Perhaps the Tower of Gazing Home was just a formation with wondrous effects, able to reflect the deepest memories of home within a person. However, no matter how he circulated the Heavenly Tome of Liberty, the scene before his eyes remained vivid, without rippling even in the slightest.
He looked down the tower again and suddenly noticed a curved, wood bridge extending across a great river. The river was bright blue, but very clear and shallow. The bridge was only thirty metres long, inscribed with a single word, Helplessness.
The endless misty spray and the long bridge that had taken him quite a while to cross was nowhere to be found.
At this moment, a collector of souls brought a Yin Soul onto the bridge. They walked very, very slowly.
On the other end of the bridge was the endless expanse of yellow sand.
The Hell realm was completely different from the Human realm, Daemonic Beast realm, Asura realm, and even the Hungry Ghost realm. It was eerie, unfathomable, and indescribable.
The large ghost called out impatiently, “Hey, the one up there, get down here! Time’s up! If you want to keep looking, you gotta pay more karma!”
Li Qingshan made his way down the Tower of Gazing Home blankly, and the old man who had been neglected grabbed him by the collar. “Kid, give me back my jade!”
Support us at Hosted Novel.
Li Qingshan brushed him aside. “I’ll give it back to you later.”
Ox-headed A’pang wondered, Don’t tell me this kid got homesick?
The old man called out, “Sir Horse-face, please help me right this wrong!”
“What’re you yelling out for? Keep going and keep an eye on your things!” Horse-face sneered. “Kid, let’s see how you handle this now!”
Past the Tower of Gazing Home, a teahouse appeared in their way before long. It was not built on the side of the path, but in the middle of the path. The two sides to it were both sheer walls. A long banner was planted in the teahouse, depicting a single word, “Soup”.
An old granny with grey hair and wrinkly skin sat at the entrance. She held a ladle, calling out, “Come and drink soup.”
Granny Meng’s Soup of Forgetfulness!
Li Qingshan raised his head slightly. Just from the unfortunate location that the teahouse was built was enough for him to know that he probably should not drink the soup. He did not see any boxes of karma, so he relaxed slightly.
But when he got a little closer, he noticed something strange.
There were two pots of soup before granny Meng, both bubbling with steam. There were two stacks of bowls, one large and one small. The larger bowls were all chinked and faded, while the small ones were exquisite and shining.
One of the pots of soup was thick like pitch, giving off the nauseating smell of medicine. Meanwhile, the other pot of soup was clear like water, yet it gave off a slight fragrance.
Granny Meng used the small, white bowls to serve two bowls of clear soup, passing them to Ox-head and Horse-face. “Old brothers, this is fresh soup I’ve made from a thousand year chicken. Have a taste!”
Horse-face took a sip. “Granny Meng, you’re still that good at cooking, but you are becoming more and more stingy with the ingredients. Let alone a thousand years, I don’t even think it was a hundred years old.”
“Business is difficult. They’ve all been broke as of late!” Granny Meng said to Li Qingshan kindly, “Little brother, which one would you like to drink?”
Li Qingshan had already heard Ox-headed A’pang mention it along the way. Not only did Granny Meng’s Soup seal away the past memories, but it even sealed away all of their cultivation as well.
They might have been Yin Soul and Yang Soul cultivators, but once they drank this soup, they would be no different from mortals. They would not be able to use any of their powers at all.
Under this state, once they entered rebirth, they would definitely go through the confusions of the womb and lose all of their past memories.
However, Ox-headed A’pang did not tell him that there was a choice. As a result, he pointed towards the pot of clear soup.
“You sure know how to choose, little brother. If you drink this bowl of soup, you won’t fall into hell, and you won’t forget your past!”
Granny Meng smiled even more kindly, but she was not in a hurry to serve the soup. Instead, she extended her scrawny hand that resembled a chicken’s foot.
Li Qingshan immediately understood that the clear soup came at a price, and the price would definitely be significant. This was probably one of the moments where bribes were most crucial.
If they drank the clear soup, they could maintain their cultivation. Even if they were sent to hell, they could fend for themselves with their techniques. Even if there was still the confusions of the womb during rebirth, they could maintain and preserve their wills and memories, to be recovered in the future.
