My heart skipped a beat. I steadied myself and looked at Lady Meng—she was just as kind and gentle as the day I first saw her.
"Oh? Is that so?" Judge Cui looked at me with suspicion, while Lady Meng chuckled softly.
"If you don't believe me, take a look. Boy, get up."
I responded and stood up. Lady Meng told me to walk across the Bridge of Remorse. Without thinking, I stepped past the ghost officials and walked forward. The barrier that had blocked me was gone, and I easily reached the head of the bridge.
"Lady Meng, wait a moment."
Judge Cui called out again, so I stopped. He still looked unconvinced.
"What? You don't trust an old woman like me? Here, take a look at this."
As Lady Meng spoke, she raised her left hand. In her palm was something warm and radiant, like sunlight—almost like a ball of flame.
"I've been by the Bridge of Remorse far longer than any of you have been ghosts. I don't make mistakes. Often, when a person dies, their three souls and seven spirits leave the body. If they have lingering emotions, they hold a deep attachment to the living world. In such cases, the soul can't separate cleanly from the body, so it carries some yang energy from the living world and becomes incomplete."
Lady Meng turned to look at me, smiling as she continued.
"That's why this is happening. Normally, the Bridge of Remorse is for souls crossing into reincarnation. But this young man carries yang energy, so he couldn't pass. Now, I've removed that energy. Go on, hurry up—this is the last batch of souls."
Lady Meng's explanation made the four ghost officials rush to praise her, saying things like 'we've learned so much.' But Judge Cui kept his suspicious gaze fixed on me.
"What's the matter, Judge Cui? You don't trust an old woman like me?"
"It's not that, Lady Meng. I just want to check the Book of Life and Death. The Underworld is in turmoil right now, so I need to be careful."
Judge Cui approached, looking as if he wanted me to state my name and birth date.
I started to panic, but just then—bang! The white-haired Lady Meng slammed her wooden cane onto the Bridge of Remorse. Instantly, the four ghost officials looked terrified and shrank back against the railings. Judge Cui's face darkened as well.
The souls queued behind me suddenly floated up, drifting in the air as if struck by a violent force. I too felt a crushing power, as if it could pulverize a person completely.
I fell hard, landing on the Bridge of Remorse.
"Lady Meng, please don't be angry."
Judge Cui could only turn away, clasping his hands in respect.
"I've already said it—these souls are here to reincarnate. If you delay their time for rebirth, can you bear the consequences?"
Lady Meng pressed further. At last, Judge Cui gave up, bowed respectfully, and left the Bridge of Remorse, flying off into the distance.
Then Lady Meng had the ghost officials help Boss Zhang, unlocking the Yin Lock that bound him. Boss Zhang successfully crossed the Bridge of Remorse, and I breathed a sigh of relief, stepping off the bridge myself.
The first thing I saw was a unique little house in a courtyard full of unknown blossoms. It stood directly across the road. On the right, there was a tall earthen terrace, at least twenty or thirty meters high. The winding path up was crowded with many souls, all making their way upward.
Below the terrace, several ghost officials seemed to be guarding the souls. Looking closer, I noticed these souls looked different from us—black, some just shapeless dark masses.
"Don't stare, Zhang Qingyuan. That's the Longing Terrace. It's for souls in the Underworld who still have living relatives, so they can look at their families one last time."
Realizing this, I quickly thanked Lady Meng. She said nothing, just kept walking ahead. I saw many souls heading toward the back of the house.
"If you have anything to say to him, do it quickly so he can reincarnate in peace."
I thanked Lady Meng again, then took Boss Zhang and followed her to the front of the little house. At the entrance to the courtyard hung a plaque reading 'Memory Forgetting Terrace.' There were three strange trees inside, each with six-petaled pink blossoms. I felt like I'd seen them somewhere before.
The base of the house was hollow, the door ajar. I didn't have time to look further, because in front of the Memory Forgetting Terrace stood a huge stone, about three or four meters tall and over two meters wide. Every soul passing by would pause before it for a moment.
