As a blood-red expanse appeared before my eyes, I smelled a nauseating stench mixed with the smell of blood and cooked meat. This odor was so overwhelming that I couldn’t identify its source for a moment—I just felt dizzy and nauseous, wishing I could lose consciousness and collapse to the ground.

At the same time, the gurgling sounds around us were very strange, like the noise of viscous liquid and meat boiling, with bubbles bursting. Thick fog surrounded us, condensed from unknown substances.

We waved our hands to disperse some of the fog, and the scene that appeared before us was truly millions of times more disgusting than dung beetles on a dining table: we stood in a huge underground cavern surrounded by countless hot spring-like pools, each covered with iron cages. The liquid bubbling inside was actually human blood. Naturally, what was soaking in this blood were piles of corpses.

No, to be precise, they shouldn’t be called corpses, because although these people had all been boiled to pieces—almost all missing hands, feet, and heads—they were still struggling, swimming, and crawling inside. Looking at this, it was like countless pots of freshly cooked human soup. Seeing these things and smelling that odor made even breathing an enormous torment.

“I… I can’t take it…” I grabbed Fu Chenzhi’s arm. “Is this Endless Hell? So disgusting. Let’s get out of here quickly.”

Just thinking that the fog here had all risen from blood made me silently vow to bathe a hundred times when I returned.

Fu Chenzhi was also shocked by this scene. He covered his face with one hand and never put it down. Yinze, however, remained quite calm, merely frowning as he walked straight toward a cave entrance: “Go that way.”

We quickly followed Yinze toward that door, but a massive white object jumped down.

I pulled Fu Chenzhi back several steps and saw what it was: a six or seven-meter-tall winged tiger skeleton with ten-meter-long wings. It made no sound and had no eyes, but its walking posture was no different from the fierce beast Qiongqi recorded in books. Looking at Xuanyue, she was terrified. Every step the tiger skeleton took toward us made her little claws on my shoulder grip tighter.

Before the tiger skeleton could pounce, Fu Chenzhi and Yinze had already rushed forward to fight it. This was a good opportunity to show myself!

I cupped my hands at my chest, gathering spiritual energy, wanting to cast a spell to deliver a fatal blow. However, before the spiritual energy could fully gather, the tiger skeleton had already been shattered by them, becoming scattered bone fragments. I said: “…Is it dead?”

“Dead? In Endless Hell, nothing isn’t dead.”

The person answering my question wasn’t Yinze or Fu Chenzhi. I turned toward the voice, and somehow there was now an additional person behind us, yet none of us three had noticed!

It was a man who appeared to be about twenty years old in mortal terms, wearing robes red as blood with hair black as lacquer. His long robe covered his hands, revealing half a snow-white folding fan, and his entire form floated lightly in the air.

Even from this distance, you could see that his eyelashes were thick and black, almost covering his eyes.

In a flash, he appeared before me.

A cold fragrance cleared the air. His red robe spread like clouds, and an open fan appeared before me. When the fan moved away, his face suddenly enlarged before me. This face was ghostly to the extreme, yet also gorgeous to the extreme. For a moment, I was paralyzed as if drugged, only able to stare at him with wide eyes…

“Be careful!”

Fu Chenzhi pulled me behind him and drew his sword to pierce the fan. The man put one hand behind his back and lightly turned his fan-holding hand, dissolving Fu Chenzhi’s attack into nothing. After that, no matter how Fu Chenzhi fought him, he could always dodge using the same method.

He opened his folding fan and lightly fanned the wind toward us, causing countless skull phantoms to descend from the sky, striking directly at our faces. This time, I used “Smoke Rising to the Sky” to dodge his attack. Just as he wanted to pursue his advantage, Yinze rushed forward and slashed down with his sword, cutting through his flesh.

Before he could dodge, Yinze’s sword fell like lightning again, cutting him to the ground. Seeing the white bones exposed in his body, I nearly vomited on the spot and turned away, not daring to look. Fu Chenzhi said, “It’s a painted skin. With such strong magical power, fighting for so long before dying—this doesn’t seem like an ordinary Endless Hell ghost…”

Before he finished speaking, the painted skin spoke again: “I said, nothing here isn’t dead. But you—a small immortal, a spirit, and a mortal—dare to cause trouble in Endless Hell.”

