Chapter 1

Huaguo Earthquake Express: According to measurements, a magnitude 3.6 earthquake occurred at 18:23 on July 6 in Huading Mountain, Jingdu.

Jingdu Daily: The Huading Mountain earthquake has not caused any casualties so far.

Netherworld Express: An earthquake has occurred at Huading Mountain in Jingdu in the human realm. Ghost messengers have been dispatched.

Demon Capital News: An earthquake has occurred at Huading Mountain, suspected to be caused by a vicious dragon turning over.

…

Huading Mountain is located at the border between Huaguo’s capital Jingdu and the neighboring Ning Province. Huading Mountain’s scenery is unique and beautiful, and due to numerous rumors about it, it is considered a famous and remarkable mountain in Huaguo.

The earthquake two days ago split Huading Mountain clean through. Human “experts” looked at the aerial photos of Huading Mountain split apart as if by a crevice and marveled at it, declaring it a miracle.

In response, a curse rang out from inside the old, dilapidated residential building where the Three Realms Management Office was located: “Which goddamn bastard caused this mess now? Thank fuck Huading Mountain is a barren mountain that no one usually visits. If someone had wandered in, would they still be alive?”

In recent years, after disasters like earthquakes and tsunamis occurred, relevant personnel from the Three Realms Management Office would go investigate. As a special agency connecting the human, demon, and ghost realms, the Three Realms Management Office had to shoulder its responsibilities. Fortunately, the three realms had been relatively calm for the past few centuries, and most of the geological disasters that occurred domestically had nothing to do with those demons and ghosts.

However, demons and ghosts definitely weren’t that peaceful.

For example, not long ago there was a tsunami in the deep sea because a kun hidden in the ocean sneezed three times in a row.

Luckily, no ordinary people were hurt.

But with so many incidents like this, the patience of the Three Realms Management Office’s employees was gradually running out. Especially that hot-tempered deputy director, who clenched his hand into a fist and slammed it on the table with bang bang bang, his cursing spanning ancient and modern times—anyone who heard it would have to say it was badass.

The Management Office director, Yuan Kai, cradled his thermos cup and spat tea leaves back into the cup, looking completely unruffled. “Young people shouldn’t have such big tempers. Word came from the Demon Capital that a jiao was sleeping muddle-headed and turned over. The Netherworld also sent someone to notify us, saying that the Black and White Impermanence went to Huading Mountain and didn’t capture any souls.”

Not capturing any souls meant no one had gotten hurt, so naturally they could relax.

Yuan Kai set down his teacup and rubbed his chin. “But they did say they ran into a young man in the mountains. That young man sure is lucky. But why would anyone go to Huading Mountain in the first place?”

Half an hour earlier, at Huading Mountain.

Song Li was sleeping restlessly. In the past two days there had first been a bout of earth-shaking tremors. Song Li felt like he was lying on a small boat drifting on the ocean surface, and a wave came crashing over and sent him spinning dizzily. After a stretch of unbearable shaking, the “boat” beneath him finally returned to calm.

But just a few hours later, that shaking started again.

Although it wasn’t as intense as the first time, Song Li was still very displeased. Tossing and turning for a full hour, he finally couldn’t hold back anymore and opened his eyes. In an instant, sunlight fell upon the world between heaven and earth. Trees, flowers, and grass grew in clusters around him. Crystal-clear dewdrops trembled precariously on petals and green leaves. Light from all directions gathered before Song Li, letting him see this stretch of heaven and earth clearly.

Song Li couldn’t tell exactly how long he had slept. He only knew that when he fell into slumber, his surroundings had been nothing but cliffs and shattered rocks.

He stood up groggily, his long-slumbering body slightly stiff. Bracing himself against the verdant tree that blocked half the sunlight for him, he surveyed his surroundings. It was a small patch of grass, its green color speaking of endless vitality. Occasionally a small flower, struck by the blowing wind, would sway its body from afar. Extending his gaze a bit farther, he saw the bottom of a cliff face.

