Chapter 16

After returning to the underworld, Xie Bi An seemed uneasy.

Fan Wu She glanced at him: "I'm the one who said I wanted to go. I'm also the one who fought with Song Chun Gui. I will explain it to master."　

"You don't need to worry about this matter. I will explain it to master." Xie Bi An frowned and said, "I'm actually not worried about getting reprimanded by master. I'm just worried about whether our fight in Fumenghui will affect Wuliang Sect's core theft investigation."

"No, they're mostly looking in the wrong place."

"How come?"

"The behavior of that core thief is out of the ordinary. I don't think Meng Ke Fei's golden core will be traded, at least not in Fumenghui."

"Oh? Go on."

Fan Wu She analyzed: "There are only 3 motives for digging out Meng Ke Fei’s golden core. First, they wanted the core of a high-ranking cultivator. Second, someone offered a reward. Third, they had a grudge against him. And with these motives, it is necessary to factor in the high risk to take his core. Is it premeditated or not? If it is premeditated, why not wait for him to go out on a trip to do it. The sky and land are vast, no one will ever notice if they destroyed the body after killing him. Therefore, I think that no matter what the motive the thief has, Meng Ke Fei's death was not premeditated."

Xie Bi An nodded: "You have a point. Hey, why didn't you tell master yesterday?"

Fan Wu She said indifferently, "What does his death have to do with me? I only saw you being meticulous so…”

Xie Bi An disagreed and interrupted him: “Don’t say it like this. As a cultivator, one should have a compassionate heart. Moreover, everyone will punish core thieves. The earlier we help Wuliang Sect find the murderer, the fewer victims there’ll be.”

"Yeah."

“In that case, Meng Ke Fei's death is likely to be beyond premeditation. I think that out of the three motives you mentioned, killing for revenge is the most likely motive. No one in Fumenghui offered a reward for Meng Ke Fei's golden core, and if it's just for the core of a high-ranking cultivator, Li Bu Yu’s senior nephew is the one who should not be touched the most."

"Right, so I guess Meng Ke Fei died of a personal grudge. The two were fighting over a disagreement, the opponent dug up his core, and framed the core stealing demonic cultivators. Wuliang Sect may have thought of this and probably also investigated those people who have a problem with Meng Ke Fei. Investigating Fumenghui might have been a deliberate show of strength to serve as a warning, or maybe they do not want to have any fugitives."

"If it is a personal grudge, perhaps it is better to investigate."

"If it is a personal grudge." Fan Wu She snorted coldly, "Most likely it’s Wuliang Sect’s internal conflict. Doing it in their own territory is very good evidence."

Xie Bi An drew a breath. The more you think along this line of thought, the more reasonable it seems.

"Maybe they have found out long ago who did it and they’re just hiding the truth for the sake of saving face, pretending to search around. This two-faced Wuliang Sect..." Fan Wu She saw Xie Bi An's surprised expression before realizing that his tongue slipped.

Xie Bi An blinked his eyes: “Did junior brother hear any rumors regarding Wuliang Sect?”

 "I used to work in a wine shop and heard some rumors."

"As the leading Immortal Alliance, Wuliang Sect had inevitably offended some people. Plus, they have thousands of disciples, and there is no guarantee that everyone is righteous. In places like wine shops, there’s a lot of unorthodox talks. You have to be careful about what you say without evidence." Xie Bi An sighed, "It's just that we have offended Song Chun Gui. If we go to Yunding with our master, it will be a bit embarrassing."

"He started it first. The two of us combined are not as strong as him. He's the one who should be ashamed."

"Having said that…”

While the two of them were talking, they walked through the Huangquan Road. A group of huge willow trees appeared in front of them. They assumed that it was a "group" because the mother root of this tree is as thick as several people, and its airborne roots were hanging down, drilling into the ground, growing subtrees, and the subtrees grew more subtrees with twisted roots and intertwined joints. Finally, it became an endless willow forest. If you are not familiar with it, you may even lose your way. When you look at its roots, they are black and red, like dried blood.

A gust of wind passed through the forest, and hundreds of millions of stems and leaves were whirling and rustling, sounding like a ghostly cry.

This tree is called a ghost willow. It is rumored that it lives forever.

After passing through the Yin-Yang Monument, it is considered passing through the Ghost Gate. After walking through Huangquan Road, they will reach the ghost willow forest. Only after passing through the ghost willow forest can they reach the underworld.

