Legend Management Bureau Chapter 187

[ … words ]

“But now… it seems things are better.” The Queen Mother of the West looked up at the dark sky of the Underworld and spoke slowly, “Houtu has finally forgotten Xingtian.”

“Big Cat, I don’t quite get it,” Du Yu said, frowning. “If she didn’t want to forget, why did she drink Meng Po’s soup? And if she drank it, why did she use her own cultivation base to resist its effects?”

“In this world, nothing brings more suffering than the word ‘love,'” the Queen Mother sighed softly. “You might have noticed that Houtu is different from other immortals. She still possesses all her mortal emotions and desires because she was born with an immortal body. Precisely because of this, she cannot sever her worldly attachments on her own. Without relying on Meng Po’s power, this matter would have haunted her heart, tormenting her forever.”

Du Yu remained silent, lost in thought.

Just how strong of a person was Lady Houtu? She had never spoken a word of this to anyone, choosing instead to hide away in a stone cave for thousands of years.

“Brat, how do you think this should be resolved?” the Queen Mother asked. “Does the problem lie with Houtu, Xingtian, or Meng Po?”

Du Yu pondered for a moment before replying, “I feel like it’s none of them. The problem lies with the ‘root cause’ of the incident.”

The Queen Mother mused over his words for a second. “What do you mean?”

“Big Cat, you’re the director of the Myth Administration, after all. Could it be you haven’t thought of it? As long as I can return to the legends and change this ‘root cause’ by saving Xingtian, Lady Houtu will instantly recover.”

“Uh…” Du Yu froze, then added, “That’s true. If the very nature of the Underworld changes, even I would disappear into nothingness.”

“But the good news is… Houtu has already forgotten who Xingtian is. After nearly five thousand years, she has finally forgotten him…”

“Is that so?” Du Yu replied noncommittally. “I just saw Lady Houtu shedding tears earlier. It certainly didn’t look like she had forgotten.”

The Queen Mother sighed softly and suggested, “Why don’t we go ask Meng Po? No one understands the effects of her soup better than she does.”

Du Yu was just about to say something when the Queen Mother’s expression drastically changed. She reached out toward a dark corner and shouted,

“Who’s sneaking around in the dark? Are you tired of living?!”

The Queen Mother clenched her hand, and a frail figure was forcefully dragged out from the shadows. Gripping the intruder’s neck, she demanded coldly, “Who ordered you to eavesdrop on my conversation?! Are you one of the ‘Saints’? What is your purpose for infiltrating the Myth Administration?!”

Du Yu jumped in shock. The person the Queen Mother had yanked from the darkness was none other than Qu Xi. Her throat was seized in a vice-like grip, and she was visibly suffocating.

‘Qu Xi is a spy?’ Du Yu thought, bewildered. ‘That’s impossible. I basically dragged her to the Myth Administration myself. She even rejected my offer multiple times. How could she possibly be a mole?’

‘But if she isn’t, why would she be eavesdropping in the corner?’

Qu Xi flailed her arms weakly, barely managing to squeeze out two words: “Meng Po…”

Realization suddenly struck Du Yu. He hurried forward to stop the Queen Mother. “Big Cat! Big Cat! Don’t hurt her, she’s not a spy!”

The Queen Mother frowned and slowly loosened her grip.

Qu Xi collapsed onto the floor, coughing violently.

“Brat, everyone harbors secrets. How can you be so certain she isn’t a spy?”

Du Yu let out a helpless sigh and replied, “Big Cat, she does have her own obsession, but that obsession isn’t ‘killing me.’ It’s ‘forgetting the past.'”

Having finally caught her breath, Qu Xi looked up and rasped, “I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but when I heard you talking about Meng Po, I just couldn’t help myself…”

Du Yu sighed in resignation. During the legend of “Izanagi,” he should have realized that Qu Xi would never give up so easily.

“Du Yu… you’re going to find Meng Po, right? Can you take me with you?”

“Qu Xi… I know what you’re trying to do. Are you still unwilling to let this go even now?” Du Yu asked, his voice laced with concern. “Everyone has painful memories, but very few actually get the chance to forget them…”

“These memories are crushing my heart. I simply can’t go on living like this…” Qu Xi shook her head vigorously. “When I was alive, I could use death as an escape. But what about now that I’m already dead…?”

Looking into Qu Xi’s sorrowful eyes, Du Yu felt a pang of sympathy.

“Big Cat, this girl has been through hell. If I take her to see Meng Po, would Meng Po help her forget her pain?”

The Queen Mother walked over to a nearby seat and gracefully sat down. “Brat, this isn’t a matter of whether she ‘will’ or ‘won’t’ help. Do you think mortal memories can be manipulated so easily? Just wanting to erase the ‘pain’ is impossible. It’s all or nothing. You either forget everything, or you remember everything.”

A heavy expression settled on Du Yu’s face. He turned back and asked, “Qu Xi, did you hear that? Even knowing this, do you still want to see Meng Po?”

Qu Xi hesitated for a moment before nodding resolutely. “Even if it’s just to shatter my remaining hopes, I need to hear it from Meng Po herself.”

Seeing her determination, the Queen Mother no longer tried to stop them. She summoned Zhi Nu, the Weaver Girl, and tasked her with guiding the duo. After all, both of them were newcomers. Navigating this unfamiliar domain to cross the Wangchuan River and the Naihe Bridge just to find Meng Po by the Sansheng Stone would be far too difficult for them.

