After Marrying the Lord of the Underworld

Lu Yingjiu took a half step back.

 

The eye was still moving, not knowing what it was peeping at.

 

Crack——

 

Crack——

 

Centered on it, black cracks spread bit by bit, covering the walls and ceiling. Soon, the entire room was full of spider-web-like cracks.

 

A lot of wall skin fell off, smashed into white chunks and powder, piled a few centimeters high at Lu Yingjiu’s feet.

 

He looked around.

 

Behind every peeled wall skin, there were eyes.

 

They were slowly turning, densely packed, covering every corner, enough to drive any sufferer of trypophobia mad.

 

[59 eyes]

 

This phrase inexplicably appeared in Lu Yingjiu’s mind.

 

For some reason, he just knew that there were 59 eyes looking at him. The tide-like gaze drowned him, and he truly felt the suffocation of his lungs being squeezed.

 

He couldn’t breathe.

 

His eyelids were heavy——

 

“……Mr. Lu.”

 

“Mr. Lu, look at me.”

 

“Lu Yingjiu, are you listening?”

 

“Huh?” Lu Yingjiu came back to his senses.

 

The sun was shining in front of him, and the breeze gently blew the curtains. He was sitting face to face with a woman, with a soft chair behind him.

 

He wondered blankly, where am I?

 

Wasn’t I just at home, seeing the eyes in the wall? How did I get here?

 

The woman held a notebook in her hand and pushed her glasses. “Mr. Lu, how often does this situation occur?”

 

“……What situation?” Lu Yingjiu asked.

 

The woman said, “You said, you often see eyes in the walls of your home.”

 

Lu Yingjiu: “……I don’t know.”

 

The woman smiled, lowered her head and wrote something on the paper, then said, “You’ve been under a lot of stress recently, and it might be anxiety that’s causing strong hallucinations. I’ll prescribe some medication for you, remember to take it on time. Let’s end our conversation here for today.”

 

After she finished writing, she got up to see Lu Yingjiu out.

 

Lu Yingjiu suddenly asked, “What’s the date today?”

 

“May 31st,” the woman answered.

 

In Lu Yingjiu’s memory, the day he finished the commission and saw the eyes in his home was May 14th.

 

A whole half month had passed.

 

And he had no memory of it.

 

Lu Yingjiu walked out of the clinic with a diagnosis of “Severe Anxiety” and a bunch of medication, standing under the hot afternoon sun.

 

People were coming and going around him.

 

But he was filled with a vast sense of bewilderment.

 

His car was parked by the roadside, and he drove home.

 

When he opened the door, two cats greeted him with their tails up.

 

Lu Yingjiu smiled and squatted down, petting their heads, then subconsciously looked at the wall.

 

The wall was clean, nothing was there.

 

Could it really be his hallucination?

 

Everything was as usual in the days that followed.

 

He was still exorcising ghosts every day, and working overtime at the Green Lantern Association. The association knew he was not in a good mood and had tried to lighten his load as much as possible. Xia Ping’an reminded him to take his medication every day.

 

Life returned to normal.

 

It’s just that every time he came home, he would subconsciously look at the wall.

 

The walls were intact every day.

 

Immaculately white.

 

Once during dinner, Lu Yingjiu casually asked, “By the way, how is the old man we met last time? Is he still living there?”

 

Xia Ping’an looked at him, hesitated, and after a while, answered in a low voice, “Mr. Lu, you don’t know, he’s already dead.”

 

“Dead?” Lu Yingjiu’s movement stopped.

 

“Yes.” Xia Ping’an spoke with difficulty, also saddened by this, “About a week after we saw him, the old house caught fire, and he couldn’t escape. All the animals he raised also died.”

 

Lu Yingjiu was stunned for several seconds.

 

Then he sighed and lowered his head.

 

There was an eye on the table, staring at him!

 

He stood up subconsciously, flipped his hand to take out a talisman——

 

“……Mr. Lu.”

 

“Mr. Lu, please answer my question.”

 

“Are you really okay?”

 

The sun was shining brightly.

 

It was the clinic again, and Lu Yingjiu still didn’t know how he got there. His memory was fragmented, and he only remembered that he was eating dinner a second ago.

 

The woman pushed her glasses, “Mr. Lu, have you been resting well recently?”

 

“……Yes.” Lu Yingjiu answered in a daze, “I’ve been trying to rest.”

 

“You have a lot of work pressure,” the woman said, “I suggest you take a leave of absence, and talk about it after a period of rest.”

 

“I can’t take a leave.” Lu Yingjiu said.

 

What if he took such a long leave and a new commission came in? If he could get a better result by stepping in, if he could save one more person, then he would go no matter what.

