Chapter 594: Yama
Hui Yue could not help but stare at the person seated on the throne. He had long black hair which flowed down his shoulders and framed his face which was hidden behind a mask. Behind the mask, one could see eyes that were endlessly deep, and they seemed to contain the entire universe. They shone with a strength one could not fully fathom.
His body was wrapped in a black cloak, but what skin one could see was smooth and youthful. He did not seem like some old master; instead, he seemed as if he was a young man.
Hui Yue was dumbfounded and uncertain of what to do, should he speak or bow? Should he step closer or wait? Unsure of what was happening, he could not help but stare at the figure in the middle of the chamber who seemed deep in thought. He quickly realized that no matter how much he looked at him, he would not understand even the slight bit of who he was.
There was a distinct aura of death around him, and as he breathed, ripples of power pulsated through the room. The Ancestral Worldpower and soul energy in the air seemed to be in perfect sync with the Master of Yanluo, and everything was so overwhelming that Hui Yue was stunned into silence.
He had been eager to meet this Master Yama, eager to ask about Wang Ju Long and his friend's lives, but now that he was in front of him, he felt as if his own life was insignificant. He felt as if he were a mere cloud in a vast cloudy sky.
Just as this thought hit Hui Yue, he narrowed his eyes and instantly shook the thought out of his mind.
"My life might be insignificant if I was alone, but I have friends relying on me! I have a whole world depending on me!" Hui Yue's words cut through the entire hall, and he did not realize before the words had already left his mouth.
The moment he spoke Yanluo's face turned into one of approval while the expression on Yama’s face was still impossible to see beneath the mask.
"Step forward," the masked Yama called out. Hui Yue, who dared not show even the slightest bit of arrogance or disobedience, instantly moved forward.
He was unsure of how close he should move, but Yama kept saying, "Closer," "Closer," "Closer." He kept urging Hui Yue forward until he was standing right in front of the throne.
By then Yama nodded his head, and Yanluo slowly slipped out of the room, leaving only Hui Yue and Yama together inside. As for what was going on, Hui Yue did not know, but he understood that this was a great honor.
"So you managed to win in the end," Yama's voice resounded through the hall, and the moment he spoke, he also removed the mask that had covered his face.
The moment his mask fell, Hui Yue frowned. He had met this person before, however, when he had met him, he was certain that he was older.
Scouring his memories, he realized that this man in front of him was the old man who had sold him the map, but back then he had seemed much older than he was now. Back then he looked like a middle-aged man, however, now he looked at most twenty years old.
"I won due to luck," Hui Yue said humbly, but Yama just shook his head with laughter. "You did not go all out against the youth from the Nightcrawler Sect. It was as if you knew you would win from the beginning. You were ruthless but not ruthless enough."
"You did not use your soul force, and you did not use the innate skills of your sword either. Although Yanluo already said that no one would die, you still hesitated to use any truly lethal attacks."
"It seems that you can only bring out your full potential against enemies who threaten your family and friends. Perhaps this is troublesome, but I quite like it. I like that you are the kind of person who does not harm people who do not harm you."
"I think that you are an interesting person, so I will tell you something interesting as a reward," Yama said with a smile on his face. "When you died to save that little girlfriend of yours, things did not happen as you expected."
Hui Yue was at first at a complete loss with what he had just said. When did he die to protect Wang Ju Long? Was… Was he possibly talking about Li Fen?!
"First, let me ask you, now that you have experienced true love, what kind of feelings did you have for the woman called Li Fen?"
Hui Yue was dumbfounded about the question, and he hesitated for only a moment before he remembered the emotions he had within his heart.
"I was convinced that I loved Li Fen," he said honestly, "but after encountering Wang Ju Long, Sha Yun, and Huli, I have realized that love is a very strange thing. I wished to have Li Fen by my side, but truthfully I viewed her as important as my dearest family. She was someone who was by my side from the time I was small and until the moment I died. My love for her was equal to that of my parents."
"After encountering the emotions that I feel for Ju Long, Yun, and Huli I know that these three women are much different. I cannot explain the emotion, it is hard to put into words, and I even have trouble fully understanding it."
"I guess the easiest way to say it is that I wish for Li Fen to be happy somewhere, happy with the man she loves, while I wish for Ju Long, Yun, and Huli to be by my side every day. I wish that I am the person who they love."
