"This is Nether City, a forbidden zone for the living."
The bird-headed creature spoke through its beak, the sound oddly unnatural, not as smooth as a human's voice. "You are alive. You shouldn't be here."
Village Chief's expression grew solemn, but he smiled and said, "But I've already come."
The bird-headed creature said, "If you want to leave, you must pay a price."
Village Chief asked curiously, "What price?"
"Nether City has Lord Hades."
The bird-headed creature seemed to be staring at its own beak. "Lord Hades has already noticed you and admires you. So Lord Hades has a request. If you agree to it, you can leave."
Village Chief's expression shifted slightly. He replied politely, "What request?"
The bird-headed creature said, "After you die, you will belong here."
Village Chief pondered for a moment, then suddenly laughed. "In the Dead‑Alive Realm, the dead live and the living are as dead. If I can survive here after death, why not? Life outside is death here, and death outside is life here. If after dying I can live here, that's a good thing. I agree. But could you answer a few questions first?"
The bird-headed creature tilted its head. "Ask if you wish, but I may not answer."
Village Chief smiled faintly. "Is that Moon Ship Carefree Haven?"
"No."
Village Chief was taken aback, blurting out, "If it's not Carefree Haven, why does Quinn's Jade Pendant react to it? Why does the pendant point here? And why has the Moon Ship appeared here?"
The bird-headed creature frowned, its eyes glaring at its own beak, clearly annoyed by all the questions. "All the Moon Shepherds aboard the Moon Ship are dead, extinct. The last Moon Warden sent the ship here. There's a dead man living on the ship—go ask him, he probably knows."
"A dead man? Is that the Moon Warden?" Village Chief wondered aloud.
The bird-headed creature lifted a leg, kicked at the feathers on its neck, and from the fluff kicked out a golden worm, which it promptly ate. "You ask too many questions," it said impatiently.
Village Chief asked, "What's the story with the demon-god who attacked me? Isn't Nether City supposed to belong to the Heavenly Demons?"
"She's a resident here. This place belongs to Lord Hades, not the Heavenly Demons."
The bird-headed creature ignored him, using its beak to tidy the feathers it had ruffled. "One day you'll live here just like her. Lord Hades admires you."
Village Chief let out a heavy breath. He’d thought this was the world of demons, but it seemed he’d guessed wrong—the demon-god he trapped was just a major figure in the Dead‑Alive Realm.
He asked again, "Where is Carefree Haven?"
The bird-headed creature had finally lost all patience. It flapped its wings and flew off. "You ask too many questions. I really dislike you. Don’t forget your promise—after you die, I’ll come for you. Don’t follow the underworld guides!"
Village Chief watched it disappear into the distance, then looked at the Moon Ship. The massive vessel was now upright, dragging the moon along as it wandered aimlessly.
"I've been disliked. Is it true that the older you get, the more you talk?"
Village Chief couldn’t help but laugh and cry at once. He walked toward the Moon Ship, where the vortex still hung in the sky, blood swirling inside—within, the demon-god continued to struggle, trying to break free.
"That demon-god used the Moon Ship to lure Quinn. She must know some secrets about Carefree Haven. Too bad I can only trap her, not force her to reveal what she knows."
He boarded the Moon Ship, arriving on the vessel atop the toad’s back. Looking around, he saw ruined palaces everywhere—crumbling walls, collapsed buildings, and toppled giant weapons, most shaped like full moons, some like mirrors.
The palaces here were enormous, clearly not built for ordinary people.
He passed a grand hall and stopped to study the sculpture in front of it.
The sculpture here was a three-legged jade toad—three legs, a human body, and a toad's head: half-human, half-toad.
"Hee hee hee..."
A strange, sinister laugh echoed among the cluster of halls, followed by a chilling voice singing a nursery rhyme: "Rock and sway, rock and sway, rock to Grandma's bridge..."
Village Chief hesitated but ignored the voice, choosing instead to enter the palace before him. Inside, everything was in disarray—incense burners toppled, ashes strewn everywhere, bronze sparrow lamps smashed, folding screens broken, jade beds shattered. Clearly, a great upheaval had occurred here.
He looked around, then stopped before a mural inside the grand hall. The painting showed tall, white-robed giants herding the moon, piloting the Moon Ship through the night.
Outside the Moon Ship, hordes of powerful, grotesque monsters attacked, but the giants aboard fought them off with bows, spears, sabers, and swords.
When daylight came and the darkness retreated, the Moon Ship would return to a deep abyss—likely the Moonwell.