 

The woman pushed her glasses again, “Your pressure mainly comes from work, so I sincerely suggest you do this. You have severe PTSD, you shouldn’t be involved in that line of work for a short time, to avoid… unnecessary consequences.”

 

PTSD, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

 

Many of Lu Yingjiu’s colleagues had this problem – most of the time, it was because of their negligence, lack of ability, they couldn’t save the client, or even watched the client die in front of them.

 

They either quit the exorcism business, or had sleepless nights, waking up from nightmares, or developed extreme anxiety.

 

Lu Yingjiu had always been the kind of person with a strong inner self, he could mediate his emotions, and had never shown such signs.

 

Seeing his confusion, the woman said again, “You met an old man with the surname Cai at work, didn’t you?”

 

“Yes,” Lu Yingjiu nodded.

 

“He died in a fire,” the woman said, “along with the dozens of animals he raised, because you didn’t drive away the ferocious ghost.”

 

“Died… because I didn’t drive away the ferocious ghost?” Lu Yingjiu hesitated.

 

“Yes, you were negligent at the time and didn’t notice another ghost in the house,” the woman said, “You told me all this. That’s how the fire started, and you’ve never gotten out of this shadow. So, you need to rest, a long rest.”

 

Lu Yingjiu was in a daze.

 

Was there really such a thing?

 

Thump, thump, thump——

 

Thump, thump, thump——

 

The heartbeat sound came again.

 

He went home, hesitated for a long time, and still took a half-month leave from the Green Lantern Association.

 

For half a month, Lu Yingjiu didn’t deal with any ghosts.

 

Every day at home watering flowers, feeding cats, and ordering all delicious takeout nearby. The pace of life suddenly slowed down, he was not used to it at first, but soon accepted the slow day.

 

He started having strange dreams.

 

The scenes in the dreams were completely different.

 

Sometimes, he dreamed of a vast sea. The near-sea ship was helpless like a leaf, at the mercy of the waves.

 

But it wasn’t sailors on the cargo ship, but exorcists. The spirit monkeys sat on their shoulders, their golden fur wet by the rain. In each of their hands was a complex talisman, burning in the wind, echoing the formation at the bottom of the sea.

 

Therefore a golden light bloomed at the bottom of the sea, illuminating the lingering dark clouds.

 

Sometimes, he dreamed of a mountain range after being burned by a big fire.

 

The nursing home collapsed in the fire, leaving only ruins. A red snake lay between the mountains, surrounded by burning fire, and the mountains were all red as far as the eye could see.

 

The same bright formation lit up, covering the mountains and fields, shining brightly.

 

The people standing in the mountains, those strangers, began to speak to him. Lu Yingjiu couldn’t hear their voices, only saw their anxious expressions.

 

These frenzied dreams entangled him.

 

Whenever Lu Yingjiu woke up at midnight, he could always see the black cat sitting by his pillow, rubbing him with its fluffy head, and there seemed to be complex emotions in its crimson eyes.

 

“…What do you want to say?” Lu Yingjiu couldn’t help but laugh, stroking it, “Do you have something to tell me?”

 

The black cat didn’t answer.

 

–Of course it wouldn’t answer, it just wagged its tail and licked Lu Yingjiu’s palm.

 

Lu Yingjiu rested for half a month in this way, and his condition improved.

 

On the day his sick leave ended, he got up early as usual to go to the Green Lantern Association.

 

When he got downstairs, the sun was particularly bright, making him squint.

 

People were coming and going around him, and he squinted his eyes to adjust to the light–

 

“Mr. Lu? You’re daydreaming again.”

 

“Mr. Lu, your condition is still not good, you must rest for a few more days.”

 

“Do your delusions…still exist?”

 

“Delusions?” Lu Yingjiu was confused, “What delusions?”

 

He returned to the conversation room, sitting in the soft chair, with a cup of warm water at hand.

 

The beige curtains fluttered in the wind, and the laughter of children came from afar.

 

The woman leaned forward, staring at him, “The delusion about ghosts.”

 

“Do you still think you are an ‘exorcist’?”

 

Lu Yingjiu: “…If I’m not an exorcist, what am I?”

 

The woman sighed softly. “There are no ghosts in this world, no ‘exorcists’ or ‘Green Lantern Association’, all of these are your delusions. Of course, you can’t make talisman paper, let alone risk your life to exorcise ghosts.”

 

“Mr. Lu, you need to face the facts and actively treat yourself in order to get better.”

 

She handed over a small bag full of pills. “The medicine is the same as last time, remember to take it on time.”

