Chapter 52: What is Love?

Fu Li was regretful immediately after jumping through the passage connected to the underworld, because he didn’t know the way.

In the minds of humans, the underworld ought to be a dark nook surging with resentment, where filth stained all land and every kind of torture tool hung suspended. In fact, the underworld was similar to the human world – there wasn’t a shortage of pavilions and kiosks. The only difference was that ghosts walked the streets, not humans.

There was no sun to be seen in the sky of the underworld, but the moon and stars were visible when night came. Fu Li arrived at a street where ghosts came and went. On the LED board of a certain multilevel building, he saw a host calming the fans of a certain performing artist by criticizing his evil conduct when he was still alive.

Fu Li had seen this artist before. When he was still a security guard at Affinity Moon Hotel, this male artist’s soul had refused to go to the underworld no matter what. In the end, he was still forcibly brought away.

“Brother, you’re not a fanboy of this Lu Renjia, right?” A young male ghost walked over. “Let me tell you, this guy is scum who was sentenced to a hundred years in the oil cauldron. He’s already dead, does he think he’s still some big celebrity?”

“No, that’s a good punishment,” Fu Li saw the surrounding ghosts stare at him as if he was a youngster who had stepped onto the wrong path, and immediately made his stance clear. “I don’t chase after celebrities.”

“That’s good. There was a little ghost not long ago who insisted that this Lu Renjia was wrongly accused. To get Lu Renjia released, she threatened the yinchai, saying that she would jump into the Wangchuan River if they didn’t set him free.” The male ghost shook his head, sighing. “Who would have expected her to lose her footing and actually fall into the Wangchuan River. By the time the yinchai pulled her out, she could only be reincarnated as an animal in her next life.”

Seeing that the male ghost’s desire to gossip was growing stronger and stronger, Fu Li had no choice but to interrupt him. “Little ge, may I know the way to the yinchai’s official building?”

“Why are you looking for the yinchai?” The male ghost responded. “Let me tell you, you may not understand the rules since you just died, but there’s a queue for reincarnation. Going to the yinchai building to get through the backdoor won’t get you anywhere.”

Seeing that Fu Li hadn’t listened to the great deal of prattling he’d done, he sighed, “Walk along the left side of this street. After crossing the bridge over the Wangchuan River, walk straight ahead a few hundred meters and you’ll see it.”

“Many thanks,” Fu Li passed through the crowds bustling with activity. The very large public square to the right of the street was packed with men and women twisting their waists and swaying their buttocks in what seemed like dance. There were no traffic lights along the street, but there were bailiffs wearing red armbands who were maintaining order. After bypassing the intersection, Fu Li took out his Migu Branch, and then realized that it wasn’t usable in the underworld.

“Brother, you must be a new ghost. The No. 13 Handphone Shop on Wangchuan River is open for business, there’s a fifty percent discount for new ghosts,” A ghost stuffed a leaflet into Fu Li’s hands before turning and doing the same to the ghosts behind him.

A few leaflets that had dropped onto the ground were blown by the chilly wind to Fu Li’s feet. Fu Li stooped over and picked up the publicity leaflets before throwing them into the rubbish bin opposite the street. A dark red river could be seen not too far away. Brilliant red flowers bloomed with dazzling beauty on both sides of the river.

White Ape had once told him that there were many ferries on the Wangchuan River. These ferries would bring souls to the opposite bank of the river so that they could welcome their new lives.

However, while there were indeed several boats on the Wangchuan River at this moment, they were not ferries but sightseeing boats. An arched bridge with a curve like that of a crescent moon stood upright on the surface of the river. The splendid red lanterns hung on the bridge gave off the brightest light on the river.

Fu Li walked to the bridge and saw a yinchai keeping order. Therefore, he cast a skill on himself to deflect attention, and swaggered onto the bridge over the Wangchuan River. Upon crossing the bridge, there was a cart driver at the side pulling guests over. Many ghosts that had just arrived were pulled over in confusion while the senior ghosts looked at them as if they were idiots that had just been ripped off.

