Chapter 577: Give Something, Gain Something
The group did not hesitate to bow to Madame Baozhai after which they quickly followed behind her. Unlike in the First Court of Hell, they were not given their own courtyards but were instead given rooms. These rooms were no less extravagant or spacious than their previous residences had been.
Hui Yue’s room was adjoined to his guard’s, and the two experts were currently seated in Hui Yue's sitting room. The guard was currently telling Hui Yue all he knew about the late King Chujiang.
The information he gave was stuff that Hui Yue had already heard or read about before, but even so, he did not feel like stopping the guard from sharing his knowledge.
He did hear a few pieces of new information such as the fact that Chujiang had married many times but the first wife, Madame Baozhai, was his childhood sweetheart and that they had been together for an eternity already. Hearing this, he was able to easily understand the pain that this woman must be carrying right now and why she would want to follow her husband in death. When one had lived for as long as she had, life was only important if it was spent with the ones you held dear.
Hui Yue also learned that the reason that Chujiang had gone wandering the world was because he was attempting to find his old friend, the Alchemist God, once again.
It was considered common knowledge that the Alchemist God had vanished, but King Chujiang had never accepted this and instead went out to search for him. Sadly, it was an endeavor which he ended up paying with his life for.
Thinking about this, Hui Yue was slightly uneasy. He too had sworn to look for the Alchemist God, but he knew that even the esteemed and feared expert the second King of Hell, Chujiang, had failed in this endeavor.
Sensing his unease, Hui Yue heard Lan Feng’s quiet voice from within his core, 'Don't be too worried about it.' He said with a lightness that Hui Yue did not expect to hear from him.
'Although this Second King of Hell is many times stronger than you, he is also acting in accordance with his strength. Every time he encountered dangers, he would examine them; every time he came close to a danger zones, he would inevitably explore them.'
'It is clear that he would not step lightly on his quest, as every danger brings with it great benefits and knowing his strength he had nothing to fear.'
'This might have caused him to be overconfident. You, on the other hand, are the complete opposite. Although you might enter some danger zones, you always spend a long time preparing beforehand.'
'Especially now after stepping out into the universe full of Gods, you are not likely to stumble into any danger zones you come across but will stay vigilant and keep away from life-threatening dangers.'
'Where you tread lightly and carefully, the late king was loud and overconfident. Anyone overconfident is likely to die.'
'How can you be so sure about this?' Hui Yue asked curiously, but Lan Feng just shrugged his shoulders.
'If he were not being overconfident, then he would not have died. It’s as simple as that. He was one of the strongest experts within this galaxy. To suddenly die just like that is not something that happens, and being killed by bandits or other experts is not likely either. As such, the only reason can be that he did not take a region of extreme danger serious enough.'
'But don't worry, there is another difference between you and him. As a matter of fact, there are actually several differences, but one of the most important is the fact that you are not alone.'
'Even right now when you are going to do these trials you have me by your side. Even if we wanted to, we couldn’t leave one another. When it is time for us to look for the Alchemist God, we will have all our friends by our side, and that will make us even more vigilant than before. We will be even more careful as we do not want to see more of our friends die.'
'Another difference is Huli. Huli actually followed the Alchemist God for some time. She should be able to guess some decisions he might have made to help us in our quest to find him.'
'And finally, you have the Universe Box. Who knows, this box might know something about where the Alchemist God is or have some clues about his whereabouts. When it is time to search for him, we will go all out, and our combined strength will not be much weaker than King Chujiang.'
Hearing everything that Lan Feng said, Hui Yue agreed and he once more focused on what the guard in front of him was saying. After listening for a while, he learned nothing new.
While he was busy chatting with the guard, he suddenly heard someone knocking on the door, and he quizzically stood up and went to open it.
He had no idea whom it might be, as he knew that it could not be Pei Ze. When they had been given their rooms, they had also been asked to stay within their respective rooms until they were called for, and Pei Ze was not someone who would break the rules like that. Even if he did need to speak with Hui Yue, then he would just use the communication orb.
As Hui Yue opened the door his eyes widened slightly in surprise and he bowed deeply. In front of him was neither Yanluo nor King Qinguang. Instead, he was greeted by Madame Baozhai.
"Madame! What can I do for you?" Hui Yue asked politely as he stepped aside and allowed for the woman to enter into his room.
She quickly followed him and was about to speak when she saw the guard seated in a chair in the sitting room. Seeing him, her mouth instantly closed and her lips tightened.
"Uh, I better go now," the guard said a little bewildered and bowed to both Hui Yue and the madame before he retreated to the adjoined room. But It actually looked more like fleeing than retreating.