 

Lu Yingjiu: “…”

 

Lu Yingjiu said, “The last time we met, you said I had PTSD and shouldn’t be doing this job anymore. You admitted that there are ghosts in the world.”

 

“There’s no such thing.” The woman still sighed, “Mr. Lu, your delusions are getting worse, I should contact your family.”

 

She buried her head in her notebook, seemingly looking for contact information.

 

“No need to look.” Lu Yingjiu said, “I have no family.”

 

“What about friends?” The woman looked at him.

 

At this moment, Lu Yingjiu wanted to blurt out a few names.

 

But his thoughts seemed to be stolen, he couldn’t remember who they were at all, and finally said, “I also…..I also have no friends.”

 

The woman said, “Then you should go home and rest early, living alone, you need to pay more attention to your body. You have my phone number, feel free to contact me if you need anything.”

 

“…Okay.” Lu Yingjiu nodded, “I remember.”

 

Leaving the clinic, he drove to the place where the Green Lantern Association was located.

 

It was empty, nothing was there, only a dilapidated alley and a few dirty stray cats.

 

Dialing the phone number in his memory, all were empty numbers, or picked up by strangers. The little ghosts who used to wander the streets were also gone, as if they had never existed.

 

This is a world without ghosts.

 

Lu Yingjiu went home alone, went upstairs alone, and stood in the living room alone.

 

The cow cat was gone, the exorcism talisman paper in the drawer was gone, and the protective talisman hanging at the door was also gone.

 

Everything turned out to be his fantasy.

 

So what is real in this world?

 

He imagined the eyes in the wall.

 

He imagined ghosts and a dangerous, busy and fulfilling job.

 

He imagined friends and family, colleagues and old acquaintances, and all kinds of beautiful life…

 

Now the illusion was broken.

 

Everything about him had been denied.

 

Lu Yingjiu stood alone in the dim living room with his medicine, until dusk completely engulfed the earth.

 

“Meow–” A familiar sound came.

 

Lu Yingjiu was stunned, almost unbelievably turning his head.

 

The black cat came around the corner, rubbing his trouser leg affectionately.

 

Lu Yingjiu didn’t know why his eyes were a little moist. He picked up the black cat, stroked its soft fur, and murmured, “Only you are real…”

 

The black cat wouldn’t answer, just gently licked his palm.

 

In the days that followed, his condition worsened.

 

Lu Yingjiu’s entire world was distorting.

 

The hour hand was spinning backwards, the bus stop drove into the ship, and the puddles flowed back into the black clouds in the sky. The whole city was talking, sometimes it was months of daylight, sometimes it was endless polar night.

 

The lamp grew eyes, looking up was a spotlight, looking down was a street light; the stairs grew a mouth, each step down would sing a song. When he went from his home to the 4th floor, it was just enough to sing a scale. The doorknob got a nose, could smell who was in front of it, so people no longer needed keys and locks.

 

The fire brigade extinguished the sun with water, and the thief took away a corner of the moon. Fish drowned in the ocean, birds fell to the ground and died, their innards flowed out and bloomed into beautiful flowers.

 

Lu Yingjiu often saw the dead.

 

Walking on the street at midnight, his shadow split into three, breaking free from the ground and following closely behind him.

 

There were monkeys on the wall, snakes on the ground, peacocks spreading their feathers under the moon, and dogs with big ears lying on the street. These animals that died in the fire came back quietly, watching him, staring at him.

 

“Have you seen the world in the eyes of the Heavenly Way?”

 

A voice suddenly sounded.

 

Old man Cai was standing at the corner of the street, his face expressionless.

 

Every second, his face would change.

 

Young and old, handsome and ugly…

 

As if countless people’s figures were condensed on his body.

 

Lu Yingjiu had become accustomed to these illusions and calmly replied, “Anyway, they are all my imagination. What I think they are, that’s what they are.”

 

“What is it like in your imagination?” the old man asked.

 

“It is orderly, planning everything in the world clearly. Seeing an object, you can know its origin and destination; seeing a person, you can know his birth, old age, sickness and death.” Lu Yingjiu thought for a moment, “After all, it is the law.”

 

But the old man shook his head. “No, you’re wrong.”

 

“What’s wrong?” Lu Yingjiu laughed.

 

The old man pointed around. “The world you see now is the world seen by the Heavenly Way. It’s all chaos, all distortion.”

 

Lu Yingjiu: “Huh?”

 

“This world was born out of chaos. Time, space, all forms and souls, have no meaning to it, so there is no need to ‘see’. It only needs to see the original appearance of the world, to glimpse the truth in chaos.”

 

Lu Yingjiu said, “I don’t understand.”

