Chapter 692 — The Carefree Village of the Netherworld

Shen Mu looked ahead, and saw only gray-toned mountains and rivers; the earth too was gray. Not far off, black shadows came and went with an eerie elusiveness—demons, surely—drifting to and fro like dark smoke, sudden in their coming and going, impossible to seize.

A demon circled round behind a dark gray tree and secretly took his measure.

Again Shen Mu heard a rustling at his ear—rustling, rustling: when those demons drew near, the darkness flowed, and gave forth that sound.

He walked on. Though beings such as these demons lived here, the place was desolate through and through; perhaps it was the gray that made it so. Yet trees and grasses grew here, and flowers too, and nameless demons besides—let a few more colors be added, and it might well have been another scene altogether.

The demons were indeed stealing toward him, but they kept their distance and only watched, never pressing closer, and to make out their true appearance was difficult besides—it was simply too dim here.

Suddenly something stirred in his heart, and he took a piece of beef from the Taotie Pouch.

Shua—

The beef in his hand vanished in an instant, as if bitten clean away by something. Shen Mu started; he could barely make out a blur of shadow pouncing at the meat in his hand—he had not even seen what it was!

"These strange creatures are everywhere, and their speed is beyond belief. Just what manner of beings are the demons of the Yin Realm?"

This explained why one could not lightly set foot in the darkness of the ruins—once you stepped into the dark, these ubiquitous demons would pounce and gnaw at flesh and blood.

From somewhere far off came the sound of chewing. Shen Mu followed it with his eyes and dimly made out a demon hiding behind a boulder, eating something.

He stepped forward; the demon fled in a fluster, and still he could not see what it looked like.

The sky was murky and uncertain. Shen Mu turned back and fixed the direction he had come from, lest he fail to find his way home, and only then went on.

Out of the gloom came many whispered voices; some demons had gathered together as if deliberating something, and when they saw him approach they scattered like black sand struck by a wild wind.

"Is the whole Yin Realm gray and dark like this? Is there nothing else? Does the darkness truly come from here?"

Shen Mu searched a while and found nothing of use. At last he could bear it no longer: he took out the Book of Life and Death and shone it at one of the demons.

The demon suddenly gave a shrill, wretched scream; black smoke gushed from its body, and the demon shriveled in an instant and dropped to the ground.

"This is..."

Shen Mu's expression changed drastically. He hurried over, and saw that the shriveled demon had become a sheet of human skin!

Just like the god-man he had seen before the stele of the Yin Realm—nothing left but an empty skin!

Alarmed and uncertain, Shen Mu murmured, "Are these demons, then, all skins? Does that mean there are no true demons at all?"

His mind was in chaos; he could not understand how such an outrageous thing could be. After thinking a moment, he drew some distance away and watched from afar.

After a while, darkness came like quicksand, rustling as it bored into that skin, and soon the demon stood up again, appearing and vanishing like a ghost, coming and going without a trace.

Shen Mu steadied himself and abruptly turned back along the way he had come, until he reached the stele. He bowed to the god-man's skin and said, "Senior, forgive the intrusion."

He lifted the skin in both hands and walked once more into the Yin Realm.

Once inside the Yin Realm, the human skin he held in his hands at once took to its legs and ran, vanishing in an instant!

"So that is how it is!"

Shen Mu was deeply shaken. These demons were indeed no true demons, but skins, one after another!

Within these skins there was no flesh or blood at all; they were occupied by dark matter, and their speed was inconceivable—yet shone upon by the Book of Life and Death, the dark matter drained away, and they became empty skins once more.

"Why do they eat flesh and blood?"

Shen Mu felt he had drawn a little nearer to the truth, yet the truth itself remained endlessly far: "To uncover the truth of the darkness, I fear there is no way but to explore the secret behind this Yin Realm."

He walked on. Suddenly came a rustling, creeping sound—a demon was drawing near him. Shen Mu was slightly taken aback: this demon gave him a familiar feeling.

"It is that god-man with the lantern from the Kaihuang era!"

The demon the god-man had become halted not far ahead of him. Shen Mu drew near, and the demon at once fled forward—yet before it had gone far it stopped again and looked back.

"His speed is like light, like lightning, far beyond mine. The reason he stops and starts is that he wants me to follow him!"

Something stirred in Shen Mu's heart. He quickened his pace and gave chase.

Man and demon raced across this gray continent. Shen Mu ran he knew not how long, until he was panting for breath; and the demon was considerate too—whenever he could not keep going, it slowed, and now and then it would even stop, the two of them only a hundred zhang apart, quietly waiting while Shen Mu recovered.

On they went, he knew not how far, when suddenly Shen Mu caught sight of other colors, and his eyes lit up.

There the mountains were green and the waters fair, birds sang and flowers gave forth fragrance, the lakes were a deep blue, and the air itself seemed to grow fresh.

There was even a town there—towers and pavilions, long bridges lying across the waves, double galleries spanning the air. From afar, the shadows of people moved in crowds, vivid and full of life. Who would ever have thought that such a place could exist within the Yin Realm?

The demon walked into that valley, and the gray upon its body seemed to fall away at once; it became a god-man radiant with spirit.

Shen Mu hurried after him, but did not step in right away. He first surveyed a full circuit, and only when he sensed no danger did he stride into the valley.

Along the streets went god-men and god-men alone, laughing and cursing, singing boldly—a veritable picture of market life.

"Young friend, you have come from afar, and I failed to welcome you. I beg your pardon!"

An aged god-man with a broad sash and a high crown came striding over from the distance, laughing loudly. He greeted Shen Mu and said with a smile, "Few outside guests come to our little place; I fear we have been poor hosts to an honored guest. Please, come in."

Though he seemed aged, he was hale and vigorous, his face glowing red, with no trace of decrepitude about him.

Shen Mu betrayed nothing, and smiled. "The elder is too kind. Elder, what place is this? I have seen only gray haze throughout the Yin Realm—this alone is vivid and full of life. There must be something extraordinary about it."

"This is the Village of Bliss within the Yin Realm—a place of bliss for gods and immortals."

The aged god-man's voice boomed like a great bell. He laughed. "Our little place is full of goddesses, beauties in abundance—some may soothe the troubles of your heart, some may ease the weariness of your flesh. Thus men linger and forget to leave, their hearts drunk here; to call it the Village of Bliss is no exaggeration."

Even as he spoke, goddesses beyond counting came walking from who knew where, orioles singing and swallows dancing, a riot of purple and red—the coy, the seductive, the sweet, the tart, the warm, the cold—all came surging over in a throng, laughing as they said, "An honored guest from afar, come to the Village of Bliss—of course you must be blissful here!"

Shen Mu laughed heartily, an arm around each side. "If the Yin Realm has a place of such leisure and elegance, then of course one must take one's pleasure. Only—I have but two hands, how can I embrace them all? Hahaha—"