Fu Li squeezed past the crowd of ghosts and stepped onto a road made of green stone. The increasingly strong icy wind continuously scraped against his face. After stepping past the barrier erected around the yinchai’s official building, the clothing on his body turned into ashes. He once again became a noble gentleman wearing a brocade gown and jade band.

“Who comes here?” Eight gatekeepers stood beneath the enormous sign of the yinchai’s official building. Each and every one of them had terrible, fearsome appearances as well as strong yin qi.

“This humble one is called Fu Li. I would like to request to meet the chief of yinchai, Li Xu.”

The gatekeepers chortled. “There are many ghosts in the underworld who want to see the yinchai chief. If you need to contact him, please dial his personal number or send an email to him through an official yinchai platform. A staff member will attend to your email within three days.”

Fu Li didn’t take the gatekeepers’ nasty attitudes to heart. He cast his voice towards the area beyond the door, “Yinchai chief, I, Fu Li, request for a meeting.”

His voice penetrated the main entrance of the yinchai’s official building and was directly transmitted inside.

The gatekeepers’ expressions changed dramatically. They clutched their weapons, each wearing a guarded look on their faces, for fear that Fu Li would suddenly turn violent. What they had not expected was for the main door behind them to open all of a sudden and for the yinchai chief to walk out in a haste.

“Fu daoyou,” Li Xu saw that Fu Li had actually come to the underworld. Glancing at the gatekeeper behind him, he strove to maintain a normal expression on his face. “It is always a pleasure to have friends come from afar. Fu daoyou, please.”

The gatekeepers glanced at one another, somewhat regretful that they had demonstrated a bit too much malice. It turned out this person really did know the yinchai chief.

Li Xu took large strides as he led Fu Li into his office. Only after erecting a barrier at the office door did he say, “Fu daoyou, the living and the dead have their respective paths, you should not have come to this place.”

“There is something I am not clear about,” Fu Li stared at Li Xu. “That year, was it you who brought my pet’s soul away?”

Li Xu was a bit confused. Two thousand years had passed since then. When the human died that year, Fu Li hadn’t exhibited any extreme reaction, so why was he bringing up this old matter? He hadn’t had many dealings with Fu Li, but he didn’t feel that Fu Li was the type of person who would trespass on the underworld.

“Did something happen?” Li Xu very quickly thought of this. If nothing had occurred, Fu Li would not have appeared at this place.

“A Shen planted fake memories in a human’s mind, leading that human to think that he was the pet I had raised that year,” Fu Li’s gaze was on Li Xu. “Other than you, who else knew of the matter that year?”

Li Xu opened his mouth. This question was not an easy one to answer.

A human raised by yao, and who possessed the bloodline of the imperial family as well as ten lives of virtue should have been reincarnated as a monarch after death. Yet, the human had stayed in the underworld for a full eighty years, unwilling to reincarnate. When news got out that all the yao on Reflecting Mist Mountain had perished in the hands of the azure dragons, the ghost with immense virtue drank Meng Po’s soup while crying tears of blood, and then jumped into the pond of reincarnation.

No one knew who exactly he had reincarnated as. Because he had missed the optimal timing for reincarnation, the monarch he was fated to be was also lost. Whether his next life was good or bad was known to no one.

The number of ghost cultivators in the know was not little. Now that Fu Li asked him who else knew of this, he really couldn’t recall who they were, because there were truly too many people in the underworld who knew of it. The king of the underworld, the eighteen Yama Kings, Cheng Huang…

“Is this question very hard to answer?” Fu Li observed the complex expression on Li Xu’s face, an ominous premonition in his heart.

“I’m calculating the number of people who know,” Li Xu gazed into the distance as he did the calculations. “Excluding the ones who have already reincarnated or whose lives have already run their course, there should be roughly several tens of people who know about this matter.”

Fu Li narrowed his eyes at Li Xu. He couldn’t tell that this yinchai chief was actually so fond of gossiping.

One look at Fu Li and Li Xu knew that he had been misunderstood. He smiled bitterly. “Fu daoyou, it really wasn’t me who spread this matter. It’s hard to explain the incident that year in a few words. Bringing it up now will only bring you more sorrow. This humble one thinks that you should start from the Shen yao if you want to investigate the person who is secretly scheming against you.”

