Chapter 471: Chapter 355 You Must Find Me_2
Yin Weiyin gazed at the altar and, after a long silence, murmured:
"Will no one die?"
The late emperor smiled indifferently and replied:
"Even if one dies, does that mean they cannot live here in this ghost city? I have already made arrangements for many things that follow."
At these words, Yin Weiyin’s thoughts grew complex,
The long-desired path to immortality was once again within reach.
She neither agreed nor refused, merely gazing quietly into the distance.
Standing on the terrace for a while, Yin Weiyin eventually turned back,
the maidservants immediately following behind her—one lifting the hem of her Taoist robe, another clearing the path ahead, and one walking beside her at her left side.
She walked all the way to the tea room, took her seat there, personally poured herself a cup of tea, and gazed at the rippling tea broth. Suddenly, she asked:
"Has anyone found out about him?"
A faint drizzle seemed to have passed; water droplets clung to the eaves outside the tea room but did not fall.
In the tea room, a bowl of silver ear soup had been prepared earlier as per Yin Weiyin’s request.
Among the maidservants, it was Court Attendant Cui who answered:
"The King Yan would not neglect it. People have long been sent to investigate. For now, Princess, you should focus on fasting and preparing for the tasks to come."
The various positions within this Underworld palace were not so different from those of the earthly realm.
In the palace, there were maidservants, and naturally female officials—among them were positions like Court Attendant and Ritual Official.
As for this female official, she was a Court Attendant. It was said that she had died an unjust death by the riverside in her youth.
After being judged in the Underworld, she had been recruited into the palace as a female official.
To avoid reincarnation and rebirth, for many souls, was an unimaginable blessing.
After all, who could be sure that once reborn through reincarnation, they wouldn’t end up as a pig instead of a human?
And coupled with the forgetting of past lives, it would mean that the life one has lived before was all in vain.
"Reincarnation is separation..."
Yin Weiyin murmured these words, recalling having heard them from a ghostly woman selling Meng Po’s soup.
At first, she hadn’t grasped their essence. Yet now, upon entering the ghost city of Yingdu and witnessing its landscapes, she began to understand.
Court Attendant Cui offered a conciliatory smile and commented:
"Reincarnation and rebirth are indeed separation. In every life, people meet different individuals.
In every life, they encounter different events. Even in every life, they are no longer the same person they once were.
Think—when you look back, is that self from the past truly still yourself?"
Yin Weiyin listened, silently sipping her tea. The tea tasted bitter.
Before her, the silver ear soup glimmered like crystal, but she did not take a single bite.
Outside the tea room, droplets still clung to the eaves.
"When people grasp such thoughts, their hearts are filled with sorrow, but they remain powerless to change.
Precisely for this reason, the Buddhist Sect speaks of transcending reincarnation—recognizing that in every life, the self is not truly oneself, and even in this life, the self is not truly oneself."
Court Attendant Cui, erudite and knowledgeable, spoke with undeniable insight. Yin Weiyin listened quietly, her heart stirred.
The truths of the True Immortals above often came in similar forms; Buddhist Sect and Taoist principles were, in essence, interwoven.
Yet, the only contradiction to this reasoning was the immutable true self—a true self that existed absolutely.
Yin Weiyin pondered: such a true self does not exist. After all, even the Tao itself is described as
’The Tao that can be spoken of is not the eternal Tao.’
Now, was her relationship with Chen Yi akin to reincarnation and rebirth—a separation of two lives?
"Have I been separated from him?" Yin Weiyin suddenly broke the silence.
Upon this thought, the tea gently rippled; within the Heart Lake,
wave after wave of ripples unfurled, shimmering with light.
Court Attendant Cui mulled over her reply for a long while before softly sighing:
"King Yan believes you still need much time before you’ll truly understand.
To be swallowed into the belly of chaos is, in essence, no different from reincarnation and rebirth."
Yin Weiyin suddenly froze; her tea was scalding hot, yet the back of her hand felt icy cold.
She looked around in disbelief, and at that moment, the maidservants accompanying her fell silent.
