Chapter 97

**Chapter 97: Old Friends (III)**

Memories are like fish scales, wrapping the past layer by layer as life moves forward. When you suddenly feel that something is wrong, and you try to turn back and peel away layers to search, you find that they have already stuck together, inseparable, like flesh and blood.

The Yin-Yang energy above her head, which had been clashing and changing violently, showed a gradually weakening trend. Ming Yue looked up, calculating the time in her heart.

She had never thought that her memory was poor.

However, when it came time to peel back the layers of memories she had never questioned before, she realized how unreliable memories that hadn't been "emphasized" were.

The soul in front of her spoke with the exact same face as the Wheel King.

Ming Yue could hardly tell the difference.

She couldn't even remember what her brother had said or done when he was young. What remained was only a vague impression of his appearance, his voice, and his character.

She remembered he had a temper that was sometimes cold, sometimes warm.

She also remembered that his health was poor.

How tragic, Ming Yue thought to herself.

I’ve forgotten.

It was really unfair to expect a child to remember specific features of a parent.

But Ming Yue remembered the feeling.

That was why she could tell the difference between her brother before the age of sixteen and the Wheel King after sixteen.

When she was little, she didn’t understand. She didn’t understand why it felt completely different, even though it was clearly the same person.

However, "he" knew, and he knew too—there was not the slightest difference in their memories.

Later, she vaguely understood, but by then, she had already formed a deep bond with the Wheel King.

He had supported the Ming family after their parents' deaths, taking little Ming Yue and fleeing to the capital. They endured all the blame and criticism after Ming Dinghai’s death, and then, with his sister and subordinates, they rebuilt their influence in Jinling, creating a new situation and earning fame throughout South China.

Ming Yue was a child who clearly distinguished between love and hate.

She understood all of this.

So, she didn’t speak, and she didn’t ask.
The Wheel King was the collective effort of the entire Ming family, including their parents and older brother, as well as Ming Yue herself.

That’s all.

"... The third wish actually has some mystery to it."

"The outcome was great, but the process was tough..." Ming Ye tore apart the paper-made pig and reshaped it into a donkey. "The only way to reincarnate is through the Wheel of Reincarnation, and the King of Hell is no exception."

"But the Wheel of Reincarnation is quite mysterious. It’s an accumulation mechanism—if you're weak, it’s weak; if you're strong, it’s strong."

"For ordinary souls reincarnating through the Six Paths, it works quite well."

"But for the Wheel King, it’s a bit of a tragedy."

Ming Yue: "How is it a tragedy?"

"Does the reincarnation blade cut him?"

Her brother smiled. "You’ve been reading too many stories, haven’t you?"

"The birth of life requires a balance of Yin and Yang. It also demands a consistent starting point, where the difference between each soul should be controlled within an extremely narrow range. Even minor differences in intelligence, strength, and so on are already the limit tolerated by the Heavenly Dao. If the Wheel King were born without a scratch, carrying all the ghost power of the Underworld, by the time I was born, our Ming family would probably have been struck by heavenly fire and destroyed that very night."

"The King of Hell has suffered a lot. His birth was not easy."

After saying this, he handed the donkey he made to Ming Yue. "See, the one I folded is better than the one you made, right?"

Ming Yue took the donkey: "..."

She shot him an irritated glare.

"The mechanism of energy works by counteracting each other."

"The King of Hell’s reincarnation is painful, and his reincarnation through the Wheel is also painful."

"However, the Wheel of Reincarnation also bears the responsibility of monitoring the reincarnation of the Six Paths—it must be as solid as a rock."

"This is the reason for our father’s third wish."

Ming Ye gently patted his sister’s head.

Ming Yue didn’t say anything.
"Is this the reason you turned into Nezha, Brother?" The young girl asked straightforwardly.

Ming Ye: "..."

*Cough* "It was because Mother’s pregnancy lasted too long, not because I turned into Nezha, okay?"

"However, Mother’s body was completely drained due to the King of Hell's reincarnation." Ming Ye lowered his head.

