Chapter 77
Barrels of Souls
Dusk painted the skies orange with hues of blue, and darker twilight befell the underworld realms. After the rainfall, the clouds passed quickly.
A sudden peace embraced the misty mountains and quiet rivers.
Yuwen Yue suddenly heard a bird tweet.
A suspended wooden cage on a cliff hung like a pendulum clock waiting for the hour of death. He looked up but then looked down as well. Yuwen Yue gazed at the seven seas of firefalls.
A man in the middle was surrounded by a dark force. One of them was the strongest underworld assassin, waiting to be attacked.
Opposite him stood a young man who had lost his underworld chains when his powers were refined by light.
Wanting to challenge the underworld, he promised to hand over Di Fu, chief of the underworld assassins.
He began to work as a dark palm. Under Yuwen Yue's command, he was slowly transformed to be the light to the dark palm. Teaching him to control his dark powers, he succeeded through meditation.
Yuwen Yue never gave up on showing him the opposite of his character, and the young man struggled to deal with it every day.
Learning Tai Chi every day, he mastered meditation.
Teaching him what is humane and what is not, the conduct of unbecoming and becoming a gentleman, and learning cultural refinement through justice and injustice made him forsake his underworld assassin behavior, returning to his human soul and mind.
All of these teachings were never introduced to the underworld realms. What is taught there is all about evil, with no remorse and only punishment, where all kinds of sins are committed.
Tracker was human at first, but because he sought revenge, he became a half-bred underworld assassin who took the vows of hell.
Tracker's past life was full of killing and betrayal.
As long as he betrayed, it became his strength but spelled weakness for the good. Being an enemy of the good, he always sought out evil people to accomplish their vilest sins, never feeling remorse afterward.
Now, it is his turn to experience evil himself.
Betrayed by Di Fu, at the time he was abandoned alone, he eventually recognized the glistening Poe Yue Jian sword. He softly whispered, "This is not a coincidence, I found the Qinghai crown prince Ra Yue."
Tracker summoned the seven elders of the seven seas and disturbed the balance of good and evil.
To challenge Di Fu, Tracker will have to open these realms to show who can win and who will lose, then make him pay for abandoning him.
Revenge is not accepted in the underworld realms because challenging the underworld realm means dying in the Abyss.
Only one rule can never change: no one can extinguish evil. For it holds the balance of the good, which defines the rewards of the loyal and faithful.
Aside from undivided loyalty, Tracker also thrives on his prideful heart.
As long as he preserves pride in his heart, he will never be pitied. He will never be seen as a weak underworld assassin. He earned his status when he first performed his vow to be an underworld assassin. His first challenge was to defeat Scarface. One must go through fiery hell, and Tracker, earning his first challenge, became second to Di Fu. When Tracker sent many underworld assassins to the abyss, including Scarface, who tried to fight him with evil versus evil, he did it on purpose.
He did this to rise in the underworld principalities and powers, and at the right time, he could use it for his revenge.
He vowed revenge for Trailkoya's life, his brother who was slain by the Master of the Eyes of God.
During the fight, Tracker fought Scarface, and defeating him meant forcing him to bow to Tracker and save himself from death in the Abyss.
Scarface still remembers that day. He had the most perfect handsome face that could turn people to evil. Scarface used his perfect face to confuse and lure good people, turning them to evil.
Jealousy was written on his neck. The art he mastered became his weakness, even if he had earned it for a thousand years, when he received the scar on his face.
Instead of spreading jealousy to good people, he became jealous of himself. He was no longer beautiful, and insecurity began to creep into his vile confidence.
Tracker marred his face and left a permanent scar. Scarface became the ugly evil, and anyone who looked at his face would turn good instead of evil.
Instead of gaining more power, Scarface gained weakness when he lost the challenge to Tracker. He was punished for a decade and became the gatekeeper of the underworld realms.
Going back to the time when Yuwen Yue asked, though he already knew Tracker's weakness: "What is your weakness in the underworld realms?"
"The thing that you ask for!" Tracker said to Yuwen Yue in the rudest manner.
Yuwen Yue smirked slightly and said, "Loyalty. That is why you always betray."
"Why ask if you knew it all the time?" said Tracker, who took a stone and threw it into the river.
Yuwen Yue coldly said, "Because one day, you may need to stop betraying, and I may need to harm the underworld when I force your loyalty to be displayed."
"Keep dreaming, it will never happen," Tracker said, smiling.
Yuwen Yue, feeling disrespected but honest, replied to Tracker's reaction, "I am awake. Only the Masters who sleep dream."
Tracker looked at Yuwen Yue like he was going to kill him but smiled in return, not refuting his Master's words.
That day his Master's words became true. Tracker, facing his challenge once again to take over Di Fu and the seven seas of fire, owes him a chance.
Di Fu, with his eyes closed, spoke in a horrible voice. He said, "Tell me, are you really the master of betrayal?!"
