After Marrying the Lord of the Underworld

The cold wind howled around them.

 

They plunge straight into the deepest part of the dense fog. The gate to the ghost world sensed the arrival of the living and fell into a rage, doing everything it could to stop them.

 

Another round of attacks, the dense fog pulsated, bringing with it almost boiling seawater.

 

However, after a hundred years, Jing Xian had studied it over and over again, listened to its rhythm, and peered into its flaws.

 

He held Lu Yingjiu with one hand and stretched out the other—

 

The sharp wind immediately wrapped around him, cutting his clearly jointed hand into bloody marks, deep enough to see the bone. His face remained unchanged, he didn’t even raise an eyebrow, strange black marks crawled up his hand, he lightly pinched, and tons of seawater split from the middle, as if cut by an invisible giant blade.

 

The cold wind held them up, no matter how angry the ghost gate was, no matter how high the waves were, they still shuttled through the gaps, graceful as swallows.

 

They keep falling like this.

 

Wounds keep appearing on Jing Xian’s body, and the wounds heal as soon as they appear. From beginning to end, he never let Lu Yingjiu get hurt.

 

The wind blew Lu Yingjiu’s hair messy, he squinted his eyes, and remained alert in this situation.

 

The talisman paper was clenched in his hand.

 

The fresh blood dyes the white and dark yellow paper, saving the step of cutting the palm.

 

Just as another gust of wind was about to tear Jing Xian’s flesh…

 

The back of Jing Xian’s outstretched hand felt cold.

 

A soft glow enveloped his hand, icy cold, removing the force of the wind.

 

This time, his injuries were not so terrifying, just some minor abrasions.

 

At the same time, more talisman papers shine with light, flying down like a rain of fire, brightly illuminating the way forward.

 

For the rest of the fall, they cooperate tacitly.

 

The view in front of them was sometimes bright, sometimes dark, and the surrounding scenery sometimes looked like the deep sea, sometimes like the clouds.

 

After an unknown amount of time, Lu Yingjiu suddenly felt heavy—

 

A powerful gravity pulled them down, the seawater, ghost hands, and fog all disappear, leaving only darkness around them.

 

That darkness was very pure.

 

It’s like the bottom of the abyss, or…Jing Xian’s deep eyes.

 

The feeling of weightlessness came, they fell straight down, and after about ten seconds, they hit the ground hard.

 

To be precise, Jing Xian hit the ground hard.

 

Lu Yingjiu fell on him, well cushioned, without any problems—if Jing Xian were human, he would have caused Jing Xian severe secondary injuries.

 

Lu Yingjiu quickly raised his head.

 

Jing Xian was covered in blood, and his eyes were tightly closed!

 

At this moment, Lu Yingjiu was so panicked that he instinctively reached out to feel Jing Xian’s breath.

 

No breath!

 

No heartbeat either!

 

His hands and feet went cold and numb.

 

As the saying goes, “care leads to chaos”, he didn’t even think that ghosts couldn’t possibly have breath or heartbeat.

 

“Jing Xian?” he called out, “Jing Xian, don’t scare me?”

 

“…” Jing Xian’s lips moved slightly.

 

Lu Yingjiu was overjoyed and quickly leaned in to listen.

 

He only heard Jing Xian say, “Artificial respiration, artificial respiration…”

 

Lu Yingjiu: ?

 

Even if his mind was a mess, he felt something was wrong, and asked, “What did you say?”

 

Jing Xian’s voice got louder, “Artificial respiration, I need artificial respiration!” After saying that, he grabbed Lu Yingjiu’s hand with an astonishing strength, “I’m about to die, kiss me quickly!”

 

Lu Yingjiu: “…”

 

Lu Yingjiu: “………”

 

He finally came to his senses, and slapped Jing Xian on the head, “Breathe, you big ghost head.”

 

Jing Xian was slapped for no reason, he immediately opened his eyes, and there was no sign of weakness, he was clearly full of life.

 

He said, “How can you stand by and watch me die, I can’t let you become a widow at a young age.”

 

“It’s a widower,” Lu Yingju said irritably. “Is scaring me fun for you? You really are… mhmp.”

 

He was flipped over and pressed to the ground by Jing Xian, who kissed him deeply.

 

This kiss was far from peaceful and beautiful.

 

Both of them were covered in blood, their clothes in disarray. As their lips and teeth intertwined, even their tongues seemed to taste a hint of rust, but neither of them minded. They kissed passionately, as if conveying all their words through their intense gaze.

 

When the kiss finally ended, Lu Yingju reached out and stroked the corner of Jing Xian’s lips.

 

No need for words, they smiled at each other.

 

Jing Xian stood up first and pulled Lu Yingju up by the hand.

