The afterlife blew up Gensokyo

"The so-called good and evil, right and wrong, are important criteria for determining reincarnation. Everything you have will turn into nourishment for the underworld, which means you will lose everything and forget everything. This is only the best outcome I have anticipated."

Shi Bai turned his head to look at the girl beside him.

"The living must not enter the realm of the dead, and the dead must not linger in the realm of the living. At that time, you will endure thousands or even tens of thousands of years of loneliness in the underworld... Aren't you most afraid of loneliness?"

“I know, that voice told me everything.”

Under Shi Bai's gaze, she nodded slightly.

"I will become Yama, the King of the Underworld, in charge of judging the dead... I will become a god who can only stay in the Underworld."

"...Even if you know all this, are you sure you still want to go?"

After a moment of silence, Shi Bai began to speak.

"Actually, it's really unnecessary. Don't forget what you went through before. If you hadn't met me and Yonglin, what do you think your sister and I would have ended up like? So forget about that incident. It has nothing to do with us..."

"Didn't my brother tell me before that if I feel lonely, I should just go and chat with someone?"

Finally raising her head, the little girl turned and looked up at him.

"My job in the underworld is to judge the sins of the dead. There are actually many people I can chat with every day. As long as I keep talking to others, I won't feel lonely."

"...So in the end, even so, are you absolutely sure you still want to go?"

He exhaled, rested his head on one hand, and leaned back onto the lawn.

"Even if you forget us completely, it doesn't matter? I promised your sister that if you really become Yama in the underworld, then you will probably never see your sister again."

Turning his head to the side, meeting the gaze of a future Yama, Shi Bai's tone was extremely calm.

"Believe it or not, from this day forward, your sister will rather die in this world than enter the underworld."

"The underworld is the final destination of the dead, and no one can escape it."

Shaking her head, Xiao Siji suddenly smiled.

“I was originally just a lowly demon, but I have the opportunity to become a god of the underworld, and I can also ensure that all things in the world have a place to go after death, and that the cycle of life and death in the world can proceed smoothly. Shouldn’t you be happy for me, brother?”

"To dedicate everything to the underworld, to forget everything and sacrifice yourself, to endure countless years of loneliness in the underworld... Tell me the truth, would you really be happy about something like this?"

Shi Bai's tone remained extremely calm, but his aura underwent a dramatic transformation, making him appear as if he were a completely different person, subtly exuding a coldness.

"Don't force yourself. If you don't want to go, then you don't want to go. You just need to answer that one question for me, and I'll take care of the rest."

"...Brother, if possible, I don't want you to be just my golden sunshine."

After a long silence, Xiao Siji gently shook her head.

"I shouldn't be greedy. There are many people like me in the world. I'm just the luckiest one who met you first... So can I ask you to bring sunshine into the lives of other people like me in the future?"

"It seems you've finally made your choice..."

Shi Bai exhaled a long breath, sat up, and returned to his usual harmless self, reaching out to gently pat the other person's head.

"In that case, I respect your choice. However, I won't let you go to the underworld alone..."

"I'll go with you."

P.S.: Good morning!

Chapter Sixty-Four: The Day the Underworld Opens

In this era, many things are difficult to explain clearly.

For example, good and evil.

For example, black and white.

For example, right and wrong.

What is right? What is wrong?

What is right? What is wrong?

Between monsters and gods, who is righteous and who is evil?

No one can explain it clearly.

A future Yama, the King of Hell, was born under such circumstances where right and wrong were indistinguishable.

To some extent, she represents the will for world justice, and it is no exaggeration to call her a spokesperson for world justice.

Unlike anyone else, she possessed her own standards for judging good and evil. These standards were very complex, affecting the severity of a sin from the establishment of an event to the people involved.

No matter what being it is, it cannot lie to her.

Therefore, she understood better than anyone else just how much confidence her brother, who seemed to have completely changed, had when he said those words in front of her.

But she also understood better than anyone else what her brother, who was always so gentle with her, had been carrying all along.

There is no such thing as a peaceful and tranquil life. The so-called peaceful and tranquil life on the surface is just someone carrying the burden for you in the dark.

She once made a very selfish wish at dawn: that she would live a wonderful and happy life in the future.

But ever since she was guided by that voice and witnessed the hatred, slaughter, and destruction in those wars, she was in a daze for a long time.

Previously, her race didn't even qualify as cannon fodder in wars, so she had very little concept of war. Her only impressions were what she and her sister saw during their escape.

But the so-called endless, aimless escape is actually a journey to avoid all other existences. Although she has witnessed death, she has never witnessed war... until she sees the real scene of war.

Actually, I'm quite lucky, aren't I? At least I have a memory of a happy, carefree time, and I've never forgotten the spectacular fireworks display I saw on the night I arrived at the bamboo forest.

After learning about the concept of Chinese New Year from her older brother, she, who had never looked forward to the passing years before, suddenly felt an eager anticipation for the arrival of the next New Year.

Perhaps... this is the meaning of the New Year?

I am very lucky, but there are many unfortunate people in this world who struggle in darkness their whole lives, just like I used to be, and have never seen the golden sunlight.

I might have been able to accept this without knowing it before, but now that I know, can I really remain happy and ignore them?

She thought about this problem for a long time and finally came up with an answer.

—I can't do it, and I have no way of doing it.

So, she slightly modified the little wish she had made in her heart with her eyes closed under the eaves in the bamboo forest at dawn.

I hope that in the future, everyone, including my brother, can live a happy and fulfilling life.

..................................................................

"here we go."

