Chapter 24. Yun Hai’s name was never Yun Hai

The bright raging flames were soaring up to the sky, but after Changming jumped into the fire, he only felt a chilling-to-the-bone cold.

The Padma flames burned his eyes, but the biting cold smothered his flesh and bones to the marrow, penetrating deeper and deeper.

Padma: There are eight “cold hells”, or “Cold Narakas”, and eight “Hot Narakas” in Buddhism. The Seventh Cold Naraka, Padma, lit. “Red Lotus Fire of Retribution”: a violent blizzard hurts the sinners’ skin, leaving bloody wounds. One has to spend like years there to atone for their sins and leave the place.

Even though these two extremes contradicted each other, they appeared at the same time.

At first, Changming used a heart technique, trying to resist it with his spiritual powers. But he quickly found that the stronger his resistance, the stronger the backlash was. The person would be falling in the endless void eternally, their hands and feet frozen; they would be unable to move, and gradually feel drowsy. Even if they subconsciously reminded themself that they can’t fall asleep, they would give up to their heavy eyelids eventually and sink into a deeper slumber.

No one knew how long this dream would last.

The longer Changming slept, the more tired he got. His limbs went weak, and he couldn’t move; he felt as if he could continue sleeping until the earth and heaven would get old.

But he was awakened by someone.

That person’s actions were rude and fierce as he was pulling Changming out from the dreamland.

“Your Majesty, Your Majesty, terrible news!”

Changming sat up, propping his forehead and pondering over the reason for such an address, and a phrase escaped his mouth.

“Quiet, We got a headache because of how noisy you are!”

We: the royal “I”.

The eunuch stepped forward. He panicked, and only lowered his voice a bit, but still couldn’t help shaking.

“That re… that rebel has already seized the Yuan Prefecture, and now he is pressing on towards the capital! All ministers are waiting outside for you to speak!”

When did he become an emperor?

Changming was amused. He looked up and down, assessing the situation.

There were curtains with dragons embroidered on them above his head and a Dragon’s bed below. An attendant with a bloodless face was standing beside. Changming could faintly discern a spacious emperor’s resting chamber behind the layers of muslin veils, and even two guards by the doors; a few people were bending their knees outside the chamber.

Dragon: the Emperor’s symbol. The Dragon’s bed is the emperor’s bed.

He was the twelfth Emperor of the Wang Dynasty. Its land laid in the far south, so it was also called the Southern Dynasty. The border between them and the Northern Dynasty was firmly delineated along the Yangtze River. The history of this dynasty was turbulent: many matters were neglected while it was being founded, so it fell from the pinnacle of its power, and now they had to do the utmost to save a desperate situation and restore the dynasty. It was too late for him to do anything there at this point, as the falling dynasty’s days were numbered.

The reality was intertwined with the illusory world. Changming was fully aware that it was just a dream, but still couldn’t help but have an absurd idea of going along with the flow.

[Was he trapped himself, or could he only watch the play as an onlooker till the end?]

“Let them in,” he heard his own voice.

As if the eunuch had received an amnesty, he ran away, stumbling, and soon a group of ministers walked in in a line and fell on their knees under his bed again. Their faces were funereal, as if recently bereft of both parents, and the emperor was about to meet his demise.

Which was actually not far from the truth.

Changming rose early and slept late, working diligently day and night, and accepted more memorials to the throne every day than the previous emperor did in a year, but he still couldn’t change the Wang Dynasty’s destiny to decline or cure its ailment that made the dynasty degenerate day by day.

He did his best to cleanse out political corruption, but only made the imperial court more rotten than it was before, and avaricious officials were doing as they pleased. He claimed tax relief, and as a result the dynasty’s tax revenue went down, but it didn’t lighten the common people’s burden; on the contrary, landlords and government officials embezzled all the funds, getting enormous fortunes.

This Wang Dynasty resembled a giant decaying horse carriage that was heading right for a dead end. He exhausted all his strength, but only made this horse even more unbridled, and it was only dashing towards the impasse faster.

