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墨書 Inktalez
Zhong Kui's Diary
As soon as I tossed the copper coin in, the water in the paper cup immediately began to boil, as if it were a red-hot iron. Before I could express my surprise, the water in the cup instantly turned into ice cubes, and then in the next second, it started boiling again... This cycle continued without any pattern; sometimes the freezing lasted longer, and sometimes the boiling did.
"Now you know what the Yin-Yang Ancient Coin means, right?" Kong Xuan seemed to take delight in my astonished expression and said with a grin, "Only someone with your Yin-Yang Physique can hold it without a care. If anyone else tried to hold it, their hand would have been burned or frozen off by now."
"This is not scientific!" I exclaimed.
"Motherfucker, you're asking me about science when you need me to help you catch ghosts?" Kong Xuan scoffed.
"Fine, not scientific. But why doesn't this thing burn your table when it's sitting on it?" I pointed at the table.
"This Yin-Yang Ancient Coin only reacts to the human body and water," Kong Xuan replied with a smile, gesturing for me to sit down and pointing at the paper cup. "Please take it out again!"
I hesitated for a moment but ultimately chose to trust him and reached out to take out the Yin-Yang Ancient Coin. A strange light flashed in Kong Xuan's eyes as he laughed, "Great! I’m definitely keeping you as a friend!"
Sometimes, making friends among men is that simple; a single word or action can turn someone into a brother.
I examined the Yin-Yang Ancient Coin. Even though it had just been taken out of the cup, there wasn't a trace of water on it. After playing with it for a while, I handed it to Kong Xuan and asked, "What exactly is this Yin-Yang Ancient Coin?"
Kong Xuan tapped his fingers on the table and chuckled, "I'm not a Yin-Yang Physique like you; just place it on the table."
"No wonder when I threw this at you, you looked so terrified," I realized.
"I wasn't terrified; I was pleasantly surprised! A once-in-a-millennium Yin-Yang Physique has come my way!" Kong Xuan rolled his eyes.
"So what's going on? It seems like this Yin-Yang Physique is quite impressive!" I couldn't help but feel a sense of pride.
"Let me ask you first, do you believe in Demons?" Kong Xuan stood up and took an ancient wooden box from the bookshelf, along with a pair of chopsticks. While using the chopsticks to place a Yin-Yang Ancient Coin into the box, he casually asked.
"I don't believe!" I replied firmly.
"Then why did you call me to help you catch ghosts?" Kong Xuan placed the box back on the shelf, turned around, and sat down, looking at me with a half-smile.
I chuckled and didn't hide it; I told Kong Xuan all about my profession and the strange things I encountered in the Jin Yang Family. I added, "There must be something I don't know involved in this, either high technology or some kind of magic trick!"
Kong Xuan looked at me oddly. "Zhong Kui, I really don't know how to explain this to you. Is your philosophy taught by Master Cang?"
I was taken aback. "What does this have to do with philosophy?"
"Then why are you so stubborn? After seeing so many inexplicable things, you still want to use your existing knowledge to explain them. How is that possible? Let me give you a simple example: just now with the Yin-Yang Ancient Coin, find me a scientific basis for it. I'm not even talking about your Yin-Yang Physique; what could possibly make water boil one second and freeze the next? And it's contained in a paper cup, which would have long since succumbed to such drastic temperature changes."
I opened my mouth in disbelief, unable to refute him.
"I need to help you establish a correct worldview!" Kong Xuan cleared his throat, looking serious.
I tilted my head and waved my hand, signaling him to hurry up.
"The world we live in is actually not the only world. For your understanding, let's call our world the Yang Realm or the human realm. In contrast, there is also an Underworld. The Yin and Yang worlds do not communicate but have no obvious boundaries; it depends on whether you can find the entrance. It could be a stone under your feet or a pack of cigarettes in your hand that serves as a portal to the Underworld."
"Ha ha, come on, smoke up." I understood and took out a pack of cigarettes, offering one to Kong Xuan while eagerly lighting it for him. I smiled and asked, "So what is the concept of the Underworld?"
Kong Xuan took a puff of smoke and continued, "In Ancient China's mythology, there's Yama's Hall or what Westerners refer to as the Hall of Hell; that's what we call the Underworld."
I asked in surprise, "Do these things really exist?"
"You think all those records are just a joke?" Kong Xuan said. "Let's not get sidetracked. As the name suggests, the human realm is inhabited by us humans. For your understanding, we divide humanity into two categories!"
"Men and women!" I interjected, thinking I was clever.
"Wrong. It's divided into ordinary people and cultivators. I won't explain ordinary people, but cultivators are those who have grasped some principles of Yin and Yang. You don't understand, do you? I know it's hard for you to comprehend. Let's put it this way: cultivators are individuals with magical powers. These people can be Taoists, monks, or even laypeople." After finishing this sentence, Kong Xuan glanced at me. "I am undoubtedly a cultivator."