Just as he finished speaking, he had also just glued the bones and skin on his body back together and slowly stood up. At the same time, the tiger skeleton that had become scattered bones also stood up. I cried out in shock: “My god, he’s alive again! How can it be so fast?”

“If ordinary ghosts suffer heavy injuries, they indeed can’t get up for a while.” Yinze glanced at the painted skin. “He’s indeed not an ordinary ghost. He was formerly an immortal.”

The painted skin had originally prepared to continue attacking, but suddenly withdrew his hand: “This mortal has good eyesight. How did you recognize that I was once an immortal?”

Yinze gestured toward his folding fan with his chin: “Naturally, because of the painting on your folding fan. Yunxiao Immortal Lord, I’ve never understood you. The Heavenly Emperor thought so highly of you that he hung your paintings even in his sleeping quarters. Do you know how much your paintings are worth in the upper realm now? But you—such talent wasted, coming here to be a painted skin.”

“You are…?” The painted skin squinted at Yinze for a while, then said in shock: “Divine Lord Yinze?”

The painted skin recognized the Divine Lord, but I recognized the painted skin. I used to love reading “General History of a Hundred Ghosts,” and he was actually my favorite painted skin ghost king Hua Zixiao! I remember the book’s description of his appearance: “His complexion like peach blossoms, his hair like ravens—all who encounter him are often led into the confusion of desire.” Seeing him in person now, he truly lived up to his reputation.

I tugged at Fu Chenzhi’s sleeve: “Big brother, he’s Hua Zixiao.”

I often told him stories about Hua Zixiao, so he immediately understood. Hua Zixiao smiled: “This young lady recognizes me?”

“You’re famous—of course I’ve heard of you. Every book related to ghosts has records about you. Moreover, you’re so devoted to your wife…” I turned to look at Yinze. “Grand Master, don’t speak ill of him. He ended up here because he wanted his wife to enter reincarnation.”

Yinze said, “I understand immortal realm affairs better than you.”

I knew he would embarrass me in front of others. I pouted and didn’t respond. Yinze said, “Yunxiao Immortal Lord, if you hadn’t been obsessed with that demoness back then, you’d already be ranked among the gods now. Any regrets?”

Hua Zixiao thought for a moment: “No matter, it’s all in the past. Besides, I can now often take leave and temporarily depart Endless Hell. In just a few more years, I can leave this place and move to the Netherworld. I’ve always preferred quiet, as long as I have paper, a brush, and a few books, whether living in Xuanyuan Palace or the Netherworld makes no difference.”

“Your mindset is quite good. Then stay here well—we’re leaving.”

“Wait. Let me escort you up. It happens that today my wife reincarnates. Using escorting you out as an excuse, I can visit the Netherworld without taking leave.”

Yinze shook his head helplessly: “Obsessed beyond redemption.”

On this journey from Endless Hell up through the Eighteen Levels of Hell to reach the Netherworld, I had one thought: for the next seven days and nights, I wouldn’t feel hungry even without eating or drinking. Having Yinze traveling with us was truly like being invincible throughout the world.

Initially, when Hua Zixiao took us to see the Endless Hell guards, they were quite arrogant toward us and refused to let us out. But as soon as he mentioned the four words “Divine Lord Yinze,” that guard knelt directly like the Floating Life Emperor, saying he had failed to recognize Mount Tai.

Thus, we smoothly exited and arrived outside Yindu City, the capital of the ghost realm.

Before this, I had never seen ghosts, but this time I saw seven or eight-tenths of all the ghost types I could encounter in a lifetime: light rain fell from the sky, headless ghosts carried large yellow lanterns, swaying and spilling blood all over the grass; water ghosts glowed blue-green, floating on the river surface; on returning sails, boatmen wore bamboo hats and counted eyeballs in their hands like amber beads; hanged ghosts with long tongues protruding held embroidered ball lanterns, gasping for breath and making crisp sounds with their tongue bones… Zombies, soul-reapers, evil gods, vengeful spirits, two-headed ghosts, yakshas, ghost hags, and so on—all the ghosts I’d seen in books appeared here, demons dancing wildly, wailing endlessly, accompanied by ghostly lights swaying gently and paper money flying about. It truly had its kind of terrifying prosperity.

