Chapter Eleven: Offending the Heavenly Dao—How to Escape
Page (1/3)
Inside the Rear Hall
The Little Dumpling watched her Father Lord leave in a huff, and her tiny eyes drooped guiltily.
“Father Lord…”
I’m sorry. I lied to you this time.
In truth, that Sinful Immortal had not asked her for a pearl hair ornament at all. He had merely wanted her to deliver a message for free.
Yet she had no idea why—she had somehow agreed without thinking.
Perhaps that Sinful Immortal really did intend to save his friend. And she had simply felt that helping with such a small matter would cost her no effort at all.
But…
Whom should she ask for help? She could not even leave this hell.
…
Outside the Hall
Lady Meng bowed and asked, “Your Highness, have you caught him?”
That Sinful Immortal truly possessed extraordinary skill. He had actually dared to transform himself into the likeness of His Highness, King Yama, and stroll out of the tenth level of Hell as calmly as if nothing were amiss.
That alone would have been bad enough. Yet he had brazenly entered the Hall of Utter Heartlessness and broken into the Little Highness’s sleeping quarters. He truly deserved to die.
“I have had him thrown into the eighteenth level of punishment. Once Meng Hui returns, hand him over to her for strict supervision.”
“Yes, Your Highness. Lady Meng will remember.”
Yanyi nodded. “You need not concern yourself with the remaining matters. I have another task for you.”
Lady Meng bent respectfully at the waist. “Please give your orders, Your Highness.”
“Beside the Third Prince in the Dragon Palace of the Eastern Sea is a princess from the mortal realm. Her allotted lifespan is nearly at an end. Send her into reincarnation.”
“The Third Prince of the Dragon Palace of the Western Sea?” Lady Meng lifted her head in astonishment, utterly shocked. “How could he be with a human? Would that not incur the punishment of Heaven’s Will?”
Since ancient times, ever since spiritual roots first awakened and the origin of all things was born, demons had joined with demons, gods with gods, fiends with fiends, and humans with humans.
Of course, there were cultivators who became involved with demons or fiends, but they were cultivators all the same. She had never heard of a human becoming involved with a god.
Besides, a human lifespan was limited. Even if she lived for a hundred years, to the Third Prince of the Dragon Clan, those years would amount to no more than a few days of amusement.
Yanyi gave a cold sneer and turned away. “If he is willing to send her into reincarnation, so much the better. If he refuses, he cannot blame me for intervening.”
“Yes, Your Highness. Lady Meng understands.”
Still, surely no one would dare defy His Highness, King Yama, for the sake of a woman.
Especially not for a woman from the mortal realm.
…
Inside the Hall of Utter Heartlessness
The Little Dumpling shut the doors of her hall tightly, folded her little legs beneath her, and sat atop the bed. Frowning, she stared at the medicinal flower before her, which shimmered with boundless radiance, and fell into deep thought.
She had seen and recognized tens of thousands of medicinal flowers in this world. Yet she had no idea what this tiny object before her was called, where it came from, or what effects it possessed.
How strange.
Page (1/3)
Page (2/3)
The Little Dumpling pulled the Cosmos Pouch from her waist, poked her little head inside, and rummaged through it until she found a book titled The Origin of Ten Thousand Medicines.
Sitting in the middle of her bed, she began reading the herbal compendium with complete absorption, forgetting time and all things around her. Alone, she seemed capable of comprehending the very Way.
Suddenly, her eyes fell upon the medicinal flower described in the book with the greatest detail and emphasis. Her little hand gently brushed across the page.
“Blood… Spirit…”
“Formed from the spiritual energy of all things under Heaven and Earth, this medicinal flower may be found throughout the four seas and eight wastelands, both within and beyond the Nine Heavens.”
“Some grow upon the most ordinary cliffs and precipices. Some appear in dense forests after a heavy rain. Some bloom in unfathomably deep pools. And some… grow within the bellies of ferocious spirit beasts.”
The Little Dumpling stared downward. In the bottom corner of the page was a line of tiny print:
“Blood Spirit is a treasure that may be found only by those with whom fate is entwined.”
It was said that some people could spend their entire lives searching without finding even one.
Yet others might obtain, during a single long journey, something that another person could never find in a lifetime.
“He who obtains Blood Spirit shall possess the world…”
The Little Dumpling unconsciously murmured the words aloud.
The moment she finished, her eyes flew wide and she froze in place.
Heavens!
Was that Sinful Immortal punished and cast down from the heavens precisely because of this Blood Spirit?
