Please forgive my insolence as I dare to write this down but someone had to know. Someone! Anyone! Before I begin, I must disclose that I cannot reveal my identity under these circumstances but you must find me credible. You simply must. I am no commoner who writes rubbish to birth fear in the people’s hearts. I am a noble person. I have my dignity! I will not tolerate any slander towards this entry.

I write this from a shabby hideout where I would not have placed even my eyes, truly shameful that I must spend my days here. But at least I am alive. That fact alone is my source of happiness these days. My friends are all dead and I am alive. The only one who remains. It has been more than a month. The supplies are running low so I have no choice but to scrape on the raw energy that is spread around this area. A month ago, I could have never imagined that I would have to fall back on the yin absorption techniques taught in my adolescent years, for survival.

Me and my friends, Qiang, Meng, Yun, and Xiao Lijuan. I alter all their names except for my Lijuan. Xiao Lijuan. I miss you so much I can barely breathe without you. Your tender skin that slipped under my hands, your sultry lips that pulled into a pout whenever you were cross with me, your feather-like kisses, your delicate voice, your fragrance, the jasmine fragrance that exuded from your beautiful body.

I miss you so much! I can’t go without crying when I write about you! I dream about you all day, every night! Your memories are the only thing that is keeping me sane, Lijuan! But that is all there is left of you. My dreams, that is the only place left for you. Why did you have to die?! Why did you all die? Without me? 

We shouldn’t have come here. We shouldn’t have been so hard-headed, so fucking stupid. It all started when Meng came in one day, with another one of his schemes, said, “We should go to Miho” and “We should aim for glory right now in our youth” or some crap. Mother was highly against it but Father has never dared to offend Meng or his family. Fuck that, even I was reared up, convincing everyone that Meng is right and they can trust us. All because I wanted Xiao Lijuan to love me. I wanted her to adore me, respect me, and show her my cool side. Xiao Lijuan was a talented and beautiful girl who worked as a physician. She was a refugee from Itoh district where calamity had already struck. The entire land had sunk underneath the sea within fourteen days.

Since the last forty-years, Hells have gone through a tremendous transformation. One day a mountain was there, the next day it is not anymore. Landscapes have changed at the pace one shuffles a deck of cards. Mother used to reminisce about the olden days, saying how peaceful it used to be until one messenger from heaven visited. I wouldn’t know much about that. For me, the underworld has always been like this since I was born. Mother said that Hell should be seen as a living, breathing creature and not just a piece of land. And that this creature was now restless. It is looking for something new. I don’t understand much of what she says.

Anyways, Xiao Lijuan, that sweet girl was very passionate about creating and testing new drugs. She could not bear the plight of her fellow refugees. She said that there was barely any help from Lord Enma, let alone any princes which I didn’t understand either. Father always praises the seven lords, sends them exquisite gifts, and in return they treat us really well too. Maybe they were too preoccupied with other issues.

Lijuan said she wanted an herb. It was a critical ingredient to her life-saving pill. This Kase herb is only found on the shores of Miho. So now I had this amazing chance to travel with her alone. Show her what nobility looks like. The talk in town was that the seventh-prince Lord Liu Xue was recruiting people who could go to Miho for an investigation, find out what’s causing that calamity. Miho was currently engulfed in what looked like black tar-tar like poison. Thousands of people died under six-months mysteriously. The ones who could run away only talked about this absurdity and then dropped dead.

Lord Liu Xue said that there must be one focal-point in this whole tragedy, one thing that is a common cause and for that we need capable people for investigation.

Meng had connections, he had us on that teleportation pod by pulling just a few strings.

In a few hours we were in Miho. The land reeked of some revolting oil. Everything was absolutely destroyed. I went to Miho when I was twelve. It used to be a serene sea-side village, inviting, comforting, and beautiful. Its current state was far from it. If someone were to tell me that I had mistakenly stumbled upon the mortal being’s torture grounds I would have completely understood. But no one did and so this was the truth. It was supposed to be a three-day excursion for us. But on the second day the teleportation pod was smashed to pieces by some grand ancestor. The absolute monster was fifteen feet tall, his eyes glowed yellow sinisterly as he chomped down on our teammates. We just lay low and watched its five-tails and leopard-like body wreak havoc all around the dusty plains. I can barely remember how I managed to stay alive. All I remember is crying silently.  

“That is not supposed to be out here!” Qiang had shrieked back then.

Qiang told us that the beast was supposedly caged long ago in the Kaigan Pit by Lord Enma. From the legends he had read he said this beast was probably the Zheng Ning. He rambled on some more but I couldn’t care less because Meng was hit by a poisonous dart from somewhere.  It was a foot long dart, dripping with red poison. It had hit him right in the back. Meng was convulsing and vomiting on the ground. When his stomach was empty, he started coughing out blood.

“It burns! It burns!” Those were his last words before he suffocated on his own blood.

We had no leisure to even mourn for our friend’s death. We were so scared of that blood-red poison that we didn’t even try to touch his cold corpse; we could not even bury him. Leaving him behind we ran back to our safehouse. On the third day Lijuan got possessed.

“The Kase Herb is calling for me. I need to get it.” That is all she kept repeating. 

I pulled her back. Tied her to the pillar. Locked her in her room. She still got out. She ran towards the village centre and we chased her. And then she tripped and fell. I rushed to her and saw that she was confused. She asked me, “Where am I?”

