boyutpedia Chapter 17 Leaving Zhu 1
Chapter 17 Leaving Zhu 1
Meanwhile, Li Zhu's wisp of divine consciousness returned to Guixu and fell into the Earth Net Array.
This earthen net is located at the top of Guixu and is composed of countless soul-gathering arrays.
This wisp of divine consciousness dodged and weaved through the layers upon layers of the soul-gathering array, which was as dense as a spider web. At the last second, it avoided all the absorption and finally found a broken array eye and shrank into it—and then began a long wait.
A dozen days later, a horse-faced ghost appeared to register. Its spirit silently possessed the ghost and followed it down the Yellow Springs Road, back to the Yama King's Palace, then onto a messenger ghost, and finally into an unnamed courtyard.
Inside the courtyard, a young man sat cross-legged, dressed in a long robe and wearing a tall hat, exuding a cool and aloof air.
He is Li Zhu—an ancient demon who has been imprisoned here since the first year of Taiyi.
He was originally a tree spirit in human form, and a disciple of the Jie Sect.
After the Investiture of the Gods, most of the disciples of the Intercepting Sect were sealed into puppets and became slaves of the Heavenly Court—that is, the so-called "gods".
A few individuals with special abilities were banished to the underworld and made "advisors".
Unable to be reincarnated or to attain enlightenment, they were destined to never rise again, which perfectly describes Li Zhu and his ilk.
Because he possessed supernatural powers indispensable to the underworld, Li Zhu was well protected: eight puppet ghost soldiers guarded him, two impermanent spirits accompanied him, and his treatment was comparable to that of Yama, the King of Hell, except that his freedom was restricted.
For nearly five hundred years, his advisors from the same period have either gone mad or disappeared, and the list has changed time and again, but his name has always remained on the list.
Every thirty days, a new soul is appointed, and each one reports exactly the same: This is a boring soul whose only interest, apart from occasionally playing the pipa, is studying difficult questions in spiritual practice, especially those related to one's destiny.
As time passed and the world changed, the impermanent companions came and went, and the Yama Kings of the underworld were replaced several times over. But he remained unchanged, like an unchanging rock, with neither his appearance nor his personality altered.
Those who know him have basically formed their opinions—although the old tree spirit has transformed into a human, he may still see himself as a tree at heart, and the long years are nothing more than a few marks on the tree rings to him.
At this moment, the two guardians of him were playing chess in a corner, while eight puppet ghost messengers stood around him. They were all equipped with magical artifacts that could lock onto the soul. If Li Zhu made any unusual movements, the artifacts would immediately sound an alarm, which would reach the ears of Yama, the King of Hell.
This wisp of divine consciousness crawled extremely slowly along the ground to Li Zhu's location, and finally silently disappeared into the soles of Li Zhu's feet.
The divine consciousness, burdened with a super mission, finally returned to its place, as composed as a thousand-year-old demon, causing Li Zhu to stiffen.
After a moment, the head wearing the tall crown raised itself and looked around unconsciously.
The courtyard remained shrouded in eternal twilight, the two guardians still focused on the chess game, and the eight puppet ghost messengers still stood woodenly around.
Business as usual.
Li Zhu suppressed his excitement, slowly lowered his head, and pretended to study the bone plate in his hand, but his attention had already turned to his sea of consciousness, looking through the memories brought back by this wisp of divine consciousness.
Reborn in Aolai!
In this vast world, fate has struck Aolai.
As two of Heaven's greatest enemies, the Jie Sect and the Seven Demons had been separated for over 5000 years and were originally unrelated. However, Cai Fei's rebirth suddenly brought them together. What does this mean?
The fifth day of the fifth lunar month—out of 365 days in a year, this is the day that has been chosen by fate!
Nine-part dantian!
……
Unexpected events occurred one after another, but he was already prepared—to do something against the will of heaven, one must naturally have the determination to defy the world's will.
Countless years of endurance, no matter how difficult the fate, could not affect his determination to fight!
After about an hour, Li Zhu finished processing all the information, sat quietly for a while, calmed his emotions, and then began to act.
He first replenished the vital energy of this returning wisp of divine consciousness, and then completely severed it away.
Bearing such a heavy responsibility, this wisp of divine consciousness was naturally extremely pure. Cutting it off would cause great damage to his soul, but he had no choice but to do it—because this wisp of divine consciousness was related to the bloodline curse imposed on billions of Netherworld Rats, and it also entered and exited the Void, bringing the aura of the mortal world.
The underworld has powerful figures, divine beasts, and top-tier artifacts. Given time, it will surely be able to track down the creature. Once captured, the clues will lead to the main body of Li Zhu, who will inevitably be caught as well.
This degree of separation means a loss of origin for Li Zhu, but for the separated divine consciousness, it means a moment of independence.
If captured, it will face annihilation, but if it escapes, it will also mean the birth of a new soul.
"As we part ways, could you... give me a name?" The consciousness that had become independent carried a hint of timidity. He should actually call him Father, but he wasn't used to it yet.
Li Zhu pondered for a moment: "Our circumstances make separation inevitable... People experience joy and sorrow, separation and reunion... How about we call it 'Separation and Reunion'?"
"Separation and Union... Alright, then I will be 'Separation and Union' from now on..." This wisp of divine consciousness transformed into human form, silently bowed to Li Zhu in the sea of consciousness, and prepared to leave.
Li Zhu also conjured a human form in her sea of consciousness, looking at him with a hint of sadness: "This journey is fraught with peril, but if I die and you are still alive... Yao Yao..."
