After returning from my cultivation journey, I built a farm through fortune telling.

Chapter 84

"Probably not... I haven't officially dealt with the underworld officials here yet! I'm not sure." Bai Lu led Bai Xiao into the pickup truck, slammed the door, and drove off in one smooth motion, quite dashing.

"This car is perfect for hauling groceries!" Bai Xiao said with a smile as he fastened his seatbelt in the passenger seat.

"Right!" said Bailu. "That's what I think! After thinking it over, this car is still the most practical and has the most capacity!"

"But... what if it rains?"

"Why would I be afraid of getting wet in the rain?"

"...Yeah, you're not a normal person either!"

"Hey, how can you talk like that!"

"I'm not a nice speaker, why don't you say something to me?"

"What did you say?" Bai Lu glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, understanding his meaning: "Talk about the underworld?"

"Mmm-hmm!" Bai Xiao nodded repeatedly, her eyes shining like stars.

"I already said I don't know much about it."

"Then tell me something you know!" Bai Xiao said coquettishly, "I want to hear it!"

"Alright then." Bai Lu reluctantly agreed, unlocking her phone with her fingerprint and tapping the screen a few times as she said, "However, in the mortal realm of the cultivation world, only a portion of well-behaved ghosts are allowed to return home to visit their families during the Ghost Festival in July."

"What does this mean?" Bai Xiao didn't quite understand: "What does 'good behavior' mean? If you die, you become a ghost, not go to jail, right? Why are you restricting the freedom of a ghost?"

"As many people are in the mortal world, there are just as many ghosts in the underworld. If they are all released on the fifteenth of the seventh lunar month, how can the living survive?! How can the underworld guarantee that the released ghosts will not cause trouble, harm people, or seek revenge? Will they obediently return to the mortal world?"

"Therefore, evil spirits and vengeful ghosts definitely cannot be released, because there are simply too many ghosts. Only ghosts that behave well, that is, those that do not cause trouble or even do good deeds, will be allowed to leave the gates of hell. In fact, strictly speaking, after a person dies normally, unless there is an accident, they will never be able to leave the underworld in their entire life except for reincarnation!"

Bai Xiao asked curiously, "What if it's an unnatural death?"

“Death before one’s lifespan is over is called an unnatural death. Suicide is one of them. Although they are dead, they can only become wandering ghosts because they cannot go to heaven, cannot be reincarnated, and cannot even cross the Bridge of Helplessness. They can only wander on the road to the underworld, or be devoured by other great ghosts, or wait for their lifespan to end before crossing the River of Oblivion to the Yama’s Palace to be judged for their good and evil deeds in life.”

"Hey, if you do evil, will you really go to the eighteenth level of hell?!"

Bai Lu shook his head: "Who can say that? There is darkness everywhere, let alone the underworld, which is a place that can't see the sunlight. If you have a lot of ghost money, or if you have an ancestor who is doing well down there, you can also pull strings to get a spot to be reincarnated early."

Bai Xiao clicked his tongue: "There really is business everywhere! But I'm really interested in the underworld. Tell me quickly, what's the process after someone dies? The underworld messengers collecting souls, crossing the Bridge of Helplessness, drinking Meng Po's soup, I want to know all of that!"

"The process after a person dies..."

Bai Lu kept checking her phone, tapping the screen as if typing or searching for something. After a while, she cleared her throat and said—

"According to the procedure, after a person dies, whether it is a natural death or an unnatural death, the underworld messengers Black and White Impermanence will come to take away their three souls and six spirits, and then Ox-Head and Horse-Face will take them to the Gate of Hell."

"Once you pass the Gates of Hell, you become a proper ghost, unlike the vengeful ghosts in the mortal world who haven't passed the Gates of Hell and rely on their obsession and resentment to become ghosts..."

Bai Xiao: "Didn't they say that the Black and White Impermanence would come to collect souls? How come there are still ghosts who haven't passed the Gates of Hell? What's going on?"

Bailu gave him a meaningful look that said, "You just don't understand." She continued, "Ghost messengers were human in their previous lives. Humans always make mistakes when they do things! And with such a heavy workload, it's possible that they might miss some, fail to catch others, or even catch the wrong ones! Coincidences are all the rage in this world. By chance, it's not impossible for an innocent and ignorant ghost to not only not disappear but also become a vengeful spirit!"

"Alright! What happens after we get past the gates of hell?"

"You haven't even entered the gates of hell yet, so there's no 'afterwards' yet. Don't worry, let me tell you!"

