Chapter 86

Chapter 86: Past Events II

Ming Family Ancestral Hall.

The hall was lit with everlasting lamps, casting dark shadows that mingled with the flickering firelight.

As the people in the hall knelt, the flames slightly swayed.

Layers of memorial tablets were arranged, with the first row dedicated to the ancestors and current members of the Ming family.

Ming Yue knelt on the mat, her eyes darkened. She used her sleeve to wipe the dust from the memorial tablets of the other three family members, softly murmuring to herself.

"I'm sorry, it's been a long time since I've visited you..."

"Big Brother, have you been a bit busy lately? There’s dust on your tablet and I didn’t wipe it properly..."

"...Uncle Zhou and the others are really overworked; how could a ghost-slaying master possibly clean the tablets of a family? Hahaha..."

"Mom and Dad, I passed the ghost-slaying master exam... but Mom, I don't think I'll become a tool master like you. I'm sorry, Mom..."

"Grandpa is in good health, don't worry..."

"Dad, where are you in the Wasted Soul City? Have you seen Brother? I really miss him..." Ming Yue's voice trembled, tears streaming down her face, falling onto Ming Ye's tablet.

I'm sorry, really sorry, Brother.

Ming Yue cried so hard she couldn't speak. The tears flowed, dripping down from Ming Ye's tablet, and she quickly wiped them away.

I knew from the start that you carried a heavy burden and had a volatile temperament.

I also knew that your birth concealed many ominous secrets.

Twelve years ago, you were sixteen and I was eight.

I even felt, clearly, that from then on you were no longer yourself, you had completely become someone else, and I never took any action to seek revenge for you.

I'm sorry.

Both Father and you were sacrificed because of him, I can't abandon or hurt the fruits of your efforts.

"I’ve known since I was little..." Ming Yue whispered as she complained to Ming Ye's spirit tablet, wiping away her tears, "I can feel it, you have two personalities."

"But why didn’t Dad and you ever tell me?"All these years, I haven't asked, and I haven't said anything.

You didn’t want me to know who he was, fine, no matter how sad I am, I can choose not to ask.

I was willing to do my best to preserve your achievements, so why, now that everything has finally settled down, do you come and shatter it all?

Why?

Our family name is Ming, is there something wrong with that?

When Zhou Lu arrived at the ancestral hall, Ming Yue had already composed herself. She had wiped down all the spirit tablets and was kneeling in front of the everlasting lamp, making her prayers.

Zhou Lu: "…"

The Ming family has been famous for generations as ghost-slaying heroes, and the power emanating from the gathered spirit tablets made even Zhou Lu, a big ghost, hesitate to enter the hall.

He reluctantly took another step forward and greeted inside:

"Master is back."

"Why didn’t you say anything in advance? I could have arranged for someone to come pick you up."

Ming Yue, with her back to him, nodded and used a incense stick to dust the lamp wick:

"It’s fine, I was just in a hurry."

"Uncle, you’re busy with matters, no need to worry."

"Is Big Brother busy? I didn’t see him when I came back earlier."

Zhou Lu paused for a moment and didn’t lie. "There are some affairs in the provinces that require the master to go personally."

Ming Yue responded with a simple "Oh" before casually asking, "Did he go to Yuzhou?"

Zhou Lu: "…"

Zhou Lu: "Why does the young master ask like this?"

Ming Yue sighed inwardly. She knew Zhou Lu helped Ming Ye manage businesses between the mortal realm and the underworld, so it was impossible for him to know nothing. The difference was simply how much Ming Ye had let him know.

"Isn’t Yuzhou the place where the Reincarnation Pool reappeared?""I just came back from the imperial capital, and the underworld has gone crazy searching for the Reincarnation Pool."

She was straightforward, with a bit of embellishment.

Behind her, Zhou Lu didn’t respond.

The moonlight shone on his smiling ghostly face, eerie and terrifying.

"Master is truly an honest child."

Zhou Lu smiled.

Ming Yue wanted to shrug, but with the ancestral spirits in front of her, she refrained from making any excessive movements and instead pouted. "No choice, I speak human words, and you speak ghost words."