 

“Awoo!” A familiar sound came.

 

The round and chubby hairball had climbed onto Jing Xian’s shoulder at some point, then rolled and pounced into Lu Yingju’s arms.

 

When Jing Xian arrived, the black beast had turned back into a ball, and had been obediently staying in his arms.

 

The Yin energy in the ghost realm was strong, and its injuries had healed quickly. In the blink of an eye, it was full of energy, constantly howling in Lu Yingju’s arms.

 

Lu Yingju was overjoyed and hugged it tightly.

 

After playing with hairball for a while and calming down, Lu Yingju noticed that both he and Jing Xian had changed their appearance.

 

Jing Xian was dressed in a black robe, with golden dark patterns outlining mountains and rivers. His ink-black hair was tied up with a golden crown, hanging down like silk, and a white jade was hanging from his waist, making him look handsome and elegant.

 

This is his original appearance.

 

In his capacity as the Ghost King, he dressed extremely plainly.

 

Lu Yingju was stunned for a few seconds, and then remembered that this outfit, except for the top-notch quality and perfect workmanship, was basically the same as Jing Xian’s clothes when he was a teenager.

 

After so many years, Jing Xian was still waiting for him in his old appearance.

 

And Lu Yingju was dressed in white, elegant and ethereal.

 

If there were a mirror in front of him, he would find that there was a faint silver light in his eyes, horns growing on his head, and his skin becoming even whiter. His appearance didn’t change much, but his temperament changed a bit, inevitably carrying a bit of ghostly charm.

 

This was consistent with his transformation when inviting the gods.

The ghost realm seemed to infinitely weaken the part of him that was “human”. If other ghosts saw him like this, they would definitely not recognize him as a living person.

 

Lu Yingjiu asked, “Why have I become like this?”

 

He was expecting Jing Xian to explain the principle to him.

 

But Jing Xian was very nervous, with a strong desire to survive, and immediately said, “You look good like this!! Super good looking!”

 

Lu Yingjiu: “…”

 

He looked around again.

 

The brown earth, the sky intertwined with deep purple and fish belly white.

 

This was a wasteland, with a few dead old trees and a huge semi-transparent river in the distance. At first glance, it didn’t seem very different from the human world.

 

Looking up, he couldn’t find the entrance they came from.

 

But the heavy and stagnant yin energy told Lu Yingjiu that he was definitely in the ghost world.

 

Jing Xian saw his confusion and explained, “This is the first layer of the ghost realm, not much different from the mortal world. The deeper you go, the more different it becomes.” He hesitated for half a second, “Anyway, let’s go to my palace first. How are your injuries?”

 

“I’m fine,” Lu Yingjiu said.

 

Affected by the yin energy, the power of the talisman paper had diminished a lot.

 

But after all, it was the talisman paper he drew, and it still worked. They eased the pain, and the wounds were slowly healing under the power of inviting gods. If he rested for a few days, he would definitely be fully recovered.

 

“Let’s go quickly.” Jing Xian pointed at the river, “The first five layers of the ghost world are all connected by the River of Forgetfulness.”

 

He reached out and took Lu Yingjiu’s hand, Lu Yingjiu held hairball, and they walked across the vast wasteland.

 

The river was not far away.

 

After only about ten minutes, they were standing by the river.

 

Lu Yingjiu took a look. The river water was a peculiar semi-transparent, and one could see a hundred meters deep at a glance.

 

There were no fish, no water plants, the whole river was lifeless, with only a little ripple.

 

He said, “In the legend, the River of Forgetfulness should be blood yellow, full of lonely ghosts who can’t be reincarnated. I didn’t expect it to be so clean.”

 

“It used to be quite dirty, with bugs and snakes,” Jing Xian said. “Later, I sent people to clean up the environment. It took several hundred years to clean up. Look there, that’s the Ghost World Environmental Protection Team responsible for keeping the river clean.”

 

Lu Yingjiu looked in the direction he pointed.

 

Two… speedboats suddenly appeared on the river.

 

Lu Yingjiu: ??

 

He looked several times to confirm that he was not mistaken, there was indeed an engine at the back of the boat.

 

There were two or three little ghosts sitting on each speedboat, wearing bamboo hats and cloaks. One of them stood up and shouted at them, “Who are you! How did you appear… Ah!”

 

He recognized Jing Xian and was so scared that he shivered. The group of ghosts knelt down in unison, the boat stopped, and they dared not raise their heads.

 

Jing Xian asked, “Where has Meng Po gone?”

 

The leading little ghost pointed in a direction, trembling, “I, I’ll go call her over!”

 

“Go ahead,” Jing Xian said.

 

The group of ghosts were like pardoned prisoners, and quickly drove away in the speedboat.

