Chapter 518: with translation of chapter title

The one lying unconscious on the bed was Han Duo, and the red robe she wore was her usual attire.

Seeing her for the first time, 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, unexpectedly being swindled out of several thousand dollars by a little 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 delivered my enemy to my doorstep.

However, I remember Han Duo was seriously injured at that time—first hurt by QingSongShu's heavenly eye 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 unharmed?

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

On the bed, Han Duo's face turned pale as she fainted; a red thread was tied in a big knot around her middle finger, connected to a seven-star lamp. This is the Daoist Sect's soul-separation method: the wick on the seven-star lamp represents the Daoist's own soul; if the lamp goes out, the soul leaves the body and can never return.

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

"Move aside, let me take a look…" I pushed Shao Long aside and looked at Han Duo on the grass mat; her face was pallid and dim, her lips pallid, and the three flames were extremely weak.

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

Beside the bed where Han Duo slept, two shoes were placed, each in its usual position; superficially nothing seemed wrong, but from a Daoist Sect perspective, this was highly improper.

If one wishes to use the soul lamp to separate the soul and wander the underworld, the shoes must be placed one right-side up, one upside down. This is similar to the divination by throwing cups on an altar: one right-side up, one upside down yields yin-yang great auspiciousness, two right-side up yields a yang trigram, two upside down yields a yin trigram. Likewise, the shoes being one right-side up, one upside down also symbolize yin and yang. Normally when staying overnight at an inn, those who know the taboos will place their shoes one right-side up, one upside down on the first night. If the next morning the shoes' placement has been changed, it signifies that yin and yang cannot coexist, meaning something in the room has taken issue with you.

Similarly, during soul separation and passage into the yin realm, the shoes symbolize the harmonization of yin and yang: upright represents yang, upside down represents yin—meaning this is the marginal exit between the yin and yang worlds. Besides the seven-star lamp not being allowed to go out, the shoes must also remain unmoved; if they are moved, whether both face upright or both upside down (representing yin), the soul's owner must remain in the underworld, unable to return to Yangjian.

This is an obvious issue; given Han Duo's knowledge, I think she would not have overlooked this point when separating her soul. Therefore, her shoes must have been moved by someone, which is why her soul cannot return to her body.

When Shao Long heard my question, he froze for a moment, pointing at the small child beside him and saying: "My kid just thought Master Han had placed the shoes wrong, so he helped put them back… Is there a problem with that?"

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

Shao Long let out a long, bewildered sigh before suddenly realizing: "There is such a thing, but she meant the things on the table, didn't she?"

I saw no point in explaining to him, so I lay down on another grass mat. I took out incense and a lamp, placed my shoes one right-side up, one upside down, but feeling it improper, I again instructed Yun Shu:

"Yun Shu, hurry and buy some path-finding rice, the pointed kind! Also go buy a weight." I had originally intended to immediately separate my soul, but after thinking I felt it improper and had to add an extra safety step.

What is path-finding rice? Yun Shu also knew concretely that in Hong Kong, spirit mediums sprinkle path-finding rice to blast open the ghost gate.

After ten minutes, Yun Shu hurriedly bought the path-finding rice back; I scattered the rice in two lines, drawing 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 from now on, you will tap my head. No one may touch anything on my bed; also, if you see the soul lamp go out, take the weight and strike the table hard until you blast open the ghost gate, and only after I wake up may you let go." After finishing instructing Yun Shu, I lay down directly on the bed. Han Duo's appearance was not that of an early death, and the soul lamp still had a faint flame, proving that Han Duo was merely trapped in the underworld, unable to find an exit; if at this moment I could descend to the underworld and lead her to an exit, she would still have a chance to be saved.

Of course, I cannot be certain about the exact situation, after all the truth will only be known after descending to the underworld; I hope Han Duo has not yet crossed the Bridge of Helplessness, for once she has, it would truly be beyond remedy.

"Yun Shu, why are you standing there? Hurry up and get ready!" I looked in astonishment at Yun Shu, who stood beside the bed at a loss.

Yun Shu was jolted by my shout, came to his senses, and said helplessly: "Hai Sheng, I'm not a Daoist Sect member; I don't know if I can do this—what if I fail…"

"No choice but to do it—two lives are at stake; any slip and it's all over." Time grew ever more pressing, leaving no room for my hesitation; I lay down on the bed, took a deep breath, and said to Yun Shu: "Yun Shu, come on, silently count a few in your heart; I believe in you…"

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

After Yun Shu's trembling hand lightly tapped my celestial crown, I quickly closed my mind and began to silently recite the soul-separation incantation. The incantation has three sections; the weight is metal, its function to shake the soul, and together with the chant it draws the soul out from the celestial tranquil point; next, the yin-yang shoes serve as the key, the stream money guides the way, leading me straight to the underworld.

After the weight struck my head three times, the chant had just finished its final section; immediately my body jerked, like when I was a child dreaming of falling from a height and my soul instantly left my body. This time, however, I did not wake with a start but lost consciousness completely, fainting.

This was exactly the result I wanted; the weight combined with the chant finally shook my soul free.

It was a darkness as deep as a bottomless pit, yet specks of white light showed through; the air floated with patches of white mist, obscuring the path ahead.

When the soul left the body, for a long moment I was like a walking corpse, devoid of my own consciousness. This is a normal phenomenon: after soul separation reaches the underworld, the soul's consciousness needs time to adapt before it can gradually reassemble its memories.

I arrived at a bridge I had never seen before. Moreover, I was not the only one on it; crowds of people filled the space ahead of me and behind me.

Among them were men and women, old and young. They walked with heads bowed, staggering forward like walking corpses. Ahead lay an endless sea of people; behind, a surging throng like ants.

Who exactly are these people, and why do they resemble the living dead? There is not a spark of vitality; what place is this? It feels familiar, yet I cannot recall why.

Just as this thought flashed through my mind, the sound of whipping crackled in my ears.

Turning my head, I saw two lines of people wielding whips, rushing up from behind the crowd. The clothing of both lines bore the character "cha". The only difference was the two leaders at the front, one in white robes, the other in black. They wore tall hats and held not whips but staves—mourning staves!

A jolt ran through my heart, and I came to my senses. At last I knew where I was.

This is the underworld; those two lines are not people at all—they are yin officials. The two leaders must surely be Black and White Impermanence.

At this moment I finally became fully awake, understood that I had indeed reached the underworld, recalled my purpose for coming here—but where is Han Duo?

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