The elder husk-ghost’s face twisted in fear, wanting to flee, but Quinn shook the Book of Life and Death. Instantly, the elder stopped, his eyes fixed on the book in Quinn’s hand, not daring to make a move.
Quinn grew even more certain—the Book of Life and Death was the nemesis of these husk-ghosts.
"You called us husk-ghosts, and that's not wrong either."
The elder husk-ghost finally spoke, letting out a dry chuckle: "The origins of the Umbral World go back unimaginably far—back to the dawn of creation. After Youdu and Profound Capital came into being, the Umbral World was born. Before there were so-called humans, it was ancient gods who ruled the universe, forming the old gods’ Heavenly Court. Lady Umbral was one of those ancient gods."
Quinn’s heart trembled, but he kept a calm face: "So, Lady Umbral is just like Tu Bo and Heaven Duke—a god born of heaven and earth itself?"
The elder god shook his head. "Lady Umbral is far inferior to those two. The Umbral World is merely the darkness beneath Heaven Duke’s feet—not on their level. But the Umbral World does have one advantage: it belongs neither to Heaven Duke nor Tu Bo. Neither of them can enter here. This place is a lawless world. In other words…"
Quinn said, "In other words, the souls of the beings who live in the Umbral World will never fall into Youdu, so they can be undying and immortal. Is that right?"
The elder god burst into laughter, though there was no joy in it—he was only laughing for the sake of laughing. He shook his head: "Undying and immortal? Ha, wishful thinking. The Umbral World isn’t what you imagine. Our souls here truly can't be destroyed, but it means that when the living beings of the Umbral World die, their souls only accumulate. If you’re a god or demon, maybe you can keep your flesh from dying, but for other beings, death comes easily."
Quinn asked curiously, "If more and more souls of the dead pile up here, won’t this place become another Youdu?"
"I told you, the Umbral World isn’t under Tu Bo’s control. Tu Bo can’t reach here, so how could it become Youdu?"
The elder husk-ghost shook his head and said, "This place will never become Youdu, nor will it ever become Profound Capital. Whether it's Tu Bo or Heaven Duke, to them this is a blind spot—a land they can never set foot in. But the Umbral World has accumulated far too many souls, and those souls eventually turned wicked. The dead, once gone, where could they ever see others living with such vigor? So, battles broke out between souls and the living."
Quinn was puzzled. "How could souls fight with the living? People with flesh and souls are far stronger than pure spirits—there's no way dead ghosts could ever win against the living."
The elder husk-ghost chuckled. "But flesh always decays in the end, while souls in the Umbral World never die. Even gods can't fully annihilate the souls here. Even when a soul shatters and scatters, it never truly disappears. In this great war between people and ghosts, shattered souls became so numerous that they finally turned into black sand."
His eyes suddenly went pitch-black, as if filled with countless grains of minuscule black sand.
Clearly, he wasn't truly alive either, but a bizarre monster—black sand had invaded his skin and made him move. He was a husk-ghost.
"Black sand—that's what we are, the remains of our shattered souls."
The elder husk-ghost revealed a twisted smile. "Because we're so finely broken, no one can truly see us, no one can touch us. You're one of the rare exceptions who can perceive and interact with us. Once we get a body, hunger hits—an unbearable, ravenous hunger. We go mad wanting to eat. So, we started eating."
He didn't recount the history, only said, "Soon enough, all the living in the Umbral World were devoured by us."
Quinn felt his hair stand on end. Even though the old Pioneer god hadn't described the details, Quinn could easily imagine how terrifying that frenzy must have been!
"Then what happened to Lady Umbral?"
Quinn asked in a low voice, "Why didn’t Lady Umbral stop you?"
The elder husk-ghost didn’t answer, but continued, "We ate and ate, until there were no living souls left in the Umbral World. Then we started eating ourselves—our own flesh, our bones, our divine treasuries, our Primordial Spirits. In the end, all that remained were skins. We ran out of things to eat, starving beyond reason, so finally we set our sights on Lady Umbral..."
Quinn shuddered violently. The old Pioneer god spoke as if it were perfectly normal, but the sheer madness behind his words filled Quinn with dread.
The elder husk-ghost said, "But we weren’t a match for Lady Umbral. Luckily, we had numbers. Even then, we couldn’t bite her to death—she beat us terribly. But we’re undying now, our souls shattered past repair, so even she couldn’t kill us, and we couldn’t eat her. Until one day, a foreign guest arrived. Someone like you: able to see, hear, touch, and even wound us."
He cackled, "The foreign guest joined us, and together we ate Lady Umbral. After that, there was nothing left to eat in the Umbral World. Still, we were starving—"
He smacked his lips, as if savoring some long-lost delicacy.
"You actually ate Lady Umbral?"
Quinn shuddered violently. The elder husk-ghost spoke as if it were perfectly normal, but the sheer madness behind his words filled Quinn with dread.
"You call him the Netherworld Black Emperor?"
The elder husk-ghost shook his head. "We don’t call him that. We call him Prince Umbral."
Quinn was momentarily stunned. "Prince Umbral? The prince of the Umbral World?"
