The afterlife blew up Gensokyo

Under the current circumstances, many reclusive Taoist practitioners or members of Taoist sects have chosen to leave their secluded lives and travel to various places. They may be slaying demons and monsters, practicing medicine to help the world, punishing evil and eliminating wickedness, or bringing peace and prosperity to the world.

Do not seek gods or worship Buddhas, but cultivate yourself.

The spirit passed down by Hou Yi and his comrades will never be extinguished.

Trials in the mortal world, one day ascending to immortality.

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At noon, the sun blazed high in the sky, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky.

Under the scorching sun, the air seemed to freeze, and steam rose from the scorching ground. The once bustling trade routes outside the city were now deserted.

This is probably the epitome of scorching heat.

However, compared to the sparsely populated trade routes outside the city, a certain place inside the city was brightly decorated and bustling with activity.

Although not in his prime, this day is an auspicious one.

Huo Huan, the eldest son of the wealthy Huo family in the city, will be getting married today. To celebrate, a grand banquet has been held, and many guests have been invited.

Guests came and went in an endless stream, and all of them wore heartfelt smiles of blessing.

However, somewhere in the inner courtyard, a young girl dressed in a phoenix coronet and embroidered robe seemed quite indifferent to today's wedding. She was sitting at the table, frowning as she fiddled with a tattered, ancient bronze bell that looked like it had been picked up from a garbage dump.

The girl was about sixteen years old, and the phoenix coronet and wedding gown she wore accentuated her beauty. However, unlike most brides getting married, her face showed no emotion that a bride should have at this moment; instead, she appeared extremely indifferent.

The noise outside seemed to have nothing to do with her, or rather, she had never taken today's wedding to heart.

For her, these things were merely a "transaction," a "transaction" to use the Huo family's immense wealth and power to pave the way for her path of cultivation.

"Ahem... Um, could you lend me that bronze bell for a moment?"

Just as the girl was fiddling with the bronze bell, trying to find some useful clues on it, a voice rang out in the room, which should have been empty except for her, accompanied by a clear cough.

"!!!"

Startled, the girl quickly tucked the small bronze bell into her sleeve before turning to look in the direction of the sound.

The window, which she had carefully closed earlier, had been opened at some point, and a black-haired man in white, leaning against the windowsill, gave her a slightly apologetic smile.

"I'm sorry to bother you at this time, but could you lend me that bronze bell you have for a few days? I'll return it later."

"May I ask if you are a cultivator?"

She first frowned slightly, then as if she had suddenly thought of something, her eyes suddenly lit up.

"A cultivator... I guess so. I often cultivate immortality at night."

After thinking for a moment, Shi Bai nodded.

"So could you lend me that bronze bell you're holding? I'll leave as soon as possible so as not to disturb your wedding."

"But now you've already disrupted my wedding."

Standing up from the table, the girl took out the bronze bell from her sleeve and held it tightly in her hand, her expression noncommittal.

"Since you are a cultivator, you should be able to easily take this back from me, right? This bronze bell is the only item my father left me. What do you need it for?"

"Taking without asking is stealing, and I don't want to add to my sins and then get endless lecturing when I get back. As for what I need it for..."

Shi Bai had a solemn expression on his face.

"This thing is destined to me."

"I can give you this bronze bell, but you have to promise me one thing."

The girl's gaze was intense as she looked at the man in front of her.

"Amitabha Buddha, this is only natural. This humble Taoist will bless your family with happiness, harmony, and many children..."

"No, I want you to take me away from here, teach me the Tao, and let me become a Taoist like you!!"

"...Today is your wedding day."

Looking at the girl in front of him, Shi Bai was speechless for a moment.

"It doesn't matter."

The girl shook her head, and then, to someone's astonishment, decisively shoved the bronze bell from her hand into her chest.

"If you don't agree, then you can take this yourself!"

Shi Bai: "..."

Strange, why am I suddenly a little envious of the Eastern Emperor Bell...

After dealing with the matter in Hell, he didn't pay much attention to what followed. Although the construction of the Old Hell was almost complete, it would still take considerable effort to transfer and suppress the vicious and vengeful spirits there.

Although the old hell has been built, it is currently empty, so he naturally cannot waste his time there.

After explaining some things and writing a letter to the two children introducing the Underworld, he left the Underworld, thus ending his long life as a Grim Reaper.

After being away from the Celestial Realm for so long, and with his condition basically stable, the first thing he did was naturally to return to the Celestial Realm to take a look and learn about its current situation.

Although the execution date of his plan is still far off, the preliminary preparations need to begin ahead of schedule.

The Ten Divine Weapons were originally treasures he left behind to guard the land of China. However, with the passage of time, most of the Ten Divine Weapons have become dusty and have been lost in various corners of the world, silently waiting for a destined person to find them.

It's possible that an antique bronze mirror displayed in a shop is the so-called Kunlun Mirror, or it's possible that an ordinary woodcutter's axe for chopping wood is the so-called Pangu Axe. However, relying too much on the objects themselves is not Shi Bai's original intention, so he takes these things rather lightly.

However, if he wanted to go to the Heavenly Realm, he could only enter by relying on the power of the Eastern Emperor Bell. But what he didn't expect was that he would stumble upon a wedding.

I would rather demolish ten temples than ruin one marriage.

The fact that the other party was able to possess the Eastern Emperor Bell can only be described as a matter of fate between her and the Eastern Emperor Bell; he had no intention of forcibly taking it from her at her wedding.

but now……

"Can you stop messing around? You're already married, aren't you? Do you want me to run away with you from your wedding?"