In contrast, the Northern Dynasty was full of vitality, its ruler and his ministers were of one mind. The dynasty was glorious as a morning sun, and this year had defeated them in a war; the morale of the Northern Dynasty’s troops was greatly boosted, and they were marching to the capital of the Southern Dynasty without letup, meeting no resistance.

When Changming had heard this news previously, he had not been able to sleep well for three days and three nights.

Changming was very tired, so tired that he passed out while holding his forehead and reading a memorial. He was unconscious when the attendant put him on the bed and was just woken up by the clamour.

He was not a fool, but after the discussion he still couldn’t find a solution better than moving the capital.

Either he moved the capital, or surrendered.

It was impossible to surrender.

But moving the capital was at best only delaying tactics. The enemy had strong soldiers and sturdy horses, while his troops were fatigued. The army didn’t have enough provisions and fodder, force overstaffing became a disaster; officers and soldiers were at odds with the leadership and had no fighting spirit at all. It was very possible that if the emperor decided to leave the capital first, his followers would hand him over to the enemy troops’ general.

That mess was left by the former emperor, but it was Changming who had only been in power for two years who had to take this responsibility.

Changming looked at the lethargic ministers beneath his bed, and allowed them to bring up all sorts of futile schemes. Some were still holding to the last thread of their loyalty to the dynasty; some only wished to get by under false pretences and listened to the last words of the emperor living out his last days, to take the credits and curry favor with the new emperor.

Human nature is truly versatile.

After fluently saying all they wanted, everyone finally got tired, and the ministers hoped the emperor would also speak.

They calmed down, and all eyes fell on Changming.

Changming only said one sentence: “Those who want to leave can leave, but We are not leaving.”

The ministers stared at each other in terror, aware of what the Emperor’s words meant.

Changming waved his hand, and everyone left the place silently.

The day the city fell came very soon.

The enemy general approached the city, and the common people and officials rushed to flee.

The general of the Northern Dynasty met no opposition the whole way, and came directly to the palace hall for discussing political affairs in the imperial court.

Changming, sitting on the imperial throne on the dais, looked at the person who stepped out from the shadows.

That person came closer step by step.

He lifted his head.

Their eyes met.

That man had the same face as Yun Weisi.

But he wasn’t Yun Weisi either, since he was smiling and looked frivolous.

He was Yun Hai.

Changming was absolutely sure that was him.

But he felt that Yun Hai’s appearance there made no sense.

Then again, where should he have been himself and what should he have been doing at that moment?

Some vague memories flashed through his head, but his body and his state of mind were still subconsciously following the Emperor’s habits.

Right, the Wang Dynasty was nearing its end. When the tree falls, monkeys disperse, and he was precisely that last Emperor who worked hard, but whose efforts were as futile as attempts to draw water with a bamboo basket.

When the tree falls, monkeys disperse: when the man in power loses his influence, his lackeys disperse.

The newcomer saluted casually with the arrogant manners of a winner.

“This general’s name is Yun Hai. I was entrusted with an order by my country’s sovereign, and I came here to suggest to Your Majesty to become a marquis and live peacefully as an official. As for the territory of this country—you are not capable of ruling over it anyway, therefore, it’s better to include the country’s land in the map of my Northern Dynasty, so that the common people of both north and south would live in peace and security.”

Changming raised his hand and found a small porcelain bottle in his palm.

“The winner takes it all, and We can say nothing more. Congratulations on your overwhelming victory and sweeping away the millions of enemy troops, General Yun. But Our natural disposition does not allow Us to lodge under someone else’s roof, so We are afraid that We shall disappoint you, General Yun.”

Yun Hai: “Your Majesty, you can’t die. My monarch said, if you dare to die, I will have to massacre all the residents of the conquered city. I’ve heard that you are diligent in politics and love your people, surely you don’t want them to turn into ghosts under my knife?”

Changming: “Your sovereign wants to unite the lands of our countries. Since he is not afraid to have his name go down in history as a byword for infamy, what should I be afraid of?”

Yun Hai: “Even if you don’t care about common people, you have a harem, parents and children—they will all perish alongside you.”

