by Tony Tran
While the army of the underworld was comprised of souls who did not wish to be reincarnated and wanted to stay in hell. These were mostly people who wished for power, or had very strong lingering thoughts of their loved ones. Because if they stayed in hell they could possibly one day be reunited with their loved ones, instead of reincarnating and forgetting all their memories. But it would take someone who was strong willpower to wait because ten years in hell was equivalent to one year in the mortal plane. One would have to wait for thousands of years before one of their loved ones to appear.
Zhang also found out that once they entered the city every soul would be given a crystal card. This card could be used as currency in hell, everyone's deeds will be weighed once more and a corresponding number will appear on the card. Then when one wanted to purchase something they could simply transfer the points from the card to the other person.
As souls there was no need to eat, but most prefer to do so, although it provided no substance, they would still want to be able to taste and enjoy food. People started hotels and, shops that sold this and that.
When Zhang entered the city he was welcomed by a kind looking old lady, who directed him to stand on a scale. When she read the number that appeared on the scale, she was amazed. Although Zhang was only sixteen years old, his good deeds outweighed most people who lived most of their lives doing good. This was because Zhang had sacrificed himself so others could live. If not for him, the entire Zhou clan and most likely the Wu clan would've all died. The thousands or so lives of the Wu clan and the hundreds of the Zhou were all saved by him. Thus, Zhang was given an astonishing number of points to use.
She then told him that since he had done so much good when he was alive, he would most likely not needed to wait that long to reincarnate. The lady also told Zhang to be careful in the city, because, although only those whose good deeds outweigh their bad deeds were let into the city. However, not everyone stayed good, people were not judged again after they entered the city and like any other place, the city also had crime and evil doers.
But in Zhang's mind he had not once even thought about reincarnating, he would either join the army of the underworld or somehow find a way to return in the world of the living. He also realized that the underworld is probably the perfect place to train and cultivate, due to the difference in time between it and the mortal plane. This also meant the army of the underworld was immensely powerful. Little did Zhang know that everyone in the army of the underworld was at least a level 8 mage or warrior with a large number of them having reached sainthood and an exceptional few who have even gone beyond that level.
Zhang and the man whom he was talking to while waiting in line was called Yun Zhao. As they entered the city, they saw a mixture of old ancient buildings and many newer buildings. It only showed how long the City of the Dead had been around. Buildings of all shapes and sizes littered in the city, but what stood out the most was a huge palace that could be seen even in the distance. The palace had four massive towers at each corner, a massive dome in the center and then a few smaller looking domes to the side. It gave off an intimidating aura of dominance.
The streets were filled with people dressed in all sorts of different manners, and speaking all sorts of different languages. Zhang was able to make out what some of the people were saying, some of the languages seemed out of this world to him. But thankfully, the majority spoke the same language as he did.
Having never left even Blue Tear City before Zhang was in a daze, he had never been to a city this big before. That being said, how can any city in the world of the living be close to the City of the Dead. Countless people died every day and constantly ended up in the underworld. Although not all of them were concentrated in this one city because there were other cities, but this one happened to be the capital of the underworld.
As Zhang walked around the city, he spotted someone running down the street. As the person got closer, Zhang was able to make out that it was a girl around the age of sixteen much like himself. But her beauty stunned him, her skin was white as snow, with fiery red hair that seemed to go to past her waist and red pupils that seemed to draw him in. He stood there awestruck by how beautiful she looked. Then he saw that she was being chased by two soldiers dressed in pure black armor.
Zhang decided to help the girl get away.
"This way." he yelled at her.
The girl nodded and followed him, the two of them ran into an alleyway, where Zhang had previously seen a bunch of barrels stacked up on a wagon. As they ran past the wagon Zhang kicked it and all the barrels started rolling off the wagon blocking the alley.
After running for a while the two stopped to catch their breath, Zhang didn't know when, but he was holding onto the girl’s hand. When he realized, he quickly let go and looked at her. The girl was clearly blushing because of having her hand held by a stranger.
"Thank you for helping me back there, my name is Yuying, what’s your name big brother?", she said.
Her voice sounded like a heavenly instrument, that soothed the soul.
"You can call me Zhang." He said with a smile.
"How long you been in the city?" Yuying asked Zhang while looking intently.
To this, he shook his head and told her that he had just entered the city today.
"Why don't I show you around the city as a thanks for helping me out earlier?" Yuying said.
The two of them visited all sorts of places around the city, food stalls, shops, iconic places, there were even tourist locations. Who would've thought that the underworld would have tourist attractions. Zhang and Yuying spent the whole day having fun. Although he only met her for not even a day the two of them truly enjoyed each other’s company.
