Chapter 77 Sin
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Demonic monsters were crazy by nature. Although he barely had a human shape, he was not an exception.
Shen Shu wanted to make some noise and couldn’t wait to step forward, but Ye Yunlan caught him off guard.
His hand was slender and strong, clasping his five fingers tightly.
Shen Shu looked down.
Ye Yunlan’s side profile in the dim flames showed a more dignified expression than usual, and it was like the ice of the cloud peak piercing his eyes. That beauty was sharper than a blade. The other party’s palm was softer than running water, making him stunned for a while.
“Don’t go there,” Ye Yunlan said, “That’s not something you can deal with.”
This time, Ye Yunlan’s words didn’t give Shen Shu any room to turn.
Following that, Shen Shu saw his master standing up with his plain white sleeves hanging down. It brushed his cheeks like soft snow was falling down his face.
“Wait here. Master will be back soon.”
After saying this, he walked to the Mirror Platform.
Shen Shu finally returned to his senses. He immediately stood up, but he heard a clear clattering sound. Hei Wuchang’s chain formed a net to block him.
“The sin mirror platform can only view one person at a time.”
The King of H*ll said.
Shen Shu’s eyes were red for a moment. He wanted to draw his sword, and the Afterglow sword’s body whispered his exposed killing intent.
Ye Yunlan’s eyesight was not good, but his hearing was good. He had already stepped onto the stone steps of the sin mirror platform. He turned around, looked at Shen Shu, and said lightly.
“If you follow up, from then on, you don’t have to call me Master again.”
Shen Shu’s footsteps stopped in place.
Ye Yunlan didn’t look at Shen Shu’s expression. In this life, no one could stop what he decided to do.
He stepped onto the stage of the sin mirror.
Underneath was the sea of h*ll, burning. Flying sparks were floating in front of him. Without special shelter, the burning pain was eroding his body. But he could still bear it.
The underworld was a legend. When mortals offered sacrifices to ghosts and gods, they had imagined the world after death they had compiled into words and paintings and circulated. That became the people’s imagined underworld. But before Emperor Netherworld, there was no underworld. After all, a myth was just a myth.
Later, the establishment of the underworld was difficult to describe in two or three words. After all, it was time, fate, luck, and the Great Emperor Netherworld led it.
And the sin mirror platform was one of the three peerless magic weapons the Great Netherworld Emperor had used to suppress the underworld. Treasure hunters of later generations coveted it.
This stone platform was true and false. On it, the huge stone mirror could reflect the whole person, reflecting all the sins during one’s life.
Innocent ghosts could naturally stand on the stone platform safe and sound, but when the King convicted the person, the stone platform would turn into void, causing the ghost above to fall into the sea of h*ll and burn away the sins of his life before reincarnation.
In the memory of Ye Yunlan’s previous life, the sin mirror platform did not appear in the Netherworld Secret Realm. Another world-shattering treasure had appeared in the Netherworld Secret Realm.
And because of that treasure, he was framed and slandered for killing his fellow disciples and was expelled from the sect with He Lanze abolishing his cultivation base.
In his previous life, the information related to the underworld and the sin mirror platform passed by Ye Yunlan’s mind. His feet finally stood on the stone platform, and his eyes cast onto the stone mirror.
The smooth stone mirror clearly reflected the appearance of his whole body, reflecting his cold appearance. He saw a few words across the stone mirror: “There is no good person in front of the sin mirror.”
According to the legend, if it was a good soul, its spiritual nature would be clear, and its soul would be flawless and unsullied. The sin mirror wouldn’t reflect its image. However, if it was an evil ghost, the more vicious it was, the more it would reflect its appearance. That was how the saying, “there is no good person in front of the sin mirror”, came to be.
It seemed that this mirror had condemned him as being a serious evil.
Ye Yunlan looked slightly cold.
What was good or bad? What was sin?
In the underworld, on the sin mirror platform, everything it reflected was sinful.
The image in the mirror flowed quickly, reflecting him being hung in the law enforcement hall, rejected by many disciples, and dragged down the three thousand stone steps outside the sect. Then the picture changed, reflecting the world condemning and imprisoning him: The scene of him entering the Buddha Pagoda. There was also the scene where he was dressed in a wedding outfit, forming a blood contract with Chen Weiyuan. In a flash, he was held in the arms of the Demon Lord—those lights and shadows flowed in front of Ye Yunlan’s eyes, like the images before death. It was absurd, counting the sins on his body.
