The instant Shen You sent him into the God Tomb Garden, it also meant that all connection between the demonic blade and the outside world had been completely severed. In the depths of the distant starry sky, a pair of eyes that seemed to have been frozen for countless years slowly opened...
In a land bathed in sunlight stood a dim region perpetually shrouded in roiling dark clouds. It had once been bright and sunny, alive with birdsong, fragrant blossoms, and luxuriant trees, but now it was a murky sight that made one squint.
The birdsong and blossoms were gone, leaving behind not even a blade of grass. Yet the trees that had originally grown here had been preserved intact, though they had become grotesquely misshapen. Every tree was black, even its leaves, black with a glossy sheen, like sculptures carved from black jade.
Calling them lifeless sculptures would certainly have been wrong. Not only did they possess life, but they possessed an exceedingly peculiar form of life. Trees of varying heights grew like Old Demons; some stretched out two enormous branches to yawn and stretch lazily, as vivid as living creatures.
Some trees murmured softly as they twisted their trunks, as though tossing and turning in dreams upon a bed.
Some trees actually embraced and kissed one another, inseparable like lovers. Bashful, sweet expressions came alive in the shifting cracks of their bark.
Behind those two trees, another tree suddenly opened two eyes on its trunk. They widened bit by bit, as though it had seen something utterly unbelievable. Two branches, like hands, covered its mouth as it let out a piercing, "Ah!" Then its trunk bent, its upper half lunging at the two trees as it brandished handlike branches and grappled with them. The scene was no different