"Grandma always said that if I ever got lost in the Great Ruins and couldn't return to the village before nightfall, I mustn't panic."
Qin Mu steadied himself and thought, There are many ruins in the Great Ruins, each with its own strange powers. If I hide in one, I might survive. Whether a ruin can save you depends on two things: first, whether there are stone statues like the ones in our village; second, whether the ruin is filled with exotic beasts. Those beasts are intelligent—they know where to hide from the darkness…
There were plenty of ruins scattered across the Great Ruins. Qin Mu had glimpsed old city walls and remnants of ancient villages as he fled earlier—crumbling, ancient—but there had been no time to stop and look for stone statues.
The setting sun dipped halfway below the mountains when suddenly the world fell silent—so silent it drove one mad.
Then came a rush of beating wings. Qin Mu looked up to see flocks of enormous birds streaking across the sky, darkening the heavens. Moments later, the ground trembled. Trees toppled as countless exotic beasts burst out from who-knew-where, sprinting desperately.
Qin Mu even saw waves surging in a nearby lake—several scarlet fish, each several yards long, leaping out of the water and charging across the ground on their fins like legs!
Qin Mu was momentarily stunned. Fish… running on land? Are those even still fish?
"All these beasts are fleeing in the same direction. There must be a place ahead where one can hide from the darkness!"
His spirits soared, and he surged forward with the herd.
The sky grew darker and darker. In the distance, darkness advanced like a rising tide. It wasn't night—it was like a great flood, washing over mountains, valleys, and wasteland alike, submerging everything. Even though this wasn't Qin Mu's first time witnessing the darkness's advance, he still found it incredibly terrifying.
The darkness swept toward them, yet the beasts continued charging straight into its path. Qin Mu hesitated. The herd was running toward the direction the darkness came from. Was there truly a safe place ahead?
If not… they would all die without a burial place.
No choice. The darkness is too fast. Even if I turn around now, I won't outrun it. The only chance is to follow the herd!
He clenched his teeth and sprinted wildly.
A dozen miles downstream from Old Cripple Village, the battle between Granny Si and the Five Elders of Lijiang reached its climax. Initially, only four of the elders besieged her. But after failing to bring her down for so long, the eldest elder, Qi Yanbing—who had been watching from a cliff—finally leapt in and joined the fray. The five formed the Five-Element Demon-Refining Formation.
But to their shock, although Granny Si had only barely held on against four of them, once Qi Yanbing entered the battle, her strength suddenly surged. The formation of the five elders could no longer restrain this old woman.
The elders were terrified and furious. Only then did they understand—this old crone had been pretending to be weak all along, baiting Qi Yanbing into the battle so he wouldn't escape.
Granny Si tiptoed about like a ghost, flickering between shadows. The silver needles and threads in her basket sprang to life, stabbing the five elders in the blink of an eye. Threads pierced their bodies, pinning down their flesh and souls alike, leaving them completely immobile.
The little old woman smiled broadly, stepped forward with a pair of scissors, and said: "It's been ages since I last refined human skin. I wonder if my skills have rusted…"
As she approached Qi Yanbing, he suddenly opened his mouth and spat out a silver pellet, hurtling it straight at her.
The pellet grew larger as it met the wind. With a swish, thousands of sword auras burst forth from it, expanding with a clanging sound and instantly forming a sphere of pure sword light a hundred zhang in diameter!
Caught off guard, Granny Si retreated hastily, her body suddenly going limp as she wriggled through the air like an earthworm to dodge the sword auras. At the same time, she hurled the scissors from her hand; they spun like two silver flood dragons, snipping through the sword auras with a snick-snick.
She was still caught off guard, however, and one sword aura pierced her—striking her hunchback, a blind spot she could not see.
The sky full of sword light vanished, and broken sword fragments clattered down, covering the ground for acres around.
The silver pellet also fell to the ground with a plop, motionless.
Granny Si landed as well, reached behind her back to pull out the sword, and frowned slightly.
"You still managed to dodge…"
Qi Yanbing, leader of the five elders, stared at her with despair, his voice hoarse: "I ambushed you at such close range with my sword pellet, which contains 6,842 swords—and you still dodged. You can't be some nobody from the Demon Path! There's no old woman like you in the Demon Path. Who are you really?"
He suddenly noticed Granny Si's back: the wound where the sword had pierced her hump was visible, but no blood flowed from it. Instead, light shone into it—clearly, it was empty inside.
