Chapter 1: Don't Go Out at Night

The sky darkens, venture not forth.

This adage has been whispered in the Disabled Old Village for generations untold, its origins lost to the mists of time. Yet, its truth remains undeniable. Granny Si of the Disabled Old Village watched the setting sun dip lower, her heart growing taut with unease. As the last sliver of light vanished, a profound silence descended upon the world, a stillness so complete it was unnerving. From the west, an inky blackness surged forth, swallowing mountains, rivers, roads, and trees in its relentless tide, before finally reaching the Disabled Old Village and engulfing it.

At each of the village's four corners stood an ancient stone statue. Mottled with the wear of ages, their origins were unknown even to Granny Si. As the darkness descended, these four statues emitted a faint, ethereal glow. The light, though weak, offered a measure of reassurance to Granny Si and the village elders. Outside, the gloom deepened, but within the protective aura of the stone statues, the Disabled Old Village remained relatively safe.

Suddenly, Granny Si's ear twitched. She stood still, her eyes widening in disbelief. "Listen, everyone," she whispered, "there's a child crying outside!"

Old Man Ma, standing beside her, shook his head. "Impossible, you must have misheard... Eh? There *is* an infant's cry!"

From the darkness beyond the village, the faint wail of a baby reached their ears. The villagers, save for the deaf ones, exchanged bewildered glances. The Disabled Old Village was remote and desolate; how could an infant possibly appear nearby?

"I'll go take a look!" Granny Si, spurred by a sudden urgency, tiptoed towards one of the stone statues. Old Man Ma rushed forward, "Si Old Woman, have you lost your mind? Going out after dark is certain death!"

"I'll carry this stone statue out. The things in the darkness fear its light. I won't die, at least not for a while!" Granny Si bent to lift the statue, but her hunched back made it impossible. Old Man Ma shook his head. "Let me do it. I'll carry the statue and go with you!"

Another elder, limping heavily, joined them. "Ma Grandpa, you only have one arm. You can't hold the statue for long. I have two good hands; let me carry it."

Old Man Ma glared at him. "Dead Cripple, you've lost a leg; can you even walk? Though I have but one arm, its strength is immense!" With his single arm, he hoisted the statue, steadying its unimaginable weight. "Si Old Woman, let us go!"

"Don't call me a dead old woman! Cripple, Mute, all of you, be careful! If one statue is gone from the village, do not let the things in the darkness touch the inside!"

***

Old Man Ma and Granny Si ventured out of the Disabled Old Village. In the enveloping darkness, unseen, grotesque forms seemed to swirl around them. But as the statue's light touched them, they recoiled with strange, squeaking cries, retreating back into the shadows.

Following the sound of the infant's cries, they walked a hundred-odd paces until they reached the bank of a large river. The cries were emanating from the riverbank. The stone statue cast a faint illumination, revealing only a small area. The two of them carefully pinpointed the source of the sound and walked several dozen paces upstream along the riverbank. The crying was now close by, and Old Man Ma's single arm was struggling under the strain. Granny Si's eyes lit up, catching a faint phosphorescent glow. It was a basket, resting on the riverbank. The fluorescent light emanated from within, as did the infant's cries.

"There really is a child!" Granny Si stepped forward and reached for the basket. But she faltered, unable to lift it. Beneath the basket, a pale arm, soaked by the river, held it aloft. It was this arm that kept the basket and the child within from being swept away, holding it steadfastly to the bank.

"Rest assured," Granny Si murmured softly to the woman beneath the water, "the child is safe now."

The female corpse seemed to hear her words. Its palm relaxed, and it was swept away by the river's current, vanishing into the darkness.

Granny Si lifted the basket. Inside lay a swaddled infant. Upon the swaddle rested a jade pendant, emitting the phosphorescent light. The pendant's light was similar to that of the stone statue, though much weaker. It was this jade pendant that had protected the child within the basket from the horrors of the darkness. However, its light was too weak to protect the woman.

"It's a boy."

Back in the Disabled Old Village, the villagers, a collection of the old, weak, sick, and disabled, gathered around. Granny Si lifted the swaddle and peeked inside, a wide, toothless grin spreading across her face. "Our Disabled Old Village finally has a whole person!"

