UCS Chapter 131

With the ghosts in City B cleared out in a sweep, the burden on the Spirit Management Bureau and the AMB was significantly lightened. When Huang Shan reported the team’s progress to Gao Shi, Yiyi’s laughter could be heard in the background. Feiyu, all bark and no bite, held Yiyi while speaking in a gruff tone: “Huang Yiyi, *you* were the one who wanted to go to the amusement park, not me. A mature adult like me wouldn’t go to an amusement park like a kid; I’m only going along to keep you two company.”

Yiyi patted Feiyu’s shoulder with the air of a little grown-up. “Yiyi knows. Daddy doesn’t want to ride the roller coaster at all, doesn’t want to go on the carousel, and definitely doesn’t want to sneak kisses with Papa while carrying Yiyi—Yiyi knows it all.”

“Hey! You little brat—”

“Papa! Daddy’s being mean to Yiyi again!”

“Running to a parent about everything? Are you a little kid or what?”

“Yiyi is only five; of course I’m a little kid!”

On the other end of the line, Gao Shi couldn’t help but smile as he listened to the two bickering like schoolchildren. Huang Shan, amused yet exasperated, called a halt to their squabbling and said into the phone, “Sorry about that, Captain Gao.”

Gao Shi smiled. “Have a great time, Brother Huang.”

Ever since Feiyu and Huang Shan had reunited, their relationship had ignited with an unstoppable, blazing intensity—like an old house catching fire. Yin Ling had complained several times about the “bastard Feiyu” doing absolutely no work; he treated the Spirit Management Bureau like a second home while completely neglecting his colleagues, instead spending his time furiously eating and drinking on the house—so much so that Chang Yang couldn’t help but suspect the guy was just there for the free meals.

Yet, for some reason, the memories Feiyu had lost all those years ago still hadn’t fully returned.

On the surface, he seemed to have recovered completely, but whenever asked for specifics, things remained hazy and unclear.

Perhaps it was because his Kunpeng bloodline hadn’t fully awakened yet? ……

Late at night, after a grueling day, Gao Shi finally finished washing up and lay down in bed. Mindful that he was running low on cigarettes, he toyed with the pack while contacting Kong Miao.

His *bazi*—his astrological birth chart—was so saturated with *yang* energy that ghosts and spirits would give him a wide berth; even if one possessed the ability to see the supernatural, they wouldn’t spot a ghost near him—let alone the fact that he couldn’t open his “yin-yang eyes” to begin with.

That was why, years ago, when he asked how he was supposed to protect his frail, helpless son without being able to see the ghosts, Daoist Kong Miao had stroked his beard, glanced at the corner of the cigarette pack peeking from Gao Shi’s pocket, and told him to wait a moment.

The very next day, the Daoist brought him a pack of cigarettes.

They were specially crafted: the cigarette body was made of talisman paper covered in dense, intricate incantations invisible to the naked eye.

The filling consisted of “spirit-connecting herb,” and the filter was made from a “harmonizing pill”—only through such methods could a single cigarette be produced.

These cigarettes were difficult to manufacture, though fortunately, Gao Shi didn’t use them very often. It was only recently, with the surge in supernatural incidents, that the pack had begun to deplete rapidly.

The phone emitted a series of ringing tones; Daoist Kong Miao had likely wandered off to some remote, obscure corner again, as no one answered.

Gao Shi had no choice but to hang up.

Just then, Ying Bujie walked in. He saw a cigarette resting between Gao Shi’s long, distinctively knuckled fingers; the warm yellow glow of the bedside lamp cast a soft, golden hue across those knuckles.

A sudden impulse stirred within him. He walked over to Gao Shi, and as Gao Shi looked up, he took his hand and kissed his knuckles.

Gao Shi’s fingers curled instinctively, and a flush of heat rose to his face. He hurriedly asked, “Daoist Ying, do you know how to make this kind of cigarette?”

Ying Bujie nodded and naturally sat down beside Gao Shi; his unbound long hair brushed against Gao Shi’s neck, creating a faint, ticklish sensation.

“I do; this very cigarette is one I made.”

Gao Shi felt a jolt of surprise. He turned to the side, thought for a moment, and then let out a laugh born of sheer disbelief. “So, the cigarettes I’ve been smoking all these years… were all made by you?”

Ying Bujie nodded.

Gao Shi rubbed his forehead. “That old man really kept you under wraps; I had absolutely no idea.”

