Chapter 81 — The Nether Dark Realm

The little girl who herded the sun vanished together with her Xizhou, and darkness came surging up, swallowing heaven and earth.

"What exactly was the Sun-Herding Clan's chief trying to say?"

Shen Mu sank into thought. Darkness shrouded the land, the Dragon Pillar lit up again, one brazier after another in the city was kindled, and temples glowed in the night.

The jade pendant on his chest also gave off a faint glow. According to the Sun-Herding Clan, the pendant came from the Worry-Free Land, and he too might have come from there. Yet in the geography map of the Wilderness, there was no such name as the Worry-Free Land. The place seemed not to exist within the Wilderness at all.

"Where exactly is the Worry-Free Land? Why does it only appear when darkness falls?"

He stared blankly at the darkness beyond the city, longing to walk into it and search for the Worry-Free Land. But the darkness covered such a vast expanse, shrouding the entire boundless Wilderness—who could know where that ethereal, elusive Worry-Free Land might be?

And besides, how could he safely traverse the mysterious darkness?

The darkness was so perilous; a small jade pendant could not protect him. And a treasure like the stone statue was too heavy—carrying it was like carrying a god on his back, something he simply could not do.

"Would my parents be in the Worry-Free Land?"

Shen Mu's spirits sank. Standing atop the dragon head of the Dragon Pillar, he raised his palm as if wanting to touch the thick darkness outside.

Beyond the city, the boundless darkness surged. It seemed separated from the bright scene within the city by a thin membrane. A massive palm appeared on that membrane, as if wanting to touch his palm.

Shen Mu looked up. The two palms drew closer and closer.

Whispers came from the darkness, as if many gentle voices were murmuring, urging him to walk into the darkness and merge with it.

The whispers grew louder and louder, as if drilling into his mind, ceaselessly persuading him.

Shen Mu's gaze grew hazy. The two palms were almost touching.

Gradually, the darkness before his eyes was no longer darkness, but another vast world. He saw a world like smoke or a water mirror, and a woman was reaching out her palm from afar, as if to touch his.

The woman's face was blurred and indistinct. He wanted to see it clearly, but could never make it out.

The jade pendant on his chest floated up gently, as if about to drift toward that world in the darkness.

"Shen'er, what are you doing?"

A voice both startled and angry came from behind. Shen Mu withdrew his palm. Kui Sou appeared behind him, jolting him awake. Shen Mu roused himself from his despondency and hastily pulled back his hand, breaking into a cold sweat.

If he had truly touched that palm in the darkness, what would have happened? Everyone else who had fallen into the darkness had died horribly. He too would have been devoured by the monsters in the dark, wouldn't he?

The massive palm in the darkness also withdrew and vanished, and the strange vision in the darkness dissipated with it.

In his daze, Shen Mu thought he heard a sigh from the darkness, but Kui Sou clearly perceived nothing.

Kui Sou was furious. He grabbed Shen Mu and pulled him along, saying angrily, "There are demons in the darkness, skilled at bewitching the mind. Be careful they don't snatch you away!"

"Demons that bewitch the mind?"

Only then did Shen Mu feel a lingering fear. He raised a hand to tuck the jade pendant on his chest inside his clothes, as if hiding his own thoughts along with it, and said to himself, "One day, I will travel through all the darkness, seek out its origin, and find the Worry-Free Land!"

"Grandpa Deaf, what exactly was that in the darkness just now? Why could I suddenly see things in the dark?" Shen Mu thought for a moment, then asked.

"What lies in the darkness is the Dark Realm."

Kui Sou said, "The Village Chief knows about the Dark Realm. He has been there. Let's go to the City Lord's mansion. The Village Chief is there too. Let him tell you."

Shen Mu was shaken. The Village Chief had been to the world in the darkness?

The Village Chief was actually so powerful that he could enter the darkness and still return alive?

"Shen'er, you actually saw that world in the darkness?"

In the City Lord's mansion, the people of Yincan Village were gathered together. Granny Zhu still wore Fu Yundi's skin. Pill Master, Silent Craftsman, Old Huo, Kui Sou, Blind Elder, Lame Elder, and Butcher were all present, listening as Shen Mu recounted his encounter aboard the Xizhou and his confrontation with the palm in the darkness.

The Village Chief was astonished. "I have indeed been to that world in the darkness. When I first came to the Wilderness, I was utterly despondent. All my life's aspirations had come to nothing, and I wanted to die, yet I could not die..."

He smiled bitterly, but the other villagers of Yincan Village understood the feeling—having the courage to die, yet being unable to, because the responsibility still rested on one's shoulders and had not been passed to another.

"At that time, I walked the edge between life and death, again and again wanting to end my life. Once, I could not withstand the demon's temptation and walked into the darkness."

The Village Chief recalled the past, his expression calm. "I thought I would surely die once I entered, but I was too powerful—so powerful that the darkness could not kill me, not for a moment."

Such words might make one think he was boasting, but the villagers of Yincan Village did not think so at all. If the Village Chief said he was too powerful, then he was too powerful.

How terrifying was the darkness? Every person in Yincan Village was a top-tier master, yet apart from the Village Chief, not one dared claim he could enter the darkness and survive.

The Village Chief continued, "I walked in the darkness, mad with grief, shouting at the monsters in the dark, seeking death. But just then, the darkness in my eyes gradually thinned, and I saw the world within it—a world overlapping with the Wilderness, yet different. It was a strange world, peeling away from the darkness all at once..."

Everyone was shaken. Such a world truly existed?

What did the world in the darkness actually look like?

"Although the darkness thinned, my vision was still veiled in mist, and I could not see far. Those twisted shadows sobered me. I could see them, but not clearly. They were all very powerful—some even more powerful than I. They beckoned to me, as if inviting me. I thought of the responsibility still on my shoulders, that I could not die there, so I withdrew from the darkness."

The Village Chief said gravely, "Later I tried to enter the darkness again to seek that hidden world, but I could not find it. The world Shen'er saw must be the same one I saw. That world in the darkness, I call the Dark Realm. And the world we inhabit, I call the Bright Realm. Light and dark correspond and alternate. By day, the Bright Realm holds sway; by night, the Dark Realm holds sway. Shen'er, the Sun Guardian of the Sun-Herding Clan told you that you might come from the Worry-Free Land, and that the Worry-Free Land sometimes appears in the darkness?"

Shen Mu nodded.

The others exchanged glances. Pill Master smiled and said, "Shen'er, go back and rest for now. The Jingping Army has just withdrawn, and the city is full of mixed company. We all need to keep watch tonight."

Shen Mu assented, left the City Lord's mansion, and returned to the inn to rest.

In the City Lord's mansion, the Village Chief, Pill Master, Lame Elder, Silent Craftsman, Granny Zhu, and the others wore grave expressions. After a long while, Lame Elder chuckled and said, "The child we raised might be from the Dark Realm—a demon from the world of darkness..."