章 202: Vol 4: Three
There was a river in front of him.
It was nighttime—or at least he thought it was. He couldn't tell; when he looked up, all he saw was infinite darkness, a yawning chasm that both expanded into the unimaginable distance and yet hovered on the cusp of his head like it was threatening to collapse upon him at any moment.
The ground was the same shade of black too but not in the same unending gradient as the sky above. Instead, shadowy blades of grass rustled in a phantom wind and growing right on the river bank were lush clusters of spidery flowers (1), their crimson petals so bright they made his eyes burn.
He couldn't remember what they were called.
Red spider lilies. Bloom for a thousand years, wilt for a thousand years. The flowers and leaves are destined to never meet. (2)
He couldn't remember what he was called. Why was he here and where was this?
"Poor child, you've come by so many times, it's no wonder you're a mess."
クリエイターの想い 
Queeniecat
Queeniecat (1) Lycoris Radiata or the red spider lily: legend has it that it grows on the banks of the yellow spring. Considered unlucky because of its association with the dead.
(2) A phrase from a Buddhist scripture that talks about being destined. If one is fated to meet, one will. When that fate ends, so will the meeting, and parting is inevitable. Symbolic of the cycle of life and death and the transience of human emotions.
(3) Ming Estate: The original phrase is 'Mingfu'. Ming is the name of the underworld in mythology. Fu means estate or household. I chose to translate it like this to make it seem more like an organisation with a HQ rather than an abstract place.
(4) The three souls theory is based on Taoist principles and my translation here is very rudimentary and does not reflect the original well as I understand only the very basic aspects of the concept. I have also simplified it a lot to make it easier to fit into fiction but it is in itself a very beautiful, intricate part of the culture and I cannot do it justice.
(5) Dark cuisine: A chinese neologism on food that sounds gross but is tastier than it anticipated (most of the time).
(6) The black and white impermanences: two Deities in folk religion in charge of escorting spirits to the underworld. The white impermanence's name is 'Xie Bi'an', meaning 'those who make amends will always be at peace'. The black impermance's name, in contrast, is 'Fan Wujiu', and means 'those who commit crimes will have no salvation'. They dress in black and white respectively and are the subordinates of King Yanluo, the supreme judge of the underworld according to mythology. They either appear as a benevolent deity to those who have done good deads or a malevolent deity to those who have committed evil in their lifetime. The words representing them in the novel are also a part of their myth.
ETA： Because I am a massive dummy, I posted this in Vol 3 instead of 4 and can no longer change it...but it is the start of Vol 4 sigh.
A/N: Welcome to Volume 4!!! Thank you very much for reading and for the amazing gifts, comments, golden tickets and power stones! <3 The three cameos in this chapter are all part of actual mythology and not permanent new characters, if anyone is concerned about even more people being added to the list ^^;;. I hope you enjoy!
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