**Chapter 85: Lone Boat in the Fog Sea**
They continued along the river, about a hundred li from the source of the Yong River, and strange things grew more frequent.
Qin Mu saw bright lights ahead, illuminating the darkness. There was a village there, its lanterns conspicuous against the gloomy night. An old man sat in the village making paper boats; each one he finished flew out of the village and moored by the riverbank. Wet men and women climbed aboard, and the paper boats drifted toward the center of the river, where thick fog blanketed everything, until the boats vanished into the mist.
"Those are the death-guides," the Village Chief whispered. "They appear at night, ferrying those who died in the river. Do not disturb them."
"Death-guides?"
Qin Mu was curious and looked more closely at the old man, whose face was blurry, as if seen through a veil. The old man seemed to sense his gaze and looked up. Qin Mu's hair stood on end as his soul trembled, threatening to leave his body. But a resounding Buddhist voice emanated from his brow—the Tathagata seal Old Ma had planted there blazed with light, blocking the old man's gaze.
"The living shall go no further," the old man murmured, lowering his head to resume his work, his faint voice drifting over.
The Village Chief said cautiously, "Mu'er, do not interfere with the world after death."
"The world after death?" Qin Mu was stunned. "We're clearly in the Great Ruins. This isn't the afterlife. Why would the Village Chief say that..."
"The Great Ruins contain many anomalies connected to multiple worlds. That small village is where the world of the dead borders the living world," the Village Chief explained. "Such places also exist outside the Great Ruins. If you leave the Ruins and encounter such a village and such an old man, do not approach them. As long as you don't provoke them, they won't trouble the living. However, they know many things, and you can ask them for directions." He raised his voice. "Brother, may I ask how to reach the Carefree Village?"
The old man raised a finger and pointed into the darkness. "You cannot reach the true Carefree Village—"
Shaking his head, the Village Chief thanked him, and they moved on. After traveling an unknowable distance, the jade pendant on Qin Mu's chest suddenly floated upward, pointing ahead.
Qin Mu's heart stirred. "Village Chief!"
The Village Chief turned, saw the pendant's behavior, and nodded. Qin Mu unfastened it, hesitated a moment, then let it go.
The pendant rose and flew forward. With Qin Mu following, the Village Chief chased after it. The pendant accelerated, streaking through the darkness like a meteor.
Suddenly, with a sound like a pebble dropping into a lake, the pendant struck an invisible barrier, sending ripples through the air. Before them, a strange world unfolded within those ripples—a vast landscape shrouded in gray fog, towering mountains hidden within the darkness, overlapping with it yet not being darkness itself.
"Another world truly exists within the darkness!" The Village Chief rushed forward with him. Qin Mu grabbed the pendant, unable to contain his excitement. "Is this the Carefree Village? Are my parents here?"
The pendant pulsed in his hand, straining toward its owner.
Qin Mu hung it back on his chest to lead the way. The Village Chief moved quickly in front of him. "Mu'er, we've already arrived. There's no rush. Let's take it one step at a time. This place is strange..."
They walked on. The mountains were beautiful but shrouded in gray fog. A crack sounded beneath Qin Mu's feet, and a voice said: "You stepped on me..."
Qin Mu jumped and looked down. A withered bone hand was withdrawing from under his foot, and a skeleton poked its head out of the fog, its empty eye sockets "looking" at him.
"A living person!" it shrieked, the piercing cry echoing through the misty world.
Qin Mu stepped back. Another crack sounded. He looked down and saw the ground was covered with countless bones, piled who knew how deep.
His Nine-Layer Heaven Eye spun as he gazed toward the mountains, and he shuddered repeatedly.
Those mountains were built from countless bones! The bones were piled into peak after peak, hidden within the fog.
His scalp went numb. Bones were standing up one by one, skeletons swaying in the gray mist, distorted voices echoing: "A person? Where?" "Haven't seen a living person in ages! Who could have broken through?" "They have flesh, we don't—let's take their flesh—"
The Village Chief frowned. In the distance, the mountains were also shaking, then standing up, becoming grotesque beasts made of countless white bones that strode toward them. As they moved, skeletons danced joyfully, running over and climbing onto the bone-mountains, making the titanic beasts ever larger.
Some bones still radiated divine or demonic might—clearly the bones of gods and demons!
The skeletons' clamor was chaotic, countless voices crying to devour the intruders. "Where did all these bones come from?" Even the Village Chief felt a chill. Several three-foot skeletons rushed out, grabbing Qin Mu's legs and biting. He smashed them with palm strikes, but more came clicking like ocean waves—terrifying.
The Village Chief's qi surged into streams of sword-light, but there were simply too many skeletons, especially those divinely empowered bones that would be far harder to deal with.
But then light blazed from Qin Mu's brow. A colossal Buddha phantom appeared behind them, and instantly the skeletons shrieked and fled in all directions. Many merged while running into giants, but some tripped, shattered back into individual skeletons, and scrambled away before re-forming.
Qin Mu relaxed. The Buddha phantom Old Ma had planted in his brow was remarkably effective—the skeletons dared not approach. Even the distant bone-mountains halted, watching warily.
The gray fog rippled like waves, the mist between the bone-mountains shaping the place into a sea of fog. Suddenly Qin Mu saw a small skiff drifting between two of them.
It floated on the fog, a single lantern hanging from a lonely mast at its bow, its glow feeble. No sail. At the stern stood a boatman in a tattered straw raincoat, rowing with an oar, a bamboo hat on his head. Beneath the lantern sat another person, face hidden beneath his own hat.
The skiff drifted quickly to them. The person stood, bowed to the boatman, and produced a gold coin. As the boatman reached for it, Qin Mu saw his hand had no flesh at all. Beneath the bamboo hat, within the straw coat, was a skeleton—a skeleton rowing a boat!
The passenger disembarked. Seeing Qin Mu and the Village Chief, the person paused, then bowed with an aged voice: "Brother."
They returned the bow. "Brother."
The person pressed down his bamboo hat and walked away.
"Brother, a moment," the Village Chief said. "Do you have any coins to spare?"
The person laughed hoarsely. "You came without money and expect the ghost to grind? Very well." He extended his palm, and several gold coins floated up.
The Village Chief's expression turned solemn. His qi manifested, arms and legs appearing on his body as he slowly reached for the coins. Their palms touched, and both swayed slightly.
The man withdrew his arm and turned away, sighing: "You've aged, but still surpass me by a fraction. Fortunately, I'm a few years younger, so I'll outlive you."
"You've grown stronger than before," the Village Chief watched him go, "but you may not outlive me."
"We shall see." The figure leaped and vanished.
The Village Chief opened his palm; four Fengdu coins fell into Qin Mu's hand. "Mu'er, let's board the boat."
Qin Mu climbed aboard, heart pounding. The Village Chief floated up and leaned against the mast. The skeleton boatman turned the bow, and the little boat glided smoothly into the mist between the bone-mountains.