“This is a city where mortals and cultivators live together. They only check the identities of some cultivators and do not harass mortals. In fact, the inspection of cultivators is just a formality. After all, the city lord stationed here is only at the mid-stage of Golden Immortal Realm and won't actively provoke trouble." Hu San explained, seeing Han Li's surprise.

"This makes things a lot easier. It seems that Fellow Daoist Hu San chose this place after careful consideration." Han Li praised.

As they spoke, they passed through the northern city, where mortals resided, and arrived at the southern city.

The southern city occupies one-third of the entire city's area and is mainly the area where cultivators are concentrated. The City Lord's Mansion is located here.

Not far from the City Lord's Mansion, there is a small mountain within the city called Wangyan Mountain, no more than five hundred feet high. The summit is the location of the largest immortal inn in Yanbo City, where Han Li and others chose to stay.

According to the information from the Reincarnation Palace, the last time the Mirage Dust Haze appeared over the Mirage Haze Marsh was about three thousand five hundred years ago, so the time for the appearance of this Mirage Dust Haze should already be around a hundred years.

Less than a hundred years is like a lifetime in the mortal world, but for cultivators, especially True Immortals like Han Li, it is just a blink of an eye.

Han Li and the others thought they would soon enter the Mirage Haze Marsh, but they didn't expect that after more than one hundred and thirty years, the Mirage Haze Marsh was still calm and unchanged.

Naturally, Hu San was the most anxious about this matter, and Shi Chuankong and Hellfire Immortal were also somewhat anxious. Only Han Li didn't think it mattered much. He was more concerned about the method of removing baleful aura from the Reincarnation Palace, but there was still no response.

However, after such a long period of closed-door comprehension, the fifth level of the Refining Spirit Art, which he previously found difficult to make any progress in, now had some clues and began to improve. In the "Huazhi" Cave Heaven, the Dao Soldiers and various spiritual herbs were also growing vigorously.

One day, Han Li had just finished watering the Dao Soldiers in the Cave Heaven. After leaving the Cave Heaven, he stood in front of the window of the pavilion where he lived and looked into the distance, his gaze passing over the scenery of the city and falling on the Mirage Haze Marsh in the far distance.

It was noon, and the weather was clear. The fog on the Mirage Haze Marsh had dissipated a lot, and the visibility was much better than usual. Even without using his Spirit Eyes, he could clearly see the Youfu Island in the distance.

Youfu Island is not really an island at all. It is just a sandbar formed by a mixture of aquatic plants and silt, covered with a layer of floating soil. It has an area of only a few dozen miles and is covered with shallow-rooted shrubs.

Han Li originally planned to watch for a while and then continue to cultivate the Refining Spirit Art, but at this moment, his brow suddenly twitched, and a purple light flashed in his eyes as he focused his attention on the direction of Youfu Island.

He saw a gray-white stone pillar protruding abruptly from the dark shrubs of the floating island, as if it had suddenly grown out of the island. It was only about six feet high, barely higher than the shrubs, and it would have been difficult to spot if Han Li's eyesight had not been extraordinary.

Immediately afterward, wisps of pink smoke suddenly emerged from around the stone pillar, becoming thicker and thicker. Soon, they spread out and diffused across the ground, which was overflowing with shallow marsh water. Before long, the entire Youfu Island was engulfed.

"It's here..." Han Li murmured softly, his eyes slightly lowered.

Almost at the same time, a voice sounded outside the pavilion: "Fellow Daoist Li, the Mirage Dust Haze has appeared. We must hurry and set off."

Han Li recognized Hu San's voice and replied, "Fellow Daoist Hu San, please wait a moment. I'll be right there."

A moment later, Han Li and his group of four gathered at the top of Wangyan Mountain, preparing to head to Youfu Island.

"Don't blame me for urging you, everyone. This Mirage Dust Haze is coming later than expected. There are already many cultivators who want to risk their lives to enter the Mirage Haze Marsh to pick up treasures and have come to Yanbo City. Although they have no chance of finding the entrance to the ruins, it's not a good thing for too many people to see our movements." Hu San said.

"It doesn't matter. Time is of the essence. Let's set off now." Shi Chuankong said.

Han Li and Hellfire Immortal looked at each other and nodded at the same time.

The four of them immediately soared into the sky, ignoring the strict rules of flying over the city walls, and turned into several streaks of light, speeding away.

After leaving Yanbo City, Han Li suddenly heard a chaotic noise from below. He looked down and saw a team of hundreds of people marching along the official road outside the city towards the Mirage Haze Marsh, beating gongs and drums.

The leaders of the group, dozens of them, wore strange masks that were almost half a person tall and held two handfuls of burning tobacco in their hands. They danced strangely, moving their bodies in exaggerated motions as they marched forward.

"Fellow Daoist Hu San, those people should all be mortals, right? What are they doing?" Han Li asked, puzzled.