It was a sin to be banished by the sect for misbehaving while serving as a disciple.
It was a sin to rebel against the same clan when you are a human, and to live in harmony with demons.
It was a sin to be unfaithful to one’s dao companion when you were a wife.
…
Several sins were added, and the stone platform under the mirror gradually became transparent. He was about to be sent into the h*ll fire after the King of H*ll slapped the table.
Several bloody and distorted characters appeared in the mirror——”Are you guilty?”
Ye Yunlan suddenly laughed.
Shen Shu stood behind him. Intentionally or unintentionally, Ye Yunlan’s figure just covered his gaze on the stone mirror.
He could only listen to his master’s somewhat abrupt laughter. Walking in the gloomy underworld for a long time, it was as if he had seen the most ridiculous thing in the world.
Ye Yunlan seldom laughs. Laughing like this was the first time that Shen Shu had ever seen it.
The other party’s light laughter sounded like a clear spring hitting a rock, which was very pleasant to hear. However, when Shen Shu listened to this, he felt the evil in his heart grow violent. The Afterglow sword in his hand wanted to lash out to break the chains in front and that d*mn stone mirror.
Even more, he wanted to step forward and hug Ye Yunlan’s thin back so that he would stop laughing.
His reason could only contain his impulse when he looked at the stone platform that had become translucent.
He could only hear the voice of the King of H*ll: “The sin mirror reveals the source of karma. Now that the karma has been revealed, good and evil are divided, are you still dissatisfied?”
Ye Yunlan stopped his laughter. His expression revealed an appearance opposite of laughter. It was deadly cold: “If you want to condemn me, don’t worry about the pretext.” (negative bias; people give more weight to evidence that supports a preconception)
King of H*ll: “You saw profit and forgot your righteousness. You betrayed your sect and were unjust. You followed the bad examples of others and took the side of evildoers. You formed a dao companion and made a blood bond, but you had illicit relations with outsiders, unfaithful. In this way, unkind, unrighteous, and unfaithful people, one should enter h*ll and be sentenced for a hundred years according to the underworld’s rules. If one hundred years later, the soul is still there, then one can enter the animal life cycle.”
When he heard these words, Shen Shu’s eyes flashed scarlet.
His mind seemed to be divided into two halves. One half was listening with great interest, and the other half -that should’ve been suppressed to sleep- was suddenly standing up angrily to refute.
Saw profit, forgot righteousness, and betrayed one’s sect?
His master once sacrificed his life to help his fellow sect mates, even at the expense of his entire cultivation. And he had never seen treasures tempt the other party.
Followed bad examples of others and took the side of evil?
His master was clean and honest. He enjoyed life alone and had never followed others. Those who coveted him in the outside world, his master would be dirtied upon touch.
…As for making a bond and having illicit relations with his master’s character, that was even more nonsense!
What kind of sh*t trial is this? It was just nonsense!
Shen Shu stared at Ye Yunlan, but he saw Ye Yunlan was very quiet. His back in white clothes with black hair looked almost empty.
An unrighteous and unfaithful person.
Ye Yunlan thought quietly; this was really similar to the past world’s judgment on him.
Because it was too similar, the sense of absurdity and ridicule that arose in his heart when he saw the scene in the mirror was also lost in nothingness.
He looked indifferent. Just like those who blamed him, they were just fallen leaves floating onto his shoulders, and he didn’t even bother to brush them off.
——The stone platform under his feet had become more and more transparent. The King of H*ll on the high platform was holding his hand on the gavel, about to hit the table.
Ye Yunlan: “Ridiculous.”
King of H*ll: “Ridiculous?”
Ye Yunlan: “What I have seen and heard, everything is very ridiculous.”
“H*ll is built by people and judges a person’s life?”
“Can people’s merits and demerits, sin, and karma really be judged by people themselves?”
King of H*ll said coldly: “Could it be that it shouldn’t be done?”
Ye Yunlan: “Right and wrong and good and evil change with time. There is no unchanging good in the world, nor is there a permanent, unchangeable evil, because a man himself defines the difference between good and evil, and a man will change.”
