Chapter 71 The Jade Emperor
As the King of Hell, Yanluo had seen countless corpses and skeletal remains. A mere skull hardly fazed him. In his eyes, all bones were the same, so how could he be frightened by a skull?
But the little reaper was different.
Even his skull was more beautiful than those of any other corpse. It was porcelain-white, flawless in structure, as if meticulously sculpted by a master artisan. His entire skeletal frame was likely just as elegant, almost an exquisite work of art.
Yanluo had asked out of genuine admiration. He was far too accustomed to skeletons, whether dead or alive. Motionless piles of remains were nothing new, and in his neighborhood, there was even a tenant who was a full-fledged skeleton spirit. That one strutted around on long, slender leg bones, flaunting its skeletal figure until it frightened a few little demons before finally covering itself with human skin.
To Yanluo, this was hardly a matter of privacy, nor did he realize his question might be inappropriate.
But Thanatos went rigid.
This was yet another cultural difference between East and West.
To Yanluo, a skeleton was simply the remains of a human body after flesh and blood had decayed. Even a skeletal spirit, no matter how refined, was still the bones of the deceased, possessing memories of its former life.
Humans did not treat their bones as private parts, and as the King of Hell, Yanluo certainly saw nothing unusual about them.
But to the God of Death, his skeleton was his body.
For him, stripping off his black robes to reveal his bones was no different from being asked to remove his clothing and stand bare before another.
Wasn’t Yanluo supposed to be a gentleman? Weren’t Eastern gods known for their restraint and subtlety? How could he say such shameless words……
If Thanatos had skin, his face would have been completely flushed by now.
Even without it, he couldn’t bring himself to meet Yanluo’s gaze after such an explicit request.
And so Yanluo watched as the little reaper quickly pulled his hood over his head, hurried back to the bedroom, and slammed the door shut, locking it from the inside.
Yanluo was left alone in the living room, utterly baffled.
……Did he just scare him away?
Was his request really that unreasonable?
But seeing the little reaper’s skull today was a significant step forward.
He had already seen the skull. Surely, the rest of the skeleton wasn’t far behind?
Yanluo’s thoughts were becoming increasingly perverted.
Meanwhile, Thanatos buried himself in his bed, wrapping the blankets tightly around him as if that could shield him from Yanluo’s frivolous request.
The skeleton was once again covered with flesh and blood, and the youth’s ears were red enough to drip blood.
He couldn’t let himself be deceived just because he had seen less of the world.
……Friends wouldn’t ask each other to undress.
Such an outrageous remark should have been met with a swing of his scythe, cutting down the offender on the spot.
But at the time, Thanatos had been too stunned to think. His mind had gone blank, focused only on fleeing as quickly as possible.
Even now, the more he thought about it, the more embarrassment flooded him.
He pulled his hood and blankets over his head, trying to calm himself down.
Too much had happened today.
He had been dragged out of bed in the middle of the night to climb a mountain. He had spent the day in Tai’an with Yanluo. He had met an Eastern goddess on Mount Tai. Then, after returning home, his friends had thrown him a birthday celebration……
Right. The Eastern goddess.
Remembering the cryptic words Bixia Yuanjun had spoken on the mountain, Thanatos felt his thoughts shift.
He still had many questions that hadn’t been answered.
He grabbed his phone. Since the matter concerned Yanluo, he felt too self-conscious to ask in the group chat.
Based on past conversations, Granny Meng seemed to be the most well-informed when it came to gossip.
After a moment of hesitation, Thanatos tapped on Meng Wan’s chat window.
Even though it was already past 1 AM, Meng Wan was still awake.
To be precise, no one in the Proletarian Union group chat had gone to bed yet. It was a gathering of true night owls.
Fresh off Thanatos’ birthday celebration, everyone was still buzzing with excitement, chatting endlessly in the group. The Four Judges were the most active, with Ox-Head and Horse-Face occasionally chiming in. The Black and White Impermanence were nowhere to be seen, likely out enjoying the nightlife. The biggest anomaly was Granny Meng. She was usually the most talkative of them all, yet tonight, she was unusually silent.
