"Heh heh heh... Sun Wukong, your allotted years are up. Come with us at once to the Underworld!"
The speaker was White Impermanence, dressed in white with a pale face and white hat, holding a mourning staff. He was known as Seventh Master!
"Little White, why waste so many words? I'll hook this monkey's soul out and drag him away!"
Fan Wushe, whose face was black as charcoal, clearly had little patience.
The Soul-Hooking Lock in his hand glimmered with a ghostly blue light. Without another word, he swung it straight at Sun Wukong's soul.
The sharp hook flew toward Sun Wukong, but his body did nothing to stop it.
The Soul-Hooking Lock only hooked souls!
Half a second later,
Sun Wukong's right hand was already wrapped in the Soul-Hooking Lock. He felt his body grow light as a feather.
He looked back and saw the golden-furred monkey in coarse clothes lying on the ground, stiff as a stick!
His soul had been hooked out?!
"Black-faced old ghost, how dare you hook my soul!"
Sun Wukong glared furiously at Black and White Impermanence, but a storm was already raging in his heart!
What the immortal in the river had said, and what the Primordial Diary · Instance had recorded, had all come true!
It seemed that the journey to the West was bound to be real, too!
Still reeling from the shock, Sun Wukong began thinking rapidly.
The immortal in the water wasn't here now. It seemed the only way to get out of this predicament was to rely on that diary!
Black Impermanence gripped the other end of the Soul-Hooking Lock and said with a dark expression, "Monkey, you're dead. You can't stay in the mortal world any longer! Come along quietly, unless you want me to use force!"
Although Sun Wukong had mastered all sorts of skills, his body and soul were separated now, so his strength was naturally much diminished.
As a Ghost Messenger ordered to collect souls, Black Impermanence had plenty of confidence.
"Nonsense! I've already mastered the Immortality Technique. How could I possibly die? You damn Ghost Messenger are abusing your authority. You're asking for a beating!"
Sun Wukong flung his arm, only to find that he couldn't snap the iron chain.
Had the Soul-Hooking Lock restricted his power?
The monkey wondered, then saw Black and White Impermanence wearing smug smiles, confirming his suspicion.
"Forget it. Since my allotted years are up, I should naturally go with you to the Underworld. Lead the way!"
White Impermanence froze. Why had the monkey suddenly become so agreeable?
He'd been hoping to give the monkey a couple of whacks with his mourning staff!
"If that's the case, then hurry up and take Sun Wukong back to the Underworld."
White Impermanence said to Black Impermanence.
"Fine."
Sun Wukong obediently followed behind Black and White Impermanence.
On one hand, he wanted to see what would happen next. On the other, he kept opening the Primordial Notebook · Volume B, hoping the mysterious person behind it would write something to point him in the right direction.
But as they went along, Sun Wukong kept opening the diary from time to time.
Unfortunately, aside from the first page, no new writing appeared.
As Sun Wukong grew anxious, he saw a gloomy gate up ahead, with three large characters on its plaque.
Ghost Gate Pass!
Once someone stepped through the Ghost Gate Pass, they had truly entered the realm of the dead.
The living couldn't remain there.
Only the dead could enter!
Ox-Head and Horse-Face had been waiting at the gate for quite some time.
"Brother Ox, Brother Horse, Sun Wukong's in your hands now."
Black Impermanence let go of the chain, handed over the job, and left with White Impermanence.
Ox-Head and Horse-Face were huge, imposing figures. They stared at Sun Wukong and scrutinized him as if he were an object.
Was this the Stone Monkey born from the spiritual stone of Heaven and Earth?
They'd heard that he'd caught the attention of their superiors, but looking at him now, he didn't seem like anything special!
"Come on. We've still got a long way to go after we pass the Ghost Gate Pass."
Horse-Face noticed Sun Wukong kept glancing into his clothes and couldn't help urging him on.
Sun Wukong sighed. The diary still hadn't updated.
What was he supposed to do?!
Beyond the Ghost Gate Pass lay the eight-hundred-mile Yellow Springs Road.
Shore Flowers bloomed on either side, like an everlasting blaze of karmic fire.
At the end of Yellow Springs Road lay the River of Forgetfulness, where a foul wind howled.
The blood-yellow river was full of lonely ghosts, who had to endure a thousand years of torment before they could search for their loved ones!
"Care for a bowl of Meng Po's Soup, honored guest? We've got a special promotion right now: buy one, get one free!"
A withered old woman held out a pitch-black bowl of soup to Sun Wukong.
Sun Wukong eyed the thick liquid in the bowl and frowned. "No, no! I don't like soup!"
Then he said to Ox-Head and Horse-Face, "Just hurry up and take me to see King Yama."
Ox-Head and Horse-Face said nothing.
"That won't do. If you don't drink this Meng Po's Soup, you can't cross the Bridge of Helplessness."
Meng Po gave him a sinister smile, then handed the soup to Sun Wukong. "If you can't cross the Bridge of Helplessness, you'll have to soak in the River of Forgetfulness. Drink the soup and forget the causes and consequences of this life, and you'll be able to reincarnate sooner."
I can't drink this!
Sun Wukong knew that if he really drank the soup, he'd be truly dead in every sense of the word!
Chen Tong had no idea how long he'd slept.
By the time he woke up, he'd already lost track of how many times day and night had passed.
"I almost slept myself silly. I wonder how the monkey's doing. I just woke up, and for some reason, I feel like writing something..."
Some people got inspired to write poetry after drinking.
Chen Tong felt like writing a diary after waking up.
He took out the diary, and his pen began to fly across the page.
[No weather report today. The weather's getting cold, so single people should put on more layers. I just woke up, and I don't have much to write, so I'll write about Sun Wukong again!]
[Sun Wukong will be captured and taken to the Underworld. The people there will deliberately let him alter the name in the Book of Life and Death, with the Jade Emperor's approval. But it's all just a scheme.]
[If the monkey really does that, then everything that happens afterward will naturally go just as those guys planned.]
[Too bad I'm the only one who understands this. If only the monkey understood it too...]
Sun Wukong had thought that if the diary didn't show him anything soon, he'd storm the Hall of the King of Hell and cross his name out himself.
But when he opened it, he saw that the diary had updated!
He read it, and his anger flared once more!
"So everything I thought of was part of their plan. In that case, crossing out my name won't be enough. I'll turn the entire Underworld upside down!"
Sun Wukong snorted and smashed Meng Po's Soup onto the ground.
"You—you're planning a rebellion?!"
Meng Po cried out, trembling with rage.
"A rebellion?" The monkey cupped a hand behind his ear, his eyes seeming to burn with flames. "I'm going to smash this Underworld to pieces!"
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