After the ghost-hunting master descended the mountain, his fame spread throughout the capital.

Xie Jinchen staggered to the two handfuls of ashes and slowly knelt down.

He didn't burst into tears; he just reached out his hand with trembling hands, trying to touch his parents with utmost care, but stopped at the last moment, as if afraid of disturbing the peaceful reunion his parents had finally achieved.

After a long while, he finally raised his head. The tears that had been welling up in his red eyes finally gave way and rolled down in large drops, landing right on the ashes.

Just as the tears fell, a fragment of memory unexpectedly entered his mind.

The images in my memory are hazy, as if separated by the mist of the River of Oblivion.

The background is a riverbank covered with bright red spider lilies.

In the center of the sea of ​​flowers, there is a dark river with murmuring water, but no sign of life can be heard, only eternal desolation.

A woman stood quietly among the flowers.

She wore a long red dress embroidered with spider lily patterns in dark gold thread, her figure graceful and her face exquisitely beautiful, enough to captivate all.

However, those eyes held a cold indifference, as if they had witnessed countless cycles of life and death.

Although they had only met once, Xie Jinchen recognized her instantly.

When Yi Che's lover was reincarnated, Jiang Dusheng summoned Meng Guichen, the Fengdu Ferryman, through a special ritual.

At this moment, Meng Guichen was walking slowly towards a figure.

That was Xie Dai, who was much younger.

Xie Dai knelt by the River of Oblivion, his eyes empty and lifeless. He held Chu Mingzhu, who had already lost her breath, tightly in his arms, as if that was the last connection between him and her.

Meng Guichen stopped in front of Xie Dai, his voice ethereal and devoid of any emotion:

"Chu Mingzhu, though a false phoenix, suffered the calamity of a true phoenix, spending half her life trapped in illusion, her tears of love soaking through the karma of her past lives."

"His tears were filled with grief and despair, pure and intense, making them an excellent ingredient for preparing the Forget-Dust Soup."

"Her soul has agreed to give me her tears." Meng Guichen leaned down slightly, his dark, abyss-like eyes looking at Xie Dai. "And you, Xie Dai..."

"Half a lifetime of forbearance, using himself as a shield to protect his wife and children, bearing their karma and calamities. Beneath the iron will, tenderness seeps into his bones, and unwavering resolve becomes steel."

"Your tears of keeping your vow, mixed with her tears of breaking through illusions, yin and yang in harmony, emotions intertwined, can grow into the elixir of lifelong companionship."

Meng Guichen straightened up, his tone calm: "I'll make a deal with you. Give me your tears right now, and I'll grant you one wish. This wish must be within the bounds of Fengdu's laws and not violate the natural order of reincarnation."

Xie Dai's previously lifeless eyes suddenly shone with a terrifying light when he heard "I grant your wish."

After Chu Mingzhu breathed her last, he held her in a daze, not knowing why he suddenly found himself in this place.

Xie Dai suddenly raised his head, his voice hoarse, "I'm willing! I'm willing to offer my tears, which can serve as a medicinal ingredient, in this life and all future reincarnations!"

"After I die, may my soul return to the underworld, not enter the cycle of reincarnation, not drink the soup of forgetfulness, but wait for my beloved on the banks of the River of Oblivion."

"No matter how many hardships she has to endure, or how long she wanders, I am willing to become a stone by the bridge or a soul on the shore, until I wait for her, and together we will return to the afterlife, enter the cycle of reincarnation, and continue our marriage in the next life."

Upon hearing this, Meng Guichen did not reply immediately.

She closed her eyes, pointed her hand into the void, and countless fine runes appeared, seemingly deducing the feasibility of the causal relationships and laws involved.

A moment later, the spinning runes suddenly converged, turning into specks of light that disappeared into Meng Guichen's fingertips.

She slowly opened her eyes, a playful smile on her face.

"Interesting," she murmured. "Three lifetimes of entanglement, such deep-seated emotions, that they can actually shake the trajectory of fate..."

