Heaven
The sunlight shone through the window onto the stairwell on the fourth floor, and it was daybreak.
Looking outside, the white fog finally dissipated. The flower fields were no longer visible from the fourth floor. Tian Baozhu, Hei Wuchang and the others rushed to the red spider lily fields, but they didn't expect to be greeted by -
As if it had been ravaged by a typhoon, the red spider lilies and fluorescent grass were lying all over the ground, and the flower field was in a miserable state. Not a single flower was intact, and the flower bulbs were directly dug out and uprooted.
The vicious dog fell in the wooden house built for it.
Tian Baozhu checked the vicious dog in panic. Fortunately, it was just unconscious and opened its eyes when Tian Baozhu called it.
Tian Baozhu felt her blood pressure skyrocket. In just one night, all the hard work she, Hei Wuchang, and the other employees had put in was destroyed! Who was it?
The employees who came to help also started working and saw the tragic state of the flower fields. They talked about the earthquake last night and were so scared that they couldn't sleep even under their quilts.
Without much thought, they jumped to the conclusion that the earthquake had caused the disaster to the red spider lilies.
No, this couldn't have been caused by an earthquake.
Tian Baozhu and Hei Wuchang took a look around. If it was damaged by the earthquake, it would only fall over or wither, and would never be crushed or torn.
These flowers and plants all show signs of human destruction, although it is not clear how those people hid their footprints and left no traces.
Who on earth hates this flower field so much?
No, farming is their job, and destroying the flower fields is destroying their work. This hatred for destruction is directed at her and Hei Wuchang.
Who would hate them?
Is it a ghost?
Was it the ghost that was offended in order to save the puppy? Or was it the ghost that was punished before?
Tian Baozhu let the dog sniff the fallen flowers, picking up the scent traces left by the vandals. She asked, "Is the criminal near us?"
The vicious dog shook his head.
Tian Baozhu's accident wasn't caused by a ghost? Then who else would want to get rid of her so quickly...
Underworld employee?
Tian Baozhu's heart skipped a beat. She had never imagined that any employee would do such a thing. Because of the hierarchy of the underworld, it was absolutely impossible for lower-level employees to do such a thing. Even if they disliked her and Hei Wuchang, they would not dare to disobey Lord Yama.
There are only a few senior employees. Although their relationships are not very good, at least they all understand what is good for the underworld, and they will not find fault with what they do.
She couldn't think of it.
She could only look carefully at the ground and saw a small piece of residual black mass. She rubbed it with her hand, leaving black and gray marks on her hand. Was it some kind of carbonized bone?
"Woof!"
The vicious dog sniffed the charcoal-black bone, suddenly barked, and ran away quickly.
What's going on? Has it smelled something?
"Senior." Tian Baozhu called Hei Wuchang, reminding him that the two of them should follow the vicious dog together.
※※※
The vicious dog ran in front of them, barking at them from time to time. It ran into a cave that they were familiar with.
Isn't that the Red Spider's original nest? Is the criminal hiding in there?
Tian Baozhu had many questions in her mind. But for now, she didn't know what was going on, so she could only believe that the vicious dog had followed it.
They followed him into the cave, and after entering, the vicious dog quickly ran towards the passage they had walked through. Since entering the cave, the vicious dog never turned back to call them again.
Tian Baozhu and Hei Wuchang, who was running with her, were talking: "Isn't this the road leading to the unknown area? Could it be that the criminal came in from the unknown area?"
Hei Wuchang said, "I don't know. This happened too suddenly. Anyway, let's follow them first, but to prevent any fraud, you and I should not be too far away."
"good."
After passing through the cave, they found the same place they had seen last time.
"Little puppy——" Tian Baozhu shouted.
The vicious dog looked at her from the other side of the bushes, stayed for only a few seconds, and then ran away again. It ran so fast that it disappeared into the bushes.
"Rustle", "rustle", the surroundings became gloomy. The magnetic field in this unknown area was much more chaotic than the unknown area where they went to look for pearls last time. The branches of plants twisted and rustled like alien creatures coming alive.