The elder husk-ghost nodded. "Lady Umbral was a native ancient goddess of the Umbral World, but because of the limitations of the Dao, she couldn't subdue us. Prince Umbral, however, had strange sorcery that could. So we followed him, fighting battle after battle through era after era. Later, he founded Mingdu—the Nether City. The Book of Life and Death in your hands is Prince Umbral's treasure, which is why it restrains us. Since you're one of us..."
"One of you?"
Quinn let out a soft laugh and raised the Book of Life and Death, shining its light on him.
The old Pioneer god’s face twisted in terror, letting out a shrill scream as black smoke poured from his features. In moments, his body shriveled up.
The elder husk-ghost’s face twisted in terror, letting out a shrill scream as black smoke poured from his features. In moments, his body shriveled up.
Quinn sat on the throne, leaning to one side, propping his chin in his hand, lost in thought.
"Prince Umbral connected the Umbral World to the Great Ruins, letting the black sand invade. These monsters fear divine light, so when gods enter the darkness, it retreats."
"But there's still something off—the faces in the darkness. At Goddess Pass, I saw a demonic face pushing into the dark, only to be repelled by the goddess's revived divine weapon. The Great Ruins is full of similar cases. So where do these demon gods in the darkness come from?"
He looked around at the skins scattered across the town. These husk-ghosts could zip through the darkness, but they were clearly no match for the demon gods hidden in the black.
He glanced at the skins scattered across the town. These husk-ghosts may move as swiftly as lightning in the darkness, but their strength is unimpressive—they are clearly not the demon gods that dwell in the night.
Strangely enough, those demon gods come and go with the darkness. When daylight returns, not a trace of them can be found in the Great Ruins.
The elder husk-ghost never answered these mysteries for him.
Quinn sat upon the throne, pondering. The elder husk-ghost must have held a high rank in the Umbral World; he could recount its history so clearly, which meant he had witnessed the war between Prince Umbral and Lady Umbral firsthand.
And ever since, he had never been scattered, so he retained memories from that time onward.
Now, as Quinn shone the Book of Life and Death upon him, he saw that the elder was made up of countless soul particles. Yet his skin bore its own name. When the Book’s light touched him, any soul particles that didn’t belong to that skin were expelled.
In effect, Quinn had killed them once.
Even if the black sand returned to their skins, they would no longer be the same as before.
“The Book of Life and Death is truly astonishing. The Netherworld Black Emperor—yes, Prince Umbral—must have been a genius to forge such a treasure.”
Just as this thought crossed his mind, a rustling sound came. Quinn’s heart stirred, and he looked up to see the Pioneer-era god who had first lured him here reappear, standing on a long arched bridge and beckoning to him.
Quinn’s heart stirred as he recalled—among those gods clamoring to eat him earlier, this Pioneer husk-ghost had not been present.
"Could he still possess memories from his previous life? That hardly seems possible."
Quinn quickly rose and, in a few swift steps, leapt onto the bridge. Below lay a stretch of water, its ripples jagged and strange, extending from the town and arching across the lake. The far end vanished into endless gray.
The Pioneer husk-ghost saw him following and continued onward. Quinn hurried after him along the bridge.
Once they left, black sand gathered again in the town, racing along the ground to pour into the skins’ features. Soon, all the husk-ghosts stood up, lifelike, wandering the streets—completely unaware of what had just happened.
The sheer length of the bridge startled Quinn. Its arches rose and fell, stretching into the gray gloom without end, continuing over the water below.
The water beneath couldn’t rightly be called a lake, but rather a sea—its color dark and indistinct.
Quinn ran after him for a long time, but still hadn’t reached the end. Suddenly he stopped and said calmly, "Senior, you’ve been leading me forward all this way—what for? Why not just say it? That elder husk-ghost could speak, so surely you can too?"
In the gray gloom, the Pioneer husk-ghost stopped, turned, and gazed at him with hollow eyes. After a moment, he took off his upper garment.
Quinn paused, stepped closer, and studied his chest. He saw strange markings branded into the Pioneer husk-ghost’s skin.
These marks were formed of incredibly fine and intricate runes, which together spelled out characters.
The character for 'shut.'
His chest and back were covered with the character 'shut'!
"Creation Demon Art—the handiwork of the Lumberjack Sage."
Quinn stood stunned, then suddenly burst into tears, a smile breaking through. "Senior, that’s enough. Let’s keep going."
The Pioneer husk-ghost put his garment back on and continued forward.
The 'shut' marks on his body were traces left by the Creation Demon Art from the Grand Fostering Heavenly Demon Sutra. The Lumberjack Sage used this art to seal his soul inside his skin. Husk-ghosts devour only empty skins, so he was able to preserve his soul and memory.
But his flesh could never be saved. It would be devoured by the husk-ghosts.
Quinn’s tears were born of respect, emotion, and above all, gratitude.
This Pioneer husk-ghost knew that entering the Umbral World meant certain death. Yet he still pressed on, determined to uncover the truth of the darkness.
[Irrelevant author note omitted as per guidelines.]