Chapter 11 - It’s embarrassing to wheedle, Sansheng (1/2)

My nape burned once again after the Black and White Guards of Impermanence escorted me back to the underworld. It was then that I realized Moxi and I only had one lifetime left.

This time, I didn’t intend to wait for Moxi in the underworld anymore. I didn’t want him to give me another 100 or 1000-year seal the next time we met. At the same time, I couldn’t reincarnate too soon either, lest I give the people of Liubo a scare when I popped out in front of them just as Moxi had buried me.

I went to Yanwang’s palace to ask him when Moxi would be arriving so that I could time my departure.

Before I could utter a word, Yanwang circled me twice, clucking all the while: “Tsk tsk, our Sansheng is quite capable!” Because he was too short, he could only pat my thigh in delight. “You’ve helped His Lordship pass his trial twice. Moreover, you’ve seduced him so successfully each time. The day our underworld sees the light of day is just around the corner! Ahahaha!”

I slapped away his wandering hand that was slowly creeping to my behind and asked, “When will Moxi come down here? I can’t run into him this time.”

Yanwang jumped onto his desk and flipped through the chaos of books on it. “Ah, here it is, here it is. This is it.” Yanwang squinted his eyes to read for a second and then continued: “In Siming Xingjun’s Book of Fate, it is written that Liubo’s strength will greatly decline after Hu’yi rebels against them. In less than two years, Zhonghua will be murdered and will pass away in his bedchamber.”

I was stunned. “Who’s going to kill him?!”

“His junior, Qingling.”

“That priestess?” I rubbed my chin. “Her watery eyes are filled with the tragic love hate of a spurned admirer. How can she kill Moxi?”

“Perhaps love bears hatred, and she destroys what she cannot have. Look, it says right here that after his master’s soul is freed by Hu’yi, Zhonghua drinks himself to distraction. Qingling confesses to him but gets rejected. She then resents him for it, kills him, and then commits suicide.”

I asked him in seriousness after pondering for a moment: “Yanwang, don’t tell me you were the one who came up with this soapy rubbish?”

Yanwang said in equal seriousness: “Lord Moxi’s fates are all personally written by Siming Xingjun, you know.”

I was made even more curious as to how sick that Siming Xingjun’s head was.

I went back to be a stone by the Wangchuan River. These two years quickly flew by.

When Jia and Yi left to the human world to escort spirits, I asked them to help me look out for news on Moxi. When they came back, they told me that it was true Liubo’s strength had greatly declined, it was true that Venerable Zhonghua drank every day, and it was also true the priestess named Qingling had turned love into hate. The Book of Fate, however, had failed to include the small detail that he was spending his drunken days in the snowy plum forest and that he had driven Liubo’s heirloom sword into a nameless grave like a piece of scrap metal.

Sealing his sword away and retreating to seclusion.

After listening to everything, I looked heavenward and burst out laughing in front of Jia’s and Yi’s aghast eyes.

“Sansheng, shouldn’t you be pained for him right now?” Jia asked.

I patted Jia’s shoulder. “No matter how he reincarnated, no matter what tribulation it was, Moxi still got seduced by me. I’m so proud of myself. Moxi feeling bad by himself is good enough. All I need to do is put on a grin and wait to seduce him in his next life.”

Yi turned to the side and clasped his palms together in prayers. “Amitabha. Good luck, Your Lordship.”

In a chipper mood, I went back to the stone and sat around for a few days. When I reckoned time was nearing, I dusted my butt and coolly went off to the human world.

After arriving in the human world, there were several times when I couldn’t help myself from wanting to go see him at Liubo, but I was able to barely restrain myself in the end. Then one day, I went to sit on the second floor of a restaurant to read.

In the story, the gentleman was reaching his hand under the lady’s dress, at which time the lady delicately cried: “Don’t,” and soon stripped off her own clothes, saying: “Let’s do this one step at a time.” I raised an eyebrow at how bold this lady

was. At this time, I suddenly heard a man exclaiming downstairs: “That can’t be true!”

I gazed down to see an old priest clutching a letter while trembling as though he was suffering epilepsy.

He broke out crying: “His Most Reverend has passed away! Liubo is dead! Our faith is dead!” His mournful cries gave people shivers. If I hadn’t known Zhonghua, I would have thought that they were involved in some unforgettable affair.

Zhonghua had finally left. I was determined to watch him grow up this time. I wasn’t going to let him have an unhappy childhood, nor would I let him have a chance to fall for other girls. I smiled wickedly. I was going to wrap him around my finger for sure this time.

At present, his trial was ‘seeking what he shall not have’.

Seeking what he shall not have?

With me here, what couldn’t Moxi possibly seek?

That night, my acquaintances came to find me. Black Impermanence shuddered the moment he saw me. “Sansheng, I’m afraid you’ll need to be more careful the next time you return to the underworld.”

“Why?”

Black Impermanence shuddered again. “You didn’t see the anger on the God of War’s face. Knowing you had gone one step ahead, he looked as though Yanwang had stolen his woman away from him. Poor Yanwang is still wetting his pants right now.”

“Was he very angry?”

Black Impermanence shuddered nonstop. I moved my gaze to White Impermanence who said to me: “Remember the Fengzhen granite tiles in Yangwang’s palace? Crushed to powder in three steps.”

I stopped in my tracks. I had forgotten that despite being much stronger than he was in his three lifetimes, I still had to return to the underworld and he’d also finish his trial in the end. By then, he’d be the God of War and I’d be the little Sansheng Stone again.

What’s more, that Fengzhen granite was a hundred times harder than me…

I grabbed Black Impermanence’s arm, eyes streaming in tears. “Brother Bai, when that day comes, you’ll have to save me!”

White Impermanence stared at me for a moment, deadpanned and said, “It’s embarrassing to wheedle, Sansheng.”

I casually dabbed my tears. “It worked on Moxi.”

Black Impermanence tugged White Impermanence away, saying: “I can’t talk with you anymore. We have to go first. It’s best if you fend for yourself. That’s right, he is reborn into a farmer’s home on the foothill of Yangshan Mountain this time. If you wish to seduce him, then you had better leave soon.”

Did I need any reminders? That very night, I rushed to the foothill of Yangshan Mountain, perked my ears up and circled the mountain village round and round, waiting for the cries of a newborn.

Aside from a few households that stayed lit through the night, however, I didn’t hear any sound that would indicate childbirth from a home despite having waited until the stars nearly disappeared beyond the horizon.

I stood dejectedly on a farmer’s roof. The Black and White Guards of Impermanence had for certain escorted Moxi into reincarnation. The information they gave me couldn’t have been wrong. Where did Moxi reborn to, anyway?

At this moment, I suddenly noticed a man slipping out from a cottage with something in his arms.

The seal on my wrist burned. Worried, I quickly followed him. The man walked to the river outside the village and stopped there. He looked around for a while, then suddenly threw the bundle in his arms into the water. The swaddling cloth opened – a baby’s face caught my eyes.

I dashed out in outrage, stretched my hand and slapped the man senseless. Then I glided on the water surface and fished Moxi out.

After I found my footing, I took a look at the little livid face. His mouth opened and closed but did not emit any sound.

I froze.

Moxi… was mute in this life!

Muteness was believed to be ominous.

That was why his father threw him away when he didn’t produce any sound after he was born. That was why… even if there were Sansheng, Moxi was destined to never find what he sought.