Village Chief studied the mural closely. The giants on the Moon Ship were striking and handsome, each with a crescent moon mark between their brows.
"Looks like that bird creature was right—Quinn really isn't a Moon Shepherd. He doesn't have the crescent mark on his brow."
He circled the hall, finding nothing more, and headed toward the massive pillars at the center of the palace cluster. The enormous columns were wrapped in chains, their other ends drifting skyward to anchor a ruined crescent moon.
As the Moon Ship moved, it dragged the shattered crescent moon through the sky. Whenever the moon rolled, huge fireballs tumbled down from above—chunks of mountain rock from the ruined moon.
This broken moon, whenever it shifted, dropped stones that turned into meteors.
Some meteors didn't burn up and crashed into the ground, gouging out massive craters—dangerous indeed.
"A bag of candy, a bag of fruit, Grandma buys a fish to stew. Head half-raw, tail burnt black, served in a bowl it squeaks and cracks. Eat it up, it jumps inside! Heh heh heh heh..."
The singing grew stranger and stranger. Village Chief frowned, scanning all around, but still saw no one. A chill crept down his spine.
Then he spotted the source: in the clearing between the massive pillars lay a face—a gigantic face.
The enormous face was singing the same sinister nursery rhyme. Its hair was wild and tangled, like a madman trapped inside a mirror. But between its brows was a crescent moon.
"The Moon Warden of the Moon Shepherd clan..."
Village Chief sighed, sat down, and picked up a stone. He carved it into the shape of the jade pendant Quinn wore on his chest. "Moon Warden, have you ever seen this pendant?"
"Eat it up, it jumps inside!"
The gigantic face let out a wild laugh. "Jump inside!"
Village Chief frowned. The Moon Warden must have died after merging completely with the Moon Ship, using his last strength to send the ship into the Dead‑Alive Realm, only to perish in its hull. Even if his spirit revived here, it could only exist within the ship and never leave.
Death drove him mad.
Village Chief stood to leave, but suddenly the face below said, "Carefree Haven's jade pendant?"
Village Chief stopped and turned quickly. "You know where Carefree Haven is?"
"Of course I do."
The face beneath the floor seemed to regain some clarity. "We Moon Shepherds hail from Carefree Haven. The Moon Warden's token was forged there, and even the Moon Ship itself comes from Carefree Haven... Yes, Moon Shepherds, Moon Shepherds!"
He burst into wild laughter, tears streaming down his face. "Dead, they're all dead! Their bodies can't even be pieced together. Ha, dead! I ran, I ran, I was a coward, I threw them away—hee hee..."
Village Chief frowned. "Where is Carefree Haven?"
"Grandma says I'm a good child..."
Village Chief sighed, realizing he could get no more answers, and rose to leave.
At the dock, his arms and legs vanished once again. He sighed inwardly, then spotted the gold coin on the wooden post and smiled. "Quinn is always so thoughtful."
He picked up the coin, which glowed faintly. Village Chief waved it toward the mist, and soon a small boat drifted over, a lantern hanging from its bow.
Village Chief floated onto the boat, standing alone at the prow as it glided into the mist. This mysterious place held countless unsolved mysteries—perhaps one day he could explore them, but only after his death, he supposed.
"Ling Jing is much more carefree than I am, wandering everywhere and seeing so many wonders. Maybe only after I die will I finally let go of my burdens."
He thought silently, "But by then, I'll be dead, stuck in the Dead‑Alive Realm, unable to explore the unknown wonders of this world."
The boat reached the entrance to this place. Village Chief saw Quinn running frantically, silver threads of the Great Nurturing Demon Scripture weaving and slashing, killing the skeletons attacking him. Only then did Village Chief breathe a sigh of relief.
Quinn saw the little boat approaching and felt a surge of joy and relief. Now, only the Great Nurturing Demon Scripture and the Imperial Disc remained as his last trump cards—he was nearly spent.
Suddenly, the strange world behind them grew hazy and blurred, and a loud rooster crow rang out.
"Oh no! Dawn is coming!"
Village Chief's expression changed. He leapt into the air, grabbed Quinn, and sped away!
They burst out of that wondrous world, Quinn landing heavily on the surface of the Yong River, waves splashing over his feet—they were back on the river. He looked back to see the world behind them dissolve like a painting made of mist, vanishing in an instant, even his jade pendant falling silent.
As the darkness faded, that world vanished completely from the Great Ruins, as if it had never existed.
The entrance to that world would reappear the next night, but where it would drift, no one could say.