Chapter 2 Rebirth

"I am sent by Lord Cui to escort Brother Ji to the Yellow Springs Road."

High in the sky, a woman in purple robes held Ji Ning's hand as they flew.

Ji Ning looked around.

Just a moment ago he was in Lord Cui's mansion, and now suddenly he was in midair.

"May I ask who exactly Lord Cui is?" Ji Ning wondered. "I heard that before reincarnation, one must see the Judge, who reviews past lives and judges the next life, and only then can one be reborn."

"Haven't you already seen the Judge?" The woman in purple smiled. "Lord Cui controls the Book of Life and Death and is the First Judge! Since he judged you personally, there's no need for an ordinary judge."

In the underworld, the supreme rulers are the Ten Kings of Hell, followed by the First Judge, Lord Cui, also known as Cui Jue.

His fame had long spread throughout the Three Realms.

The mortal world was the most vast and boundless, containing three thousand major worlds and billions of minor worlds. The good and evil deeds of every living being had to be judged by a judge—what an enormous workload! Thus, there were billions of judges in the underworld, each responsible for judging the souls of the dead from billions of worlds. Lord Cui was the leader of all judges, known as the First Judge, who controlled the true Book of Life and Death. His power was almost equal to that of the Ten Kings of Hell.

"Look, that is the Yellow Springs Road." The woman in purple pointed ahead at a vast road, where countless ghostly queues slowly advanced. "Follow the Yellow Springs Road, and you'll soon reach the Bridge of Helplessness. Cross the bridge, drink Meng Po's soup, and you can be reborn."

"Go."

The woman in purple waved her hand.

Ji Ning, surrounded by golden light, flew down directly and landed in the queue ahead, cutting in line.

The Ox-Head and Horse-Face ghost soldiers beside the queue, seeing the woman in purple high above, dared not speak a word. One Ox-Head ghost soldier even followed Ji Ning respectfully.

...

The Yellow Springs Road was shrouded in mist, with countless ghostly queues advancing side by side. Ji Ning was among them.

"Hmm?" Ji Ning looked ahead.

The mist ahead was thick; as soon as ghosts entered, they vanished.

"Go on, ahead is the Bridge of Helplessness." The Ox-Head ghost soldier beside him said amiably.

Ji Ning nodded, hesitated no longer, and stepped forward into the thick mist.

He felt a shift in time and space.

"This is...?" Ji Ning looked ahead in confusion. Before him was a narrow path, with sparse ghostly figures. Only a few dozen ghosts walked ahead. At the end of the path was a river with murky water.

"That must be the legendary River of Forgetfulness." Ji Ning walked forward.

"Strange."

"There were countless queues advancing side by side, but after entering the mist, it's become so sparse?" Ji Ning was utterly puzzled.

How could he know that the flow of time at the Bridge of Helplessness was different from the outside world?

As the saying goes, a day in heaven is a year on earth.

The time flow at the Bridge of Helplessness was even more extreme: a day in the underworld could be countless years here.

"Ah! Ah!"

"I regret it!"

Walking on the Bridge of Helplessness, Ji Ning saw a pool of blood at the bridgehead, filled with vipers, venomous insects, and dog heads that tore viciously. Most ghosts walked over the pool without incident, but some fell in, clearly burdened by sin and unable to escape the torment of the blood pool.

"If only I had known this would happen, why did I do it?" Ji Ning shook his head and looked at the opposite bank. "So beautiful."

On the banks of the River of Forgetfulness, beautiful flowers bloomed in clusters.

Not far from the bridgehead stood a crystal stone that flickered with scenes—the legendary Three-Life Stone.

Near the Three-Life Stone was an earthen platform, the Terrace of Home-Sickness. Ghosts who crossed the platform would come to Meng Po.

Meng Po looked like an ordinary old woman, holding a bowl of soup that she gave to every passing ghost. The ghosts who drank it became dazed and automatically jumped into one of the six paths of reincarnation behind her.

"Heavenly beings, Asuras, Humans, Animals, Hungry Ghosts, Hell." Ji Ning looked at the six unfathomable abysses behind Meng Po.