They found a spot to sit down in a busy restaurant and began telling each other stories. Zhang learned that Yuying was actually born in the underworld and had not died.
He couldn't help trying to catch glimpses of her when he had the chance, this girl was too beautiful. If she was in Blue Tear city she would be as beautiful as Ling, but instead of giving off an unapproachable lady like aura like Ling, she would have a friendly one that made it easy for anyone to become her friend.
Unlike in the world of the living, the night in the underworld had no stars and no moon. The world would become pitch black and only the lanterns that contained hellfire would illuminate the streets.
Yuying told Zhang that it was time for her to go back home.
"Will we ever see each other again?" Zhang asked.
"We will leave that up to fate big brother, if it is meant to be then it shall happen. I've had the most fun ever for the first time today."
"How about I walk you home?" Zhang asked her, while smiling.
Yuying shook her head and told him it was alright, and began walking away.
Zhang wanted to grab her hand and ask her to stay a while longer, but like she said if they were meant to see each other again they would.
Some may wonder why exactly Zhang decided to help Yuying in the first place and why she had such a big impression on him that he seemed to forget his current circumstances, but there are somethings that happen for a reason and cannot be explained.
Yuying glanced back at Zhang after walking a considerable distance away, then she began walking again. She walked all the way to the Palace in the center of the city and up toward the giant gates. There were two giant dragons carved into the gates and a team of ten soldiers clad in pitch black armor stood guard. When they saw Yuying walked toward the gates, instead of stopping her, they saluted.
"Princess, the king has sent men looking for you all day." the lead guard said.
"Tell father I'm back now." Yuying said as she walked into the palace toward the throne room.
When she opened the doors to the room there was a big bulky man dressed in black robes with dragons engraved on to it. He was seated on a golden chair or well a golden throne. This man was known to everyone in the underworld as the Yama.
"Father
I'm back!" Yuying yelled with a smile.
The man got up from this throne walked towards her and patted her head.
"You silly girl, always causing trouble. Now go to your room and rest, also no more sneaking out of the palace without guards who knows what kind of trouble you might run into." The Yama said.
Zhang was sitting in a room in an inn he had rented, he didn't know where Yun Zhao was. He stood up and walked toward the bed then laid down
"They are probably worried sick about me." He thought as he reminisced about his loved ones whom he may or may not ever meet again.
"One day perhaps I’ll if I’m lucky I might someone come home. Maybe I might not be myself anymore but somehow I’ll come back." Zhang said as he closed his eyes.
Earlier today he sensed a bit of essence build up within his body after the black fire entered the pendant. He held up his pendant and stared at it. He decided to do something he had never tried before. Zhang was going to enter a blank state of mind and then infuse what little essence he could into the pendant then see if there is a reaction. By entering a blank state of mind he would be able to pick up slight changes if anything were to happen.
As he did so, an immense aura suddenly gushed out of the pendant, and in Zhang's mind he could see a pair of golden eyes looking at him. He couldn't see anything except for the pair of eyes, but a voice soon followed. "Hey you whelp", the voice said.
Zhang was still dazed by the aura that gushed out of the necklace so he didn't reply.
"Thank you for waking me up. I've been asleep for a while or I guess I've been dead for a while." The voice said with a chuckle.
"Was it you who saved me from the ghosts?" Zhang asked.
"No, I was simply using the opportunity to gather more essence, since you alone do not supply me with enough to keep my consciousness awake." The voice said.
Zhang came to a realization, it wasn't that he was not able to produce his own essence it was that whenever he did, the pendant would absorb it all.
" It was you! You've been the one that's been keeping me from gathering essence!" Zhang yelled.
"I needed it or else my consciousness would fade away and I would disappear. But I will tell you this after absorbing those undead, a small portion of my power has returned now. I don’t need to take from you anymore. I am one who remembers those that have showed kindness to me, so I will help you become powerful and leave the underworld. Since the body that you trained so hard to empower is no more." The voice said.
Then a golden drop flew out of the pendant. It projected a powerful aura of pure condensed energy.
"I have refined some of the essence from the souls into a single drop of pure energy and also added a little extra something for you. If you absorb this your level will raise quite a bit." The voice said and the golden pair of eyes disappeared.
Zhang tried to talk to it again but it did not respond. Gripping the golden drop in his hand, Zhang was somewhat torn. He wanted to be angry at the voice for robbing him of his power for the last sixteen years, but a part of him also felt gratitude. If he indeed had essence like a regular person, he would have not trained physically and would become reliant on his inner energies instead.
He took the golden drop and placed it in his mouth and swallowed it, and the golden drop slowly expanded from inside his stomach and spread throughout his body. It then began emitting a visible aura around Zhang.
