tion, but such opposites ended up becoming friends.During college, Xiao Yu's dormitory, like others, was ranked too; however, within the dormitory, whether it was because of his poor academic performa...Chapter 533: Miasma-Dispelling Grass

Upon seeing what was under his feet, Xiao Yu suddenly froze. The thing that had almost tripped him earlier turned out to be an iron rivet.

The iron rivet was round and about ten centimeters in diameter. About ten centimeters of it protruded from the ground. It looked like a thick cylinder growing out of the earth.

Thirty centimeters away from this iron rivet, another identical rivet had been hammered into the ground next to it. If that was all there was, Xiao Yu wouldn’t have been surprised, but what astonished him were the two sturdy iron chains attached to these iron rivets and extending towards the muddy swamp.

Xiao Yu looked at the chains and thought for a moment before reaching out to grasp one of them and giving it several vigorous shakes.

As Xiao Yu shook, the chain wobbled slightly, causing ripples in the muck. Seeing this, Xiao Yu walked over to the swamp’s edge and touched the mire; he found that the chain didn’t extend far into the mud but rather lay more or less level with it, covered by dead branches and leaves on the surface of the swamp.

Xiao Yu tried moving the other chain as well and discovered that both were in a similar state. He straightened up and followed the chains toward the foggy swamp, but because of the thick mist, he could only see two or three meters into it—nothing beyond.

Contemplating the swamp before him, Xiao Yu pondered deeply; he had already searched along the entire perimeter of the swamp without finding any miasma-dispelling grass.

The sudden appearance of these chains must be significant. A thought struck Xiao Yu: "Could this chain lead somewhere else"

Despite his curiosity, looking at the swamp made Xiao Yu hesitate. If he fell into it, even with his formidable strength, it might not do much good. Moreover, his spirit was already very weak; if he forced it to leave its body now, who knew what could happen After all, there was still a monkey somewhere unknown, and no one would be protecting his physical body.

Xiao Yu stood in indecision for a moment before gritting his teeth and stepping onto the chain, inching forward into the depths of the swamp.

He had no other choice; along the edge of this swamp, he hadn’t found any miasma-dispelling grass. Zhang Dahai and the others were waiting for him to save them. If he didn’t act now, standing here wouldn’t help anything.

Xiao Yu had just taken a couple steps along the chain when something white burst out of his chest and leaped onto Xiao Yu’s head; it too was looking into the depths of the swamp.

This white shadow was indeed the Soul-Eating Mouse. When Xiao Yu saw this mouse, his eyes suddenly lit up. The soul-eating mouse's body was rather light, so even in the swamp, it wouldn't encounter any problems. After all, the dead branches and leaves floating on top of the swamp were enough to support its body.

"You follow this iron chain and lead the way ahead!" Xiao Yu looked at the soul-eating mouse and muttered something under his breath. An invisible wave, carrying Xiao Yu's consciousness, surged into the mind of the soul-eating mouse,

“Squeak squeak...” After Xiao Yu’s consciousness entered the soul-eating mouse's brain, this clever little mouse turned around and chirped at Xiao Yu a few times.

Af ter its chirping ended, the soul-eating mouse darted forward and disappeared into the thick fog. As for the poisonous smog, Xiao Yu had never been concerned about it; after all, this soul-eating mouse was the offspring of a soul-devouring ferret. How could such a spiritual creature be afraid of some minor toxic fumes It needed to feed on yin煞qi (yin malevolent energy) in its daily life, which wasn't inferior to any poison.

“Squeak squeak...” Soon afterward, the thick fog echoed with the soul-eating mouse's calls. Although Xiao Yu didn't know what it was trying to say, he could hear joy from its chirping.

Hearing this call, Xiao Yu lifted his feet and followed the iron chain into deeper parts of the swamp.

At first, the iron chain was level with the liquid surface of the mud in the swamp. But as he walked further, the iron chain kept sinking lower, while his feet sank deeper into the mud.

"Five centimeters..."

"Ten centimeters..."

"Fifteen centimeters..." When Xiao Yu had only walked about four or five meters, fifteen centimeters of mud already covered his shins. Furthermore, ahead lay a thick layer of poisonous smog, and behind him was also fog.

Standing in place, Xiao Yu looked around; apart from his breathing sounds and the occasional faint popping noises as air bubbles burst from beneath the muddy surface, there were no other sounds here, creating an eerie silence.

Stuck in this swamp with fifteen centimeters of mud already covering his feet, Xiao Yu couldn't help but ponder. Not only was he sinking deeper into the iron chain, but it wasn't easy to walk on these chains through the mire either; if he weren’t careful, he could fall in.