Xie Bi An is familiar with this willow forest, but this time he stopped in his tracks and looked up at a dazzling red object between the shadows of the green trees.

That red object is a red robe.

Fan Wu She narrowed his eyes and looked at the person, no, the ghost in the tree.

"Impermanence." The person in the tree gave a light laugh, "You went to play in the human realm again?”

Xie Bi An's expression became restrained, "Red King."

The man in red flew down from the high willow tree. His hair danced and his clothes flowed in the wind, vaguely looking like a butterfly playing in the forest. The scene is picturesque, but it makes people shudder.

The man in red is a slender man with a face white like paper, only his thin lips were a little red. He looks ravishing to the extreme, like a blooming flower, beautiful enough to seduce the soul.

He is the first of the ten underworld generals - the king of all kings - the red-robed ghost king Jiang Qu Lian.

"Is this the new disciple accepted by Heaven Master?" Jiang Qu Lian walked step by step towards Fan Wu She. His steps were silent. He gently wrinkled his nose, "Mmm, the smell of a youthful child. He must be delicious." He was talking about Fan Wu She, but he squinted his eyes at Xie Bi An.

Xie Bi An stepped between Fan Wu She and Jiang Qu Lian, "Red King, this is my junior brother, Fan Wu She. Wu She, meet Red King."

Fan Wu She looked coldly at Jiang Qu Lian.

Jiang Qu Lian smiled: "This temperament is so similar to Heaven Master. No wonder the Heaven Master recognizes his worth."

"Red King, we still have things to do back in the Heaven Master Palace, so…"

"You." Jiang Qu Lian winked at Xie Bi An, "I watched you grow up. If I really wanted to eat you, can Heaven Master stop me? Why are you still so afraid of me?"

Xie Bi An said, "You and I were appointed by the emperor as generals of the underworld. I'm not afraid of you, but my brother is young and new to the Underworld, so I hope that Red King won't tease him."

Jiang Qu Lian snickered: "Back then, you were just a kid in crotch pants*. Now you dare to say that you have been ordained with me."

Xie Bi An was a little ashamed: "Red King, please don't make fun of me anymore."

"Sometimes I really think that your master must be that old fogey Official Lord Cui, who is always so nervous when he sees me. I just came to ask you for some good tea and wine."

"Tomorrow I will send it to the Red King's residence."

Fan Wu She’s face was already unsightly, and he was just about to open his mouth when Xie Bi An caught his shoulders: "Wu She, let’s go."

Jiang Qu Lian looked at the two men's backs, his eyes brightening and darkening, and he suddenly called out lazily, "Bi An."

Xie Bi An stopped but did not turn around.

"Say hello to the Heaven Master for me."

"...Many thanks to Red King."

It was not until the two of them walked out of the ghost willow that Xie Bi An relaxed.

Fan Wu She was displeased and said, "Why are you so afraid of him?"

"Do you know who he is?"

"A ghost."

"He is the Ghost King." Xie Bi An took a deep breath, "Not just any ghost king, but the king of all kings, the king of all ghost kings."

Fan Wu She said "Oh" indifferently.

Emperor Beiyin ruled over the ghost world, and under him are five ghost emperors respectively, guarding the north, south, east, west, and central Jiuyou to prevent the two realms from interfering with each other. But the five ghost emperors do not participate in the affairs of the underworld. The underworld has ten Yanluo Halls, who oversee all the pivotal affairs of the ghost world, mainly rewarding and punishing through trials. And there are civil and military judges. The civil judge possesses the Book of Life and Death and the Judge's Brush, adding or subtracting the lifespan of the livings based on good and evil deeds. The military judges the main force of the town, a great general who protects the city. And below them are the ten underworld generals.

These ten underworld generals each have different duties. Day and Night patrols are responsible for inspecting the human realm. Impermanence is responsible for harvesting human souls. The ox’s head and horse face are responsible for managing the recovered souls. The leopard's tail, the bird's mouth, the fish gills, and the wasp are responsible for collecting the souls of animals, and the ghost king, the head of the underworld generals, is responsible for the punishment in hell.

Under each of the generals, there are many subordinates. In the eighteen levels of hell, there are eighteen ghost kings, who bring the little ghosts to punish those for their crimes in hell day and night for atonement, and the king of ghost kings is Jiang Qu Lian.

