Chapter 165: White Paper

The sky, pale as paper, held not a trace of life.

It choked the spirit.

Here, there was no night—only daylight.

Mountains, rivers, pavilions, and palaces all looked like brightly colored paper cutouts.

They appeared utterly false.

Every house was painted in vivid reds and greens.

Even the windows were drawn with ink, utterly incapable of opening.

This was the world of the dead.

At the end of the alley, beneath the eaves and walls.

Jiang Jian opened his eyes, his gaze cold, fixing on the figures around him.

Shi Shi Xuan's eyes showed sorrow, yet his lips curled into a smile.

His body had always been thin.

Now, he looked even more frail.

Like a sheet of paper.

"I told you, this is a gift for you."

Shi Shi Xuan's voice was hoarse; he waved his hand.

Instantly.

Jiang Jian's death jade surfaced.

It dissolved into gray mist, enveloping him.

Shi Shi Xuan said: "Here, your living aura is like a candle in a pitch-black room—too obvious."

"Without the death jade to conceal it,"

"You'd become dead within minutes."

Hearing this,

Jiang Jian subtly sensed—and immediately realized his body, under the gray mist, had also grown thin and deformed.

Matching the style of the surrounding buildings.

"My cultivation hasn't been affected."

He tried activating his spiritual essence; sensing no obstruction in the flow of Qi, he finally calmed his mind.

He looked at Shi Shi Xuan, his expression growing colder.

Shi Shi Xuan let out a bitter laugh. "Follow me."

Jiang Jian didn't move. "How do we get back?"

Shi Shi Xuan stopped, turned his head, and repeated: "To return, first follow me."

Jiang Jian stared at him for a moment.

Then he stepped forward.

The Realm of the Dead.

He knew nothing of it.

The only clue was Shi Shi Xuan.

This was an alley.

The houses on either side had bizarre shapes.

Some had no entrance at all—even their doors were drawn with ink, utterly false.

"Come in quickly!"

Suddenly, Shi Shi Xuan's expression changed; he shoved open a door and stepped inside a house.

Jiang Jian frowned and followed.

Crash!

Shi Shi Xuan slammed the door shut.

Through the wide-open paper window, Jiang Jian glanced outside—and his heart lurched.

A "person" walked past the alley, expressionless.

Its clothing was vividly colored, saturated to an unnatural degree, appearing deeply eerie.

Less than a meter away, beyond the window.

Jiang Jian could clearly see the wrinkles of age on its face, and its cloudy, whitened eyes.

"That's a dead one."

Shi Shi Xuan's face darkened. "Remember—never provoke it."

"Qi has no effect on them."

"Except for the energy they consume while eating, they are immortal."

"In an instant, it can drag away your soul and trap you here forever."

Inside the house, it was utterly silent.

Only the faint sound of footsteps echoed clearly in his ears.

Jiang Jian pulled his gaze back—and suddenly realized something, his scalp prickling!

Shi Shi Xuan was to his left.

But the footsteps came from his right!

His mind trembled.

Jiang Jian's pupils formed spirals; he tilted his head slightly.

In his peripheral vision, he caught sight of a "person," pale-faced, staring directly at him.

A dead one!

Shi Shi Xuan also shuddered, gripping his Moon-Seeking Blade tightly.

"Are you two also going to eat?"

The man in the suit grinned wide, his voice booming.

Shi Shi Xuan forced a smile. "Yes."

The suited man waved his hand. "Come on, let's go together."

He opened the door first and stepped outside.

Shi Shi Xuan and Jiang Jian exchanged a glance, then followed.

On the suited man's back grew another face.

That face glared with hatred, fixed on Jiang Jian and Shi Shi Xuan, mouth gaping, endlessly speaking.

But his voice was blocked—utterly inaudible.

"Remember—stand where the food is."

Shi Shi Xuan whispered.

Jiang Jian observed the streets on either side, brow furrowed.

