Chapter 684: Overcast Son

The aged deity's face contorted as he tried to escape. Qin Mu shook the Book of Life and Death, and the deity instantly froze, his gaze fixed on the book in Qin Mu's hand, daring not to move.

Qin Mu was even more certain that the Book of Life and Death was the bane of these ghastly spirits.

"You say we are ghastly spirits, and you are not wrong," the aged deity finally spoke, chuckling. "The origin of the Sky-Yin World is incredibly ancient, predating the creation of heaven and earth. It was born after Youdu and Xuandu came into being. Before the existence of what you call 'humans,' ancient gods ruled the universe, forming the Heavenly Court of the Ancient Gods. The Sky-Yin Empress was one such ancient god."

Qin Mu was deeply shaken but calmly asked, "So, the Sky-Yin Empress, like Earth Count and Heavenly Duke, is a deity born of heaven and earth?"

The aged deity shook his head. "The Sky-Yin Empress is far inferior to those two. The Sky-Yin World is merely the darkness beneath the Heavenly Duke's feet; it cannot compare. However, the Sky-Yin World does have an advantage: it falls under neither the Heavenly Duke's nor Earth Count's jurisdiction. Neither the Heavenly Duke nor Earth Count can come here. This is a lawless world. In other words..."

Qin Mu finished his thought, "In other words, the souls of beings living in the Sky-Yin World will never fall into Youdu, making them immortal and indestructible. Is my understanding correct?"

The aged deity burst into laughter, though there was no genuine joy in it, as if he laughed merely for the sake of laughing. He shook his head. "Immortal and indestructible? Heh heh, a beautiful thought, but the Sky-Yin World is not the kind of immortality and indestructibility you imagine. While our souls are indeed immortal here, it has also led to an ever-increasing number of souls after the physical bodies of Sky-Yin World beings die. If they were gods or devils, it might be fine, as they could maintain their physical bodies. But for other beings, many have died."

Qin Mu asked curiously, "With more and more souls dying, wouldn't this place turn into another Youdu?"

"I said the Sky-Yin World isn't under Earth Count's jurisdiction. If Earth Count can't come here, how could it become Youdu?" the aged deity replied, shaking his head. "This place will never become Youdu, nor Xuandu. For both Earth Count and Heavenly Duke, this is a blind spot, a place they cannot step foot in. However, too many souls accumulated in the Sky-Yin World, and these souls began to cause trouble. How could the dead bear to see others live fulfilling lives? Thus, a war broke out between souls and the living."

Qin Mu was puzzled. "How can souls wage war against the living? Beings with both a physical body and a soul are incredibly powerful compared to mere souls. Deceased spirits cannot possibly defeat the living."

The aged deity smiled. "But physical bodies eventually decay, and the souls of the Sky-Yin World are immortal. Even gods cannot completely destroy the souls of the Sky-Yin World; even if one's soul is scattered here, it will not fully perish. In that great war between humans and ghosts, too many souls were scattered, and those shattered souls eventually formed black sand."

His eyes suddenly became immensely dark, like countless infinitesimally small grains of black sand. Clearly, he was not a living being either, but a bizarre demonic monster formed by black sand occupying a human skin.

"Black sand, that is our shattered souls," the aged deity said, revealing a strange smile. "Because we are broken into such fine pieces, no one can clearly see us, and no one can touch us. You are one of the rare exceptions who can touch and see us. After we gained physical bodies, we felt hungry, an unbearable hunger, a frantic desire to eat. So, we started eating."

He didn't elaborate on this history, simply stating, "Soon, all the living beings in the Sky-Yin World were eaten by us."

Qin Mu's blood ran cold. Although the aged deity didn't describe that period of history, he could imagine how terrifying that riot must have been!

"What about the Sky-Yin Empress then?" Qin Mu asked in a low voice. "Why didn't the Sky-Yin Empress stop you?"

The aged deity did not answer, continuing, "We ate and ate, and later discovered that there were no living beings left in the Sky-Yin World. Then we started eating ourselves—our own flesh and blood, our bones, our divine treasures, our primordial spirits. In the end, everyone was left with only their skins. We had nothing left to eat; we were so hungry. Finally, we set our sights on the Sky-Yin Empress..."

Qin Mu shivered several times. The aged deity spoke as if this were perfectly natural, and the demonic nature contained within his words filled Qin Mu with dread.

The aged deity said, "But we were no match for the Sky-Yin Empress. Fortunately, there were many of us. However, even with our numbers, we couldn't bite her to death. She beat us terribly, but we are immortal, you see. We were already souls shattered beyond repair, and she couldn't kill us, nor could we eat her. It wasn't until much later that a stranger arrived. Someone like you who could see us, hear us, touch us, and even harm us."

He chuckled, "The stranger joined forces with us, and so we ate the Sky-Yin Empress. After eating the Sky-Yin Empress, there was nothing left to eat in the Sky-Yin World. We were still so hungry—" He smacked his lips, as if recalling something delicious.

"Ate the Sky-Yin Empress?" Qin Mu shuddered, narrowing his eyes. He said in a deep voice, "Is this stranger the Black Emperor of Mingdu?"

"You call him the Black Emperor of Mingdu?" The aged deity shook his head. "We don't call him that. We call him the Yin Emperor."

Qin Mu was slightly taken aback. "Yin Emperor? The Emperor of the Sky-Yin World?"