"If I didn’t make it clear, you’d be dodging my questions."

Zhou Lu smiled in response to everything, his butler posture impeccably upright: "Seeing you grow like this, the master would be pleased."

Ming Yue: "…"

Ming Ye, you sure know how to handle things.

You got someone slippery to block my answer.

Dealing with someone who is so skilled at evading was exhausting for Ming Yue.

"Uncle, we’re not letting this slide."

"I ask a question, you can choose not to answer, but at least give me a yes or no, how about it?"

Zhou Lu smiled softly: "I will, of course, serve the two heirs of the Ming family."

Enough. I wouldn't dare order you around.

Ming Yue grumbled inwardly.

"First question, Big Brother went to Fengdu, right?"

Ming Yue asked.

"Master is clever." Zhou Lu answered.

That’s the same as not denying it."Second question, what exactly is the Reincarnation Pool?" God knows encountering it underground was far more terrifying than any water ghost or thunderstorm. The feeling of being involved in such a major secret between the realms was something Ming Yue never wanted to experience again in her life.

Zhou Lu's response was ambiguous: "The second master is a person of destiny."

"The Reincarnation Pool has always been there, it’s just changed location."

Ah, I see.

He’s the Reincarnation King, of course, the Reincarnation Pool has always existed.

As long as the wheel exists, so does the person.

What’s the problem with changing its location? Fengdu? Screw it, my brother can be awesome all he wants. Why didn’t he just move it to the South China Sea?

Ming Yue: "…"

Great, after hearing your answer, I’ve got to figure out what you really meant for half a day.

"Third question, every year, Ming Family Village handles so many souls—" It was only at this moment, as things were being exposed, that Ming Yue realized the strange things about Ming Family Village.

There were too many, especially in the branches in Jinling, the Imperial Capital, and Chang'an. The number of post-mortem services handled annually was incredibly large, far beyond what a funeral home could imagine.

"—These souls, are they really being serviced, cleaning up after the government, or are they just directly queued for reincarnation?" Ming Yue asked, horrified. After asking, she quickly turned to the ancestors’ memorial tablets and bowed deeply.

Apologies, apologies, talking about “sly tricks” in front of the heroic spirits.

Zhou Lu was amused by Ming Yue's actions.

"Both get their share," he joked.

Ming Yue: "…"

Damn.

This is amazing.

Ming Family Village truly is the number one funeral service brand in China’s thousands of years of history!

They even manage reincarnation services!

Who is cooler than my family!Ming Yue: "Uncle, have you been watching too many palace drama shows?" And still, sharing the wealth equally.

A few hundred years old ghost, and you're watching your juniors make up history you’ve lived through—how interesting is that?

Zhou Lu: "It’s interesting watching them make things up."

Ming Yue sighed deeply, then knelt again to bow to Ming Dinghai's memorial tablet. There was a loud thud as she stood up and asked, "Last question, Uncle."

"Please make sure to speak openly and truthfully."

The young lady took a deep breath. "From 8/9 years ago to 92, during these three years..."

"Why did father... secretly send my brother into the human realm?"

"It seems you've already figured it out."

Zhou Lu didn’t immediately answer the main question. Instead, he looked at Ming Yue for a moment.

Over a decade had passed, and the little troublemaker who had tormented the Reincarnation King had finally grown up.

The master was right.

The ghost life is dull because the moment of death is eternal.

From then on, countless years would pass in the blink of an eye.

But human life is different, it is full of growth and danger, and contains endless mysteries.

Seeing Ming Yue grow up, Zhou Lu couldn’t help but feel some emotion.

"I don’t know as much as the master," he said, after all, I wasn’t the one involved, nor was I the one who died.

Ming Yue heard the sigh and was about to give up, but to her surprise, Zhou Lu continued:

"But, the fundamental reason is still clear."

"What is it?" Ming Yue asked eagerly.

"What is Ming Dinghai’s explanation for his achievements?" Zhou Lu asked in return.

Ming Yue blurted out without needing to think: "To pacify and spread virtue, to coordinate the two realms of life and death."Zhou Lu sighed, "That’s a very high evaluation."