Could she still return it to him now?
Terrified, the Little Dumpling hastily put the medicinal flower away. Along with the book, she tossed it all into her Cosmos Pouch, then pulled out her Voice-Transmitting Spirit and hurriedly sent a message to Lady Meng.
“Beep, beep, beep—”
“Beep, beep, beep—”
“Little Highness?” Lady Meng’s hurried voice came from the other end. Her haste was so great that anyone unaware of the circumstances might have thought she had gone off to fight someone.
The Little Dumpling paused. Without giving it much thought, she said instead, “Lady Meng, there is something I want to tell you…”
“Little Highness, I need to leave the prison for a while. When I return, I’ll bring you something tasty and something fun to play with.”
Lady Meng assumed that the Little Highness was trapped inside the Hall of Utter Heartlessness, bored and restless, and was looking for something to amuse herself.
“You’re leaving the prison?” The Little Dumpling’s eyes lit up at once. This was perfect timing.
If she could not return the medicinal flower to its owner, could she not simply follow that Sinful Immortal’s instructions and give it to his friend instead?
Oh, right. Where did his friend live again?
“Yes, Little Highness. I have to go out and take care of something very important.”
“Wait for me, Lady Meng.”
The Little Dumpling hurriedly climbed down from the bed, secured her Cosmos Pouch, clutched the Voice-Transmitting Spirit, and scampered out with quick little steps.
But ghost servants were guarding the hall entrance. They had received Father Lord’s orders, so there was no way they would let her leave now.
The Little Dumpling formed a spell seal and closed her eyes. In an instant, she transformed into a moth and flew out of the hall.
“Hmm…”
One of the ghost servants outside sensed that something was wrong. He quickly patted the shoulder of the person beside him and whispered, “Do you smell something familiar?”
Page (2/3)
Page (3/3)
The other ghost servant yawned sleepily, opened his eyes in a daze, and asked, “What smell? No, I don’t.”
“It’s the Little Highness’s aura.”
Thud!
The tiny moth, startled, flew straight into the palace wall. The impact hurt so badly that her little face immediately swelled red.
“The Little Highness? Isn’t the Little Highness inside the hall?”
“True. I must be imagining things.”
“You are imagining things. If the Little Highness had come out, would we still dare remain here on duty? We would have hidden far away long ago…”
“Hahahaha, you’re right.”
The little moth flew off again, grumbling and cursing under her breath, and soon reached the bridge where Hell and the mortal realm met—the Bridge of Lady Meng.
With a flash, she transformed from a little moth back into a tiny, soft, round dumpling.
“Lady Meng!”
The Little Dumpling bounded toward her as quickly as she could, her heart leaping with excitement.
Wonderful! She had finally made it out.
Fortunately, Father Lord had not placed a ward around her this time. Otherwise, she would not even have been able to leave the hall, let alone come to Lady Meng.
“Little Highness, how did you get out?” Lady Meng asked in surprise. If she remembered correctly, His Highness, King Yama, had confined her to the Hall of Utter Heartlessness once again.
The Little Dumpling curved her lips into a smile, but the movement tugged at the pain beside her face, and the smile vanished. In a soft voice, she said, “I told Father Lord, and then I came to find you.”
“No.”
Lady Meng immediately noticed that something was amiss. She fixed her gaze on the Little Dumpling’s fair, rosy face, then suddenly bent down and reached for her left cheek.
“Ah!” The Little Dumpling jerked backward from the pain and cried out loudly.
As expected,
something was wrong.
“Little Highness, how exactly did you get out? And what happened to the injury on your face? Did you get into a fight with the people outside the hall?”
“No, no, I didn’t…”
The Little Dumpling shook her head rapidly. Her eyes darted about as she desperately thought of an excuse, sly as a little fox.
Covering her injured cheek, she raised her brows pitifully. “I—I accidentally knocked it against something inside the hall. The mark had just faded, but I don’t know why it suddenly became worse again.”
Lady Meng frowned worriedly. “Little Highness, how can you disregard an injury like this? And why are you running about when you are hurt?”
The Little Dumpling waved her hand. “Oh, Lady Meng, don’t worry about me. Weren’t you going out to handle some business? Why don’t I come with you?”
Lady Meng retreated several steps without hesitation, swiftly putting distance between them. “Don’t even think about it. His Highness, King Yama, will never agree to let you leave the hall.”
“What if we don’t tell Father Lord?”
“Impossible.”
“Lady Meng!”
Page (3/3)