Song Li looked up and saw that rubble was still tumbling down from the cliff.

Accompanying the falling rubble was an eagle that spread its wings and cast a large shadow—white head, white tail, pitch-black feathers, sharp beak, and even sharper eyes. But Song Li merely raised his arm, and that fierce, cruel eagle, as if a well-behaved pet, swiftly dove toward him. When it reached Song Li’s front, it suddenly slowed down, and finally gripped the young man’s arm with both talons and landed on Song Li.

Amid the eagle’s low cries, Song Li barely managed to figure out the current situation.

So he had been woken up by an earthquake.

He lifted his eyes, and his crow-black eyelashes trembled slightly in the sunlight, casting a small shadow over the somewhat pale whites of his eyes. He stood in the sunlight, but even the sunlight couldn’t outshine his eyes that held a hue of ice-crystal blue. Song Li patted the eagle’s body and sent it off to continue flying high. Then he slowly made his way out of Huading Mountain.

The arm that the eagle had gripped and used for support was scratched with talon marks, bright red traces imprinted on porcelain white, the faint stinging stimulating Song Li’s nerves, but he didn’t pay it any mind.

At that moment, Song Li was frowning as he followed a narrow mountain path to its end. But the end of the path was clearly a dead end—the cliff face split down from the sky, completely blocking the way.

Song Li belatedly realized—

He might have slept so long that he’d gone muddle-headed from it.

Otherwise, how could he not find the path?

Just then, two figures appeared in Song Li’s pupils.

Xie Bi’an and Fan Wujiu, dragging their handcuffs and shackles, walked through the mountain forest with dejected expressions. The former adjusted his tall hat, glanced up at the enormous sun, and heaved a deep sigh. “In this kind of weather, it’s still more comfortable staying in the Netherworld. Just the yin energy of the Netherworld alone means you don’t even need to turn on a fan. Which heaven-cursed bastard caused this mess, making us come all the way out here?”

“I heard from Big Bro it seems some demon turned over in its sleep.”

The two trudged under the blazing sun with sighs and groans, feeling like their bodies were about to melt. But the entire Huading Mountain hadn’t been fully inspected yet, and they didn’t dare slack off, so they could only tough it out and keep walking.

It was at this moment that the two encountered Song Li.

The young man stood in the sunlight, his skin so white it seemed to glow—whiter than the finest porcelain in old King Yan’s collection. He was dressed in ragged clothes: one sleeve of his shirt was torn off, one pant leg had ridden up, and there were several holes around. His white clothes were stained with dirt and blood, making him look bedraggled, but in reality it was quite the opposite.

His posture was straight, his bearing extraordinary.

When the Black and White Impermanence looked at him, they immediately noticed the young man’s beautiful, glass-like eyes. There seemed to be an abyss within them, one that could easily suck them in.

When the Black and White Impermanence snapped back to their senses, their expressions changed drastically.

They had signed an agreement with the human higher-ups—they absolutely could not appear before humans in their true forms, or they’d be fined! And the fine wasn’t in hell money either—it was in RMB!

Thinking about how their top boss squeezed himself into a tiny shop in the human realm every day to make money, only to end up paying their penalty fees, the Black and White Impermanence couldn’t help but draw a sharp breath. Before the young man could speak, they immediately burst out laughing twice. “Oh my, oh my, who’d have thought we’d run into someone even in this godforsaken place while cosplaying! Hey bro, what do you think—do our Black and White Impermanence cosplays look convincing?”

Song Li, who had been about to gently ask the ghost messengers a question with a smile: “…Huh?”

What did “cosplay” mean?

And what did “cosplaying the Black and White Impermanence” mean?

Song Li frowned, realizing that he had slept for many years and been away from the world for many years, and it seemed he couldn’t quite keep up with the pace of this world’s development. Even with the Netherworld’s ghost messengers, there was a generational gap.

Seeing him say nothing, the Black and White Impermanence thought Song Li had seen through them, and grew even more nervous. “Um, bro, an earthquake just happened here. What are you doing here? If there’s an aftershock or something, wouldn’t you get trapped here?”