Ming Yue felt a pang in her heart and replied softly, "Yes."

"Pregnancy is one life parasitizing another."

"Who could withstand the King of Hell’s parasitism, even after it’s been weakened so much?"

He pinched his sister's cheek and smiled. "So, you don’t need to carry too much psychological burden."

"When Mom gave birth to you, her body was already in bad condition, that’s why she didn’t last two years before..." He paused.

"In the end, it wasn’t your fault, it was my fault."

Ming Yue hugged her brother and closed her eyes. "It’s not your fault either."

Ming Ye comforted her, "Alright."

There was a long silence. The two siblings sat quietly, one burning paper, the other watching the paper burn.

"Did you do well in the City of Dying?" Ming Yue asked softly.

"Pretty good, the one in charge, the King of Equality, is a buddy of the Wheel King. I was very peaceful and happy in the City of Dying."

"Reincarnation is stable now. The first batch of reincarnations, I wasn’t sure, so I slipped myself in."

"After all, I did sacrifice myself to save the cycle of reincarnation," her brother joked, half-seriously.

"That’s really great," Ming Yue said quietly, tears welling up in her eyes. She lowered her head, the tears blurring her vision. "Brother, why don’t you reincarnate as my son? I will definitely take good care of you."

Ming Ye: "..."

"Did I not beat you enough when you were little, Ming Yue?"

"Every three years, you break the roof? What’s this?"
Her brother sincerely asked.

Ming Yue chuckled, "I was just joking."

Ming Ye rolled his eyes.

Ming Yue looked at him, amused.

The Wheel King’s older brother really did try too hard to keep his composure. He probably wouldn’t even roll his eyes in his next life.

Now, this was good. "Ming Ye," her real brother, had just fulfilled Ming Yue’s wish from over ten years ago, giving her a proper eye roll.

"Yueyue, you’re twenty now, right?" Ming Ye poked a freshly burned goose and asked.

Ming Yue: "Mhm, why?"

Ming Ye: "Nothing, just asking if you have a boyfriend."

Ming Yue: "..."

The air suddenly became quiet.

Ming Yue asked in a low voice, "What do you mean?"

"Brother, aren’t you only sixteen? What’s up, you didn’t have your first love and now you’re trying to get information from me to feel it out for yourself?"

Ming Ye seemed to have blushed a bit. "What nonsense are you talking about?"

Ming Yue gave an "Oh" and side-eyed him.

Yeah, that’s right.

Now, he might be her brother, but in terms of mental age, it wasn’t necessarily that he was always more mature than her.

He was eternally sixteen.

I’m not.

Ming Yue felt a mix of bitterness and amusement in her heart.

"I understand, I understand." She softened her tone and comforted him.
"I know what you mean, brother."

"Parents and you are all gone. I'm the only one left in the Ming family for seventy-two generations."

"Now that the cycle is stable, the Wheel King might just run back to the underworld to fight any day."

"All alone, just me. You want someone—at least not to take care of me, but someone to accompany me, right?"

Ming Ye seemed like he was about to cry blood again.

"So..."

"If it’s really hard to find, sister, having a few heart-to-heart friends wouldn’t be bad."

"I’m worried about you." The cycle is about to happen, leaving you alone in this world—how could I not worry?

"Don’t worry, don’t worry." Ming Yue took her brother’s hand, grinning.

Ming Ye looked at her helplessly.

How could he not worry?

When Ming Yue was little, it was Ming Ye who changed her diapers more than even Ming Dinghai.

She was his only sister, a family member with no ulterior motive.

Ming Yue gazed into her brother’s eyes, which were beginning to bleed, and the words were on the tip of her tongue, "I do."

"So—don’t worry."

"Brother, I’ll be fine. I’ll be really good." Tears welled up at the corner of Ming Yue’s eyes, but she swallowed them back down.

"…"

Ming Ye probed, "Really?"

Ming Yue sniffled and nodded. "He’s my classmate. We know each other pretty well."

