Passing by the tablet marker, Li Qingshan immediately heard the splashing of water. The yellow sands before his eyes gradually dispersed. A great river blocked his path, filling the air with misty spray and extending as far as the eye could see.
The river water shimmered such that its entirety was clear and blue, like a blue band of jade. Gorgeous red flowers bloomed along the river banks, devoid of any leaves and red like blood, like fire, as if they were burning.
The sky suddenly cleared as well, becoming deep, dark, and blue, without any moon or stars. It seemed particularly distant. He had never seen such a distant sky before. It seemed if it had departed from the living world.
Yes, this was the place most distant from the living world. Even somewhere as deathly as the Hungry Ghost realm still had some signs of life.
There was a narrow bridge over the river. Perhaps due to the constant drenching of water, it seemed to be in tatters, but it still led off into the misty spray, vanishing into the distance.
The blue, clear river, the blood-red flowers, and the deep-blue sky all possessed bright, distinct colours as if they swept away all the dust he had gathered on the way here. It made people want to walk over and make their way onto the bridge, only to suddenly discover a series of vague figures, lining up and stepping onto the bridge one by one like they had abruptly appeared.
“Big bro A’pang, you’ve arrived first!”
Li Qingshan raised his head and saw a long, white face. Only at a closer glance did it seem like the face of a horse. Behind him was a sorrowful old man. They walked over from the Road to the Yellow Springs that they had just left.
He came to a realisation. There is only one Road to the Yellow Springs, yet it leads to countless worlds, so there are countless roads. This horse-face is probably the legendary Horse-face. Now, basically both Ox-head and Horse-face are here.
“Brother, you’ve returned too.” Ox-headed A’pang gave him an honest smile. Horse-face glanced at Li Qingshan and stifled his voice. “You were up on your luck this time?”
“It was alright.”
“Big brother, you sure like to enjoy yourself…”
“It’s not like I have anything better to do…”
Ox-head and Horse-face walked side by side. They jabbered on like true brothers, sometimes erupting with roars of laughter.
The collectors of souls in their way parted to the two sides, bowing towards them and inviting them to cross the bridge first. Li Qingshan and the old man just followed behind them obediently.
If it were not for the fact that he had seen Ox-headed A’pang’s tears on the Road to the Yellow Springs, Li Qingshan definitely would have believed that he passed his days in great delight, completely without any need to act up. But looking at it now, it did seem a little fake.
Li Qingshan glanced around on the bridge and thought, This must be the Bridge of Helplessness! The sighs of the old man beside him grew even more helpless. Sure enough, they sighed about their helplessness on the Bridge of Helplessness.
TL: The Bridge of Helplessness is a landmark in the Chinese afterlife, similar to the Road to the Yellow Springs. Often when multiple people are killed together, the threat given is “I’ll send you some company on the Road to the Yellow Springs”.
The old man suddenly communicated, “Fellow, what have you prepared?”
“Prepare what?” Li Qingshan was confused. “For what?
“For bribes, of course,” the old man said it like it was common sense.
Li Qingshan was surprised. “I’m dead, so why the fuck would I still need bribes?”
Perhaps the mental pulse behind that thought was a little too intense. Horse-face glanced back at him and joked to Ox-headed A’pang, “Big brother, I think you’ve won a little too hard. This kid has got plenty of suffering waiting for him later.”
Ox-headed A’pang chuckled. “There is no kinship when it comes to gambles, even between father and son!”
Li Qingshan’s face darkened. He immediately replied, “I was once daddy too!”
Now, it was Ox-headed A’pang’s turn for his face to darken. The old man stared at him with widened eyes and immediately pulled away from him.
Horse-face was surprised as well. He laughed. “Interesting, how interesting! He really is audacious to the extreme. No wonder he’s bold enough to gamble against you. Looks like he still hasn’t yielded!”
Ox-headed A’pang sneered. “There’ll be plenty of moments for him when he yields!”
Horse-face smiled without any good intentions. “Yeah, no matter how heroic and impressive you once were, you’ll be yielding at our place. You’ll have to yield.”
Li Qingshan muttered, “Horses know not what a long face is. Oxen know not what curved horns are.”
