Chapter 1 - I’m going to the human world to seduce him (2/2)

I was thrilled, thinking it was a compliment. “Then, can I seduce you?” I hastily asked him.

He said in some deliberation, “I’ve come for my trial, so I won’t be staying in the underworld.”

What he meant was ‘no’. I lowered my gaze, a little disappointed.

“Have you always sat by the Wangchuan riverbank?” he suddenly asked.

I nodded.

“Would you like to go outside for a look?”

My eyes lit up; I nodded vigorously.

He faintly smiled and patted my head. “Considering that I’ve received several bloody kowtows from you, I can’t have you kowtow in vain. Since you want to leave the underworld, I will promise you three lifetimes of freedom. The three lifetimes I go through my trial will also be the three lifetimes you get to have your freedom.

After I return from my trial, you will also obediently come back to the Wangchuan bank, how does that sound?”

There was nothing disadvantageous about his proposal. I nodded yes.

He cast a golden seal on my wrist. “As a spiritual being, you need to learn to be smarter. Hereafter, take care to protect your vital portal.” He added, “Those who are stronger won’t always be as kind as I am.”

The two imps, Jia and Yi, contorted their faces as they escorted him away. I touched the golden seal on my wrist.

“Moxi,” I called out to him.

Standing in front of the Naihe Bridge, he held the waters of oblivion in his hand and turned to face me.

“Can I come to the human world to seduce you?”

My question was so earnest that it prompted a burst of eerie laughter from Old Meng who was ladling her amnesic soup.

His lips were also upturning into a smile. “If you can find me, then go ahead.” At his last word, he drank down the soup in one gulp.

Without turning around, he entered deep into the underworld. I kept watching him leave, and remained unwilling to divert my eyes even after he disappeared from sight. Little Yi came back from the Naihe Bridge and waved his cadaverous hands in front of me, calling: “Miss Sansheng!”

“Huh?”

“Miss Sansheng, could you have developed some feelings for him?”

I finally turned to look at Yi and asked in seriousness, “What does it mean to develop feelings?”

Yi tilted his head in thought. “However the men and women are described in those books you always read is what ‘developing feelings’ should be.”

I pondered for a moment. In those books I frequently read, the gentleman would meet the lady, the lady then curtsied, the two next conversed in a word or two, and then they would begin to do a number of ooh ooh ah ah actions they couldn’t help themselves from. I never thought to ooh ooh ah ah with Moxi, so I really didn’t think I was developing feelings for him.

I firmly shook my head. “I haven’t developed any feelings.”

Yi gave a long sigh and muttered to himself, “That’s true, how can a stone develop feelings? I’ve thought too much.” Almost instantly, he stared at me and said, “The point is, it’s best as long as you don’t develop feelings for him! In this world, there is nothing more agonizing than the word ‘love’. This is not to say Miss Sansheng can never like somebody. It’s only because Lord Moxi is really someone no lady should ever fall for.”

“Why is that? He’s the best-looking and gentlemanly person I’ve ever met.” I paused, then added, “And he has the most pleasing voice to the ears.”

“Precisely because everything about him is so perfect that you should never ever fall for him! Lord Moxi is the God of War from Heaven. Although nothing is impossible in this world, he only cares for the world’s welfare. If his heart is occupied by the common people, will there be any space for love?”

Whether Moxi had any place for love in his heart didn’t matter much to me, but the first half of Yi’s remark gave me pause. “How can he take on something as savage as the God of War post? He’s obviously a very kind person.”

Yi almost sputtered a mouthful of blood. “Kind? But you don’t really believe that… do you?”

When he saw my nod, Yi shook his head and said in helplessness, “When the Demon clan attacked Heaven with an army of 100,000 strong, Lord Moxi led 30,000 heavenly soldiers and wiped them clean. Afterward, he led his army down to the Demon capital and massacred the entire Demon clan; blood flowed like water then. In the past decade, there has been no sound uttered by the demons. That’s because any demon three years and older has been exterminated.”

I had some impression of this event. During that time, the underworld became incredibly overcrowded. The wailing almost ripped Yanwang’s palace apart; the Naihe Bridge almost collapsed from being trampled on. Although these demons were said to have been killed by Moxi, war was in fact a matter of killing and surviving. Moxi as the God of War had the duty of resorting to force in order to suppress the rebels. His loyalties lay with his own clan. Decisive ruthlessness was only natural in battle.

I patted Yi’s shoulder. “Thank you for telling me these things. I’m heading back to the stone to do some packing now.”

Yi was confused. “Miss, where are you going?”

I grinned. “I’m going to the human world to seduce him.”

1 The River of Oblivion is called the Wangchuan in Chinese mythology. It is similar to the Lethe in Greek mythology.

2 She is called the Sansheng Stone where Sansheng means ‘three lifetimes’. ‘Three lifetimes’ in

Buddhist context also means the past life, the present life, and the future life.

3 A saying that means a gentleman’s cultivation of character is like the refinement of jade, taken

from The Book of Songs, Odes of Wei.

4 She’s asking for his ‘fair name’ as a man might ask a woman.