Hu San glanced at them casually and explained:

"These people are the aboriginal descendants who originally lived in the Mirage Haze Marsh. They are no different from ordinary humans, but they are born with longevity and can live for more than two hundred years. They were moved out of the marsh more than ten thousand years ago. Their ancestors didn't know what the Mirage Dust Haze was. They only knew that whenever this pink smoke appeared, their clansmen would disappear and die. Over time, they thought it was a divine manifestation to punish them, so they left behind this custom of dancing the 'Nuo Dance' to pay respect to heaven and earth."

"Actually, nowadays they have interacted with cultivators and roughly know the reason for the formation of the Mirage Haze, but every time the haze appears, they still follow the custom and go to the edge of the marsh to report to heaven and earth and pray for peace." Shi Chuankong added.

"I see." Han Li nodded and stopped looking at those people.

About half an hour later, the group arrived at the edge of the Mirage Haze Marsh and landed.

A faint mist permeated the marsh, making it look like a vast lake. Near the edge, they could see a layer of shallow water, with dark green aquatic plants swaying gently underneath. Bubbles of white gas would occasionally rise from the water surface, making a soft "pop" sound when they burst.

The expansion speed of the Mirage Dust Haze was not slow. At this moment, it had already enveloped an area of hundreds of miles around Youfu Island. Even ordinary mortals could clearly see that the pink smoke was rolling in, covering the sky and the earth.

"I've said it many times before, but I can't help but remind you again that the power of this Mirage Dust Haze is not small. Once you enter it, you must guard your spiritual platform, maintain your mind, and don't let the illusions deceive you and lose your sanity." Hu San put away his usual casual expression and solemnly instructed.

"I have prepared some Divine Spirit Pills here, which can stabilize the soul and purify the sea of consciousness. They are somewhat effective in resisting this Mirage Dust Haze. You might as well take one in advance." Shi Chuankong flipped his palm, and a dark green jade box appeared in his palm.

"Brother Shi, these Divine Spirit Pills are not easy to obtain. I couldn't even buy them in the Reincarnation Palace. Where did you get them?" Hu San asked, surprised.

"What the Reincarnation Palace can't get doesn't mean the Guangyuan Chamber of Commerce can't get." Shi Chuankong raised his eyebrows and said calmly.

With that, he opened the jade box and took a pill from it, swallowing it down.

"With this, we'll be much safer." Hu San chuckled and also took a pill, swallowing it.

Hellfire Immortal looked at Han Li, a hesitant look on his face.

"Then thank you, Fellow Daoist Shi." Han Li then took out a pill and said with a smile.

After receiving the pill, he probed it slightly and found nothing wrong with it. He naturally put it into his mouth.

However, as soon as his lips closed, a strand of silver flame arose in his throat, wrapping the Divine Spirit Pill and introducing it into his abdomen for sealing.

Han Li was confident in his spiritual sense, so he did not intend to really take this Divine Spirit Pill unless it was necessary.

On the other side, Hellfire Immortal saw that Han Li had already taken it, so he also took a pill and put it in his mouth.

"Everyone, when we enter the Mirage Dust Haze later, we must use our divine sense to connect with each other so we don't get separated." After preparing properly, Hu San said.

With that, he waved his palm, and an exquisitely crafted silver flying boat appeared out of thin air, landing on the surface of the marsh.

After Han Li and the others boarded the boat, he performed a hand seal and activated it.

The runes on the silver flying boat suddenly lit up, and a layer of silver light rose from the bottom of the boat, lifting the boat half a foot and shooting out across the water with a "swoosh".

Han Li then noticed that the water in the Mirage Haze Marsh was obviously different from other places. The water quality seemed to be quite heavy, and under the whirlwind created by the flying boat, the waves did not splash around, but only rippled in waves.

He leaned down and probed with two snow-bright, jade-like fingers, gently swiping across the water surface, and he immediately understood.

The water here was also extraordinary, seemingly mixed with some kind of black sand, which had a certain corrosiveness, but it was naturally nothing to his current Golden Immortal body.

The silver flying boat sped along. Although they had not yet entered the area covered by the Mirage Dust Haze, as the sun set, the fog on the marsh began to gradually thicken.

As they passed a huge green duckweed, the water surface suddenly trembled violently. A large amount of water splashed into the sky with a "whoosh", and a huge black shadow rushed out of it, leaping into the air and crashing down on the group.

Han Li glanced sideways and saw a huge monster fish covered in black scales. The green duckweed was a messy tuft of hair on its head, and its wide-open mouth was filled with sharp, knife-like teeth.

The four people on the flying boat had already noticed the monster fish's sudden attack and didn't pay much attention to it. Hu San even joked, "This guy is really ugly."

Shi Chuankong slightly formed a hand seal and waved it in the air. A silver light swept over the heads of the group, easily slicing the monster fish in half.

Somewhat strangely, the severed wounds on both sides of the monster fish seemed to be sealed by a spatial force, and not a single drop of blood was spilled. Only after it fell into the marsh did black blood spread out.