Chapter 91: Moon Guardian

"This is Fengdu, a forbidden zone for the living."

The bird-headed grotesque spoke with a strange, unhumanlike voice through its beak. "You are alive; you should not be here."

The village chief's expression was grave, but he smiled slightly. "I am already here."

The bird-headed grotesque said, "If you wish to leave, you must pay a price."

The village chief asked curiously, "What price?"

"Fengdu has a King of Hell."

The bird-headed grotesque's eyes seemed to be fixed on its beak. "The King of Hell has noticed you and greatly admires you. Therefore, he has a request. If you agree, you may leave."

The village chief's expression shifted slightly, and he politely asked, "What is the request?"

The bird-headed grotesque replied, "After you die, you will belong here."

The village chief pondered for a moment, then suddenly chuckled. "A world where the dead live, and the living die. If I can still live here after my death, why wouldn't I? Life in the outside world is death here, and death in the outside world is life here. It's a good thing if I can live here after I die. I accept. However, could you first answer a few of my questions?"

The bird-headed grotesque tilted its head. "You may ask, but I may not answer."

The village chief smiled faintly. "Is that moon boat Wuyou Township?"

"No."

The village chief was taken aback, blurting out, "If it's not Wuyou Township, why did it attract Mu'er's jade pendant? Why did it make the pendant point here? And why is the moon boat here?"

The bird-headed grotesque frowned, its eyes again fixed on its beak, clearly annoyed by the number of questions. "The Moon Herders of the moon boat are all dead, extinct. The last Moon Guardian brought the moon boat here. There's a dead person living on the boat; go ask him, he probably knows."

"A dead person? Is it a Moon Guardian?" the village chief wondered.

The bird-headed grotesque lifted a leg, scratched the feathers on its neck, dislodging a golden worm which it promptly ate. "You ask too many questions," it said impatiently.

The village chief asked, "What about the demon god that attacked me? Isn't Fengdu the territory of the celestial demons?"

"She's a resident here. This place belongs to the King of Hell, not the celestial demons."

The bird-headed grotesque ignored him, preening its ruffled feathers with its beak. "In the future, you will also live here, just like her. The King of Hell greatly admires you."

The village chief exhaled slowly. He had initially thought this was a demon world, but it seemed he was mistaken. The demon god he had trapped was apparently just a powerful figure within this realm of the living dead.

He then asked, "Where is Wuyou Township?"

The bird-headed grotesque completely lost its patience with him. It flapped its wings and flew away, saying, "You ask too many questions; I dislike you. Don't forget your promise. After you die, I will come to fetch you. Don't go with the underworld escorts!"

The village chief watched it fly off, then looked at the moon boat. The enormous vessel had stood upright and was now aimlessly pulling the moon along.

"I've been rejected. Do I talk too much when I get old?"

The village chief found himself in a state of amused exasperation. He walked towards the moon boat. The swirling vortex in the sky remained, still bleeding, and the demon god continued to struggle within it, trying to break free.

"This demon god must know some secrets of Wuyou Township if it used the moon boat to attract Mu'er. Unfortunately, I can only trap her, not force her to reveal what she knows."

He boarded the moon boat, arriving on the vessel's hull, which rested on the toad's back. Looking around, he saw numerous palaces, all in ruins, with crumbling walls, broken sections, and enormous fallen weapons. Most of these weapons were crescent-moon shaped, and some resembled mirrors.

The palaces here were vast, unlike places where ordinary people would reside.

He passed a grand hall, stopped, and examined the sculpture in front of it.

The sculpture depicted a three-legged jade toad: it had three legs, a human body, and a toad's head, half-human and half-toad.

"Hee hee hee..."

Eerie laughter echoed among the palaces. The sinister voice was singing a nursery rhyme: "Rock-a-bye, rock-a-bye, rock to Grandma's bridge..."

The village chief hesitated for a moment, then ignored the sound and entered the palace before him. The palace was in disarray: incense burners lay overturned, ashes scattered across the floor, bronze sparrow lamps were shattered, and there were broken screens and a smashed jade bed. It was clear the place had undergone a cataclysmic event.

He looked around, then paused in front of the hall's frescoes. The frescoes depicted slender, white-robed giants herding the moon, piloting moon boats that appeared at night.

Outside the moon boat, numerous powerful and ferocious demonic creatures attacked, but the giants on board repelled them with bows, arrows, spears, and swords.

By day, as darkness receded, the moon boat would return to an abyss, likely a Moon Well.

The village chief examined the images closely, noting that the giants on the moon boat were handsome, with a crescent moon mark on their foreheads.