Changming: “My parents died a long time ago, I haven’t had children in these past two years, and I have almost forgotten what my concubines look like.”

Yun Hai: …

Without saying anything further, he came closer with the intention to take the porcelain bottle away from Changming’s hand by force.

But Changming was one step faster. Dark blood started oozing from the corners of his lips.

Yun Hai’s expression changed. He grabbed Changming by his chin with force, and realized the other’s mouth was full of fresh blood that was dripping down ceaselessly.

Changming smiled.

Yun Hai’s expression was a bit sinister. Who would have thought that by the moment he entered the place, Changming would have already swallowed the poison decisively.

Even mole crickets and ants are willing to drag out their ignoble existence, but this last Emperor, even though he had a chance to live, chose death.

Changming grabbed Yun Hai by his collar and pulled him closer.

The moment Changming swallowed the poison, many scenes flashed in front of his eyes like the shadows on a lantern with a carousel of paper horses. He foresaw that after he went to the Northern Dynasty, he would suffer humiliation and fall into despondency for the rest of his life, and he also instantly remembered his real identity.

Originally, he was not the twelfth emperor of the Southern Dynasty, but Jiufang Changming.

Yun Hai pushed him down from the Rainbow Bridge, and they fell into the heinous flames. Unexpectedly, that pulled them into an illusion world; or was this show only set for him alone?

According to the scenario of this world, he shouldn’t have taken the poison. But something flashed through his mind, and his intuition told him to do so.

He was Jiufang Changming, not this good-for-nothing last emperor. Before he had lost his cultivation, he was living as he pleased. Even if he faced innumerable hardships seeking certain martial arts, unravelling profound mysteries of the world, travelling to the farthest regions, and switching between Daoism, Buddhism, Demonic ways and Confucianism, that was still always what he wanted himself, not what others made him do.

It was this way before, and it remained the same now.

In a flash, his consciousness became peerlessly clear, but his life forces were flowing away even faster.

Only one phrase.

He could only say to Yun Hai one last phrase.

“Find your true self, and shatter the roots of the obstacle.”

Yun Hai’s expression changed slightly.

Changming didn’t know whether the other understood him or not. He was unable to say more, and the blood was running through his mouth and nose incessantly, totally unlike what one would expect from a dreamland.

The next moment, everything went dark, and he finally lost consciousness.

…

The memories of the past and present were flashing through his mind.

Those fragments lost in the Yellow Springs were returning little by little.

Jiufang Changming was pondering about a problem for a long time.

It doesn’t matter whether the sect was Daoist or Demonic—the classification was made up by humans.

Everyone is born the same way, so the difference is only how people nurture their talents.

Then what if there was a comprehensive cultivation method that was like a sea all rivers run into, a method that anyone could cultivate?

When others thought about it, that was only in theory; when he thought about it, he wanted to do it.

That’s why he rebelled against Daoism and entered Buddhism, and then rebelled against Buddhism and turned to Demonic cultivation. People called him “the three families’ slave”, scolded him for being wicked, but he only laughed at their words that sounded like a light breeze brushing by his ears to him.

The three families’ slave: Lü Bu, a general of the late Easter Han dynasty, earned this nickname for switching sides.

He visited every famous mountain, went to the seas down the rivers, looked through all sorts of secret cultivation methods from many sects and schools. Those who loathed him had no way to deal with him, and he didn’t care about those who worshipped him either.

Until that day when he turned his eyes to the Sacred Mountain Wan that was surrounded by countless legends since ancient times.

The mountain was very high, and not even a blade of grass grew on it; the hills around the mountain rode up and down. Even a great master would have trouble exploring this place.

He didn’t use a flying technique, so he had to climb up the steep mountain range on his feet step by step like a commoner.

That was an extremely arduous journey, but it was a routine for a cultivator.

But the challenges of the Sacred Mountain Wan were not limited to such trivial matters.

It was a world itself. The weather was volatile, and sometimes it would change three or even four times a day. One moment, it was snowing heavily, another moment, the waves of heat would assault a traveler’s face; even cultivators were unable to bear this suffering for a long time. From the old days, the spiritual influence of the mountain had scattered from this place, and it wasn’t considered a blessed place suitable for cultivation.

