Chapter 647: River Styx and Seaming (1)
That’s somewhat familiar… Qin Ye raised a brow quizzically, but promptly invited Abra to continue speaking.
Qin Ye nodded slightly. Having lived for so long, he would’ve heard a thing or two about such uncommon occurrences. Even though the name Lake Natron didn’t quite ring a bell, he had most certainly heard about the phenomenon spoken of.
The flesh within would already be rotting and decomposing, and some were even no more than empty shells devoid of flesh. But the feathers on the body would still remain intact, save that they would lose their lustre because of the death of the body. Then, just like undead canoes, these birds would drift about endlessly on the lake.
“A little.” Abra took a deep breath, “Everyday at 5.00 a.m, these corpses wrapped in cowhide would be set free onto the streams of the Sanctuary of Ancestral Spirits. Legend has it that these corpses would then become like those birds of Lake Natron, decaying rapidly until they become completely mummified, before finally drifting into the underworld!”
He shuddered, “These bodies… were all found to have been seamed up completely!”
“Can you believe it? This means that as the corpses are flowing down the streams, somewhere along the way, something unknown must have seamed up all of these cowhides!”
“Therefore…” He breathed heavily, “There is only one way into the Malagasy Underworld.”
Isn’t that being a little too unkind to an international tourist of the land?
“That’s right…” Abra nodded heavily, “The exact directions given by my ancestors are to enter the Sanctuary, wrap yourself with corpse’s clothes, enter the lake island of the undead, and say his name. There are no further instructions.”
Sorry, I’ve got no small change. This is just how wealthy I am!
It was night. The winds around the mountainous regions were bitterly cold.
Qin Ye looked up at the moon in the sky. Indeed, the moon was full, and tonight was by no means supposed to be a full moon. The dim moonlight was pale and eerie, and it cast an otherworldly silvery sheen across the trees, mountains, streams and rock formations in the Sanctuary.
Yet more peculiar was the fact that he couldn’t hear a single other sound around these parts!
He felt no different from a lonely ghost wandering the graveyard at night. And for some strange reason, he couldn’t help but feel as though something hidden in the shadows were watching him intently at all times.
There was a stream located right in front of him. Over the last few hours, they’d already walked past several families who were preparing to release the corpses of their family members further upstream.
Furthermore, the riverbanks were somewhat oddly shaped. They were located approximately 3 meters below ground level, and the two riverbanks were approximately 50 meters apart. That said, the small river that flowed through the center was only 3 meters wide. The peculiar shape of the riverbanks suggested that the river was one that often burst its bank and washed out the surrounding parts of the river. However, this was a stream flowing down from a mountain, and it wasn’t likely to be subject to flooding like that. Unfortunately, the mud on both sides of the riverbanks suggested otherwise - that the “stream” should have been tens of meters wide.
Smells fresh…
A ferryman’s river? Is this the stench of River Styx itself?
Abra held two sets of cowhides and followed closely behind Qin Ye. His face appeared paler than ever, and he glanced around nervously. His thoughts were clearly all over the place.
He couldn’t help but feel as though life had taken a turn for the worse after meeting up with the Emissary of Hell.
Qin Ye didn’t respond immediately. Instead, he simply continued to stare ahead of him.
It appeared hazy. The moonlight was bright and lustrous, and yet he couldn’t really see anything beyond the pile of bones, almost as though it were a line demarcating the end of the mortal realm and the beginning of the underworld.
“A waterfall.” Qin Ye nodded affirmatively.
Everything was shrouded in silence here, and not even the waterfall in the distance generated the slightest bit of sound. The air was filled with an austere sense of ritual, almost as though a massive hand were gripping tightly the hearts of all mortal men.
“My Lord…” Even a mere mortal like Abra could sense that death was looming right around the corner. His breaths grew ragged, and he couldn’t help but grab the hem of Qin Ye’s suit.
He didn’t continue to follow the river downstream. After all, he knew that these rituals were a system that had been put in place to act like a passport of sorts. That said, the key to entry lay not in the place of entry, but the compliance with the process set in place.
“You can choose not to go too.” Qin Ye smiled faintly, “Or perhaps… head in through a different means.”
Ting-a-ling… Ting-a-ling… Just then, Qin Ye’s alarm suddenly rang.
The witching hour.
It’s begun… This is the start of the entry procedure of the Malagasy Underworld… Qin Ye watched intently. He didn’t want to miss this moment of excitement one bit.
Closer, and closer; faster, and faster! After approximately three seconds, Qin Ye turned his gaze upstream, and Abra did likewise.
Everything was cast in a soft silvery-white sheen under the soft glow of the moonlight. It was still located quite far away from them, but the forcefulness of the sound made it patently clear what it was. Abra’s jaws dropped, and his legs gave way, “How… how is this possible?”
The three-meter wide stream had suddenly transformed into a river that was tens of meters wide, and it was rushing straight through the mountains like a tsunami and towards the location of the waterfall!
However, that wasn’t the most shocking. The most astonishing part about this entire process was how the river was actually… covered with corpses!
Furthermore, every single corpse in the waters had their eyes wide open.
Thud… Abra collapsed to the ground. His legs were soft as jelly. He desperately sought to clamber up to his feet, but strength seemed to elude him.
“Where did all of this water come from? No! And these corpses! What the hell is going on with these corpses?!”
Qin Ye stared at the massive river. The corpses looked numerous, but the truth of the matter was that there were only a few hundred of them. That said, the force of the river was so great that he could already see the tail end of the surge in the tide.
Abra scrambled to open up the two cowhides, but Qin Ye knew that he couldn’t dally any longer. Thus, just as the last row of corpses rushed past, Qin Ye picked up the two cowhides and flung them onto the river, before soon tossing Abra onto one, and jumping onto another without hesitation.
It was almost as though he was suddenly on a quiet lake, gently paddling a canoe as he drifted endlessly along towards the horizon. In fact, he couldn’t even feel the movements of the cowhide!
“Has the door to the underworld been opened?” Qin Ye shut his eyes placidly and indulged himself in this final journey of the living dead.
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