Ox-head and Horse-face’s complexions both darkened. Horse-face said coldly, “What did you say?”
“A proverb.” Li Qingshan looked at him like he was uncultured.
The old man had already retreated ten paces away, gazing at him like he was mad.
Horse-face glared at Li Qingshan viciously. “Big brother, you might as well just abandon this kid. No, that’ll be letting him off too easily. Send him to adjudicator Lu. That bastard is greedy as hell!”
Ox-headed A’pang nodded and said mysteriously, “Of course.” If it were not for the fact that Li Qingshan’s mouth never spared him either, he basically would have been praising him for his impressive performance.
Crossing over the Bridge of Helplessness, they arrived before a tower that stood three hundred metres tall. It was not particularly tall, but when Li Qingshan gazed up, it gave him the impression that it reached up into the heavens, like a spike thrusting into the eerily distant night sky. The straight, smooth wall was inscribed with four large words, Tower of Gazing Home.
Under the Tower of Gazing Home was a great big ghost with a green face and sharp teeth, standing with a steel fork. On the table beside him were many pastries and refreshments, and in front of him was a red box. Who knew what that was for.
When he saw Ox-head and Horse-face approaching, he stood up in a hurry and squeezed out a flattering smile on his green, toothy face forcefully. “You’ve worked hard, commanders. Come take a break!”
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Li Qingshan began making his way up the Tower of Gazing Home. With a swish, the steel fork blocked his path, and the large ghost questioned loudly, “Where’s your karma?”
Li Qingshan was stunned. “What karma?”
The large ghost knocked the red box before him impatiently. Only then did Li Qingshan discover the three small, mottled words on there, Box of Karma!
TL: The donation boxes in front of Chinese temples are inscribed with the same name. He’s asking for donations.
Li Qingshan widened his eyes. “That’s a thing!?”
“Broke ghost, you don’t have any karma, and you want to enter the Tower of Gazing Home? If you want to go up, hurry up. If you don’t, piss off. Stop blocking the people behind you.”
Li Qingshan could tell that this ghost’s cultivation came nowhere close to his own. He had undergone the fourth heavenly tribulation at most, but if he did anything, he would be taken down by Ox-head and Horse-face. Forcing his way in would not work. With a thought, he grabbed the old man behind him and smiled. “Help me out, brother. I left in a hurry today, so I didn’t bring any money with me. I’ll definitely pay you back in the future!”
The old man found that hilarious. What do you mean by you left in a hurry? Do you really think you can go back again? What future is there!
Right when he was about to decline mercilessly, he met Li Qingshan’s eyes and dazed out. By the time he recovered, he had already offered up some “karma” for him—a piece of supreme grade spiritual jade—which let out a clank.
With his mastery over the Heavenly Tome of Liberty, Li Qingshan could use the various techniques of māra for perturbing the mind as he wished. He took advantage of the fact that the old man currently faced his death and was unsettled, and sure enough, it worked immediately.
Of course, the fact that this amount of “karma” was not much played a role as well, or it could not be ignored that easily.
The large ghost grinned and raised his steel fork in satisfaction, letting Li Qingshan pass through. He made his way up the Tower of Gazing Home without even looking back.
“Kid, don’t you dare!” The old man flew into a rage. He had been quite the demon when he was alive, so since when did he ever suffer a loss like that? He was just about to go up and grab Li Qingshan when the steel fork blocked his path again. The ghost knocked the box. “Karma.”
“That was my karma just then!”
“Karma!”
The large ghost was completely unconcerned about that. Since he could tell one of them was broke and the other was wealthy, which could let him collect two portions of karma, why would he settle on just one? But to his disappointment, the old man did not climb up the Tower of Gazing Home in the end, but it was not like it ended in a loss for him.
The old man raised his head viciously, only to see Li Qingshan gazing down at him from the top. He even waved his hand at him and smiled. “Thanks!”
The old man leapt up and cursed aloud. Li Qingshan had already forgotten about him, bringing his hand over his eyes and gazing into the distance.
Suddenly, his smile vanished.
What he saw was not Crouching Ox village, but a great city with towering skyscrapers and bustling traffic. That was his home that had once appeared countless times in his dreams, which he had almost forgotten now.
Was it an illusion?
