One evening, five visitors gathered in the often-empty court of Lord Enma. Their attire and bearing were that of monks, secluded and unrestrained from the cause and effect. Yet, their expressions showed something entirely different.
"When can we meet him, First Prince?" one of them asked impatiently.
Ren Jiang who was dawdling behind the screen half-heartedly walked out from it.
"Monk Tsuneo, you know what the situation is. We've been telling the world that father is in secluded cultivation but you know the truth, right?"
Monk Tsuneo crushed his jade tea cup with his bare hands. "Sick. Still feeling a bit under the weather, eh?" another monk laughed mockingly with him.
Ren Jiang returned his mockery with a calm gaze. "His mental fortitude isn't the same as it used to be. Centuries of hard work only gets harder. Heaven's attitude isn't helping in any way either. The heart demon is acting up-"
"So, what is he up to? Trembling in a corner. Waiting for a savior. Lord Enma's mental fortitude is lacking?" Monk Masashi scoffed.
"I expected a somewhat passable excuse from you, First Prince."
The ones who kept their head low knew. They knew of Lord Enma's state. But they weren't stupid enough to spill their honest opinions in front of the First Prince. What power did the monks have? Over the years it had been slowly chipped away by either one or the other prince. As if these seven bastards weren't enough, that devil Zhang Xiyu and his minister have monopolized every leak in resources in mere fifteen decades. Now the ghouls listened to them and so did a mere leaf in hell.
They couldn't stand up to him either.
In this never-ending lifespan, the monks only had one constant job. To maintain the balance. In mortal terms, the monks headed the realm of Heaven's embassy down here in hell. But they've been here for so long that they might as well be its native residents.
Ren Jiang pursued his lips and sat down in his father's seat. "Prime Minister Jin Niu, you may proceed."
Jin Niu bowed and pulled out a scroll out of thin air. "Reports from the state governors. They contain detailed accounts of the calamities striking their base-"
"Send all of that to the Seventh and Sixth brother. Let's talk about the other crisis." Ren Jiang waved his hand as a signal.
Jin Niu stepped back and opened a crack in space. The crack split into two and sprawled out, like a screen levitating in thin air. Jin Niu had created a one-sided portal to see what lies on the other end. The screen's other side showed nothing but the dark sky of hell. Its boundary which was seemingly endless now looked like it had a black hole in it. Through that hole in the sky, black tartar like ghouls were slipping out of it. With dismal wails they floated up to this highest point in the sky and slipped right into it.
There was a strange silence in the room as everyone held their breath.
We are done for. We can never come back from this.
They all had an idea of what they were seeing but no one was brave enough to voice it out, until-
"The ghouls have escaped hell. Call me pessimistic but I believe that portal leads to the mortal world. Is that so?" Monk Shiraishi calmly remarked.
Monk Shiraishi looked at the trembling brows of his fellow monks and sighed deeply.
'Why are they surprised? This calamity, one could see it from ten li away.'
"How....did we find out about this?" Does anyone else know?
Jin Niu grimly shook his head and swiped the air with his hand. The scene changed to a very unfamiliar territory. Tall buildings and relentless chatter, in the corner of this bustling scene laid a poor corpse. Ink black hands grabbed at the scraps and like a vacuum swallowed them whole.
The underworld had trodden above the surface.
The meeting ended promptly. Understandably so, what is a discussion without conversation? No one could figure out what was going through Ren Jiang's head. With a rock-hard poker face, the man gave out a few customary instructions and then went back to himself.
"That's it?" Yutao looked at the man incredulously.
Monk Shiraishi lowered his head and grumbled under his breath.
"Haah…" Yutao couldn't decide whether to laugh or cry.
"Alright then. Guess you can go back now. Bye-bye."
Monk Shiraishi grabbed his shoulder. "You. What is he going to do?"
Yutao looked at the overflowing concern on the old monk's face and his heart softened just a bit. "We will take care of it, Monk Shiraishi. We won't turn away from this."
Monk Shiraishi was touched beyond words. Such selfless souls. What a pragmatic approach. These new kids are really the harbingers of revolution.
Yutao did nothing to discourage this new found pristine image. He had other things to do. The surroundings changed swiftly as he turned around and walked away. Yutao now stood before a wooden door of a studio apartment.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
The door swung open and a disheveled looking man leaned out. "Zach!" he gasped with evident relief.
'Zach' entered the cramped apartment wearing a thin smile. "Benny, great to see you."
Benny, who reminded Yutao of a drooling dog, restrained himself and curled up on his tattered sofa. "I have a gift for you Zach . . . . . . I know you- you will like it ha-ha."
Yutao clapped his hands and sat down, "Bring it in then."
Benny slouched up shyly. His greasy blonde hair had grown past his chin, meeting with his shaggy beard. All that hair and it still couldn't hide the raging madness contained in his bright blue eyes. His hands quivered as he grinned at Yutao.
"You are my only real friend Zach. We just- we just click you know? This understanding. You are the best person I have ever met."
Yutao's smile strained even more.
"Why can't they all be like you huh? So- hah so judgmental! I hate them!"
"Even my own mother can you believe it? You would think that she would definitely love me but no!"
"Why what happened?" Yutao rubbed his back in a comforting motion.
"...she saw my toys. "
"..."
"She threatened to call the police. Told me I was nuts and that- "Benny choked while sobbing.
"-she wished she had killed me in her womb. How could she say that Zach?"
Benny grabbed Yutao by his lapels and cried on his chest. The tears, sweat, and grime rubbed all over Yutao's white shirt. Yutao reluctantly patted Benny's back while he fantasized about grabbing Zhang Xiyu by his neck and choking him to reincarnation. Why is this bastard still here anyways? Him and his questionable plans.
