Visiting an Old Acquaintance Again

"Lord Yu, we've arrived."

"Many thanks, sir." Yu Jianbai's face was full of emotion. "A single day riding a crane, crossing a thousand layers of mountains and waters—more splendid than the first fifty years of Yu's life, when I fancied myself lofty and extraordinary, vainly chasing the elegance of the Immortal Path."

"..."

Song You merely smiled and said nothing.

If Yu Jianbai had thought that one day flying through the heavens was more wonderful than the latter eighteen years of his life, Song You would likely have disagreed. But if he meant only the first half of his life, then everyone had their own thoughts, and Song You had no intention of offering an opinion. He merely cupped his hands to him.

"Lord Yu, take care."

Hearing this, Yu Jianbai hurriedly returned the salute.

"Sir, you too must take care."

His tone was far more solemn than the Daoist's.

Until now, he had been nothing but an ordinary mortal all his life. Naturally, he did not know what Song You had been doing in recent years, nor what plans he harbored in his heart. Yet he could vaguely sense that they were surely no ordinary matters.

It concerned ancient deities, and the Heavenly Emperor himself had demanded an account. How could it possibly be some trifling affair?

Since ancient times, when had great undertakings ever been easily accomplished?

Yet he was only a newly dead ghost, without cultivation or magical power. Even if he took up his post and became a Hall Lord in the underworld, he feared he would be unable to offer much help in such a great matter. He did not even have a cup of weak wine at hand with which to send off a lofty ambition. Empty-handed, with wind in both sleeves, as an