“What’s more, what the human eye sees may not be the truth.”
In the ghost chaos era, the world needed to rebuild order and have strict etiquette, while the underworld needed to intimidate people. Building a mirror of sin and judging people’s good and evil was part of the order’s reconstruction.
However, the Great Netherworld Emperor, who used his “Void Tracing Cultivation” to cultivate the sin mirror platform, could not truly see the cause and effect and carry out justice.
The King of H*ll saw what the world saw, and the underworld deterred the world’s heart. However, the era of relying on the underworld to balance order had passed. The Great Emperor Netherworld, who could suppress the calamity with his body, had also returned to dust.
But at this moment, in the face of Ye Yunlan’s words, the King of H*ll was not angry. His voice was still indifferent, like a real god, deprived of feelings.
He said: “I used my body to suppress the calamity, and my soul melted into the underworld. I control billions of ghosts and quell ghosts. The rules I set have withstood the test of heaven and earth’s calamity, and the heavens recognize them. Those that are in the underworld should abide by my rules, so what’s wrong?”
Ye Yunlan said: “That’s why I say it’s ridiculous.”
“People eat fish, and people kill people. The former has no fault, so why is the latter extremely evil? That is the good and evil that people have set. Your rules.”
He closed his eyes.
“And the world is not benevolent; it regards all things like dogs.”
The King of H*ll did not speak again.
Ye Yunlan raised his sword, pointed it at the stone mirror in front of him, then said. “Xie Jiuyou, your time is over.”
He called the other party’s name, and his expression was not humble and cowardly. It was as if the person in front of him was not the high-ranking King of H*ll, the Netherworld Emperor recorded in the history books. Instead, he was just a person who had long since passed away and who he could look at.
The biting sword light hit the stone mirror like a rainbow.
And the gavel that the King of H*ll held in his hand did not fall.
The legendary stone mirror forged with the extremely hard fairy stone was turned into confetti and scattered in this blow. At the same time, there was paper money and chains all over the sky. The wooden table’s Hei Wuchang, Bai Wuchang, and the King of H*ll were shrouded outside, like a mountain-like robe.
Ye Yunlan looked at the sin mirror platform that had turned into confetti and dissipated. He didn’t care about it.
His speculation was not wrong. This entire White Bone Hall was really just a shadow, reflected by the emperor’s dead soul’s fluctuations.
Hei Bai Wuchang was false, and so was the sin mirror.
Only because of stepping on the Void Tracing Realm could one have the ability to transform the fake into reality. That was why everything around him would look like reality and illusion, and it was difficult to distinguish.
A faint sigh came out.
“Yes. Everything is of the past…”
The voice was no longer the solemn voice of the King of H*ll but became clear and soft, like a young scholar.
Ye Yunlan raised his eyes and saw the King of H*ll’s real figure revealed after removing the heavy robe.
The other party’s appearance was not as solemn as the world had spread. His figure was even very thin, and his appearance was like his voice, like a handsome scholar.
His figure was already translucent, about to dissipate.
The faint firelight penetrated his cheeks. He was sitting behind the large wooden table, and what he held in his hand was no longer a gavel but a white paper crane.
“Yudi…”
He whispered while holding the paper crane in his hand, seeming a little dazed.
Ye Yunlan slowly retracted his sword into its sheath and heard hurried footsteps behind him.
Shen Shu hugged him tightly from behind.
“Master,” his arm strained, and his voice was a little bit gritted, “Do you know, just a little bit more, and you were about to fall into the sea of h*ll. There would be no bones left——” Ye Yunlan frowned: “Those were just an illusion.”
“Even if they are illusions,” Shen Shu said, “I can’t allow you to have the slightest mishap——” His tone was so gloomy and domineering that it was a bit familiar. Ye Yunlan was surprised. He tried to break away from his embrace, but he still held him tightly. He whispered: “Shen Shu.”
Until now, he had no time to correct his wrong thoughts. He could only successfully obtain the soul-attracting flower in the secret realm and help Shen Shu lift the restraint on his body and resolve the karma in this life. As for everything in the future… It was not something that he could participate in.