“I will definitely call on the Shen yao,” Fu Li knew that he wouldn’t glean much even if he continued asking, so he stood up. “I have no intention of making things difficult for the underworld, but nobody will be happy about such a thing occurring.”

“Please rest assured, Fu daoyou, I will definitely investigate this matter thoroughly,” Li Xu also understood that this matter had definitely leaked out from the underworld. Other than the underworld, no one else knew of that year’s happenings.

“Fu daoyou, the underworld’s roads are rugged and difficult to navigate, let me send you back,” Concerned that Fu Li would directly tear open a passage from the underworld to the world of the living and cause a stir, he took the initiative to send him off.

“I’ll be troubling you then,” Fu Li didn’t turn him down.

The two people left the yinchai’s official building. The instant they walked out of the barrier, the clothes Fu Li was wearing reverted to his modern garb. He glanced at the exquisite building behind the yinchai’s official building. “Is that Yama’s palace?”

“Yes,” Li Xu smiled. “Fu daoyou’s cultivation base has already reached a profound level, transcending the three realms. You will never need to go to that place.”

No matter how well-decorated Yama’s palace was, it was merely a place where departed spirits were put on trial. Yao cultivators whose strength had already transcended the three realms would no longer have their survival or death governed by the underworld. Li Xu was unable to discern Fu Li’s cultivation base, but he was certain that his cultivation base had already reached a profound level.

After they had walked a distance, Fu Li pointed at a small bridge. “What is that place? Why are there so many ghosts queuing up?”

“That’s the Naihe Bridge. After the ghosts drink Meng Po’s soup and cross the Naihe Bridge, the karma of their previous life will be completely dispersed and they will become a new soul,” Li Xu stood beside Fu Li. “Those queueing ghosts are waiting to be reincarnated.”

“I don’t want to reincarnate, I don’t want to forget her,” A man in a green jacket ran out from the queue. His thin and weak body seemed to contain infinite strength as he fled from the ghost messengers chasing after him, running in Fu Li’s direction.

Li Xu kicked the ghost to the ground with a single leg and used his Soul-Locking Chain to bind the man in a green jacket.

“I beg you, please let me off. I promised to wait for her so that we can leave together. We promised.” The Soul-Locking Chain was already firmly embedded in the body of the male ghost clad in the green jacket. The chain strapping him had wound around him multiple times, yet he continued to struggle ceaselessly in an attempt to break free from the restrictions of the Soul-Locking Chain.

“Please, please,” Ghosts had no tears by nature, yet a stream of bloody tears flowed out from the man’s eyes. He looked towards Naihe Bridge in despair, as if hoping for a certain silhouette to appear, yet fearing her premature appearance.

Li Xu expressionlessly allowed a yinchai to drag the ghost away. The male ghost’s hands scraped against the ground as he put the entirety of his strength into struggling free from the ghost messenger’s restraints. But other than leaving two bloody lines on the ground, he accomplished nothing.

Fu Li looked a bit bewildered as he stared at the traces of blood left by the two hands that had grabbed at the earth.

A chance to reincarnate was hard to come by, why was this male ghost unwilling to leave? What else could be more important than that? The death of a person was akin to the extinguishing of a lamp; all previous karmic ties would be severed. What else was there that could not be let go?

“We see this sort of infatuation every year. The person will be unwilling to reincarnate, saying that they want to wait for the person they loved dearly,” Li Xu waved a hand and the traces of blood on the ground vanished. “So what if they wait? In their next life, the two might never meet. Perhaps their meeting will be one of hatred. They might even become enemies in life and death. That saying in human huaben about ‘never parting throughout lifetimes’ was just a way to deceive people. I’ve been a yinchai for two thousand years and have never seen any couple who could continue the strands of karma from their previous lives.”

“Humans really are strange,” This was the conclusion Fu Li arrived at after a long period of silence. This so-called love couldn’t be seen or touched. What about it was worth persevering for?

Li Xu turned and saw the indifferent look on Fu Li’s face. Thinking of the human who had also shed tears of blood that year, he slowly nodded. “Yeah, humans really are strange.” Forever making absurd demands for things that could never be obtained. Even when they knew the end result, they still continued to cling onto hope. How laughable, how lamentable. He sneered, “Once seen through, love is nothing much.”