For several years, no one except for Jiufang Changming came to these barren lands.

That was precisely why he managed to discover a mystery.

The mystery that led to the destruction of the barrier on the Sacred Mountain Wan and appearance of the evil spirits.

…

Changming woke up suddenly.

He was lying on a bed again.

But this time it was not the Dragon’s bed.

Who was he?

“Master, have you woken up? I was about to wake you up. You were invited to the court,” a maid lifted the curtains and softly reported to him.

“What are the arrangements today?” Changming asked naturally.

“Today is the fifteenth. After the morning assembly in the court, you should give a class to His Majesty.”

Changming nodded. He dressed up, washed his face, and went to the court. On his way there he recalled his life and the emperor of this dynasty.

It was the seventeenth year of the ruling dynasty. The current emperor was Yun Hai; the title of his reign was Wende. It had been more than seven years since he had ascended the throne, and Changming supported him during these seven years.

Wende: the virtues of a scholar.

Now, he was still an influential minister who could call the wind and summon the rains with the power of the sovereign; but the young emperor was slowly growing his wings, and he was no longer willing to be a fledgling guarded by others.

Call the wind and summon the rains: be in control.

He was lost in thoughts during the trip. When he entered the imperial palace, the high officials of the Six Ministries had already arrived. The emperor was also present today. He was sitting on the throne carelessly with a bad posture, swaying his leg nonstop.

The Six Ministries: Administration, Finance, Rites, War, Punishments, Public Works. Existed starting from the Sui Dynasty (581-619) till the Qing Dynasty (1644-1912).

Changming glanced at his leg and slowly turned his gaze up, meeting the young Emperor’s eyes.

The latter smiled.

Changming didn’t smile in reply and only averted his eyes.

The morning assembly was over soon, and the other ministers left the palace one by one, leaving the two of them alone.

“Xiangfu, there are a lot of matters that need attention these days. Our head is spinning, so stop preaching Us the classics and tell Us some stories.”

Xiangfu: lit. “minister-father”, a polite form of address towards the prime minister from the Emperor.

Changming kneeled and sat down. As the prime minister of the empire, he had the privilege to sit in His Majesty’s presence without asking.

Moreover, he was not just the prime minister, but also the official who was entrusted to raise the emperor and assist him in governing the country.

“What kind of story does His Majesty want to hear?”

“Why don’t you tell me the story of ‘Won’t meet each other until the Yellow Springs’?”

Won’t meet each other until the Yellow Springs: that is, until their death, or ‘until we are both under the ground’.

“This is a story of Zheng Zhuanggong’s esteemed mother, Jiang-shi, who favoured her youngest son. She had a grievance towards her first son who forced his younger brother to cut his own throat, and they had this bitter dispute. After that, on the advice of his subordinates, Zheng Zhuanggong had people dig an underground tunnel and [drain it], and then met his mother there. This minister remembers telling the story to Your Majesty when you were five years old.”

Zheng Zhuanggong: a monarch of the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC).

Jiang-shi: Jiang is her maiden surname, hence the -shi suffix.

This bitter dispute: he exiled her, saying they’ll ‘never meet until the Yellow Springs’, but came to regret it later.

Met his mother there: he regretted his decision, but couldn’t break his vow of ‘never seeing her until they are in the Yellow Springs (dead)’. However, being in an underground tunnel counts as ‘being underground’, which is ‘being in the Yellow Springs’, so he managed to show his filial affection without breaking the vow.

“But, when We hear it now, We are getting another impression of it.”

“This minister would like to hear the details.”

“When We were young, We heard xiangfu preach about filial piety every day, and thought that Zheng Zhuanggong was a cruel man who indulged his younger brother just to make his mother regret later. But now, when We grew up, we see that Zheng Zhuanggong didn’t have an easy life either as Jiang-shi was unable to discipline her child, and his younger brother wanted to obtain things that did not belong to him rightfully.”