Qi Yanbing's hair stood on end: "This isn't your real form. You're wearing someone else's skin…"
"You've damaged my disguise," Granny Si frowned. Her voice was no longer the old woman's croak but melodious—so sweet one would take her for a beautiful, youthful lady, not someone on the verge of the grave.
Granny Si pressed her throat, sighed, and muttered: "It's leaking…"
She took silk thread from her basket to stitch up the sword wound on her back, tested her voice, and it returned to its usual croak.
Suddenly, Qi Yanbing's face turned ashen, as if he had seen a ghost. He cried out: "I recognize that voice! I know who you are! The wife of the Demon Sect's Leader…"
Granny Si's expression changed. She placed her finger on the silk thread piercing the five elders—and they were instantly cut to pieces, their flesh and blood scattering across the ground!
Strangely enough, the thread did not stain with blood. Instead, it coiled up like a living thing and returned to the basket.
Granny Si snorted, then giggled: "You cripple—how long have you been here?"
Not far behind her, the Lame Man hobbled over on his cane, smiling broadly: "Just got here, just got here. Sister, I didn't see a thing, didn't hear a thing."
Granny Si shot him a glance, smiling: "Seeing is fine—as long as you didn't hear. Let's go back to the village."
The Lame Man hesitated, then said: "Li Tianxing, the Demon Sect Leader, was brilliant all his life, but he did one foolish thing. In his old age, he fell for the most beautiful witch of his time, discarded his original wife, and planned to marry her as his new wife. The Demon Sect erupted in an uproar. On their wedding night, the new wife betrayed Li Tianxing, destroyed centuries of his cultivation, and stole the sect's sacred Demon Scripture. Elders and ancestors of the Demon Sect rushed out of seclusion to hunt her down, but she escaped and vanished without a trace…"
"Is that so?"
Granny Si tittered: "I heard long ago that there was a man who refined his legs to the divine level—they were known as the Divine Legs. His speed was unmatched in the world, but he took to thievery and loved stealing things, earning him the title of the Greatest Divine Thief Under Heaven. Though he had not yet become a god, his name bore the word 'divine,' which aroused the gods' jealousy. When he tried to steal the Imperial Disc from Yankang Kingdom, the Greatest Divine Thief—who had never failed—was discovered by the National Preceptor, who cut off one of his Divine Legs. Yet he still escaped the National Preceptor's pursuit, vanishing with the Imperial Disc. The National Preceptor of Yankang is hailed as the Strongest Under God, yet he failed to keep the Divine Thief. I suppose he still keeps the thief's leg, waiting for its rightful owner to claim it?"
The Lame Man smiled even wider, nodding obsequiously: "Granny, we're all useless old folks from the same village. We agreed long ago that we each have our little secrets and won't ask about each other's pasts. From now on, I'm deaf and dumb—I'll keep my mouth shut tight."
Granny Si snorted, picked up her basket, and headed toward the village: "Did Mu'er send you to back me up?"
The Lame Man shook his head: "The noise and energy from your fight with these five old fools were so loud, we felt it in the village. So the Village Chief sent me to check if you needed help."
Granny Si's expression changed. She hurried: "Has Mu'er returned to the village?"
"I didn't see him when I left.""Oh no!"
The two hurried back to Cripple Village. Before they arrived, the sun had already disappeared completely. Darkness rose from the horizon like a tide, swelling higher and higher as it spread, engulfing everything and pressing toward them!
Granny Si reached the village first. She searched frantically, her face pale."Mu'er still hasn't returned?"
Darkness swallowed Cripple Village entirely.
"Don't worry, Granny," the village chief said. Cripple and the Apothecary stepped forward to support him. He stopped Granny Si, who was about to carry a stone statue and rush back out to search for Qin Mu."We've already taught him everything he needs to know. If he's learned it well, he should be able to survive in the Great Wilderness. Going out now is useless—the night has already fallen."
Granny Si's shoulders drooped. She knew the village chief was right.If Qin Mu was still alive when the darkness covered the Great Wilderness, then he would be able to survive the night without her help.If he was dead, then taking a stone statue to find him would be meaningless.
"He still has that jade pendant to protect him…"
Though she tried to reassure herself, Granny Si knew very well that the pendant on Qin Mu's chest only protected infants, and its defensive range was limited. Qin Mu had already grown; the pendant's glow could shield only his chest.