Chapter 1131: Chapter 620: Underworld (Double-Length Chapter) (Part 2)

Yun Qian nodded.

Say whatever there is to say—that was the principle her husband had taught her.

Besides, even if Zhu Pingniang was just putting on a front, her true thoughts could never be hidden from Miss Yun, just like Miss Lu’s thoughts...

Yun Qian felt that having a maid wasn’t a bad thing, but when it came time for Wen Chun, it would be better not to have a maidservant attending on the side.

It would be a bit strange.

Some sounds—even for Miss Yun—still had to take her husband’s sense of shame into account.

Well, as for her own intimacy with her husband, she herself didn’t really feel anything about it.

"Anyway, I am indeed somewhat curious. After all... are there only women around me? The only man who’s close to me is Chang’an, and in the future... barring any accidents, it’ll still be like that." Zhu Pingniang spread her hands. "Ah Bai’s temperament is such that even if we were together, she’d only sit properly and behave. Who knows, maybe I really will live a clean, untouched life for the rest of my days..."

"What’s wrong with being clean and untouched?" Miss Lu responded on reflex, then saw Zhu Pingniang’s speechless expression.

"If I really leave this world all neat and proper, and go down to the Underworld, how am I supposed to show my face before that Senior from the Sect? They’d probably laugh me to death down there."

As a remnant of the Hehuan Sect, as the Hehuan Sect’s "Young Sect Leader", not having had even a single man in her entire life—Zhu Pingniang didn’t dare imagine how those sisters below would criticize her.

"That’s why I don’t want to die. I couldn’t save face." Zhu Pingniang muttered.

"The Underworld..." Yun Qian blinked.

Yes.

This was exactly the topic she was curious about.

If there’s an Underworld, then there must be reincarnation, right? And then children seem to be something you’re allotted?

Yun Qian didn’t care what exactly children came from; in any case, everything about her would always take Xu Chang’an as the center. In his previous life Xu Chang’an knew how the physical body of a child was formed through union, but he did not know where "consciousness" came from.

In this life, people also believed in the doctrine of reincarnation.

Since Xu Chang’an thought so, then this was the truth.

Miss Lu asked curiously, "Ms. Zhu, you’re from the Immortal Sect—do you think people really have reincarnation? After they die... will there be a King Yama to judge them?"

Zhu Pingniang waved her hand. "The Underworld—I’ve never died, how would I know? It’s all just legends from the Human Race’s Literary Commander... no one’s ever seen reincarnation. The Three Souls and Seven Spirits, though, do actually exist."

Zhu Pingniang spread her hands.

In fact, compared to the Underworld, she believed more that after a person dies, all their essence flows back into heaven and earth, and there is no such thing as reincarnation at all.

"The Underworld... is it related to reincarnation? What is it?" Yun Qian asked softly.

Yun Qian’s sudden question made even Zhu Pingniang freeze.

"I thought only Lu’er would care about these vague and illusory legends. I didn’t expect you to be interested too, little sister..." Zhu Pingniang looked at Yun Qian in surprise and smiled, raising a finger. "Let me guess. If it’s you, Ms. Yun, then you must be thinking: if reincarnation exists, that would mean in the next life you’d still have a chance to meet Chang’an... Am I right? I must be right."

Yun Qian: "..."

She’d never thought about it, because in the next life she would definitely meet Xu Chang’an.

Miss Yun looked at Zhu Pingniang’s utterly certain expression, her eyelashes fluttering lightly.

Is that... how I am in her heart?

Or rather, is that how I’m supposed to be?

"I’m not really sure... what is the Underworld like?" Yun Qian looked at Wen Li in curiosity.

"Ah Li, you explain it to her. I haven’t read many books." Zhu Pingniang spread her hands.

"Mm..." Wen Li nodded gently. She was already used to slowly and carefully explaining these things to Yun Qian.

"It’s like this."

As Wen Li spoke in a soft, detailed voice, Yun Qian roughly understood the rules of reincarnation in the legendary Underworld.

The Human Race liked to divide all things in the world into two poles. Along with the birth of the Yin Yang Theory, all sorts of myths and legends appeared as well.

The so‑called Underworld is the Realm of Death, presided over by King Yama; it is where people go after they die. King Yama may not be the highest official, but... at least every girl knows of him, so Wen Li used this figure as an example for Yun Qian—it was simple and easy to grasp.

King Yama judges sins; all the good and evil a mortal has done in the living world must be settled here. The so‑called saying goes: the living in the world above, the dead in the world below.

