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墨書 Inktalez
Chapter 124: Crossing the Bridge
Cao Qilong and I were almost in tears; it felt like we had just crawled out of a sewage ditch and fallen into a latrine—what bad luck! I thought to myself, how did we end up facing two unreasonable fellows again? They insisted that we walk across a rickety wooden bridge.
Looking at the dilapidated wooden bridge before us, we were unwilling to cross it. We clung tightly to the stone pillars at the bridge's entrance, refusing to move forward. I said to Yin Chai, "We are truly good people. Forcing us to walk on that wooden bridge goes against the rules of the Underworld."
Yin Chai replied, "The rules for crossing the bridge are set by me. I say you must cross this bridge, so you will cross it. Why all the fuss?"
At that moment, an Old Man approached. Several Yin Chai immediately surrounded him, fawning over him as they called out, "Liu the Kind-hearted! You are a great benefactor of three lifetimes; please follow me to cross the uppermost Jade Bridge!" While speaking, they reminded Liu the Kind-hearted, "Please lift your feet carefully on the Jade Steps..."
Seeing this scene left me dumbfounded. They treated Liu like an esteemed guest while we stood there with an angry little ghost wielding a Demon-Whipping Whip. How could there be such a disparity in treatment in the Underworld when we were both good people?
The little ghost Yin Chai saw that we were unwilling to cross and simply left us behind, ignoring us completely. It seemed our options were either to cross the lowest Plank Bridge or turn back and return from where we came.
Because of our commotion two days ago, many Wandering Souls were now blocked at the bridgehead. There were hardly any good souls on the upper levels, while the Plank Bridge was crowded with evil souls. The world truly seemed to have turned into one where evil outnumbers good. With this thought, I couldn't help but sigh. In the World of the Living, everyone wears a mask of hypocrisy, making it hard to discern good from evil. But here at the Bridge of Helplessness, their true faces were laid bare. Had I known it would be like this, why bother struggling so hard in the World of the Living?
At that moment, Yin Chai swung his Demon-Whipping Whip and shouted, "What are you looking at? Hurry up and cross the bridge! Do you want me to kick you all into the River of Forgetfulness?"
As he spoke, he lashed out with his Demon-Whipping Whip at those ghosts. Instantly, there was a cacophony of wails and cries from the bridgehead. A few bold souls were so frightened that they lost their footing and fell into the river below; it was like being in a hellish purgatory.
These Wandering Souls had all committed evil deeds in their past lives and were thus relegated to this lowest level of the bridge. Everyone experiences fear; seeing those monstrous waves crashing against the dilapidated bridge and hearing the Wailing of Ghosts and Howling of Wolves—who among them wouldn't be afraid? No matter how fierce they had been in life or how wicked their deeds had been, upon seeing such a broken bridge, they still felt fear.
They too were reluctant to move forward, crying and pleading for mercy; some only cried while others stared blankly in despair. Regardless of their unwillingness to proceed, Ghost Messengers did not care about that; if you had done evil in life, you had to cross this broken bridge. If you refused to move forward, they would whip you until you had no choice but to push ahead...
However, those in front dared not take a step forward while those behind feared the Ghost Messenger's whip. As a result, they pushed forward out of fear. This caused several Wandering Souls standing at the front who were hesitant to move to suffer; they were suddenly shoved off by others and fell into the River of Forgetfulness with cries of despair. The giant waves then swept them away, leaving no trace behind.
A scene unfolded where those Wandering Souls dared not linger any longer and quickly jumped onto the Plank Bridge, moving forward. However, they had barely taken a few steps when a massive wave crashed in, sending splinters of wood flying from the Plank Bridge. Once the wave passed, several Yin Hun that had been on the wooden bridge were already gone, clearly swept away into the River of Forgetfulness by that giant wave.
More Yin Hun were either being gnawed at by water ghosts, insects, and snakes or were being dragged away. They were terrified, crying, shouting, and wailing, filling the entire Plank Bridge with sorrowful cries...
After dealing with those evil souls, Yin Chai turned to us and asked, "Are you crossing or not? If not, then leave quickly; otherwise, don't blame me for being rude!"
Seeing that he wasn't treating us like those Evil Spirits and didn't whip us away, I knew he was considering the Paper Effigy Maker's and Patriarch's reputation. I glanced at Cao Qilong and said, "Brother, it seems we really have no other choice this time. We either go back or cross the bridge."
