It is a cold winter with wind and snow everywhere.
Two figures, one old and one young, supported each other and struggled forward in the snow. The heavy snow soaked their knees, and the blood dripping from their robes drew a faintly visible red line on the snow.
"Dad, hold on a little longer. Once we get to Qingshi Town, there will definitely be a doctor there who can treat your injuries..."
The young man comforted the weak old man in a trembling voice. The old man's eyes were dull and his hoarse throat gurgled, but he was no longer able to make any sound.
Suddenly, a gust of cold wind swept past, and a tall, thin figure in a black robe appeared beside the young man and the old man, walking side by side with them. Strangely, neither of them noticed the dark figure, and continued on their own way.
Indistinct sounds continued to come from the old man's throat. Seeing that the old man was holding his breath and unwilling to swallow, as if he had something to say but couldn't, the tall and thin black figure stretched out his arm, as thin as a dead branch, and patted the old man gently on the back.
The old man, who had barely breathed a moment ago, suddenly had a rosy glow on his face, as if he were reviving. He pulled the young man and said, "Lin'er, don't worry about me. I'm dying... Your sister has gotten separated from us. Go find her..."
After saying that, the old man fell to the ground. No matter how the young man shouted, he didn't breathe.
The tear-stained young man kowtowed three times to the fallen old man and roared heartbreakingly, "You thief Hengshan, I will kill you and avenge my father!"
The tall and thin black figure stood there until the young man wiped his tears and ran back the way he came without looking back. Then he took out a piece of paper from his arms, bent down, and patted the old man's forehead.
"The soul has returned."
Following the black shadow's whisper, the old man, as if waking from a dream, widened his eyes and suddenly got up from the ground.
The old man held a hand to his heart. The fatal wound on his chest, which had just caused him excruciating pain, had now completely healed as if by a miracle. He no longer felt any pain. He raised his head and looked up at the tall, thin black figure, his face filled with disbelief. "Immortal...did you save me?"
"I'm not an immortal, I'm just a second-level ghost messenger who can charm souls. My name is Ye Jie, you can call me Ghost Messenger Jie." The tall and thin black shadow spoke lightly.
When the old man heard the words "soul-beguiling" and "ghost messenger", he immediately felt something was wrong. He lowered his head and was dumbfounded by the scene in front of him.
A corpse, covered in snow and already frozen stiff, lay quietly in the snow. The face on the corpse was clearly his own.
"So... I have already..." the old man murmured.
Ye Jie was not surprised by his reaction. He raised the fragment of paper in his hand and read aloud:
"Xia Xianshou, your life is over. Here are your merits and demerits."
"Born into a poor family in the winter of the sixth year of Kaihuang."
In the autumn of the ninth year of Daye, I met a beggar on the road, gave him some dry food, and vacated my thatched cottage for him to stay in for ten days, earning fifty merits.
"In the autumn of the eleventh year of Daye, I buried a corpse that had drifted onto the river, earning thirty merits."
"In the spring of the sixth year of Wude, he adopted a pair of abandoned infants as his adopted children, treated them as his own, and raised them to adulthood, earning him two hundred Yin De."
"In the winter of the third year of Zhenguan, I found a bag of silver coins on the roadside. I waited two hours in the snow and freezing cold to return it to the owner. I froze two of my toes and earned 100 Yin De (merits)."
"In the winter of the twelfth year of the Zhenguan reign, the village was plundered by bandits. I was struck by the heart-wrenching clutches of the bandit Hengshan, and died of exhaustion while fleeing. I was fifty-one years old."
"In my life, I have treated people and things in accordance with the Way of Heaven. I have earned seventy merits from trivial things. I have fifty merits left over from my previous life."
"A total of five hundred Yin De."
After reciting the text, Ye Jie put away the fragments and took out a black stone and a dry branch from his arms: "This life is over. Now follow my soul into the underworld, step onto the Naihe Bridge, step into the Samsara Well, and be reborn into the next reincarnation."
Ye Jie raised the black stone, knocked it on the ground under the feet of the two people, and took another step forward. This step actually crossed space and mountains and rivers, traveling across thousands of miles. The wind and snow in the sky suddenly disappeared, and a light purple barrier that suppressed the heaven and earth appeared in front of the two people.
Ye Jie swung the dead branch, and as the dead branch touched the barrier, the barrier was broken into an opening the size of a person. He hit the ground with the black stone again and took a step forward. As the space changed, this time, what appeared in front of the two people was a dark city.
The tall underworld general stood on the city wall, motionless like a sculpture. On the top of the city wall hung a huge plaque carved out of bones, and on the plaque were engraved two large, eerie characters: Hades!