In truth, Gao Shi could vaguely guess the reason: Kong Miao had always been wary regarding the existence of Gao Gusheng. Furthermore, Gao Shi’s *bazi*—his astrological destiny—was exceptionally strong, and since Ying Bujie’s soul was incomplete, Kong Miao feared that Gao Shi’s presence might inadvertently clash with or harm him. That stubborn old man, however, would always use the excuse of needing cigarettes to trick Gao Shi out of his card for a feast at Liushui Xuan. It wasn’t that Gao Shi begrudged him the meal; it was just that the old man had absolutely no regard for his own health. He ordered “extra spicy” every single time—so often, in fact, that the proctologist next door to the restaurant recognized Kong Miao and would greet him the moment he appeared:

“Old man, you’re back again?”

Kong Miao’s attitude was: *Staying out of the hospital? Impossible. Not in this lifetime. The extra-spicy hotpot is delicious, the doctors have such a pleasant way of speaking, and being in the hospital feels just like being home—I absolutely love it here!*

It was likely due to his cultivation that Kong Miao’s body was unlike an ordinary person’s; he would suffer a bout of explosive diarrhea for a few days, groan “Ouch” for a few more, and then recover completely without any lasting damage. Otherwise, Gao Shi would have pinned him down and forced him to eat nothing but plain boiled vegetables for a month.

Gao Shi returned the last cigarette to the pack and looked up to find Ying Bujie standing right beside him, gazing intently at his profile.

Ying Bujie had a cool, aloof air, yet his eyes—fixed unblinkingly on Gao Shi—held a different warmth.

Gao Shi felt a gentle tug at his heartstrings. Thoughts of Lele’s love life from earlier that day flashed through his mind, and the question slipped out before he could stop it: “Daoist, how did we end up together in our past life?”

Ying Bujie was taken aback for a moment, then his eyes crinkled into a smile. He didn’t give a formal answer, saying only:

“I was intrigued the first time I saw you, and fell in love the second.”

…

High above the nine heavens, amidst the clouds, an immortal was fleeing in a panic.

His hair was disheveled and his eyes were bloodshot; he clutched a mortal in his arms—clear signs that he was succumbing to a demonic obsession.

He swatted aside the heavenly soldiers who tried to block his path, sending them flying thousands of miles away, coughing up blood. Wherever he passed, a trail of devastation was left in his wake, as if a violent gale had swept through.

“Tao’er, do not be afraid. Even if it means making an enemy of the entire Immortal Realm, I will spend my life with you!”

Tears welled in the woman’s eyes as her slender fingers caressed the Immortal Lord’s face. “Chu-lang, why must you do this…?”

Just as the entrance to the minor realm came into view, the immortal accelerated, attempting to dash inside; suddenly, a brilliant golden radiance erupted all around, as if a scorching sun had descended upon them.

The Immortal Lord’s pupils contracted sharply. He jerked his head up to see Gao Shi—clad in a fitted white martial outfit—gazing down at him.

Seated atop a golden dragon, Gao Shi asked, “Do you acknowledge your crime?”

The Immortal Lord flew into a rage. “What crime have I committed?! I merely wished to spend my life with the woman I love. How is it that, in your eyes, this constitutes a violation of the Heavenly Statutes—a heinous offense?”

“The Heavenly Dao itself holds room for affection. You deities who sever all ties to love and emotion, knowing only how to blindly obey the statutes—how are you any different from mere stones? Can you truly still be called immortals?”

Gao Shi frowned, looking somewhat impatient. “Who said your crime was falling in love with a mortal? There is no rule in the Heavenly Statutes forbidding love with mortals! Instead of wasting time on romance, couldn’t you have spent it actually studying the Heavenly Rules?”

The Immortal Lord was stunned. “Then why are you hunting us down?”

A glimmer of hope also lit up the eyes of the mortal woman held in his arms. Gao Shi sneered, “You truly haven’t reflected on this at all. You’ve simply ignored the fact that your ‘love’ caused rivers of blood to flow and extinguished a million lives.”

The Immortal’s face flushed crimson. “They were the ones who humiliated Tao’er first! That prince from the enemy kingdom actually demanded she marry him as a concubine! And Tao’er’s father and brother—cowards that they were—actually agreed to it. I couldn’t stand for it, so I wiped them out.”

