The banks of the Forgetting River.
A middle-aged man, a green-robed young girl, and a white-robed young girl were standing side by side.
All three of them were staring down the Forgetting River with an extremely serious expression.
“You need to time it just right, otherwise——” the white-robed girl said.
“Don’t worry” the green-robed girl replied.
The middle-aged man suddenly exclaimed: “Now!”
The green-robed girl was startled and reflexively pulled with both hands.
The fishing rod was pulled high into the air, dragging a fish with it out of the water.
Splash!
As the fish fell on the ground, it started flopping continuously.
All three people happily smiled.
“Whoa! Such a big one! Rhode, since you said to leave frying the fish to you, I’ll make rice!”
“Alright, leave it to me” Gu Qing Shan said.
The white-robed girl nodded and swiftly left.
Gu Qing Shan took out a wok and began heating it up with a simple fire spell.
He rolled up his sleeves and picked up the fish while commenting:
“I heard that the Forgetting River is supposed to be the Samsara’s path of reincarnation, how come there are fishes in there as well?”
The green-robed girl replied: “Of course, it’s the source river of Huang Quan, so it’s naturally capable of propagating living beings, otherwise, we would have had to drink morning dew to survive”
“Both of you are Deities of Huang Quan, how come you can’t even feed yourselves?” Gu Qing Shan asked in surprise.
The girl explained: “Usually, we can just travel to a random world and get something to eat, but this isn’t a usual period. The entirety of Huang Quan has entered a state of war, so we can’t leave at all”
“—–so the current situation is one where we can’t leave, and since we don’t have Merits, we can’t exchange any resources at all. While the others are busy running around performing various tasks, we can’t do anything but stay home, and eventually what little savings we had left were used up”
The girl couldn’t help but sigh, then muttered in a low voice: “Originally, we managed to find the Devil King of Huang Quan and was looking forward to his return, but who knew that…”
Her eyes became a bit gloomy as her voice grew tinier until it was no longer audible.
Gu Qing Shan stayed silent for a little bit and didn’t try to question it any further.
He tossed the piece of fish that had been properly prepared into the hot oil.
—–ziiiii!
The wok gave off a nice sizzling sound.
Gu Qing Shan gripped the handle of the wok tightly and focused on cooking the fish.
Fish from the Forgetting River was definitely a rare kind of ingredient, since he never had the chance to cook it before, this was an opportunity to accumulate the corresponding experience.
The girl placed another piece of bait on her fishing rod and cast it back into the Forgetting River.
Gu Qing Shan casually glanced over.
If I remember correctly, that fishing rod is also a Divine Artifact, representing the Deific Authority of ‘soul reeling’.
And now it’s being used to literally catch fish.
—–Deities won’t actually die of starvation, but being so poor that they can’t even buy something to eat shows the kind of pitiful state they’re in.
Are the current 18 Layers of Hell really in such a terrible state?
Gu Qing Shan fell into thought.
A few moments later.
The white-robed girl flew towards them from a distance while carrying a large bag in one hand and an electric rice cooker in the other.
She landed behind the two of them, properly set up the table and began scooping some rice into the bowls.
“Rice is done, I brought one more set of utensils compared to normal. And also, to welcome the newcomer, I brought some beer”
The girl carefully took out three cans of beverage as if they were the most precious things in the world.
The green-robed girl turned around with a surprised expression and asked: “Are those your last three cans of alcohol?”
“Yeah, I let my mouth slip earlier, so consider this my apology” the white-robed girl smiled awkwardly at Gu Qing Shan.
Her expression suddenly became grim and continued: “But if your fish isn’t edible, I’m not giving these to you”
Gu Qing Shan just smiled and plated the fish before bringing it out.
“I’m not very familiar with Huang Quan’s fish, so this is the first time I cooked it. Have a taste” he said.
The white-robed girl couldn’t wait and dug in right away, using her chopsticks to pick up and eat a piece of fish.
She was stunned on the spot.
The green-robed girl had already placed her fishing rod away and sat down at the table as she asked with an expectant voice: “How is it? Does it not taste good? It smells so good”
The white-robed girl slammed the table and happily called out: “It’s so delicious! It’s been so long since I ate such a good fish dish”
“Ah, really? I want to try it too” the green-robed girl hurriedly said.
The two of them began eating while happily commenting on the food.
“This soup also tastes great”
“Hm, I’ll give this piece to you, since you’re the one that caught the fish”
“It seems so good, I can eat a huge bowl of rice with nothing but this fish alone”
“Me too”
As the two of them happily ate, they suddenly stopped and turned to look at Gu Qing Shan.
Only to see Gu Qing Shan sitting there resting his face on his hand with a happy smile.
“Why aren’t you eating?” the green-robed girl asked.
“I already ate before I came here, so I’m not hungry”
The white-robed girl handed him a can of beer and praised: “You’re a really decent person, not only are you willing to join us in the 18 Hells, but you can also cook up a mean dish, I definitely have to share a drink with you”
“That’s right, let us officially welcome you” the green-robed girl also said.
“Cheers!”
The three of them each took a sip before putting their cups down, everyone felt a bit closer.
