He did not retreat. Instead, he strode toward the thick fog.
"I'm Tang Chen. What deadly place haven't I braved in my life?"
"If the legendary Carefree Village is hidden here, then I want to see what this so-called Realm of the Dead Living really is!"
As Tang Chen stepped into the fog, the scenery around him began to change beyond recognition.
The dark red earth vanished.
In its place stretched an endless expanse of gray-black water.
The surface was utterly still, like a vast black mirror reflecting the pallid moon overhead.
Tang Chen stood at the water's edge. Beneath his feet lay heaps of chalk-white ashes instead of soil.
"Jingle, jingle..."
The clear yet mournful sound of bells drifted across the water.
Tang Chen narrowed his eyes.
A row of folded paper boats was drifting slowly toward him across the black water.
The boats were crudely made. A white paper lantern glowing ghostly green hung from each bow.
In the lanterns' faint light, he could just make out a paper figure standing at the stern of each boat, pushing a bamboo pole through the water.
The paper boats reached the shore and stopped.
A cold wind passed, making the lantern at the nearest bow sway.
Tang Chen looked at the paper boat beside his feet and snorted.
Without hesitation, he raised his right foot and stepped firmly onto the seemingly fragile boat.
The instant both his feet landed aboard, the gray-white fog around him churned violently.
The pallid moon overhead suddenly became a huge, bloodshot eye that watched him coldly from the sky.
The boat moved without wind, carrying Tang Chen slowly into the depths of the black water.
The farther it went, the darker the surroundings became.
A nauseating stench of rot began to fill the air.
Mutilated