Chapter 1562: Don't Be Afraid. I'll Be With You

Gray, murky skies churned with surging yin energy.

Fairy Yu lifted her head to look at the heavens, lost in thought.

Empress Ci walked over to her side and lifted the red veil from her face. Revealing her strikingly beautiful features, she laughed softly. "Little Yu, are you missing the Young Lord?"

Fairy Yu snorted coldly and turned her head away.

This lifetime of hers had been but a brief few hundred years, utterly insignificant compared to the tens of thousands of years of her previous life. And yet, why was it that whenever the night grew quiet, fragments of memory always echoed in her mind, stabbing her like needles?

"Little Yu, I may not know what happened to you," said Empress Ci, sighing softly, "but I can tell how much the Young Lord values you."

She smiled and continued, "To use the Young Lord's words, I met a scumbag when I was alive. That's why I ended up like this after death. Now my obsession has faded, but my life has already turned out this way. There's no going back."

"I heard you've already taken your revenge," Fairy Yu said calmly.

"Yes, I did," Empress Ci replied. "But it still feels empty. I should have... lived a better life. Even without my current cultivation, even if I'd only spent a short few hundred or thousand years in the Mortal Realm, I should have left behind memories worth savoring."

Her gaze drifted toward the enormous ancient tree in the distance.

"The Young Lord's background is extraordinary, so are his methods. Now, even a Great Yin Demon like that ancient tree has been subdued under his command. You should know his true identity. Someone like him doesn't easily fall in love. You should cherish what you have."

Fairy Yu suddenly chuckled and patted Empress Ci on the shoulder. She spoke like an elder, saying, "You're still too young. You don't understand anything."

"You don't understand this, you don't understand that. You don't even know what's happening in this world. What right do you have to advise me?"

"You...!"

Empress Ci flared with anger, but unable to vent it on Fairy Yu, she stamped her foot in frustration and turned to leave.

The moment she turned around, she saw Fang Chen and immediately bowed gracefully. "Young Lord."

Fairy Yu glanced at Fang Chen and instantly looked away, no longer even bothering to pretend as she once had.

"Any trouble guarding this place lately?" Fang Chen asked with a smile.

Empress Ci shook her head. "This place is desolate, surrounded by the Forgotten River. Even if Yin Demons wanted to enter, they'd be blocked by it. There's been no trouble. And with that ancient tree standing guard, even the wandering souls know better than to act out of line."

"They can reincarnate now," Fang Chen said suddenly.

Reincarnate?

Empress Ci froze, a faint look of confusion appearing in her eyes. It felt like years since she'd last heard that word.

Back when she had first died, she often discussed such things with other wandering souls.

"What are you planning to do to me?" Fairy Yu suddenly looked at Fang Chen, panic flashing in her eyes.

"Don't be afraid. I'll be with you," Fang Chen said with a faint smile.

He raised the Yin Gourd and threw Fairy Yu inside.

Then, together with Empress Ci, he collected all the wandering souls of the entire Yin City into the Yin Gourd. None of these souls knew what was happening, nor did they need to know what would come next.

In an instant, the Yin City became utterly empty, leaving only Fang Chen and Empress Ci behind.

"Empress Ci, do you wish to be reborn as a living person?" Fang Chen asked.

Empress Ci remained silent. The red veil fluttered gently in the breeze. After a long while, she removed the veil and looked at Fang Chen, her eyes turning red.

"Young Lord... I don't have that kind of courage. Please let me stay by your side."

Fang Chen nodded. "Very well."

He took Empress Ci with him to the Underworld connected to the Nanqing Constellation.

The Tai Yin Dragon King, who hadn't been in office for long, found himself unemployed once again.

Empress Ci noticed that Fang Chen did not ask the Tai Yin Dragon King or True Monarch of Pan Mountain whether they wished to reincarnate, and a small sense of quiet satisfaction rose in her heart.

***

Jiangguang City

After privately speaking with Xia Ji for half an hour, Fang Chen used the Yin Gourd to collect several hundred thousand old soldiers.

That was his selfish desire. He hoped these veterans could be reborn, rather than spending their entire lives fighting in the Mortal Realm, only to continue fighting endlessly in the Underworld.

Leaving Jiangguang City, Fang Chen arrived at Great Thunder Sound. Then, he went to that one courtyard and met the woman whose face was identical to Abbess Qinghe.

"Dad!"

The Ghost Infant leapt onto Fang Chen, unable to wait.

"What brings you here all of a sudden?" the Ghost Mother of Self Transformation asked with a smile.

"Senior, there is now an opportunity to allow the seeds of the human race to reincarnate," Fang Chen said with a respectful bow. "What do you think?"

"Reincarnation?" Ghost Mother of Self Transformation pondered briefly. "That's naturally a good thing. What do you need me to do?"

Fang Chen spoke with her for half an hour. She agreed without hesitation, promising to draw away the two eighth-transformation Ghost Immortals.

Fang Chen suddenly looked at the ghost infant and asked, "Can he reincarnate?"

"You spent a great deal of Yin Lifespan to confer a decree on him. If he reincarnates, all that lifespan would be wasted. You'd also lose a helper comparable to an eighth-transformation immortal. Are you sure?" Ghost Mother of Self Transformation asked lightly.

Fang Chen looked at the ghost infant.

It didn't understand what they were discussing, only giggling nonstop. That laughter might sound terrifying to others, like a death knell, but Fang Chen didn't feel that way. To him, the ghost infant's existence seemed even more pitiable than that of the Yang Gods.

The Ghost Mother of Self Transformation chuckled softly. "He can't reincarnate. We've tried before. If he does, he'd burst out of his mother's womb and gain even more killing intent. If you ever think he's lonely, come play with him here, or take him with you to your side."

She looked at the ghost infant with gentle affection. "That will be enough."

"Daddy! Heehee!"

The ghost infant tugged Fang Chen's hair around its neck and dangled happily against his chest.

Seeing this, Fang Chen nodded. "Alright. So be it."

***

The Ghost Mother of Self Transformation followed behind Fang Chen as they crossed bridge after bridge, a trace of awe in her eyes.

"As Monarch Yan, wielding such divine artifacts, you truly possess every advantage of heaven and earth here."

Fang Chen glanced at her. "Divine artifacts?"

She looked surprised. "You didn't know? The bridge beneath your feet and the Forgotten River below are among the divine artifacts of the Underworld, on par with the Reincarnation Mirror."

"Well, I had my suspicions before, but I never could confirm them," Fang Chen mused, without much shock.

To say he controlled them might be an overstatement. When he attained the Dao, he had indeed fused with the Forgotten River, but only to that extent. Being unafraid of it now and able to summon bridges was likely due to the authority of Monarch Yan's Seal.

"Are we heading to the Enlightenment Underworld Realm now?" Ghost Mother of Self Transformation asked casually. "The paths here are very different from what I remember."

"Yes." Fang Chen nodded. "But before that, I need to see someone."

***

Fang Chen met Xia Ji once more at Jiangguang City.

Xia Ji's expression was grave. "You were right. In many places... some very strange things have begun to happen."