Then, after the Soul is judged and cleansed, it will... be reborn and reincarnated.

Reborn and reincarnated.

Yes, that was the rule.

Yun Qian lightly placed her palm over her lower abdomen and looked out at the gloomy sky beyond the window.

In truth, within the Heavenly Dao there was no such thing as the Underworld. The entire great wheel of heaven and earth ran according to heavenly principles and laws, like a thousand Star Seas rotating in ordered patterns above the Fixed Star Heaven, long having their own orbits. Even the Heavenly Dao itself, when not incarnated as a "System", had no feelings; how would it make use of some King Yama?

Thus, in this world there is no Underworld.

It is made‑up, false—something spoken of only in legends.

But...

Yun Qian felt such a thing could very well exist.

Perhaps... only if there was an Underworld could she have a child?

Meaning that, for a girl named Yun Qian to conceive a daughter, she would have to be regulated by the "Heavenly Dao" and live according to its rules?

Perhaps that wouldn’t necessarily be impossible.

High above, the winds and clouds stirred; Yun Qian suddenly shook her head.

No. It was better if there was no Underworld.

After all, she and her husband’s child had to be their child. If an Underworld existed, wouldn’t that mean... their child had lived a previous life, had been someone else?

Yun Qian didn’t particularly like that, so... the so‑called Underworld that ought to have arisen in response to her was reduced to a wisp of dust and quietly dissipated.

"Junior sister?" Seeing Yun Qian lost in thought, Wen Li called to her softly, then said, "Were you thinking of the books junior brother once copied? There is no Underworld in this world, and no monkey making havoc there."

She had held Yun Qian’s hand and read through the novels Yun Qian had collected, so she was guessing at Yun Qian’s thoughts.

"Mm..." Yun Qian nodded lightly.

She no longer cared about these things.

In any case, her daughter must not be some so‑called reincarnated soul... so as for how exactly a child was to be had, Miss Yun decided not to think about it.

Anyway, so long as her husband wanted a child, there would always be one.

Faced with a thorny question, Miss Yun chose to just lie flat and let it be.

To her, a daughter she meddled in to "produce" would be no different from a clay figurine she pinched together—she wouldn’t truly consider it her child at all.

When the cart reaches the mountain, when the boat reaches the bridge... a child will come sooner or later.

"Even though there’s probably no Underworld beneath this sky, Chang’an’s appearance still makes me feel that perhaps reincarnation really does exist." Zhu Pingniang sighed deeply.

Otherwise, where would he have gotten so many secrets?

She kept feeling that Chang’an’s very existence was the best proof that reincarnation existed.

"What are you saying." Miss Lu was displeased at once. She poked Zhu Pingniang. "Young Master is indeed very good‑looking, and he’s very capable too—but all of that comes from his own cultivation and accumulation. The way you’re putting it... it sounds like he’s only this powerful because his past life was powerful."

It was very off‑putting, as if it erased all of Xu Chang’an’s effort in this lifetime. As a fangirl, Miss Lu naturally couldn’t accept that.

"What do you know? You think anyone can just cultivate to his level? So my whole life was lived in vain, is that it?" Zhu Pingniang snorted, but didn’t continue.

Clearly, Miss Lu had reminded her that saying such things didn’t sit well in her own heart either.

Chang’an is Chang’an.

He was the Chang’an she knew and liked.

Even Zhu Pingniang hoped that Xu Chang’an wasn’t some Immortal Reincarnation, but someone who had simply been this special from birth.

Zhu Pingniang had no desire to possess Chang’an, but she did want to understand everything about him...

Zhu Pingniang cast a subtle glance at Yun Qian.

She believed that Ms. Yun must think the same way.

Zhu Pingniang didn’t think that after living with Xu Chang’an for so long, Yun Qian could truly have failed to notice all the strange things about him... She feared that Yun Qian herself simply didn’t care, or rather... mystery was one of the ways Yun Qian perceived Xu Chang’an, so she naturally wouldn’t find it odd.

"It’s wonderful, the way you and Chang’an trust and rely on each other like this—the bond you share." Zhu Pingniang murmured.

"Ms. Zhu, don’t misuse words," Miss Lu reminded her when she heard this. "’Bond’ means being entangled and held back by the things around you. Young Master and Miss would never hinder each other."

"Didn’t you say you never went to school?" Zhu Pingniang shot her a glare.

"Then you don’t need to worry about it."

Their bickering buzzed in her ears, but Yun Qian’s gaze stayed calm.

Yun Qian: "..."