"Sixteen great ghosts guard the Gates of Hell, checking the souls of the dead—because entering the Gates of Hell requires a travel permit, which is... um... a piece of yellow soft paper, 3 feet long and 2 feet wide, with the four large characters 'Fengdu Travel Permit' printed on it, and stamped with the seals of 'City God of the Underworld' and 'Fengdu County Government.' At this point, you might ask, when is this travel permit issued? It is issued to every underworld messenger when they collect souls. If you lose your travel permit, you won't be able to enter the gates. If you're lucky, you can become a ghost; if you're unlucky, you'll just be scattered to the winds."

The egret continued, "After passing the Gates of Hell, you'll be on the Road to the Underworld. Do you know what flowers bloom on the Road to the Underworld?"

"Mandala?"

"My foot! It's the red spider lily, a blooming red spider lily that looks like a carpet of blood from afar. It's called the 'Path of Fire,' which guides every soul to the underworld."

"Hiss, the Netherworld Prison, that doesn't sound like a good place!"

"Tsk, it's the underworld now, what good places are there? Are you even listening to me anymore!"

"Listen!"

Bai Lu glanced at her phone, then gripped the steering wheel with one hand and looked at the road: "After passing the Yellow Springs Road, we arrived at the River of Oblivion. The river water is... blood yellow..."

She frowned in disgust as she spoke: "It's full of wandering ghosts who can't be reincarnated, teeming with insects and snakes, and the stench is overwhelming!"

"If a ghost gets inside, it will suffer terribly! There's also a famous ancient bridge over the river, known to both humans and ghosts—"

Bai Xiao raised her hand: "I know, the Bridge of Helplessness!" "That's right, you answered correctly! Beside the Bridge of Helplessness is a Three Lives Stone with the four characters 'Reach the Other Shore Early' engraved on it. It records everyone's past life, present life, and future life—the cause of the past life, the effect of this life, the cycle of fate, and the rise and fall of destiny are all deeply engraved on the Three Lives Stone. Every passing soul can know everything in that instant when it passes the Three Lives Stone."

"On the River of Oblivion is the Bridge of Oblivion. On the Bridge of Oblivion, there is an old woman who can distribute the water of the River of Oblivion, also known as Meng Po's Soup, to every passing ghost. One bowl of soup can erase all past lives, make them forget their past and present lives, forget the love, hatred, joys and sorrows, gains and losses of their lives, and thus enter the six realms of reincarnation cleanly, becoming either an immortal, a human, or an animal."

"Wait, isn't the River of Oblivion supposed to be full of ghosts, snakes, and insects? Can we really drink this? Won't it give us diarrhea?!"

"You're a ghost now, how can you still have a belly?"

"That's true, but this is still too much. One second they make someone an all-knowing scholar, knowing their past, present, and future lives, and the next second they make them forget everything. How does the underworld operate?! Isn't this what you call letting someone die knowing why?"

Bai Xiao was very dissatisfied with this. She thought that if she were to die, she would rather not know anything. If she were to die, she would die. What was the point of knowing so much? Would she regret it?
"You don't have to drink it. Legend has it that there was a woman who was deeply in love. In order not to forget her husband, she chose not to drink Meng Po's soup. She could choose not to drink Meng Po's soup, but she had to jump into the River of Oblivion and suffer for a thousand years."

Bai Lu glanced at her phone again and continued, "In these thousand years, she grew from a weak and easily bullied little ghost into a powerful ghost that no ghost dared to approach. She saw her beloved husband on the Bridge of Helplessness more than once, but she could not go forward. She could only watch him cross the Bridge of Helplessness again and again, drink the Meng Po soup, and be reincarnated."

"The underworld is also quite humane. Touched that her feelings for her remained unchanged for a thousand years, it granted her an exemption, allowing her to return to the human world with her memories to find her beloved husband from her past life and rekindle their romance!"

Bai Xiao was speechless: "From a little ghost to a big ghost, and no one—no, no ghost dares to approach her, she's definitely a leading lady! Wouldn't it be better to work hard and become the overlord of the River of Oblivion? Why do you always have to get caught up in these love affairs!"

Bai Lu shrugged, indicating that she herself did not understand. In three lifetimes, she had only been in love once, and it was just an ordinary relationship, nothing unforgettable. She had even forgotten what her ex-boyfriend looked like.

She glanced at her phone again and continued, "After crossing the Bridge of Helplessness and drinking the Meng Po soup, you officially enter the Underworld, where all ghosts must undergo interrogation by the Ten Kings of Hell..."

Bai Xiao exclaimed, "All the ghosts? That must be a huge workload for the underworld!"

"We have to do the work, even if it's a lot! Before entering the King of Hell's palace, ghosts have to drink a bowl of bewitching water. It's said that... cough—after drinking it, they can speak the truth. Tsk—why drink bewitching water? Aren't there the Three Lives Stone and the Book of Life and Death? What they've done is clear at a glance. Why bother with interrogation? It's a waste of ghost power and resources!"

"what?"