The cripple, with only one leg, spoke in surprise. "Si Old Woman, you plan to raise him? We can barely support ourselves! I think we should send him out..."

Granny Si was furious. "This old woman picked up this child herself! Why should I send him to others?"

The villagers hesitated, not daring to contradict her. The village chief, sitting on a stretcher, arrived. He was even more afflicted than the others, lacking both hands and feet, while the others merely lacked full limbs. Yet, everyone held him in deep respect; even the fierce Granny Si dared not be unruly in his presence.

"Since you wish to raise him, he should have a name," the village chief said. "Old woman, look inside the basket, is there anything else?"

Granny Si rummaged through the basket but shook her head. "Only this jade pendant. No paper or anything else. The jade pendant has a character on it, 'Qin'. This jade pendant is pure, and contains a strange power. It's no ordinary item; it must be from a wealthy family."

"Is he called Qin, or is his surname Qin?"

The village chief pondered. "Let his surname be Qin. As for his given name, call him Mu, Qin Mu. When he grows up, call him 'herd'. At least he can make a living."

"Qin Mu." Granny Si looked at the infant in the swaddle. The infant, unafraid of her, giggled and babbled.

***

On the riverbank, a flute melody drifted through the air. A shepherd boy sat on the back of a cow, playing a dizi. The flute's sound was clear and melodious. The shepherd boy, eleven or twelve years old, had striking eyebrows and clear eyes, a handsome face with red lips and white teeth. His clothes were half-open, and a jade pendant hung on his chest.

This youth was the infant Granny Si had rescued from the riverbank eleven years ago. The village elders had endured hardships to raise him. Granny Si had procured a cow from somewhere, ensuring that the infant Qin Mu had fresh milk every day, helping him survive the precarious early years.

Although the villagers of the Disabled Old Village were all fierce and eccentric, they were kind to him. Granny Si was a tailor, and Qin Mu learned tailoring from her. He learned to gather and refine medicine from the pharmacist. He learned leg techniques from Cripple Grandpa. He learned to discern positions by sound from Blind Grandpa. And he learned to breathe and exhale from the village chief, who had no hands or feet. His days passed quickly.

The cow was his childhood wet nurse. Granny Si had originally planned to sell it, but Qin Mu was reluctant, so the task of herding the cow fell to him. He often herded the cow by the riverbank, amidst the ink-like green mountains and the green waves and white clouds, living a life of leisure.

"Qin Mu, Qin Mu, save me!"

Suddenly, the cow beneath him opened its mouth and spoke. Qin Mu jumped in surprise, scrambling off the cow's back. He saw tears welling in the cow's eyes as it spoke to him in human words. "Qin Mu, you grew up drinking my milk; I am half your mother. You must save me!"

Qin Mu blinked, hesitant. "How can I save you?"

The cow said, "You have a sickle at your waist. Skin me, and you can help me escape this trap."

Qin Mu hesitated. The cow urged, "Have you forgotten the grace of my nurture?"

Qin Mu raised the sickle and carefully cut into the cow's hide. Strangely, as the hide was peeled back, not a drop of blood flowed out. Even stranger, the inside of the cow was hollow, devoid of flesh and bone.

When half the hide had been peeled away, a woman in her twenties or thirties rolled out. Her legs were still encased in the cow's legs, skin and flesh fused with the hide, but her upper body had escaped. Her hair was disheveled. She snatched the sickle from the terrified Qin Mu's hand and quickly severed the cowhide from her legs with two or three strokes. She looked at Qin Mu, malice blooming in her eyes. The sickle was poised at his neck. She laughed coldly. "Little devil, it is because of you that I was turned into a cow! For eleven years, I could only eat grass and had to feed you milk! Pitifully, I had just given birth before being secretly plotted against by that demon woman and turned into a cow to feed you! Today, I finally escape this trap. First, I shall kill you, and then I shall blood-wash this village of evil people!"

Qin Mu's mind reeled, unable to comprehend what this woman who had emerged from the cowhide was saying. Just as the woman was about to bring the knife down to kill him, she felt a sudden chill in her back. Looking down, she saw a knife protruding from her chest.

