The Infamous Spirit Lord and The Department of Afterlife - 2

Fu Yating headed up the mountain the next morning to be met with fresh gossip. At least he could point out the source of all the absurd remarks now.

"I heard he was a spoiled prince from the Fu dynasty. His path to cultivation was the easiest, because he received all the best resources and education." One whispered.

"Even after entering Heaven, he swooned everyone with his girly face."

"He's truly had the easiest life among all our masters. Of course he never complained about his hardships, he never had to face any hardships at all!" A third girl joined in.

"Our poor masters were thrown out because the Emperor compared them to that conman." Third Shimei's disciple said, now directly under Marshall. He remembers how third shimei never liked him much, it is only obvious that her student would get such traits as well.

"You speak only the truth!" The other girls agreed a hundred percent.

Fu Yating pondered over what to do further. Facing them right then wouldn't put him in any more advantage anyway. And he wasn't the type to win an argument with the other party unwilling to listen.

"Still not going to scold your underlings?" The same child-like voice from last time!

Fu Yating turned quickly, but only saw the silhouette of the child running away. He wasn't one to run, but curiosity made him pace up his usual walk. The voice giggled and teased every time he caught a glimpse of the owner, as if playing tag. In his three hundred years of immortality, no child had dared to play such pranks on him.

"I'm trying to get caught, but you don't even want to catch me!"

The child's voice was supposed to get him annoyed, but Fu Yating only felt more drawn. He sped towards the voice, letting his heavy robes wiggle in disgraceful ways. The few rookie reapers walking by, stared at their Spirit Lord, chasing after a child, and exchanged confused whispers.

The child ran quick and hid behind a well, and Fu Yating believed he would catch him for sure this time. He almost reached the well, before Luo Ming stepped in between.

"Senior Spirit, what are you doing?"

Fu Yating stopped and looked at his surroundings. The rookie reapers were awkwardly smiling at him and Luo Ming was staring at the well with a displeased expression. He also noticed his sleeves had flown behind his arms; he coughed in a fake manner, clearly embarrassed, and fixed his clothes. "You still have a leaf on your head." The child spoke from his hiding position as his bright eyes peeked up from under the stone.

Fu Yating fixed his hair too, a tinge of blush on his cheeks, as he had made a fool of himself. Luo Ming kept staring daggers at the well.

"Well... I apologize for my behavior." He looked at the child's head poking out from behind the stone wall, and the child in turn waved a 'hello' to him. "Marshall, you haven't introduced me to this guest, since he is staying for a long time."

"Senior Spirit, do not be fooled by this chameleon. This ghost is pretending to be a child, his true form is an adult's, but he only wants to cause trouble." Luo Ming responded.

"Is that so, little one? Have you been lying to me all this time?" Fu Yating took a step towards the well, still trying to look at the ghost child's face.

"How could that be? I would never lie to Senior Spirit." The child stood up from his hiding position and smirked at Fu Yating, before continuing to speak. "Ghosts like us change forms all the time, it is all fun and games. When have I told you all that this was my true form? Not my fault, your dumb soldiers got deceived!" He skipped up on the stone boundary, managing to keep a balanced stance.

Luo Ming glared at the child. "You! Who are you calling dumb soldiers?"

Fu Yating watched amused, as Luo Ming attempted to stab him with his sword, and the ghost child danced and jumped around dodging easily.

"Concealing your true face, while not a crime, doesn't come off as friendly when meeting for the first time. But I don't think you had any bad intentions, so we could let bygones be bygones if you tell us your name." Fu Yating spoke thoughtfully.

"Senior Spirit, we have his records! His name is-" Luo Ming tried to interrupt but Fu Yating stopped him. "Marshall, I'd like to hear his name from his own mouth."

The ghost child maintained eye-contact with the Spirit Lord for a few seconds, forgetting his free smile. "Zhou Yixiao." He said smiling again.

"Zhou Yixiao..." Fu Yating found himself repeating. "Zhou Yixiao... Yixiao... little-one?"

"See, you're already making fun of my name? Not 'little-one'. Yixiao as in 'a smile', like mine." Zhou Yixiao jumped closer to Fu Yating. "I smile, so I am Yixiao. You're pretty, so you're Yating."

Luo Ming could not stand still and watch any further. "You chameleon ghost! How dare you harass the Senior Spirit!" Fu Yating sighed as Luo Ming again started his attempts at stabbing the ghost child... no. Stabbing Zhou Yixiao. It was a beautiful name, simple and yet radiant, just like the owner's smile. The name hit a part of himself, perhaps somewhere in the past, he had called someone Yixiao. That past is dead.