He raised his hand and pulled Shen Shu’s hands wrapped around him. After tossing around for a long time, he pulled the entangled disciple away. Shen Shu’s eyes seemed to be a little red. He ignored it and raised his eyes to look upwards. The figure before the table had become more and more illusory.
Ye Yunlan walked up and saw the young scholar rubbing the white paper crane in his hand, with faint tears on his face.
“I have forgotten a lot of things since I combined with the underworld.” The scholar said, “Ghost chaos is the calamity of heaven and earth. There are too many ghosts stranded in the world. Even though the Void Tracing Realm can open up a space to accommodate them, in the end, it’s hard to last for a long time. I could only use my body to suppress and strengthen this space and deal with the residual spirits one by one over many years. People call this space the Netherworld and call me the King of H*ll. Actually, I’m just a ghost who has forgotten even the people I love and the things I long for.”
“These years, the ghost chaos calamity has passed, and I will also disappear. In the underworld, there is only one last ghost left.”
In the depths of the underworld, one could continue to hear the ethereal singing of the dead.
The singing was soft and ethereal but with a bit of sorrow.
The scholar raised his head, holding the white paper crane in his palm: “Now that you have reached this far, can you give it to her for me?”
“Since you finally remembered it, why don’t you see her in person?” Ye Yunlan asked.
The scholar was silent for a while.
“I wouldn’t last to see her.”
Ye Yunlan looked down at the King of H*ll sitting on the high seat. The other party’s young and handsome face was tired and imploring. It really didn’t look like the King of H*ll, but someone who had been wandering outside for a long time, wanting to return home.
He spoke. “I can.”
Seeing his promise, the scholar showed a slight expression of gratitude, then lowered his head to look at the paper crane in his hand. His fingertips trembled and stroked it.
The already transparent soul dissipated instantly. The dark flames around it gradually extinguished. The eerie underworld hall immediately seemed to be covered with dust, passing through the long and ancient years.
On the decayed wooden table, there was a white skull.
There was also one thing on the skull.
In front, staring at the empty skull with eyes, was the white paper crane still intact after thousands of years.
Even though the cultivator’s corpse in the Void Tracing Realm had passed for thousands of years, it still had incredible power. There would probably be another name on the magic weapon list if one brought back the skull and refined it into a magic weapon.
Only, Ye Yunlan didn’t touch the skull. He just picked up the white paper crane and placed it in his palm.
Shen Shu watched behind him. After Ye Yunlan broke away from his embrace, he remained silent for a while.
Ye Yunlan didn’t notice his behaviour but just stared at the paper crane in the palm of his hand. He didn’t know what he thought of, but suddenly said, “Shen Shu, many years ago, you asked if there really is an immortal in this world, and how can one become an immortal.”
“If immortality is as Xie Jiuyou, where one forgets oneself, their loved ones, the items that matter to them, only to establish rules and live a thousand years without changing, do you think it is worth it? ”
Shen Shu sneered, “Master, that guy is not an immortal. He is just neither human nor ghost——” Ye Yunlan interrupted him, “I said if.”
Shen Shu: “If it is as Master said, of course it’s not worth it. If you forget yourself, you no longer exist. What’s the meaning of becoming an immortal?”
“But…” He hooked his lips. “If becoming and immortal can heal Master’s injury, so that Master can be with Disciple for years——”
“Then Disciple can consider it.”
“Shen Shu!” Ye Yunlan reprimanded but saw Shen Shu’s eyes looking faintly over.
“Right, when it comes to this,” he said casually, “Master, just now you were in a random trial, saying that you had a marriage contract with someone and also had an illicit relation with an outsider…” He paused and didn’t utter the other sharp words. However, he said, “Disciple wants to know, is this true?”
His pitch-black eyes seemed to have trapped a terrifying fire and also deep seawater. At this moment, the surface of the sea was shining, and there were a few hints of pitiful grievance, but at the same time, it was deeply disturbing.
He was puzzled: “Master, you told Disciple that you will not form a dao companion with anyone in this life, that having one disciple as a companion is enough. You… Could it be that you lied to me?”
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Pffft, Shen Shu you’re the mistress
Ahhhh I can’t wait for him to restore his memories!!!!!!!
I love this story a lot!!! Thank you so much for your hard work!Ｏ(≧▽≦)Ｏ