriedly turned around as well.
"Huh, could this be the boundary of the Wasteland Secret Realm?"
Both of them had heard their parents talk about Secret Realms, so the word 'boundary' came to mind immediately.
"Boundary?" Lin Mo was taken aback.
But he couldn't calm down.
The Furnace Chariot was his Soul Skill. Although his vision was blocked by the Pill Furnace, his spiritual power allowed him to see the outside world.
If this wall of grey mist was the boundary,
then hadn't they crossed the boundary last night?
"Hehe, look how quickly we've reached the boundary of the Secret Realm. It seems this Secret Realm isn't that big after all!"
Lu Mengmeng lifted her chin slightly, looking as if this mere Wasteland Secret Realm was nothing special.
But she didn't know that the three of them had already crossed the boundary and arrived on the other side.
Lin Mo didn't have time to explain; he started walking toward the wall of grey mist.
"Hey, Boss, wait for me!"
Lu Mengmeng and Niu Dachun hurried to follow.
Before long, the three of them stopped half a meter in front of the wall of grey mist.
The mist was grey and hazy; nothing could be seen inside.
"Boss, don't reach in. I heard my dad say that even a level 90 Soul Saint would be dissolved by that wall of mist if they touched it."
"What! This grey mist is that powerful?"
Lin Mo was stunned.
"Y-yeah, that's what my dad said, so usually no one would be stupid enough to try and cross the boundary to their death."
Lin Mo fell silent instantly.
If even a level 90 Soul Saint couldn't touch it, how did a level 12 nobody like him manage to pass through?
And it only accelerated the consumption of his Soul Power, without any danger.
"Eh, it's just a boundary. As long as you don't touch it, there's no danger. Let's go check out those hunks of iron instead."
"My old man said that if you find some good things, you can take them to the official stronghold to exchange for merit points."
Lu Mengmeng suddenly suggested.
"Wait a second, Mengmeng, extend your Martial Soul inside and see."
To satisfy his curiosity, Lin Mo wanted to let Lu Mengmeng try.
"Oh."
Lu Mengmeng didn't think too much about it and directly released a Devil Vine, extending it toward the grey mist.
However, the moment the Devil Vine touched the edge of the grey mist,
"Sizzle!"
"Awooo!"
Lu Mengmeng immediately let out a miserable shriek as if electrocuted and fell backward to the ground.
Frightened, Lin Mo hurried forward to help her up.
"Mengmeng! What's wrong?"
"Awoo, Boss, my stomach hurts so much! My head hurts too!"
Lu Mengmeng held her head with one hand and her stomach with the other, trembling in pain.
Lin Mo knew at a glance that her Martial Soul had been injured.
Lin Mo quickly took out a soul condensing pill and stuffed it into Lu Mengmeng's mouth.
The soul condensing pill could not only accelerate Soul Power cultivation but also had the effect of solidifying a Martial Soul.
After taking the soul condensing pill and waiting for a while, Lu Mengmeng's complexion finally improved.
"Wuwu, Boss, don't trick me next time." Lu Mengmeng pouted pitifully.
Lin Mo laughed: "Fine, I'll do it myself!"
After helping Lu Mengmeng up,
Lin Mo also condensed his own Martial Soul, the Pill Furnace, and threw it toward the grey mist.
"Sizzzzzle—!"
The moment the Pill Furnace touched the grey mist, it emitted a harsh, corrosive sound.
A sharp pain surged from his spiritual sea and dantian, which were connected to his Martial Soul.
"Ah!"
Lin Mo groaned in pain and immediately clutched his head, letting out a low roar.
Daring not to hesitate for a second, he shouted sharply,
"Explode!"
"Boom!"
The Pill Furnace exploded within the grey mist.
That heart-wrenching pain vanished instantly.
Yet, lingering fear remained in his spiritual sea, and his forehead was instantly covered in cold sweat.
He hurriedly pulled out a soul condensing pill and stuffed it into his mouth. The pill melted upon contact, and a gentle Soul Power slid down his throat into his dantian.
The burning pain in his spiritual sea and dantian gradually eased.
"What on earth is going on?"
Lin Mo clutched his aching forehead, his brows knitted together.
"I clearly didn't have this reaction when passing through the grey mist last night..."
Last night, when riding the Furnace Chariot through the grey mist, although he felt his Soul Power consumption accelerate, there was absolutely no such excruciating pain of his soul being gnawed at.
"Could there be some difference?" he muttered to himself, his mind racing.
Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck him.
"That's right, it's the Soul Skill form!"
"Last night, it was the Furnace Chariot Soul Skill state. Although the Martial Soul was connected to his body via Soul Power and spiritual power, it was more like an independent carrier. Just now, releasing the Martial Soul directly meant it was completely connected to his body..."
Lin Mo instantly grasped the key.
In the Furnace Chariot state, the 'main body' of the Martial Soul kept a certain distance from his physical body and spiritual sea, so even if the grey mist eroded it, it couldn't hurt the core.
But when releasing the Martial Soul directly, the two were almost fused into one, and the corrosion of the grey mist acted directly on his spiritual sea and dantian.
"Perhaps, it also has something to do with one of my innate Soul Skills..."
He followed this line of thought.
"Maybe it's the uniqueness of that Soul Skill that allowed me to luckily cross this 'boundary' last night..."
Having figured out the connection, the gloom in Lin Mo's heart dissipated significantly, and his mood gradually calmed down.
"Boss, let's just find some loot and head back."
Lu Mengmeng had also been spooked by the eeriness of the grey mist earlier; looking at the boundary wall now, her eyes still held a trace of fear.
"This boundary wall looks super creepy; who knows what other dangers there are."
"Alright, let's go find some loot and head back." Lin Mo nodded in agreement.
Even though he had figured out his ability to cross the boundary wall, he would never dare to make it public.
If such a secret were exposed, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Furthermore, they knew nothing about what was hidden beyond the boundary.
With the strength of three "noobs" who hadn't truly grown up yet, rashly exploring would be no different from seeking death.
It was better to take advantage of the current safety, quickly scavenge some useful things, and quit while they were ahead.