ZZG’s younger brother conspired with their mother to usurp the throne, which is ‘taking things that didn’t belong to him’; about ‘ZZG indulged his younger brother’—that probably refers to the fact that ZZG actually allowed his brother to rebel by giving him too much authority. Lastly, ‘to make his mother regret’—probably choosing ZZG over him.

Having said these words, the young Emperor looked at Changming.

“And one shouldn’t infringe on things that don’t belong to them rightfully, am I correct, xiangfu?”

He is less polite now.

Changming also looked at the young Emperor.

Changming was the one who raised that child. The latter was capricious and naughty, and never agreed to listen to lessons even for a second. His elderly tutors mostly gave him boring and dry lectures on the Four Books and the Five Classics. If a usual child refused to listen to them, they could simply scold him; but he was still an emperor who they could not beat with impunity, so Changming had to teach the child himself.

The emperor didn’t like to hear all the pedantic terms, so Changming told him stories behind idioms, tales of emperors, generals, and ministers from ancient times, and accidents that happened with common people on streets. The young emperor was indeed enthralled by these stories, and used to interrupt him from time to time to express his opinion. Changming was teaching him for seven years, stopped by neither wind nor rain. These years had passed in a moment, and the fat child who lived in luxury grew up and became a talented and handsome young Son of Heaven.

Son of Heaven: Emperor.

As the young emperor was getting older, he developed his own opinions, which inevitably led to conflicts between the two of them. Changming was busy with government affairs, so he hadn’t told the young emperor any stories for a long time. As a result, the young emperor had to make all the decisions on his own, and after a long time the crack in their relationship turned into a whole chasm that could no longer be filled.

“Your Majesty’s words are wrong.”

He said slowly, “There is no doubt that Jiang-shi was unable to discipline her child, but Zheng Zhuanggong had to be filial and love his brother. Let’s imagine we are talking about an emperor of a huge state. If he is not willing to set a good example with his own actions, how can he rule over his land?”

To put it bluntly, Zheng Zhuanggong’s younger brother was indeed too spoiled and deserved his punishment, but Zheng Zhuanggong, being a monarch, had to reconcile with his mother, or else he would have no right to demand filial piety from his subordinates; and if the filial piety and morals don’t restrain people, the country plunges into chaos.

The young emperor snorted: “Xiangfu uses these specious principles to persuade me all the time.”

Changming said: “This minister is speaking from the bottom of his heart. When this minister gets older, you will rule over the country, so I can only try to help Your Majesty with all I can while I’m still able to.”

“Is it so?”

The young emperor suddenly leaned forward slightly, getting closer to the other.

The tips of their noses almost touched, and Changming even lost his concentration for a moment.

“Then, xiangfu, when will you get old?”

The young Emperor left him soon after that.

But his words echoed in Changming’s mind for a while.

When will you grow old?

Changming had returned to his residence, but even at the dead of the night he still couldn’t rest his thoughts.

Xiangfu, you should hurry and get old so that We can take over the reins of government.

This was the implicit assertion of his words.

Changming had been teaching him for seven years, and they were almost as close as a father and his son, so how did it come to this point?

Changming lowered his eyes and looked at his hand holding a brush.

It had been a long time since he had come to the court, became an official, was entrusted to instruct the child, finally becoming his teacher and regent; his hands had long since lost their youthful strength, and were now covered with blotches and wrinkles.

But something seemed wrong.

He frowned, searching for the answer with all his might.

His robes of an official and the room he was sitting in were like a cage and shackles, trapping him in this place.

He could quickly recall the emperor’s appearance in his childhood and now, all the tasks the young emperor had given to him, every sentence the other had ever told him; Changming also remembered all the imperial examination tasks over the last years, and the essays of the best scholars; he even remembered the official court discussions over the years in broad terms.

That was what his life had been like for the last decade, and also explained why he was so arrogant. The reason why the empire could function as usual during this time could be attributed to his arduous and meticulous work to a large extent.

But Changming felt that something was not right nevertheless.

This strange subtle feeling came deep from his heart, as if there was a faint voice that told him to open his eyes and wake up, but the reality was wrapped in layers of silk strands that made him think that he was already awake.

