In a spacious room, on a large round table, Earthly Soul and I sat behind The Undertaker, along with Yin Choujian. In front of us stood two people, a man and a woman.
The older man looked kind, always smiling, appearing to be in his sixties or seventies, with a long beard that reached his abdomen. The woman, on the other hand, was cold and striking, with long hair and an angry look in her eyes.
The old man was called The Sleeper, and the woman was called The Artisan—one the leader of Nightfall, the other the leader of Duskfall.
"For you two to come in person, what exactly is it that you want?"
"Could you show a little self-awareness, Undertaker?"
The Artisan spoke first, her anger evident, her voice sharp and aggressive.
"Didn't we just discuss this? As things stand, the three factions are cooperating on the original basis, without interfering with each other."
"That's not quite right. The three behind you are outside of the plan. Now that they've come to your side, they're also outside the plan. Naturally, we have to come and see what these unforeseen elements are. After all, the balance among our three major factions has been maintained until now. Any new influence could become a discordant note and pose a major obstacle to our future plans."
"Heh, Sleeper, what you're saying is that I'm obviously planning to do something behind your backs. Is that it?"
Immediately, The Artisan burst out laughing.
"Since you've admitted it yourself, there's no need to spell it out. Excluding those three who are outside the plan, I don't know what kind of agreement you have, but both Duskfall and Nightfall are firmly opposed, so..."
With a loud slap, The Undertaker stood up, slamming the table and glaring angrily at The Artisan.
"You bitch, have you said enough? Whoever I choose to cooperate with is East Cemetery's business, and it's none of your concern."
"That's not how it works. Everything we've achieved is the result of years of effort among the three factions. If you leak any of this, it could have a terrible impact on our plans."
As The Sleeper spoke, John Chou began to laugh.
"What's so funny, John Chou? If you hadn't taken Tan Tian away, we wouldn't be in this mess."
The Artisan immediately glared at John Chou, who was sitting beside me.
"So what I want to know is, Xu Fu is now on one of your sides—which one is it? You talk about the Immortality Society, but now you're working with them."
"Really?"
The Undertaker became agitated, turning to look at John Chou in confusion.
"That's likely the case. As you know, our relationship with the Immortality Society is like water and fire—we even fought before. So after you trapped us, we've been watching the Immortality Society's movements. But now they're no longer in that city, so where could they have gone?"
"You two..."
"Maybe you're just putting on a show yourself, Undertaker. Don't point fingers at us—we haven't done anything, and we won't cooperate with a fraud like Xu Fu again."
The argument began. I silently watched the leaders of the three factions at the Dark Banquet quarrel—no trust, only accusations and harm. I really couldn't understand how these people had managed to cooperate for so long.
"Brother, their interests are completely bound together now; they can't be separated anymore. Even if they wanted to back out, it's impossible. Just watch and don't get involved."
Yet the argument led nowhere. The three of them were just getting red-faced and shouting, endlessly bickering.
"Just say it—what do you want me to do?"
The Undertaker asked forcefully, and The Artisan laughed.
"Send those three back to the Dark Place again. That's all you need to do. And take away their shadow power."
"And what if I refuse?"
The atmosphere froze in an instant. Suddenly, The Artisan stood up, pressing one hand on the table and then, with a fierce pull, sent the table flying.
"Calm down, both of you."
Just as the two were about to fight, The Sleeper called out, pulling the table back and setting it firmly on the floor.
"Undertaker, how about this: whatever you two are trading, The Artisan and I will observe. We don't want things to get out of hand, especially at a time like this. Is that acceptable? Let us hear the terms of your deal."
After a while, both The Undertaker and The Artisan agreed.
"Their only request is to return from this darkness to the living world."
I blinked and looked at John Chou.
"And the conditions?"
The Artisan asked.
"They will lead me to the three markers of the Unreal Covenant, and assist us in completing the experiment."
Immediately, The Sleeper and The Artisan's eyes grew sharp—they seemed very interested in the Unreal Covenant.
"You'd better be careful—don't let yourself get fooled. John Chou is full of tricks."
"We've already found one marker, so there's no need for you to worry. Sleeper, just mind Nightfall—especially Wraithshade. Don't you think he's getting out of hand? He's become the driving force behind so many things. Are you really going to keep letting him do as he pleases?"
The Sleeper just smiled kindly and didn't answer.
"The conditions aren't bad, but carrying them out is another matter. Don't fall for the bait."
The Undertaker snorted disdainfully at The Sleeper's slightly sour words.
"You two can leave now. I'll have someone relay our cooperation details to you directly. Listen up—don't push me. If you force my hand, none of us will come out of this well. My patience has its limits. Always accommodating you is a thankless task, and there's a limit to how much I'll tolerate your constant demands."
[Irrelevant passage skipped.]
The meeting ended. The Sleeper and The Artisan left, and The Undertaker sat down with a smile, then looked at us.
"Come on, I'll take you to the lab and explain some of our experiments."
Soon, we followed The Undertaker into a spherical glass chamber. Inside was a small grove, filled with various trees and bathed in sunlight.
"First, let me explain one part of our experiment: guiding the light of the living world into this darkness."
I stared in astonishment, eyes wide.
"Specifically, it's about how much nutrition a tree needs to grow, how much water and sunlight, and our goal is to precisely track these data. We're still collecting a massive amount of information."
"And how the power of darkness affects things that don't belong here, right?"
John Chou added, and The Undertaker nodded, stepping up to a small tree and speaking.
"You're quite clever. For example, this tree—why is it smaller than the others? It's because of chance, or inevitability, during its development. It absorbed some power of darkness, and the nutrients, sunlight, and water it needed were devoured by that darkness. Ten years have passed, and it’s still this tall. Once affected by the power of darkness, these natural things from the living world fall into a strange cycle. Though darkness can't completely consume the tree, its previous condition keeps repeating, as if its time has stopped."
Next, The Undertaker led us to an icy plain—a place utterly frozen, with only blocks of ice beneath our feet and cold permeating the air.
"Based on the water and temperature here, this test site should be filled, but right now it's only about a third full. The power of darkness is suppressing everything here. To be precise, if you freeze 1 gram of water here, you only get about 0.247 grams of ice."
After that, The Undertaker took us to many different kinds of test sites, finally arriving at one filled entirely with fields.
"The hardest part is food. It's nearly impossible to keep food from being tainted by the power of darkness and maintain its form from the living world. We bring food directly from the living world, but it starts to change as soon as it enters here. The aura of the living world vanishes, and eating it naturally causes harm. The Stilled is an illness that appears after eating such food."
I stared in astonishment again as The Undertaker continued.
"Although time is suspended here, food is just to satisfy hunger, not a necessity. Even without eating or drinking, you won't starve or die of thirst. But what you do eat will be converted into the power of darkness, which slowly increases the darkness in your body. Most of it leaks out, but depending on your constitution, some residue remains. Some people can digest it over time, but what can't be digested will harm the body. The most notable thing is that this darkness can't be separated from the body by any means. You won't even feel the corrosion, and eventually, darkness will devour everything—mind, senses, movement. The darkness will remain, unable to be expelled, and you'll become one of The Stilled. So far, there's no cure."
"So how do you avoid this condition?"
John Chou asked thoughtfully, and The Undertaker smiled and shook his head.
"Our bodies are different from those outside. Shadows are like our second selves—they help expel excess residue of darkness. That residue is just the waste of power, which can't strengthen you and even threatens your life. Over the years, after mastering the Shadow Arts, no one has become one of The Stilled."
"So after all these years, has there really been no cure for The Stilled?"