Chapter 81 — The Nether Dark Realm
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 3
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.
"