I told her everything but all she did was stare at the grass beneath our feet. She pushed me away and snatched out the plants from the ground. She was ecstatic. “Look I got it! The Kase herb! I guess it really was calling to me.” She laughed.

That’s when a thick green vine wrapped around her feet. The vines had mouths. Soon the vines trapped us too. “You dare break our Kase. You dare take it away from us!” it shrieked

Qiang yelled in fright,” It is Shu Jing! Shu Jing!”

His yells were soon suffocated to silence. The vine had reached down his throat and pierced him through his crotch. He looked like uncooked barbeque meat on a stick. That’s what his death looked like. Through my watery eyes I watched helplessly as the vines dragged us down, deeper towards the village centre.

I barely had time to think but my mind went completely blank when I saw that horrifying scene. It was true. There really was a tartar like substance which was covering the entire ground, its fumes making me dizzy. But it wasn’t really a liquid.

I saw eyes. I saw their teeth. I saw their limbs.

They were ghosts. Once mortal people. Now corrupted ghosts. They were so corrupted that they could barely stand. The sin weighed their soul so much that they left a black residue everywhere. With nothing to distinguish them all one could see was a black pool of eyes. Tongues flailing out of it like insects.

I retched out over the vines that held me and the vines swallowed that too. I felt so sick that I kept gagging. This scene lasted till we reached the very centre. 

A massive black hole that I assumed was as big as ten li (five kilometres), from within it countless monsters emerged. It was also the root of the tartar like damned souls. And we were about to be one of them as the vines dragged us to that eternal darkness. I remember wailing desperately for help. I remember deeply regretting a lot of things. I wished I could have done them all differently. I shouldn’t have chased Lijuan. I shouldn’t have listened to Meng. Heck, I wished I had never met them.

But I had no time to cry over all of that. Because someone saved me.

The vines around me withered. I looked at this miracle with utter fascination. Without turning back, I started running away. My feet trotted away at full speed. It was when I reached a tree. I climbed it to get away from the ghosts. That’s when I noticed that Xiao Lijuan and Yun were still getting dragged into the pit. I noticed Xiao Lijuan’s teary gaze landing on me. I think she was smiling through her tears. I noticed an empty glass bottle slipping out of her grasp and I noticed that those withered vines looked like they were splashed with poison.

Xiao Lijuan had saved me. She could have saved herself but she saved me. That is why I can never hide her name in this entry. She. Xiao Lijuan. Her name should be known by everyone. She was my lover and saviour and I can never ever repay her. I did nothing but stare blankly as my friend and lover were dragged down the pit. For how many hours I was there, I have no idea.

That is all I did all day. Stayed on that tree and stared at that pit. Waiting for I do not know what. I felt so ashamed. I felt that I did not deserve to mourn the death of my friends. My tears would only disgust them. I disgusted myself.

I did not realise when but the entire ground was rumbling. The sky turned stormy and lightning struck the pit in succession but it did nothing. The ghosts were still piling out and so were the monsters. This time at an even rapid pace. All of a sudden, loud wails rang throughout the village.

“Save……me…”

“Let me go……”

“…forgive me...Master”

“We will……obey…Master”

Master……Master……Master……

The lightning stopped but the sky still thundered anxiously. Beasts roared in pain, their knees dropping to the ground. And before I knew there was utter silence all around. Only a silver bell tinkled like a drop of water. With that a dark figure floated over the pit. His long black hair was bound behind his back. The man was dressed in black and almost melded with the pit if not for his pale white skin. He had the longsword in his hand outstretched to his right. Like an executioner he took up his position to cut his blade through the offender’s neck.

I write this hesitantly, the man looked like a fallen god. 

And I am terribly afraid of him. Such aura, none of the seven lords can compare to that aura. His exterior looked clean and pristine but something about his demeanour reeked of bloodlust. I am sure that the man could kill me with one look. But I had nowhere to run. I was just like those beasts, stuck in my place. Soon, I realized that the man was not floating, he was standing upon the mountain of the damned ghosts. Like their King, he stepped over them, and crushed them beneath his feet. Their pitiful wails did nothing to move his heart, instead he continued coldly, as if he was already making concessions by not turning them into dust.

The red sky roared and blasted down the biggest strike of lightning I have ever seen.

“Bi Fang.” The man raised his head up to the sky. His eyes were hidden behind his hair and his mouth was pulled back in a smile. A giant crane materialised out of nowhere and shielded the man from the lightning. Its pure white feathers were singed to ashes as it dropped down heavily on the ground.

The man laughed. “Try that again. The next beast who becomes my meat shield this time will surprise you.”

The lightning stopped but the sky kept on thundering, the thunderclaps turned into heavy rain but the man stood unaffected, he was dry as a bone.  

Beneath his blade opposing beasts died, underneath his palm skulls were crushed. I went back to my daze where I just looked on blankly. I believe that even after I left, the massacre was still going on. For all I know, even at this moment it continues.

I do not have much time left. That man has been constantly eroding the spiritual energy here at Miho. Akin to a tyrant, once he finds me, that man will snatch my soul too. I know I cannot escape nor do I place any bet on his magnanimity.

I write this down to let you know that a great monster has been born in Hell, and frankly I don’t think we can do anything about it. We can only spread our palms and pray to Lord Enma. I send my love and regards to Mother and Father. Goodbye and best of luck.

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