"I won't drink, I won't drink, I don't want to forget, don't want to..."

Many ghosts struggled.

But no matter how they struggled, an invisible force compelled them forward. When they reached Meng Po, they were bound by an invisible force to pick up the bowl and drink. Even if they screamed in agony, they still drank... After drinking, no matter how deep their emotions or memories, all was forgotten. At that moment, you were no longer yourself.

"If I enter the Heavenly Realm, I can awaken my past-life memories at sixteen. But by then, will the sixteen years in the Heavenly Realm dominate my consciousness, or will my past-life memories? At that point, will I still be myself?" A trace of sorrow appeared in Ji Ning's eyes.

He understood.

In this life, he had only lived eighteen years. After sixteen years in the Heavenly Realm, the self there would surely be stronger; his past-life memories would likely be mere appendages.

"But what can I do?" Bound by invisible forces, Ji Ning advanced step by step, unable to control himself.

The ghosts ahead drank Meng Po's soup one by one; only six more ghosts before it was his turn.

"Meng Po's soup!" Ji Ning looked at Meng Po ahead.

But Meng Po suddenly looked up.

This was the first time Ji Ning saw Meng Po raise her head. She looked into the distant sky and let out an aged, furious roar: "How dare you!"

Boom!

Heaven and earth shattered. Countless cracks appeared in the sky, the mist collapsed and dispersed, revealing the countless ghostly queues outside. The ghosts near the spatial cracks were instantly annihilated, like bubbles popping. Countless ghosts dissipated in agony, wailing in pain.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Countless black dragons roamed high in the sky, each as vast as a winding mountain range. Ji Ning could even see the scales that chilled his heart. The countless dragons frolicked and played, each spitting black lightning bolts down. In an instant, billions of lightning bolts wreaked havoc, each tearing cracks in the sky, causing heaven and earth to collapse.

"The Two-Realm Calamity Dragon Life-Death Formation? How dare you attack the Six Paths of Reincarnation! This is a great sin!" Meng Po roared in fury, transforming into a streak of light that flew toward the countless black dragons in the sky. Instantly, a large number of black dragons swirled around her.

Rumble~~~

The earth cracked, the murky waters of the River of Forgetfulness surged, and any ghost touched by the river water wailed and vanished. The Bridge of Helplessness collapsed, and the ghosts on it fell into the river. The six bottomless abysses of reincarnation began to tremble, emitting beams of light.

"Oh no." Ji Ning watched the apocalyptic scene in terror, but also felt the invisible restraints disappear.

"Go for it!" The moment the restraints vanished, Ji Ning was both surprised and delighted. He sprinted and leaped, diving straight into the nearest reincarnation channel, the Path of Humans. The six abysses were in different positions. Since the Path of Humans received the most souls, it was right behind Meng Po, closest to Ji Ning, so he chose the nearest and jumped.

Several ghosts around him also panicked and jumped into the reincarnation channels.

One ghost even tried to run toward the farthest channel, the Path of Heavenly Beings.

Whoosh~~~

A black lightning bolt swept over, and the ghosts that hadn't jumped in time, including the one running toward the Path of Heavenly Beings, were swept away and annihilated.

...

What exactly happened in the underworld? The terrifying sight of countless black dragons roaming the sky and billions of black lightning bolts wreaking havoc shocked Ji Ning, but he knew that as a mortal ghost, thinking too much was useless. Besides, he had no mind for that now, because his head hurt terribly!

Ji Ning felt a sharp pain in his head, as if something was pulling at it with all its might.

His neck hurt so much, and his body felt crushed and uncomfortable.

Whoosh!

Suddenly, he felt a release, followed by piercing cold. Air rushed into his mouth and filled his lungs. For the first time since his death in his past life, Ji Ning 'breathed'.

"Wah!" The air entering his mouth made him cry out.

It was the cry of an infant.

"It's a young master, a young master." A somewhat awkward but still discernible voice sounded.

"Ah, I've been reborn." Ji Ning understood immediately.