Fu Yating decided to put a halt to Luo Ming's anger. "Marshall, that would be enough, there's no need to stab him with your sword, it doesn't work on ghosts. Let me speak to him further, perhaps I can convince him to move on to afterlife."

"Senior Spirit is far too kind. He may convince you to let him loom here forever." Luo Ming replied angrily and Zhou Yixiao stuck his tongue out at him in return.

"He cannot convince me against my will. No one can, Marshall knows." And Luo Ming knew what that meant; Fu Yating could sacrifice his everything, but no one has ever been able to change his mind.

"I apologize, I did not intend to be rude." Luo Ming said. "If you say so, then I'll leave the matters with his ghost in your hands. I had thought to not bother you with such tasks, but I must admit, he was becoming trouble to our department. His soul is stuck in your office, and no one can convince him to leave." He eyed Zhou Yixiao.

There were many things that could happen to a person's soul after death.

If died a peaceful death, souls would calmly agree to carry on with the cycle. If small wishes are left unfulfilled, then a Grim Reaper could convince the ghost that any such wish can be fulfilled in the next life, and the soul would usually agree.

If the idea of revenge comes in, cases get difficult. Vengeance do not let the soul move on, and such ghosts are captured forcefully and brought to the Department of Afterlife and forced to move on with arrays and spells. That is the end of Heaven's knowledge on resentful ghosts, but there are many more cases that the Holy libraries do not mention.

If a ghost dies with immense vengeance, and desires something impossible, would such a ghost become beyond life and death? The pure opposite of an immortal, a soul to remain dead forever.

Fu Yating desperately hoped for such a ghost to never exist.

Even the stronger ghosts caught and being forced to move on, were always in agony. Just how much agony would a ghost have to live through to attain such pseudo-immortality? It was unimaginable, because Fu Yating knew very well what the feeling of helplessness and vengeance felt like. Perhaps if he had died back then, he'd turn into a similar abomination. An impossible existence.

Fu Yating cleared his thoughts and watched Luo Ming bow and walk away.

"Zhou Yixiao, come with me. Let us speak."

"You're busy now, I know you are. I'll come to you later, alright?" He smiled again and fell back into the well. Fu Yating bent down to look inside, but was only met with darkness.

"My Prince doesn't have to search for me, I'll always come back to you." Zhou Yixiao's voice echoed in his ears. 'My Prince', Fu Yating thought, when had anyone called him that? But he couldn't deny, it had a nice ring to it. 'My Prince' it was said so affectionately, Fu Yating couldn't find a reason for Zhou Yixiao to like him. He couldn't understand why, the words made him happy and yet sad.

Luo Ming would scold him later because he let the Zhou Yixiao leave without solving the issue. He remembered, no matter how lovely of a presence the ghost child could be in the mountain, it would be for the best if he were to move on to afterlife. Like all matters should align with nature, dead souls must rest in peace and move forward.

'Whatever grudge keeps him attached, I must find it.'

Fu Yating decided to go back into his office. He had yet to prepare many things. His teleporting spell landed him immediately next to his new office door, and he noticed the Emperor's Wagtail waiting on the roof tiles.

He signaled for the bird to sit on his index finger; and it turned into a stamped scroll of rules. He had made new rules for the department with Luo Ming's help and sent it to get the Emperor's seal.

He oped the scroll and looked at the result.

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11. "Members are not to complain about their jobs to anyone."

16. "Members are to respect their superiors."

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The new rules sat oddly among all the other older ones. Eleventh was strange, but by the Emperor's edict, understandable. Sixteenth was Luo Ming's idea, as the Assistants did not have an ounce of respect for Fu Yating.

He rolled the scroll back closed when a second Wagtail sat on his shoulder.

"Senior Fu Yating! Take in disciples! Take in disciples!" Perhaps the Emperor hadn't yet mastered how to make the bird speak properly, but the message was clear enough.

Every entity around him was telling him to stop being stubborn and take in students. He is left with no choice, but to search seriously this time.

"I'm working on it, your Highness." He played with the bird's beak but it rejected his touch and flew away. Fu Yating sighed.

His next course of actions, he planned in his head, would be to hang the new scroll in the office's main area, then ask Luo Ming to send copies to all his Captains. He had to find someone willing to learn under him.

He started to prepare porridge behind his new home. As the dark had set in, stars peaked through the curtains of clouds and wind blew colder. He also should try and find Zhou Yixiao soon. The thought crossed his mind when he saw the dark clouds covering the crescent moon, reminding him of the child's eyes.

"My Prince hasn't missed me at all." A man's voice alerted him from his thoughts.

"Who is it?" Fu Yating turned to look.