"Move faster!"
"You're already dead, all of you are ghosts, hurry up!"
"You're a prince? A prince of millions, with thirty thousand iron cavalry? In the realm of the underworld, a prince from the mortal world is nothing!"
*Whip!*
*Whip!*
One by one, tall and burly ghost soldiers, their faces twisted in fury, roared as they swung their whips, which crackled with electricity, striking the ghosts. Especially the one who claimed to be a prince—it was whipped dozens of times until the ghost's form became thin, almost on the verge of dissipating before they stopped.
"I should already be dead, so… is this the underworld?" Ji Ning appeared out of thin air, curiously observing the unfamiliar surroundings. He overheard the prince's ranting, which deepened his confusion. "Millions of people? Thirty thousand cavalry? Earth is a modern society now, where would you find thirty thousand cavalry?"
"Move!" A tall, burly ghost soldier with a glowing green body, and a bull's head, roared at Ji Ning.
Ji Ning moved forward with the queue.
Countless white-clad figures formed long lines, slowly moving forward. At the end of each queue, a new white-clad figure would appear out of thin air. Some shook their heads and sighed, others wailed in sorrow, some cursed in anger, and some looked confused and bewildered.
"My father is the Great Snow Mountain Demon King! How dare you hit me! I'll eat you! Roar!"
"Stop hitting me!"
"Aaah!"
These ghosts, having just arrived in the underworld, still thought they were alive. Many angrily lashed out when whipped, but soon, the beatings made them realize… they were already dead. No matter how glorious their lives had been, death reduced everything to nothing.
...
Time passed, and Ji Ning had been walking in the queue of countless ghosts for a long time. He didn't dare to speak, as speaking would earn him a whipping from the bull-headed and horse-faced guards. He had been walking in this numb state for a long, long time, but fortunately, ghosts don't feel hunger.
After walking numbly for what felt like an eternity, one day—
"Ji Ning!" A voice boomed like thunder, echoing throughout the heavens and earth, causing countless ghosts to look up toward the sky. Ji Ning looked up too and saw a huge black cloud rolling in from the horizon. On top of the black cloud stood a massive bull-headed ghost god, radiating a black aura.
This enormous bull-headed ghost god was ten thousand feet tall, like a towering mountain. Riding on the black cloud, it flew from the horizon in an instant.
"Ji Ning." The massive bull-headed ghost god looked down from the sky. Its eyes shot out two golden beams of light, each ten thousand feet long, slicing through the air and enveloping the dumbfounded Ji Ning.
The golden beams shot from the bull-headed ghost god's eyes wrapped around Ji Ning, who instantly vanished from the queue. The ordinary bull-headed and horse-faced ghost soldiers fell silent, and all the ghosts remained in stunned disbelief for a long time before finally reacting.
...
High in the sky above the endless black clouds, the massive bull-headed ghost god stood atop the cloud.
He extended his hand, and standing in his palm was a tiny figure—Ji Ning.
Ji Ning was utterly bewildered.
Heavens!
A bull-headed giant, ten thousand feet tall, stood before him, and he was in its palm?
"Ji Ning." The bull-headed ghost god looked down at the tiny figure in his hand.
"I have come under the order of Lord Cui to fetch you," said the bull-headed ghost god to Ji Ning, and with a wave of his hand, Ji Ning was s*ck*d into a void-like space. The enormous bull-headed ghost god then rode the black cloud and disappeared into the distance in an instant.
...
Inside the City of Fengdu in the underworld.
It was a quiet study. There was a bookshelf, and in the center of the room was a desk. A middle-aged man in a blue robe was sitting there, reading a book.
Ji Ning stood nearby.
"Why does Lord Cui want to see me?" Ji Ning wondered, thinking to himself. He didn't know Lord Cui and was just an ordinary mortal. If he had any powerful connections, he wouldn't have suffered a lifetime of illness in his previous life. So why had Lord Cui sent the bull-headed ghost god to bring him here?
"He summoned me, but after seeing me, he hasn't spoken." Ji Ning couldn't help but observe the study.
The room was simple, with the only decoration on the wall being a painting.