Zhong Kui: I thought the God of Death was quiet enough online, but he’s even quieter in person. I spent the whole night counting how many sentences he said. So funny, he barely spoke at all, just nodded and shook his head. I really thought meeting him in real life would mean finally hearing his voice.
Lu Zhidao: That’s just because he didn’t want to talk to you. Didn’t you see how many whispered conversations he had with His Majesty? Considering how slow-to-warm-up the God of Death is, the fact that he even acknowledged you was already impressive.
Cui Jue: He was wearing the same black robe as last time. I swear, I didn’t see his face even once all night. What if his true form is actually just the robe?
Wei Zheng: Am I the only one who noticed that Venus was absolutely stunning, yet His Majesty didn’t spare him a single glance? Instead, he spent the entire night fixated on the God of Death, whose face wasn’t even visible. My takeaway? Respect true love.
Meng Wan silently lurked in the chat, watching the Four Judges excitedly gossip. There was plenty of material to fuel her shipping tendencies tonight, and as the former no. 1 CP fan, she should have been squealing in delight.
But the moment she recalled King Yan’s crazy task for her, she felt disgusted.
She just couldn’t ship anymore.
Someone had to protect their innocent God of Death. She couldn’t let that perverted King Yan sink his claws into him.
Even though Yanluo had never actually made a move on the Four Judges in real life, she couldn’t forget about the fanfics she was forced to write. Out of respect for her boss’ privacy, she hadn’t told the Four Judges about Yanluo’s designs on them, but she was very worried that the God of Death’s heart would be captured.
After all, His Majesty had been spending lavishly, planning grand surprises. His actions looked very much like he was pursuing the God of Death.
However, he couldn’t pursue the God of Death while also demanding fanfiction about him and the Four Judges! Wasn’t that like eyeing what was in the pot while already eating from one’s bowl?
The God of Death deserved a love that was pure and wholehearted. He couldn’t fall into the hands of a degenerate. Meng Wan had to warn him.
But how? She couldn’t just tell him that King Yan once requested smut of him and the Four Judges. That would be far too damaging to the dignified image of an Eastern god.
In most respects, she actually admired King Yan, so she didn’t want to tarnish his reputation. But at the same time, she couldn’t just sit by and keep this from the God of Death……
This situation was like watching a scummy friend pursue a genuinely good guy. Then she must remind the guy to stay away from him! Otherwise, how could she live with her conscience?
She was still wrestling with this dilemma when a private message popped up.
Thanatos: Are you there?
Meng Wan: Yes! What’s the matter?
Thanatos: I wanted to ask you something.
Thanatos: It’s about Yanluo and the Jade Emperor.
Thanatos: Do they have some kind of feud?
Meng Wan stared at the message in surprise.
Why was Thanatos suddenly asking about this?
Still, his question served as a reminder.
By the time Meng Wan had become an immortal, King Yan was already ruling the underworld. The immortals of the underworld were all relatively young, and they were all humans before their death. They didn’t know much about those things that happened in the heavenly court tens of thousands of years ago. All they had were scattered rumors.
And one of those rumors involved Yanluo and the Jade Emperor.
Meng Wan: Rather than a feud, it’s more like a karmic entanglement. Back then, King Yan was the most powerful god in the heavenly court and the one most likely to become the next Jade Emperor. He wasn’t always called King Yan. Back then, he was known as the Supreme God Yanluo.
Meng Wan: At that time, the human world was full of suffering. Among the many struggling souls, there was a young boy named Zhang Bainian. Supreme God Yanluo saw that he had the fate of an immortal, so he brought him back to the divine realm and guided him in cultivation, taking him as his disciple.
Meng Wan: That boy was extraordinarily gifted. Even though he was a later-generation immortal, he progressed at an astonishing speed, surpassing most innate gods in under ten thousand years. His power was second only to Supreme God Yanluo himself. It was said that…… King Yan was cold and distant to everyone but he had a close relationship with this young disciple. He was deeply fond of him, spoiling him with the finest elixirs and divine treasures. According to some, it was also a master-disciple romance.
Thanatos gripped his phone tightly.
Close relationship. Deeply fond. Master-disciple romance.
His lips pressed into a thin line, the corners tugging downward.
Unhappy. Very unhappy.
His good mood for the whole day was ruined.