Cao Qilong clenched his fist and said, "Going back like this would be too much of a loss. I suffered enough at Zhong Po's place; now that we've come this far, there's no reason to give up. Let's cross; after all, we only have one life. Even if we fall into the River of Forgetfulness, at least we'll have company."
I smiled bitterly, patted his arm, and said nothing more as I stepped onto the Plank Bridge.
The Plank Bridge was constructed from steel wires and iron cables, so as soon as I stepped on it, the entire bridge shook violently. Especially when looking down at the raging waves below and the wailing ghosts and howling wolves jumping in the river made my heart race!
The Board had endured countless years and was in a dilapidated state; with every step we took, it emitted squeaking sounds as if it couldn't bear our weight. We worried that one misstep could cause the Board to suddenly break.
Carefully walking about two or three meters out, I suddenly saw a giant wave rising from the river surface rushing towards us. I shouted for Cao Qilong to crouch down and hold onto the iron chains on the side of the bridge.
Soon enough, the massive wave crashed over us, instantly engulfing our bodies and rocking the entire bridge like a swing. Countless Boards were swept away by this giant wave, making it even harder to traverse this broken bridge since each step required a leap to reach the next Board.
Of course, this wave also carried away many Wandering Souls.
Originally packed with Wandering Souls on the bridge, now there were significantly fewer. In order to cross before another giant wave hit us again, both Cao Qilong and I hurriedly got up and quickly moved forward.
Perhaps I was too careless or perhaps I was moving too fast; maybe it was just an old man playing tricks on me. In any case, just as I was rushing ahead, suddenly one of the Boards beneath my feet made a cracking sound. Instantly realizing something was wrong in my heart, my foot slipped away beneath me...
I thought to myself, this is it, it seems I am going to become an old ghost for a thousand years.
This scared Cao Qilong behind me quite a bit; he suddenly lunged forward without caring that the Board beneath him might break. Just as I was about to completely fall, he grabbed me tightly and shouted for me to hold on.
So, my body fell below the bridge, and I was being held by the collar of my clothes by Cao Qilong on the bridge surface. He pulled up with all his strength, but as he did so, the Board beneath him suddenly snapped with a loud crack, causing him to fall onto the bridge surface. Fortunately, other Boards were supporting his body; otherwise, he would have met the same fate as mine.
Seeing this, I knew that if he continued to pull me up with all his might, it was likely that other Boards would also break. At that point, not only would he be unable to save me, but he would also be in danger himself. So I said to him, “Senior Brother, let go. Don’t be foolish; you can’t pull me up.”
Hearing this, Cao Qilong suddenly started crying. I had only seen him cry once before when he learned of Master Ma's death; this was the second time I saw him in tears. He shook his head vigorously and said, “Don’t be foolish; if you want me to let go, do you want me to suffer the punishment of the Hook Blade again? I won’t fall for your tricks.”
I knew he was joking with me on purpose; I felt helpless. To be honest, I was also very afraid of falling into the river, but there was no other way now. One person falling is better than two people falling together, right? So I pleaded, “Senior Brother, what you’re doing is useless; let go quickly. I don’t want to put you in danger. Besides, Xiaoqi is also in the river; if I go down, I can find her.”
Unexpectedly, Cao Qilong suddenly got angry and scolded me: “Can’t you be a bit more ambitious? If you fall into the river too, who will save her? Do you really want her to stay in the river for a thousand years?”
After saying that, he pulled me again with all his strength. My body was indeed slowly being pulled up much higher by him. Soon, my hands finally reached the bridge surface; I grabbed onto it with both hands and struggled hard to pull myself up. At that moment, Cao Qilong chuckled and said, “See? I told you it would work!”
I smiled back at him and prepared to exert more effort to pull my lower body up as well. But just then, it felt like something had grabbed my feet; then a great force yanked me down from the bridge again!
Looking down, I saw a large number of lonely souls and wild ghosts rushing towards me; the river beneath was filled with the Wailing of Ghosts and Howling of Wolves. My feet were right above those lonely souls' heads. An Evil Spirit was pulling at my feet with all its might. I tried to break free but couldn’t escape no matter how hard I struggled. A sense of helplessness surged from deep within my heart...
Looking back at Cao Qilong, who was still holding onto me on the bridge, he was using all his strength with a fierce expression while shouting loudly. However, no matter how much he pulled, he could no longer bring me up because my feet were already held down by more lonely souls and wild ghosts. They wanted to drag me into the water so they could come ashore and reincarnate...
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