Striving for Science C76

"It's done!"

The Elder, pale and weak, lay slumped on the meditation cushion, blood pouring from his mouth. He propped himself up, looking at the person sitting in the corner, "Master, I have brought Shen Chang'an's soul to the Underworld."

"Good." The person in the corner, wearing a grey robe, looked troubled, his brows furrowed with a hint of pity for all living beings. "A living soul should not enter the Underworld. Anyone who does, will never return."

"If only Heavenly Dao Lord…"

"Humph." The man in the grey robe sneered at the pig yao, "Since you devoured your own kind for the sake of your cultivation, don't even think about the Heavenly Dao's mercy. If it weren't for me, do you think you could have gotten away with all those things without Heavenly Dao noticing?"

The pig yao lay on the ground, staring at the puppet doll on the altar, its limbs pinned with needles, silent.

"I know what you're thinking." The man in the grey robe stood up. "Scared of implicating your entire race now? Too late."

"Master, I have no such intention…"

"It doesn't matter what you intend. What matters is whether you're obedient enough." The man in the grey robe chuckled coldly. "If this Shen Chang'an doesn't die, you will, and even the entire Beast Race will suffer because of it. You decide."

***

"Heavenly Dao Lord, I dare not disturb your cultivation, but this matter is of great importance, please investigate." The King of Hell led the way. "Some time ago, a City God reported that there was a living soul with a special destiny in the mortal realm, whose destiny was tampered with. After I learned about it, I calculated it overnight and found that the special soul with the tampered destiny was not an isolated case. Therefore, I suspect that someone is deliberately tampering with the destinies of living souls, causing chaos in the mortal realm."

"Bring me the Book of Life and Death..." The path to the Yellow Springs was filled with ghostly figures. Dao Nian looked at the River of Forgetfulness ahead, suddenly remembering that the flowers on the other side had the effect of calming the soul, so he walked towards the riverbank.

"My Lord?" The King of Hell saw Heavenly Dao Lord suddenly walking towards the riverbank and hurriedly followed. "Are the evil spirits at the bottom of the river disturbing you?"

"No, I'm picking flowers." As soon as Dao Nian finished speaking, he suddenly heard someone calling his name from the other side.

There was a rule on the path to the Yellow Springs: one should not easily call out another's name. Although Dao Nian was not human, throughout the three realms, those with insufficient cultivation could not remember his name, while those with high cultivation dared not call his name.

"L-L-Lord..." The King of Hell was astonished. There was actually someone so bold in the Underworld, daring to call the Lord by name.

***

"Dao Nian! Dao Nian!" Shen Chang'an was worried that Dao Nian couldn't see him, so he jumped up and down. "I'm here!"

The evil spirits, starved and slumbering at the bottom of the river, sensed the presence of a living soul and eagerly wanted to break through the surface, tearing apart this soul that had strayed into the Yellow Springs.

But before they could even break through the surface, a terrifying force surged from all directions, pinning them firmly to the bottom of the river. They couldn't even move their legs, let alone climb out of the water.

Dao Nian looked at Shen Chang'an jumping up and down, then looked down at his own legs... "..."

"I don't know what living soul has disturbed the Lord, but please, for the sake of this person's great merit, forgive his rudeness..." Before the King of Hell could finish speaking, he saw endless power emanating from Heavenly Dao Lord, pressing all the evil spirits in the river to the bottom.

"Don't mind him." Dao Nian said confidently. "My child is not well-behaved, he strayed into the Yellow Springs. I'll take him back later."

The King of Hell looked at Shen Chang'an on the other side, a twenty-something... child?

"No wonder this gentleman is radiating golden light of merit, transcending the ordinary. He's someone from the Lord's divine abode." The King of Hell suddenly remembered a piece of gossip that was circulating privately, not sure if it was true or not. He heard that Heavenly Dao Lord had recently taken in a human, showing him great affection, even building a divine abode for him in the human realm. Could this be the person?

"Shall we go over now?" As soon as the King of Hell finished speaking, his feet lifted off the ground. However, he had only floated a few inches when Dao Nian pulled him back.

"My child is timid and doesn't know my identity yet." Dao Nian looked at the King of Hell with a calm expression. "Just wait a moment, I'll have to offend you."

The King of Hell: Huh? Huh?! Huh?!!!

The ferryman rowed the boat, delivering the King of Hell and Dao Nian to the opposite shore. Before the King of Hell could speak, he saw the human rush over like a gust of wind, then reached out and touched Heavenly Dao Lord all over, his behavior was appalling.

"Dao Nian, your legs..." Shen Chang'an carefully squeezed Dao Nian's calf, "Can you walk now?"

His blessing, had it come true?

From now on, Dao Nian could walk freely, live freely, go wherever he wanted?

"I don't know how, my feet suddenly can walk." When talking about his sudden ability to walk, Dao Nian's expression didn't change at all, "These legs haven't been used for so long, I couldn't help but come out for a walk, I don't know how I got here."

The King of Hell remained silent, but he was a little confused. The Lord is the embodiment of Heavenly Dao, taking the most perfect form to transform into a human body, how could he be unable to walk?

Could this be a special hobby of Heavenly Dao Lord and his human lover?

"Who is this gentleman?" Shen Chang'an looked at the middle-aged man who was walking a few steps behind Dao Nian. His eyes were sharp, his forehead was high and his face was broad, he was wearing a black coat, and he looked a bit like a black-market boss.

The King of Hell: "Hello, I am..."

