Chapter 166: Darkness

"This is what awaits after death."

Shi Shi Xuan did not turn around; his voice grew even more hoarse.

"Some dead people, their faces multiply until they reach a certain point, then they can leave the village."

"Some dead people become the peeled-off faces."

"The remaining consciousness dissipates completely, vanishing entirely from the world."

Shi Shi Xuan stopped walking and gazed ahead at the white stone road.

At the road's end lay a void cliff.

So this was it.

This village floated in the sky.

Above and below, everything was blindingly pale white.

Looking out across the expanse.

Countless villages, one after another, covered the entire heavens.

Shi Shi Xuan took from his pocket a large piece of Dead Man's Jade and activated it.

Gray mist swirled.

At the road's end, a phantom gate appeared.

"Go."

Shi Shi Xuan stepped forward into the gate.

Jiang Jian, however, walked to the gate's threshold, halted, and looked back.

The village was utterly silent; the red and green houses resembled paper offerings.

Several dead people stood atop rooftops, staring this way.

"This place is utterly unlike the surface world."

Jiang Jian frowned slightly, summoned his Karma Fire to shield his body, then turned and stepped through the gate.

Light and shadow shifted.

Before them stood an ancient city gate over ten meters tall.

The gate loomed like a mountain, impossibly vast.

So much so that the two of them standing before it appeared minuscule.

Above the gate hung a massive plaque.

Carved upon it in gold-inked ancient script were four characters.

Mount Jiuhua City.

As he approached the gate, Shi Shi Xuan's expression grew even more sorrowful.

He halted and whispered, "Jiang Jian, this is the place I asked you to help me with."

Jiang Jian fell silent for a moment, then asked, "What exactly do you need me to do?"

"You'll find out soon enough."

Shi Shi Xuan gripped his long blade and slipped through the gate's crack.

Jiang Jian carefully observed his surroundings, memorized the terrain, then turned and entered the gate.

Along the wide street.

Many dead people walked.

Their bodies were almost entirely covered in faces.

Some dead people, swollen with countless noses and eyes, were grotesquely obese, their height exceeding three meters.

Others were entirely covered in mouths, stretching over two meters long, crawling on the ground as their countless mouths writhed.

"This is the Underworld."

Shi Shi Xuan let out a bitter laugh. "After death, one should be done with it all."

"But some, even dead, must endure this torment day and night."

"With fragments of consciousness left, they drift endlessly in this paper-thin dead realm, trapped in endless cycles."

"This terrible punishment surpasses even the eighteen layers of Hell."

As he spoke,

Shi Shi Xuan walked with familiarity to a pavilion, pushed open the door, and entered.

Jiang Jian stepped inside, looked up—and his pupils shrank at the horrifying sight before him!

It was a dead person three stories tall.

It sat there, its wheel-sized head pressing against the ceiling.

Its entire body was covered in dead ears.

The dead ears were densely packed; a rough count suggested hundreds of thousands.

On its massive head rested a dead face, complete with nose, eyebrows, and eyes.

But even this face had numerous dead ears emerging from it.

Only, compared to other parts of the body, they were sparser.

"She is my mother."

Shi Shi Xuan trembled. "I need you to help me free her."

"Jiang Jian."

"Can you?"

Shi Shi Xuan turned to face him, his whole body shaking, yet his gaze unwaveringly resolute.

Jiang Jian forced himself to steady his nerves, stepped back half a pace, and asked, "How do we return to the surface world?"

Shi Shi Xuan's eyes filled with sorrow. "I have a way to send you back."

Jiang Jian shook his head. "I'll help you—but first, you must tell me how to return."

The two stood in silence for a moment.

Shi Shi Xuan finally deflated. "I believe you."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out another large piece of Dead Man's Jade. "Take this. Go to the western gate of Mount Jiuhua City. There, you'll find an exit to the Underworld."

"Every so often, the Underworld briefly overlaps with the surface world."

"That's how the exit appears."

"Each overlap lasts roughly one day."

Shi Shi Xuan calculated briefly. "According to the Underworld's cycle, there's only about one hour left."

Jiang Jian took the Dead Man's Jade, his gaze cold.

Shi Shi Xuan spoke sweetly.

But he had not taught Jiang Jian a single method to use the Dead Man's Jade!

Jiang Jian sensed for a moment.

He was stunned to realize.

The gray mist on his soul had thinned considerably!

Now, only a very faint layer remained.

If he left now, headed for the western gate of Mount Jiuhua City, without knowing how to use the Dead Man's Jade,

His living aura would be exposed.

And he would never escape the Dead World.

Jiang Jian did not ask.

He understood clearly.

If he refused to help Shi Shi Xuan,

Shi Shi Xuan would never reveal the true method to use the Dead Man's Jade.

What alarmed Jiang Jian most was this:

His Qi was slowly depleting.

Each use diminished it further.

There was no heavenly or earthly Qi here to draw upon.

The wooden box containing the Water Spirit was not with him.

In other words,

He had no means to restore his Qi at all!

"You said dead people can't die again."

Jiang Jian asked.

Shi Shi Xuan's face twisted in agony. He pointed to the original face on the corpse. "It's simple. As soon as her own face is peeled off, destroy it instantly—then she's freed."

Jiang Jian said coldly, "If I do it, the peeled face will grow onto me."

"Of course you can't. You're alive."

Shi Shi Xuan gave a bitter laugh. "I'll peel it off."

As soon as he spoke,

Jiang Jian stared at Shi Shi Xuan, his spirit trembling slightly.

"Jiang Jian, you've already guessed, haven't you?"

Shi Shi Xuan reached out, pointing to his frail body, "Actually, I'm already dead. I can never leave."

His gaze grew distant, murmuring to himself.

"At first, I couldn't understand why a realm of the dead even existed."

"Then, I understood."

"The realm of the dead is Earth's dark side."

"The moment the Earth's celestial ring formed, the realm of the dead appeared alongside it."

"Stellar light fell upon it, transformed by the ring into two kinds."

"The positive energy scattered across the surface world."

"The negative energy was all cast into the realm of the dead, warping it into something grotesque, suffocating and agonizing."

"Such is the nature of the mortal world."

"Where there is light, there is darkness."

"It's pitiful for the living—after death, they still suffer such torment."

His voice grew fainter and fainter.

Until he fell completely silent.

Negative energy is terrifying.

Due to the celestial ring's protection, the world of the living has none of this.

Only the realm of the dead contains it.

Previously, beside Shaoshuizhou.

When Shi Shi Xuan suddenly moved, Jiang Jian reacted instantly, activating "Close Distance, Far Horizon."

But Shi Shi Xuan, through some means, unleashed negative energy that engulfed them.

Causing Jiang Jian's "Close Distance, Far Horizon" and "Rainbow After Rain" both to fail.

He was dragged directly into the entrance of the realm of the dead.

As the two spoke.

The three-story-tall corpse swayed, its mountain-like body trembling.

Countless dead ears tumbled down like dumplings boiling in water.

"She's waking up."

Seeing this, Shi Shi Xuan's expression grew even more pained. "She feared I'd become dead, so she gave me many methods, letting me temporarily pass through the boundary between the two realms and leave the realm of the dead earlier."

"But my thoughts differ from hers."

"While she slept, I made these arrangements."

"I'm willing to take her place and stay here."

"Let her be freed."

Shi Shi Xuan plunged the Moon-Seeking Blade into the ground and rubbed his face hard.

(End of Chapter)