Hell Fire Burns Soul
The next day, 389 came early to wake Gu Lili up and get ready for bed. As her assistant suggested, she should be more diligent on her first day of work.
Before the Bridge of Helplessness, the souls of the dead still stood in neat rows. 389 placed empty bowls on the table, and Fangfangfang brought out the soup pot and placed it on the netherfire, preparing everything and waiting for Meng Po to brew the soup.
"Wait... I... nobody taught me how to cook this??"
Gu Lili suddenly realized that she didn't have the recipe, and no one had taught her how to make the soup. She wondered how the previous Meng Po (the goddess of forgetfulness) had done it. She remembered a movie that said the Meng Po soup required eight kinds of tears, and finally, Meng Po's own tears.
Gu Lili often harbors resentment, especially after being inexplicably trapped in the underworld, which often makes her feel unlucky. But that's a different matter from shedding tears. She feels she can't cry, and even the thought of crying makes her laugh out loud.
"The Meng Po soup is Meng Po's unique skill. We outsiders really don't know the method. Not to mention us, even Lord Guan Nan doesn't know it. So over the past thousands of years, other ghost messengers have either changed jobs or chosen to reincarnate, but only Meng Po remains here forever."
Fangfangfang disliked this woman who used tricks to get ahead, so she didn't intend to offer Gu Lili any help. She simply repeated what the sycophantic PR person had said.
Gu Lili was somewhat annoyed. This poker-faced PR person was clearly making things difficult for her: "So you've been stationed by Meng Po's side all this time, haven't you noticed anything? What are you responsible for? Just watching her brew soup with your eyes closed every day?"
"As for Lady Meng Po's task of brewing the soup, I am only responsible for filling the soup pot with the water of the River of Oblivion before the start of each day." Fang Fangfang realized that the other party had already noticed something, so she did not want to continue to make things difficult: "I remember that the previous Lady Meng Po would drip a drop of fluorescent green stuff into the pot with her finger each time. As for what it was, I really do not know and have no right to ask."
Gu Lili felt annoyed, thinking that the other party seemed respectful but was actually targeting her at every turn. "I didn't mean to steal your master's position. She has been reincarnated and is now free. I'm the unlucky one who's stuck here. Besides, what's the use of you making things difficult for me now?"
Seeing the tense atmosphere, 389 took a few steps closer to Gu Lili's ear and said, "Lady Meng Po, why don't you try it? Like in a fantasy drama?"
"for example?"
"Meng Po, concentrate!"
Gu Lili, who was so angry she wanted to blow up the Yellow Springs, burst out laughing at 389's words. The two drama fans had actually found a secret code to each other.
The air around them seemed to freeze. Turning their heads, they saw Fangfangfang and the ghosts looking at them helplessly.
"Don't rush, don't rush, I'll try again."
Gu Lili closed her eyes, trying to focus her consciousness on the faint green hue within her body. Finally, she sensed something unusual and silently chanted in her mind, "Soup, soup, soup..."
Suddenly, a firefly the size of a fingernail appeared on her forehead and slowly drifted down into the soup pot. In an instant, the green soup in the pot boiled. Several living souls who were nearby looked over and their faces turned green from the glowing light coming out of the soup, which scared Gu Lili so much that she ran far away.
"Cough cough cough, Lady Meng Po, come back quickly and make the soup."
Seeing the souls looking at each other in confusion about Meng Po's actions, 389 quickly waved frantically to Gu Lili.
"Coming...coming, coming."
Gu Lili braced herself and returned to the pot, picked up the ladle and started stirring. One circle, two circles, three circles, she didn't know if this was the correct procedure, the so-called Meng Po source hadn't given her any hints.
After stirring for 20 rounds, Gu Lili, under the expectant gaze of No. 93, tremblingly ladled out a bowl of soup.
"Girl, how come you're the one making soup now?"
Gu Lili shrugged: "I stayed to be a ghost messenger, while the previous ghost messengers were reincarnated."
"Oh, making soup is hard work. Why don't you get some points from your mother-in-law and go get a better reincarnation?"
“Grandma, I have already signed a contract with them. Don’t worry, no matter how hard it is, it should be better than being reborn. Thank you for your concern.”
However, No. 93 did not rush to drink the Meng Po soup, but instead began to tell his story from his previous life after a passionate speech.
"Young lady, do you think I'll forget everything that happened before just because I drank this soup?"