"His family isn’t from a ghost-slaying lineage, but just an ordinary family with a surname, and they have a business. His upbringing is good, his brain works well, and he’s a good person."

After briefly explaining the basic situation of the naive guy, Yan Jun, Ming Yue quickly changed the subject before Ming Ye could ask more.
"Brother, do you know about the Wheel King transplanting the Yin Eye?"

Ming Ye’s thoughts were interrupted: "What Yin Eye?"

"He used my body. I don't have a Yin-Yang Eye, as you know."

Ming Yue fell silent and nodded: "Yes, to support the Wheel King's soul, it was impossible to develop a Yang Eye."

She couldn’t express her feelings. Ming Yue’s heart felt a little bitter. She leaned her head against her brother’s shoulder. The temperature of his ghostly form was cold and ruthless, as if it could freeze her brain through her skull.

> > >

The duration of the Yin-Yang Path was neither long nor short.

Outside, An Xueru was the first to finish the ritual. Her expression unchanged, she returned and quickly found the kneeling Bai Shizhang, who was wiping away tears in the forest.

"Are you alright?" An Xueru handed over a tissue.

Bai Linlang blew her nose, her voice muffled: "I'm fine, it’s all done."

"Where’s Ming Yue?"

An Xueru gestured towards the west with her chin. "Look for yourself."

Bai Linlang looked towards the west and saw two golden shields standing on the ground, fierce winds blowing, gray mist filling the sky. Faintly, two figures huddled together, sitting on a stone in the Yin-Yang Path.

Bai Shizhang: "…"

Looking at her watch, Bai Linlang said, "Damn, she's been at it for quite a while."

"Ming Yue was the first of us three to open the Yin-Yang Path."

An Xueru: "Well, it's fine. Let’s wait."

Half an hour later—

Bai Linlang: "There’s only ten minutes left until midnight."

"What should we do?"

An Xueru: "Yeah, before the end of the day in the Yang realm, the souls must return."
Bai Linlang: "And, we still have to catch the bus back to the city..."

"Let's go, let’s get closer and remind her," said An Xueru.

An Xueru frowned: "Isn’t that a bit inappropriate?"

"Talking to deceased loved ones, we’re like this... Ming Yue is methodical in her actions, she definitely has an alarm set."

Bai Linlang shook her head: "Think about her state from half a month ago."

"This Fengdu ancestor ritual means a lot to her. She’s been going on for so long, and her spirit isn’t in the best shape."

"I’m worried she might be anxious and forget."

An Xueru hesitated, "Alright then."

The two of them quietly tiptoed forward.

The Yin-Yang Path doesn’t reject the living, and the powerful Yang energy came at them, grand and majestic. The two roommates happened to witness Ming Yue’s second brother, tears streaming down his face.

Bai Linlang, An Xueru: "…"

The two of them simultaneously exclaimed: "What the hell!"

"Is this still my second brother, the one who stomped on the fake corpse ghost?!"

"Scary, seeing her like this is more terrifying than encountering a ghost knocking on walls."

Before they could finish the conversation, the wind blowing in their faces suddenly grew stronger, and the Yin-Yang Path in front of them quickly collapsed. Golden glass shards scattered everywhere, and the Yin-Yang energy clouds in the sky exploded. Looking down, the approaching soul had quickly retreated, following the direction of the collapsing Yin-Yang Path. Just like before, it came quickly, and it left quickly.

Ming Yue shouted, "Brother!"

After speaking, she chased after it.

The two roommates: "…"

The two roommates: "???" Who?

Before they could react, Ming Yue had already rushed forward, chasing into the source of the collapsing Yin-Yang Path. In the blink of an eye, the storm subsided, the ghost was gone, and the person was also gone.

Bai Linlang, An Xueru: "…"
One second of silence, then the two of them scrambled to scream at the top of their lungs, one louder than the other:

"Ahhhhhhh! Ming Yue fell in!!!"

"She’s going to die, she’s going to die!!! That idiot rushed in, ahhhhhhh!"

"What do we do now????!!"