Hearing this, Song Li said, “I’m lost. I was originally going to ask if you two knew the way out of the mountain.”

Fan Wujiu slapped his thigh, the shackles in his hands clanking loudly. Seeing Song Li look over, his gaze landing on the shackles, he immediately put on an awkward smile. “It’s fine, we’ll take you out!”

After winding through seven or eight twisting paths, the Black and White Impermanence exchanged a glance, both cursing inwardly at how bizarre and weird this damned Huading Mountain’s paths were. They really wished they could just fly out. But thinking about the human following behind them, the two ghost messengers could only sigh in their hearts and resignedly lead the way.

Finally, after walking for over half an hour, the two ghost messengers successfully delivered Song Li to the foot of the mountain. The base of Huading Mountain ran alongside a highway, and following the highway would lead to a town in Jingdu.

“Alright, we’ll see you off here.”

Song Li politely thanked the two, and before turning to leave, asked again, “Aren’t you two leaving?”

Fan Wujiu and Xie Bi’an felt another jolt in their hearts. They knew appearing here was already strange enough, and stubbornly refusing to leave was even stranger. So Xie Bi’an quickly pulled out a palm-sized rectangular object from his robe. Xie Bi’an called it a phone. “We’re not leaving. We specifically changed into these clothes to cosplay the Black and White Impermanence and came to this dump to take photos and livestream! You go on ahead, bro, we won’t see you off!”

Song Li took a couple more glances at the object he called a phone, nodded, and walked off along the edge of the highway.

Seeing Song Li’s figure finally disappear from view, the Black and White Impermanence heaved a massive sigh of relief.

Thank goodness, this bro didn’t seem too bright either, and they’d managed to fool him. Their top boss wouldn’t have to pay their penalty fees after all.

“Come on, come on, let’s go take another look around the mountain.”

The voices gradually faded. Song Li, meanwhile, walked along at a leisurely pace. As he walked, he took in the surrounding scenery, noting the standing houses and the cars speeding past, and once again lamented inwardly at how fast the world had changed. After walking for over half an hour, Song Li finally arrived at the town.

Pingpan Town wasn’t far from Jingdu’s city center, so it was more prosperous than many towns. Tall buildings stood around, and brightly dressed passersby walked past Song Li, each one turning to glance at him, showing surprise at his strange attire, and then saying nothing, silently continuing on their way.

The sun gradually tilted west, and more and more people came and went on the street.

“Bro.” A voice came from his left. Song Li turned to look—it was a young man dressed just as raggedly. He looked up, revealing a pair of bright eyes beneath slightly messy black short hair. When Song Li looked over, the other happened to wave at him.

Song Li pointed at his own nose.

The young man immediately nodded.

Song Li strode over. Just as he reached the man’s side, the other shifted his butt and pulled out a cushion from underneath himself, placed it in front of Song Li, and patted it. “Sit.”

Song Li didn’t understand his behavior, but took it as someone’s goodwill. Sitting down without any fuss, his gaze swept across an aluminum box placed in front of the man. Inside the box were scattered papers of varying colors, called banknotes.

The young man didn’t notice Song Li’s gaze and simply asked with a smile, “What’s your name, bro? How many people in your family? I see your forehead is bright—you’re a talented one. How about it, interested in busking and begging with me? Here, I’ll give you the equipment first.”

With that, he handed him an empty box.

A question mark slowly rose above Song Li’s head.

Just then, a young couple passed by the two. The girl took two steps back and sized up Song Li with a peculiar look for two seconds, then looked at the box in front of the young man and the conspicuous payment QR code. After pondering for several dozen seconds, she pulled out her phone.

Five seconds later, a sound rang out by the roadside: Alipay received 20 yuan.

Afterward, the girl bent down, picked out ten yuan from the aluminum box, and placed it into the empty box next door, then nodded in satisfaction and left.

Ten yuan each, equal treatment for all—just perfect.