Houses occasionally vanished into thin air.

Others suddenly appeared, snapping together with neighboring buildings.

Everything felt false, arbitrary.

Yet beneath it all, some pattern lurked.

Occasionally, dead ones emerged from the alley—looking no different from their living selves.

Only—

Some had multiple faces growing on their backs.

Others had several faces crammed onto their necks, eyes and noses tangled together.

Some looked bewildered, their bodies appearing entirely normal.

Others had faces crammed onto their arms, thighs, and shoulders.

These twisted faces spoke to each other, their features distorted, eyes and noses pressed together, grotesquely unnatural.

The village was small.

In minutes, they reached the town square.

The suited man's face lit up; he ignored the two, strode forward, and chose his spot.

The dead think differently from humans—impossible to judge by normal logic.

Gradually,

Dozens of dead ones gathered, standing scattered across the square.

Aside from a few clean ones,

The rest bore faces on their bodies, their expressions growing more venomous, mouths contorted in silent screams.

Suddenly,

One dead one turned its head toward Jiang Jian: "It's mealtime—why aren't you coming?"

Jiang Jian fell silent for a moment, then walked to a corner of the square.

On the stone tiles below, carved the character: "Yao."

Shi Shi Xuan also found a tile marked "Yao" and stood still.

Jiang Jian looked around, and in the depths of his spirit, a profound, indescribable desolation surged forth.

Beneath the pale white sky, everything was as illusory as bubbles.

The Underworld was never a world for the living.

What Shi Shi Xuan said could not be fully trusted.

But to leave the Underworld, he could only follow the clues from Shi Shi Xuan.

As he pondered.

Deep within Jiang Jian's pupils, frost-white karmic fire surged, forming a swirling vortex.

Spiritual energy was useless to the dead.

But karmic fire possessed the quality of burning all things to ash.

As if reaching some critical moment.

The standing dead finally moved.

The dead on the "Dan" brick walked toward the dead on the neighboring "Yao" brick, reached out, and tore with force.

Instantly.

From the latter's body, a twisted human face was ripped off!

The former clutched the face—eyes, nose, mouth—all at once—and shoved it into its mouth, chewing voraciously.

In mere seconds.

A human face grew upon its own body.

In the end.

The dead on the "Yao" brick had all its faces consumed.

Its own face was peeled away as well.

Its body collapsed and dissolved.

All traces of its existence were erased.

Only a single face remained, now on the body of the dead on the "Dan" brick.

Consciousness gone, twisted with malice.

Jiang Jian and Shi Shi Xuan stood on bricks marked "Yao."

But no dead figures stood on the surrounding bricks.

Half an hour later.

All the dead on the "Yao" bricks had crumbled into dust, vanishing into smoke.

On the "Dan" bricks, only a dozen or so dead remained, each now bearing many more faces!

The man in the suit stood on a "Dan" brick, studying the faces on his own body.

Originally, he had only one face on his back.

But after his ravenous feast.

His shoulders and neck were now covered in human faces.

"Still too few."

The man in the suit muttered to himself, raising his head, his gaze unconsciously falling upon Shi Shi Xuan.

Shi Shi Xuan's expression changed instantly.

The man in the suit smiled strangely, striding toward Shi Shi Xuan.

Seeing this.

Shi Shi Xuan calmed, gripping his blade's hilt tightly, watching the man in the suit with cold eyes.

The man in the suit halted, extended his palm, and reached toward Shi Shi Xuan's face.

"Time to sleep."

Nearby, a dead man spoke to himself.

Many dead turned and walked back toward the houses they had come from.

The man in the suit's hand froze midair.

His eyes grew confused; he murmured, "Time to sleep."

As he spoke.

The man in the suit turned and walked into the depths of the village.

A few minutes later.

Only Jiang Jian and Shi Shi Xuan remained in the village square.

"Follow me."

Shi Shi Xuan spoke in a low tone and walked straight out of the village.

(End of Chapter)