Tracker, sitting in the middle of the seven seas with his eyes closed, meditated. His ears rang when he heard the voice of Di Fu.
Tracker, in a calm voice, responded, "I am." Then he paused for a second, breathed for a second, and said, "I betray to fulfill my vow."
Di Fu was not happy with what he heard and became angry. In a loud voice, he said, "What is your vow? Did you forget?"
"Momentarily forgot," Tracker hummed softly in a cold, calm voice, trying to resist the evil rising within him.
It was Tracker's turn to ask his former Chief. He boldly asked, "Why did you abandon me?"
For the first time, Di Fu would be honest. He said, "If I tell the truth, one of us will have to die."
"Then you will die!" Tracker said, and he began to swing his hands and peacefully demonstrated the hand signal of the yin and yang until it floated in the wind.
Di Fu felt its power. Darkness and light entered the yin and yang sign. It tortured him for a while.
Tracker suddenly opened his eyes, and as fast as lightning, he struck Di Fu. Di Fu found his hands captured inside the yin and yang floating in the wind; he could not escape.
"Why endure it?" Tracker boldly said, giving him a mocking look.
To injure Di Fu's pride, with a deep, horrible voice, Tracker said, "If you lose your human image, it will be a desperate act! And then what next? You won't gain another human body again. You will be bound to the Abyss forever. That is your death!"
Tracker let go of his anger at that moment, returning to peace, and sat in a Buddha position. With his left palm steady and straight, he continued to torture Di Fu with shame.
Di Fu's face showed dark madness as he began to draw invisible Chinese inscriptions in front of Tracker. But Tracker, controlling the yin and yang with his mind, was fighting evil with evil, forcing Di Fu to draw out more underworld power.
As the yin and yang sign tightened, it captured Di Fu's hands. Like invisible handcuffs, the two circles inside the yin and yang spun faster, burning Di Fu's human hands. At any moment, Di Fu would be forced to reveal his true nature and begin to grow, transforming into a body of fire.
As Di Fu increased his hellish power, the mountains and rivers were consumed with fire. The forest lake turned into a raging lake of fire, and black smoke filled the air.
Describe the pit of hell.
Yuwen Yue, for the first time, saw what hell meant. He looked at the Cangwu bird for the last time until it was slowly burned before his eyes.
Without a sound, his heart was torn into bitter pieces.
The feeling of losing hope flowed through his veins.
Under these realms, Yuwen Yue defied the laws of the underworld. He was a human being with godly superior abilities. He had bravely descended into hell.
Yet, he could not even save a simple animal that had accompanied him on this journey and sacrificed its life.
After a few moments, Yuwen Yue realized the elixir potion Tracker had given him earlier was cracked. The Cangwu bird may have eaten some of it.
He realized the bird had taken half of the flask and spread it over the suspended wooden cage, saving his life.
When Yuwen Yue's situation seemed hopeless, with no help coming from anyone, he began to see the world around him.
Yuwen Yue's tired eyes looked down. He saw Di Fu's hands burning, yet he could do nothing to stop it. He saw Tracker lingering, sitting in a Buddha position, fighting Di Fu's refusal to become a lake of fire.
He remembered Tracker whispering into his ear: "When the world becomes a hopeless place, look around and take this elixir and drink it.
If you are who you believe yourself to be, this elixir will unleash your human godly existence."
The underworld realm is full of fire. It is going to burn him alive, and the flames began to consume the wooden cage.
As soon as the fire touched the wooden cage, instead of burning, the cage dramatically transformed into gold.
Yuwen Yue felt safe, but his body, unable to withstand the heat, forced him to sit in a Buddha position inside the golden cage and close his eyes.
Buying more time, Yuwen Yue began to chant. Suddenly, in a timeless space, two souls were called to meet again.
It was the only safe passage of time where Yuwen Yue could communicate, when suddenly...
Two handsome figures, free of chaos, were facing each other.
Their eyes were closed.
Both sat in a Buddha position, but suddenly, two pairs of eyes opened.
One was a master, and the other a servant.
The master spoke, "Do not fret. To defeat evil, you must do nothing."
The servant looked at the master and silently revealed through his eyes.
"I haven't told you… I must lose in order to end Di Fu. If I win, I will only replace Di Fu and have to fight my Master. I did not accept Di Fu's place. Even the gods know this."
The Master recalled, in his vision, the opposite of what he heard: "I accept."
The servant paused and gave the master a prideful look before continuing to silently reveal…
"I accept… I accepted death."
"The day I saw the Poe Yue Jian sword, I knew it was Qinghai Crown Prince Ra Yue."
"Bearing the shame forever, I killed the Kungfu Master of Ice in exchange for you. I betrayed my underworld vow and started to betray Di Fu. But unless I kill one of you, Di Fu would not believe that I intended to betray the trapped Masters of this realm instead of him. I am sorry I had to choose. I had to deceive Di Fu and kill the Master of the Kungfu of Ice."
