Chapter 64.2 The Underworld
Thanatos looked up and saw that they were standing at one end of a desolate path. On either side, vast fields of red spider lilies bloomed, spreading across the land in a sea of brilliant crimson, stretching endlessly into the distance. The sight was breathtaking.
“Red spider lilies bloom on the far banks of the Yellow Springs, so they were also called the guiding flowers of the Yellow Springs. The flowers bloom and wither once every thousand years, never meeting its leaves,” Yanluo explained, twirling his fan. “Mortals, of course, have created all sorts of tragic love stories around this flower. They say a pair of lovers was cursed to never be together and doomed to live and die in endless cycles of love, only to wait for each other on the road to the Yellow Springs, transforming into these flowers. Their imagination is impressive. But I don’t write melodramatic novels, so how could I write such a fate?”
Thanatos asked, “You can write the fate of mortals?”
“Fate is primarily determined by the Heavenly Dao,” Yanluo replied. “My Book of Life and Death and this Judge’s Brush only allow me to alter a few endings. I can’t change fate at will. That requires great merit. But I have plenty of that, and so do those whose fates I alter.”
If the Heavenly Dao destined a person to face endless hardships, constantly hitting walls and meeting a tragic end, Yanluo couldn’t erase the obstacles that person would encounter. However, he could ensure that the person overcame them safely and lived a life of happiness. But there were conditions for him to intervene. Those people had to possess great fortune and merit, with their deeds glowing in golden light. The golden aura that flowed as Yanluo wrote was, in essence, the consumption of their merit.
Every time a person of great merit passed away, Yanluo would personally meet them. In his palace, he would inquire about their wishes, then pick up his brush to extract their merit, rewriting their fate to ensure a blissful afterlife.
The Heavenly Dao had to acknowledge the fate he wrote.
Yanluo could use the karmic power to fulfill personal desires, like changing his own birthdate to October 1st, but doing so consumed his own merit. However, his merit was inexhaustible. He was the god who saved the world, bestowing blessings upon all, so his merit was boundless. As long as there was life in the world, his merit continued to grow with each passing day.
Thanatos wasn’t surprised by this. It was completely impossible to fully control the fate of all people. There was a term called “defying the heaven to change fate,” and altering fate was indeed an act of defying the Heavenly Dao. To possess the power to rewrite fate and contend with the Heavenly Dao, it only showed that the strength of Yanluo was truly unimaginable.
The Greeks had the Moirai, the three Goddesses of Faith. Clotho spun the thread of life, Lachesis decided its length, and Atropos cut it. But they were just weavers. What would happen within the thread of a life was ultimately determined by the will of heaven, and even the length of the thread of life, as decided by the Moirai, was in accordance with the will of heaven.
To fight against the Heavenly Dao for fate was to pay a steep price.
“So, what is the origin of the red spider lily?” Thanatos asked.
Yanluo looked at Thanatos in surprise. “Little Reaper, it seems like you’re asking more questions than usual today.”
“……” Thanatos hesitated. “I won’t ask anymore.”
“It’s fine. I can tell you,” Yanluo replied with a smile. “The red spider lily is a type of red lotus. There is a karmic fire in hell called the Red Lotus Karmic Fire. This fire burns away sins. If one can burn through their sins in the flames and survive, they are considered innocent. But whether mortal or divine, most are consumed by the fire before they can burn away their wrongs. It’s incredibly powerful.”
“The red spider lily blooms from the Red Lotus Karmic Fire,” Yanluo explained vaguely before changing the topic. “Let’s go. If we walk down this road of the Yellow Springs, we’ll soon reach the Ghost Gate.”
Thanatos felt a slight heaviness in his heart.
The sky in the underworld was pitch black, devoid of stars or moon, with a dark, oppressive gloom. It was just like the Greek underworld. The bright red spider lilies were the only color on this Yellow Springs Road.
In this regard, the East was much better. In the Western underworld, the only thing that could grow in the soil was the pomegranate of the dead, and it tasted terrible.
