While Yan Qing and Murong Hui were soaking away their fatigue in the hot springs, many people were losing sleep because of them.
Skeleton Scroll Plaza, downtown in the Land of Gathering Demons.
This was the largest open space in the Land of Gathering Demons, and the one where the most demons gathered. Fourth Rank Demons roamed the area in groups, resembling the chaotic end times described in Buddhist scriptures. Any herald who came near would voluntarily put away their weapons, and even speak in a hushed voice. No one could afford the risk of angering the demons. It was a despair they could not resist.
At the center of the open space stood four fifteen-zhang-tall skeletal ghouls. Each had eight arms, six of which were playing musical instruments, with one pair of hands playing each instrument—for a total of nine instruments. These nine instruments were the Nine Northern Melodies, the most popular music in the northern lands. The skeleton orchestra's "Peerless Melody Beneath Heaven and Above Earth" was the origin of vocal music in the north, with a history that could be traced back more than ten thousand years. Combined with the poetry and classical works preserved in this secret realm, the Land of Gathering Demons could be called the source of northern culture.
The remaining two arms of the skeletal ghouls held a massive stone scroll. The scroll had always been blank, and no one had ever been able to leave a mark upon it. For many years, the northern heralds had regarded the blank Skeleton Scroll as a matter of course.
Until yesterday.
"How did another person appear? Could someone actually bring people in?" Du Lizhu, the second daughter of the Huai Shuo Du Family, stared at the Skeleton Scroll with her eyes wide. "I'll pay a