The aged deity nodded. "Although the Sky-Yin Empress was an ancient god born of the Sky-Yin World, she couldn't subdue us due to the limitations of her Grand Dao. However, the Yin Emperor possessed miraculous magic that could subdue us. So, we followed the Yin Emperor, campaigning with him across eras. Later, he established Mingdu. The Book of Life and Death in your hand is the Yin Emperor's treasure, which is why it can restrain us. Since you're one of us..."

"One of us?" Qin Mu chuckled softly, then raised the Book of Life and Death and shone it on the aged deity.

The aged deity's face contorted horribly, and he let out a piercing shriek. Black smoke gushed from his facial orifices, and he quickly shriveled.

Qin Mu sat on the throne, leaning sideways, one hand propping up his chin, deep in thought.

"'Black Emperor of Mingdu,' 'Yin Emperor'... so the Dark Invasion is black sand formed from the scattered souls of the Sky-Yin World. The monsters within this black sand are actually human skins, and inside these skins are ghosts shattered into dust."

"The Yin Emperor connected the Sky-Yin World to the Great Ruins, allowing the black sand of the Sky-Yin World to invade the Great Ruins. This black sand and the monsters within it greatly fear the divine light of deities, which is why when deities enter the darkness of the Great Ruins, the darkness dares not approach."

"However, there's still something amiss: the faces in the darkness. At Deity Maiden Pass, I once encountered a demonic god's face resisting the Dark Invasion, but it was blocked by the divine weapon of the resurrected Deity Maiden. Similar situations are rampant in the Great Ruins. So, where do these demonic gods in the darkness come from?"

He glanced at the skins scattered across the town. Although these ghastly spirits could move like lightning in the darkness, their power was not great; clearly, they were not the demonic gods from the darkness. What was strange was that the demonic gods in the darkness also arrived with the darkness and departed with it. Once dawn broke, no trace of them could be found in the Great Ruins.

The aged deity had not answered these questions for him.

Qin Mu sat on the throne, reflecting that the aged deity must have held a significant position in the Sky-Yin World. His clear recounting of the Sky-Yin World's history indicated his participation in the war between the Yin Emperor and the Sky-Yin Empress. Furthermore, he had never been scattered since then, which was why he retained his memories from that time.

Now, with Qin Mu shining the Book of Life and Death on his body, which was composed of countless soul particles, and his skin having its own name, the soul particles that did not belong to that skin would naturally be expelled when illuminated by the book. In essence, Qin Mu had killed them once. Even if the black soul sand returned to the skins, they would no longer be the same entities as before.

"The efficacy of the Book of Life and Death is truly astonishing. The Black Emperor of Mingdu, or rather, the Yin Emperor of Mingdu, must be a figure of unparalleled talent to have forged such a treasure."

Just as he thought this, a rustling sound reached his ears. Qin Mu's heart stirred, and he looked up to see the Kaihuang deity who had initially drawn him appearing again, standing on a long, arched bridge and beckoning to him.

Qin Mu's heart stirred again as he carefully recalled. Among the deities who had just tried to eat him, this Kaihuang deity was not present. "Does he still retain memories from his life? That seems unlikely, doesn't it?"

Qin Mu quickly stood up and, in a few strides, ascended the long bridge. Beneath the bridge was a body of water with rugged ripples, extending from the town, spanning a lake, with the other end of the bridge disappearing into the vast grayness.

Seeing Qin Mu follow, the Kaihuang deity continued onward, and Qin Mu swiftly followed him along the bridge.

After they left, black sand gathered again in the town, rapidly burrowing into the facial orifices of the skins on the ground. Soon, all the deities stood up once more, lifelike, walking around the town, completely unaware of what had just happened.

The length of the long bridge still surprised Qin Mu. The bridge undulated, continuing into the grayness without breaking, extending further over the lake. The body of water below could not be called a lake; it should be called a sea, also of an obscure and indistinct color.

Qin Mu followed him for a long time, still not reaching the end. He suddenly stopped and said calmly, "Senior, you've been leading me onward. What exactly is your purpose? Why can't you speak plainly? That aged deity earlier could speak; you should be able to as well, right?"

In the gloom, the Kaihuang deity stopped, turned around, and looked at him with empty eyes. After a moment, he removed his upper garment.

Qin Mu was slightly startled. He stepped forward and carefully examined the deity's chest, where he saw strange patterns branded onto the skin. These patterns were composed of extremely fine and complex runes, forming characters. It was the character "Closed" (闭). His front and back were covered with the character "Closed"!

"The Creation Heavenly Demon Art, it's the work of Teacher Qiaofu." Qin Mu was stunned, then suddenly shed tears, revealing a faint smile. "Senior, it's alright now. Let's continue."

The Kaihuang deity put his clothes back on and continued forward. The "Closed" characters on his body were marks left by the Creation Heavenly Demon Art from the Great Creation Demon Scripture. The Saint Qiaofu had used the Creation Heavenly Demon Art to seal his soul within the skin. Since the ghastly spirits did not consume the skins, he was able to retain his soul and memories. However, his physical body absolutely could not be preserved; it would be eaten by the ghastly spirits.

Qin Mu shed tears out of respect, emotion, and most of all, gratitude. This Kaihuang deity knew he was certain to die upon entering the Sky-Yin World, yet he had come in without hesitation to explore the truth of the darkness.