The egret's murmuring was rather soft, and Bai Xiao couldn't hear it clearly.

Bai Lu shook his head and continued, "The King of Hell will reward or punish them according to their deeds in the mortal world, and determine which of the six realms of reincarnation they will enter based on their good or evil deeds."

Bai Xiao clapped his hands excitedly and said, "Is it some kind of animal path or something!"

"That's right, the animal realm is one of the three evil realms!"

Bai Lu nodded: "That's why I told you to do more good deeds in your life. People say that those who do more good than evil in their lives can enter the three good realms, while those who do more evil than good in their lives can enter the three evil realms."

"And then?" Bai Xiao was waiting to hear, but when she noticed that Bai Lu had stopped talking, she asked.

To everyone's surprise, Bai Lu blinked and looked at her phone again. Bai Xiao frowned and leaned closer: "What are you doing? Why are you always looking at your phone while driving?! Holy crap! Bai Lu! I'm asking you seriously, give me some Baidu! Everything you just said, is it all from Baidu?! You, you, you!!!! Shameless!!"

Bai Xiao pointed at her, so angry she could barely speak!
"I already told you I've never had any dealings with the underworld here, but you insisted on asking!" Bai Lu coughed twice, speaking with surprising confidence.

Bai Xiao clenched her fists in frustration: "You can't just fool me like that! I believed you! No wonder what you said was exactly the same as what I read on TV and in novels! You actually went to Baidu to check!"

Bailu chuckled at her: "Take it or leave it, just treat it as a story! Besides, what Baidu says isn't entirely wrong, for example, the Yellow Springs Road and the Bridge of Helplessness definitely exist!"

Bai Xiao turned her head away angrily, but forgave her after a few seconds: "Don't do that again! If you do it again, I'll really get angry!"

"OK!"

The egrets are docile.

"Hmph—" Bai Xiaojiao pouted and then turned to look at Bai Lu while holding onto her seatbelt, smiling brightly: "Didn't I just tell you? I'm going to be famous! Aren't you curious?!"

"I'm so curious, tell me quickly!" Egret urged her politely.

Bai Xiao rolled her eyes. There was no emotion in those words, just a perfunctory response, but she was magnanimous and wouldn't take it to heart. She smiled and said, "Thanks to you, it's Director Wang who gave me these resources! He has a movie that's starting filming in two months, and he asked me to audition for the second female lead. Also, a friend of his, a real estate tycoon named Wang... Wang Jian, invested in a web series and asked if I was interested in auditioning for the female lead!"

"You'd never guess, it was Director Wang who called me personally! Judging from his tone, as long as I'm not a hopeless case, he's willing to pre-select me! Lulu! Right now, all I can think about is the idiom 'even the chickens and dogs rise to heaven,' it's truly my blessing to have grown up with you like this, sister!"

"Hey hey hey—it's my good fortune to know you, sister! I'm driving and you're grabbing the steering wheel from me!"

Bai Lu held the steering wheel with both hands, and reached out with her right hand to pat Bai Xiao's hand. This brat, no matter how excited she gets, how can she grab the steering wheel like that! What if something happens!
"It's okay, don't be afraid—" Bai Xiao shook her phone: "I still have a talisman in my phone case. Didn't you say it could save my life even if I drove at 200 mph?"

Very well, the boomerang launched at an odd angle still pierced back into Bai Lu's thigh, leaving her speechless at Bai Xiao's words.

Bai Xiao chattered on and on to Bai Lu about all the big and small things that had happened to her recently. Her resources had skyrocketed, and even a big company wanted to sign her!
She was flattered and overwhelmed. If it weren't for the fact that she was coming back for the Qingming Festival, Bailu's phone would have been ringing off the hook!

Bai Lu knew a little about this, because after the "No. 3 construction site" incident was over, Director Wang and Wang Jian called her several times. At the time, she didn't have time to talk to them much, so when they kept saying they didn't know how to thank her, she said very crudely, "Send money!"
He also mentioned Bai Xiao and Qin Fei. Anyway, Director Wang knows them both. It's not about giving them roles or anything, but just asking them to take care of him when he encounters them at work in the future. That's not an unreasonable request!
Of course it's not excessive!
Director Wang and his colleagues felt that this was not enough to express their gratitude to Master Bailu, so they racked their brains to find resources for Bai Xiao and Qin Fei.

Director Wang knows best that in the entertainment industry, promoting someone isn't just about piling on resources.

The resources provided must be something the recipient can accept and that is suitable for them.

Take Qin Fei, for example. If you give her a script for an 18-year-old female lead, how is she supposed to accept it? What can she do besides attract negative attention?
But piling up resources also has one advantage: it sends a message to the outside world—this person has powerful backers, so think twice before trying to bully her!
(End of this chapter)