"Where's the gift Benny?" Yutao shoved him away as gently as he could manage.
Benny looked confused for a second but then lit up like a two-watt bulb.
"Ooh yes come with me!"
Yutao dragged his feet to follow the man. They walked into the closet sized bedroom where Yutao smelled a familiar scent.
Benny enthusiastically opened a small trunk. "It's not my best work Zach you know cuz my mom walked in on me."
In there lay a 3- to 4-foot-long doll. No, it looked a little too real for a doll. Yutao controlled his breathing when he realized that Benny here has a hobby of making "toys" out of dead children.
Slam!
The trunk was closed. Yutao smiled again, "Wouldn't want it to catch dust."
Benny was touched beyond words. If only Yutao was aware of how many people's hearts he had touched today.
Yutao pushed himself to speak. "What. Did your mom say about this?"
Benny's face turned grim; his gaze akin to a wronged dog. "She refuses to speak to me, Zach. I talk to her all the time but mom just keeps ignoring me!"
Yutao just kept nodding absent mindedly. Now that he has seen the dead child, shouldn't the fragment be visible in Benny's soul? The fragment should be the one to show off its handicraft. Why is it still hidden?
"See for yourself. The woman even refuses to cook for me these days, let alone clean the house. I mean just look at the state this house is in!"
"Your mother's still here?"
"Of course she is. She hasn't left the house in days. Come."
Yutao follows Benny out of the room and to another. The door is ajar and no light enters the room. Luckily for Yutao, he was used to the dark now. With his perfect night vision, he gets yet another surprise.
"Mom, would you at least welcome my friend Zach? You've always wanted to meet him."
Oh yes, she will, just not in this realm...…
Needless to say, the poor woman was also lying dead on her bed. Yutao promptly switched the light on and fixed his sight on Benny.
"Mom?"
"She- she looks a bit like my toys…"
Yutao couldn't care less about what Benny was saying because it was here. The fragment was now clear as day, embedded tightly in Benny's worthless soul. Its blue radiance covers everything else from Yutao's sight. A faint voice traveled from far away.
"Yutao."
Must be an illusion. The only real thing was this beautiful gem. A piece of guilty bliss.
"Yutao."
"Yutao!"
Yutao snapped back to reality. He didn't realize how exactly he got back to hell. It was almost as if he had dreamt about the mortal world. But the glowing fragment in his blood-stained hands said otherwise. He looked up to find a man shaking his shoulders with concern in his eyes.
Zhang Xiyu looked equally drained out and haggard as he felt. His black robes were in tatters and he was covered in blood and grime. Yutao let out a laugh when he saw a sword sticking out from his back.
"Are you okay?" He asked lightly.
Zhang Xiyu scowled and pulled out the blade from his back. The blade fell to the ground with a clang.
"Here." Yutao passed the fragment to him.
Zhang Xiyu puts it away in his interdimensional ring. "Too troublesome?"
"Noo it was okay. Easy job."
Zhang Xiyu nods and walks to his room to change into new clothes. Yutao follows him in "Do we have to go to this party?"
"It's not as if I want to. I just believe that we might find some interesting things while we are there."
Yutao nodded vigorously, "I get it Xiyu. You were unmarried when you entered hell. And the Pit certainly didn't have any sane fairer sex. Apart from the beasts. It's understandable if you want to get some now."
"Yutao?"
"Hmm?"
"Is this your way of telling you are into bestiality?"
"...."
"...."
"Fuck off."
___________________________________
"I could have never guessed that hell would look like this before I died."
Yutao closed the carriage curtain and settled back in his seat. The scenery outside, still itching in his head. Due to the auspicious twelfth marriage of the Third Prince's eldest son, the normally brutal atmosphere had turned down into a grand party. Surprisingly, the atmosphere reminded Yutao of his life before death.
"There would be a whole other civilization that would call this place their home. I thought that the concept of hell would solely revolve around "humans"."
"Confining yourself in the mold called "human" was the very first mistake." Zhang Xiyu closed his eyes and leaned his head on the backrest.
"We do not belong to Earth. Before our birth on that planet we still existed. And after our mortal death we still continue to exist. Among these trillions of galaxies, our next destination might not be Earth after all."
The luxurious carriage rolled through the grand gates of the Third Prince's residence.
"We may not be "human" again after all." Zhang Xiyu's eyes locked with Yutao's.
In his eyes Zhang Xiyu saw a miniscule resistance before it settled down in acceptance. The concept of humanity truly remained like remanence.
The carriage door slammed open. "Welcome! Welcome esteemed guests! Mr. Zhang! General Yutao! We are truly honored!"
These words from the man, who looked like a perverted hermit, were not empty under any circumstances. In the past five decades since Zhang Xiyu's return from the Kaigan Pit, this man has gone nowhere! Countless invitations from all sorts of big shots have been used to feed his torture stove.
And now he's here for the Third Prince! Does that mean there's a special connection between them? Oh, the conspiracies!
But why does this hermit look so familiar?
"You are ….?"
"The announcer. From that time." Yutao whispers.
"Oh…."
"Please. Please come in!" The man escorts them to the hall. The same man who was enthusiastically making snide comments for entertainment while the two of them desperately tried to claw their way out of their doom in the Kaigan Pit.
The same man was now licking their feet to win their grace. Fate truly works in mysterious ways.
As if reliving that day which ruined their entire life, the gates opened to meet even more familiar faces. The First Prince stood at the center, the Second Prince halted his passionate affair with a woman, the Third Prince walked towards them with the fattest grin on his face. And then there was the Fourth Prince.
"Yuan Hai." Zhang Xiyu smirked.
One can only make a guess on who falls in whose trap as this night of trepidation goes on.