Another distinctive sound of gurgling water and a strange lingering fragrance pulled me out of a dreamless sleep. When I opened my eyes, my boat was on a wide river and going against the current. Countless crimson flowers bloomed along the riverbank, extending in a gentle curve under the night sky, unseen in its entirety, resembling a plain of blood yet also fire.
This is it, the Underworld.
The river named River of Forgetfulness, the flowers known as Bian[1], and the scent that pervades all around which is contrary to the human world — all made me sure that this was the place we needed to come to, just a step away from the world we wished to return to.
The kids gradually woke up as well. Looking at the surroundings and the expanse above that seemed like the sky but wasn't quite, they asked me in some panic where we were.
I didn't tell them it was the land of the dead. I just informed them that it was the only way home.
They finally had pleasantly surprised expressions.
The boat cut through the river, and those swaying red spider lilies seemed like friendly hosts, watching our party of uninvited guests.
We didn't encounter any abnormalities along the way. In reality, the Underworld is not the terrifying place solely associated with death in legends. It's merely a space that accommodates a different way of existence, nothing more. The universe is like that, with everything having two sides, black and white, yin and yang, life and death. This is the genuine balance. At least, the Underworld is still a normal space, much more straightforward than the previous world filled with fires and the Bull-head Devil.
I began contemplating whether I should seriously deal with Mu upon returning. That woman is really a scourge.
The sound of water grew weaker, and I observed the river flowing slower and the water level decreasing. Where the river completely disappeared, there was a dry expanse of gravel. Each pebble was as smooth as a mirror, and in the midst of their iridescent colors, there was a rectangular, door-like black object wrapped up in white light moving around its edges. Upon closer inspection, that black square was a thing formed by continuously flipping black eddies. From time to time, some strange and magnificent light would penetrate through the gaps between those eddies.
It was... the light of the human world.
"All right, we're almost home," I announced to the gang of little rascals with a smile.
They seemed somewhat incredulous, dumbfoundedly asking, "Really? You're not lying?"
"You'll know once we're out," I winked at them.
Taking a deep breath, I patted my real body and said smilingly, "Thank you for your hard work this time. I'll make sure to water you with more spirit dew later. Next year, you'll surely grow even more lush." Finishing my words, I held out my hand to Little Fatso. "Give me your hand, and the rest of you hold hands in a chain. Don't let go!"
The black swirled as the boat's bow slowly entered the "door." Little Fatso couldn't even bring himself to open his eyes, clutching my hand with sweaty palms. The girls were in a similar state, holding onto each other's hands tightly, eyes shut in fear.
My body was the first to pass through those eddies — refreshingly cool, with no discomfort whatsoever. A second later, everything brightened before me, and my body was enveloped in a long-lost warmth. Sunlight, real sunlight belonging to the human world, spilled down from the clear and crisp autumn sky. Distant mountain ranges and highways at the foot of the mountains, along with vehicles speeding past often, were all really in front of me.
Quack, quack, quack!
Following the sound, I turned my head and saw a group of ducks leisurely strolling by the deserted pond. Some of them flapped their wings and looked curiously at the unremarkable things that had emerged from the void.
That's how the exit of the underworld works — unpredictable. No one knows where they'll end up in the human world after making their way out. Thankfully, it was a pond in the suburbs. If we had appeared in someone's home out of thin air, we would have scared the innocent out of their wits.
I smiled and knocked on Little Fatso's head, saying, "We're here, open your eyes!"
He tentatively opened one eye, then stared blankly before bursting into excitement. He shook off my hand and shouted, "I'm back, I'm back!"
The hull was still moving outward, and the two girls with glasses came out safely, followed by the last one, Ren Xiaochen.
At long last, my heart was completely at ease.
Little Fatso and the two bespectacled girls scrambled to jump off the boat. Ren Xiaochen was about to follow when her face changed abruptly. She screamed as her body, which had already come out of the gateway to the Underworld, was dragged back toward the door by an inexplicable force.
'Shit!' I shouted in my mind. The boat had already left the Underworld. If Ren Xiaochen, an ordinary human, was dragged back to the Underworld at this moment without the protection of my real body, her body and soul would be torn into pieces instantly by the completely opposite forces of the Underworld and the human world.
I rushed forward, grabbing her hand and shouting, "Hold on!"
The other three children instinctively tried to come help, but I shouted them away. I couldn't let them get close to this suddenly erratic exit anymore. If one more unlucky rascal was dragged in, I wouldn't be able to handle it.
"Help!" Ren Xiaochen cried in distress.
I could clearly feel her body sinking into the Underworld bit by bit. The invisible opponent behind the door was evidently much stronger than me.
"I don't want to die... I don't want to die!" Ren Xiaochen wailed as struggled desperately outward, calling for my help.
The fact is both my strength and spiritual power had been consumed to the limit at this moment.
