The Nether Road was treacherous. The earth’s energy here felt like sharp blades, grinding against the soul’s power. The ghost ahead had no consciousness; it only moved forward. Its face, originally pale, had turned translucent, as if it might scatter into nothingness at any moment.
Zhu Yanyi noticed something important: the ghost was a woman.
"Wow, a girl. She’s strong," Zhu Yanyi said in simple words.
Yan Aohan looked at the female ghost. Just then, Lao Hei appeared. Yan Aohan pointed at the ghost. "Send her to Meng Po Village."
"Yes," Lao Hei said. she looked at the female ghost and smiled. "She is lucky. She passed the Nether Road. Now she has a chance to become a Meng Po."
She collected the ghost. Then she turned to Zhu Yanyi with a friendly smile. "Hello, little sister-in-law. Are you visiting the Underworld for fun?"
Zhu Yanyi felt awkward. That title sounded strange.
Yan Aohan glanced at Lao Hei. "Go do your work. Don’t stand here like a third wheel."
"Understood," Lao Hei laughed. "Boss, you and little sister-in-law take your time. I have things to handle." He vanished.
"Is the Meng Po you mentioned the legendary one?" Zhu Yanyi asked curiously.
"Yes," Yan Aohan smiled. "Meng Po Village is where Meng Po lives now."
"Isn’t Meng Po just one person?" Zhu Yanyi asked.
"No, that’s a rumor," Yan Aohan chuckled. "Meng Po is a title, like a brand of the Underworld. The most famous product is Meng Po's soup. In the past, people from Meng Po Village brewed it. Ghosts drank a bowl before reincarnation to forget the past and face the future. Now, the world changes, and so does the soup. Meng Po Village has production lines. The soup is packaged directly from the line."
Zhu Yanyi was surprised. "This is too advanced. Even Meng Po's soup is improved. The Underworld keeps up with the times."
"I feel like I’m in a game version of the Underworld, not the real one," Zhu Yanyi teased. "Otherwise, why is the soup improved?"
Yan Aohan didn’t get angry. "Times progress, so the Underworld must progress too. Look, some departments use Underworld computers and phones." He grinned.
"But there are many realms. Some are ancient. Won’t computers and phones scare them?" Zhu Yanyi asked.
"We are the Underworld. Everything here is eerie. Modern ghosts don’t mind. Ancient ghosts won’t ask even if they don’t understand." Yan Aohan pulled Zhu Yanyi forward. "Besides, they can’t care if they have no consciousness. Ghosts entering the Underworld are not like you. They have no awareness."
Zhu Yanyi nodded. "If they have no consciousness, why give them Meng Po's soup?"
Yan Aohan smiled. "Do you really think Meng Po's soup makes people forget memories? After death, ghosts lose consciousness. Memories fade slowly on the long Yellow Springs road. Stories of 'returning souls' or 'past life memories' only apply to specific cultivators. Meng Po's soup is actually a soul-warming soup. With it, people regain consciousness gradually after reincarnation."
Zhu Yanyi felt this was new and magical. "Why is it different from the legends we heard?"
"Legends are just stories passed down. They can be true or false. In the past, Meng Po's soup did contain ingredients to make people forget. The Underworld system was not perfect then. Some people died and reincarnated nearby without returning to the Underworld. They kept good and bad memories, causing trouble. That was why the Underworld was built. Later, the system improved. The Yellow Springs road was set up. Past events become smoke on this road. This is better than drinking soup with forgetting effects."
Yan Aohan looked at Zhu Yanyi. "But I remember you have a soup that acts like Meng Po's soup."
"That soup blocks memories. It makes people forget the past. But the recipe is rare. It requires the tears of the person involved." Thinking of tears, Zhu Yanyi asked quickly, "I heard Meng Po's soup is made with one drop of birth tears, two cents of old tears, three parts of bitter tears, four cups of regret tears, five inches of longing tears, six bowls of illness tears, seven feet of parting tears, and finally Meng Po’s sad tears. Is that true?"
"False. The recipe isn’t that mysterious," Yan Aohan said, speechless. "I don’t know where you read such nonsense. Meng Po's soup isn’t that complex. If you are interested, when you go to the Reincarnation Pool, I will show you. It is brewed from Underworld herbs. It isn’t as magical as you say."
Zhu Yanyi stuck out her tongue. "So it’s not that magical. Okay, I’ll treat it as nonsense."
She tilted her head. "But do those birth tears and old tears really exist?"
Yan Aohan shrugged slightly. "You are a healer. Do you think such a strange recipe exists?"
Zhu Yanyi hesitated. "Actually, if a recipe exists in the world, it must have a basis. I just asked out of curiosity."
"Then study it well. Tell me the answer later," Yan Aohan said.
Zhu Yanyi thought about it. It would be easier to tell her the answer later. She nodded. "Okay. I will study it when I have time. I will give you the answer then."
Yan Aohan led Zhu Yanyi walking slowly. After the Nether Road came the Yellow Springs road. But they walked on a parallel path. Yan Aohan said this was the Wuwang Road.
At the end of the Wuwang Road, they saw a three-way intersection at the end of the Yellow Springs road.
"Strange. When I came here before, I went straight to your practice chamber. I didn’t know there were three roads," Zhu Yanyi said.
"One path to life, one to death, one to void," Yan Aohan explained with a light smile. "Ordinary people with karmic merit enter the life path. They undergo merit judgment. Then they become immortals, demons, or humans.
People with no merit or bad deeds go to the death path. Rules there decide if they go to the Eighteen Levels of Hell, or reincarnate as animals or plants.
The void path is for non-human realms. For example, demon spirits from the Demon Realm who die, or cultivators whose souls enter the Underworld. They all enter the void."