Chapter 9 — The Ruined City of Ground Bones Welcomes the Black Tide

"There really are ruins ahead!" Shen Mu raced along with the beast herd when he suddenly saw the ground fall away before him and a canyon open up. Inside the canyon, astonishingly, many ancient buildings had survived—palaces scattered in disorder, a broad plaza, lofty towers. Facing this stretch of ruins stood a towering gateway that spanned the canyon from wall to wall, its great ornamental pillars entwined with coiling dragons. The beasts were charging straight for that gateway, pouring into the ruins. "The black tide is coming!" Shen Mu looked up, his scalp prickling. The black tide, like ink, was streaming down the cliff face from above the canyon and flooding into it! It would reach the gateway of the ruins in moments and swallow it whole. The herd grew even more frantic and hurled itself at the gate. It had become a deadly, desperate rush—demon beasts collided and trampled one another; a single slip meant bones and flesh ground to powder. But there was no time to care about that now: anyone who failed to rush into the ruins before the black tide arrived would die far worse. Shen Mu charged forward in desperation and seized the tail of a colossal beast. That beast was immensely powerful, like a black mountain racing across the land, and wherever it passed it sent demon beasts flying or crushed them flat underfoot. The demon beasts behind it also leapt up, one after another, grabbed its tail, and let it drag them into the ruins. Shen Mu looked down and saw beasts that on ordinary days were savage and ferocious now clinging to the tail in terror, not daring to twitch. He glanced back—Senior Brother Qu, Senior Sister Qing, and their other three companions, who had been hunting him, were also rushing madly toward the ruins, not far behind. At last, just before the black tide drowned the gateway, the colossal beast plunged through the huge portal, and at the same moment the ink-black tide engulfed the gate. Senior Brother Qu, Senior Sister Qing, and the others came howling after it, but only Qu, Qing, and one other youth made it through before the tide closed over the gateway. Of the other two, one was a step too late—only one arm got through. The other youth got his face, chest, legs, half his belly, and one arm through the gate; the rest of him was lashed by the black tide. Senior Brother Qu landed inside the gateway and immediately reached out to seize his two junior brothers. He caught one by the hand and gave a hard yank, and out of the darkness he dragged a ghastly white skeleton. His other hand had not yet closed on the other youth when he saw that boy pitch forward onto his face. Senior Brother Qu and Senior Sister Qing's hair stood on end. The youth's front still had all its flesh and blood, but the back was stripped completely bare—something in the black tide had eaten every last trace of it! "What in the world is in that black tide? How can such a thing exist?" Senior Sister Qing shrieked. Senior Brother Qu pulled himself together, exhaled a murky breath, and said in a deep voice, "A man's death is like a lamp going out. Those two junior brothers died ridding the world of demons and guarding the Way—they died where they should, and they died gloriously. That little fiend deliberately waited until the very last moment before the black tide to reach these ruins. He must have meant to use it to kill us!" The other youth burned with indignation and said through his teeth, "He is in these ruins too, surrounded by the black tide—he has nowhere to run! Find him and chop his corpse into ten thousand pieces to avenge my junior brothers!" "There he is!" Senior Sister Qing saw Shen Mu spring down from the colossal beast's tail and at once shrieked, "Little fiend, you killed my two junior brothers—and you still think you can run?" Shen Mu was speechless with fury. "You chased me for no reason, hounded me all the way until dark, and killed yourselves—what has that to do with me? I was living quietly and never provoked you; you came to kill me. Am I not the innocent one?" Senior Sister Qing gritted her teeth. "Little fiend, you still dare to quibble—" "Demon my eye!" Shen Mu shot back. "Granny and I killed only one deer to make clothes, and you call us demons. But you killed a herd of deer, and you still dare call us demons?" Senior Brother Qu's face darkened and he stepped forward. "This little fiend is good at deceiving people. No more words with him—kill him now!" The three were about to act when low roars came one after another. Startled, they looked around and saw nearly a thousand demon beasts gathered in these ruins, including no few lord-tier demon beasts, all staring at them with hostile faces and murderous light in their eyes. Senior Brother Qu knew this was bad and quietly stepped back. Seeing that the three made no move, the beasts also settled down and made no further move. Shen Mu clucked his tongue in wonder. Those demon beasts would ordinarily fight savagely over territory and prey, yet now they kept the peace—exceedingly strange. "Could it be that they have made a rule: no fighting or killing in the ruins?" Shen Mu blinked. Many of the beasts were mortal enemies that would not stop before death, yet they too remained at peace, which meant his guess was right. The villagers often said that demon beasts had spiritual intelligence. The underworld ape Shen Mu had met could even talk, calling him "little runt" at every turn. So it was quite possible these demon beasts really had established rules here. Senior Brother Qu had thought of this as well and let out a relieved breath. "No fighting tonight," he said in a low voice. "Wait until dawn, then kill him at once." Senior Sister Qing and the other youth nodded. Shen Mu looked around. The ruins covered a vast area, set in the canyon like a city. Demon beasts were everywhere—except on the plaza, where not a single one stood. The plaza was filled only with skeletons, human bones, some two or three hundred of them, who had died here for unknown reasons and still wore magnificent garments. "They are all women." And strangely, these female skeletons all sat cross-legged in orderly ranks—fifteen rows, fifteen dry bones to a row—as if a catastrophe had struck while they were meditating, giving them no time to flee, and in an instant they had died and become dry bones. He went to the edge of the plaza and looked closely. These female skeletons had a leader among them, who sat cross-legged at the front of the ranks. All of them, including the leader, faced the enormous gateway, turned in the same direction. "Senior Brother, look!" Senior Sister Qing's eyes lit up. She jerked her chin toward the skeletons on the plaza and whispered, "They have treasures in their hands! Every single one of them!" Senior Brother Qu swept his gaze across them and could not keep his heart from hammering. Some of the skeletons held precious swords, some grasped horsetail whisks, some wore jade pendants, some hugged treasure vases—weapons and treasures of every description. The treasures still gleamed brightly, as if fresh from the furnace, and were clearly extraordinary. The most striking of all was the luminous pearl in the skeleton leader's hand. It floated above her palm, and within it something like mist and rosy clouds seemed to drift. This place was actually an immeasurable treasure vault! "If we could only obtain these treasures..." Senior Sister Qing whispered, her breathing quickening. Even the treasure house of the Five Elders of Lanjiang could not compare with one ten-thousandth of this! If they gained this treasure, they could set up their own household and found a sect of their own. Senior Brother Qu's eyes flickered, and he smiled. "Heaven has not been unkind to us! Junior Brother Five, go and fetch those treasures." Junior Brother Five stepped forward. The moment he entered the plaza, the whisk strands on one female skeleton's hand stirred and floated upward. Strand after strand, like living creatures, slow