Xie Bi An said: “He’s a ghost born from the hungry ghost path, unlike Official Lord Cui, who was ranked as a ghost immortal after his death because of his great merits and virtues when he’s alive. Those who reincarnated in the hungry ghost path will still be a ghost despite reincarnation due to being evil when alive.”

Fan Wu She eyes were gloomy: "He harmed you before?"

"No..." Xie Bi An is a little embarrassed, "In fact, he instructed me to cultivate when I was a child, but I was afraid of him ever since young. You have to eat a hundred people or a thousand ghosts to become a ghost king. How many ghosts had that king of all kings eaten? The emperor appointed him to be the head of the underworld and manage hell because he was afraid he would go to earth to cause trouble. The Fengdu barrier cannot stop him."

"With me around in the future, you don't have to be afraid of him."

Xie Bi An smiled: "With you around, I do have an extra companion in the underworld."

"Are you really going to bring him tea tomorrow? Will you send Bo Zhu?"

"No, if Bo Zhu is afraid of him, then there will be no other ghosts who are not afraid of him. I’ll go by myself. In fact, he will not do anything to me as he avoids master."

"I'll go on your behalf."

"No, did you forget that you can't be alone in the Underworld yet?"

"Then I will accompany you."

"Fine." Xie Bi An really did not want to face Jiang Qu Lian alone.

"What evil did he do in his life to be reborn in the hungry ghost path?"

In the six paths of reincarnation, the hungry ghost path, the animal path, and the hell path are the lower three paths. Extremely evil people will reincarnate in these three paths.

Xie Bi An shook his head: "I remember I asked him when I was a child. He said he did not know. I asked him why he did not go to the Three Lives Stone to see. He said he did not want to know."

Fan Wu She’s pupils sank: "What about you, why didn’t you go to the Three Lives Stone to see your past life? Aren't you curious?"

"I've been there."

Fan Wu She’s breath stalled.

Xie Bi An lowered his voice: "The Three Lives Stone can only be seen before drinking Meng Po soup. You can't simply just look at it. Don’t mention it to others. I went there secretly."

"What did you see?" Did you see the sins you committed in your previous life?!

"I didn't see anything." Xie Bi An said disappointedly.

"...How come?"

"I asked Official Lord Cui before. Of course, I did not dare to say that I went to see it or I would have certainly been scolded by him. I did hear that there are also people who did not see anything on the Three Lives Stone. Official Lord Cui said the Three Lives Stone cannot show celestial beings. God is the one who is reborn in a heavenly way. God transcends beyond reincarnation, thus the Three Lives Stone naturally cannot display that."

"Why did you reincarnate into the underworld if you had already transcended the cycle of reincarnation?"

"Because that person is the emperor." Xie Bi An smiled, “Official Lord Cui said, those people who are destined to be imperials are celestial beings who have come down to earth to experience the calamities. Since he had been reborn in the heavenly realm before and has come to earth to be a Human Emperor, and after death, if his merits and virtues are satisfactory, he will be able to return to the heavenly realm and ascend to Jiutian, and vice versa, he will fall into the human realm and suffer from reincarnation, so I don't know which life have I been a Human Emperor." 

Fan Wu She stared at Xie Bi An, blood vessels creeping into his eyes.

However, Xie Bi An did not notice how terrible Fan Wu She looked at this moment, and also mocked himself, "It's a pity. I probably was an incapable ruler, unable to return to heaven, and have to enter the reincarnation to atone for my sins."

Fan Wu She tightened both fists, turned his head, and walked away.

"Hey, junior brother, do you want to eat wontons tomorrow morning?"

 

 ----

Translator Thoughts:

crotch pants* [开裆裤]---worn by toddlers. This term appeared in one of the chapters before (I forgot which), but I didn’t include a picture. Here’s how it’s looked like (see pic below, modernized version), so yeah technically you can see the toddler’s butt exposed when they wear it.

Editor Thoughts:

TGIF! Sorry for the lack of edits recently~ I'm taking a 2 week course that lasts for 2h every day after I end work ( ╥ω╥ ) and each chapter takes about 2 hours to edit followed by another 30mins ish to proofread after I get Ari to make some changes before we post.

As usual, if you liked the chapter, leave a like and comment below! Cya in the next one 

-Limit

Edited on 16 Mar. 21 (Emzie)

Edited on 12 Aug 21 (Limit)

 

 

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