A messenger from the palace summoned him to the palace the same night.

The last time the emperor called for him in such a hurry happened when he was eight years old. He suffered from a high fever that night, and called for his xiangfu while crying aloud. The imperial physician didn’t dare prescribe him medicine, and only Changming was allowed to enter the emperor’s palace as an exception. Changming was guarding him by his bed all night long without closing his eyes for a moment, but even after the young emperor had finally fallen asleep from exhaustion, he still refused to let Changming’s hand go.

When Changming recalled this episode, the corners of his lips curled up, but he quickly calmed down.

If he was summoned in such a haste, something urgent should have happened; could it be that the young emperor had contracted a serious disease again?

His palanquin stopped suddenly.

Changming frowned and opened the curtains to look outside.

“What happened?”

No one answered him.

There was no sound outside his palanquin.

The imperial palace was spacious, and the lights couldn’t light this faraway place completely.

Changming felt that something was wrong, so he went out from the palanquin and raised his head to look around.

Then he saw a man standing under the wall of the imperial palace.

That person stretched a bow, aiming right at the place where Changming was.

Changming squinted, but didn’t move.

Yun Hai was hesitating.

He didn’t understand why he hesitated either.

Everything that was happening this day had already been planned out three years ago.

He hated Changming, especially for monopolizing the court administration and manipulating Yun Hai’s thoughts.

In this person’s eyes, the emperor was not the son of Heaven who he must pledge loyalty to, but a puppet, a good luck charm he used to rule over the country.

Yun Hai knew that the last emperor’s death was suspicious.

Both within and outside of the palace, people knew that the emperor’s chronic illness withdrew, and only after Changming had sent a physician to prescribe him medicine did his disease take a turn for the worse.

The day when the last emperor passed away, only Changming was together with him. No one knew what happened between them.

Yun Hai wasn’t even able to see his father one last time.

His mother died when he was little, and later his father passed away as well; after that, Yun Hai had no elder members of his family left in the palace, and he could only rely on Changming.

But it turned out Changming was originally unworthy of his trust.

This man…

If he died, the authority would immediately return to the emperor.

When they had the conversation earlier this day, Yun Hai understood that Changming would not give up on being in charge easily.

Changming had countless disciples; the palace guards and the frontier army were his hawks and hounds, while the emperor himself was just a chess piece that helped to maintain the balance in their eyes.

Hawks and hounds: lackeys.

Maybe Changming deserved to die in a more decent way, but Yun Hai was hoping to break the shackles on his heart by killing him like this.

To break this reverence, dread and fear he felt towards Changming up until now.

Everything was arranged tonight.

All Changming’s people were sent away, and now the emperor’s trusted followers took their positions.

He had been preparing for this day for a long time, and nothing could go wrong.

After he had heard Changming’s words earlier that day, Yun Hai couldn’t hold it and retorted to him aloud, so Yun Hai thought the other would be on alert.

Fortunately, Changming was not.

When the bow in his hand was fully drawn, and the arrow was ready to fly, Changming only raised his head and looked at him from a distance.

For no reason, Yun Hai’s heart skipped a beat, and he started hesitating.

At that moment, he thought about lots of things.

Once, on a cold snowy day, Changming carried him on his back. At that time, Yun Hai was still little, and he wanted to play in the snow. Changming failed to dissuade him, but was afraid that attendants would not be able to take care of him, so he played with Yun Hai.

The arrow left the string!

The emperor’s archery skill was not bad, while this prime minister, Changming, was only a typical scholar from head to tail.

Yun Hai knew that his opponent had no way to escape this arrow.

The arrow hit his chest directly, and even went straight through.

Under such circumstances, taking under consideration Changming’s age and body, there was no hope for him to survive.

The emperor finally felt that everything had been taken under his control.

From this day on, no one would be able to restrict his freedom, to stop him, or to be an obstacle for him.

But Yun Hai wasn’t overjoyed.

He looked at Changming who was tortured by convulsions on the ground coldly, almost indifferently, until the latter stopped moving.

