Love Beyond the Grave

After saying this, Duan Xu suddenly turned his head and smiled brightly at Jiang Ai. "I didn’t quite catch it earlier. What did you say about me—righteous?"

Jiang Ai nodded.

Because of the youth’s earlier words, she was reevaluating him. She said, "Isn’t that the case?"

The boy before her shook his head, the black veil of his Veiled Hat swaying with the motion. His voice carried amusement, tinged with a hint of mockery, as if he had heard something laughable.

"I’m not a good person. I bear countless blood debts. I’ve killed many who were strangers to me, unarmed, begging for mercy, even those who couldn’t make a sound. I did these things for no noble reason—only to survive. If those laws were applied to me, I might not escape unscathed either."

"But I’ve also sworn that from now on, I will save more people, protect more people, and grant them freedom. I will stake my life on it and give it my all."

Jiang Ai was taken aback. She knew that children of his age often harbored grand ambitions, passionate and restless, as if they could pluck the moon from the sky. In gambling dens, there were many such wealthy young masters who recklessly threw away fortunes, always lost and agitated.

But this boy was different. His fervor seemed unnervingly clear-headed.

Before she could respond to his description, the boy took a few steps back and cheerfully changed the subject. "Earlier, you said this was the second most detested place for Evil Ghosts. So where’s the first? The legendary Nine Palaces Maze Prison?"

Jiang Ai felt her eyelid twitch. She forced a smile and said, "You wouldn’t actually want to go to the Nine Palaces Maze Prison, would you?"

No Evil Ghost liked the Nine Palaces Maze Prison—or rather, all Evil Ghosts avoided it like the plague. They wouldn’t even want to pass by its gates, let alone enter.

"Would the Left Minister be so kind as to show me the way?"

Duan Xu gestured innocently, as if inviting her.

Lately, Jiang Ai had come to realize that this boy’s innocence was always laced with traps—and trouble.

The Nine Palaces Maze Prison lay beneath Ephemeral Mountain, its entrance halfway up the slope—a plain black locust wood door, resembling that of an ordinary storage room. Unadorned and unremarkable, it stood there without a hint of terror, unguarded by any Evil Ghosts, utterly mismatched with its infamous reputation.

Jiang Ai and Duan Xu stood before the entrance of the notorious prison. She asked again, "Are you sure you want to go in?"

Duan Xu countered, "Does Simu forbid me from entering?"

"She never said that. But if the guards won’t let you in, there’s nothing I can do."

Jiang Ai knocked on the door—three long raps followed by a short one. The plain black door lit up with a spell, and white, vein-like ridges began to rise across its surface, resembling the bulging veins on a person’s forehead when straining.

Following the direction of the white veins, two enormous, pure white eyes, each about three feet in radius, opened on the doors. They rolled about freely, as if scanning in all directions, though it was unclear what they were looking at or scrutinizing.

"State your name."

The eyes—somehow—spoke in a booming, resonant voice.

"Xi Ghost Palace Lord, Jiang Ai."

The eyeballs leaned in to inspect Jiang Ai before chuckling. "Jiang Ai, what a rare guest! What crime have you committed? Why haven’t I received any orders from the King?"Jiang Ai waved her hand, laughing so hard she seemed to tremble like a flower in the wind. "Xusheng, what are you talking about? How could a well-read, law-abiding ghost like me ever end up in prison?"

Xusheng was the mountain spirit of Ephemeral Mountain, his body forming the entire mountain itself. His eyes were set upon the gates of the Nine Palaces Maze Prison, which lay within his skull.

"I just want to go in for a look, and bring my friend here along."

Jiang Ai pointed at Duan Xu, who stood behind her.

The enormous eye suddenly stood upright and darted toward Duan Xu. Instinctively, Duan Xu wanted to dodge, but he stopped himself and remained still, allowing the ghastly vertical eye to scrutinize him left and right.

Xusheng said, "He carries the Ghost King's aura—a very strong one at that."

"That veiled hat of his bears the Ghost King's spell," Jiang Ai replied.

"It's more than just that."

Xusheng abruptly retracted his eye, lazily rolling it across the gate. "He's a living person. I don't let living people in."