Fu Li looked thoughtfully at Li Xu. “You… seem to feel very strongly about this?”

Li Xu stared blankly for a moment. Then, he let out a laugh. “I see people part for eternity every day, how can I not have any feelings about it?”

“You were also human before becoming a ghost messenger, right?” Fu Li walked onto the Naihe Bridge and looked over the railing at the dark-red river. “You should have had feelings towards other humans as well. Can you tell me what love is?”

“Love…” Li Xu fished out a cigarette, lit it, and spat out a gigantic cloud of smoke. “Is sh*t. It’s not worth a single cent.”

Fu Li glanced at Li Xu’s back with a lowered head. “En, that seems to make sense.”

On the other end of the Naihe Bridge, Zhuang Qing was watching the yao and ghost on the bridge. As he slowly made his way behind them, he heard Fu Li’s words.

“Love should be a weakness exclusive to humans?”

“You ran to the underworld during working hours just to discuss the philosophy of life with the yinchai chief?” Zhuang Qing stared at Fu Li with a blank face. “Don’t bother thinking about getting into university and becoming a civil servant after returning, why don’t you just directly become a philosopher?”

“Hello, Mr Zhuang,” Li Xu put out his cigarette and took the initiative to greet Zhuang Qing.

“Hello, Chief,” Zhuang Qing nodded slightly at Li Xu. When he turned towards Fu Li, his expression darkened again. “Fu Li, you’re becoming more and more daring; you even dare to barge into the underworld. Why don’t you leap into the reincarnation pond as well?”

“It’s no use even if I jump in,” Fu Li was a very honest yao. “It’s not like I can reincarnate.”

“That head of yours can only be saved by reincarnation,” Zhuang Qing threw down these words before turning and walking off. Seeing that Fu Li still hadn’t caught up after he had taken two steps, his face sank. “What are you still standing there for? Waiting for the yinchai chief to treat you to a meal?”

Fu Li cupped his heads at Li Xu and then chased after him.

Li Xu watched the two yao from the back. For some reason, he found this scene amusing. Laughter came out of his mouth involuntarily. He placed his cigarette at the corner of his mouth and took a puff. There was no taste. Only then did he recall that he had put it out when Zhuang Qing came.

Shaking his head, Li Xu threw the cigarette into the rubbish bin and then walked towards the yinchai’s official building.

When he reached a fork in the road, the male ghost in the green jacket who had previously escaped was still in a desperate struggle. Pained shouts came from his throat, till Meng Po poured a bowl of soup into his mouth. Only then did this crazed male ghost quieten bit by bit. The hope, despair, and emotions in his eyes gradually vanished, eventually becoming dull and listless. Under the guidance of the ghost messenger, he obediently jumped into the reincarnation pond.

Love, hatred, passion, animosity – everything was in this bowl of soup.

“Zhuang Qing, there’s also hotpot in their underworld and it looks delicious,” Fu Li grabbed Zhuang Qing. “Why don’t we give it a taste? The two of us can pretend to be new ghosts; there’s even a discount.”

Zhuang Qing came to a stop, turning towards Fu Li. “Discounts for new ghosts? More like cheating you of your money till your wallet breaks.”

After leaving the ghost city, Zhuang Qing took out a token and the underworld automatically opened a gate to the human world. Seizing Fu Li by the sleeve, he directly tossed Fu Li in.

Upon arriving at the human world, Fu Li glanced around. This was the desert, why had Zhuang Qing brought him here?

“Fu Li,” Zhuang Qing studied Fu Li. “I don’t care what kind of life you led in the past, but once you’re in the management bureau, you have to listen to my orders. I will treat this matter as if it never happened, but if it happens another time, I will put up warning notices around the entire bureau, got it?”

“Sorry, I didn’t give careful thought to this matter. But I didn’t do it without reason,” Fu Li glanced at the bright sun and manifested a large sunshade, a table, and two chairs. “The sun is so bright, let’s sit and talk.”

A place like the desert wasn’t suitable for the dragon race to survive in.