 

The river surface was left with just the two of them.

 

Lu Yingjiu: “…Why are there speedboats and engines in the ghost world?”

 

“Because rowing is too slow,” Jing Xian said matter-of-factly.

 

“No, it’s not about whether to row or not.” Lu Yingjiu held his forehead, “How advanced is the technology level of the ghost world, I’m a bit confused…”

 

Jing Xian thought for a moment, “The situation is quite complicated. Of course, traditional things still exist and cannot be replaced. For example, if we want to go to the lower level of the ghost world, we still have to take the traditional ferry, the speedboat will be corroded by the yin energy along the way.”

 

Putt putt putt–

 

The sound of the engine came again.

 

Lu Yingjiu looked up and saw a golden… cruise ship.

 

Lu Yingjiu: “…”

 

On the deck of the cruise ship stood a stunningly beautiful woman with a proud figure and flowing hair. She was dressed in an ancient red dress, but wore a pair of sunglasses, mixing styles spanning thousands of years.

 

She saw Jing Xian, took off her sunglasses and put them on her forehead, almost bursting into tears, “My King, you’re finally back!! I had a nightmare yesterday, dreaming that you were deceived by that so-called wife!”

 

Lu Yingjiu: “…”

 

He was inexplicably shot. But in a sense, he indeed cheated.

 

And for some reason, even though it was their first meeting, he felt that Meng Po seemed a bit familiar.

 

Jing Xian said unhappily, “What kind of language is this, how can you call it ‘deception’? After getting married, we are a family.”

 

Meng Po was about to say something, but her gaze suddenly fell on Lu Yingjiu.

 

Women have intuition, and female ghosts were no exception.

 

She almost instantly realized that this was the person Jing Xian had been thinking about for hundreds of years! Her eyes narrowed, and her sharp gaze swept over Lu Yingjiu’s body, saying, “Holy shit! Big demon!”

 

Lu Yingjiu: “…”

 

With this sentence, he knew why Meng Po looked familiar.

 

This is simply, this is simply the underworld version of Chen Xiaoling! From temperament to dress to speech, they are exactly the same!

 

Only this time, the big demon is not Jing Xian.

 

The big demon is himself.

 

Meng Po was extremely efficient. According to Jing Xian’s orders, she quickly brought a ferry.

 

The ferry was a flat boat, all black, so narrow that two people couldn’t sit side by side. The boatman wore a pure black mask, without facial features, and could not see his emotions. He waited for them silently with the oar.

 

Jing Xian was the first to get on the boat, reaching out to pull Lu Yingjiu up.

 

The two sat facing each other in the narrow hull.

 

The boatman rowed the boat silently, the boat bobbing up and down, slowly moving downstream.

 

Meng Po shouted from behind them, “Wait for me to finish my work, then I’ll come find you!”

 

Jing Xian waved his hand to indicate that he had heard.

 

So they went downstream, and there was not much scenery on the shore, just desolation.

 

The journey was long, and Lu Yingjiu took Jing Xian’s hand and told him in detail how he remembered the past.

 

He talked about their first encounter in the mountains.

 

He talked about the freedom of walking through mountains and rivers side by side.

 

He talked about his final decision to enter the ghost world.

 

Jing Xian listened carefully and finally said, “One of my greatest hopes is that you could remember these things, and today it has finally come true.”

 

He held Lu Yingjiu’s hand and said softly, “It’s a pity you didn’t remember these things earlier. Otherwise, how could you leave me again?”

 

He said this lightly, without any blame or complaint, as if he didn’t care.

 

But Lu Yingjiu knew that he was quite upset.

 

At that time in the car, the eye on the horizon was staring at him. Jing Xian pulled him into his arms to protect him, but he resolutely pushed Jing Xian away.

 

What was Jing Xian thinking at that moment?

 

Was he reminded of the heavy snowfall, where he watched Lu Yingjiu leave with his own eyes? Even though so many years had passed, they were miraculously reunited.

 

Just imagining it, Lu Yingjiu could feel the despair like a tide.

 

He said, “I’m sorry… At that time, I only thought that I didn’t want to involve you anymore, this is my fate alone.”

 

Jing Xian showed a rather complicated smile, “You always think like this. But I’ve come this far just to protect you.”

 

Otherwise, with his temperament, he would be too lazy to be a ghost king.

 

He should be galloping through the mountains and forests, showing his beloved the moon at the bottom of the lake, and the flowers in the fog.

 

He also said, “For you, this is something you should face alone, whether it’s life or death, you can accept it calmly. But I can’t, all I want is to be by your side, I want you to live well.”

 

– To be by your side.

 

It’s a bit strange for him to say this in his capacity. Looking at the ghost world and the mortal world, is there an existence he can’t match or catch up with?

