Are There Only Demonesses Left in the Cultivation Realm?

Calling that eternal life was just a joke.

The Nether Monarch’s Dao was far more profound. When the Nether River opened, the spirits of the dead could feel a trace of warmth from their past, and new life would spring forth from decaying flesh.

Rebirth follows death. The deaths of the past give birth to the lives of the future. That is the true cycle of reincarnation.

Lu Changyuan cast aside his tangled thoughts, still wondering where on earth the Nether Monarch could be.

Just then, Mei Zhaozhao emerged, still clad head to toe in black robes. "You should listen to what I have to say. I just saw the Nether Monarch in my dream."

Lu Changyuan’s head snapped up. "Keep talking."

"I was just getting to that."

"Did the Nether Monarch say where she is?"

"Nope."

"Then did the Nether Monarch say how we can kill Xiao Qingfeng?"

Mei Zhaozhao paused for a moment, then shook her head.

Lu Changyuan took a deep breath. "Then what *did* the Nether Monarch tell you?"

"The Nether Monarch told me to help you kill Xiao Qingfeng."

Something hardened.

His fists.

Lu Changyuan felt his self-control was still lacking. Perhaps he was just more irritable now that he’d lost the Supreme Pure Spirit Forget Immortal Technique.

"Then what good are you?"

"I have no idea."

After a long pause, during which he concluded that Mei Zhaozhao was useless, Lu Changyuan turned to Su Youwan. "At least this proves the Nether Monarch isn’t dead."

’To seize the Netherworld, Xiao Qingfeng must kill Yu.’

Lu Changyuan’s eyes narrowed. He’d guessed that the name ’Yu’ must be immensely important, but he couldn’t understand why the Nether Monarch would give her own name to him.

He carefully recalled his previous experiences in the Netherworld but still came up empty.

Meanwhile, Mei Zhaozhao began to murmur as if sleep-talking, "Five hundred years of wind, five hundred years of sun, five hundred years of rain... and the Nether Monarch will finally return."

"What did you say?"

"I heard that phrase the moment I entered the Netherworld. And just now, it seemed like the Nether Monarch said it in my dream, too."

In the hundred years Lu Changyuan had been here, he had never once heard anyone say that.

The prayers of all the spirits were simply that the Nether Monarch would finally return, as if the first part of the verse was being deliberately concealed.

Mei Zhaozhao smoothed down her black robes, though the thick fabric could not completely conceal her exquisite figure.

"Is there something wrong with that phrase?"

Lu Changyuan seized Mei Zhaozhao by the shoulders, making her flinch and tremble. "Where did you hear that?"

"The first time was on the Stone Bridge outside the city. The second time was... just now."

’The Stone Bridge?’

The Silver-haired Maiden’s ethereal voice rang out. "Legend has it that a long, long time ago, there was a scholar who saw a young woman selling tofu by the roadside. He fell deeply in love with her and could not forget her. So he went to pray before the Buddha. The Buddha asked him, ’How much do you love this young woman?’"

"The scholar replied, ’I am willing to become a stone bridge, to endure five hundred years of wind, five hundred years of sun, and five hundred years of rain, all for the slim hope that she might one day walk across me.’"

"The scholar became the Stone Bridge and endured fifteen hundred years of solitude. In exchange, he earned the chance to meet the young woman. He arranged to meet her under the bridge, but that day, a torrential downpour began. The scholar waited desperately. The appointed hour passed, but the young woman never came. And so, clinging to the bridge, the scholar drowned."

Mei Zhaozhao stared in bewilderment as the two traded lines. "I’ve told you before, I can’t stand these tragic stories of love and loss."

The Silver-haired Maiden held her birdcage, an aura of a Bodhisattva emanating from her.

Her voice was ethereal and timeless. "There is another legend. A long, long time ago, there was a young woman from a wealthy and noble family. She was so beautiful that the suitors hoping to win her hand nearly wore down her doorstep. Yet, she fell for a poor scholar she saw at a temple fair. She went to pray before the Buddha, and the Buddha asked her, ’How much do you love this scholar?’"

Su Youwan glanced at Lu Changyuan.

Lu Changyuan had no choice but to continue. "The young woman replied, ’I am willing to become a stone monument, to endure five hundred years of wind, five hundred years of sun, and five hundred years of rain, all for the slim hope that he might occasionally walk past and notice me.’"

"The young woman became a stone monument and endured fifteen hundred years of loneliness. In exchange, she earned the chance to meet the scholar, but she had misheard the time. When she arrived on that day of torrential rain, she heard that the scholar had already drowned, clinging to the Stone Bridge."

Su Youwan’s voice was devoid of joy or sorrow.

"She also saw the tofu-selling girl standing in the crowd by the bridge with her fiancé. The Buddha said to her, ’That is the woman the scholar loved. He waited fifteen hundred years for her.’"

Mei Zhaozhao was dumbfounded. "What kind of awful story is that? Then what happened?"

Lu Changyuan waved a hand dismissively. "Afterward, the young woman said, ’I feel I was more deserving of him. He was devoted, but I also waited in sorrow.’ And so, she leaped into the river after him."

"What a terrible story! You two both love telling these depressing tales!" Mei Zhaozhao said. "Is this all you listen to at the Compassionate Palace?"

The Saintess of the Hehuan Sect still remembered the story Lu Changyuan had told about Su Wuxiang.

Su Youwan simply shook her head.

"Our palace reveres Ci Hang, not the Buddha. And if one of our disciples truly loved someone, she wouldn’t just wait around foolishly. She’d tie him up and drag him home."

Lu Changyuan pretended not to hear.

"The Nether River is trembling."

He then turned back around. "Third Prince, perhaps I need to establish some sort of connection with you after all."

Mei Zhaozhao snapped back to her senses. For a moment, it was as if she’d heard the Nether Monarch whispering in her ear again. She touched the black robe she was wearing and, finding it still there, breathed a sigh of relief.

Lu Changyuan was confused.

"Why do you insist on covering yourself in that black robe? Are you too ugly to be seen?"

"You’re the ugly one!" Mei Zhaozhao huffed. "If I took this robe off and you saw my face, you’d probably pounce on me. And since I can’t beat you, I’m not about to do that."

’So confident.’

’What a turn-off.’

Lu Changyuan was left speechless.