Zhuang Qing stared at the fresh grapes on the table. His expression underwent many changes, but he still sat underneath the sunshade. “Speak.”

“Two thousand years ago, I raised a human as a pet…”

“Pet?” Zhuang Qing’s face darkened. He smiled coldly. “I really couldn’t tell that you had such an inclination.”

What inclination? Fu Li didn’t understand even after giving it some thought. He wasn’t hung up on such a minor thing though, so he continued speaking, “He wasn’t in good health. Before he passed away from illness, he asked me not to raise any other pet. I agreed.”

Zhuang Qing dropped the grape in his hand under the table by accident and simply pushed the grape into the sand with a hand.

“Today, a human came looking for me, saying that he knew me in his past life. He thought that he was the pet I raised.”

“Thought?” Zhuang Qing picked out this term.

“Yes,” Fu Li nodded. “Thought.”

“As long as a human reincarnates, the fate and karmic bonds of their past life will turn to dust. The moment he died, my affinity with him reached its end,” Fu Li calmly analyzed. “Two thousand years has passed, who knows how many times he has reincarnated? How could he have suddenly recalled something that happened several lifetimes ago? Moreover, those scenes he recalled weren’t consistent with reality.”

Zhuang Qing observed Fu Li’s apathetic expression. There was a twinge of discomfort in his heart. But even he himself was mystified by this discomfort.

“Only the people in the underworld that year had known that I raised a human pet, so I wanted to ask them,” Fu Li took out two sticks of ice cream from his Qiankun pouch and handed one to Zhuang Qing. “I would like to request a favor from you later.”

Zhuang Qing tore open the ice cream wrapper and took a bite. “Let’s hear it.”

“Nobody is more familiar with the sea routes than your dragon race; I want to find a yao.”

“Who?”

“Shen.”

The surface of the sea was clear and crystalline under the sunlight. Sea waves gently batted the sand. This scene was exceedingly beautiful. Beneath the water, a dragon moved swiftly. If someone could see him, they would discover a rabbit squatting on the dragon’s head.

The speed at which the dragon swam was too quick. In the blink of an eye, he swam across the surface and bottom of the sea multiple times.

Black clouds started to gather above the sea. It seemed it was about to rain. The weather above the sea was ever-changing; the occasional wind and rain couldn’t be more normal. Zhuang Qing leaped out of the ocean. Fu Li, who was clinging to the hair on Zhuang Qing’s head, shook his slightly plump body, flinging the seawater off his body. He then changed into his human form. “It’s here.”

A pheasant flew across the surface of the sea. It flew a distance before suddenly plunging into the water. Upon contact with the water, the pheasant turned into a creature that seemed like a dragon yet was not one. Its dark, earthy scales were shaped very oddly. After entering the water, it would be very difficult to find.

When the Shen discovered the golden dragon’s presence, he intended to go over and make his salutations. But the moment he saw a person by the side of the golden dragon, he turned to leave in fright.

Fu Li flung out the whip in his hands, binding the Shen and dragging it back. “Shen yao, where do you think you’re trying to run to?”

The Shen curled up its tail. It’s mouth opened, and broken Standard Mandarin spewed out. “Release me, I don’t know anything.”

“I haven’t even asked anything, and you already said you don’t know anything,” Fu Li shook the whip, binding the Shen even tighter. “Who asked you to plant false memories into a human’s head? Do you know that you’ve violated the rules of the management bureau?”

The Shen twisted its head towards the golden dragon, hoping that the other party would speak up for him on account of them both being aquatic creatures.

“Yao cultivators who harm humans for no reason will be fined if they receive a light sentence. If the sentence is a severe one, they will be imprisoned in the Spirit Lock Formation,” Zhuang Qing transformed into his human form. “Speak.”

The Shen gave up all hope. This dragon had no loyalty to its own kind. His head moved to and fro. All of a sudden, he opened his mouth and spat out a breath of air.

Thick fog suddenly rose on the surface of the sea. A mountain appeared in the fog. Fu Li stared blankly at the mountain, rocks, plants, and trees that had appeared in the fog.

This was… Reflecting Mist Mountain…