Yama nodded his head as he thought about the words Hui Yue said. "That is good. So Li Fen is a family member for you?" he asked to ensure, and Hui Yue nodded his head.
"When you died, Li Fen took you into her arms, and when your soul was dragged from your body, her own soul was dragged out with it."
"Your soul was actually in limbo for a full twenty years after your death before you were born again."
"But Li Fen was not caught in such a state. She was instantly reborn in the Divine Beast World," Yama said, and his words shocked not only Hui Yue but also greatly surprised the phoenix within him.
Had Li Fen transferred through the worlds with him? Did that not mean that she was already in the Divine Beast World and that she had been living for twenty years more than Hui Yue?
"I won't tell you more as of now, all you need to know is that Li Fen is now living in the Divine Beast World." Yama said seriously, "She is very happy. She is married and has two children who are her pride and joy."
"She remembers everything which happened before, but she has put it behind her. She is now the happiest she has ever been."
"Your parents from the other world both suffered from depression when they were told that their son had died and they both died fairly young. However, they were both reborn in the same minor world as they chose to forget everything and enter the cycle of reincarnation. They happened to have met each other just recently. Their emotions for one another survived their death, and they too are incredibly happy with their new lives."
"That might not have been the information you were seeking, but deep inside their fates have been bothering you," Yama continued, and Hui Yue found that it was exactly as Yama had said. Hearing the news, it felt like a stone had been lifted from his heart; a weight had been lifted from his shoulders.
"Well then, the next thing you wish to know about is your beloved who has been made into a soul shadow."
"Well, to be precise, she is not actually a soul shadow. To make a soul shadow you need to refine the soul, and she was never refined. If anything she is a soul fragment. She is not a full soul. Sadly, some of her soul dissipated into the air when she died, and you only captured some of it in the vial."
"Restoring her soul is not something that I can personally do, but you can restore her soul since you have obtained the Nirvana Phoenix Flame. With it, you should be able to reform her old self."
"The whole process will take quite a bit of time. You will need to feed the soul the Nirvana Phoenix Flame once every half-year. After that, she will fall dormant as she slowly restores her strength."
"When the soul is restored, you will be able to move her into a new body, but you have to create the body first."
"There are different bodies and ways to make them," Yama continued his explanation. "You can create bodies when you are an Immortal of Creation, but Immortals do not create the strongest bodies, those can only be refined by top-tier alchemists."
"As you know, beasts have a body that is half Ancestral Worldpower and the other half is made from their own flesh and blood."
"This is because their bodies are stronger than the bodies of humans and can contain the Ancestral Worldpower. Refined bodies are quite similar, and they are even stronger than the bodies of beasts."
"If possible everyone would have bodies refined by alchemists, but only one man and his disciples knew how to create these bodies, and only the Alchemist God knows how to refine a new body. For this reason, it might be hard for you to get such a hard to come by item."
"Still, if you ever get the chance you should have your body replaced with a body refined by the Alchemist God, or see if you can learn how to refine them yourself."
"It will take you quite a long time to get your Wang Ju Long back, but at least now you know what you have to do."
Hui Yue bowed deeply to Yama and nodded his head. He was grateful for every word he had heard. Hui Yue was ecstatic that Wang Ju Long could be resurrected, and he swore to himself that he would find the Alchemist God and have him make a body for her.
Not only her but also for all his other friends and family. He wanted all of them to have the best of everything and to get the best they needed refined bodies.
'Even you will need a new body,' Hui Yue told Lan Feng. 'We will refine a body that suits you so that you don't have to stay within my body any longer.'
Lan Feng said nothing in response, but Hui Yue, who shared a soul with him, could feel the warmth the phoenix felt.
"While I am happy that you are our new Judge of Hell, Diyu is not a place for someone like you. It is simply too dangerous here, so instead, you are to follow the Celestial Sword Sect back to their sect and stay there. You are not to travel throughout the galaxy before you have become an Immortal of Creation."
Hui Yue was at first surprised, but after thinking it through, he understood that it was indeed as he said. He was nowhere near strong enough to protect himself or his friends. He needed to be stronger first, and thus he had no other choice than to go with the Celestial Sword Sect.