Chapter 516 — The Girl in the Shadows
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
"Sealing is not the best way to solve the problem. The best way is to fathom the nature of the darkness and do away with this darkness that can devour other lives."
Shen Mu examined the dark substance closely. It was like mist, having form but no substance. He could see particles within the darkness: black particles that had form but no substance, and could pass through the skin.
"A bizarre substance!"
Astonished, Shen Mu summoned a thread of vital essence and used it to fix a portion of the dark substance in midair; then he passed his palm through the fixed substance. There was no obstruction at all, nor did he feel that he had touched anything.
"What substance is this, exactly? What are its properties?"
Shen Mu was deep in thought when suddenly Long Qilin's flustered voice came from the ruins: "Hierarch, are you still alive?"
The voice seemed very far away, as if it came through a thick wall. Shen Mu called back loudly, "Don't worry, I'm still alive. I'll feed you tomorrow morning."
"Oh."
Long Qilin answered, then protested, "It isn't breakfast I was worried about, it's the Hierarch's safety. Since the Hierarch is fine, I'll go to sleep. Hierarch, play a little while and then come back; tomorrow we still have to be fed and be on our way."
Shen Mu studied it for a while but could not make out what this dark substance was. Just then, he saw the demons in the darkness.
Whispering voices rose all around him. Countless demons hid themselves in the darkness, concealed in the shadows of rocks and the gloom of the woods, quietly watching him; now and then came a rustling sound. These demons in the black shadows moved like ghosts and spirits, leaping from one shadow to the next with such speed that even when Shen Mu roused his Sacred Pupil he could scarcely make out their movements.
Suddenly, he glimpsed a shadow that seemed half unreal, half real, walking in the dark.
These figures seemed to exist between the unreal and the real, coming and going in a flash, and they were not demons, but people!
Human figures!
"How can there be people in the darkness?"
Shen Mu's heart gave a small jolt, and he hurried in pursuit. Apart from himself, only beings with the strength of gods could walk in the darkness, Lizheng, say, or Xing'an, or else certain things that gave off divine light, such as Xing'an's box, forged from the divine bones and hide of a Taotie.
When they entered the darkness, they all gave off divine light that drove the darkness back and held it away.
Yet the figures in the darkness did not drive it back; like Shen Mu, they seemed to have merged with the darkness, and stranger still, they seemed to be made of darkness itself!
Shen Mu followed one of the figures. The figure ahead seemed curious about him as well; it stopped, as if waiting for him to come.
Shen Mu caught up and studied the black figure opposite him with curiosity. The figure tilted its head and studied him in turn; two long braids hung down from the black shadow.
It was a girl. Though he could make out only her outline, he could tell that she was young.
She reached out a hand, as if to touch Shen Mu. Shen Mu reached out too, and their palms met, yet they passed through each other, without touching at all.
The girl in the black shadow seemed quite surprised and said something; what reached Shen Mu's ears was a whispering sound, and he could not make out a word of it.
"How strange."
Puzzled, Shen Mu scratched his head and said, "Can you hear what I'm saying?"
The girl presumably could not understand him either; their voices were distorted by some strange power. Suddenly the girl crouched down, her two braids hanging low, and reached out to write something on the ground.
Shen Mu looked down, but could see only twisted black light flowing over the ground, no writing at all.
He wrote a line on the ground as well. The shadow girl shook her head, meaning that she too could not make out what he had written.