"It seems the bird grotesque was right; Mu'er is indeed not a Moon Herder. Mu'er doesn't have a crescent mark on his forehead."

He walked a full circle around the hall, finding nothing else of note, before heading towards the several colossal pillars in the center of the complex. Chains were wrapped around these immense pillars, with their other ends floating upwards, tethering a shattered moon.

As the moon boat moved, the shattered moon in the sky was dragged along. When this broken moon rolled, enormous fireballs—rocks from its surface—fell from the sky.

This moon was so damaged that whenever it moved, stones would fall, transforming into meteors.

Some meteors, not burning up completely, would crash here, creating numerous dangerous craters in the ground.

"A bag of candy, a bag of fruit, Grandma bought a fish to cook. Head uncooked, tail burnt, sizzling in the bowl, jumping in the belly! Hehehehehe..."

The singing grew even more bizarre. The village chief frowned slightly and scanned his surroundings, still seeing no one. A chill ran down his spine.

Then, he spotted the source of the sound: a face, an enormous face, on the flat ground in the center of those massive pillars.

The gigantic face was singing that eerie nursery rhyme. Its hair was disheveled, and it looked like a madman sealed within a mirror. However, there was a crescent moon mark on its forehead.

"A Moon Guardian of the Moon Herder clan..."

The village chief sighed and sat down. He picked up a stone and carved it into the shape of the jade pendant Qin Mu wore on his chest. "Moon Guardian," he said, "have you ever seen this jade pendant?"

"Jumping in the belly!"

The enormous face chuckled. "Jumping!"

The village chief frowned. This Moon Guardian must have died after completely merging with the moon boat, expending his last strength to guide the boat into the realm of the living dead. He perished within the vessel, and even if he reanimated in this realm, he could only exist within the boat's hull, unable to emerge.

He had gone mad after his death.

The village chief stood up, about to leave, when suddenly the face on the ground said, "A jade pendant from Wuyou Township?"

The village chief stopped and quickly turned back. "Do you know where Wuyou Township is?"

"Of course I do."

The face on the ground seemed to have regained some lucidity. "We Moon Herders originate from Wuyou Township, and the Moon Guardians' tokens were forged there. Even the moon boat came from Wuyou Township... Yes, Moon Herders, Moon Herders!"

He burst into laughter, tears streaming down his face. "Dead, they're all dead, their bodies can't even be pieced together, haha, they're dead! I ran, I ran, I'm a coward, I abandoned them, hehe..."

The village chief frowned. "Where is Wuyou Township?"

"Grandma praised me as a good baby..."

The village chief sighed. Seeing that he couldn't get any more information, he stood up and left.

He arrived at the dock, noticing his legs and hands had vanished again. He sighed inwardly, then saw the golden coins on a wooden pillar and smiled. "Mu'er is still so thoughtful."

He took out the golden coins, which emitted a faint glow. The village chief waved the coins towards the mist, and soon, a small flat-bottomed boat drifted over, with a lantern hanging on it.

The village chief floated onto the boat, standing at the bow as the small vessel glided into the mist. This mysterious place held many unsolved mysteries. Perhaps he would have a chance to explore its secrets in the future, but that would likely be after his death.

"Daoist Ayajing is more carefree than I, wandering everywhere and witnessing many wonders. Only after I die will I likely be able to lay down the burdens in my heart."

He silently thought, "But by then, I'll be dead, confined to this realm of the living dead, unable to explore the unknown marvels of this world."

The small boat reached the entrance of the place. The village chief saw Qin Mu running frantically, with the Great Cultivation Demonic Scripture transforming into silver threads, constantly weaving, cutting, and killing the skeletons lunging at him. Only then did he let out a sigh of relief.

Qin Mu also sighed with relief when he saw the small boat drifting over, feeling a surge of joy. He was barely holding on, with only the Great Cultivation Demonic Scripture and the Emperor's Disc as his last resorts.

Just then, the strange world behind them suddenly became hazy and indistinct, and a loud crow of a rooster echoed.

"Oh no! It's dawn!"

The village chief's expression changed slightly. He swiftly rose into the air, grabbed Qin Mu, and shot out of the place!

The two rushed out of the peculiar world. Qin Mu felt his feet sink as he stepped onto the surface of the Surging River, waves washing over his ankles. They were back on the Surging River. He quickly looked back, only to see that the world had transformed into a painting made of mist, dissipating as if blown by the wind, vanishing in an instant. Even his jade pendant was still.

As darkness receded, that world completely disappeared from the Great Ruins, as if it had never existed.

The entrance to this world would reappear, likely on the next night, but where it would drift to remained unknown.