After watching for a while, I couldn’t take it anymore and turned away to recover, only to see Divine Lord Yinze emerging from a beam of light. He stood tall and graceful in a long robe deep blue as night, his long hair also flowing loose. On his face, cold as ice and frost, were eyes deep as the sea.

A Divine Lord of the god realm appearing here had its kind of condescending, proud beauty.

All the ghosts stared directly, yet few dared to look too long.

Having been together day and night these past days, I had almost forgotten that the Grand Master’s original appearance should be like this. For some reason, I didn’t feel the same joy as when admiring other beauties.

Perhaps this original Divine Lord was somewhat too distant from me…

After this, we prepared to return to the immortal realm from the Observatory Platform. The appearance of Divine Lord Yinze in the underworld was no small matter—even mindless ghost fires would give him a wide berth, let alone other fierce ghosts.

Arriving at the main gate of Yindu, the overcast sky floated with endless silk rain, fine as sorrow. The Nai River wound around bridges, with countless broken-hearted tears in between.

Hua Zixiao’s book boy brought us umbrellas. He also held one himself and escorted us out, stopping at the bank of the Nai River: “I cannot stray far from Yindu and can only escort you this far. Parting here, with northern seas and southern skies between us, who knows when we’ll meet again. I wish you peace.”

Yinze said, “Farewell.”

Then Yinze and Fu Chenzhi walked ahead first. But Hua Zixiao called out: “Miss Luo.”

I turned my head and pointed at myself: “Is the Immortal Lord calling me?”

“I have something I’d like to ask Miss Luo to help with.”

“Please speak freely, Immortal Lord.”

He pointed to the Naihe Bridge: “Can you see the girl in blue robes and a white skirt in the queue on Naihe Bridge?”

I looked in the direction he indicated. There was a line of ghosts waiting to drink Meng Po’s soup for reincarnation, and the woman standing at the back was indeed wearing blue robes and a white skirt. I said: “Is it the fourth from the end?”

“Exactly.” He closed his umbrella and handed it to me. “Please help me deliver this umbrella to that young lady.”

“Do you need me to pass along any words?”

Hua Zixiao gazed at that woman’s back for a long time, then slowly said: “No need. Just say you’re giving it to her.”

“Alright! Wait for me—I’ll go and come right back.”

I ran with the umbrella and was indeed frightened out of my wits by several ghosts along the way. However, I don’t know if it was thanks to Grand Master’s intimidating presence, but looking at them closely, they didn’t seem very scary—instead, they had a kind of melancholy and pitiable air.

I quickly reached the bridge and tapped the blue-robed girl’s shoulder.

The sparse rain fell like down. She turned around—about eighteen or nineteen years old, with almond eyes and thin lips, quite an ordinary face.

I held up the umbrella: “Miss, someone asked me to deliver this umbrella to you.”

The girl hesitated, then took the umbrella: “Who was it?”

I said earnestly, “He told me to tell you that I’m giving it to you.”

The girl paused, then burst out laughing: “You’re quite interesting.” She opened the umbrella, and in the shadow, water droplets on her hair tips were misty white.

She caressed the umbrella handle and said softly, “My life was as brief as morning dew, just a fleeting dream. I never expected that at this crucial moment before reincarnation, I’d encounter a stranger showing such warm kindness… If I weren’t about to drink Meng Po’s soup and forget my past life memories, I would visit in person to express my gratitude. Please convey my thanks.”

“No problem. I need to hurry, so I’ll go first!”

“Mm.”

I turned around and happened to see Hua Zixiao standing under the Naihe Bridge by the flowing Henggao water without an umbrella. Strangely, even when he had shed his skin earlier, I hadn’t felt he seemed as vulnerable as he did now. Perhaps it was because the rain had dampened his black hair.

I saw ghostly lights beginning to appear and ghost fires dancing, illuminating his eye-catching red robes. Seeing that I had completed the task, he bowed to thank me.

I originally wanted to go over and tell him face-to-face what the woman had said, but I heard several Endless Hell guards calling from the shore: “Young Master Hua, time’s up. Please come back with us.”

Hua Zixiao took one last gentle look at the blue-robed woman, then turned to leave. Thus, under the guards’ escort, he walked again toward the path leading to Endless Hell.

In the light smoke and drizzle, the path to the springs was dim and distant. His red robes trailed, lightly touching the fragrant grass, his head of black hair as deep as night.