“Grandma, drink this, cross the River of Oblivion, and your life can start anew.”
Number 93 was an elderly woman with white hair who walked over with difficulty and immediately called out "Miss Gu Lili," unlike the distant "Lady Meng Po" that the public relations staff called her.
"But I... I can't bear to leave my granddaughter, I don't want to be reincarnated..."
"Number 93, why are you starting again? Hurry up and drink the soup to cross the river, don't disrupt the order of the underworld."
Before Gu Lili could answer, Fangfangfang rushed forward, scolding and urging No. 93.
“Every time this old woman conducts business, she talks endlessly about her attachments in the human world. But who can pass away without attachments, regrets, and resentment? Death is a fait accompli that cannot be changed. Do not linger on the past and be reborn happily.”
Seeing that the old woman was reluctant to drink the soup, Fangfangfang gave her another stern admonition.
“Mother-in-law, please tell me again, tell me your grievances, your past.”
"Lady Meng Po, once you set a precedent, all the other souls will probably follow suit. Sometimes being soft-hearted comes at a price. Otherwise, why do you think the previous Meng Po only served 17 bowls of soup a day?"
Fangfangfang's eyes were indifferent yet sharp, and her heavy tone contained both warning and admonition. Gu Lili could hear the sarcasm in her voice and sense a hint of hatred in her words.
Gu Lili frowned, looking at No. 93 who was weeping. This old lady had almost taken out 100,000 points to help her, a stranger. Now the tables have turned, and the world is all about what goes around comes around.
She had fantasized countless times that the elderly people she had helped who had fallen on the roadside, the lost children, the crowdfunding groups that urgently needed money, and even the corpses of the small animals she had buried would all come to her to repay her kindness, or that some kind-hearted god would see her kindness and use magic to alleviate the bitterness and suffering she encountered in the human world.
But no, she never experienced the miracles and fairy tales she had imagined, even until she died suddenly at her computer desk. Since she couldn't wait for a god, she might as well... become a god herself.
"Let her speak," Gu Lili said, taking out the Underworld Employee Handbook from her bosom and placing it on the table. Her eyes lowered, she continued, "I've roughly read through the handbook. As long as I don't violate any rules, no one can interfere with me, right?"
"Lady Meng Po...Yes!"
Fangfangfang stepped back and stopped trying to stop her, but she still sighed softly as she looked at Gu Lili's back.
"Young lady, I have a granddaughter in the mortal realm. She lost her parents at a young age, and I raised her single-handedly. Now I've suddenly passed away without even having a chance to say a word to her. Could you... not reincarnate? I'll use my points to see her for just one day, just one day..."
Do you remember what year you passed away?
"I remember, I remember, it was 2015."
"Lady Meng Po, No. 93 was a doctor in his previous life and participated in some rescue work, including the rescue work during the Tangshan earthquake. He accumulated a lot of merit points, but if he used them to go to the mortal world, not only would his points be cleared and he would not be able to be reincarnated, but he would also be annihilated in the Sea of Nothingness. Moreover, although there are precedents for connecting to the mortal world, if one is not careful, it will disrupt the order of spacetime and cause an irreversible event. Lady Guan Nan will never agree to this."
Having received a reply, Gu Lili turned to look at Fangfangfang, who clearly already knew Gu Lili's thoughts and answered first.
Gu Lili frowned: "The Boundless Sea? What kind of place is that?"
"That is a dead zone belonging to the Special Management Office for the Dead. In order to prevent them from disturbing the mortal world, the dead who are too obsessed to be converted will be sent there and imprisoned at the bottom of the sea, never to be reincarnated again."
"Lady Meng Po, I only ask to see that child one more time. I have no regrets about the consequences, and I am willing to be imprisoned wherever I am," said No. 93, looking at Gu Lili with resolute eyes.
"Hmm," Gu Lili nodded to No. 93, then turned to Fangfangfang and asked, "How many points are needed? How many points does she have now?"
"The soul travels back to the Yellow Springs, and each step consumes one point. It depends on how many steps No. 93 needs to take to reach her desired destination. She currently has 560,000 points. If she chooses to be reincarnated, she will have a good life."
Fangfangfang took out her phone, entered number 93, and checked her points and reincarnation direction. She still wanted to advise number 93 to choose carefully.