It was not that he did not wish to guard Hui Yue, but it was clear that Madame Baozhai had something she needed to discuss privately with Hui Yue, and as she was their host, it was best to let her do as she pleased. Even if she wished to kill Hui Yue, then the guard would simply be helpless to stop her.
Madame Baozhai was as old as the late King Chujiang. Although she was his wife and had lived a calm life, for the most part, one would be foolish if they underestimated her abilities. She had been alive for eons, and during this time she had reached the apex. Now, the only way for her to increase her strength any further was to become an Overlord.
As for how many Gods were at this level, Hui Yue was not sure, but as time went on, he started to understand that although Yanluo was famed as the strongest in the galaxy, and although he had many people looking up to him, he was really not that much stronger than for instance Madame Baozhai. When one reached this level of strength, it was hard to differentiate between who was the strongest, as long as none of them become an Overlord.
"My lady, what can I do for you?" Hui Yue asked curiously as he found a new chair for the lady and placed it in front of his own. He found some wine from the universe box and poured it into a crystal glass which he offered to the madame.
"This is wine from my home world. It is hard to come by and created by the mortals there. Although it might be considered fairly simple in flavor it always reminds me of home, and thus I rarely share it with anyone," Hui Yue introduced the wine as he looked at the woman who silently took a sip of the wine.
"Good wine!" She praised with a smile on her face before it once again turned serious as she looked at the young man.
"I saw you arrive with King Yanluo and King Qinguang." She finally said after a long pause. The entire sentence sounded like a sigh. It was as if she needed to use all her strength to say this one thing.
"I can see a familiar pain within your eyes. It seems that you are young, but it seems you have experienced the same pain as I have. You have lost the one you love, yet are still strong enough to keep going... What is it that lets you wake up in the morning? What is it that drives you to continue to live?"
The pain in the woman's face was overwhelming, and Hui Yue understood her pain all too well. But he also knew the difference between their situations.
Without hesitating, he took out the small bottle containing Wang Ju Long's soul shadow and looked at it with loving eyes. He would often take it out and look at it when he was feeling lonely, and it would always make him feel slightly better. This was because this bottle meant that even though she might be dead, there was a chance of resurrection.
"This is my love's soul shadow," Hui Yue said honestly. "Right after I broke through and became a God I had a fight with another God who held a grudge. He was many times stronger than me, and he had been living for a lot more years than I have. But I was foolish. I had never heard about daos and thought that Ancestral Worldpower alone was enough to win the fight."
"When I was almost dead, she jumped in front of me to block one of his attacks. Her sacrifice saved my life, but oh how I wished I had been the one to die instead," Hui Yue continued.
"I swore that I would resurrect her. She was a mortal at the time, just an ordinary soul, and I assumed that I could come here to Diyu and get her resurrected."
"It turns out that it is much more difficult than that since her soul was turned into a soul shadow, but as you know, I cannot give up. There is a chance I can resurrect her so how could I ever give up now?"
"I see," Madame Baozhai was quiet for some time before she asked. "What would you suggest I do? Living every day is like a punishment, but dying will make my entire family sad. I cannot decide but maybe you who knows both pain and suffering but still chooses to fight for what you believe in, maybe you can help me decide."
Hui Yue was quiet for a long time as he looked at the woman in front of him before a sigh escaped his lips, "I honestly don't know what I would do," he said silently before he suddenly looked up to the ceiling.
"There is one thing I do know, however. Just because he died does not mean that he is dead forever. One day he might get thrown into the cycle of resurrection and once more roam the world."
"If his soul has already entered the Yellow River, he will be alive again one day, but if his soul did not enter the Yellow River, then I would start searching. Perhaps his soul is captured somewhere; perhaps he too can be resurrected. The world is filled with miracles."
"If he has entered the Yellow River, you could also offer something to He Bo in return for him to give you back your husband's soul. As long as you have his soul, then he will live. I cannot believe that He Bo will say no to allow for your husband’s soul to be released if you have something he really wants."
This final sentence of Hui Yue took Madame Baozhai by surprise, and she mumbled to herself for a bit before she nodded her head. "My life could easily be traded for his, but He Bo is not interested in other souls. I do know what he is interested in, however..." Her voice trailed off, and a smile suddenly appeared on her tired face.
"Thank you! I have lived in Diyu for so many years that I have accepted the circle of life and death. I forgot everything about the fact that I might be able to bring him back!" Excitement shone in the eyes of the madame as she rushed to her feet.
"Excuse me; I need to go visit He Bo to hear if we can make a deal!" And with that, the woman swiftly left the room leaving behind a rather surprised Hui Yue.