This affair with Hua Zixiao left me in low spirits throughout the carriage ride. Fu Chenzhi was riding a horse outside, so I couldn’t share my inner distress with anyone and could only sit in a daze. Xuanyue seemed very worried about me, with her hind legs on my knees and front paws constantly pushing at my collarbone, her bright eyes gazing at me.

I finally couldn’t hold back and grabbed Xuanyue: “Xuanyue, tell me, they’ll have a good ending, won’t they?”

Xuanyue could understand what I was talking about, but obviously couldn’t understand my words. She stared at me blankly, and we faced each other speechlessly. At this moment, Yinze said, “They’ve already had their good ending.”

“Grand Master means they were husband and wife in the immortal realm?” Seeing Yinze nod, I sighed deeply. “But now Yunxiao Immortal Lord loves his wife so much, yet she doesn’t know anything. Does he have to send her off like this every reincarnation? It’s too tragic—unbearable.”

Yinze said: “Oh? If you were Yunxiao, what would you do?”

I said: “If it were Grand Master, what would Grand Master do?”

During our time together, I had discovered that our supreme deity was completely different from the legendary Cangying God who blessed all living beings. He was young and beautiful, self-important, autocratic, ruthless and unfeeling—you could even say he was the complete opposite of his legend. So my guess was that he would say “I wouldn’t suffer in her place.”

In the end, the answer he gave me was still very unexpected: “If it were me, I wouldn’t have married that demoness in the first place.”

“Brilliant, truly brilliant.” I gave a thumbs up. “Originally, I wanted to say that whatever the Grand Master would do, I would probably do the same, but thinking about it now, I would probably be like Yunxiao Immortal Lord and save the person I love. However, that would have to wait until after a hundred years.”

“Why wait until after a hundred years?”

I smiled: “Once a teacher, always like a father. Since Grand Master’s kindness to me is as weighty as mountains, I should at least be filial to you for a hundred years.”

Yinze snorted with laughter: “At such a young age, already as slippery as an oiled watermelon—round and smooth.”

Seeing the smile in his eyes, I became somewhat pleased with myself and moved toward him, but after he glanced at me, I obediently shrank back.

This couldn’t stop my determination to flatter him to the end. I said: “These words all come from the bottom of my heart. Although Grand Master isn’t willing to take me as a disciple, after leaving Qinghong Mountain, as long as Grand Master doesn’t drive me away, I’ll always follow Grand Master, serving you tea and water daily, massaging your shoulders and legs.”

Yinze said, “After saying so much nonsense, you just want to learn the immortal arts.”

“This disciple wouldn’t dare! This disciple also knows that when Grand Master taught temporarily back then, it was only because of urgent circumstances, but once a teacher, always like a…”

“Enough, enough, so talkative.” He interrupted me: “Since you understand this principle, why are you still calling me Grand Master?”

I opened my eyes wide: “Ah?”

At this moment, Fu Chenzhi outside called loudly: “Weiwei, don’t you understand Master’s meaning yet? Why don’t you change how you address him?”

Yinze said that since I understood “this principle,” he meant “once a teacher, always like a father,” right? Could it be that he planned to take me as…

“Oh, this… alright…” I scratched my head, feeling my cheeks redden with embarrassment: “Father…”

I understood.

The Divine Lord was getting on in years. Even if his appearance would forever be that of a vigorous young man, inside, he must have a lonely heart. Seeing a lively and cute girl like me, he couldn’t help but think of marrying and having a daughter. You should know that even under the oppression of two beautiful sisters, I had grown into Father King’s most beloved daughter. It was perfectly normal for the Divine Lord to want to adopt me. Besides, Father King had already passed away, so recognizing an adoptive father—especially one who was a great figure spanning six realms—was a profitable deal no matter how you looked at it…

However, for some reason, after I changed how I addressed him, there was a long, eerie silence both inside and outside the carriage. Fu Chenzhi maintained his usual silence, and Yinze’s face, which had just become somewhat warmer, turned distant and cold again.

For a moment, only the clip-clop of horse hooves echoed.

After a while, I suddenly understood something and knelt before Divine Lord Yinze’s legs, kowtowing repeatedly: “Master, I was wrong! I was wrong! Please forgive me, Master! I’m kowtowing to you! Wah, don’t ignore me…”

Yinze truly never acknowledged me again.