Thanatos had originally thought that red spider lilies were beautiful, but now, all he could see was a sea of blood-red, a sight that was both striking and unsettling.
Yanluo still didn’t explain how flowers could bloom from such karmic fire.
But Thanatos had heard from the White Impermanence that in his battle against the Heavenly Dao for control of fate, Yanluo had willingly bore the burden of immense karmic burdens and endured the karmic fire in the Hell of Incessant Suffering for a thousand years.
What was the connection between the two?
Thanatos walked along distractedly, and when he finally noticed that Yanluo had stopped, he found they had arrived at the edge of a river.
“This river is called the Forgetfulness, and that bridge is called Helplessness,” Yanluo said, almost like a tour guide.
The water of the River of Forgetfulness appeared calm, but the bottom of the river was suppressing thousands of evil ghosts, their stench unbearable. Terrifying ghostly hands would occasionally reach out from the water, attempting to drag the souls crossing the bridge into the river to tear them apart. The cries of countless ghosts in the water were chilling.
Thanatos felt the wailing sounded familiar. For a time, Yanluo had played eerie music in the living room. It should be the same sound as the cries from this river.
“Is it too noisy?” Yanluo asked, noticing Thanatos’ stillness. “Shall we move to another place?”
Thanatos shook his head. He just thought Yanluo had an unusual taste in music.
“We have a river in our underworld called the Cocytus, also known as the River of Wailing,” Thanatos said quietly. “It’s formed from the tears of souls serving their time in hell, and its surface always emits these pitiful wails. I’ve grown used to it.”
But being used to something didn’t mean he liked it.
No wonder Thanatos hadn’t reacted when the haunting music had played in the living room for several days, Yanluo thought. It was partly because Thanatos was socially anxious, but also because the music hadn’t crossed his limit of tolerability.
Despite both of them being accustomed to hearing ghostly wails, lingering by the river for too long grew tiresome. Yanluo quickly suggested, “Let’s go to the Yanluo Hall.”
Thanatos nodded and followed Yanluo closely behind.
The red spider lilies bloomed on the other side of the Yellow Springs, scattered throughout the underworld as well. Thanatos noticed one delicate flower growing in the cracks of a stone, its stem nearly broken. He bent down, intending to pluck it.
The blood-red petals ignited into searing flames the moment they touched Thanatos’ skin, burning fiercely between his fingers. Pain shot through his fingertips like an agonizing spear through his soul. Yanluo, who had already stepped onto the stairs, turned at once. He saw the beautiful, pale hand of the young god transform into a stark, chilling bone.
Yanluo’s expression changed immediately. He quickly rushed back. “Your hand—”
Thanatos shook his head, signaling that he was fine. His fingers quickly regenerated, and his hand was restored to its slender form.
Yanluo’s face remained clouded with worry, his tone filled with regret. “I can’t believe I forgot. The red spider lilies are born from the Red Lotus Karmic Fire. It grows along the banks of the Yellow Springs and near the Ghost Gate. It’s a guardian flower of the underworld, and if it senses a foreign god, it treats them as an invader and reverts to Red Lotus Karmic Fire to attack. Fortunately, this small flame wasn’t too strong. If you were any weaker……”
He didn’t continue, because it was clear that Thanatos was much stronger than he had assumed.
The Red Lotus Karmic Fire could easily incinerate even the soul of a weaker god, leaving nothing behind. Thanatos had only suffered a burnt finger, and thanks to his quick reflexes, he had transformed it into bone instantly. As the God of Death, his flesh could regenerate infinitely, leaving him unharmed.
Thanatos muttered, “I’m fine.”
His bones were sturdy. They wouldn’t turn to ash just from a touch of karmic fire.
The pain, however, was real.
In that brief moment of searing pain, Thanatos felt as though he had never experienced such agony in his life.
Yanluo regretfully said, “It’s my fault. The Red Lotus Karmic Fire is under my control. I’ll make sure it doesn’t attack you again.”
