Chapter 37 part 2
Those small ghost in the netherworld surprisingly still remembered Ling Xi. No one stopped her. instead, they very politely asked her to wait and went to notify the king of hell immediately.
Ling Xi stood on the Naihe bridge. The wrinkled madam Meng chuckled at her.
No wonder she was able to successfully enter the netherworld without being discovered last time. No wonder Madam Meng was surprised that she looked unfamiliar. It turned out that she was not an ordinary living soul and she had never stepped on the Naihe bridge or had drunk Madam Meng’s soup before.
The flowers at the shore still bloomed like fire and the river still flowed silently.
The moment Ming Sheng saw Ling Xi, his small face brightened and he laughed, “Little Xi, did you miss me?”
Ling Xi forced a smile, “Ling Xi has something to ask your highness the king of hell and wonder if your highness could spare me some time.”
Ming Sheng patted his chest, “Why be so polite with me?! What I have is time! What do you want to ask? Not hiding anything I know and not stopping before I said all!”
Ming Sheng gave the little ghosts a meaningful glance. The ghost-guards on the Naihe bridge immediately understood and retreated silently. The hour for the living souls to arrive had passed. Madam Meng laughed shadily and left.
Ling Xi didn’t notice this and asked directly, “Do you know Nan Zhi?”
Ming Sheng’s expression immediately changed. His expression turned very long and asked unhappily, “How do you know him?”
The moment he asked that, he slapped his forehead, “Oh, my useless head. Some time ago, it was said that the devil king had come back to live. A devil even came to cause trouble in my netherworld! Ling Xi, is it that he went to find you?”
Ling Xi didn’t answer his question and asked instead, “Then, do you know Chen Xi?”
When she spoke the two words “Chen Xi”, Ling Xi’s voice subconsciously brought obscurity and she unnaturally avoided his gaze to prevent Ming Sheng from seeing her feelings.
“Little Xi…” Ming Sheng hesitated a bit and said hesitantly, “Forgetting those past events is also a good thing.”
“You are so good to me is because of the fact that I and Chen Xi look exactly the same, right?” Ling Xi suddenly looked at him sideways and her eyes was calm as water, “You thought I was her.”
Ming Sheng froze for a moment, “You…”
He didn’t know how to respond. After some thought, he said, “Little Xi, in fact, you are her!”
Ling Xi refused to say anything. After a moment of silence, she said, “Your highness, can you tell me about Chen Xi’s past?”
Ming Sheng sighed, “I just said, little Xi, forgetting the past events is also a good thing.”
“But I want to know,” Ling Xi frowned slightly and said firmly.
Maturity appeared on Ming Sheng’s childish face. He sighed helplessly, “If you want to know, I will naturally tell you what I know. However, little Xi, can you stay far away from that Nan Zhi?”
Ling Xi just looked down at the quietly flowing River of Forgetfulness. She didn’t answer him.
Ming Sheng sighed again. He slowly began to speak. Ling Xi’s fingertips gradually became cold until the coldness reached the bottom of her heart.
It turned out that Chen Xi was neither a human nor an immortal. She was a demon.
She was a flower demon. A jacaranda demon. Ming Sheng got acquainted with her thirteen thousand years ago. At that time, Chen Xi had just cultivated a human body. The two concealed their identities and spent a period of time in the mortal realm. Ming Sheng was captured and brought back by the previous king of hell. Two thousand years later, Chen Xi got to know Nan Zhi who was still a mortal at that time.
Nan Zhi was a mortal, Chen Xi kept him company.
Nan Zhi cultivated into an immortal, Chen Xi stayed by his side.
Nan Zhi became a god, Chen Xi accompanied him.
From the beginning to the end, it was a thousand years. It was rumored in the six realms that a high-tiered god of the god realm had fallen in love with a demoness and brought that demoness without permission to the god realm. A golden house to keep one’s lover.
“Later, I don’t know whether it was because of Nan Zhi’s identity or because his and Chen Xi’s love, Nan Zhi was imprisoned. It was said that they wanted to scrap him from the book of record for gods, seal his godly power and imprison him for life .” Ming Sheng spoke the truth, “Little Xi was someone who values friendships and relationship. How could she watch the person she loves being imprisoned? She went one a single spear and horse to the god realm to fight for that person.”
