"It's getting dark, don't go out," a phrase that had been circulating in Canlao Village for many years. The exact origin of this saying was unknown and difficult to trace. Nevertheless, it held true, leaving no room for doubt.

As the last rays of sunlight hid behind the mountains, the old midwife of Canlao Village grew increasingly nervous. With the setting sun, a sudden silence engulfed the earth, devoid of any sound. Darkness crept in slowly from the west, devouring the mountains, rivers, roads, and trees along its path until it reached Canlao Village, submerging it entirely.

At the four corners of Canlao Village stood ancient stone statues, weathered and worn, their creators and the time of their erection shrouded in mystery, even to the midwife.

As darkness descended, the four stone statues emitted a faint glow, illuminating the village and bringing relief to the midwife and the elderly residents.

The darkness outside grew thicker, but with the light from the statues, Canlao Village remained relatively safe.

Suddenly, the midwife's ears twitched, and she froze before exclaiming, "Do you hear that? It's a child crying outside!"

Beside her, Old Ma shook his head. "Impossible, you must have misheard... Oh wait, I hear the cries of a baby too!"

The sound of an infant's cry echoed from the darkness outside, reaching the ears of all the elderly villagers, except those who were deaf. They exchanged glances, bewildered. Canlao Village was remote and desolate, so how could a baby appear nearby?

"I'll go check it out!"

The midwife became excited and hurried to one of the stone statues in the village, but Old Ma quickly intervened. "Mrs. Si, are you out of your mind? It's dark outside, and leaving the village means certain death!"

"I'll carry this stone statue with me. The creatures in the dark fear them. I'll be fine for a short while!" Mrs. Si said, bending down to try and lift the statue. However, her hunched back prevented her from doing so. Old Ma shook his head. "Let me do it instead. I'll carry the statue and accompany you."

Another elderly man hobbled over and said, "Mr. Ma, you only have one arm. You won't be able to carry the statue for long. I have both hands intact. Let me do it."

Old Ma glared at him. "You one-legged fool! Can you even walk properly? Though I have only one arm, it's mighty strong!"

With his one arm, he lifted the heavy stone statue, steadied himself, and said, "Mrs. Si, let's go!"

"Don't call me an old hag! Lame man, mute man, all of you, be careful. With one statue missing from the village, make sure nothing sneaks in from the darkness!"

Old Ma and Mrs. Si ventured out of Canlao Village, with mysterious things lurking in the darkness around them. However, as soon as the light from the stone statues touched them, the creatures let out strange squeals and retreated back into the darkness.

Following the sound of the crying, the two of them walked about a hundred steps and reached the banks of a great river. The cries of the baby seemed to come from the river. The faint glow from the statues illuminated only a short distance, so they carefully listened to the direction of the sound and walked upstream along the river. After a few dozen steps, they were close to the source of the crying. Old Ma, with his lone arm, was already struggling to carry the weight. Mrs. Si's eyes lit up when she noticed a faint glow coming from a basket on the riverbank. The cries were coming from inside the basket.

"There's really a child!"

Mrs. Si approached and lifted the basket, but she was slightly taken aback. She couldn't lift it up because underneath the basket was an arm, pale from being soaked in the river water. It was this arm that had held the basket and the baby inside, carrying them all the way to the shore.

"Don't worry, the child is safe," Mrs. Si whispered to the lifeless woman under the water.

As if hearing her words, the corpse's hand loosened its grip and was washed away by the river, disappearing into the darkness.

Mrs. Si lifted the basket, revealing a baby swaddled in a blanket. On top of the blanket, there was a jade pendant emitting a faint glow. The glow of the pendant was similar to that of the stone statues, although much weaker. It was the pendant that protected the baby in the basket from the creatures lurking in the darkness.

However, the glow of the pendant was weak, only capable of protecting the child and not the woman.

"It's a boy."

Back in Canlao Village, the villagers gathered around. They were all elderly, weak, or disabled. Mrs. Si opened the blanket and took a glance, revealing a toothless smile. "Finally, Canlao Village has a healthy person!"