She seemed to mutter something to herself, then her gaze returned to Xie Dai.

Then, Meng Guichen raised his hand, and a point of eerie light flickered at his fingertip, like a star in the Styx River:

"This wish does not violate the laws of Fengdu. This office grants it."

As soon as she finished speaking, two points of light suddenly flew out from her fingertips.

"Buzz!"

A clear, resonant sound, seemingly reaching the depths of the soul, rang out, causing Chu Mingzhu's remains in Xie Dai's arms to tremble slightly.

A single, crystal-clear, icy tear slowly slid down from the corner of her tightly closed eye.

At the same time, tears finally welled up in Xie Dai's eyes and burst forth.

Two tears, one representing life and death, one yin and one yang, one clinging and one deluding, were drawn in the air by an invisible force, slowly flying towards Meng Guichen's palm and falling into those two points of ghostly light.

They merged instantly, transforming into a small wisp of mist shimmering with a strange light.

Meng Guichen then turned his palm and put it away.

"The deal," Meng Guichen withdrew her hand, her red lips parted slightly, and uttered the last two words, which seemed to be imprinted with the laws of nature, "Agreed."

Xie Dai shuddered, feeling a chill between his brows.

The glimmer of light was fleeting, and the shape of the mark vaguely resembled a pair of intertwined spider lilies, or a frozen tear, bound by a fine chain pattern in the center.

"This is the Soul Seal of Keeping the Promise." Meng Guichen withdrew his hand, his voice returning to its ethereal state. "The one who holds this seal will have their soul automatically guided to a specific place on the banks of the River of Oblivion after death, free from the processes of judgment and cleansing, and going directly to the promised place."

After speaking, she lightly flicked her wide sleeves, and her figure, along with the boundless sea of ​​red spider lilies, began to dissipate like mist.

The fragments of memory came to an abrupt end.

Inside the secret room, Xie Jinchen trembled violently.

No wonder... no wonder he said he couldn't wait.

He had thought his mother didn't love his father, but it turned out she didn't not love him... she just felt she wasn't good enough for him.

Jiang Dusheng stayed quietly by Xie Jinchen's side. Although he did not see the memory fragments, he guessed the general idea from Xie Jinchen's intense emotional fluctuations and his current expression.

She knelt down, gently took his hand, and whispered, "Xie Jinchen, let's go home after we've settled our parents."

Xie Jinchen gripped her hand tightly in return, as if drawing strength from her.

He slowly exhaled, his voice hoarse yet steady:

"it is good."

"Let's go home."

Three days later, deep in the mountains of Qingzhou.

On a gentle south-facing slope, the sunlight was just right, dispelling the morning mist in the mountains and shining on the freshly turned, damp soil.

On the slope, there were no tall tombs or monuments commemorating achievements.

In front of the tomb lies a piece of uncarved natural bluestone.

The above does not record the birth and death dates, nor does it list any words of praise.

Because their stories have long surpassed the scope that any inscription can convey.

Xie Jinchen and Jiang Dusheng stood side by side in front of the tomb.

The two offered no elaborate offerings, only two cups of sake and a bunch of delicate wildflowers picked from the nearby area.

The wine was slowly poured onto the tomb, seeping into the soil, and the fragrance of flowers drifted gently in the wind.

Not far behind them stood the paper figures Wang Dazhuang and Ruan Guyan.

Wang Dazhuang also put away his usual playful nature, and his paper-like face seemed to try to put on a solemn expression, but the posture was somewhat stiff and strange.

Ruan Guyan stood quietly as always.

A gentle mountain breeze brushed against my clothes, carrying the scent of earth.

Xie Jinchen gazed at the simple blue stone for a long time before softly speaking, "Father, Mother..."

He paused, then grasped Jiang Dusheng's hand beside him. "Farewell. In the years to come, I will bring Sheng'er to visit you often."