At some point, Jinjieluo, who was sitting cross-legged on the ground, opened his eyes.

"What started?"

Stopping his efforts to heal his injuries, Hoshiguma Yuugi frowned and looked at Kinkara.

If she had been able to successfully seize the "key" back then, perhaps the war wouldn't have had to be so intense now.

Although the complete disappearance of that "key" in this world forced them to abandon the idea of ​​tampering with the opening of the underworld, they would never give up that rare opportunity once the gates to the underworld opened.

"The beginning of a new era, and a brand new future belonging to our Ghost Clan..."

Jin Jieluo raised his head and looked up at the sky.

The sun had darkened without anyone noticing, and a sudden gust of wind swept across the land.

The wind whistled, and Jin Jieluo's sleeves danced wildly in the wind.

"What do you mean? Explain yourself clearly!!"

Clearly noticing the anomaly in the sky, Hoshiguma Yuugi quickly stood up from the ground.

"And what's with the Ghost Clan's brand new future? The beginning of a new era? Are you kidding me?!"

"Perhaps, the end of an era always requires some time to come to a close, but the era of war is coming to an end, that is an indisputable fact."

He also stood up from the ground, raised his head to look at the sky, and spoke softly.

"Huashan, if you don't want to become completely possessed by demons, then come with me in a moment... I can help you find your own 'heart'."

After saying this, without waiting for Hoshiguma Yuugi and Kasen's reactions, Kinkara flew into the sky.

The wind had grown stronger, and the sky had darkened completely. A muffled sound seemed to echo between heaven and earth, followed by a crisp sound as if something had shattered, which resonated in everyone's hearts.

"This means... the underworld has opened ahead of schedule!?"

Staring wide-eyed at the sky above, which had become completely invisible due to the darkness, Hoshiguma Yuugi couldn't help but look shocked.

At that moment, Ibaraki Kasen, who had been silent since the beginning, quietly followed Kinkara's pace, so fast that even I couldn't stop her.

"These two guys..."

Gritting her teeth, Hoshiguma Yuugi forced herself to stop the urge to follow them into the underworld.

Of the four great ghost kings of the ghost race, only three remain. It would be enough for two of them to enter the underworld. If all three were to enter, the mortal world would be leaderless.

What if the gods take this opportunity to attack...

So no matter how unwilling she was at this moment, as the Ghost King, she had to fulfill her duties as the Ghost King.

Turning around, Hoshiguma Yuugi clenched her fist tightly.

"That Jin Jieluo seems to know a lot of things I don't. When she gets back, before I even ask why, I have to give her a good beating..."

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P.S.: Tickets

Chapter Sixty-Five: The Realm of the Underworld

There lies a deadly realm, the path for souls to return; stretching for eight hundred miles, devoid of flowers and leaves; yellow sand covers the land, flowing endlessly, hence the name Yellow Springs…

This was an introduction to the underworld and the Yellow Springs that Shi Bai had read a long time ago in a book whose name he could no longer remember. To be honest, he had many guesses about the so-called underworld before entering it.

However, when he led a little girl by the hand, avoiding everyone else, into the underworld, he discovered that the underworld before him was completely different from the scene he had imagined.

The sky appeared as if it had been thickly dyed with ink, presenting an almost ethereal blackness. However, in an environment where there was no light source in the entire underworld, this place did not seem dark. Beneath the vast deathly aura that permeated the entire underworld, there was a wide river shrouded in thick fog, with no visible boundaries or end.

The fog that permeated the river was extremely thick, making the water almost invisible. However, if you looked down from a high place, you could vaguely see a faint, ethereal blue light shimmering in the water.

—This is a new world, entirely belonging to the dead.

"Now you've seen what the underworld looks like. Building a complete system here from scratch would be an incredibly massive undertaking. There is no life here, only the dead... It's not too late for you to change your mind."

Standing above the river, Shi Bai lowered his head and spoke to the little girl beside him.

"Believe me, there is nothing in this world that I cannot do."

“…Brother, I still remember what you said to me before.”

After a moment of silence, the little girl looked up and smiled.

“Every parting is just a prelude to a better reunion... so this time is no different.”

"Tsk, so can't you remember something useful? Why do you have to memorize these words that I find meaningless..."

With a slightly helpless sigh, Shi Bai squatted down and reached out to pat the other person's head.

"In that case... then don't worry, the day we meet again won't be too far away..."

Although the lifespans of monsters and gods are much longer than the average human lifespan of a hundred years, they still eventually come to an end.

Even celestial beings experience the five signs of decay. No matter how powerful an existence is, unless its strength can transcend a certain limit, the problem of lifespan will never disappear.

Shi Bai had considered keeping Xiao Siji, but what would happen if he did?

Putting aside how the world itself will handle the issues concerning the underworld, let's not forget that apart from her so-called "key" identity, Shiki's race is still the lowest-ranking youkai, on par with succubi.

The lifespan of succubi and their race is no more than a thousand years... Of course, in this era of war, dying of old age is basically impossible.

Comparing the two, Yama, whose lifespan is almost equal to that of the underworld, is undoubtedly the most suitable future for her... although this future that belongs to her is destined to be difficult.

The underworld is shrouded in darkness year-round. In such a harsh environment where the living are not allowed to exist, it's best not to expect any beautiful scenery. All you can see is a mixture of black and yellow soil.

In the long, unchanging years between now and the establishment of Gensokyo, a certain loli who has made up her mind will face this unchanging scene every day.

Want to see the scenery in the underworld? I suggest you go to Hell.