A dim blood moon hung high in the sky. Clouds drifted past, occasionally spilling mottled scarlet light.
On the street below, a breeze rose from time to time. Deep into the night, it brought a bone-deep chill. Great quantities of paper ash drifted on the wind as five figures walked down the street, their footsteps exceptionally clear.
It was too quiet.
They could even hear their own footsteps.
Looking up toward the end of the street, they saw only darkness. Faint lights glimmered in the distance, yet rather than offering any sense of safety, they made their hearts tremble even more, as though something even more terrifying lurked within that light.
Nether Village.
It had been classified as a fourth-grade evil fiend territory long ago. At first, its danger level had not been particularly high. Though it had been designated a fourth-grade evil fiend territory, that was really only because it was somewhat strange and unusual. Its actual level of danger did not even measure up to certain fifth-grade evil fiend territories.
Fifth-grade evil fiend territories were the lowest rank.
Such places carried a certain degree of danger, but even ordinary people stood a good chance of surviving if they were lucky and did not go looking for death.
There were simply far too many evil fiend territories like this in the world. Some could be dealt with, while others could not.
Generally speaking, as long as the danger was not too great for the time being, they would choose to leave it alone for now. At most, they would seal it off and assign people to guard it and keep watch.
There were simply too few Celestial Masters.
The number of evil fiend territories vastly exceeded the number of Celestial Masters.
Demand outstripped supply.
And so, Nether Village had