The Tale Never Ends

The Seven Ghostly Sisters had never met Master Six before. They immediately ducked behind me, immediately fearing him for what he was, an actual immortal whereas Xiao Qi and her sisters were mere ordinary ghosts sustained in human form through the use of magic. Master Six looked at Xiao Qi, his eye brows furrowing with interest. Then he looked as if he realized something as his head jerked sideways to face Father.

“Gods in Heaven, Murong Hai. Have you fallen so low?!” He glowered. Father only shrugged and muttered lackadaisically, “What is it to you? These girls met their deaths in the most pitiful way. Go below yourself and ask them. Do you think they are reserved any chance to reborn?” Master Six landed back in his sofa, seething beyond words yet he could find no valid reason to counter Father’s.

As ghosts of people who died tragic deaths, Xiao Qi and her sisters should have been escorted to the City of Innocent Deaths in the Underworld where they would remain forever for they would never be allowed the chance for a second incarnation. Xiao Qi, at the cost of her dignity, had found a way to regain a second chance, although it was later unwittingly foiled by Fearless Hao. Nevertheless, the fate of Xiao Qi and her sisters was partly by virtue of Karma and the things they did in their former lives and for that, they were sentenced to tragic deaths in this life and doomed to an eternity of being ghosts or utterly destroyed. But Father, despite his cold and aloof facade, was in truth a compassionate person, or more accurately, immortal who felt their plight pitiable. He taught the Seven Ghostly Sisters the magic that involved using some wooden figurines so that they could remain in the Realm of the Living as a way of making up to them for the injustice they had felt. Still, the magic Father taught the Seven Ghostly Sisters was commonly viewed as black magic; a means that some practitioners of the accursed arts used to keep ghostly minions. Viewed as an immensely dishonorable form of magic by many, it was small wonder that Master Six had such a reaction.

Xiao Qi was shivering madly behind me by the glare Master Six gave her. “Who’s this?!” She squeaked. “Master Six. The demigod we asked his help for the last time.” “Quick,” she hissed in panic, reaching for my pocket, “Take out your gourd and let us hide inside for a while. He looks scary!”

Suddenly, I yelped something that even I did not expect. “How about Xiao Qi and her sisters? Can she come with us?” I asked Father suddenly. Before Father could even react, Master Six gawked with disbelief at me, clearly not expecting this. But Father giggled. “Of course,” he chuckled and said, “Of course it can. There’s more to this Spirit Gourd, the heirloom from my mentor, than meet the eye.”

I knew what Father was trying to do. He was purposely going against Master Six who was clearly being outmaneuvered by Father. The demigod glared at Father again, his words stuck in his throat still.

Hearing that the Spirit Gourd could help transport Xiao Qi and the Ghostly Sisters with us, Edelweiss begged and begged again to come with us. Knowing that Master Six would never bow to her badgering, she opted instead to turn to Father. But Master Six immediately stood up and objected before she could say anything, “ENOUGH! I’ll not have you bring anyone else! No more! What do you think we immortals are!?”

The outburst made me shudder. The flashbacks of how Master Six was using his magical powers to suppress the shocks from the earthquake came back to me. It was how he had saved countless lives that day, at the cost of his own safety. The toll that he was suffering nearly caused him his destruction and the sight nearly made me sweat cold sweat. Despite being a demigod from Heavens, he was in a mortal shell on Earth which could not fully harness his great powers. That was why he needed Father to help him perform the rituals to send us back through Time, I realized. And this really accentuated the gravity of the situation. We cannot allow more people to come with us lest Master Six compromised himself again.

“Edelweiss,” I said to her, “Please stay here and take care of the Center with Big Sister for us. We shall trouble Master Six no longer. I’m sure he has his reasons.” Seeing me insisting, Edelweiss calmed down and stopped her fussing.

Master Six reciprocated a satisfied and genial look, saying nothing while Father looked on indifferently beside. This could be the difference, I mused, Between a true immortal from Heaven sent to Earth and a mortal who achieved true immortality through sheer hard work and will… That the former might be bound by more restrictions and rules…

In the end, before the ritual began, Master Six gave us one last warning. “Remember. This time, you’re going back with your physical bodies. I cannot overstate how grave this can be. If you die in the past, you die completely.” Lin Feng however came up with an indelicate remark. “What about cigarettes, Master Six…” He uttered and earned an ugly look from the demigod for being untactful. Father instead giggled again. “The Spirit Gourd I gave Shiyan can store items. I knew you would need it.”

I shook my Spirit Gourd playfully at Lin Feng. “Look, Lin Feng,” I said, “We’ll share what cigarettes and liquor I’d be bringing along. Father has taught me the spell to use the Gourd as storage. I’ve made a list of most of the items we’ll be needing except for phone chargers. Not that we’d be expecting to use any phones anyway, so I guess we’d just leave them here.”