"That is…" Ji Ning looked closely. It was a painting of a woman, her flowing robes exuding a natural grace, her face smiling with a serenity that inspired a deeper sense of reverence than any Buddha statue on Earth. In an instant, Ji Ning was completely mesmerized by the painting. The woman's features, her long hair, and her robes, all carried a kind of extraordinary power.
"Oh?" The blue-robed man looked up, surprised as he glanced at the painting on the wall. "I didn't expect him to have such insight."
"Awaken!" The blue-robed man shouted softly.
Ji Ning felt as if his mind had been shattered, instantly snapping him out of his trance. He suddenly realized he was still in the presence of Lord Cui.
At that moment, Lord Cui closed his book and looked over at Ji Ning. Ji Ning's expression changed instantly, because from where he stood, he could just barely make out the title of the book—**The Book of Life and Death**!
Lord Cui was reading the Book of Life and Death?
"I've reviewed your life," Lord Cui said with a smile, looking at Ji Ning.
Ji Ning was stunned.
His life?
Scenes from his past life flashed through his mind. His father was the lead researcher at a biology institute, earning a high salary. His mother was an ordinary teacher. Born into such a family, his life should have been good, but he was born with a terminal illness, and the doctors had said that living past fifteen or sixteen would be a miracle.
As a result, he couldn't go to school, couldn't play with kids his age, and even a half-hour walk left him exhausted. His frail body and the pain of illness made him a very reclusive child. Moreover, he had overheard doctors in the hospital discussing that he would die in his teens. The constant awareness of his impending death haunted him from a young age, making him even more withdrawn.
Fortunately!
Fortunately, there were books and the internet.
Books and the internet gave him a mental escape, preventing his personality from becoming twisted. Through books and the internet, he absorbed knowledge like a sponge, gaining a broader understanding of the world. His mind became more peaceful, and he learned to view life with greater clarity and rationality.
He realized that there were many children in worse situations than his own. After all, he still had his parents and could eat well and stay warm.
In searching for his own purpose, he thought, "I can't just wait to die. I have to do something." So, he asked his father for 100,000 yuan and began a venture through the internet. What had started as an attempt to add some color to his life unexpectedly turned into a real success.
Within a few years, he had accumulated significant wealth.
As his illness worsened, Ji Ning realized he didn't have much time left. His parents didn't need his support, and the money would be wasted after his death, so he decided to donate it all to poor, sick children across the country.
"I can't change my fate, but I can change the fate of countless children in need!"
This was the deepest cry of Ji Ning's heart!
Just as he was giving away all his wealth and waiting for death, he didn't expect to die in such a way—while walking with his parents on the street outside the hospital.
"Born into suffering," Lord Cui said softly. "But instead of breaking you, your suffering ignited an extraordinary strength. You amassed great wealth, and what's even more commendable—you gave it all away!"
"Eighteen years old, dead," Lord Cui mused. "Sacrificing yourself to save others, and saving a stranger at that, is truly rare."
Ji Ning responded, "You're too kind, Lord. If I had lived longer, I might not have been so willing to give it all away. The doctors said I had at most three months left to live. Exchanging my three months for a little girl's decades of life was worth it!"
Lord Cui smiled and flipped open the Book of Life and Death, speaking softly but with boundless authority: "Ji Ning, in your life, you saved over ten thousand people. Your merits are vast. In the cycle of reincarnation, you shall enter… the Celestial Realm!"
"The Celestial Realm," Ji Ning whispered.
Lord Cui said with admiration, "Gaining great merit and entering the Celestial Realm is rare, especially for someone from Earth. Whether intentionally or unintentionally, you chose to help children, earning you great merit. Otherwise, you might not have made it to the heavens."
"What do you mean, Lord?" Ji Ning asked, puzzled.
"Humans are not born good or evil," Lord Cui explained. "Children have not yet been tainted by the world, so your help reached those with no moral inclinations yet. If you had helped adults, you might have aided some good people, but distinguishing between good and evil is difficult. If you had helped evil people, it would have diminished your merits."
Ji Ning pondered over this.
"According to the Book of Life and Death, you were originally destined to die at sixteen. But because of your accumulated merit, you lived until eighteen," Lord Cui said