It definitely was not a coincidence that Chu Tian could preserve a part of Lin Xuan’s memories. It was exactly because he drank this bowl of Granny Meng’s Soup that saved him from hell and forgetting the past. Let alone soup, even if it was just a bowl of normal water, it could fetch an astronomical sum.
This juncture could be described as critical. It was a major event that directly impacted survival. Those “renowned scenic spots” like the Tower of Gazing Home definitely came nowhere close, and there was absolutely no choice here. They would be drinking one bowl of soup no matter what.
Seeing how Li Qingshan failed to produce anything after so long, granny Meng’s face gradually sank. She placed down the small white bowl and picked up the big black bowl, filling it to the brim. “The broke are only allowed to drink this!”
“Sigh, they all say that the good are rewarded and the wicked are punished in hell. I didn’t think it’s actually despising the poor and sucking up to the wealthy!”
Li Qingshan let out a bitter sigh and accepted the big, black bowl. The smell became even more pungent, bubbling away. Something that resembled a grub floated to the top. Who knew what disgusting things she had added to it.
Granny Meng smiled sinisterly. “Don’t look down on this bowl of soup. In terms of the ingredients, it’s far more precious than the other soup! If you drink it, you’ll be sure to face torture and forget the past!” She ordered viciously, “Drink it!”
Horse-face sneered. “If you don’t drink it, then we’ll have to force it down your throat.”
Ox-headed A’pang smiled. “Heh, I’ll invite you to a few more bowls, little brother! All on me!”
“How can I let you spend any money, big brother?”
The three faces stared at Li Qingshan, stern, mocking or sneering.
Originally, Li Qingshan did not find this hell to be particularly terrifying, but he suddenly shivered inside. “Alright, I’ll drink it! I’ll drink it!”
He pinched his nose and drank the bowl of thick soup with a twisted expression. Horse-face could not help but laugh. “You just don’t give up until you’re staring despair in the face. It’s too late for regret now.”
Ox-headed A’pang sighed. On the Road to Yellow Springs, if he gave Li Qingshan some treasures so that he could bribe a few people, everything would be much simpler. However, since he had chosen this path, then he had to continue down it like this. Otherwise, why would a “clever person” who knew how to bribe others speak out again and again, openly offending others?
Li Qingshan gulped down the entire bowl of soup. It melded away as soon as it hit his mouth, merging with his Yang Soul sliver by sliver. He immediately felt his body grow numb as he tottered forwards, continuing on his way. His expression was already filled with despair.
Granny Meng was accustomed to this sight, so she could not bother to give this broke customer a second glance. She went off to receive her next “customer”.
Right when Li Qingshan made his way past the pots, he suddenly raised his foot and kicked over the pot of thick soup.
With a bang, the pot smashed to pieces against the wall. Soup splattered everywhere.
Even with her cultivation as a Ghost Immortal, granny Meng was caught off-guard. She cried out, “My soup!”
A pot of the thick soup took many precious ingredients to make, which was why it could achieve the effects of sealing away cultivation, and the preparatory process was extremely difficult.
Li Qingshan got his revenge and smiled. “Nice soup!” He said to the dumbfounded old man, “I’ve paid you back now.”
Granny Meng grabbed his neck viciously with her scrawny hands. She screeched, “Give me back my soup!”
“Sure!” Li Qingshan smiled and patted his belly. “Once I’ve digested it all, I’ll take a piss for you so that you can check just how ugly you are in the reflection!”
Granny Meng was about to go crazy. “I’m going to butcher you!”
“Sure! C’mon, c’mon, c’mon. Please give me a quick one. You better kill me, or you ain’t shit!’
Horse-face was left blank for quite a while. He asked Ox-headed A’pang, “Is there something wrong with this kid’s head?”
“Yeah, and he seems to be quite sick too!”
But for some reason, he only wanted to laugh aloud. He felt like he had vented his emotions as well.
The man was pressed against the ground. He could not put up any resistance, yet he never yielded. Instead, he seemed to give off dazzling light that reached beyond this gloomy hell.