"Don't know him." Dao Nian lowered his eyelids, "I got lost, and my phone has no signal, so I found a fellow traveler for safety."

The King of Hell closed his mouth again.

Shen Chang'an looked at the King of Hell with suspicion, and whispered in his ear: "Your legs are back to normal, is there anything you're not used to?"

"Yes." Dao Nian put on a serious face and said seriously, "Maybe I haven't walked for too long, I almost tripped just now."

"Then be careful, there's a lot of water here, don't fall into the river. It's winter, it's not good to fall in." Shen Chang'an extended his hand to Dao Nian, "Come, I'll hold your hand.

Dao Nian felt at ease and readily took Shen Chang'an's hand. Holding Dao Nian's hand, Shen Chang'an turned to the King of Hell with a smile and said, "Sir, we are not familiar with this road, maybe you can lead the way."

The King of Hell chuckled dryly: "Of course, of course."

He walked silently in front, feeling like he was a bright sun in this dark underworld.

Shen Chang'an took out his phone and looked at it, muttering softly: "It seems there really is no signal."

The King of Hell thought, of course there couldn't be a signal, their underworld didn't have human mobile phone communication functions.

Seeing that the black-market boss in front didn't turn around, Shen Chang'an quickly typed a message on his phone.

[I suspect something is wrong here, do you remember how you got lost?]

Dao Nian shook his head.

[If there are any strange illusions later, don't be afraid, I have a special constitution and can protect you.]

Looking at this sentence, Dao Nian opened his mouth: "Chang'an, actually..."

Shen Chang'an covered his mouth with his hand, making sure Dao Nian wouldn't continue speaking before continuing to type on his phone.

[The person leading the way in front also seems a bit strange. When the wooden boat reached the shore, he got off the boat, but the boat remained motionless, as if he had no weight at all.]

Unfortunately, the air here was heavy with yin energy, making it impossible for him to judge from the shadows whether the people walking ahead of them were human or ghost.

As they walked further, Shen Chang'an noticed a stone tablet standing by the roadside. It was inscribed with three large characters: "Life and Death Stone," and there were two lines of smaller annotations in the lower right corner.

Observe past and present lives, see the rise and fall of fate.

He wanted to look away, but the stone seemed to have a powerful attraction, preventing him from shifting his gaze. Suddenly, a thick fog rose before him, and he saw two images.

One was endless darkness, and the other was a chaotic world filled with corpses.

"Chang'an."

Someone gently tapped his back, and Shen Chang'an snapped out of his trance, meeting Dao Nian's concerned gaze. "What's wrong?"

"I'm fine." When Shen Chang'an looked back at the stone, he felt nothing unusual. Perhaps he had been feeling unwell these past two days and had imagined it.

Deep beneath the earth, a giant beast with a blood-red body raised its head. "Living souls, such delicious living souls, and the scent of merit."

Hungry.

His soul is hungry.

He wants to devour this living soul.

"From here, it's the exit." The King of Hell stopped and turned to face Dao Nian and Shen Chang'an. "The road conditions here are complex, and there are no streetlights installed. Many people get lost when they come here."

As soon as he finished speaking, a tall and thin man walked out from the exit. The man was wearing a red official robe and a black gauze hat, followed by a monster with the head of an ox and the body of a human.

"These are some cosplay enthusiasts. They love our country's traditional culture and like to play roles like the City God, Ox-Head, and so on..." The King of Hell gave an awkward smile. He felt that this lie was no longer sustainable.

"Little Master?" The City God saw a burst of golden light of merit rising into the sky from afar. As he approached, he didn't even care who was beside Shen Chang'an, and was shocked. "Little Master, your lifespan is not yet complete, why are you here?"

Shen Chang'an held Dao Nian's hand tightly, subtly pulling him towards the exit in small steps. "May I ask, Your Lordship, where is this place?""

This City God, he had seen him before. It was the one he had asked for help last time, saying he wanted to investigate the reason for the otaku ghost's changed fate, but he never found out the reason.

"This is the Yellow Springs Road." The City God said, "A place where living souls cannot stay long."

"Yellow Springs?" Shen Chang'an held Dao Nian's hand tighter. "My friend and I are both living souls, why would we be inexplicably here?"

Friend?

The City God looked at the man behind Shen Chang'an, his knees feeling a little weak. "My Lo..."

"It's broad daylight, how could you possibly be sent to the Yellow Springs? There must be something wrong." The King of Hell took over the conversation. "Please rest assured, I'll send you both back out right away."

Shen Chang'an secretly breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that Dao Nian's lifespan hadn't yet ended, and the underworld wouldn't forcibly keep him. A thin layer of sweat had already formed on his palms, not from heat, but from fear.

The exit door slowly opened, and the King of Hell bowed slightly, saying, "Please."

Just then, the entire underworld began to shake, and the roar of some monster seeped up from the depths of the earth.

"The beast has awakened?!"

"Where is the divine beast guarding the evil beast?!" The ground shook violently, making the King of Hell lose his balance. He turned to see the open gates of hell and struggled to close them with his spiritual energy.

He absolutely couldn't let this evil beast escape and wreak havoc on the world.

What he feared most came to pass. He watched helplessly as the ferocious beast flew out of the crack in hell, its power sweeping through the gates like a destructive force.

Just as he was about to despair, he saw the Heavenly Dao, slowly and expressionlessly, extend his noble left leg.

Tripping the ferocious beast at the doorway.

Then, he casually retracted his leg.