From the stove, crackling fire sounds echoed. A gentle breeze brushed through, and dust floated mid-air.
Her unknowing was not in the fire’s sound, nor within the wind, but had been swallowed into a place more distant than the reach of distance itself.
Court Attendant Cui silently poured her another cup of tea. The jade-green liquid rippled; foam arose, then dissolved into the tea bowl, its deep, rich green fading away...
After a long while, Yin Weiyin came back to herself and stated:
"He must still be sought. It’s best to find him."
Her voice carried an indescribable complexity, one that even she noticed, prompting her to heave a long sigh.
Court Attendant Cui didn’t reject or rebuke; instead, she sighed and said:
"Reincarnation always leads to separation. With every meeting comes a farewell.
I’ve seen countless people during my time in the Underworld. Women often ask about matters of love,
so I’ve asked countless times myself. Those who once shared a childhood of innocent companionship—how many can still remember those memories wholly? Those who can truly recall, how few are there?"
Yin Weiyin offered no response.
Court Attendant Cui ceased her persuasion and rose to leave.
The maidservants saw the tableau in the tea room and likewise excused themselves, leaving the princess alone in solitude.
Steam rose from the tea, swirling like mist, lending the tea room an ethereal, dreamlike quality.
Fragrant tea aroma filled the air.
"What’s so great about him?"
Yin Weiyin recalled their first meeting, how she had presented herself with the airs of an Immortal and provoked enmity.
Later, in her anger, she scolded him, only to be humiliated and disrobed by him.
This wasn’t the beginning of a divine, blissful union—it was a destined calamity.
In the underground palace, she betrayed him, left him to die, yet he saved her after destroying the Longevity Bridge—even at the cost of her chastity.
A rescue was still a rescue. The grudge over the broken bridge, the favor of a life saved—neither could separate them from one another.
Indeed... neither could separate them.
Yin Weiyin suddenly noticed the droplets on the eaves, long-stagnant, finally falling—silent light shimmering across the waters of Wubo Lake.
And then, what happened next? What happened after? When she shared pleasure with him, at first with discomfort, but ultimately finding mutual amusement.
First, he took fifteen years of her Taoist cultivation as part of his medicinal harvesting;
later, he returned it all to her, back and forth, leaving nothing unchanged. And yet, in the give-and-take, they remained endlessly entangled.
In the Prince Mansion, when he spoke of marrying her, her heart surged with cautious joy. Along this path through the Underworld, he’d shown her care.
Though his words might wound, he’d still sheltered and sided with her...
She taught him poetry, and he listened. She spoke of Taoist skill, and he followed.
Yin Weiyin lowered her brow, her fingertips resting lightly upon the edge of the white jade bowl.
Their bond of gratitude and resentment twined together, impossible to separate, resistant to resolution.
The spoon stirred; the silver ear soup in Yama Hall remained exquisitely translucent, yet Yin Weiyin lacked the appetite for it, only stirring the spoon over and over again.
A timely breeze swept past, brushing her cheek, evoking her memories of another bowl of silver ear soup.
Back then, he had been so gentle, so willing to care for her.
Yin Weiyin couldn’t help but ask herself, "When did it begin?"
When did he begin caring for her?
Her memories wavered like tidewaters, and as they swayed, she recalled the Medicine Buddha Tower.
Inside the Medicine Buddha Tower, he saved her life. No matter his intentions, his actions revealed his willingness to rescue her,
even to avenge her. She’d felt conflicted, a myriad of emotions swirling within her—the taste of joy and sorrow mingled in her heart.
And she didn’t resist; when a woman doesn’t resist being cradled by a man, isn’t that, in essence, pledging her heart in secret?
Chen Yi,
At that moment, had similar emotions drifted through your heart?
You simply didn’t understand it at the time...
She sat alone in the tea room, unsure of how much time had passed—only keenly aware that the scalding tea had gone cold, the foam dissolved, the deep green gradually emerging, and the droplets on the eaves had all fallen.
That was when she stood up, swept her sleeves, and left.
If she could no longer find him...
It sounded almost like she spoke to herself:
"Then you must find me."