Murim's Weakest Princess-Chapter 269: The Nameless Hero

"Oh, it’s about time now," Bi Yao hummed. "Don’t be too surprised, and don’t think too hard about it. Happy birthday, little one!"

Anji had no time to question what she meant as she saw Bi Yao waving at her. Before she could form the question in her mind, she felt a disconnect between her present reality and her mind.

...

"... Even if my soul was shattered into a million fragments, I want to save these poor souls!"

The voice was unfamiliar, and Anji could not see anything. The fog of sleep was still heavy in her mind. The voice was familiar, but it was not her father. She did not know many men, but this man’s voice was even more familiar than her own father’s.

Her father? Who was he again? For some reason, Anji could not recall. Who was she again? She only knew her name was Anji, but could not recall her family name. She knew she had a family. She must have a family if she knew she had a father. Yet, nothing came to mind. How strange.

"Are you sure? It’s a heavy price to pay, and you might lose your soul entirely. What is it about these humans that has gotten you so attached? You’re being irrational now."

Blearily, Anji forced her eyes open and saw a figure in gold standing before a figure kneeling in front in white. The one in white bowed his head low.

"Please, Jade Emperor. I have never asked for any favours. I know it is against the law to interfere with the fate of mortals. But the ghost general is not someone we can take lightly. He has devoured many small worlds, and his ambition will not stop at one destruction. Please send me."

With clearer vision now, Anji saw the golden figure wearing a tall, flat hat, with many jade prayer beads swaying as he shook his head. It was indeed the Jade Emperor. Anji was surprised to witness such a scene. However, she did not recognise the man in white kneeling before the Jade Emperor. He had a sword on one hip and a fan on the other side.

"Zhong Kui, my old friend. Why do you burden yourself so? The eight immortals can handle it if you give them time. Why must you personally volunteer to interfere? Your Godhood cannot be restored if you break the heavenly law. There is no guarantee the Goddess of Mercy can unify your soul, even if I grant your wish. Must you do this to me?"

Zhong Kui! As soon as the Jade Emperor called his name, memories came flooding back to Anji. There was no such God in the records. No such legend. No such tales of it. Yet, the moment she heard the legendary demon slayer’s name, Anji knew exactly who he was and what he did.

A long time ago, a disfigured scholar committed suicide when corruption discriminated against his appearance over his talent. Impressed by his strong sense of justice, the King of Hell, who passed judgment over his soul, appointed him as a guardian and law enforcer to hunt evil spirits and demons. Zhong Kui was a revered deity who protected the innocent. As a result of his great accomplishments, he had been granted godhood by the Jade Emperor.

However, Zhong Kui had an adversary. In his successful career as a demon slayer, the hero had only ever lost to the ghost general who raised his ghost army in the physical realm, hiding there and causing mayhem. He was born as a malicious, vengeful ghost that Zhong Kui once showed mercy to. However, instead of crossing over and being reborn with his second chance, this small vengeful ghost gathered other resentful ghosts and consumed them. Eventually, he became a powerful entity enough to gain the respect and vow of loyalty from the great four perils. To combat Hundun, Qiongqi, Taotie and Taowu, the four mythical beasts of disasters, Zhong Kui begged the Jade Emperor to strip him of his godhood and send him to the physical realm with the four mythical beast guardians to combat the ghost general. As a result, Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermillion Bird and Black Tortoise joined the battle led by Zhong Kui.

The price Zhong Kui paid was to be erased from the book of history. His soul was shattered into a million pieces and can never ascend until it is whole again, cursed to be reincarnated almost infinitely until he fuses every fragment of his soul with every reincarnation.

Memories came flooding in as Anji watched the argument between Zhong Kui and the Jade Emperor. She recalled the first battle Zhong Kui led with the four guardian beasts beside him in the Eternal Night battle. She recalled the devastating tie as the ghost general parried her last strike and escaped after receiving a severe wound to his demonic heart. She had also taken too much damage as the crucible holding her soul shattered.

The battle concluded, but the story did not. Lifetime after lifetime, Anji recalled everything she experienced previously. She had lived so many types of lives that by the end of it, it was difficult to say who she was. Yes, it included Bi Yao’s life and knowledge. The deal Bi Yao made with Lady Mang Yuan in her youth as she established the Mystical Qilin Sect and awaited Anji’s arrival from a vision that Anji now knew about remained crystal clear to her.

Yet, the one thing that Anji’s soul vowed to forever engrave into her memory was the name of her nemesis and the greatest evil in the world.

The name of the ghost general that she learned after many reincarnations, apart from his title of the Supreme Ghost Commander - Song Min.

Like Zhong Kui, he used to be a scholar with a great sense of justice. However, when he was a human, he was only a small official. Determined to right the wrong system, he spent his whole career trying to put corrupt big officials behind bars and to clean the country. No matter how badly he was treated, Song Min was a real hero who never gave up. Even when he was tortured to death, he never lost sight of hope. He continued his mission as a vengeful ghost, haunting every corrupted official until they were driven to death by madness.

Zhong Kui was tasked to stop Song Min from his bloody path for vengeance and justice. He saw himself in the small, vengeful ghost and pitied him. That was the only time Zhong Kui ever let a ghost go, and that soon became his biggest regret.

Anji recalled the memories of several lifetimes when Zhong Kui would run into Song Min, but Song Min’s obsession would cause tragedy in his twisted sense of justice. From killing husbands who beat their wives to children who wasted food, Song Min found reasons to punish everyone he came across. His broken sense of evil and good made him a powerful but dangerous ghost.

The Min in Song Min’s name was now about the people he killed. He had long forgotten his mission to protect them and now sought nothing but their extinction. Not even the eight immortals and their disciples could stand against Song Min and his powerful army of ghosts. The only person capable of going toe to toe with the ghost general was Zhong Kui.

And as a righteous person, Zhong Kui paid the price to right his wrongs. Anji remembered everything clearly now about the nameless hero, about Bi Yao, about herself. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

Pu Jianming was not the true evil. He was merely a cog in the huge machine that Song Min invented, borrowing the resources of the demonic cult.

More importantly, Anji recalled everything she needed to know. From Bi Yao’s extensive knowledge about the Mystical Qilin Sect’s barrier to the history of Gods and Demons, Anji understood why she was given these memories and who she had to pass the torch to. She knew what she should look for to end the meaningless war.

Song Min’s return was up to Anji to stop, and there was not a moment more to waste.