Meng Wan: As more and more immortals ascended, the Heavenly Dao established countless new laws and decreed the need for an emperor to govern the gods. In truth, the Heavenly Dao favored Supreme God Yanluo as the rightful choice. In terms of power, he was unrivaled. He had always been the strongest, the leader of the divine realm. But to everyone’s surprise, he voluntarily gave up the throne. Instead, he chose to establish the underworld and became King Yan. With his departure, Zhang Bainian took his place and was crowned the Jade Emperor, honored as His Majesty the Jade Emperor.
Meng Wan: A former mortal rising to the throne while the once-greatest god was left with nothing but the title of king. It was a cruel twist of fate. Heaven will always trample the earth under its feet. This was also the Heavenly Dao’s punishment for King Yan’s defiance, for going against the heavenly laws. No matter how deep their bond had once been, there was no going back. From that moment on, one ruled the heavens, the other the underworld. That was how they broke up.
Meng Wan: Folk legends say that the Jade Emperor and the Queen Mother of the West are a couple, but that’s complete nonsense. The Queen Mother resides in Kunlun and has nothing to do with the Jade Emperor. The truth is, for tens of thousands of years, the Jade Emperor has remained single. There are rumors in the divine realm that the Jade Emperor is waiting for our King Yan.
Meng Wan: In the past, the Jade Emperor even came to visit the underworld a few times, but he was rejected by King Yan because they now “walked on different paths.” And for all these millennia, King Yan has never fallen for anyone else. Maybe he was heartbroken. Maybe…… he still misses the Jade Emperor. But the divide between the heavens and the underworld cannot be crossed, so he refuses to see him again.
Meng Wan had simply relayed the rumors as they were. Whether they were true or not, she had no way of knowing. After all, tens of thousands of years had passed, and only the gods involved knew what happened back then.
Still, there was no harm in telling Thanatos.
If he learned that King Yan had once loved someone else, perhaps even still loved him, then maybe, he would lose interest.
And that would serve Meng Wan’s purpose perfectly.
She had painstakingly typed out a long message, but Thanatos didn’t respond.
He only stared at the chat, a heavy, suffocating emotion settling in his chest.
Even thinking about all the ways Yanluo indulged him brought him no joy.
Because…… back then, he had been feeding his precious disciple divine elixirs.
Thanatos snapped to his senses.
He was unhappy.
But why?
Yanluo had been very good to him, providing him with food and lodging, and even carefully preparing such a birthday surprise for him today. None of this was something he was entitled to. He should be grateful.
How could he feel dissatisfied just because Yanluo had once given more to someone else?
Wasn’t this exactly what the Chinese books described as “a favor of a pint of rice is repaid with gratitude, but a favor of a bushel breeds resentment”?
Thanatos was a moral and polite Western god. He couldn’t allow himself such ungrateful thoughts.
And yet, his heart felt somewhat empty.
If he had a little more experience with emotions, he would have realized this wasn’t ingratitude.
This was jealousy.
Thanatos lay awake all night.
The next morning, an unexpected guest arrived at the apartment.
At that time, the Black and White Impermanence were in the first-floor living room, cleaning up the mess left from last night’s party. Since he had been the guest of honor, Thanatos felt bad about making them do all the work alone. So, he came downstairs to help.
Of course, Yanluo wouldn’t just stand by and watch Thanatos do chores. So, he joined in as well. Anyway, doing housework together was quite fun and homey.
Black and White Impermanence: “……”
What should have been a simple cleaning spell had now turned into actual manual labor because of the involvement of the God of Death and King Yan.
Just then, the doorbell rang. Xie Bian went to answer it.
Standing at the entrance was a young man dressed in white. His features were otherworldly, his modern attire blending seamlessly with his ethereal presence. But his eyes were devoid of emotion, no joy, no sorrow, only an inhuman coldness.
Fan Wujiu and Xie Bian stiffened slightly.
Thanatos had no idea which god had shown up this time.
The young man saw Yanluo, who was sweeping the floor, and his expression flickered slightly, then he was about to enter the door.
Yanluo tossed the broom in his hand. Dust scattered, staining the young man’s pristine white robes in an instant.
In a cold voice, he said, “Get out.”
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