"Excuse me, Ghost Immortal... where exactly is this place?" The old man still didn't understand the situation and asked repeatedly.
"I'm not a ghost immortal. At my current level, I'm still a long way from becoming a ghost immortal. If other ghost officials heard this, they would inevitably make fun of me."
Ye Jie patiently explained to him: "As you can see, this is the underworld. The souls of all the dead will return here under the guidance of the ghost messenger to prepare for their next reincarnation."
"Yin De is the only hard currency in circulation in the underworld. As the saying goes, money makes the devil work. If you have enough Yin De, you can drive the ghost messenger to do anything. You can buy rare treasures that are not available in the mortal world."
Ye Jie glanced at the old man and said, "You only have 500 Yin De, which is not enough for an eighth-grade reincarnation, let alone driving a ghost messenger. I think you should make some preparations and then follow me to the Naihe Bridge."
The old man swallowed and asked, "What will happen after we step onto the Naihe Bridge?"
"Climb up the Naihe Bridge and drink Mengpo Soup, then you will be able to forget your past. All the memories of your current life, all the love, hate, and vengeance you have experienced will disappear in the Mengpo Soup. Your soul will be renewed, and you can be reborn with peace of mind." Ye Jie said slowly.
"How can I do this..." The old man suddenly became anxious. "I still don't know if my children are safe, whether they have escaped the clutches of the Hengshan bandit. How can I forget the memories of this life?"
"You are separated by the Yin and Yang, and your life span has come to an end. Worrying about worldly affairs will only bring you more troubles." Ye Jie just shook his head.
With a thud, the old man, ignoring the different looks from the other ghosts, knelt down at Ye Jie's feet.
"Master Ghost Messenger, I ask for nothing more than to see my children again... It wasn't until my soul entered the underworld that I realized how precious the time I spent with them was to me. Didn't you say that good deeds are the currency of the underworld? I will give you all the good deeds I have, just to let me see my children again..."
Ye Jie couldn't bear to see him like this, so he sighed and said, "There is indeed a way to help you. The seventh day after your death is when your connection with the human world is closest. On that day, I can bring you back to the living and send you a dream, fulfilling your wish to see your children again. However, it will cost at least 500 Yin De."
Hearing this suggestion, the old man nodded vigorously, but Ye Jie changed the subject and warned:
"Don't blame me for not reminding you. If you want to be reborn as a human again, you need to have at least 100 Yin De left to undergo a ninth-grade reincarnation. If you have used up all your Yin De, you can only undergo an inferior reincarnation."
"What will happen if I'm reborn as an inferior person?" the old man asked uneasily.
"Inferior reincarnations don't require consuming yin virtue, but they will most likely be reborn as low-level creatures like animals or insects. Even if they are lucky enough to be reborn as a human, they may suffer from rare and incurable diseases or congenital deformities, and may not survive adulthood."
After a pause, Ye Jie continued, "Xia Xianshou, you've done a lot of good deeds in your life, which is why you've accumulated five hundred Yin De. Ordinary people, deceitful and selfish, spend their entire lives scheming and scheming for petty gains, and in the end, they only have a few dozen Yin De. It's actually worse to be reborn as an animal. If you were reborn as an ox and worked diligently for a farmer, you could accumulate two hundred Yin De. Even if you were reborn as a pig, slaughtered and cooked for human consumption, you could still earn fifty Yin De. Your five hundred Yin De are a truly precious treasure, enough to ensure you'll be reborn as a human for the next five lifetimes."
Ye Jie gave him a deep look. "If you want my advice, I suggest you keep those precious Yin De. Even if you don't use them now, you can still use them when you return to the underworld in your next life. Didn't you also leave fifty Yin De for you in your previous life? Why cling to a relationship that has ended in this life?"
The old man knelt for a long time and pleaded in a pitiful voice: "Master Ghost Messenger, I don't understand what you are saying. All I know is that I want to see my children again. Please, no matter how great the price, even if it means exhausting my good karma and being reborn as an animal, as long as I can see them, I will do anything."
After understanding the old man's wish, Ye Jie stopped trying to persuade him and instead took out a black token from his bosom with the word "Jie" engraved on it.
"Do good deeds, forge good connections, and reap good results; this is the truth of heaven and earth. While temporary acts of kindness may not bring you rewards, they will one day aid you on your journey. This is my Ghost Messenger Order. With it, the demons and monsters of the underworld will not trouble you. In seven days, come to see me here, and I will bring you back to the living through dreams, allowing you to return to the human world."
The old man accepted the token and listened to Ye Jie's reminder: "You will stay in the underworld for these seven days. Don't let those lonely ghosts cheat you of your good deeds."