The one-legged man was astonished. "Mrs. Si, do you plan to raise him? It's difficult enough for us to take care of ourselves! I think we should consider sending him away..."

Mrs. Si became furious. "If I, the old lady, picked up this child with my own abilities, why should I send him away?"

The villagers nodded in agreement, not daring to argue with her. The village chief, who was carried on a stretcher, arrived. He was even more pitiful than the others, as he lacked both arms and legs. Despite that, he commanded respect from everyone, even the fierce and formidable Mrs. Si.

"Since we're going to raise him, shouldn't we give him a name?"

The village chief asked, "Old lady, is there anything else in the basket?"

Mrs. Si rummaged through it and shook her head. "There's only this jade pendant, no other notes or anything. There are characters on the pendant, Qin characters. It's a pure jade without impurities, and it possesses a strange power. It must have come from a wealthy family."

"Should his name be Qin or is it his surname?"

The village chief pondered and said, "Let his surname be Qin, and his name shall be Mu. Qin Mu. When he grows up, he can be a shepherd. At least he'll be able to make a living."

"Qin Mu," Mrs. Si looked at the baby in the swaddle, who was not afraid of her and actually giggled.

...

By the river, the sound of a flute echoed as a young cowherd sat on the back of a cow, playing a melodious tune. This young boy, around eleven or twelve years old, had a handsome face with rosy lips and white teeth. His clothes were partially worn, and he wore a jade pendant around his neck.

This boy was none other than the baby Mrs. Si had found by the river eleven years ago. The elderly villagers in the village had toiled hard to raise him. Mrs. Si managed to acquire a cow from somewhere, allowing the young Qin Mu to drink milk every day and survive the critical period when he was prone to early death.

Although the villagers of Canlao Village had fierce and formidable appearances, they treated him well. Mrs. Si was a tailor, and Qin Mu would learn tailoring from her, as well as medicine gathering and refining from the village's herbalist. He would learn leg techniques from the limping grandfather, sound perception and positioning from the blind grandfather, and breathing exercises from the limbless village chief. Time flew by as he immersed himself in these various pursuits.

The cow had been his wet nurse since childhood. Mrs. Si had originally intended to sell it, but Qin Mu couldn't bear to part with it, so he was also entrusted with the task of herding the cow.

He often grazed the cow by the riverside, enjoying the beautiful scenery of the verdant mountains, clear waves, and white clouds. It was truly a pleasant experience.

"Qin Mu, Qin Mu, save me!"

Suddenly, the cow beneath him spoke, startling Qin Mu. He quickly jumped off the cow's back and saw tears in its eyes. The cow spoke with human words, saying, "Qin Mu, you nursed from my milk, so I'm like half your mother. You must save me!"

Qin Mu blinked, testing the situation. "How can I save you?"

The cow replied, "You have a sickle around your waist. Use it to peel off my skin, and that will free me from this plight."

Qin Mu hesitated, but the cow continued, "Have you forgotten my nurturing kindness?"

Qin Mu raised the sickle cautiously and carefully cut the cow's skin. Strangely enough, no blood flowed out when the skin was peeled away. Moreover, the inside of the skin turned out to be empty, without flesh or bones.

As the cowhide was halfway peeled off, a woman in her twenties or thirties rolled out from within. Her legs were still wrapped in the cow's legs, with flesh and skin connecting them to the cowhide. However, her upper body had managed to break free.

The disheveled woman snatched the sickle from the bewildered Qin Mu's hand. In just a couple of swift motions, she cut through the cowhide on her legs and feet. Then, she looked at Qin Mu with a sinister expression, placing the sickle against his neck and sneering, "Little villain, it is because of you that I was turned into a cow. For eleven years, I could only eat grass and feed you milk! Pitifully, just before I turned into a cow, I had given birth to a child and was tricked by that witch to become a cow to feed you milk! Today, I am finally free from this plight. I will kill you first and then slaughter the evil people in this village!"

Qin Mu's mind was in a whirl, unable to comprehend what the woman who emerged from the cowhide was saying.