The underworld hadn’t seen a foreign god in tens of thousands of years, so Yanluo had forgotten that the red spider lilies could trigger a passive attack. Fortunately, Thanatos was strong, or it would have been a tragic situation.
Thanatos kept his head down in silence.
Hidden beneath his black robe, Yanluo couldn’t see the expression on Thanatos’ face, but he did notice a single tear drop to the ground.
Yanluo was startled.
Did the little reaper cry out from the pain?!
Flustered, Yanluo hurriedly tried to comfort him. “Don’t cry, don’t cry, does it hurt that much? I’m so sorry! If it helps, I’ll pull up all the red spider lilies and get rid of them for you!”
Thanatos’ voice was barely a whisper. “It’s really nothing.” But as he spoke, another tear fell.
Yanluo: “……” This didn’t look like nothing at all! This was like the sky is falling, okay?!
Yanluo, in a complete panic, took Thanatos’ unscathed hand in his, and without thinking twice, began using every healing technique he knew, all at once. “Does it still hurt? Should I blow on it for you?”
How to coax a well-behaved kid who was crying? Yanluo didn’t know. The sight of Thanatos’ tears completely messed up his heart.
Thanatos sniffed, his voice low. “Robe…… torn.”
Yanluo looked down and indeed saw a small hole burned into Thanatos’ black robe. The hole was so small that it could have easily gone unnoticed.
Yanluo: “……”
The little reaper was crying over this?
You really are something, Thanatos.
Yanluo: “……I’ll use my magic to mend it. I promise you won’t be able to tell.”
Thanatos didn’t know the repair spell, but Yanluo did. He was, after all, a leading figure in Eastern cultural traditions, mastering everything from embroidery to calligraphy, from tea ceremonies to paper-cutting.
Yanluo fixed the tear and comforted him. “See? All good now.”
Thanatos gave a soft “hmm” and finally stopped crying.
Yanluo couldn’t help but feel a mix of exasperation and amusement. He had been deeply pained seeing Thanatos hurt by the Red Lotus Karmic Fire, and it had bothered him more than any past burn he himself had suffered. Yet, Thanatos didn’t cry for his injury, but for a tear in his robe…… It was oddly funny.
“You’re really something. The world’s biggest things must all pale in comparison to your robe,” Yanluo said helplessly.
Thanatos didn’t want to speak. It was already embarrassing enough to have shed two tears in front of Yanluo.
It wasn’t just about the robe, but the real reason was something he couldn’t bring himself to say.
He felt…… a little heartbroken for Yanluo.
He hadn’t felt such depth of emotion when he had been wronged himself. But when it came to others being wronged, especially when they suffered the same or even greater injustices than he had, he couldn’t help but feel very sad. The Red Lotus Karmic Fire could burn a god’s soul, and in just a moment, he’d barely been able to bear it. How had Yanluo endured it for a thousand years?
Thanatos had read books from the East, where terrifying figures were often compared to demons crawling out of hell, or to Yanluo himself.
But Yanluo had descended into hell to protect the mortals.
Yanluo said he didn’t lack merit, but for every great merit he had, there was an equally deep karmic burden from his past.
He had sought to understand the power of karma on his own. Taking the power to rewrite fate from the hands of the Heavenly Dao would inevitably anger it and burden him with grave sins. Only by enduring the karmic fire, cleansing himself of his sins, and mastering the karmic power could he force the Heavenly Dao to acknowledge the fate he had rewritten. Only after the Heavenly Dao acknowledged it could Yanluo’s actions be considered true merit.
Before he had accumulated immeasurable merit, he had been plagued with boundless karma.
The once immaculate, flawless white-clad heavenly god suffered the burning of krmic fire for a thousand years, transforming into the black-robed Yanluo, a red scar etched between his brows.
He had been the first god to survive the Red Lotus Karmic Fire.
On that day, the underworld had been filled with falling flames, each one a Red Lotus Karmic Fire. When they hit the ground, they transformed into blooming red flowers.
They had come to honor the arrival of the King of Hell.
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