"I can see it; you're following the path of Zhang Sanfeng!" I laughed. Zhang Sanfeng is a very famous figure in Taoism, known for his unkempt appearance and being called the 'Disheveled Taoist.' My comment was a jab at Kong Xuan's scruffy look.
Kong Xuan didn't take offense and continued, "Similarly, in the Underworld, there are also two types of beings... uh, two types of ghosts. One type is ordinary ghosts, which we simply call ghosts, while the other type is similar to cultivators in the human realm, possessing certain magical powers; we refer to them as gods."
"So that's how demons come about," I realized. It felt like Kong Xuan had opened a door for me, revealing a strange world I had never encountered before.
"Demons have been recorded in the histories of various countries; it's just that different languages lead to different names. Cultivators must penetrate the mysteries of Yin and Yang to step into the Great Vehicle Realm. Only those who enter the Great Vehicle Realm can travel between the Yin-Yang Realm," Kong Xuan said with a look of longing; he clearly had not reached the Great Vehicle Realm.
"The Yin-Yang Realm... does that mean demons in the Underworld are stronger than humans? Our records always depict ghosts eating humans and gods reigning supreme!" I asked uncertainly.
"Nonsense! You live among humans, so naturally, the records you see are from the perspective of ordinary humans," Kong Xuan scoffed.
"Oh? How should I understand that?"
"Humans and ghosts exist in different spaces. Ordinary humans cannot freely enter the space of ordinary ghosts; only those who reach the Great Vehicle Realm can cross between them. To put it simply, imagine two countries with a two-meter-high barrier at their border. Ordinary people cannot climb over it, but giants from both countries can cross freely. If a giant from one country charges into the crowd of ordinary people from another country, they will naturally be imposing; similarly, if the giant from the other side comes here, they will also act recklessly. While you see ghosts eating humans here, in the Underworld's records, it might be that humans eat ghosts!" Kong Xuan finished this explanation without taking a breath.
"That makes some sense," I thought for a moment to digest what Kong Xuan had said.
"Now that you understand the Yin-Yang Realm, let's discuss its characteristics. The rules governing this realm are supreme; above the Yin-Yang Realm exists an ancient rule: the rule of life and death. From the universe down to bacteria, everything has life and death; nothing in this world can escape it." At this point, Kong Xuan coughed twice vigorously to get my attention. "Pay attention now; here's the key point. Do you know why some people can live for hundreds of years while others die suddenly?"
I quickly interrupted him: "Hey, hey! Who on earth can live for hundreds of years?"
Kong Xuan glanced at me with disdain. "There are many things you don't know! The rules of life and death in the Yin-Yang Realm are not illusory; they are contained in a Book of Life and Death. It is said that everything in the world is recorded within this book."
"And then?"
"The supreme law believes that the world is unpredictable, so it left a backdoor for all living beings in the Yin-Yang Realm, a chance to modify the Book of Life and Death. If you can modify the Book of Life and Death, you can control your own lifespan or that of others. For example, Qin Shi Huang's sudden death was because someone altered his lifespan through the Book of Life and Death." Kong Xuan continued without hesitation, "That person was Xiang Yu!"
"Nonsense! Nonsense! If that were true, the world would be in chaos. You modify mine, I modify yours," I said.
"Do you think this is like a power pole on the street where anyone can just post an advertisement? It's not that simple. To change the Book of Life and Death, you must first summon the Judgment of Life and Death. To summon the Judgment of Life and Death, you need to gather the Seven Pages of Life and Death Manual. You should have heard of Dragon Balls, right? It's similar; gather seven Dragon Balls to summon Shenlong." Kong Xuan's example made me feel embarrassed because I had never actually watched Dragon Balls.
"Moreover, the seven pages of the Book of Life and Death contain energies of yin and yang. Just like the Yin-Yang Ancient Coin from earlier, only those with a Yin-Yang Physique can restore these seven pages into a complete Book of Life and Death. That's right; you have one chance to summon the Judgment of Life and Death." Kong Xuan looked at me with a smile. "You can revive a deceased person or cause someone to die suddenly; you could even extend someone's life to eight hundred years."
"Uh... wait a minute." I swallowed hard. "Why can't it be immortality instead of eight hundred years?"
"I already told you that everything has life and death; this cannot be changed. Also, eight hundred years is one reincarnation; you can only extend one reincarnation's lifespan. You only have one chance to alter one person's life or death," Kong Xuan replied.
I lit a cigarette and closed my eyes in thought. After a while, I opened my eyes and said, "Buddy, all this talk about the Book of Life and Death is too distant. What’s going on with you and the Jin Yang Family's ghost?"
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