But how could I fall short at this critical moment!
I made up my mind and transformed my hands into resilient branches, tightly wrapping them around Ren Xiaochen's arms and the exposed part of her body, thinking, even if I have to exhaust all my life's strength, even if I die in the next moment, I will drag this girl out!
Holding my breath, I gritted my teeth, closed my eyes, and leaned backward, shouting, "Come out!"
It was finally my turn to be "super strong."
With a pop, Ren Xiaochen was dragged entirely out of the door by me, falling onto me. The tremendous force of impact caused both of us to slide backward for quite a distance, scaring the ducks to scatter everywhere.
Ren Xiaochen was probably terrified and nestled into my arms, sobbing loudly.
I patted her back and comforted, "There, there, everything's fine now. Just don't wipe your nose on me, okay, you..."
Before I could finish my sentence, I felt something was wrong. A slight sting, mixed with a numbing sensation, gradually spread across my chest.
Ren Xiaochen climbed off me, moved her right hand away from my chest, and stood aside. There was a sinister and cunning smile inconsistent with her age on her soft and immature face. However, her gaze only held empty blankness.
I tried to stand up but found it impossible — there was an incomparably sharp ice pick as thick as a little finger pierced in my chest. The body of the awl was covered with various runes, and they kept moving inside like strange insects, swiftly heading towards my heart. Enduring the pain, I gripped the ice pick, attempting to pull it out. However, as soon as my palm touched it, the thing in my hand turned into a puddle of water, then vanished within my grasp.
Now, it wasn't just a sting; it was acute pain. From the inside out, every inch of my body felt like it was being torn apart by countless sharp teeth, and my head was about to explode with pain. It felt like a saw was cutting the top of my skull open to take something away from inside.
"Xiaochen... you..." Her companions were clearly terrified by her actions, backing away as if they were seeing a ghost. But Ren Xiaochen stood still as if nothing had happened.
My vision became a little blurry, perhaps from the cold sweat falling like rain getting into my eyes. In the haze, I vaguely saw a light and graceful figure approaching me.
Now, I couldn't even wipe the sweat from my own brow.
The figure continued to approach, and finally passed through my body.
I didn't feel anything particularly unusual, just a sense that something that belonged to me had left with the person who passed through my body.
Gradually, the unbearable pain subsided, my body felt much lighter than before, my eyes cleared, and I could sit up. I raised my head, and the person standing opposite me, even if it was only their back view, seemed so familiar.
"I warned you that you'll lose everything."
The person slowly turned around, revealing a victorious smile.
I froze — that person turned out to be me. Facial features, body, voice, even the color of the eyes and hair, all identical to mine. No, that was not just my body; what emanated from that body was my own unique, unmistakable scent that couldn't be imitated.
I turned my head in a flurry and leaned over the edge of the pond, looking at the face reflected on the water's surface. My breath caught—
The reflection on the water was not me; it was Mu.
Our bodies had been switched.
"Those children were never my target. They were just my bait." The "me" across from me took out a rope as thick as a fishing line from her pocket and tossed it forward. The rope coiled around my real body like a snake. She held onto the rope, pulled it back, and the "boat" that belonged to me, wrapped and compressed, turned into a fist-sized ball of light, which she then stored in a black leather bag.
"The fish I wanted to lure was you from the beginning," she put away the leather bag, approached me, and looked down at me with arrogance, "Doesn't everyone praise tree demon Shaluo for being extremely clever? So there's indeed a gap between legend and reality. If I were you, I wouldn't risk so much for a few unfamiliar brats."
I just smiled and didn't speak.
I know she wants to see me go crazy, but I won't give her that satisfaction.
"I really don't understand why everyone likes to praise you. What's so good about you?" She bent down, scrutinizing my face. "Even that insufferably arrogant Lord Hell King considers you a friend and is willing to give you such a precious thing as a birthday present. I'm really puzzled."
"It's not that you don't understand; you're just jealous." Even though "I" was no longer "I," my skill to hit the nail on the head when I speak was still there.
"Being too nice to someone might harm that person. If not for that birthday gift, my master wouldn't have sent me to find you." She chuckled coldly, patting the leather bag on her waist. "Your real body now belongs to my master."
Yes, the close friend I mentioned is the current Lord of the Underworld. On that birthday, this close friend dropped a drop of blood from her fingertip on my real body. It is because of this drop of Lord of the Underworld's blood that my real body gained the ability to traverse anywhere without restrictions. I'm probably the only demon capable of freely entering and leaving the Underworld, as long as I wish to. The essence of this gift is actually just trust. However, I really didn't expect it to bring me this trouble.