“However, little Xi is a demon after all and only had three to four thousand years of cultivation. How could she win from a group of gods?” Ming Sheng said with regret, “I hated that I was ignorant about the affairs of the god realm at that time, otherwise, little Xi wouldn’t have ended with her soul dispersed and scattered.”
“Nan Zhi got to know about little Xi’s dead and was furious. I don’t know what kind of freak he was. His spiritual energy seemed to be bottomless and unfathomable. Under rage, all that hidden spiritual energy burst. He summoned all the devilish power of the six realms and sealed the whole god realm. Ten thousand years has passed since then. Presumably, those gods are still having an eternal rest in the god realm. Little Xi…he used all his spiritual power only to gather a ray of her soul. In order to prevent this ray of soul from disappearing, he used the Eastern Sea’s Soul-Suppressing stone to suppress it. He himself was depleted of spiritual power and went into an eternal rest at the bottom of Cangjia Mountain.
Ling Xi listened until he finished. Her eyes were empty and she stared blankly at the surface of the River of Forgetfulness. No one knew what she was thinking about. There was no color nor expression on her face.
“This is what I know. It had been ten thousand years since then. Presumably, there are only few that still know about this. Perhaps, only the dragon clan at the Eastern Sea could somewhat remember it, but they wouldn’t mention it to outsiders. Little Xi, if it wasn’t because you asked me, I will also not say anything.” Ming Sheng looked like a child and had a cute soft voice. However, he was extremely serious when talking about serious matters.
Ling Xi lowered her eyes and said faintly, “Your highness made a mistake. I’m not little Xi.”
Ming Sheng was dumbfounded and laughed, “You only reincarnated and don’t remember.”
“How can a broken soul reincarnate?” Ling Xi smiled softly.
Ming Sheng was dumbfounded again. He hadn’t thought so much. Ling Xi looked the same as Chen Xi. They were obviously the same person! Besides, even a freak like Nan Zhi existed in the six realms. Perhaps some miracle also happened to little Xi! Moreover, Ling Xi also clearly lacked a part of her soul…Last time when she came to get the Soul-Locking water, wasn’t it to supplement her soul?
“Aiya, if you don’t believe me, I will bring out Chen Xi’s memories. You will understand when you see what she looked like!” Ming Sheng patted Ling Xi’s shoulder. He didn’t wait for her answer when he darted into the River of Forgetfulness.
When he came out, the Soul-Locking water is in his hand.
“Chen Xi…” He floated on the river and gently called at the Soul-Locking water.
White apertures floated up from the river and drifted into the Soul-Locking water.
“See, now look at it yourself!” Ming Sheng handed the Soul-Locking water to Ling Xi.
Ling Xi didn’t look at it, “Since Chen Xi died with her soul dispersed and scattered, naturally, she wouldn’t have crossed the Naihe bridge and drank Madam Meng’s soup. How can the memory of the lifetime where she was Chen Xi be at the bottom of the River of Forgetfulness?”
When Ming Sheng heard that, he fiercely slapped his forehead again and said, “Then, look at her previous lifetime and the lifetime before that. See if she looked like you.”
Ling Xi shook her head and said, “There is only one question in Ling Xi’s heart. I don’t know whether your highness can answer it.”
“Aiya, I already said that you don’t have to be so polite. What do you want to ask?”
“When using the Soul-Locking water, is it necessary to use the name of that lifetime of the soul to call out the memory or can the name of any lifetime be used?”
“Naturally, the name of any lifetime can be used. The Soul-Locking water is spiritual and can judge which soul’s memories you want.”
Ling Xi was silent.
Ming Sheng was curious, “Why do you ask that?”
Ling Xi quietly took the Soul-Locking water from him and dispersed Chen Xi’s memories. She waited until the white apertures fell into the river again before calling in a low voice, “Ling Xi.”
Sure enough, the River of Forgetfulness flowed silently like last time. No memory floated out.
