Whoosh.
Somewhere within the Underworld’s Eighteen Hells.
There was an inexplicable fluctuation. The prison guards of the underworld sensed it, then instinctively turned to investigate, but to their surprise….
When they saw who had arrived, they couldn’t help but bow. “Emperor.”
Great Sacred Emperor Equaling Heavens!
Most likely, no one suspected that Great Sacred Emperor Equaling Heavens had gone into seclusion within the Underworld’s Eighteen Hells.
He turned to the guards and nodded slightly, then pointed at one of them. “Tell Meng Xiang to come find me.”
With that, he disappeared in a puff of green smoke.
The surrounding guards were still immersed in the shock of seeing the Emperor. As prison guards in the Eighteen Hells, their rank actually wasn’t all that high.
They typically worked with the ten Asura Kings. Now they got to see the Emperor? There’s no need to even discuss how exciting this was for them.
It was just a pity that they haven’t managed to exchange more than a few sentences.
“I’m shocked; to think we’d manage to see the elusive and mysterious Emperor.”
“But why did he come to our Eighteen Hells in the first place? Not even Ksitigarbha comes here.”
“The Emperor’s reasoning is beyond our understanding. Right, didn’t he just command someone to go look for Meng Xiang? Hurry up and go. We mustn’t delay the Emperor’s business,” said one of the ghostly prison guards.
Off to the side, another guard finished the task at hand then turned to the others. “Brothers, leave it to me.”
The guard faded into the Eighteen Hells, then vanished completely.
The others stared at the place he disappeared, jealous despite themselves. “Lucky bastard.”
The way they saw it, running an errand for the Emperor was an incomparable honor.
On the Bridge Henai.
Meng Xiang wore plain, extremely old-fashioned robes. She wore a flower in her hair as she sat in a chair on the bridge, her little legs swaying back and forth.
Her badge still marked her a probationary “Meng Po”, but to tell the truth, she was somewhat sick of her job.
She faced a constant stream of people who longed for the mortal world. As someone who’d never left the Underworld, this made her extremely curious about mortality.
Furthermore, her pretty appearance didn’t suit the role.
The character “Po” in “Meng Po” meant granny. As the name implied, she was supposed to be…
An old granny!!!
Yet she was young and beautiful. To tell the truth, it wasn’t at all unusual for the newly-dead to think they’d gone to heaven after seeing her.
“How dull.” Meng Xiang sat on the bridge, head in her hands, and stared at the bridge’s other end. She was intensely curious. What the world out there like?
Whoosh.
Suddenly, the hideous prison guard appeared right in front of her.
“Wah!” Meng Xiang called out in surprise, almost falling to the ground. After a while, she got herself back under control.
She looked at the guard. “Who are you?”
“You are Miss Meng Xiang?”
In the underworld, a prison guard’s rank was even lower than a probationary Meng Po’s so it was only natural that he’d address her politely.
Meng Xiang blinked her glossy eyes. “That’s right. What do you want?” Her reply was someone fierce.
At his job in the Eighteen Hells, the guard always had to maintain his terrifying appearance when he addressed the prisoners. Now, though, he forced himself to smile.
“It’s like this: I’m a prison guard from the Eighteen Hells. The Emperor appeared there just now. He sent me to tell you he’s waiting for you at the palace.”
“The Emperor is looking for me?” Meng Xiang reached up and rubbed her nose.
“That’s right, that’s what he said,” replied the guard.
“Don’t think you can trick me just because I haven’t studied much,” she said. “Given the Emperor’s status, why would he ask for me by name? Furthermore, even if he did want to talk to me, why would he go to the Eighteen Hells and ask you to deliver the message?”
“I don’t know either,” said the guard with an apologetic smile. “You’d better go see for yourself.”
She looked the guard over a few times. He wouldn’t dare use the Emperor’s name to deceive her, would he?
After thinking it over, she nodded. “Alright then, I’ll go take a look. But if I go, there will be no one to watch Bridge Henai. How about you look after it for a while?”
“But I….”
“Great! It’s settled, then.” Meng Xiang had him sit in her former spot, leaving no room for arguments. Then she turned to leave, but before she’d gone more than a few steps, she turned back around. “But I really have to tell you – you’ve got a hideous smile.”
She disappeared from the cloud-covered bridge with a laugh. The guard couldn’t help but smile bitterly.
Suddenly, a timidly fatty appeared. He shrunk back, then approached carefully. “You’re Meng…..”
He had crossed most of the bridge and had almost reached the guard’s location. Then he saw his terrifyingly ferocious face.
“Mommy! I don’t want to die, I don’t want to die…..”
“Hm?” At first, acting as Meng Po seemed new and interesting. Then, just as he sat down, someone approached. It was kind of exciting!
However, the fatty’s response displeased him!
“Get your ass over here!” He reached out and pulled the man closer, then grabbed a ladle and scooped up some of the soup from the cauldron to his side.
“Drink!”
Gulp, gulp.
As he forced the liquid down the man’s throat, the man gradually stopped struggling. Finally, he was completely obedient….
“That’s that. Go on in.”
The fat man walked obediently into the underworld, leaving the guard with a strong sense of accomplishment.
Coincidentally, just then, a thin man walked by……
“You lived a pretty long time!” The guard called out to him, then beckoned him over, his brows twisted into a sinister frown. “Come on and drink your soup!”
“What the-?!”
“Want to run? Get back here!”
The dead’s nightmares had all come true… At least, for now.
Naturally, Meng Xiang had no way of knowing their plight. She skipped happily to the Emperor’s residence, then stood before the gate.
She stared at it curiously. She’d been in the Underworld for so long, yet this was her first time here.
“Come in.”
“Ee?” Meng Xiang was briefly stunned. Then she smiled. “The Emperor really is impressive!”
She’d only just reached the gates, yet he’d already sensed her. He had to be really strong to do that!
“Once I’m inside, I’ve got to discuss my job situation with the Emperor. I don’t want to be a probationary Meng Po anymore. I’ve been at this job for so long with and I’m still not a regular worker. Even people who started after me have already been promoted! Also, I’ve been working here for so long but I’ve yet to ask for a vacation. If I ask, I bet he’ll let me take a few days off.”
As she thought of this, her face brimmed over with glee. She’d heard so many stories about the mortal world during her time on Bridge Henai and was extremely curious about that exciting new world.
Creak.
She pushed open the gates to the imperial residence. Inside, she saw nothing but dazzling white light.
Thump.
Her heart throbbed violently as the light engulfed her!