The green-robed girl raised her cup and said: “I’m the Deity of reeling soul, my younger sister is the Deity of reaping life, but calling us that all the time is a bit too terrifying; so uncle, you can call me Xiao Lang, as for my sister, you can call her—–”
The white-robed girl was stuffing her cheeks with rice, so she followed up in a muffled voice: “Liu Li”
“I see, you both can call me Rhode, no need to call me ‘uncle’ all the time” Gu Qing Shan said.
“Uncle sounds a bit more intimate”
“Yeah”
Both girls nodded and affirmed to him that they were keeping to their viewpoint.
Gu Qing Shan just smiled: “Suit yourselves”
He picked up his can and took another sip of alcohol, feeling the cool wind from the Forgetting River, almost as if they were washing away the heavy burdens that he had to shoulder.
The sky suddenly grew gradually lighter.
As Gu Qing Shan looked up, he saw a few dozen streaks of light appearing from far above the sky.
These streaks of light drew long flaming tails as they descended into the Forgetting River, leaving huge puffs of gloomy clouds on the surface of the river, which was a truly magnificent sight to behold.
“How come there are so many shooting stars within Huang Quan?”
Gu Qing Shan doubtfully asked.
Both of the girls had already put their bowls and chopsticks down with solemn expressions on their faces, as well as a little bit of sorrow.
“Uncle, you don’t know yet, but that is because there are people who sacrificed their lives during their missions in the war outside” Xiao Lang told him.
“Huh? War?”
Gu Qing Shan looked at the Forgetting River to see that the river flow had sped up, carrying away the corpses that had just floated up.
“That’s right, the war has grown increasingly more intense lately, more and more Deities as well as dead people are dying every day” Liu Li explained.
Gu Qing Shan was surprised: “——That can’t be, even the Deities and dead people of Huang Quan can die?”
“People who have died once would naturally not die again, but they will forget everything and enter reincarnation through the Forgetting River” Xiao Lang answered.
Gu Qing Shan was speechless.
That makes sense, or rather, that’s how the Laws of Huang Quan would usually work.
Back then, it was under some exceptionally unique circumstances that the dead people under my command were not able to die in the Human realm.
The Devil King Warden Rod, a huge amount of Merits, the Laws of Hell, the fusion of two worlds, and a short period of time of being sin-free before reincarnation; it was all of these factors combined together that made that miraculous period of time possible.
It would be practically impossible to replicate that now.
Otherwise, the Samsara would have already been unbeatable.
But then…
“Who exactly is the Huang Quan realm fighting against?”
Gu Qing Shan stated his question.
“Don’t know, all the other departments act so secretive that they refuse to tell us” Xiao Lang replied.
“I can see practically the entirety of Huang Quan being mobilized already, it’s such a huge war and yet you don’t know anything?” Gu Qing Shan asked in surprise.
Liu Li explained: “There’s a non-disclosure clause for every mission, the participants are required to not leak a single word, or they’d get their souls instantly destroyed——– so of course us two keepers of Hell wouldn’t know anything”
Xiao Lang sighed and said: “Stop watching, let’s get back to drinking”
Liu Li raised her cup: “Right, there are only three of us, and we’re responsible for watching over Hell, so whatever happens in the frontline has nothing to do with us”
Gu Qing Shan commented: “But if we keep going like this, the Merits…”
The two girls fell silent.
Not participating in the war meant not contributing, and that resulted in no Merits earned.
Merits are the most important unit of measurement of one’s standings within the Samsara.
If nothing else, Gu Qing Shan himself would be able to have the Supreme Sequence convert Merits into Realm Force to use for World Techniques and Spirit Arts.
“Are there really no task assigned to Hell?” Gu Qing Shan asked.
Both girls shook their heads.
“Uncle, I’ll be frank, the two of us are dependent Deities of the Huang Quan Devil King, so without the Devil King, we don’t have any methods to change the current status quo for Hell” Xiao Lang said.
“What can the Devil King do?” Gu Qing Shan asked.
“He can delegate the dead; like putting dead people into Hell, supplementing the power of Hell, and ordering the dead to work for him” Xiao Lang explained.
Liu Li added: “If the Devil King was here, we’d be able to accept some missions”
Gu Qing Shan fell into thought.
I’m currently no longer the Devil King of Huang Quan.
—–but I am the Death God of the River of Death.
What does the Devil King and Death God have in common?
He pointed one hand towards the empty ground and whispered: “Awaken, my slumbering subjects within the River of Death”
The ground became loose.
Dead people started standing up from the ground one by one.
Gu Qing Shan knocked his hand on the table and asked the two girls: “Take a look, these are dead people from the River of Death, can I have them join Hell?”
The two girls were stunned.
“I remember that if dead people still have lingering sins, they would be forced to return to Hell even if they die outside, wouldn’t that be a selling point for Hell?” Gu Qing Shan then asked.
Xiao Lang was still a bit stunned, so after slowly chewing for a little bit, she answered: “Ah, that much is true, but—–”
Liu Li followed up: “But if they join Hell with lingering sins, they would be subjected to the suffering of Hell, unable to join Huang Quan’s war”
Gu Qing Shan realized that was true.
The three of them went silent again.
After thinking for a bit, Gu Qing Shan frowned: “Is there really nothing that we can do?”
Xiao Lang exchanged glances with Liu Li.
Liu Li tilted her head in thought for a while and spoke: “Unless…”
“Unless what?” Gu Qing Shan asked.
Liu Li continued: “Unless someone awakens the Devil King Warden Rod and reinitiates the competition to become the Devil King”
