Chapter 2 — The Ancestor Turns the Underworld Upside Down

A destiny that has been lost can eventually be recovered. But a person who is truly gone, truly lost, is lost forever.

I lifted my feet and stepped across the threshold of the Reincarnation Platform. My voice echoed with the weight of absolute command: "Issue my decree! Seal the Reincarnation Platform immediately. Without my personal seal, no soul shall be permitted to undergo rebirth!"

I began my search at the City of Wronged Souls. The first faint trace of An's essence clung to the base of the flagstaff.

"Grandmother, save me!"

Her voice, thin and trembling with terror, cut through the stillness. My eyes burned, brimming with unshed tears. How much agony must she have endured when her soul was being shredded? I could still read the remnants of that suffering within her fragmented essence. It was so faint, so fragile; had I not come myself, any passing hell-guard would have overlooked it entirely. Suppressing the ache in my heart, I gathered the wisps of her spirit into my sleeve.

Next, I descended into the second level of hell: the Mountain of Blades. Thousands of razor-sharp steel edges protruded from the mountainside like cruel teeth. As I walked upon them with bare feet, the blades instinctively retracted half an inch, not daring to pierce me. Yet, An’s essence had no such protection. Her second fragment lay severed upon the brightest blade midway up the slope, a streak of crimson staining the metal and dripping slowly down the jagged edge.

"Grandmother, it hurts so much!"

She had cried until her voice was nothing but a raspy whisper. As I gathered that piece, the blade still held the residual, lingering heat of her agony.

The third level was the Sea of Fire. Flames erupted from the fissures in the earth, warping the air itself with their intensity. Her third fragment rested on a rock at the very edge of the inferno. As I reached out to claim it, the essence was thin as a cicada’s wing, the edges already scorched and charred, no larger than a fingernail. Had I been even a few moments later, it would have been extinguished forever. This time, An’s voice was fading into a barely audible sigh.

"Grandmother, I cannot… hold on much longer."

I walked, I gathered, and I pieced her back together. In every hell, I paused. An’s spirit had been scattered across every corner of this abyss. The first piece at the City of Wronged Souls, the second on the Mountain of Blades, the third on the edge of the Sea of Fire, the fourth beneath the ice pillars of the Frozen Hell, and the fifth within the shattered bowl of the Hungry Ghost Realm. Each fragment had been placed with such precise malice, calculated to force me to stop and search in every layer, consuming every second of my dwindling time.

Te Chen and Lou Yen arrived then. Their eyes were brimming with feigned tears as they reached out to stop me.

"Mother, there is only half an hour left. Please, return and open the Reincarnation Platform. An cannot wait any longer," Te Chen pleaded.

"Mother, what are you even looking for? You are wounding yourself, and it pains us to see you suffer so," Lou Yen added.

I looked at them, my gaze cold. "You fear I am wounded? And what of An? She possesses only sixteen years of cultivation, yet she has been forced to endure the eighteen layers of purgatory. She is suffering far more than I am!"

Te Chen and Lou Yen exchanged a hurried glance and lowered their heads, muttering, "An has always been blessed with great fortune..."

I sneered at them. "I calculated long ago that she would face a great trial at sixteen. I thought it would be a test during her time in the mortal world, so I took care to select a noble destiny for her. I never expected that even under my own watch, someone would dare to bully her!" I struck my chest, my voice booming. "Since your own parents refuse to look after you, I shall do it myself!"

I pushed them aside and descended into the eighteenth level: the Blood Pool. The liquid in the basin churned like a colossal, boiling cauldron, brown-red foam coating layer upon layer. I prepared to dive in, but Te Chen immediately grabbed my arm.

"Mother! You cannot go down there! The resentment in the Blood Pool is too heavy. You are vital to the Underworld; you cannot be harmed!" He turned to the guards. "Guards! Escort my mother back at once!"

Four guards stepped forward to block my path. Just then, a faint, desperate cry drifted through the gloom.

"Grandmother..."

It was An. She was here. But her essence was flickering, so weak that her very soul was on the verge of dissolution.

"Get out of my way!" I roared.

Te Chen and Lou Yen stood firm, blocking my descent. "Mother, forgive us. We do this only for your own good."

Te Chen drew the Immortal-Binding Chain, and Lou Yen unsheathed her spirit banner. Instead of rage, a cold laugh escaped my lips. "So, you intend to raise your hands against me? I had always suspected you were blinded by that girl, but it seems you were her accomplices all along."

Their expressions shifted, turning dark. "Mother, we do not know what you are talking about. But you have caused enough trouble; do not delay the cycle of rebirth any longer. Hand over the token to open the Reincarnation Platform, and we will not make things difficult for you!"

I flicked my sleeve. A gale erupted, and before they could even activate their artifacts, they were blown three miles back. Ignoring them, I dove into the Blood Pool. I unleashed three thousand years of my own cultivation to shield my body, the thick, foul blood parting three inches from my skin. The pool was bottomless. I sank through the viscous fluid for the time it takes for an incense stick to burn before I finally touched the depths.

"An... An..."

I called out, desperate and unyielding, into the suffocating dark.