 

The old man: “…”

 

Lu Yingjiu added, “I have a mental illness, so I assume you are some character I imagined, trying to preach to me, making me sicker.” He patted the old man on the shoulder, “If you’re not my imagination, then you look worse than me, go home and take some medicine.”

 

The old man: “…”

 

Watching Lu Yingjiu walk further and further away, he shouted, “Aren’t you curious why you can see ‘the world in the eyes of the Heavenly Way’?”

 

“Because I have delusions.” Lu Yingjiu said, “If I want, I can also see ‘the world in your eyes’.”

 

The old man: “…”, he was almost furious, “Look around you!”

 

Lu Yingjiu looked around.

 

Those animals were still silently staring at him, their eyes deep, as if urging.

 

The old man caught up with him.

 

This time, the old man’s face became young and handsome, completely a stranger’s face, and he spoke again, “These–including me, are your subconscious, reminding you that it’s time to go back.”

 

“Go back where?” Lu Yingjiu asked.

 

“Home.” He said, “Go find the people you love, and the people who love you.”

 

“Lu Yingjiu, someone is still waiting for you, your journey should not end here.”

 

“But we–but we can’t teach you how to distinguish between true and false.” He looked deeply at Lu Yingjiu, his face changing constantly, “The Heavenly Way denies everything about you, but that doesn’t mean that those things are really illusions.”

 

“But,” he smiled, “you’ve noticed, haven’t you?”

 

Thump, thump, thump—

 

Thump, thump, thump—

 

Again, the sound of a heartbeat.

 

That day, Lu Yingjiu returned home along the twisted streets.

 

Bathing, taking medicine, going to bed.

 

He started dreaming again.

 

He dreamt of a blue-green peacock spreading its wings, flying over empty buildings, its tail feathers entwined with the glow of formations.

 

He dreamt of a woman fighting alone with her attendant on a coastal bridge, crying inconsolably at the sight of a burnt-out car.

 

Lu Yingjiu tossed and turned.

 

The final dream scene was set in a gloomy ghost world.

 

He saw a man dressed in black, handsome and cold. With a wave of his hand, a blood mist rose for miles—he repeatedly crushed hundreds of ghosts, grinding their bones into dust. In the end, the man turned around, looking at him from afar. His eyes seemed to contain a thousand words, and they were filled with love.

 

“…Jing Xian,” he called out in his dream.

 

His mind gradually became clear.

 

He seemed to remember something.

 

When he woke up from his dream, Lu Yingjiu instinctively wanted to find the trace of the black cat.

 

In these crazy days, the black cat was his only comfort, his only reality.

 

But unlike the usual.

 

The black cat did not respond to his call.

 

Lu Yingjiu thought it might have been locked in the living room, so he got out of bed and opened the bedroom door.

 

The doorknob was covered in a sticky liquid.

 

When he turned on the light, his hand was full of crimson.

 

Not only that, the entire living room, the entire room was stained with blood, the wall cracked open again, 59 eyes were spinning in it, staring at the center of the living room.

 

In the center was the dead black cat.

 

It lay quietly, a large pool of fresh blood gushing out from under it, flowing to Lu Yingjiu’s feet.

 

[It’s dead]

 

The eyes silently said.

 

[Now you are truly alone.]

 

Lu Yingjiu: “…”

 

Something was wrong.

 

Very wrong.

 

A strong thought lingered in his mind: He would not leave me like this.

 

He will always be by my side, just as he promised.

 

This kind of separation made his mind clear. His breathing became smooth, his heartbeat became strong, and his chaotic thoughts became incredibly clear.

 

Lu Yingjiu silently walked over, knelt beside the black cat, and gently stroked its scarred body.

 

Then he stood up again.

 

For others, the death of the black cat would definitely be the last straw that broke the camel’s back.

 

But his thinking was already different.

 

Ignoring those horrifying eyes, he returned to the bedroom and opened the drawer.

 

In the drawer was a thick notebook.

 

Opening it, it was full of densely packed runes and formations!

 

—These things had all appeared in his dreams.

 

But those dreams were vague and dim, even faces were unclear, let alone the intricate, dizzying patterns of formations. Every time he saw them, it was just a quick glance, and there was no extra time to observe carefully.

 

Besides, with his mental state, even daily routines were difficult.

 

But he actually drew those formations!

 

Even without a single mistake!

 

Lu Yingjiu, in each crazy dream, in those fleeting glances, recorded the complex lines.

 

In places he didn’t see clearly, he depicted them out of thin air based on theoretical knowledge, instinct, and perhaps a bit of subconscious memory.

 

In this way, over several months, he slowly restored the four formation’s eyes in an impossible way.

