Uncle Liu from Hunan led the way, and we followed behind. Suddenly, a faint sigh rang out, "The red spider lilies bloom, another hundred years have passed, has the one I'm waiting for come?"
Following the sound, a hazy figure emerged from among the spider lilies, like a fairy stepping out of a dream.
She walked towards us, her hazy figure gradually becoming clearer. She wore a white dress, and a spider lily adorned her long hair, which only accentuated her beauty.
"It's Xie Xiaoyan," I exclaimed in surprise.
Xiang Fei and the others were also taken aback. The woman who suddenly appeared in front of them was clearly Xie Xiaoyan.
She glanced at me, surprisingly indifferent, and then walked past me. "A hundred lifetimes of reincarnation, a thousand years of waiting, what is it all for? And what has she gained?"
She walked to the Bridge of Helplessness. "The Soup of Oblivion, can it really make me forget everything?"
After saying this, under our astonished gazes, she walked up to the Viewing Platform and said, "Give me a bowl of Meng Po soup."
I saw her take the bowl from Meng Po's hand, pick it up, and glance back at me before leaving, asking, "Do you think we'll meet again in the next life?"
This is clearly a question for me, but I don't know how to answer it. Is there reincarnation? Is there an afterlife?
"Maybe...yes."
"Hehe, is that so? But once you drink the Meng Po soup, you forget everything, including you. In the next life, perhaps it is fate that we cannot meet again and will only be strangers. Have you ever thought about this possibility?"
"I... hadn't thought about it."
"Now that you know, will you feel reluctant to let go?"
I was speechless for a moment, not knowing how to answer. In fact, I didn't even know if the person in front of me was really Xie Xiaoyan. Logically speaking, Xie Xiaoyan had already become a ghost and demon, and it was impossible for her to reincarnate.
"Answer me, will you be reluctant to part with it?"
“If you really go to reincarnation and forget everything, of course I will be reluctant to let you go, but you are not her.”
"Heh, so you don't believe me after all. How ridiculous and hateful. Well then, I'll drink this bowl of Meng Po soup and forget you and me."
After saying that, she picked up the Meng Po soup and drank it down. "What is the purpose of a hundred reincarnations and a thousand-year wait? What have I gained?" she seemed to be talking to herself. Then she turned into a wisp of a soul and walked towards the underworld on the other side of the Naihe Bridge.
A cold wind blew by, carrying a petal of the red spider lily, which danced in the air, creating a poignant and hazy scene.
“Let’s go take a look,” Xiang Fei said.
I walked towards the Bridge of Helplessness. When I reached the bridgehead, I looked at the Terrace of Longing for Home. There really was an old woman standing there, with a big pot in front of her. When she saw us coming, she was making soup.
"Come, everyone, drink the soup. After you drink it, you can go to be reincarnated." Meng Po picked up a bowl of soup and put it in front of me. I was immediately startled. Why was I the only one there?
At such close range, I saw Meng Po's face clearly. She was an old woman who looked to be around sixty years old, dressed in the kind of women's clothing from ancient times. She was looking at me with a kind expression. "Drink up, young man. Although you died young in this life, drinking this soup will allow you to be reincarnated. You will definitely have a good life in your next life."
I looked at the Meng Po soup again, and it was as murky as rice water. I quickly stepped back, and Xiang Fei and the others also looked serious.
“Hehe, young man, if you don’t drink this soup, you won’t be able to cross the Bridge of Helplessness. If you don’t cross the Bridge of Helplessness, you won’t be able to be reincarnated,” Meng Po sighed and continued, “Actually, what’s wrong with drinking this soup? After drinking it, you will forget everything from your past life and go to reincarnation in peace. In this way, everything from your past life, whether it’s pain or reluctance, will vanish. If you are destined by fate, what you didn’t get in your past life, you may be able to get in your next life. Heaven’s law is fair. The suffering of your past life will be repaid in your next life, and the evil of your past life will be punished in your next life. Why can’t you understand this?”
"Then why don't you forget everything and reincarnate? Why are you here as Meng Po, waiting for the person you're waiting for?" Xiang Fei suddenly said.
"Alas, I have long forgotten my past life. I don't know how many years I have been here, and I don't know how many people I have been waiting for have passed by. To become Meng Po is the order of the King of Hell, and I have no choice but to obey," Meng Po said, pouring the Meng Po soup from the bowl into the pot, leaving a fresh bowl, and bringing it over. "Come on, young man, drink it and go report to the underworld."
I knew I wouldn't drink it, so I quickly backed away. Just then, Uncle Liu from Hunan suddenly walked over and knocked the bowl out of Meng Po's hand.
"Stop pretending, you're not Meng Po at all, and this isn't the underworld."
Surprisingly, the 'Meng Po' in front of us remained calm. She squatted down and picked up the broken bowl from the ground. "If the King of Hell finds out, you'll suffer the torments of purgatory."
Under our watchful eyes, she painstakingly pieced the broken bowl together, one piece at a time. Finally, with a touch of her hand, the broken bowl was perfectly whole again, without a trace of breakage, as if nothing had ever happened.
We were shocked, realizing that this 'Meng Po' was not so simple.
"Let's go back first," Xiang Fei said in a low voice.
But when we turned around to go back, we found that the road behind us had been cut off. What we saw was a sea of blood, littered with corpses, and the rolling waves of blood seemed to be about to engulf everyone.
"This is bad, we're trapped."
"Don't you know the legend that once you enter the Yellow Springs, there's no turning back?" Meng Po looked at us coldly from behind, her expression a mix of malice and eeriness.
"You're not Meng Po, so who are you?" Xiang Fei shouted.
One Hundred and Five Paths to Immortality
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