If that happened here, even Xiao Yu would struggle!

After a while, gritting his teeth, Xiao Yu continued forward. He had to find the detoxifying grass; without it, Zhang Dahai and the others were as good as dead. Therefore, no matter what happened, he had to proceed on this iron chain even if he didn't know where it would lead him. This was his only hope now.

When the mud reached Xiao Yu's knees, every step he took caused the iron chain to sway slightly. As a result, his pace was extremely slow. After more than ten minutes had passed, he had only managed to move forward by about two meters.

Suddenly, while walking, Xiao Yu paused for a moment and then showed a hint of joy on his face. He realized that as he moved forward, the iron chain started moving upwards rather than downwards.

Xiao Yu knew that the iron chain had passed its lowest point; from now on, it would keep going up. Just moments ago when he was at the lowest point, there were roughly six or seven meters between him and the shore. Therefore, to reach the opposite bank, he only needed to cross five to seven more meters.

As Xiao Yu continued moving forward, a black platform came into his sight ahead of him.

"Squeak..." When Xiao Yu saw this platform, the Soul-Eating Rat standing on it also noticed him.

Af ter seeing the platform, Xiao Yu suddenly accelerated and ran towards it in just a few strides.

Initially, when he was in the middle of the swamp, surrounded by darkness with no idea how far his destination was, he naturally didn’t dare to move around recklessly. But now that he saw this platform, he felt much more at ease.

A fter Xiao Yu got onto the platform and looked around, he realized it wasn't an endpoint but rather a kind of transit station; both chains leading from where he had come originated here.

On the other side of this platform, there were two more iron chains extending far into the distance.

Xiao Yu pointed at one of the distant chains for the Soul-Eating Rat, and it quickly scampered off. Xiao Yu then stepped forward onto these chains after the rat left.

In this toxic swamp, such structures clearly didn’t belong here naturally; they were man-made. Even though he hadn't yet found the detoxifying grass, Xiao Yu wasn’t discouraged. As long as there was a chance, he would find it.

Moreover, he had no idea what lay at the end of these chains and speculated that perhaps the detoxifying grass might be located there.

Xiao Yu started walking forward again slowly. This time, based on his previous experience, everything went much more smoothly; even when mud covered his knees, he remained calm and walked steadily ahead.

Soon enough, Xiao Yu found himself standing on another platform once more. Similar to the last one, he made no pause here and continued moving forward.

Xiao Yu repeatedly crossed five or six platforms, but the scenery ahead remained unchanged. Standing on this platform, Xiao Yu began to contemplate quietly.

When Xiao Yu was searching for the detoxifying grass around the swamp earlier, he had roughly estimated that the size of the swamp was about two square kilometers.

By now, Xiao Yu had walked over two hundred meters. Although he didn't know what lay ahead, he knew that even if he wanted to reach the opposite shore, it would still be quite a distance.

Xiao Yu calmed his mind and continued moving forward. When he stepped onto another platform again, he suddenly noticed a blurry black landmass ahead, prompting a slow smile to form on Xiao Yu's lips.

Xiao Yu walked across the iron chains towards that piece of land.

The closer Xiao Yu got, the clearer this land appeared. It stood in the swamp like an island in the middle of the sea.

On this small island, everything Xiao Yu could see was barren rock with no vegetation and dense toxic miasma covering anything further away, making it impossible for him to see beyond.

Xiao Yu leaped onto the final platform. One end of the platform had two iron chains, while the other end led to several steps. After descending from the platform, Xiao Yu ventured deeper into the island.

The spirit-eating mouse darted off the moment it entered this small island and disappeared somewhere unknown.

As Xiao Yu walked around the island, he kept his eyes open for the detoxifying grass since that was his mission today.

Xiao Yu suddenly paused while walking and looked at a nearby rock. Along the way, everything had been barren, but now he discovered a small patch of grass among some rocks, which turned out to be the detoxifying grass he sought.

Although obtaining this detoxifying grass was difficult for Xiao Yu, it hadn't taken him long after arriving here before he found it. Moreover, instead of just one or two plants, there was a whole patch about a meter in diameter.

Xiao Yu hurried over and pulled out the detoxifying grass from its roots as soon as he spotted them. He kept pulling until he had harvested roughly half of this patch before he stopped.

Since he didn't know when or if he would come back to this place, Xiao Yu decided to gather a bit more, so that after turning it into detoxifying pills, they could be used as an emergency backup. (To be continued...) the city, he remains one of those at the top echelon. However, Xiao Yu’s family background is ordinary. Initially, Lu Jianhong's parents strongly opposed their relationship; yet, when faced with resi...