 

At this moment, he picked up the pen and added the last part of the formation’s eye—that was what he had seen in his dream just now.

 

The shapes of the formation’s eyes were connected, outlining the shapes of a peacock, a monkey, a dog-eared beast, and a long snake. They correspond exactly to the animals he had encountered.

 

This cannot be a coincidence.

 

Nor can it be just his imagination.

 

Now that the formation eyes were complete, he saw the clues: the meaning of these four formation’s eyes is to protect.

 

To protect something.

 

Like… a person trapped in an illusion.

 

Lu Yingjiu took a deep breath and put down the pen and paper.

 

For the first time in many days, he truly felt that he was alive.

 

He took a deep breath—

 

“Mr. Lu, do you still have delusions?”

 

“Mr. Lu?”

 

“Are you listening to me?”

 

The sunlight in the clinic was warm, and the woman pushed her glasses. “Have you been taking your medication?”

 

“…No,” Lu Yingjiu answered, “I threw all the medicine away.”

 

The woman gasped. “How could you do this! If your condition worsens, you will be forcibly hospitalized, for the sake of your health…”

 

“Who am I?” Lu Yingjiu asked.

 

The woman: “…Huh?”

 

“Who am I?” Lu Yingjiu asked again, leaning forward with his ten fingers touching.

 

The gesture of a spire.

 

It represented confidence and aggression.

 

He looked at the woman expressionlessly, and at this moment, the roles of patient and doctor had reversed.

 

The woman was obviously flustered. “You are my patient, undergoing treatment for severe delusional disorder. You have fabricated a world full of ghosts, and you are the so-called ‘exorcist’.”

 

“The so-called ‘exorcist’,” Lu Yingjiu laughed, “Then I’m curious, does a talisman work on you?”

 

The talisman flew out and began to burn in the woman’s horrified gaze.

 

The fire spread quickly, igniting the entire clinic and the entire world. People were burned to screams, eyes burst out of their bodies, while Lu Yingjiu sat quietly in the midst of the red.

 

He said, “You have two flaws.”

 

“First, you underestimate my ability, didn’t expect that I could restore the formation, nor expected that I had so many things to worry about. After all, I am a genius, right? You looking down on me like this, it will only make me very unhappy;”

 

“Second, you let ‘Jing Xian’ die, trying to give me a fatal blow. But how could he die like this? He is so powerful, omnipotent, promised to never leave me, and I am willing to believe everything about him.”

 

“Besides, even if it’s death,” Lu Yingjiu laughed, “such a love-brain, if he doesn’t die by my side, I’m afraid he’ll be bothered. He can’t allow this to happen, he just wants to die in my arms.”

 

The woman could no longer answer, swallowed by the raging fire.

 

Lu Yingjiu spread his hands, an old wound on the back of his hand, a medal from fighting with ghosts, he stretched his muscles and bones, his tall body carrying the strength and elegance of a seasoned warrior, he touched his heart, his heart pounding, full of uncooled passion and sincerity.

 

How could these be fake?

 

He just hadn’t noticed it, he had just been deceived.

 

Countless faces flashed by.

 

Jing Xian, Ye Feng, Chu Banyang, Chen Zheng, Chen Xiaoling…

 

The fire blazed, overturning this illusory world.

 

He thought to himself, everything I love is real.

 

—They are waiting for me to come home.

 

****

 

The ghosts were still surging in the air.

 

In the illusion, it was several months of time, but in reality, only a short second had passed.

 

In this second, Lu Yingjiu’s figure was swallowed by a thick fog.

 

In the thick fog was extreme darkness, only a beam of light descended from the sky, falling in front of him.

 

In the beam of light, a semi-transparent golden figure slowly descended.

 

Its face and body shape kept changing, finally becoming exactly like Lu Yingjiu, with a crimson heart in its chest.

 

Thump, thump, thump—

 

Thump, thump, thump—

 

The sound of a heartbeat came out.

 

It reached out, almost gently touching Lu Yingjiu’s face, leaning down to touch foreheads with him.

 

“Come,” it said silently.

 

The golden light gradually merged with his body.

 

But the next second, Lu Yingjiu suddenly opened his eyes!

 

Before the figure could react, Lu Yingjiu’s left hand gripped its neck like a vise, while his right hand held its heart.

 

Thump, thump, thump!

 

The heartbeat quickened, and the figure struggled wildly.

 

“Didn’t expect it,” Lu Yingjiu stared at it, the corner of his mouth curling up, “I’m back.”

 

The traces of inviting the gods swept over, his eyes were dyed with silver light, and he crushed the beating heart with his bare hand!!