✓𝐀𝐬 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐄𝐱𝐢𝐬𝐭 『𝑀𝑜𝑛𝑘𝑒𝑦 𝐾𝑖𝑛𝑔』

𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 68: Chimangjing

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A week in the mortal realm is a day in the Nether, that's the theory. But to Wukong, it's the other way around. The realm of the dead is duller and stricter than it is at the Celestial Realm, ruled by bureaucratic management and tons of crowd, the simian had to stay beside the Goddess at all times as to not get caught by shrinking himself to the size of an ant, just so that she can make an excuse for the odd aura he's emitting as a living immortal.

At the smallest of times when she's not tending to souls, Meng Po continues unlocking the dual blades, releasing qi of the already deceased demons one by one, all while explaining the rules maintained in the Netherworld. For someone like Lian Xiu, her empty soul was given the lightest sentence in the Diyu, the purgatory which serves to punish and purify souls in preparation for reincarnation. Similar to the Chamber of Ox where abusers of living beings-- big and small-- are sentenced to be bullied by animals, her sentence are to be sent in a pit full of flesh-eating insects. A method they translated as to fill the void of the soul who had abused demons and humans' lives indiscriminately, since her true sins couldn't be judged without the entirety of her soul.

'No wonder she reacts like that around centipedes,' he grimaced, staring down from the cliff where a humongous centipede roamed the west of Nether.

"Guardians of Chamber of Ox. Their venoms quickly paralyze those who try to escape. A similar one had been placed with Lian Xiu on her time here as well, it became unusually attached to her after a few times together," says the deity. Meng Po removes the 682nd Qi, letting it vanish into the deathly cold winds of the realm.

He huffed, pushing himself back up to walk near the gazebo where they await for souls to come up and join them before crossing the Naihe Bridge, "Not too close, I hope."

"Jealousy won't get you anywhere. Considering your own situation, I bet you'll quite enjoy the time with it as well."

His fur stood a bit at the assumption, and he doesn't say a word to retort. More than anyone, Sun Wukong himself is afraid of his own death, what awaits him in his damnation and what possible punishment would be placed upon his head by the ten kings whom he'd done wrong before. His flight instincts are only restricted by his thoughts about Xiu, which he couldn't leave until he'd confirmed that her curse was removed.

"Ahh, there you are," Meng Po wore a smirk, her fingers circling as if pulling an invisible thread. The Qi that flows out is a dark red, it goes around the simian for a little tease, its scent almost like murky waters with a whiff of sulfur.

He had his hopes up when the Qi started taking form in front of him, he was ready to come and greet her with open arms.

"Why hello darling!" Chimangjing stood in her former glory, hair as orange as the sunset with red slits for eyes, scaled adorned her cheeks that one would easily figure out what type of demon she is, unlike Shuang She who kept it well-hidden.

Monkey King frowns, turning to the side in disinterest, ticking off the python demon.

"Oh come now, really. I helped you with your problem! You should be thanking me, you know," she crosses her arms.

"Over my dead body," he growls.

"Still the same thick skulled simian who killed me, I see."

"Chimangjing," Meng Po cuts through with a frown, "For the inconvenience you've done in the flow of reincarnations, your first soul has already received its punishment and only awaits you at the other end of the bridge." Chimangjing glances at the bridge that's suddenly lit up in green flames. "You're sentenced to live life as a worm, you'll be at the very end of the food chain as punishment for your greed to devour power for yourself. I hope you've learnt your lesson in this life."

The python demon rolls her eyes, "Yeah, yeah, whatever. Not like I have a choice anyway since I've literally been dead for a century."

"Or is it that you want to receive a punishment of your own as well?" the Goddess raises a brow in question.

"Enough about that. You can pull her out now, can you? I wanna speak with her for a moment," she points to the blades.

Wukong turns to Meng Po, still fighting the urge to beat up the soul in front of him. She sighs and goes back to concentrate on the blades, trying to find the trace of the soul in question.

"Uhm..."

Their heads directed at a soul in tattered garments, his hand shaking from fear, trauma, and excitement while holding an empty cup. It was such a good moment that they already forgot where they are. Meng Po sets the blades aside and greets him, "Welcome to the Naihe Bridge. Please, sit down and have a bowl of Mi Hun Tang. It'll certainly make you feel a lot lighter."

Xiu stayed by the sides of two younger individuals, whose names she just knew days ago. Despite their claims of friendship towards her, she can only remember so much as arriving in her new apartment in Megapolis. Stories upon stories of adventures brought her to believe that she had been possessed by an unknown entity that's been controlling her for three years. How she just woke up now is completely beyond her.

"It's all because of Monkey King!" is what MK said to her.

'Monkey... King?' the woman sat on the chair of her new apartment after moving out of a very awkward situation. She can't believe she's been living with a pig demon. And got a job with him as her employer at that. Xiu swore that she was about to get herself ready for the next day on a formal job interview with a call center company. 'This doesn't make sense at all...' and the pig demon also seemed to be hesitating on the details. There's lots of theories running into her mind— doubts— about that pig and those kids.

Xiu held her mug of coffee while staring down from her window on the second floor of the apartment. All those people— those... strangers— all seemed to know her more than she had liked. Initially, she wasn't even planning of making acquaintances, much less friends, when she thought of moving into the city.

"He saved you from death! He got rid of your curse!" the girl, Mei, said it in swoon and delight.

The woman is still trying ti wrap her head around things, she thought of taking it slow, one by one, organizing everything before she handles the main topic. With her things finally moved in here, Xiu rummaged through all her items for clues she could find herself, but none of it traces back to their basis of backstory— which actually makes sense since it hasn't been nearly a year when she met them and went on a journey with them (two months of that are spent with her on a death-like state).

"I swear, if I hear one of them come knocking on my door today as well, I'm gonna—"

The thought was cut short with the dreaded knock, making her sigh sharply through her nose, 'Right... Alright... Stay cool, stay nice, and smile. That isn't too hard, right?' Xiu comes to the door and opens it, smiling at the group of six that blocked the entrance with their joyful faces, three of them she's already familiar with. "H-Hi, everyone... So nice of you to visit..."

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The Goddess of Forgetfulness, Mèng Pó, gives souls a draft of her special "Mi Hun Tang" ("soul beguiling soup"). All memories of past lives and hellish torment are swept into oblivion, turning each person into a clean slate, ready to be reincarnated. That's what I've researched for this moment❤️