"She is my daughter too!" Li He replied without hesitation. Seeing Li Zhu nod silently, he slowly floated away. "Well then... goodbye, Father."
Completely independent, Lihe cautiously slipped out of the courtyard, attached itself to a passing ghost, and a few minutes later transferred to a bull's head... After several transfers, it drifted for dozens of miles and arrived at a ghost market.
Under the eaves of a teahouse, it saw a caged bird and attached itself to it without hesitation.
The Feathered Spirit Bird is a naturally formed creature from the Ruins of Return. Its feathers are grayish-black, and its eyes are multicolored. It is said that each feather is formed from scattered souls. Apart from flying extremely fast and having a beautiful call, it has no other merits. Teahouses often display it to attract customers.
Half an hour later, Lihe completely controlled the Feather Spirit Bird. After getting used to its body, it channeled its spiritual energy into its claws, ripped through the cage in a few strokes, jumped out and rolled to the ground. After a few more fluttering attempts, it finally flapped its wings and flew straight south.
The caged bird has escaped its cage!
The gentle and obedient Yuling bird actually escaped from its cage!
From the moment the cage was cut open to the moment it took to fly high, only a few breaths passed. None of the dozen or so souls in the teahouse reacted—life in the underworld was uneventful, and everyone was too shocked to notice. They watched helplessly as the Feathered Spirit Bird turned into a small black dot in the sky before someone finally exclaimed, "Oh dear!"
"I've been telling this story for so many years, but I never thought my own home would become part of the story," the shop owner sighed before hurrying off to find the patrolman.
At the same time, dozens of miles away, a ghost talisman silently drifted into the gatehouse of Jiuquan Prefecture.
A moment later, the ox-headed gatekeeper of Jiuquan Prefecture picked up the ghost talisman, glanced at it, and casually threw it into the wastepaper basket on the table, muttering to the ghost rats standing guard outside the door.
"Look at this! What kind of soul is this! The application to enter the palace doesn't even include a soul level, no past experiences, just a name! And it says 'willing to contribute to Laozi's cause,' quite the boast. Does Laozi even need you? What a waste of runes!"
The silly ghost rat would only respond with a simple, honest smile.
"Laugh, laugh, laugh at your ass!" Minotaur stretched out his hand and snapped his fingers on the Netherworld Rat's head, laughing and cursing, "All you do is laugh like an idiot, chatting with you guys is so boring!"
While complaining, Niu Tou started sorting and classifying the ghost talismans, bone discs, and other items collected that day, piling them up neatly. Half an hour later, he sat back in his chair to rest, lit an incense stick, took a few deep breaths, and savored the information about the mortal world it conveyed.
Soon after, a ghostly figure, accompanied by several ghostly soldiers, drifted in from afar.
As soon as he saw the figure, Niu Tou stood up early, tidied up the already neatly stacked documents, and then ran quickly to wait five meters outside the door.
When Wuchang entered, seeing how neatly the documents were categorized, he couldn't help but praise him: "Old Niu, you've worked so hard. With you here, you've saved me so much trouble."
Ox-Head repeatedly expressed his humility, helping Wuchang carry various letters and runes, placing them one by one onto the several Yin soldiers behind Wuchang. After everything was loaded, Wuchang prepared to leave.
Just then, the ghost talisman that had been thrown into the wastebasket suddenly flickered.
"What's this?" Sensing a trace of a high-level ghost's aura, Wuchang immediately stopped and followed the source of the aura. His gaze settled on the wastepaper basket, and he couldn't help but ask, "Old Niu, what did you throw in there?"
"Uh... there's a letter that I found to be arrogant and disrespectful, and I thought I shouldn't offend your eyes..." Niu Tou sensed something was wrong and quickly went over to pick out the ghost talisman, presenting it to Wu Chang with both hands.
Wuchang took the ghost talisman with only a few words written on it. He was startled when he saw the two characters "Li Zhu". After calming himself down, he stared at the signature "Li Zhu" at the end of the talisman and rubbed it with his hand several times to feel the aura in it. Finally, he confirmed that it was indeed this name.
"Let these ghost soldiers rest here. I have something to attend to and will be right back." The Impermanent One put away the ghost talisman, then said something cryptic to the Ox-Head, "Just pretend you never saw this talisman, understand?"
"I know, I know..."
This invitation card seems to be of great importance; I was blind to its significance.
Ox-Head was covered in cold sweat. To him, the position of gatekeeper of Jiuquan Prefecture was definitely a top-level job in the underworld. The reason he was able to get this position was because he had a slight blood relationship with the current judge of Jiuquan Prefecture.
This extremely distant relationship was naturally very unreliable, so in order not to lose his job, he had always worked very hard. Unexpectedly, this time his attempt to flatter backfired.
"Li Zhu, Li Zhu... I've never heard of this name before?" Niu Tou could only frantically search through the thick register of the underworld, trying to figure out which powerful figure he had offended.
Of course, no matter how many times the bull-headed man searched through the registers of the underworld, he could not find Li Zhu's name.
Li Zhu, the possessor of the Eye of Reincarnation, is an unofficial advisor to the Underworld. He is one of the very few souls that the Underworld spent a great deal of effort to retain, preventing him from entering the cycle of reincarnation.
The term "non-staff" refers to those who are not on the official staff roster.
The ghost talisman quickly appeared before the master of Jiuquan Prefecture, who was a judge surnamed Li.
Half an hour later, Li Pan arrived at the nameless courtyard, and appeared in front of Li Zhu with barely suppressed excitement.