 

Only when facing Lu Yingjiu…

 

Perhaps deep down, he was still the young man standing in the snowstorm, left behind by Lu Yingjiu, desperate and angry like a trapped beast.

 

He fulfilled his past vows, with a decisive and fierce determination, with a terrifying power that crushed everything, he protected Lu Yingjiu in the gate of the ghost world. But what about next? If Lu Yingjiu insisted on fighting alone, he would be left behind again.

 

Lu Yingjiu was silent for a long time.

 

Only the sound of waves around them, the silent boatman looking straight ahead, that had not spoken for thousands of years.

 

Just as Jing Xian was about to change the subject with a forced smile, Lu Yingjiu stood up and gently kissed his forehead.

 

Lu Yingjiu said, “Do you remember, we once lit a bonfire on a solitary peak in the far south?”

 

“…I remember.” Jing Xian was stunned for a moment.

 

Lu Yingjiu smiled and said, “At that time, I was reading the files, and you were so bored that you were almost sprouting mushrooms, and you actually fell asleep before me for the first time. I was thinking while reading, ‘should I kiss you like this’.”

 

The young man in black was sleeping beside him.

 

The warm firelight licked the night, and the grass bent in the wind. The mountain was extremely high, high enough to pick stars, and a bright moon shone brightly. Lu Yingjiu listened to the rustling of the forest, as if they were the only two people in the world.

 

He looked at the young man’s face.

 

His heart was soft, wanting to drop a kiss, but in the end, he did not act.

 

Thinking carefully, perhaps at that time, he was already faintly moved.

 

At this moment, on the boat on the River of Forgetfulness, Lu Yingjiu said, “You said that I can face life and death calmly, this is wrong. When I jumped from the bridge to the ghost world, my heart was not calm, it was full of regrets, thinking that I should have looked at you a few more times.”

 

“Anyway, I just can’t bear to leave you.”

 

“In the past, I could walk freely, but now it’s impossible. Jing Xian, I also want to be with you forever.”

 

Jing Xian’s eyes widened slightly.

 

“So I won’t leave you behind anymore.” Lu Yingjiu smiled with his eyes curved, “Who cares about fairness? Fighting against the Heavenly Way, I want it to be two against one.”

 

Hairball: “Awoo awoo!”

 

Lu Yingjiu corrected, “Three against one.”

 

In the next second, Jing Xian reached out and held him tightly.

 

He said, “Do you keep your word?”

 

“Mm.” Lu Yingjiu said, “It’s too late to regret.”

 

Only then did Jing Xian’s eyebrows sweep away the gloom, and his spirits lifted.

 

The usual love-brain came back, he hugged Lu Yingjiu’s waist, very dishonestly touching here and there, and then kissed him several times on his face.

 

Lu Yingjiu was helpless, and finally managed to push him away a bit, unconsciously smiling, “Don’t make trouble, what if the boat overturns?”

 

“It would be nice if it overturned.” Jing Xian said, “This section of the river is very clean, most suitable for underwater mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.”

 

– After he said this, it seemed that he thought this idea was very good, his expression brightened, and there was a bit of eagerness to try.

 

Lu Yingjiu: “…Please don’t.”

 

The black flat boat went further, the river gradually became turbulent, and the water splashed on the shore.

 

The end of the river turned out to be a huge waterfall.

 

Falling from the waterfall was the next layer of the ghost world.

 

“What is this,” Lu Yingjiu said, “the ghost world version of ‘the courage to move forward in rapids’?” (TL: Describes being proactive and not flinching in dangerous situations)

 

“You could say that.” Jing Xian scooped hairball into his arms to prevent it from being lost when they fell, so he wouldn’t have to explain to Lu Yingjiu.

 

He didn’t forget to add, “If you’re scared, you can hold me.”

 

“Why would I be scared?” Lu Yingjiu propped up his head and hooked the corner of his mouth, “I’m quite looking forward to it.”

 

– Not looking forward to the grandeur of the waterfall, nor the thrill of the fall.

 

But looking forward to the appearance of the ghost world.

 

He wanted to see what the place where Jing Xian was born looked like. Just as Jing Xian went to great lengths to learn the common sense of the world, he also wanted to understand everything about Jing Xian.

 

The flat boat reached the edge of the river, the bow sank, and began to fall.

 

Water splashed around them, clean and refreshing. Everything around them was pulled into long lines, fleeing in a hurry.

 

There was the scent of grass and trees in the wind.

 

The next layer of the ghost world had excellent scenery and was full of life. The lush forest, thick grassland, and damp moss came face to face. The fragrance filled the sleeves, and a pool of jade filled with light smoke curled up, forming a vast and gentle green ocean.