Chapter 1741: The Yin Realm

Zhou Mengyao said, “That’s not entirely true. I believe there really are fortuitous opportunities here, and the opportunity to attain immortality that Su Yuanzai mentioned does indeed exist. It’s just that we have no way of obtaining it.”

Qi Xuansu could not help but laugh. “How is that any different from it not existing at all?”

As they spoke, Qi Xuansu sensed another change in the surrounding space. Yang energy rapidly receded, while yin energy began to intensify.

If the yin energy within the Commander’s Office was roughly equivalent to that in the outer regions of the Ghost Kingdom, and the yin energy atop the city walls was comparable to that in its palace district, then the yin energy at this moment was equivalent to that of the Blood Lake, the core region where the Emperor Willow stood.

Qi Xuansu was certain that the yin realm was now nearby.

At the same time, mist began rising along the city walls. Neither the sky nor the ground was visible, and they could see nothing beyond the tiny patch of ground beneath their feet.

Without hesitation, Zhou Mengyao grabbed Qi Xuansu’s hand to prevent them from becoming separated.

Qi Xuansu instinctively tried to pull away, attempting to withdraw his hand.

Zhou Mengyao gently scolded him, “It’s not like we haven’t held hands before. I’m not even making a fuss about it, yet here you are, acting all coy.”

Qi Xuansu stopped resisting and allowed Zhou Mengyao to hold his hand, though he grumbled inwardly, “How is that the same? Back then, you were in the guise of Qi Haoran!”

Still, there was nothing he could do about it. He knew Zhou Mengyao was right. No one knew what mysteries lurked within this mist. For all they knew, the mist itself might be responsible for the temporal distortions. If they became separated, there was a good chance they would never find each other again.

Under immense pressure from their external environment, all internal conflicts could be set aside, because survival took precedence over everything else. That was why people tended to be more straightforward and sincere in harsher environments. Without unity, they simply could not survive, leaving them with neither the time nor the inclination to engage in infighting.

The struggle against heaven came before the struggle against fellow humans. Only after overcoming the forces of nature and securing the right to survive could one afford to compete with other humans and strive to rise above the rest.

Thus, the two walked on shoulder to shoulder, hand in hand, for an unknown amount of time. There was nothing but the path beneath their feet and the mist before their eyes, with no end in sight.

Qi Xuansu finally could not help but ask, “Just how long have we been walking?”

In truth, Qi Xuansu did not expect Zhou Mengyao to have an answer. At first, he had been counting his steps, but somewhere along the way, he had inexplicably stopped. It was not that he had consciously decided to give up counting. Rather, it was as though his mind had momentarily drifted until he could no longer remember the exact number. Even his memories of what had just happened had grown hazy, fading like a fleeting dream that left no trace behind. It was exceedingly strange.

To Qi Xuansu’s surprise, Zhou Mengyao answered, “We’ve just experienced a temporal distortion, so we have no way of determining how far we’ve traveled or how long we’ve been walking. We can’t even be certain whether we’re moving forward or backward right now.”

Qi Xuansu fell silent.

Zhou Mengyao said nothing more either, merely continuing to hold Qi Xuansu’s hand.

As for Li Yuanjing, there was no telling where he had gone.

Qi Xuansu had also clearly sensed that, while walking through the mist, there had been other travelers besides Zhou Mengyao at his side. Like the two of them, these figures had been making their way along the path beneath their feet.

Due to the obscuring mist, he could only make out indistinct black silhouettes that flickered in and out of view. But he was unsure whether these shadows were the legendary Yin Soldiers or silhouettes left behind by people from the past or future. They appeared out of thin air at unknown moments, only to vanish just as mysteriously.

Qi Xuansu decided to turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to everything, making no attempt to investigate. The shadows displayed no unusual behavior either. Thus, both sides left each other undisturbed.

Perhaps these shadows were remnants left behind by those who had walked along this city wall over the past thousand years. Or perhaps they were projections cast backward through time by people who would traverse the same wall sometime in the next millennium.

Who could possibly say for certain?

Finally, after an indeterminate amount of time, the mist dispersed, and the city wall came to an end.

A towering fortress appeared before their eyes. It resembled a colossal beast crouching in the darkness, its gates like the gaping maw of the creature, waiting for unsuspecting prey to walk straight into its jaws. This fortress was identical to Cangyun Fortress in the yang realm, except it was in the yin realm.

The long city wall was like a lengthy bridge suspended between heaven and earth, touching neither, connecting the two Cangyun Fortresses of the yin and yang realms. It was only through the connection and support provided by this wall that the yin realm’s Cangyun Fortress could stand suspended in the void without plunging into the bottomless abyss below.

Zhou Mengyao released Qi Xuansu’s hand and gazed toward Cangyun Fortress in the yin realm.

Black was the only color in this place. However, its varying shades and depths created distinct outlines, allowing one to discern the entire landscape at a glance.

The fortress seemed to stand at the very end of time. It was difficult to imagine what extraordinary imagination Li Yuanjing possessed to spend an entire millennium constructing such a city in this place.

Was this the wisdom accumulated over 3,000 years?

Qi Xuansu said, “We’ve already arrived in the yin realm. However, since this isn’t the true Netherworld but merely a fragment of it, the conditions here are still within the limits of what we can endure.”

Zhou Mengyao suddenly remarked, “You should have brought that little ghost girl along. If she were here, she’d truly be like a fish in water.”

Qi Xuansu said nothing and continued walking forward.