Tian Baozhu subconsciously grabbed Hei Wuchang's arm. Hei Wuchang's eyes were filled with surprise for a moment, but then he calmed down and let her hold him.
He warned quietly, "Be careful. Don't believe these hallucinations that make you panic. Calm down. The only people we need to trust are each other."
The plants stopped twisting, and Tian Baozhu saw the vicious dog that had just disappeared peeking out from behind the bushes.
"Little dog." Tian Baozhu was about to go over when she was grabbed by Hei Wuchang.
"Wait a minute." Hei Wuchang stopped her, "This dog might also be an illusion."
"No, no way?" Tian Baozhu looked at the vicious dog, which was wagging its tail and running towards her. She almost went to meet it.
"Come over here from the river." Hei Wuchang shouted.
"Woof." The evil dog also ran towards Hei Wuchang obediently, but then it was split into two by the Soul-Catching Scythe, and then shattered into mist and dissipated.
Before Tian Baozhu could react to what was happening, Hei Wuchang said, "It was indeed an illusion. How could a riverside animal be so obedient to me?"
Tian Baozhu was shocked and didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Haha, wow, this can actually become the standard for judging real puppies from fake ones.
“Tsk.”
Tian Baozhu heard a voice that seemed to have been heard somewhere before, and she felt negligent and unconvinced.
"Who?" Hei Wuchang sensitively sensed that something was hiding behind the bushes. A figure flashed by quickly. They wanted to chase it, but the bushes seemed to have consciousness and blocked their way.
They each took their own rake and sickle and were about to come out, ready to remove the obstructing plants. Just as they were about to move, they suddenly heard two barking sounds from the dogs.
Another vicious dog came out from behind the tree.
"Where have you been, the one by the river?" Hei Wuchang tested it.
The vicious dog ignored him and walked straight towards Tian Baozhu with a piece of rag in its mouth.
This time it’s really a vicious dog.
It looked much more disheveled than before, as if it had just had a fight with someone.
Tian Baozhu leaned over to take it. It looked very familiar. It was a piece of cloth worn by the lower-level employees of the underworld.
The prisoner is a low-level employee of the underworld?
"Do you still want to continue looking for the criminal?" Hei Wuchang said.
"Let's take this evidence to show Lord Yama and let him make the decision." Tian Baozhu replied to him. She already had a vague portrait of the criminal in her mind.
※※※
Inside the King of Hell's Palace.
There were only three people in the hall.
The serious King of Hell, the record-keeping accountant, and the one-man employee who was cowering on the ground and had already confessed his guilt.
"I originally sent you to the sea of fire to make you reflect on your negligence at work. I didn't expect you to still be thinking of revenge..." The King of Hell tapped his forehead in pain. "You said you were the one who destroyed the red spider lily fields on Huangquan Road?"
"It's...it's me. I take the blame for my own actions."
"There are obviously different footprints at the destruction site." Tian Baozhu certainly did not report these words, but the King of Hell still interrogated her in this way.
"That's impossible! We used magic to erase the footprints, leaving no trace of human presence...!"
"You guys?" The King of Hell fished out the truth.
The unicorn employee had an expression that said the whole thing was over.
"I, I admit it! Actually, there is still a day—"
The more Yan Wang listened to the confession of the unicorn employee, the more his brows furrowed...
※※※
The accountant came to find Tian Baozhu and Hei Wuchang and told them that the criminal had confessed his crime and there would be no more vandalism in the red spider lily field in the future. Lord Yama asked them not to worry.
"Is there only one prisoner? Is he the lone employee who holds a grudge against us?" Tian Baozhu asked.
"Just take it as it is." The accountant smiled kindly and said no more.
That night, Tian Baozhu heard many lightning strikes and thunder. It sounded like a quarrel, and the sound was loud and rumbling.
Yes, it’s exactly the same as the roar that the King of Hell would make when he was extremely angry.
And they could feel that it was not far from their top, very close, as if a quarrel was happening on the roof of the staff dormitory building.