In fact, Gu Lili did not intend to get involved in this mess at first, but she was also raised by her grandmother. Her mother suddenly passed away when she was 5 years old, and her father married a stepmother a few months later. The following year, her stepmother sent her to the countryside to be raised by her grandmother because it was inconvenient to take care of her younger brother after his birth. Then she stopped contacting her. The children in the village bullied her because she had no parents to protect her and was like an orphan.
Only her grandmother cherished her. Every year after selling the corn, she would buy her pretty little dresses and soft little leather shoes, and braid her hair into a neat little braid. She said that with her grandmother, she would always be a little princess.
Until one day when I came home from school, the house no longer smelled of meat, and there were no more sweets on the table. White flowers and burlap were hung all over my grandmother's small courtyard. That was the first time I saw my father and brother after leaving home, and also the last time I saw my grandmother.
From that day on, Gu Lili was no longer the always smiling little girl. Resentment, gloom, and irritability gradually became how others described her. She didn't care, because for her, there was nothing in the future, her prospects, her life, or even the world that she felt any attachment or expectation towards anymore.
"How can I activate the Yellow Springs Rewind?"
"Only people from Guannan University know this."
Will he agree?
"cannot!"
"So you're saying there's precedent?"
"The former Meng Po went to Lord Guan Nan to help a lost soul see her child again, but the specific method she used is unknown."
In the mechanical question-and-answer mode with Fangfangfang, Gu Lili has begun to calmly face and accept her new identity.
"Take me to see Lord Guan Nan."
"yes."
With a burst of thunder and black mist, the two appeared outside Lord Guan Nan's office. After the PR staff at the front desk informed them, Fang Fangfang led her to the office area on the second floor. The PR staff in the office area were much like those in the real world, busy at their respective desks like oxen and horses.
"Lord Guan Nan, Meng Po has arrived."
Fangfangfang stood at the door of the Emperor's office and reported softly.
"Speak."
Lord Guan Nan didn't even look up at her, but continued to look at the documents in his hand, and then coldly uttered two words.
"I want to help the living soul fulfill its dreams and put an end to its attachments. How exactly can I do that?"
"I want to know what methods the previous Meng Po used."
Seeing that Lord Guan Nan did not answer, Gu Lili had no choice but to bite the bullet and continue to ask.
"no way."
The other person continued to utter three words, still without looking at her.
"Then I won't go back to make soup. It's pointless. I didn't want to be Meng Po; you all forced me to be one. If you want to cut me up, then cut me up. What's the point of points? Whether I'm reincarnated as a flower or my soul is scattered, there's nothing in this world that I'll miss."
Gu Lili wasn't being spiteful; she genuinely found it meaningless. For someone devoid of desire, all the benefits the underworld could offer Meng Po were ultimately unimportant. Rather than becoming the very thing she hated in her previous life and ignoring what she saw before her, she'd rather close her eyes and let this life end.
"oh?"
Guan Nan saw that the new Meng Po wanted to use a big move as soon as she took office, and she had quite a temper, so he had to re-evaluate this crazy girl in front of him.
"If a soul wants to leave the underworld, it must retrace its steps. However, souls inside the Gates of Hell cannot see that gate unless—their souls are consumed by the flames of the underworld."
"Dark fire burning soul?"
"Only by igniting the spirits of the dead and illuminating the gates of hell can the exit be revealed from within; otherwise, the spirits that have entered the gates of hell will never be able to see them again."
"Oh, you set yourself on fire, which consumes points, and you're not even guaranteed to get what you want in the end??"
"Yes, that's the rule of the underworld. Otherwise, if every soul had to go back, wouldn't that disrupt the natural order?"
Lord Guan Nan lowered his head again to look at his documents, thinking that this new girl should know when to back down.
"That won't do. The PR team has already investigated. The old lady has done a lot of good deeds throughout her life. Her wish isn't to ascend to heaven. Can't she even go back to the human world for a quick look? It's allowed in TV dramas, so why can't you?"
"you....."
Times have indeed changed. In the beginning of time, the former Meng Po was enlightened by the Heavenly Dao and became the underworld official in charge of reincarnation. When she took office and paid homage, she was about the same age as Gu Lili in front of her, but she was so frightened by Guan Nan's pressure that she couldn't lift her head. Her replies were trembling and extremely respectful.
This newcomer from the Reincarnation Office didn't care about the disparity in rank at all, as if she were the ruler of the underworld. She acted like a rogue, leaving Guan Nan speechless for a while.