Zhi Nu seemed quite happy to visit Meng Po. She quickly took off her shawl and tossed it into the air, where it transformed into a long, floating carpet. Du Yu and Qu Xi stepped aboard, and the three of them soared toward Fengdu, the Ghost City.

“Miss Zhi Nu,” Du Yu called out.

“Yes, what is it?”

Du Yu paused for a moment before asking, “Is the legend about you and the Cowherd true?”

Zhi Nu mused over the question before answering, “Half of what the legends say is true.”

“Half?” Du Yu was taken aback. “Is it your half, or the Cowherd’s half?”

“Both of our halves are true.” Zhi Nu smiled bitterly. “The part about the Queen Mother of the West using the Heavenly River to separate us is the fake part.”

“Yeah, I figured as much,” Du Yu chimed in. “The Queen Mother seems to dote on you a lot. She definitely wouldn’t have the heart to tear you apart.”

“Uh… I think you misunderstood,” Zhi Nu whispered. “I meant that Her Majesty didn’t just use the Heavenly River to separate us. She also nearly beat the Cowherd to death…”

Du Yu’s mouth twitched. “Uh… now that you mention it, that really does sound like something she’d do…”

As they spoke, the trio had already arrived at the Gates of Hell.

Zhi Nu retracted her shawl and led the two through the imposing gates.

Unlike his previous experience, almost all the soul reapers in the Underworld seemed to recognize Zhi Nu. Their journey was completely unimpeded, without a single guard stepping forward to stop them.

Soon, Du Yu set foot on the Naihe Bridge for the very first time.

“Normally, one does not look back while crossing the Naihe Bridge,” Zhi Nu informed them. “If a soul reaper escorts you across this bridge, you will never have the chance to turn back.”

Strangely enough, the moment they stepped onto the bridge, a thick fog rose around them.

From below, the bridge had looked to be no more than twenty or thirty meters long, but now that they were on it, the end seemed impossible to reach.

Du Yu even began to suspect they were just walking in place. After all, with the dense fog shrouding everything in front and behind them, making it all look exactly the same, it was impossible to tell if they were actually moving forward.

After walking for a short while, Du Yu suddenly caught the sound of faint splashing from the river below. He instinctively turned his head and peered over the edge.

He would have been better off not looking, because what he saw made him jump in fright.

Shadowy figures of ghosts were bobbing in the pale blue waters of the Wangchuan River. They all stared up at the trio crossing the bridge with eyes full of deep-seated resentment and sorrow.

Du Yu felt like he had just walked onto the set of a horror movie. ‘Why are there vengeful spirits in the river?’ he wondered. ‘Isn’t this the Underworld? Shouldn’t these souls be off to reincarnate? What are they doing here, scaring the people crossing the bridge?’

“Don’t be afraid. They are all just lovestruck fools,” Zhi Nu said calmly.

“Lovestruck fools?” Du Yu shot Zhi Nu a weird look. “Are you sure you don’t have some sort of misunderstanding about what that phrase means? How do these people look anything like ‘lovestruck fools’?”

“You might not know this, but the teal waters of the Wangchuan River are formed entirely from the tears of the world’s lovestruck fools.”

Zhi Nu cast a respectful gaze at the spirits in the river. However, those spirits all looked completely unhinged. Some were nodding rapidly, others were shaking their heads, while the rest simply stared blankly ahead with expressionless faces.

‘Were these really the world’s lovestruck fools?’

“Du Yu, did you know? Drinking Meng Po’s soup isn’t a strict requirement to enter the cycle of reincarnation.”

Both Du Yu and Qu Xi were stunned. ‘Could someone really enter reincarnation while retaining the memories of their past life?’

“If a soul chooses not to drink Meng Po’s soup, they must soak in the Wangchuan River for a thousand years. If they can endure a millennium of suffering, they will be permitted to reincarnate with their past memories intact.”

Du Yu stared blankly at the spirits bobbing in the water and muttered, “In that case… soaking for a thousand years is somewhat acceptable… After all, it means you get to remember the person you loved most.”

Before coming to the Underworld, let alone a ‘thousand years,’ even a single ‘year’ would have felt like an eternity to Du Yu. But after meeting so many figures from the heavenly realms, he realized that a millennium was practically nothing to them.

“You’re wrong.” Zhi Nu slowly shook her head. “The true hardship isn’t the thousand years of soaking. This condition might seem easy to fulfill, but it has caused billions of souls to give up halfway through.”

“Why is that?”

“Because during those thousand years, they are forced to watch the reincarnations of their loved ones cross the Naihe Bridge time and time again. Yet, those ‘lovers’ will never remember them. That is, without a doubt, absolute torture.”

Du Yu let out a heavy sigh upon hearing her explanation.

It was true. As long as there was hope in one’s heart, they could endure a thousand years of time.

But when they saw the person they loved resolutely drink Meng Po’s soup and throw themselves into reincarnation time and time again—when they realized that no matter how loud they screamed from the freezing waters, their beloved would never remember them—would they still be willing to soak in this pitch-black Wangchuan River, never to see the light of day?

No wonder their tears had converged into an eternally wailing river.