"Yuna Ji?"
Black Crow asked, his tone filled with confusion.
"You mean that empress, Yuna Ji?"
I nodded, then briefly explained to Black Crow that Yuna Ji and I were friends. I told him that I’d come to notify her about some upcoming talks in the world of the living, but somehow, I’d been dragged into the rebel camp and even fought in a battle.
"Friend, you really are unlucky, hahaha..."
Black Crow burst out laughing, then spread his wings and took flight again.
"This isn’t the place to talk, friend. Let’s go—there’s a post station over there where I rest."
I followed Black Crow, drifting for a while until we left the illuminated area. Ahead was a forest of black trees, with mountains rising and falling. Soon, I spotted a wide road above the marsh, not far from where I’d come.
There were quite a few skeletons marching along the road. Thinking about it, if I had to travel tens of thousands of miles from the source of the Sanzu River to its end, swimming through the Sanzu itself, the distance would be anything but short.
Now that I think about it, if it weren’t for the rebel army digging out the river, I’d probably have to swim for a year at my speed—and even then, I might not make it.
At that moment, I gradually noticed a bone house at the foot of a mountain—three stories tall, conspicuous among the hills. Black Crow flew toward the bone house, and I followed.
After landing, I saw what looked like a patch of ground near the entrance. Some things grew there like crops, but they were all withered.
Black Crow pushed open the door. I entered and saw the place filled with weapons hanging everywhere. Black Crow sat down, his beak clicking as if he were laughing, then gestured for me to sit. I walked over and sat in a chair.
"Why go to war?"
I asked—the core question on my mind.
"You’ve probably heard before, friend, this place is called the Realm of Eternal Night—there’s never any daylight. Its other name is the Hell of War, a place of endless conflict. I don’t even know when it all started."
Black Crow spoke. I responded with an 'oh'—he hadn’t really answered me.
"Couldn’t both sides just sit down and talk? It shouldn’t be a problem. Yuna Ji isn’t that hard to reason with."
Black Crow nodded.
"Yes, the empress really isn’t that hard to deal with. But she’s stubborn, and her stubbornness has led to centuries of unending war."
Then Black Crow began to explain. Originally, there was no grass or tree here. It was a place where, after souls were cleansed, their supporting bodies turned into bones and were stored—a massive burial ground.
That’s why there are countless bones here. This is where bones pile up. After people die, their bodies eventually become bones, but bones aren’t eternal. Over time, they vanish. Whether human or animal, once their bones disappear in the world of the living, they end up here.
I remembered the first time I came here—I saw mountains of bones, heaps upon heaps, and felt utterly disgusted.
After the soul leaves the body, it’s freed from physical restraints. But that’s why many ghosts can’t travel far—unless they grow strong enough to carry their own bones, they can’t go far.
Bones are the only proof that a ghost exists in this world—they’re not just intangible. If the bones vanish, the ghost ceases to exist unless it enters reincarnation. Only then do its bones arrive at this burial ground, treated as discarded remnants.
"You know about the Blue Wraiths, right, friend? Those Blue Wraiths can move freely and have physical bodies. That’s because their bones have merged with their ghostly essence, so they have substance and can even come out during the day. That’s the biggest difference between Blue Wraiths and other ghosts."
I made a sound of acknowledgment, feeling I understood. But then a chill ran through me—my body had been taken by Lance Quinn. Had it been turned into a zombie or something else? According to Black Crow, since I didn’t feel any change, my existence was still intact—my body was fine.
"Friend, you don’t look so good—did you lose your bones?"
I forced a laugh and shook my head. Still, I was anxious—after all, it was my body, my bones. How could I just let Lance Quinn take them so easily?
But there was no use worrying now—I had to find Yuna Ji.
"This place, where discarded bones are stored, had nothing but bones a thousand years ago—until a woman arrived. To be precise, a female ghost."
I nodded. Black Crow was talking about Yuna Ji.
No one knows how or why Yuna Ji came here. Even those from the Underworld Court can’t enter easily—without an order from the King of Hell, no one can set foot in this place.
But after Yuna Ji arrived, she began a task: digging the Styx River. Alone, with her bare hands, she spent centuries digging, eventually connecting the Styx to the Sanzu River.
I shot to my feet.
"She dug the Styx by hand? Seriously?"
I couldn’t imagine it—Yuna Ji, just a woman, must have been far weaker when she first arrived than she is now.
"But why?"
I asked immediately.
Black Crow continued: In life, Yuna Ji’s country was destroyed by a powerful enemy, and she died on the battlefield. The souls of her subordinates never dispersed. When she descended to the Underworld Court, she dug the river to save her fallen followers.
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Black Crow spoke, his beak clicking with laughter as he lifted his head, as if remembering something.
"Back then, the empress promised the whole army she’d lead us to victory. Every word and deed gave hope to the people. She always led from the front in every battle. So even though our nation was destroyed by overwhelming force, not a single soul blamed her."
"Are you one of Yuna Ji’s subordinates?"
I stared at Black Crow in surprise. He nodded.
"I was once indeed one of Yuna Ji’s subordinates—a strategist in the Black Feather Corps."
"Why..."
I didn’t say anything more. Black Crow continued speaking.
After digging out the Styx River with her bare hands, Yuna Ji waited by the Sanzu River for centuries, bringing her soldiers and people over one by one.
Seventeen years—her country was ravaged by war for seventeen years. She went to the battlefield at age eleven and died at twenty-eight. The one she loved also died before her eyes because of the war. All of us, her subordinates, saw this. So, after death, our obsession with the empress and her vow to defeat the enemy became our deepest fixation. That’s what brought us back to her side.