That night, many employees of the underworld suffered from insomnia.
※※※
Tian Baozhu is also one of the people who suffers from insomnia caused by thunder.
Insomnia gave her a headache, and when someone knocked on her door early the next morning, she was still lying in bed and had difficulty getting up.
"Senior, please wait a moment. Give me some more time."
She thought it was Hei Wuchang coming to call her to work, but unexpectedly, it was the accountant's voice coming from outside the door:
"Master Bai Wuchang, please hurry up. The Emperor of Heaven invites you two to the heaven."
The Emperor of Heaven? Invite them to heaven?!
Tian Baozhu was still dazed when she stood on the roof of the dormitory building. The cool breeze of the floating clouds above her made her more awake. She looked at Hei Wuchang silently and asked: What's going on? Why did you suddenly ask us to go to heaven?
Hei Wuchang shook his head and answered her with his eyes: I don’t know either.
The two stood behind the accountant. After he muttered some words, the clouds in the sky parted and steps descended one by one.
Only two people went up the stairs, but the accountant did not. He said from below, "When you come down, I will open the ladder to pick you up." Every time they took a step up, a step disappeared.
The buildings of the heavens were scattered among the clouds like islands, and the end of the ladder they had climbed was directly opposite the "Cloud Palace."
Walking into the hall, the walls were covered with screens that broadcast live footage of the three realms. Although the Heaven Realm was built using ancient architectural styles, the equipment used appeared to be much more advanced than that of the Underworld.
The hall was bright and spacious, low-key yet luxurious, and the furnishings looked very noble. However, there was no pomp and circumstance in the hall, and no one else was seen. There was only one person sitting on the high seat in the middle.
This person should be the Lord Emperor of Heaven.
He was young, but his eyes held a shrewd, calculating gaze, looking down upon all who were around. He wore ancient clothing, but it didn't look like he was wearing it out of necessity due to the backwardness of the underworld, but rather as if he was wearing it out of interest.
You can't tell his real age at all.
If Lord Yama is a volcano that can erupt at any time, then Lord Emperor of Heaven is an iceberg with no bottom. Who knows how many secrets are hidden beneath the sea level.
Tian Baozhu wondered how she should greet the Emperor of Heaven. Should she kneel down?
No, this is a new society. Feudal ethics have long been abolished. There is no need to kneel.
So she bowed deeply and said, "Hello, Lord Heavenly Emperor."
Then she asked directly, "Why did the Lord Heavenly Emperor ask us to come up here?"
Tian Baozhu went straight to the point. The Emperor adjusted his posture, leaned back on the chair with his right hand supporting his face, and asked:
"Why, didn't the King of Hell tell you the reason?"
"No, Lord Yama didn't say that."
"He came up and threw a tantrum. Before he left, he said that as long as I didn't make things difficult for you, he would forget what happened. He was actually able to keep a secret."
"?" Lord Yama and Lord Tiandi had a quarrel? At this point, could it be because of...
"I heard that you two ghost messengers took on the task of cultivating the land in the underworld, and the red spider lily field you created has become a popular check-in spot for ghosts."
Although the Emperor of Heaven stated their "achievements", his tone did not sound like he was praising Tian Baozhu and Hei Wuchang, but rather like he was "blaming" them.
Tian Baozhu's heart was pounding and she suddenly had a bad feeling.
Sure enough, the Emperor of Heaven changed the subject:
"So, that hot-blooded fool, the King of Hell, is really a headache. I compared the performance of the human world and the underworld, originally intending to speed up the ghosts' reincarnation, but he misunderstood and came up with some kind of farming plan for the underworld. As a result, ghosts who should have been reincarnated are now greedy for life in the underworld and are not going. It's really putting the cart before the horse."
As soon as Tian Baozhu closed his eyes, exactly what he wanted to say was true. The vitality of the red spider lily field promoted the awakening of the ghosts. After awakening, the ghosts were unwilling to reincarnate.
She also understood why the Emperor of Heaven wanted to meet them in person, because he wanted them to be criticized in person and face the "disaster" brought about by their actions.