A pain suddenly came, but not from his hand that he was tightly gripping.

He raised his arm and pressed it against his chest, feeling the strange pain in it.

One stroke, another stroke—as if there was a hammer hitting his heart.

Without Changming, he became the true ruler of the empire.

If everything was going so well, why would he still have this feeling?

After all, what was wrong?

Yun Hai raised his head and saw that the bright moonlight of the long night was shrouded by layers of dark clouds.

A wordplay on Changming’s name, ‘long-bright’, and Yun Hai’s, ‘clouds’.

In a flash, one ray of the moonlight broke through the dark clouds, illuminating the human world, and Yun Hai suddenly realized something.

Find your true self, shatter the root of the obstacle.

This sentence suddenly popped up in his mind, and all his anxiety broke into pieces.

Yun Hai closed his eyes, and the footsteps around him, the commotion of the people calling him ‘Your Majesty’ in a panic—everything drifted away like a receding tide.

It was as if he was floating alone in a chaos for a long time, unable to discern his own identity.

Until the sea of fog dispersed, the tide came and went away, and the person sitting by the fire came into his sight.

From the very beginning, Yun Hai’s name was never Yun Hai.

He came up with this name when he met Changming and Xu Jingxian on the seashore.

Yun Hai: ‘Yun’ (cloud) from his real surname, and he chose ‘Hai’ (sea) because it happened on a seashore.

And until that moment, he didn’t know his name himself.

He only knew that he appeared at night, and vanished with the sun; a man who was incompatible with the sunlight.

He felt Changming was familiar, so familiar that his name was right on the tip of Yun Hai’s tongue, but his memories were too hazy, and he couldn’t remember this person.

On the contrary, there was a voice deep in his heart that kept shouting that Yun Hai should kill Changming.

Somehow, without a reason, that only made him interested, and he got closer to this man called Changming, wishing to unravel his secrets.

The Mirror Lake under the Rainbow Bridge was just a passage between the worlds of the Nine Layers of the Abyss.

The ever-changing surface of the Mirror Lake could show ten generations of a person’s family, the seven emotions and six pleasures, fame and fortune; everyone, from the common people to the cultivators, had something they desired but could never obtain. All of that could be found in the Mirror Lake.

Yun Hai wanted to solve these uncertainties in his heart, and see Changming sink into his desires, unable to break free, and finally be broken by the illusion world, forced to indulge in it forever.

They were just two strangers who had met by chance, and Changming was only a common mortal. It didn’t matter how many mysterious techniques he had on himself, he still had no chance to escape from the dreams of the Mirror Lake.

Yun Hai didn’t have to get his hands dirty killing him, since Changming would simply die silently in the Mirror Lake, just like many other cultivators.

But Yun Hai never expected that Changming, who was thrown into the Mirror Lake by him, would even manage to outwit him.

The author has something to say:

When Yun Hai met Changming, they were strangers. These dreams of millet from the illusion world not only toughened Changming’s character, but also gave Yun Hai a chance to see what happened in the past from the sidelines, so his feelings started to change a bit now. The next to enter the stage is【daytime·Yun Weisi】~

Dreams of millet: pipe dreams. A scholar fell asleep in an inn waiting for the ordered millet; he dreamed of becoming the prime minister, marrying a beautiful wife etc, and dying at the age of 80; then, he suddenly woke up, but the millet wasn’t even ready.

Yun Hai: I’d have never thought I’d be the one pitted instead of pitting the other.

Mirror Lake: I’d have never thought I’d help these two.

Yun Weisi: I’d have never thought I’d actually appear in the foreseeable future.

Tn:

The so-called foreseeable future is three chapters.

As if there are not enough footnotes, I want to add that in Buddhist Hell, the third to the six Narakas are called: Atata (because a sinner shivers making a-ta-ta sounds in pain), Hahava (because a sinner laments in the cold, making ha-ha sounds in pain), and Huhuva (because a sinner’s teeth chatter, making hu-hu sounds, surely, in pain). 

The Chinese Hell, Diyu, is also quite similar to the Buddhist one in its concept, and also has several levels with different punishments on them.