Master Six was giving a disapproving look when I was telling Lin Feng about the cigarettes and liquor, his face absolutely scornful.

Lin Feng and Chongxi were ecstatic like kids going on their first tour of a theme park. When the portal opened, Lin Feng commented, “This oddly reminds me of the doorway we entered when we got trapped in the Bamen Dunjia enchantment, only that there was nothing but darkness inside the pocket dimension.” Chongxi skipped cheerily in front of us, muttering strings of “Oh, God!” and “Look at this!” as he bounded forward like a hare.

It was like walking in a tunnel during an astronomy exhibition. We were walking in the middle of the galaxy, surrounded by countless stars twinkling brightly at us. The surrealistic sensation was inexplicable and so was the feeling of freedom being in a space without boundaries and walls.

An enthusiastic Chongxi was whooping and hooting with delight in front and the Ghostly Sisters inside my Gourd could no longer stand it. Xiao Qi screamed from inside, “Hey, Shiyan! Let us out! We wanna have a look ourselves too!” Only then I remembered. Oh, God! I’ve forgotten all about them!

I wrenched the stopper off my Spirit Gourd and out came the Seven Ghostly Sisters who immediately became astounded by the extraordinary scene before us! As dazed as a child who just had his first balloon, Xiao Er stared into the starry space, hardly moving an inch. Xiao San was putting up an indifferent look, even though the wonder in her eyes was unmistakable despite her best efforts to keep it from showing. As always, Xiao Si immediately ran off, screaming her head off with Chongxi. She wheeled around and came scampering back suddenly, saying, “Shiyan, Shiyan! You passed through all these the last time you were sent back?” I nodded. “Is it completely the same as the last time you came?”

“No,” I shook my head as I answered, “The last time I came, it was only my Spirit Core, or my soul, being sent back. I could even fly then and I didn’t even need to sleep or eat. But this time, I suppose things would be different.” Xiao Si stuck her tongue out and I looked blankly at her, not knowing what she was trying to express.

Being every bit as gregarious as Xiao Si, Xiao Wu whipped out her mobile phone, eager to keep a token of the breathtaking scenery. She wandered around, taking dozens of photos with an endless enumeration of snapping sounds trailing her wherever she went. Then she decided to take a look at the photos she had taken but to her dismay, there was nothing but pitch-black darkness in the pictures! Xiao Wu darted to me and said, “Shiyan, Shiyan! Come, help me look at this. Is my phone damaged?” I saw the photos and I groaned. “You silly. We are in a timeless void that is leading us back through Time. Nothing around us is corporeal. Your phone is not damaged. It’s just that there’s nothing here that’s real for the camera to capture into the pictures. That is why everything you took is nothing but blackness. Come on, iPhones these days are not as brittle as glass.”

But instead of listening to me, Xiao Wu ignored the irate looks coming from me and also my explanation of how her camera would not work and went off to join Chongxi and Xiao Si who were frolicking upfront.

Xiao Liu (Little Six) remained just right by us. She too was mesmerized by the star-studded scene of the galaxy engulfing us, but being the most soft-spoken of the Sisters, she kept herself composed and collected.

Lin Feng nervously sipped at his cigarette. “Honestly, I think I would freak out if I’m here alone.” He breathed anxiously. “But why?” Xiao Qi turned back and asked, “It’s so beautiful here. What’s there to be afraid of?” Lin Feng rolled his eyes. “Think about it. You’re stuck here all alone. Not knowing where you are and how to get out. There’s not even any sense of direction or how dangerous we can be. How is that not scary?”

Xiao Qi stopped short at his remark and began wondering with a finger at her lips. “Well, I haven’t thought of that. But I still feel fine though!” But I knew Lin Feng was still jittery after our bout in the Bamen Dunjia enchantment. “Don’t you feel worried not knowing where we are? There’s no left, right, front, back here. Not even up and down! This helpless feeling like everything is out of our knowledge and control?”

“Of course I do,” Xiao Qi muttered quietly, “I the ghost of a person who drowned to death. Of course I do, of all people. I died in a water catchment area. It was so dark down beneath the water. So dark that I could see nothing. It was cold at first. But when my body was gone I felt nothing.” Xiao Qi looked as if she was drifting in her memories as she spoke. Suddenly she asked Lin Feng, “Actually, when you just died, you won’t even know it for a time. You won’t know whether you’re dead or alive. For that duration, you see nothing and hear nothing. When I was in the water, it was worst. That is why I understand full well what you are describing. Yet somehow, I don’t think this place as scary as to how you put it.”

Lin Feng gawked at Xiao Qi, unable to retort with anything. It was the first time he had heard Xiao Qi mentioning about her death.

The rest of our companions were still cheering and laughing merrily until I noticed a star shining particularly brightly like it was signaling at us. I yelled for everyone, saying, “Hey, look ahead! We’re almost there!”