Shi Bai patted his head, looking utterly listless.

"If word gets out that I helped you escape your arranged marriage, I'll be finished. Teaching you cultivation is fine, but..."

"It's okay, as long as I don't tell anyone, no one will know."

The girl interrupted him, her gaze intense.

"The only reason I was willing to marry into the Huo family was to make it easier for me to cultivate Taoist arts. Now that I have a better option, why should I compromise myself?"

"The Huo family... what's your name?"

As if he had thought of something, Shi Bai looked the girl in front of him, dressed in a phoenix coronet and wedding robes, up and down with a slightly strange expression.

"Qing'e".

The girl answered very quickly, almost the instant Shi Bai asked the question.

After hesitating for a moment, she repeated it.

"Huo Qing'e".

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Half an hour later, when the servants of the Huo family came to the main room to help the bride with her makeup and dressing, they found the room empty.

In the very center of the room, there was a neatly arranged "mountain" made of square pure gold ingots.

"Why leave behind so much wealth?"

Walking along the trade road outside the city, Huo Qing'e, who had already changed out of her phoenix coronet and wedding robes, quickly caught up with the man walking in front of her, her words clearly showing her confusion.

"That gold is enough for the Huo family to squander for generations. It's such a waste."

Rolling his eyes, Shi Bai chose not to pay any attention to the other person.

Although he had only known the infamous evil immortal Qing'e for less than half a day, he had already gained a general understanding of her personality.

To put it nicely, they are cunning; to put it bluntly, they are evil. They have a personality that pursues power more than good or evil, and they have a mindset that doesn't care what happens to those around them as long as it benefits them.

If Ibaraki Kasen is a pure immortal, then she is an absolute evil immortal.

If you want to understand this personality type more deeply... here's a simple and easy-to-understand example.

The story of Sima Yi smashing the water vat is probably familiar to everyone. The way to rescue a child who has fallen into a water vat is simply to smash the vat and release the water, but this would inevitably damage the vat.

If we think in the same way Huo Qing'e does, then all we need to do is put firewood under the water vat and burn it until the water in the vat boils dry. This way, the child inside the vat will be out of danger of drowning, and the vat can be saved as well – killing two birds with one stone.

While it's not quite that extreme, it mostly leans towards... wait, this seems to be my own win-win thinking pattern...

Suddenly, someone looked thoughtful.

"Were you using the 'Hidden Universe in a Sleeve' magic just now? Did you also use the 'Turning Stone into Gold' magic? Can a Taoist priest obtain so much gold so easily?"

Even though her initial question went unanswered, Huo Qing'e didn't seem to care at all. Instead, she kept asking the people around her all sorts of strange questions.

In her view, rather than staying in the Huo family and spending countless years trying to learn Taoist arts on her own, following this mysterious person would obviously allow her to achieve her goals much faster.

Putting aside the mountain of gold that the other party had taken out in front of her earlier, which she could not possibly carry on her person, even now, despite the scorching heat of the weather, where one would be sweating profusely after just a few steps outside, the area around the other party felt incredibly cool.

To avoid the scorching sun, she had to hurry to keep up with the other person's pace.

Why do you want to cultivate Taoism so much?

Turning his head to look at the girl beside him, Shi Bai, feeling rather annoyed by the nagging, chose to answer the question with a question.

"Or rather, what are your reasons and goals for practicing Taoism?"

"I want to learn the secret arts of Taoism, possess powerful and magical abilities, and achieve enlightenment to become an immortal."

Without a moment's hesitation, Huo Qing'e answered quite frankly.

"What's the reason?"

Shi Bai raised an eyebrow.

“I lost my mother at birth. My father became obsessed with Taoism when I was young. In the end, he abandoned me and went to live in seclusion to cultivate immortality. He never came back.”

When talking about those past events, her tone was extremely calm, as if she were recounting something completely unrelated to herself.

“I have lived alone since I was a child. I have read the Taoist books left by my father many times, so I developed a great interest in Taoist cultivation. That is why I want to cultivate Taoism.”

Throughout the entire process, Huo Qing'e described everything from the perspective of an outsider, without any emotion or reaction.

How difficult is it for a person to survive in this world? Especially in this day and age, those who haven't personally experienced it have no right to speak.

A kind-hearted person like that would never have survived to this day.

"Do you hate your father? Do you hate him for abandoning you when you were little?"

Looking up at the scorching sun in the sky, Shi Bai squinted slightly.

"Hate? There's no need."

Huo Qing'e gave Shi Bai a strange look and shook her head.

"No matter what, he is still my father."

"You seem to have a pretty open-minded attitude."

Shi Bai chuckled silently.

"It seems I was wrong after all. Your personality should be..."

"After all, it's been so long since I've seen him. My father must have died long ago. Perhaps even his body has been eaten by some monster or tiger in some mountain. Why should I hate someone who is already dead?"

Huo Qing'e looked completely at ease.

"Since the remains are gone, the dead should be respected."

Shi Bai: "..."

...I take back what I just said.

ps：ヽ(ー_ー)ノヽ(ー_ー)ノヽ(ー_ー)ノ

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Journey to the Celestial Realm

Although it is already the autumnal equinox, the heat has not yet subsided.

The world is like a great furnace, with sunlight pouring down on every corner of the earth like blazing flames. The scorching air blowing on people feels like being hit by a torrent of fire.

In such sweltering weather, there were surprisingly few pedestrians on the trade route, and the trees along the roadside drooped their leaves listlessly.