The servant paused for a while and then continued...
"At the moment of your pain, I had already devoted my loyalty to you. Thank you for freeing my curse. Thank you for allowing me to live in the human world once again. Goodbye, Master. Please save Mimi Gongzhu; she is waiting on the other side. I promised to take you out of these realms, but it seems I will betray one more time. Now I know what my fate holds. The gods have revealed it. This is the path I must take. I will walk it and shall see the light."
"Master, please take care of my brother. This is my last wish."
A calm, handsome, godly face showed pity at the servant's last wish and silently expressed his final words.
"Very well. On your spirit tablet, I will inscribe the words: Loyal to a Master, and a Loving Brother."
Time began to fast forward. The skies cleared, the sun shone brightly, and the clouds moved faster than usual, snapping the two souls back to the present.
The world in a dark fireplace.
One must end. One must continue.
Yuwen Yue drank the elixir.
Time stopped, and the sound of tiny raindrops filled the air.
A handsome human god appeared in the middle of the chaos.
The divine-like figure opened his eyes. His face was like white jade, and his body, penetrated by light, watched Di Fu drawing a Chinese inscription. It dispelled the chaos, reversing the Yin and Yang sign and freeing his hands.
Di Fu, no longer consumed by the lake of fire, retained his human image.
Looking at his hands, which had been burned, he saw they slowly returned to normal, as though nothing had happened.
The moment of Di Fu's defeat turned into a moment of victory as Tracker turned off his underworld powers and embraced his human nature.
Yuwen Yue, in a godly trance, could not violate the rules of the human world.
Yuwen Yue could only watch as the two underworld spies clashed with their swords.
Once again, the dark skies cleared, the raging fires disappeared, the seven seas vanished, and the black smoke turned into a cold, dense fog.
Both underworld assassins found themselves in the black forest.
Suddenly, the shy moonlight came out that night. Tracker saw the beautiful moonlight, as if it smiled at him.
He knew his enemy was stronger than him, ten times his human capacity; he wouldn't be able to stand.
The two figures began to fight.
Using their martial arts, both in human form, with flesh and blood, they tore each other's fate apart that night.
Tracker was severely beaten, his face bloody, his limbs broken, but he still managed to stand. He was no match for Di Fu's dark Kungfu. Di Fu said in a hellish voice, "Any death wish you want to express?"
Tracker spat out blood and, in a calm, deep voice, replied, "I have no death wish, but whatever I say will haunt you forever!"
Di Fu, with an evil grin and a dark laugh, said, "Bold! Your loyalty stinks, and you will die with it!"
Without hesitation, Tracker took the sword from his back and pounded it into the ground. In a calm voice, he said:
"This is my grave! I am only human. I am no longer a vessel. I am loyal to a few and ruled by no one."
Di Fu felt as though a thousand swords cut his body. The pain in his ears became unbearable, and his rage unquenchable. Slowly, Di Fu withdrew the glittering sword from his back and plunged it into Tracker's chest.
"My Palm!"
A loud voice cried out, above the heavens, calling his name! His coldness vanished, and his chest heaved rapidly, seeking revenge for the lone underworld assassin.
Suddenly, a great wind swept through the black forest.
Nobody moved. The sound of footsteps echoed as a handsome godly figure approached in front of Di Fu's eyes.
He walked slowly toward Tracker's lifeless body and scooped up the earth, letting the desert sands slowly fall, covering Tracker's body until it was buried.
Di Fu, stunned, found himself in the middle of a scorching desert.
The divine-like figure had never experienced such hatred.
He continued to command the wind, and it turned into a violent sandstorm, forcing Di Fu to endure the punishment of nature.
The figure spoke: "On Earth, there are only two types of human beings: One is a teacher, and the other is a learner."
"But in the spiritual realms, there are only two paths: Good and Evil."
With a wave of his hand, the divine being turned the desert sands into a landmass of ice. He spoke again: "I am the good teacher, but you continue to learn evil.
"I shall punish you, but not with death. Death is too easy. Death will not come until you have paid for every drop of blood shed from Tracker's body."
Di Fu's body was slowly consumed by ice, trapped inside the frozen mass. He would forever endure the snow needles that grew within, tearing at his flesh. Blood would flow, but no expression of remorse would be allowed. Di Fu's power was suppressed by ice. The cold extinguished all the heat and fire within him. Under the wind and cloud decree, his condition became permanent.
The Master of Sand Drizzle suddenly saw a vision of Di Fu's call for help. He said, "The time of the Star is near. All the prophecies of the Sun and Moon Kingdom shall be fulfilled."
Finally, Yuwen Yue faced another underworld assassin gatekeeper, who introduced himself: "I am Scarface, and I believe this one belongs to you."
"It is," said Yuwen Yue, his face emotionless, not even bothering to look at Scarface.
Then Yuwen Yue spoke again: "I passed all the tests; you should open the gate."
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