"Lady Meng Po, Lord Guan Nan is our superior, the chairman of the board of the Underworld..."
In this situation, Fangfangfang had no right to interrupt. In fact, for thousands of years, no one had dared to treat Lord Guannan so presumptuously. If Meng Po continued to cause trouble, she would probably be enraged.
"Go find Zhong Kui to get the Netherfire, but that stuff is dangerous. Have the PR person go with you."
Lord Guannan ignored Fangfangfang and instead coldly uttered a sentence, yielding to the other party in the most assertive tone.
"What will happen to the old lady if she burns everything and still hasn't seen her granddaughter?"
"It depends on her fate."
"no."
What do you want?
This time, Lord Guan Nan put down the folder in his hand, stood up and walked to Gu Lili, bending down to gaze at her.
"Let the old lady have her wish, and then she can happily go and be reincarnated."
Gu Lili wasn't afraid at all, and directly responded by looking the other person in the eye with her head held high.
"no."
Lord Guannan even mimicked the other person's tone in his response.
"How can this be done? What method did the previous Meng Po use, and did she succeed?"
"She used up her thousand years of accumulated points to grant that lost soul half a day of life."
These words were like a knife to Gu Lili's heart. For the past few days, everyone around her seemed to be telling her stories and condemning her, saying she had driven away such a good ghost messenger.
"I don't have that many points, can I pay you back first?"
"OK."
Gu Lili and Fang Fangfang exclaimed almost simultaneously, then looked at Lord Guannan at the same time. Gu Lili was not unaware that Lord Guannan was the ruler of the underworld, and she knew that after succeeding Meng Po, she should be humble and respectful to her superior. However, she was just habitually indifferent, not caring about anything. There was no hope in the human world, and there was no hope in the underworld either.
But things are different now. The person in front of her changed her tone and said okay. If she were to be stubborn and not go back on her word, she would owe a thousand years' worth of points. A thousand years... that ghost's life would be filled with "judgment".
"Okay then."
After a fierce internal struggle, she still chose to save face. While alive, she had been exploited by the world to the point of being shameless and undignified. After she died, she had to stand up for herself. Besides, in a thousand years, there might be a change of dynasties. She herself could have lived to become a high-ranking official and a ruler.
Unfortunately, her thinking and vision were still a bit naive. The other party was the supreme ruler of the underworld, who had the ability to read minds. Who could she possibly hide her little schemes from?
"Furthermore, if you are going to fulfill the dreams of the dead, you must accompany them and take full responsibility for the entire process. There are no idle people in the underworld to help you manage things. If the dead lingers in the mortal world and chooses to become a fallen soul, you must bear the blame."
"And then, after fulfilling your dream, you still have to make up for it with soup?"
"certainly."
"Tch~ I totally understand, the rules are just like going to work in the human world."
"Alright, go ahead. Go find Zhong Kui and ask for Netherfire, then ask him for a cursed soul that has been sentenced to annihilation to be taken to the Yellow Springs."
Gu Lili was startled and looked up abruptly, exclaiming, "Huh?? You can burn other souls??"
"This matter must not be publicized, understand?"
"I understand! Thank you, Master Guan Nan."
Gu Lili was so happy that she was about to pick up Guan Nan, but he suddenly dodged, causing Gu Lili to miss. However, he didn't seem to care and turned around to pick up Fang Fang Fang instead.
The female messengers of the underworld all racked their brains to get close to Lord Guan Nan. He thought Gu Lili was the same, just using some common tricks. The emperor would occasionally watch those melodramatic idol dramas, so it was nothing new. This woman in front of him was just using a feigned reluctance.
But her "if you don't want it, she'll do it too" tactic caught him off guard. To ease the awkwardness, he had no choice but to quickly cast a spell to teleport them to Zhong Kui's Palace.
"Haha, Your Majesty, isn't this girl kind of cute?"
"I didn't notice."
"So this is the legendary new Meng Po? I think it's quite interesting."
As he spoke, Ksitigarbha revealed himself, wearing a long linen robe with Chinese knot buttons, with long limbs, fair skin, and a compassionate Buddha-like appearance, but with a loose Taoist hairstyle.
"You should be thinking about when you can ascend to Buddhahood, instead of wasting my time and resources."
Lord Guan Nan left with a single sentence and then teleported away, disappearing without a trace. This left Jizang, who had already seen through cause and effect, chuckling in his office.
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