"The key point is actually only the first two words."

"…Pacifying chaos? What chaos?" Ming Yue was a bit confused.

Zhou Lu gently guided her: "In the history book of the second master, regarding the part on the history of the underworld at the end of the 20th century, how does it describe the administration and rule of the underworld?"

Ming Yue had a moment of blankness: "This section isn’t something that needs to be memorized, I don’t really remember it clearly."

"The textbook mainly describes an unknown internal turmoil in the underworld, which led to frequent disturbances between the realms of the living and the dead, like dogs not barking, chickens not crowing, well water spraying into the lakes, and the dead suddenly dying in masses..."

"…Emm, this unknown internal turmoil in the underworld isn’t written in detail."

Zhou Lu: "What about unofficial history?"

Ming Yue: "There’s a lot of it, like the Reincarnation Pool being struck by lightning and collapsing, or the King of Hell’s little ghosts fighting among themselves, or Fengdu and the underworld fighting for administrative supremacy… bla bla."

Zhou Lu: "Unofficial history is actually more reliable than the official one."

Ming Yue: "Right, I also think those unofficial stories are just nonsense… Wait, what?!"

Zhou Lu nodded affirmatively: "Though there are some inaccuracies, the truth is indeed closer to the unofficial history."

Ming Yue: "…"

She felt like a thunderbolt had struck her!

Ming Yue couldn’t believe it, blinking her eyes, the dark circles under her eyes almost dropping to her stomach, "Could it be that the underworld really had an internal conflict?"

"Fengdu is that ambitious?!"

Zhou Lu selectively answered: "That’s why the master got involved with Ming Dinghai back then."

"There was a dispute between the ten halls."

"The master held great power, and the reincarnation function was unique. If one ghost controlled it, it wasn’t as stable as when it became 'public power,' which reassured the other halls."

"Or, to use the correct term from the human realm, the master was engaging in politics/sanctuary."

Ming Yue: "…"Three seconds of silence.

Ming Yue used her extraordinary willpower to accept that her older brother was the incredibly powerful King of Hell five hours ago, and now she was accepting that this cowardly older brother had been forced into fleeing by others.

Ming Ye: Heh.

Ming Yue pretended to be completely unaffected, ignoring the burning sensation at the back of her head: "So, this means Father must have agreed to help my older brother for the stability of reincarnation?"

Zhou Lu: "…"

Well, even though the second master now knew so much, he still chose to address the master as his elder brother.

The master would be happy.

Zhou Lu shook his head.

"The result is like this."

"But the reason is different."

"I have to say, Ming Dinghai is truly a kind-hearted person."

"The master originally intended to turn back after hitting the south wall, but he was unexpectedly thrown into the Reincarnation Pool by Ming Dinghai, both tricked and forced."

However, the laws of Heaven dictated that the King of Hell return to the underworld, and Ming Dinghai, bold enough to change the natural order, took the King of Hell out of the dark land—he could not escape the consequences.

Even if his intentions were purely good.

Even if his merits would last for centuries.

Ming Yue: "…"

She was stunned, unable to speak.

Zhou Lu: "The Reincarnation Pool should theoretically not be able to contain a ghost of the King of Hell's size."

"But, reincarnation has its own strict rules, once it's swallowed, it won't be spit out again, unless reincarnation is successful." This is why it took three years to "digest" him.

At this point, Zhou Lu felt that he had explained it clearly.

Ming Yue's face was filled with speechlessness.

This situation was ridiculous.It made all her previous sorrow disappear in an instant.

"Emmm, Father indeed has this… more carefree personality," Ming Yue said diplomatically. It wasn’t just carefree; it was more like he’d do whatever came to mind without thinking.

"So, is my older brother like Nezha, only born after a long wait?"

Zhou Lu cautiously replied: "Sorry, second master, I am not sure about this."

Ming Yue clenched her fist and slapped her palm: "Damn it, when he comes back, I’ll beat him."

"He tortured Mom for so long."

Zhou Lu: "…"

As long as you're happy.