This was exactly what Jiang Ai had hoped for. She was about to tell Duan Xu, "See, it's not that I won't help you, but Xusheng won't let you in," when Xusheng continued, "But... is the Ghost King going to marry you? Are you his betrothed?"

Jiang Ai hesitated in slight surprise, but the young man reacted with inhuman speed. "That's right. We've pledged our lives to each other."

A life bound by the Curse Bond still counted as a life, after all.

Xusheng scoffed. If his eyes hadn't been entirely white, he would have rolled them.

"Figures. The last living person drenched in the Ghost King's aura was the former Ghost Queen. Fine, you may enter."

The young man turned his head. Though Jiang Ai couldn't see his expression beneath the veil, she could easily imagine him smirking in triumph. Pressing her fingers to her temples, she thought to herself that those hundred chests of gold bricks in the palace vault weren't so easy to earn. Next time Simu gave her a job like this, she'd have to demand more. Still, a quick trip through the Nine Palaces Maze Prison wasn't a big deal—just a bit uncomfortable.

She knocked on the gate and said, "Xusheng, give me two Heart Candles."

"Coming right up."

A red mist swirled within the pure white eye, like crimson clouds at dusk, coalescing into two scarlet teardrops that rolled down the eye's surface and landed in Jiang Ai's palms, transforming into two red candles.

With a flick of her wrist, a golden candlestick appeared in her hand. She inserted one candle into it and handed it to Duan Xu. The moment he took it, the wick ignited on its own.

"Take good care of it. This is your Heart Candle."

Jiang Ai repeated the process with the other candle, which also burst into flame. However, while the fire atop Duan Xu's candle burned red, hers flickered blue.

Duan Xu asked, "Is this your Heart Candle?"

"Indeed. Only by holding a Heart Candle can one avoid getting lost in the Nine Palaces Maze Prison."

The gates slowly creaked open, revealing boundless darkness beyond. Holding her candle aloft, Jiang Ai said, "Stay close once we're inside. There's nothing much to see, and we'll be out in half an hour at most."

Duan Xu nodded and followed.

True to its name, the Nine Palaces Maze Prison was arranged according to the Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams diagram: One for Kan (Water), Two for Kun (Earth), Three for Zhen (Thunder), Four for Xun (Wind), Five for the Central Tai Chi, Six for Qian (Heaven), Seven for Dui (Lake), Eight for Gen (Mountain), and Nine for Li (Fire)—weaving together the myriad illusions of worldly desires.Jiang Ai walked ahead holding a candle. As Duan Xu stepped into the maze prison, faint light emerged from the ground, revealing the character "Kan" before fading back into darkness. Distant screams of pain echoed, multiplying into countless overlapping sounds, while Wandering Souls occasionally drifted into the faint circle of candlelight amidst the all-encompassing darkness.

It was as if they were sailing on a vast ocean at night, surrounded by turbulent waves, yet nothing but darkness met their eyes.

Duan Xu asked, "Why is it so dark in this Nine Palaces Maze Prison?"

Jiang Ai replied leisurely, "This is the darkness of the human heart."

Earlier, she had said there was nothing much to see in the Nine Palaces Maze Prison, and this was no excuse. Holding the Heart Candle and entering the maze indeed revealed only boundless darkness and the agonized wails of Evil Ghosts exiled here. Most of the time, one wouldn’t even directly encounter any Evil Ghosts, making it rather dull.

Only when the Heart Candle was extinguished could one see the true Nine Palaces Maze Prison.

Without the Heart Candle, Evil Ghosts would immediately fall into the illusions woven by the maze, forgetting the boundary between reality and fantasy, trapped in endless cycles of birth, aging, sickness, death, resentment, separation, and unfulfilled desires.

"Evil Ghosts cannot feel pain, yet you saw how Fang Chang screamed for so long when he was burned to death. That’s because the Ghost Fire of the Ghost King Lamp forces them to recall every memory of pain they endured in life—and multiplies it tenfold. Tormented by these vivid memories, they suffer unbearably."

"But in the Nine Palaces Maze Prison, the punishment is hunger."

All Evil Ghosts are born from unfulfilled obsessions in life. After death, they become Wandering Souls, and only after devouring each other for a hundred years can they become Evil Ghosts—only those with the deepest desires could endure such a path. But if they couldn’t attain their desires in life, could they truly attain them in death?