Chapter 4: Against Heaven’s Will
The golden drop of essence, circulated throughout Zhang's body and dispersed its power into his body. After a day Zhang finally stood up, as the golden drop had completely integrated into his body. Surprisingly, his essence now reached level four. After being stuck at the first level for most of his life, Zhang was filled with joy. Then suddenly he heard the mysterious voice once more.
"Although your body lacks the ability to produce a lot of essence, thanks to that drop of pure essence it has reached the fourth level unexpectedly. This is probably the highest level you could reach if you were alive."
"What’s the point if I’m already dead? What’s the point of having power now? I have no one to protect, nothing to fight for." Zhang sighed.
"Indeed you are dead, but not all things stay dead. There is actually a way for you to go back to the world of the living, without having to reincarnate actually. But first I need to devour more souls, my power is still lacking and there is no way for me to help you." The voice said.
"What??!! There's a way for me to go back?!!” Zhang yelled.
"There is a certain place in the underworld, a forbidden place, called "The Pool of Regrets”. This pool is linked with the other side, but usually it only let souls pass one way, meaning it only sends souls into the underworld. But every one thousand years, during the solar alignment, if one had enough power they could reverse the flow and return to the world of the living as a loose soul. And once you are in the world of the living there are many ways to revive. For instance, you can possess someone or if you manage to gather enough negative energy from a battlefield perhaps you can condense it into a body. But first you must gather one hundred thousand souls of the dead and the best place to do that is within the Eighteen Levels of Hell. I can cloak you in a layer of energy that can conceal your presence to weak souls. Also you must make haste the solar alignment is going to happen within two years’ time" The voice said
"How will I gather the souls!? And where is the Pool of Regrets?” Zhang asked, as he was hit with a wave of confusion due to the voice’s words.
"Simple, close your eyes and look into your soul and tell me what you see?” The voice said.
Zhang listened to the voice and closed his eyes and fell into a meditative state. Inside his soul he could see a raging black fire.
“I see a raging black fire.” Zhang replied calmly.
“I bestowed on you a bit of my power, use the black flame to absorb the souls into the pendant. And the Pool of Regrets is within the Palace of the Yama. For now, you must use the pendant as a medium to use the black flame but as your control over it grows you can produce your own." The voice said. A layer of mystifying black energy coated Zhang's body which made his body appear transparent. And from the pendant a black fire shot out and revolved around Zhang, constantly flickering as if it would go out any second.
For the last six months, Zhang began mapping the City of the Dead. He needed to find the quickest route from the 18 levels of hell to the Yama's palace. Because once one hundred thousand souls had gone missing it would obviously cause a huge stir in the underworld. The Yama would certainly send out the Army of the Underworld. And possessing only the little power he had now, how would Zhang contend against them? Even if the mysterious voice from the pendant helped him, he didn't believe that he would be able to make it out. Because he needed all the energy from the one hundred thousand souls to reverse the flow of the Pool of Regrets to escape.
Zhang had spent the vast wealth he had gotten in hiring people to map out every part of the capital. Six months had already past but only sixty percent of the city was mapped. The entire city was simply too vast, and was filled with too many alleyways and streets to be entirely mapped out quickly.
The eighteen levels of hell were located outside the capital, pass the Forest of the Forgotten. The tricky part of the plan was to sneak into the 18 levels of hell and then make it out and cross through the Forest of the Forgotten. The Forest of Forgotten was huge and was covered in dense fog that made one lose any sense of direction they had. Zhang would have to navigate his way through with the possibility being chased by the Army of the Underworld, which had many experts in it.
Today Zhang had set out from the capital and headed into the Forest of the Forgotten, he wanted to leave markers, so he could make out a path later on. The day of the solar alignment was quickly approaching, so he had to make sure there were no loose ends to his plan.
Zhang made a trail of rocks and marked various trees, as he made his way across the Forest of Forgotten. Luckil
y he had not run into any of the mad souls that were banished into the forest. After he made it across the forest he saw an imposing fortress, with a massive tower situated in the center, the place known the eighteen Levels of Hell. He activated the energy in the pendant that enveloped him, and decided to scout the fortress.
Zhang had to figure out to see if any of the guards were able to sense him, because it would be simply stupid to try to sneak in if they could see him. And so he made his way toward the main gate of the fortress.
He saw groups of people in chains being escorted into the fortress by platoon of guards. Zhang walked closer and closer at a relatively slow pace, he had to make sure not to make any noise. Eventually, he reached the gate unnoticed and walked right in. There were countless guards in the fortress, hundreds of thousands of them. What stood out the most in the fortress was the entrance to the giant tower. It looked like a monster with its mouth open, as if everyone who walked in was simply walking into a monster's stomach.