Beyond that was a massive pit—pitch black, its depths invisible. Lady Meng sat beside the pit in a small shed, handing bowls to passing souls, which must have held Lady Meng's Elixir.
By now, we'd reached this area and could no longer see what was behind us. The Bridge of Remorse and Longing Terrace had vanished. All that remained was a sea of Red Spider Lilies, and nothing else. The souls passing by looked numb, like soulless husks.
I looked seriously at Boss Zhang and asked him.
"Tell me, your daughter Xiaoqing—can she see ghosts?"
In Boss Zhang's memories, I discovered that Xiaoqing had always been very withdrawn. She rarely spoke to anyone except her father, and most strangely, every night she would sit alone in her room, as if talking to someone.
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Boss Zhang had asked her about it many times, but Xiaoqing always said she was just talking to herself and brushed him off. My question seemed to surprise Boss Zhang, and he looked at me in confusion.
I brought up the cause of Boss Zhang's death again, but he insisted he had died of natural causes.
In Boss Zhang's memories, his health declined day by day. It all started after he visited an old photo studio with the woman he loved and took a picture there.
"Didn't you go to have your photo taken? At first, you looked young in the picture, but then you grew older and older. Did something happen to that photo?"
I asked again, and Boss Zhang thought for a moment—it seemed there really was something strange about that photo.
"Oh, right—Amei told me, yes, I almost forgot. She said that photo studio is rumored to capture life and death in its pictures."
Now I was convinced—Boss Zhang hadn't died of natural causes, but had been killed by a ghost. I didn't know why, but his memories hinted at it. And thinking back, I remembered seeing his daughter Xiaoqing kneeling at the funeral altar, burning paper. Her back was sorrowful, but there was also anger—her face twisted in rage and grief, impossible to separate.
I realized all this after experiencing the resentful energy in the Forest of Wailing Ghosts. The aura Xiaoqing radiated was full of resentment—not just sadness, but hatred toward something.
I explained a little to Boss Zhang, and he slapped his forehead, laughing.
"So I was killed by a ghost, huh? Ha, I never would've guessed."
Boss Zhang's voice grew heavy, and his smile faded.
"No matter how I died, I'm counting on you, Xiao Zhang. I have nothing to repay you with."
Boss Zhang knelt before me with a thud, and I hurried to help him up.
"Tell me, Xiao Zhang—will my daughter be haunted by ghosts?"
Clenching my fists, I looked at Boss Zhang and said, word by word:
"I won't let that happen."
At that moment, an old memory surfaced—Brother Luo, who used to look after me when I worked at the cleaning company. I hadn't seen him in ages, but when I did, he seemed rejuvenated—though he was in his forties, he looked barely thirty. Later, after leaving Fortune-Telling Street without money, I saw him again, and he looked much older.
"It's almost time, Zhang Qingyuan."
Lady Meng came over. Boss Zhang stood up, looking relieved. But in an instant, his smile froze, and he became like a soulless husk.
"What...?"
"No matter who they are, anyone going to reincarnate will end up like this. If they started making a fuss about not wanting to reincarnate, I'd be driven mad by all the noise."
I murmured in response and followed Boss Zhang and Lady Meng to the edge of the great pit. I saw Lady Meng pick up a bowl from the table—almost colorless, except for the ripples that appeared when she moved it. She handed it to Boss Zhang, who drank it in one gulp, closed his eyes, and sank into the pit, dazed.
I watched quietly as Boss Zhang disappeared into the pit. His words—I'm counting on you—still echoed in my mind.
"Zhang Qingyuan, do you always meddle in other people's business? Come, let's go to the Memory Forgetting Terrace. I want to talk with you. I'll give you Lady Meng's Elixir when you return."
Clenching my fists, I looked at the pit of reincarnation. Just then, a sudden scream—Boss Zhang shot out from the pit, landed in front of me, and stood there expressionless.
"What happened?"