“A fine excuse—’couldn’t stand for it’!” Gao Shi clapped his hands. “Because you couldn’t stand it, you unleashed immortal magic and obliterated half the world with a single strike. A million lives perished in an instant; the land beneath your palm became a dead zone where the resentment of the departed was so profound they could not reincarnate. Countless lost souls, driven mad, tore at one another and attacked the living. In the span of a mere month, the entire realm was tainted by that seething resentment!”

The Immortal stiffened his neck defiantly. “Was I supposed to just stand by and watch my beloved suffer such humiliation?! All things are governed by the laws of cause and effect: their harming of Tao’er was the cause, and their death at my hands was the consequence!”

Gao Shi, from the void… Drawing a long axe, he rose from atop the golden dragon. “The Heavenly Way is not devoid of feeling; the celestial statutes have never forbidden love between immortals and mortals. However, should an immortal fall in love with a mortal, they must excise their immortal root and become mortal themselves. Because an immortal’s power is immense and their impact on the mortal realm profound, they are forbidden from interfering in mortal affairs for the sake of personal sentiment.”

“Once one becomes mortal, the merit earned from previously protecting a region ensures an abundance of gold and silver; one would certainly not live a destitute life.”

“If you truly wished to spend your life with your beloved, you could have simply excised your immortal root. If you sought vengeance for them, you could have used that wealth to build a fortune—or even raised an army to overthrow these two nations and establish a new dynasty. With your wisdom and insight, such a feat was entirely within your grasp.”

“Yet, you did not.”

The long axe in Gao Shi’s hand expanded rapidly in the air, growing to the height of a man in the blink of an eye. “You desired both a romance between immortal and mortal and the retention of your immortal root—simply because you were unwilling to relinquish either. And so, you visited suffering upon innocent mortals.”

“Those million mortals never even laid eyes on her, yet in the end, they became mere tools to prove the depth of affection between you and her.”

Gao Shi ceased all further discourse. He raised his axe, and as golden light flashed, the Immortal’s face drained of color; he turned and fled in a frenzy.

Yet Gao Shi remained rooted to the spot. With the rise and fall of his axe, the faint sound of something snapping echoed through the air.

“For the sake of personal passion, you used immortal power to interfere in the mortal realm, trapping a million souls in a dead zone where they could not reincarnate. Now, I strip away your immortal root, shatter your immortal bones, and sever your immortal destiny.”

The first strike: the immortal root was extinguished.

The spiritual energy surrounding the Immortal’s body instantly dissipated.

The second strike: the immortal bones were pulverized.

The Immortal collapsed, his body turning to a heap of limp, shapeless sludge.

The third strike: the immortal destiny was severed.

The Immortal roared in despair, helpless to stop the sensation of his connection to the Celestial Ascension Ladder from vanishing. His immortal aura drained away completely, reducing him to a mere mortal before his soul was torn from his body.

The Immortal’s soul trembled and fled in desperation; if only he could enter a minor realm, if only he could possess another body…

*Thud.*

The Immortal’s soul slammed into a soul-summoning banner.

A deity clad in black reached out and seized the Immortal Lord’s soul.

“Your karmic debt from slaughter is too heavy: five hundred years in the Hell of Knives, three hundred years in the Hell of Boiling Oil, and one hundred cycles of reincarnation in the Realm of Beasts.”

He calmly pronounced the fate awaiting the Immortal’s soul, and then, the soul was cast into the void. “A fine verdict.”

Gao Shi, mounted on the golden dragon, looked down at the immortal deity clad in black. The deity’s expression was aloof, his features composed yet sharp, and his skin—pale as snow—contrasted strikingly against his dark robes; the sight of him was like beholding a snow lotus blooming atop a snowy peak in the dead of night.

Gao Shi raised an eyebrow and patted the golden dragon beneath him. “Dahuang, who is he?”

“He is…”

Just then, as if he had heard the question, the black-clad deity looked up and met Gao Shi’s gaze.

The sounds around them grew indistinct, and the world dissolved into a blur of light and shadow; only that figure, standing amidst the haze, remained strikingly clear.

“He is…”

…

As he slept, Gao Shi’s brows were tightly furrowed. A faint golden glow radiated from his body, causing the small axe by the bedside to shimmer in response, while hazy golden dragon silhouettes outlined the sleeping forms of Dahuang and Dahei.

Ying Bujie slowly opened his eyes.

He reached out, gently smoothing the furrow between Gao Shi’s brows, before planting the lightest of kisses upon his eyelids.

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