In truth, the wishes of Evil Ghosts can never be fulfilled. All Evil Ghosts exist in a state of eternal hunger. Feeding on humans may ease their hunger, but it cannot cure it—this is their punishment for their relentless obsessions.

The Nine Palaces Maze Prison amplifies the desires and cravings within Evil Ghosts, creating the most unbearable, endlessly repeating illusions.

"An Evil Ghost exiled here without its Heart Candle is like a donkey chasing a carrot dangling overhead—endlessly pursuing in the illusion, yet gaining nothing. If an Evil Ghost is only sentenced to a few years in the maze, its Heart Candle will be preserved by Xusheng, lit outside the exit gate, ready to awaken and retrieve it when the time comes. But if an Evil Ghost’s Heart Candle is extinguished while in the maze, it will be lost forever, worn down until it scatters into ashes."

As Jiang Ai explained this maze prison designed specifically for the desires of Evil Ghosts, Duan Xu listened quietly without interruption or questions.

When her explanation paused, Jiang Ai noticed the young man’s thoughtful expression, and her mischievous curiosity stirred again. She smiled and said, "Little friend, you see how different the affairs of the Ghost Realm are from the mortal world. Earlier, you wanted to ask about our King’s past. Did you know she has lived for four hundred years? Though still very young by Ghost Realm standards, for mortals, that’s an unimaginable span of time."

"Four hundred years—that’s one hundred and forty-six thousand days and nights. Even a book with one hundred and forty-six thousand pages would take you a lifetime to read, let alone an Evil Ghost like her. Could you ever truly understand her?"The footsteps of the young man behind her paused briefly. In the darkness and beneath the black veil, his expression was indistinct, but faintly, he wasn’t smiling as he usually did, and his voice was calm.

He said, "This truly isn’t an easy task. She said she didn’t need me to understand, probably because she thought I couldn’t do it."

Jiang Ai wondered if the young man was saying this because he wanted to give up.

After a pause, however, the young man continued, "Lord Left Minister, do you hear something?"

Jiang Ai was taken aback. She was about to ask what sound he meant—she hadn’t heard anything—when a sudden movement in her thoughts alerted her to a rapidly approaching noise. Within the illumination of the Heart Candle, a figure abruptly burst into view, charging straight at Jiang Ai. She immediately drew a spell to counter it. In the brief moment of their clash, she caught a glimpse of the Evil Ghost’s appearance by the faint light.

His hair and eyelashes were snow-white, his skin unnaturally pale, resembling a man in his thirties from the mortal world. His body bore numerous wounds, stark and gruesome against his pallid skin.

The only feature with any depth of color was his pair of pitch-black eyes.

Jiang Ai froze, then said, "Bai Sanxing… you haven’t been reduced to ashes yet?"

The Evil Ghost seemed lost in an illusion, his expression dazed. In the moment Jiang Ai hesitated, he shattered her spell, seized her wrist, and tried to snatch the Heart Candle from her grasp.

"I have to get out… I have to… get out…" he muttered.

Just as the Heart Candle was about to be wrested from Jiang Ai’s hands, the young man swiftly stepped forward. Clenching the candlestick between his teeth, he drew the Illusion Breaking Twin Swords and slashed at the Evil Ghost’s wrist. The ghost immediately recoiled to evade, his attention now diverted as he engaged in combat with the young man.

Only then did Jiang Ai snap out of her shock. She knew that no matter how skilled the young man was, he stood no chance against Bai Sanxing. She immediately began forming another spell, shouting, "Kid, don’t—"

Before she could finish, the clang of metal hitting the ground rang out. In the midst of their struggle, Bai Sanxing’s sleeve fluttered, and with it, a faint glimmer of candlelight soared into the air.

It was Duan Xu’s Heart Candle, severed at the waist.

Jiang Ai’s eyes widened, her spell-casting hand freezing mid-air. If she had a heartbeat, it would have stopped in that critical moment. At this dire juncture, the young man suddenly spoke, "I’ve heard Lord Left Minister enjoys gambling, with gambling houses spread across the land."

He turned his head, and through the fluttering black veil, Jiang Ai caught sight of a pair of bright eyes. "Lord Left Minister, would you care to make a wager with me? If I can survive the Nine Palaces Maze Prison, will you tell me about Simu’s childhood?"