The gates of Cangyun Fortress in the yin realm were tightly shut. Qi Xuansu tried pushing them open, but even after exerting all his strength, he managed only to produce a dull, muffled sound from the massive doors.

Zhou Mengyao came over and said, “Let’s try it together.”

Qi Xuansu nodded. Each of them took one of the two massive doors and pushed with all their might.

The thunderous rumbling of the opening gates echoed far into the deathly silent yin realm. At last, the gates were forced apart just enough to create a narrow gap through which a single person could squeeze sideways.

The two entered one after the other, only to find their moods sinking gradually. Their expressions also grew exceedingly grave. The peculiar environment created by the overwhelming concentration of yin energy had already begun affecting their states of mind. The fear and loneliness brought about by the deathly silence and vast emptiness seemed to accumulate, weighing heavily upon the hearts of everyone who entered this place. This was certainly no place to linger.

“Let’s go.” Qi Xuansu took the lead and ventured deeper inside.

Zhou Mengyao followed closely behind.

As far as the eye could see, there was not a single person within the city, not even a ghostly figure to be found.

Qi Xuansu hesitated for a moment before asking, “Did Li Yuanjing deceive us?”

Zhou Mengyao extended her hand to sense the surrounding yin energy. “It’s too early to say, but the moon has appeared.”

Qi Xuansu was momentarily taken aback before raising his head to look upward.

At some point, a moon had appeared overhead. However, its light was exceedingly dim, nowhere near sufficient to illuminate the entire city. In fact, it barely managed to dispel a small patch of darkness surrounding itself.

Qi Xuansu frowned. “When did a moon appear? Just now, when we were outside the city, everything was shrouded in darkness. There wasn’t a moon in sight.”

Zhou Mengyao joked, “Looks like it’s a special moon provided exclusively for Cangyun Fortress in the yin realm.”

In truth, the existence of a moon in the yin realm was not surprising. After all, the divine authorities held by various Moon Gods included domains such as death and the realm of the dead. This demonstrated that the moon had always been closely associated with the yin realm.

Qi Xuansu stared at the dim moon, unable to shake the feeling that it was somehow artificial. Much like the sun they had seen in the yang realm, this moon seemed less like a celestial body and more like an enormous eye.

In other words, was the Azure Heaven constantly watching over Cangyun Fortress in the yin realm?

Qi Xuansu withdrew his gaze and began carefully examining Cangyun Fortress in the yin realm. There was no mist obscuring the city, and the dim moonlight still provided some illumination. Sure enough, he noticed something different.

The watchtower was gone.

Cangyun Fortress in the world of the living had a watchtower, which was where Li Yuanjing had flown out from to confront Zhou Mengyao. Yet now, the watchtower had vanished without a trace. There was undoubtedly something suspicious about this.

Qi Xuansu and Zhou Mengyao exchanged a glance before heading straight toward the Commander’s Office.

However, just as the two approached the Commander’s Office, numerous black shadows suddenly appeared on the previously deserted streets. Their forms twisted and shifted incessantly, barely maintaining a humanoid outline. One thing was certain—these were definitely not human beings.

They presumed these were the Yin Soldiers that Li Yuanjing had mentioned.

In truth, Qi Xuansu had never quite understood the terminology. These shadows were clearly not human, so why insist on calling them Yin Soldiers?

However, he soon understood why.

To his surprise, these black shadows could actually speak in human voices and appeared to be conversing with one another.

“Hungry!”

“So hungry!”

“It’s been ages since anyone came here.”

“All we do every day is repair the city walls. When is this ever going to end?”

“I miss my wife.”

“I think I heard the city gates opening just now.”

“You must’ve imagined it.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Then go take a look.”

One of the black shadows separated itself from its peers and began floating toward the city gates.

Qi Xuansu and Zhou Mengyao concealed themselves in the shadows of a building, completely suppressing their auras.

When the shadow floated to a spot not far from their hiding place, it seemed to sense something and unexpectedly came to a halt, its form continuing to twist and shift incessantly.

A moment later, the black shadow slowly turned into the graceful silhouette of a woman. It abandoning its previous androgynous, overlapping voices and adopted a soft, sweet, and delicate feminine voice, timidly asking, “Excuse me, is anyone there?”

At that moment, a chill ran down Qi Xuansu’s spine.

It reminded him of a story he had heard as a child.

The story told of a scholar who had lived in an ancient temple to devote himself to his studies. One evening, while enjoying the cool night air in the courtyard, he suddenly heard someone calling his name. He answered and looked around, only to see the beautiful face of a woman peeking over the courtyard wall. She smiled at him before disappearing. The scholar was delighted by the encounter. However, an elderly monk who later came to converse with him saw through the deception. The monk told him that there was a trace of demonic energy on his face and that he must have encountered a beautiful snake demon, who was a monstrous creature with the head of a woman and the body of a snake. It could call out people’s names, and if someone answered, it would come in the night to devour their flesh.

The black shadow before them bore an unsettling resemblance to the legendary beautiful snake demon.

Naturally, neither Qi Xuansu nor Zhou Mengyao dared to answer.

Meanwhile, the voice repeatedly asked, “Is anyone there?”

Soon, the voice grew impatient, acquiring an increasingly restless, greedy, and eager undertone.

Qi Xuansu and Zhou Mengyao continued holding their breath and concentrated on concealing their presence. They could not help but exchange another glance.

Without their cultivation, it seemed they had also lost much of their confidence.

Finally, the voice completely lost its patience, and the shadow began approaching their hiding place.

“Then I’m coming over.”

“I’m really coming over now.”

“Hee-hee, here I come!”