Just as the woman was about to strike him down, her expression suddenly turned cold. She lowered her head and saw a knife protruding from her chest.

"Mu'er, your master, the herbalist, told you to go back and take your medicine." The woman's body fell to the ground, and standing behind her was the limping grandfather of the village. He had a kind and gentle face, a simple smile on his lips, and held a blood-drenched knife in his hand as he greeted Qin Mu.

"Limping Grandfather..." Qin Mu's body went weak as he looked at the piece of cowhide and the woman's lifeless body on the ground. He still hadn't fully grasped what had just happened.

"Go back, go back." The limping grandfather patted his shoulder and chuckled.

Qin Mu walked unsteadily, one foot in front of the other, heading towards the village. He turned his head and saw the limping grandfather throwing the woman's body into the river.

The impact of this scene was so great that he didn't even realize when he had returned to the village.

"Qin Mu! You brat, how many times have I told you? Don't go out after dark! It's dangerous!"

As night fell, the stone statues at the four corners of Canlao Village lit up once again. Mrs. Si called out to Qin Mu, who was planning to sneak out of the village to the riverside to examine the cowhide, and dragged him back.

"Grandmother, why can't we go out after dark?" Qin Mu asked, looking up.

"During the darkness, there are terrifying things lurking about. Going out means certain death."

Mrs. Si spoke earnestly, "The stone statues in the village protect us. The creatures in the darkness dare not enter the village."

"Do other villages also have these stone statues?" Qin Mu asked curiously.

Mrs. Si nodded, but her expression was somewhat worried. She kept glancing at the outside of the village and whispered, "The limping grandfather should have returned... It was a mistake to let him go out. He only has one leg..."

"Grandmother, something strange happened today..." Qin Mu trailed off.

Qin Mu hesitated for a moment and recounted the incident of the woman emerging from the cow's belly. Mrs. Si nonchalantly responded, "You mean that woman? The limping grandfather already informed me, and he handled it well. I had suggested selling the cow when you were four and no longer needed milk, but you couldn't bear to part with it. Look, now something has happened, right? I always said that developing an attachment to a cow after drinking its milk until the age of four is not good."

Qin Mu blushed, realizing that he had indeed breastfed for a bit too long. However, it seemed like the key issue wasn't about weaning at four, right?

"Grandmother, the woman was killed by the limping grandfather..."

"Good riddance."

Mrs. Si chuckled, "She deserved it. Eleven years ago, she should have died. If it wasn't for her role as a milk provider for you, do you think she would have survived until now?"

Qin Mu was puzzled.

Mrs. Si glanced at him and continued, "This woman is the wife of the lord of Xianglong City, located a thousand miles away from here. The lord of Xianglong City is lascivious, and she is jealous. Whenever the lord indulged in illicit affairs, seducing innocent women, this city lord's wife would send someone to beat the woman to death. I infiltrated Xianglong City with the intention of killing her, but I discovered that she had just given birth to a child. The child was only three months old, and I thought about how you still needed milk while she had it. So I turned her into a cow and brought her back to feed you. But I didn't expect that she would break free from the seal and be able to speak. It nearly caused harm to you."

Qin Mu's eyes widened, and he exclaimed, "Grandmother, how can a person turn into a cow?"

Mrs. Si smirked, revealing her decaying teeth, "Do you want to learn? I can teach you... The limping grandfather is back!"

Qin Mu looked and saw the limping grandfather, leaning on his crutch with a prey on his back, hobbling towards the village. The darkness rushed towards the village like a tide. Mrs. Si urgently called out, "Damn limping man, hurry up!"

"Why the rush?"

The limping grandfather continued his leisurely pace towards the village. In the instant he entered the village, the intense darkness engulfed it. The prey on his back was a beautiful striped tiger, still alive. However, its tail was struck by the darkness, and it let out a mournful roar. Qin Mu quickly looked and saw that the tiger's tail was reduced to a series of bones, with no fur or flesh remaining, as if something had gnawed it off.

Curiously, he gazed at the darkness outside the village, where everything was pitch black and nothing could be seen.

"What exactly lurks within the darkness?" he wondered.