Chapter 106: The Flourish of Humanity (Part 3)
Chen Yunli looked up and down at the young man on the bamboo raft, his gaze lingering on the yellow lantern in front of him for a moment, and he cautiously did not speak.
Bai Ai scratched his head, but didn't rush to explain. He held the bamboo pole and poked it into the water. The clear sound of water immediately echoed in all directions, accompanied by a large amount of water splashing in the air. The guy who kept repeating "Am I dead or not" was hung on one end of the bamboo pole and was pulled onto the bamboo raft by him.
It was a translucent figure with an ordinary, young appearance. Although it was also a ghost, it did not have the hostility of a fierce ghost. There was a hint of confusion in its eyes when it looked up at the two people beside it.
Bai Ai looked at him and sighed, as if he knew what was going on. He held the pole and waved at Chen Yunli.
"Mr. Chen, you should come up first. It's not safe to walk on the water."
Chen Yunli lowered his eyes and glanced at the calm stream below him - the seemingly calm stream, then boarded the bamboo raft without comment and stood facing the ghost across from him.
Bai Ai looked at him and then at the ghost who was still mumbling the same thing, scratching his head, as if he was struggling to figure out where to start explaining.
Fortunately, Chen Yunli didn't let him worry for too long: "The underworld, huh?"
Bai Ai was stunned for a moment, then her eyes widened in shock after she realized what was happening: "How come... you have memories?"
This kid looks simple, but he is actually very smart. He deliberately concealed the content of his "memory" and tested Chen Yunli subtly.
Chen Yunli didn't point it out, but nodded and said, "If you mean reincarnation and the underworld that carries reincarnation and gives the dead a resting place, I do remember it."
Hearing this, Bai Ai breathed a sigh of relief.
"That's easy. Once I've sent him over, I'll explain the situation to you, sir."
"Where to send them?" Chen Yunli looked around, letting out his spiritual sense for a moment. "This place looks like the underworld, but there's no place to keep the dead souls. The only extra building within a few hundred miles is a thatched hut... Hmm?"
As soon as the spiritual tentacles reached the hut, they saw candlelight suddenly light up in the dim doors and windows. It was the same color as the lanterns on the bamboo raft, warm and fiery.
The light flickered, creating a weak but irresistible resistance in the virtual space. Chen Yunli's consciousness could not advance an inch, and he could only peek through the door, unable to see clearly.
"Have you discovered it, sir?" Bai Ai scratched his temples, put the bamboo pole into the water and pushed it back, and the bamboo raft slowly moved forward. "Yes, the place I want to take him to is that thatched house."
The ghost huddled up in a corner of the bamboo raft, holding his head, and unconsciously moved away from the range of the lantern light, muttering "Am I dead or not?", and did nothing else.
Chen Yunli stretched out his hand and stroked his head, his palm felt cold, and light white frost condensed on his fingertips. He held it under the lamp, and it melted into nothingness.
"His soul is very weak." After testing it, Chen Yunli rubbed his still cold fingers, "But it's not a dead soul, more like a living soul."
The dead soul is the spirit of a dead person, while the living soul is the soul that leaves the body when a person is still alive. They are the same on the surface, but the essence is the difference between life and death.
Bai Ai nodded and said, "Yes, he is a living soul. Not only him, but also me and most people in the world will have their souls leave their bodies at night and wander in the underworld. As for the real dead souls - sir, you have seen them just now."
"Those in the water?"
“The ones in the water.”
Chen Yunli looked at the ghost not far away and was silent for a while. "It's still quite a distance from here to the hut. First, tell me a little bit about...what's wrong with this world?"
When Bai Ai heard the words "this world", his eyes darkened for a moment, then he smiled and said, "Okay."
These things sound complicated, but they can actually be summed up in one sentence - reincarnation disappears, life and death are out of order, and yin and yang are confused.
About a hundred years ago, the Great Dao of Samsara, which governed the cycle of life and death, vanished. Shortly thereafter, the world fell into a state of yin and yang, with the daytime shrouding the mortal realm in darkness and the nighttime plunging into a boundless netherworld.
The result of the fusion of the human world and the netherworld is that humanity is forced into a state of coexistence between life and death. Humans remain human during the day, but at night, their souls leave their bodies in dreams, transforming into ghosts in the netherworld, wandering aimlessly until dawn, when they return to their bodies, forgetting all that they experienced the night before and continuing their lives in unconsciousness.
However, real ghosts, unable to reincarnate and having nowhere to go, gradually become infected with hostility and turn into evil spirits, wreaking havoc in all directions.
Fortunately, despite the chaos of the world, some people remain unaffected by the chaotic laws of nature. Among these people are some who are powerful, intelligent, and resourceful. They have joined forces to devise a plan to replace the original human laws and maintain the functioning of the human world.
"This plan involves a wide range of issues, such as opening up various waterways and diverting Yellow Spring water into various water veins throughout the world to suppress evil spirits. Yellow Spring water doesn't appear during the day, so it doesn't affect normal use. Coincidentally, ghosts only appear at night, so the two sides faced off, and the latter was completely suppressed."
Bai Ai's tone was full of admiration.
"In addition, the powerful being who accomplished this feat also gathered unaffected ordinary people to form a Night Patrol. They patrol and inspect at night, protecting the souls of innocent people and deterring restless evil spirits. Look, this bamboo raft and this supporting pole are the ghost-suppressing magic tools he personally refined. It has been passed down to me for the third generation, and its power has not diminished in the slightest."