"Opening Musheng, stealing my business, attracting my attention, and then intentionally making me discover the fact that the missing children are trapped in a different space, knowing that I won't stand by no matter the cost, and exploiting the chance when I'm spent and my spiritual power is depleted to finally steal my real body… You and your master have been setting traps step by step, leading me to unknowingly fall into your scheme. You must have used some underhanded method to manipulate that kid Ren Xiaochen early on. You knew I wouldn't be on guard against her." At this point, I couldn't help but applaud and laugh, "Excellent! Such treacherous and shameless opponents like you, I like!"
"Haha, you're still as stubborn[2] as ever." She pointed at me and laughed heartily, then looked at Ren Xiaochen. "But my master's goal is just to obtain your real body. As for me, I voluntarily added a task for myself, which is..."
"To take away my human form and replace it." I smoothly took over the conversation, laughing, "Do you like being me so much?"
She walked to Ren Xiaochen's side, lightly sliced her neck where the artery was with her fingers, and pulled out a thin silver thread, wrapping it around her finger like a piece of cotton candy.
"I spent a month cultivating the Soul-Gnawing Spike specially prepared for you in that silly girl's body. Every piece of the new-flavored cotton candies she ate were infused with special materials and took my painstaking effort. I know you have some good skills and taking away your body isn't easy. And as you know, the Soul-Gnawing Spike can only achieve the best result when the attacked party's mind is completely defenseless. Fortunately, I did it, and very smoothly." After extracting the thread from Ren Xiaochen's body, a small blood spot appeared on the kid's neck. "But rest assured, I won't do anything to these stupid children. They've already assisted me in completing my mission. I'll erase their memories and send them home safe and sound. How can I let the huge sacrifice you made of going to save them in your boat be in vain, great Big Sister Shaluo."
I sighed, the pain in my body having subsided considerably. I attempted to stand up and waved to her, saying, "I told you, don't claim relationships randomly. I don't have the blessing to enjoy having a sister like you."
"But..." Her gaze suddenly became meaningful. "That's what I called you many, many years ago."
I was slightly taken aback.
She resumed her mocking expression and widened her eyes in feigned innocence, the same eyes that used to belong to me. She said earnestly, "By the way, a friendly reminder for you. The Soul-Gnawing Spike is a special poison curse. It can turn your everything into mine. But it's not impossible to break the curse. When someone recognizes that you are the real Shaluo, the curse will be broken. But remember, what you tell or hint to others doesn't count; it only works if others 'actively' recognize you. Also, demons poisoned with this curse lose all their magical powers. What you have now is actually my body, which is no different from an ordinary human."
I simply listened in silence, refraining from asking any questions or making comments.
Seeing that I remained unresponsive, she lost her cool a bit, sneering, "Although this body of mine is more than enough for you, there's one drawback. When the Colorless flower blooms next year, you won't be able to return to your real body because you lost it within a day, along with..." She stroked "her" hair with satisfaction, "along with this human form you've cultivated. You know, if you can't return to your real body to absorb vitality, you will disappear." She paused, counting on her fingers, "You have roughly a year left. Of course, if someone recognizes you during this time, retrieves your human form for you, and manages to snatch back your real body from my master… If you can accomplish these two nearly impossible tasks, I'll admit that you, tree demon Shaluo, indeed have skills that surpass mine."
"I never need anyone's recognition," I said indifferently, yawning and looking at the innocent kids she had rendered unconscious. "I just hope you keep your word and return these little rascals intact."
"Of course," she raised an eyebrow, smiling. "I've treated you well. Not only did I spare your life, but I also gifted you a nice little shop. You can still be your own boss, you see, just in a different environment."
"Mn, thanks." My smile was especially joyful, "Congratulations to you too on starting a new chapter in your life starting from today, living an interesting life in this interesting world as me. I also want to remind you to be careful of the two troublemakers, Fatty and Skinny, in my shop. They absolutely have the potential to give you an aneurysm!"
"Oh, mutual congratulations! Then, congratulations on your new position, Musheng's 'new' proprietress." She tilted her face up and shot me a coquettish glance. Then, as if remembering something, she pulled out a few banknotes and threw them at me. "I almost forgot you have no magic powers now. This is the suburbs; if you want to return to Musheng, you'll have to take a taxi, hahaha."
Leaving behind a string of mocking laughter, I watched the other "me" skillfully ride the clouds, taking the four children and everything she had taken from me, flying towards the sky.
In the air, someone seemed to think that I hadn't been hit hard enough and shouted again, "Here's a souvenir for you."
Something small floated down from mid-air and dropped in front of me.
A tarot card, Death.
I glanced at the orientation of the card, lifted my head, and yelled to the far-away figure with an undiminished smile — "Dear, the Death card you gave me is still reversed."
I picked up the card and put it away. I must carefully collect the gifts others give me.
[1] 彼岸: The Other Shore (literal). Another name for red spider lilies, described as ominous flowers that grow in Hell and guide the dead into the next reincarnation.
[2] 嘴硬: reluctant to admit one's mistakes.
No comments:
Post a Comment