Ming Sheng was surprised and took over the Soul-Locking water in disbelief. He called again.
It was the same.
“You…” Ming Sheng was still unable to stop himself from being surprised. “Are truly not little Xi. And…you have never drunken the water from the River of Forgetfulness.”
“Thank you for telling me these.” Ling Xi turned and smiled, “I hope that you didn’t get angry that I had been pretending to be little Xi.”
Ming Sheng’s heart felt a pain inexplicably. Ling Xi’s smile was like a remnant of a crumbling flower after the summer rain that stayed stubbornly on the flower branch and wanted to bloom the last time to show its beauty.
“Ling Xi will bid her goodbye first. If there is a chance, I will certainly tell Chen Xi your highness’s king feelings.” After Ling Xi paid her gratitude, she immediately turned and left.
Ming Sheng stared blankly at her leaving back that pretended to be strong. He felt that he had overlooked something, but his mind was chaotic at this moment and he couldn’t rearrange his thoughts.
When Ling Xi came out of the netherworld, she got on her sword and moved quickly. It was as if only if she exhausted all her body’s energy, she would be able to let out the sour feelings in her heart. However, when she was exhausted and felt powerless, she stood in the dark night without knowing where to go.
Even she didn’t know for what reason she went to the netherworld today.
She had to admit that the illusion of two years ago, the illusion that high-tiered deity Donghua gave her appeared frequently in her dreams recently.
Once, Nan Zhi left her because of that illusion. She had regretted more than once, hated herself for being confused by the illusion and losing her mind. Although, the speeches in the illusion were so familiar and although, there were some things in the illusion that high-tiered deity Donghua couldn’t know about, but Nan Zhi had died because of it. She had never doubted that it was just an illusion made by high-tiered deity Donghua to use her to deal with Nan Zhi.
At that time, she ridiculed about how Nan Zhi could be a deity and a devil? How could one of her immortal part and four of her mortal parts be scattered by master? How can Chen Xi look exactly the same as her?
Now, she began to wonder whether that was just an illusion or…a prophecy.
Nan Zhi was really the devil. One of her immortal part and four mortal parts had truly been taken out and her body was truly weakening. Although, the course of events was different from the illusion, but the ending was exactly the same as the one she had seen in the play; different routes to the same destination.
Perhaps, she went to the netherworld this time just to confirm her presumption.
That time she asked Nan Zhi, “Why do…you like me?”
A voice quietly answered in her heart, “Because I and the woman he loves deeply looks exactly the same.”
She and the woman he loves deeply looks exactly the same.
That also turned out to be true.
Her soul had been dispersed and scattered because of him. He fell into the devilish ways because of her and went into an eternal rest at Cangjia. He and she loved each other through a lifetime and protected each other for a millennium. She was Chen Xi, not Ling Xi.
TLNote: The saying 金屋藏娇 (jīn wū cáng jiāo, a golden house to hide Jiao), a golden house to keeps one’s lovers stems from the empress Chen, the wife of emperor Wu of Han. Her maiden name was Chen Jiao. To get her family’s support, emperor Wu married her and vowed to treat her well for the rest of her life. He built her a golden palace (Long Gate) for her to live in. However, empress Chen was still childless after marrying a few years. This was used against emperor Wu in politics. Moreover, empress Chen’s mother was greedy and exploited her relation with the emperor. This plus the infertility enraged the emperor. One day after he went to his sister’s house, he encountered Wei Zifu who gained his attention and love. She monopolized his love for more than a decade. Empress Chen’s mother sent people to kidnap and kill Wei Zifu’s brother for vengeance for her daughter. The plot was discovered, making empress Chen to have an official fallout with the emperor. The golden palace became a cold palace. She refused to give up and let the famous poet Sima Xiangru wrote the “The Ode of the Long Gate” to gain the emperor’s sympathy. This failed and she died lonely in the golden palace. Over the years, this idiom changed into describing when someone has something to hide, usually his lover.
Historically, empress Chen has a bad reputation. There is a one-shot about her story from her perspective. I feel like that is one possibility that can have happened and she may not have been as bad as the history portrayed her.
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