Chapter 246

The one who lay unconscious on the bed was Han Duo, dressed in her usual red robe.

Seeing her, I was first a bit dazed, then excited to the point my heart almost jumped out; these days I have hated her to the bone, wishing to catch her and beat her badly, the more I thought the angrier I got, actually being swindled out of several thousand yuan by a girl my age, and she even forced me to write an IOU.

I never expected that after just over a month I would run into her on my own turf. This is truly a heaven-sent opportunity; heaven must have felt sorry for me and mercifully sent my enemy to me.

I remember Han Duo was seriously injured then—first hurt by QingSongShu's heavenly eye divine ability, then struck in the shoulder by Yang Shouyi. Yang Shouyi died, and Han Duo, who had snatched a gold medal, how could she have escaped harm?

I can't figure out the complicated relationships; maybe Han Duo has some secret art unknown to others. Now Han Duo has fainted; even if I want revenge, I must first revive her.

On the bed, Han Duo lay pale and unconscious, a red thread tied in a big knot around her middle finger, connected to a seven-star lamp; this is the Daoist soul-exit method, the wick on the seven-star lamp is the Daoist's own soul—if the lamp goes out, the soul leaves the body and can never return.

By the bedside stood Shaolong's family of three; when Yun Shu brought me in, Shaolong and his wife were anxiously pressing on Han Duo's chest, a common first-aid measure.

"Move aside, let me look..." I pushed Shaolong aside and gazed at Han Duo on the mat; her face was as white as darkness, her lips pallid, and her three flames were extremely weak.

"Damn it, who moved her shoes?" As I approached, I couldn't help shouting.

Beside Han Duo's sleeping bed lay two shoes, placed in their usual positions; superficially nothing seemed wrong, but from a Daoist perspective it was highly improper.

If one wishes to use the soul lamp to have the soul wander the underworld, the shoes must be placed one normal, one inverted—similar to the cup-tossing divination on the spirit altar, where one normal and one inverted bring great yin-yang fortune, two normals yield a yang hexagram, two inverted a yin hexagram. Likewise, the shoes' normal/inverted placement symbolizes yin and yang. When staying overnight at an inn, those who know the taboo will place their shoes one normal, one inverted on the first night; if the next morning the shoes' arrangement has changed, it signifies that yin and yang cannot coexist, and something in the room is opposed to you.

Similarly, when the soul exits into the yin realm, the shoes' normal/inverted placement signifies harmony of yin and yang—normal for yang, inverted for yin—meaning this is the threshold between the yin and yang worlds. Besides the seven-star lamp not being allowed to go out, the shoes must also stay still; if they are moved, whether both face normal or both inverted for yin, the soul's owner must remain in the underworld, unable to return to the yang realm.

This is an obvious issue; given Han Duo's learning, I doubt she would overlook this when exiting her soul. Therefore, her shoes must have been moved by someone, causing her soul to be unable to return to her body.

Hearing my question, Shaolong stared blankly, then pointed at the little child beside him and said: "My youngster just thought Master Han Duo had placed her shoes wrong, so he helped her put them back—… is there a problem?"

"Problem? Didn't she tell you nothing here may be touched?" Seeing Shaolong's clueless expression, I felt a tightness in my chest from anger.

Shaolong let out a dazed sound, then after a while suddenly realized: "There is such a thing, but she meant the things on the table, right?"

I stopped explaining to him, lay down on another mat, took out incense and candles and a lamp, placed my shoes in the normal position, felt it improper, and then instructed Yun Shu:

"Yun Shu, hurry and buy some ask-the-way rice, the pointed kind! Also buy a counterweight." I had originally planned to exit my soul immediately, but after thinking I still felt uneasy, so I had to add an extra safety step.

Ask-the-way rice is what? Yun Shu also knows; in Hong Kong, spirit mediums scatter ask-the-way rice to blast open the ghost gate.

After ten minutes, Yun Shu hurriedly bought the ask-the-way rice back; I scattered the rice in two lines, laying a straight line along the bed's edge. Then I wrapped red thread around my middle finger and lit the seven-star lamp.

"Yun Shu, remember: every thirty seconds you will tap my head. No one may touch anything on my bed; also, if you see the soul lamp go out, grab the counterweight and strike the table hard until you blast open the ghost gate, only then may you release after I wake up." After giving Yun Shu these instructions, I lay down on the bed; Han Duo's appearance was not that of an early death, and the soul lamp still had a faint flame, proving Han Duo is merely trapped in the underworld, unable to find an exit; if at this moment I could descend to the underworld and guide her to an exit, she would still have a chance.

Of course, I cannot be certain of the specifics; after all, the truth will only be known after I go down to the underworld, but I hope Han Duo has not yet crossed the Naihe Bridge; once she has, there is truly nothing that can be done.

"Yun Shu, why are you standing there? Hurry up and prepare!" I looked in surprise at Yun Shu, who stood helplessly by the bed.

Yun Shu, hearing my shout, snapped to attention, flustered, and said to me: "Hai Sheng, I am not a Daoist Sect member; I don't know if I can do this—what if I fail?"

"Even if I can't, I must—this concerns two lives; any mistake and both are lost." Time pressed on, I could not hesitate; I lay down, took a deep breath, and said to Yun Shu: "Yun Shu, come on; silently count a few beats in your heart, I believe in you..."

Actually, at this moment I was also very nervous; although I am a disciple of the Yin Mountain Sect, entering the underworld and exiting the soul is my first time; I have often heard talk of the underworld, but I do not know what it actually looks like.

After Yun Shu's trembling hand lightly tapped my heavenly spirit point, I quickly closed my mind and began to recite the soul-exit spell. The spell has three sections; the counterweight is metal, its function is to shock the soul; together with the incantation it draws the soul from the heavenly spirit point; next, the yin-yang shoes act as the hinge, the stream money guides the way, leading straight to the underworld.

When the counterweight struck my head three times, the incantation just finished its last section; immediately my body jerked violently, like when I was a child dreaming of falling from a height and losing my soul at once. This time, however, I did not wake up; I completely lost consciousness and fainted.

This is exactly the result I wanted; the counterweight combined with the spell finally shook my soul free.

Deep, endless black, yet specks of white light floated in the air, a haze of white mist drifting about, making the path ahead impossible to see.

Upon soul separation, for a long moment I was like a walking corpse, without my own consciousness. This is normal; after soul exit reaches the underworld, the soul's consciousness needs time to adapt before it can gradually reassemble memory.

I arrived at a bridge I had never seen before; moreover, I was not alone on it—crowds of people filled the front and back.

Among them were men and women, old and young; they bowed their heads, shuffling forward like walking corpses. Ahead lay an endless sea of people; behind, a surging crowd like ants.

Who are these people? Why do they resemble the walking dead, devoid of vitality? What place is this? It feels familiar, yet I cannot recall why.

Just as this thought flashed through my mind, a cracking whip sound came from my ears.

Turning my head, I saw two rows of people wielding whips, charging from behind the crowd. Their clothes all bore the character "cha"; the only difference was the two leaders at the front, one in white, one in black. They wore tall hats and held not whips but rods—mourning rods!

My heart jolted, I woke up. Finally I knew where I was.

This is the netherworld, those two groups of people are not human at all, they are Yin officials., The two leaders, they must be Black and White Impermanence!

At this moment, I finally came to my senses completely, and I also realized that I had finally arrived in the netherworld, and I also remembered the purpose of my coming to the netherworld, but Han Duo—where is she now?.