"Mu child, your Pharmacist Grandpa told you to come back and get medicine." The woman's corpse fell to the ground. Behind her stood the village's Cripple Grandpa, with kind eyebrows and a gentle face, looking honest and harmless. In his hand, he held a blood-dripping knife. He smiled at Qin Mu.

"Cripple Grandpa..." Qin Mu's legs felt weak. He stared at the cowhide and the woman's corpse on the ground, still in a daze.

"Go back, go back," Cripple patted his shoulder, chuckling.

Qin Mu walked back towards the village, his steps uneven. He turned to look back and saw Cripple throwing the woman's corpse into the river. The scene had a profound impact on him, so much so that he didn't even realize when he had returned to the village.

"Qin Mu! Dead boy, what did I tell you? Do not go out when the sky is dark!"

Night had fallen, and the stone statues at the four corners of the Disabled Old Village had automatically lit up once more. Granny Si stopped Qin Mu, who was about to slip out to the riverbank to check on the cowhide, and dragged him back.

"Granny, why can't we go out when the sky is dark?" Qin Mu asked, looking up.

"When the sky is dark, fearful things are active in the darkness. To go out is to court death," Granny Si said solemnly. "The village's stone statues will protect us. The things in the darkness dare not enter the village."

"Do other villages also have such stone statues?" Qin Mu asked curiously.

Granny Si nodded, her expression troubled. She kept looking outside the village, muttering softly, "Cripple should be back by now... We really shouldn't have let Cripple go out. That fellow only has one leg..."

"Granny, something strange happened today..."

Qin Mu hesitated for a moment before recounting the incident of the woman emerging from the cow's belly. Granny Si listened absentmindedly. "You mean that woman? Cripple already told me; he handled it very well. I told you to sell the cow as early as when you were four years old and weaned, but you were reluctant, so I let you keep feeding her. See, now something happened, didn't it? I told you, if you drink milk until you're four years old, you'll develop feelings for the milk cow."

Qin Mu's face flushed. Being weaned at four years old did seem a bit late, but that didn't seem to be the main issue, did it?

"Granny, that woman was killed by Cripple Grandpa..."

"Killed her? Good." Granny Si smiled, revealing her half-mouth of scattered teeth. "That's letting her off easy. She should have died eleven years ago. If not to give you milk, could she have lived until now?"

Qin Mu didn't understand.

Granny Si glanced at him. "This woman was the city lord's wife from Inlay Dragon City, thousands of miles away. The Inlay Dragon City Lord was lecherous, and she was jealous. The City Lord liked to pick flowers and stir up trouble outside, forcefully seizing women from good families. And every time the City Lord violated a woman's chastity, this City Lord's wife would send people to beat that woman to death. I sneaked into Inlay Dragon City, intending to kill her, but I saw she had just given birth. Her child was only three months old, and I thought of how you still had no milk to drink, while she did. So I turned her into a milk cow and brought her back to feed you. I didn't expect this woman to actually break free from the seal and be able to speak. She almost harmed you."

Qin Mu's eyes widened in disbelief, his tongue tied. "Granny, how can a person be turned into a cow?"

Granny Si chuckled, exposing her half-mouth of scattered teeth. "Want to learn? I can teach you... Cripple's back!"

Qin Mu looked and saw Cripple walking towards them, one hand propping up his crutch, the other clutching his prey. He was limping. The darkness surged towards the village like a tide. Granny Si hurriedly called out, "Dead Cripple, hurry up, hurry up!"

"What's the rush?" Cripple continued to walk towards the village, not fast and not slow. The moment he stepped inside the village, the dense darkness swallowed it. The prey he carried was a striped fierce tiger, still alive. Its tail was swept by the darkness, and the fierce tiger suddenly let out a mournful roar. Qin Mu looked quickly and saw that the tiger's tail was reduced to mere bones, the fur and flesh gone, as if something had gnawed it off. He looked curiously at the darkness outside the village. It was pitch black; he couldn't see anything.

What exactly is in the darkness? He wondered to himself.