Chapter 55: Underground Palace Blueprint Part 1

Not only the Myriad Coffins Azure Dragon Palace, but all the palaces depicted on the Yin Spirit Scroll connected to this house. Wang Ya recalled what her grandma had told her about a “house” that had a name: the Bardo Realm!

“Bardo” referred to the period after a person’s death but before entering reincarnation, also known as the Bardo Body. It was a form of life outside the six realms of reincarnation—heavenly beings, humans, ghosts, animals, hell, and asuras. Buddhism taught that the vessel for such lives was the pure ethereal reward body obtained from good deeds in the six realms. Those who were extremely virtuous or extremely wicked had no Bardo Body; the utmost good would directly transform into the Heavenly Dao, while the utmost evil would directly transform into hell. Only those between extreme good and extreme evil produced a Bardo reward body upon death. The lifespan of this reward body was forty-nine days in human terms. During those forty-nine days, relatives and enemies from past lives would come to entice the Bardo being, stirring their thoughts and leading them to reunite—relatives to reminisce old affections, enemies to settle debts.

Her grandma had told her that the Bardo Realm was a transit station between the human world and the Underworld Courts. Those with supernatural powers, whether human or ghost, could briefly linger in the Bardo Realm. That “house” in the Bardo Realm was the point of contact between people from the Yang Realm and ghosts from the Underworld. This “house” connected to the Yang Realm on one side and led to the Underworld on the other. Both ghosts from the Underworld and people from the Yang Realm faced great danger if they proceeded further from there. Before its extermination, the Zhongyin Feng Family had controlled this house!

Wang Ya carefully examined the house on the Yin Spirit Scroll and discovered that the path marked with ghosts forked further ahead, one branch resembling the Yellow Springs Road exactly. If her grandma had entered the Yellow Springs and obtained the Leaf Demon’s help, she was very likely waiting for her in this “house” in the Bardo Realm. She looked toward the road from the house leading to the human world, only to find that it branched into many paths after extending outward, with the other ends of these paths all connecting to “palaces.” These palaces matched the Hidden Dragon Nine Abyss recorded in the Dragon-Seeking Formation-Breaking Art her grandma had passed down to her.

Wang Ya felt somewhat annoyed. Ever since she obtained the Yin Spirit Scroll, one urgent matter after another had pressed her, leaving no time to properly study it. If she had seen this map earlier, she might have entered the Bardo Realm through the Myriad Coffins Azure Dragon Palace to find her grandma long ago, instead of now having to cooperate with the unreliable Zhang Qingshui despite knowing better.

Wang Ya sprawled over the small desk, meticulously studying the Yin Spirit Scroll. She had originally planned to memorize all the paths recorded on it, then destroy the scroll and rely solely on her memory to search. That way, she alone in the world would know what the Yin Spirit Scroll contained, and no one else could seize it from her. However, she soon gave up! She was geographically illiterate—someone who didn’t even know how many provinces China had. The positions of the palaces on the Yin Spirit Scroll offered only a rough outline of mountains and terrain. With China’s vast expanse, its countless mountains, rivers, streams, hills, and valleys, how could she find them? Even with the Yin Spirit Scroll in hand, she wouldn’t know where to look for the places it depicted!

Wang Ya grew so frustrated that she wanted to hurl the Yin Spirit Scroll away! Who had drawn this lousy map? At least mark some place names or mountain names—even ancient ones would do! What infuriated her most was that the map wasn’t very detailed to begin with. From the time it was drawn to now, at least several centuries had passed; many rivers had changed course, and many mountains had been leveled for buildings! She glanced at the path leading out from the Myriad Coffins Azure Dragon Palace: aside from the easily recognizable sinkhole, it only crudely depicted a dark river and karst cave, so rough it made her bristle. Zhang Qingshui had walked until her feet blistered and bled, her dad had walked until he was starving enough to catch bats to roast, yet this map summed it all up with a few scant strokes!

Wang Ya propped her chin on her hand, sitting dejectedly at the small desk and staring at the Yin Spirit Scroll. She truly wished a ghost would emerge from it to guide her, but now there wasn’t even a shadow of a ghost in the Yin Spirit Scroll. She figured that when she entered the Yellow Springs and opened the Yin Spirit Scroll, releasing that Yellow Springs Other Shore Flower Demon, the glutton had already devoured all the Yin Spirit Ghosts inside! That Yellow Springs Other Shore Flower Demon was truly a massive glutton—look at how not a single Ghost Entity remained in the Myriad Coffins Azure Dragon Palace; the Flower Demon had eaten them all clean.

Wang Ya pondered for two hours without any progress and finally decided she had to seek help. She stored the scroll, took the elevator downstairs to the hotel front desk for paper and pen, returned to her room, sketched the palace and mountain terrain closest to the Myriad Coffins Azure Dragon Palace, stored the scroll securely, and went to knock on Zhang Qingshui’s door with the drawing of the Hidden Dragon Second Abyss.

Zhang Qingshui opened the door and froze upon seeing Wang Ya, then asked, “What’s up?”

Wang Ya’s gaze immediately fell on how Zhang Qingshui had changed from the hotel bathrobe into a lace camisole nightdress. Camisole nightdresses were generally low-cut; the snowy cleavage in the middle and the alluring curves of those two white mounds looked very appealing. Wang Ya swept her eyes over Zhang Qingshui’s chest and inwardly snorted, “So what if it’s a C-cup!” She pressed the paper in her hand against Zhang Qingshui’s ample C-cup bosom and said, “Take a look—what place is this!” With the paper pressed against Zhang Qingshui’s chest, her palm felt a bouncy softness. Wang Ya suddenly wanted to squash Zhang Qingshui’s C into an A, or perhaps slap it swollen into an F!