"I, that's not what we meant..."
"I'm only discussing the outcome. This time, the Ghost Gate opened, marking the first time in a thousand years that ghosts didn't reincarnate on schedule. Can you shirk this responsibility?"
Tian Baozhu had no way to refute it. All her excuses were pale. Ghosts needed to be reincarnated. The world could not only have death, but also life.
The endless cycle of death and life is the truth of this universe.
The vitality they planted in the fields inadvertently rewrote this rule.
So was Huatian doomed to fail? Suddenly, as if struck by lightning, Tian Baozhu understood everything.
"You are ghost messengers, and you are also part of the ghost guides. You should--" The Emperor of Heaven was still speaking in an emotional way.
"Lord Heavenly Emperor, please speak frankly. What do you need us to do? I believe that the red spider lily adding vitality to the underworld does not mean that the ghosts cannot be reincarnated. On the contrary, what the ghosts need is guidance, so that they can understand that there is a better life after reincarnation. And Lord Yama has considered promoting the reincarnation of ghosts. The second task he gave us is to rebuild the Naihe Bridge to make the ghosts' reincarnation path smoother. Lord Heavenly Emperor, I understand that the golden nanmu is a reward from the heavens. I believe that if we want to repair the Naihe Bridge, we also need the golden nanmu from the heavens to plant."
Unexpectedly, the topic took a turn and was brought to Phoebe nanmu by this girl. According to her, we should plant more kinds of plants in the future?
"I said I value results. Can your advice produce results in a short period of time? Can you guarantee that the next ghost gate will open and all the ghosts will be reincarnated obediently?"
"This... I can't guarantee it."
"I don't know how the King of Hell employs his men. The Black and White Impermanence he arranges for are all theoretical but have no real achievements in practical work."
The Emperor of Heaven is like an iceberg, moody and unpredictable, but also an iceberg that will crash into them and kill them.
"If the Naihe Bridge hadn't decayed and caused me to fall into the Forgetful River, I could have been reincarnated and not become Hei Wuchang." Hei Wuchang clenched his fists unconsciously.
A hundred years have passed, and Hei Wuchang thought he had accepted this matter, but when the Emperor of Heaven mentioned it, he still felt a fire in his heart.
Tian Baozhu shook Hei Wuchang's wrist without letting go. When she felt Hei Wuchang's tense body relax, she said, "It's the same for me. Being Bai Wuchang wasn't my original intention. It was the old Bai Wuchang who insisted on retiring and gave me the position. So I had no choice but to be the second generation."
"Who do you say is Old Bai Wuchang?" The Emperor of Heaven seemed to care a lot about this title.
"The first generation of Bai Wuchang. He called me Bai Wuchang, and I called him Bai Wuchang too. That would be a mess. To distinguish him and make it easier to address him, I will call him Old Bai Wuchang."
Oh.
Hehehehe.
The Emperor of Heaven let out a laugh that was inconsistent with his status.
"Old White Impermanence? How dare you call him old to his face? Hahahahaha awesome! You have guts."
Tian Baozhu was puzzled by the fact that he "praised" her for using this title. It seemed as if the Emperor of Heaven had also suffered greatly from Old Bai Wuchang.
"It's been a long time since I've encountered something that made me so [happy]. Golden Phoebe, I'll give this to you as a reward based on your abilities."
Tian Baozhu took it. Was it a golden bug? No, it was a golden bug-shaped gold coin, exactly the same as the one Old Bai Wuchang had given her at the beginning.
"If you want to find it, maybe it will help you, but I can't guarantee that the golden nanmu tree will be successfully planted."
"Thank you, Lord Heavenly Emperor." Tian Baozhu was a man of insight. She did not dwell on the Heavenly Emperor's put-down of her just now. Even if the Heavenly Emperor did not give it directly, she was very happy to get some clues about the golden nanmu.
The Emperor of Heaven said that they could withdraw and he had made arrangements for the follow-up matters.
"After a while, you will have good news. You will know when you wait."
He just stared at Tian Baozhu and said this to her.
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