Upon hearing this, Chen Yunli recalled the scene where the ghosts retreated after he appeared on the raft, and he understood.
"A living soul like him who has strayed into a pile of evil spirits is someone your Night Patrol Guards should rescue?"
"To be precise, we help all living souls who are in danger." Bai Ai turned and looked into Chen Yunli's eyes. "For special people like you, whose souls remain in their bodies at night, who are as conscious as we are, and who retain memories related to reincarnation and the underworld, we will not only rescue them, but also absorb them."
Chen Yunli heard the solicitation in his words and smiled: "I have another question."
Bai Ai perked up: "Sir, please speak."
"Why do people forget about reincarnation?"
"This..." Bai Ai's eyes flashed.
"Can't tell?"
"No." Bai Ai quickly shook his head. "It's... hard to say. Although those great masters have done research on this, they themselves are not sure whether the answers they came up with are accurate."
Chen Yunli asked: "What is their answer?"
Bai Ai took a deep breath and pointed his finger above his head.
"The laws of nature are out of whack, the laws of humanity are out of order, and thus life and death... are out of balance."
…
"The laws of nature are out of order, the laws of humanity are out of order, and life and death are out of balance."
Chen Wenjian's body was fast asleep, but his consciousness drifted into that unknown place. He heard a voice, neither male nor female, but very familiar, reciting words that sounded like a prophecy.
He opened his eyes in the darkness, his heart skipping a beat - this place was where his soul went when his real body fell asleep, and it was also the place where he was born.
"You're here. It's so hard to see you."
Just as Chen Wenjian was realizing his situation, the voice rang out again. This time, he found the source of that familiar feeling.
It originates from another being that has the same origin as itself.
"Heaven's Way." Chen Wenjian said in a deep voice, "Shouldn't you have fallen into a deep sleep?"
"I haven't fully fallen asleep yet, but I'll be soon." Tiandao's voice was calm and majestic. As he spoke, it seemed as if the entire world trembled with the echo. "If you understand your own condition, you can naturally guess mine."
Chen Wenjian was silent.
"You, I, and humanity, which has yet to develop self-awareness, are all incarnations of the Law. He and I share control of the Law of Life and Death. As the ultimate demon of heaven and earth, you may seem to have accomplished nothing, but you are the bridge connecting Him and me."
“…Reincarnation.”
Life and death are a connected circle, and reincarnation is the force that keeps this circle in motion, the power of endless life. All three are indispensable; only when they are complete can the world function normally.
The current imbalance of yin and yang in the human world is precisely because two of these links have problems, and the problems in these two links are in a progressive relationship.
"The decline of Heaven's Way has affected me, who shares the same roots as you. My weakness has caused the cycle of reincarnation to fade away or even disappear, is that right?"
Chen Wenjian almost immediately deduced the cause and effect, but quickly questioned, "But the rise and fall of the heavenly and human paths is a normal law, and it shouldn't shake the fundamental principles of the Great Dao of Life and Death. Isn't it normal for you to be weak this time?"
This time it was Heaven's turn to remain silent for a long time.
"The problem isn't me."
After a long and heavy silence, Tiandao uttered two words in an obscure tone: "It's you."
Chen Wenjian was stunned.
"Do you think that those long periods of sleep you had in the past were really just sleep?"
"My friend. I am already here. When will you return?"
…
The bamboo raft docked. Bai Ai took off the lantern, knocked Shenghun unconscious, held him in his palm, and led Chen Yunli to the thatched hut on the shore.
The lights were on inside the house, and wisps of warm light spilled into the yard, tinging the deep and lush greenery with a touch of warmth. Contrasting with the frosty white moonlight and the faint blue will-o'-the-wisp fire, the scene was filled with vitality.
Chen Yunli returned to the world of the living, brushed off the cold dew on his shoulders, and looked inside when Bai Ai pushed open the door.
The room was not big, but was kept clean and tidy. There was no furniture in it. A circular instrument shaped like a loom took up most of the area. At this moment, the machine was running autonomously, making a light "clicking" sound.
Bai Ai threw the soul in his hand towards the instrument. Under Chen Yunli's shocked gaze, the soul turned into a stream of light and sank into the center of the machine. Then it was coated with silver light, condensed into a solid entity, and hung down from the pulley on one side of the machine.
It was a silver thread, smooth and soft, like the finest silk.
"That's all." Bai Ai clapped his hands. "Before dawn, just tie this thread in front of the soul's owner's door. When the underworld closes, the soul will naturally return to his body."
Chen Yunli: “…”
He looked at the "loom," then at Bai Ai, who looked as if it was his due, and squeezed out a sentence from between his teeth: "I thought you would temporarily place him here, and he would return on his own when the day breaks."
"That's generally true, but he's a bit special. Sir, have you forgotten that he used to be among a group of evil spirits?" Bai Ai stretched out his hand and placed his hand on the top of the instrument. "This instrument is the last magical tool left by the master who formed the Night Patrol. It can purify the souls that have been polluted by the evil spirits, allowing them to return to their bodies safely. In addition, it can also give the Night Patrol a certain amount of power to help us suppress those powerful ghosts."
Before he finished speaking, Chen Yunli saw a beam of silver light coming out of the instrument and sinking into Bai Ai's palm.
At the same time, he turned his head to look at Chen Yunli, with a bright silver halo floating around the edge of his black pupils.
"Mr. Chen, I also have a question, and I hope you can answer it truthfully."
Chen Yunli slowly curled up his hands behind his back and said, "Please speak."
"You're not from this world...or rather, you don't belong to this era, right?"
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