Her Immortal Love - Chapter 10

The night breeze whispered softly.

A gentle wind rustled through the leaves, emitting a mournful, ghost-like wail.

A pale, paper-like hand rested lightly on Qin Changsheng’s shoulder. Qin Changsheng brought her fingers to her lips, gently rubbing them before lightly grazing her teeth against them.

Her gaze shifted, settling on the pale ghostly hand. What stood behind her was self-evident.

A tall, slender girl with strikingly beautiful features marred by gaping hollows. Her eye sockets were empty, filled only with congealed vitreous humor and nauseating, decaying flesh sunken into her face. Her translucent body, fragmented limbs, and the decaying flesh gave way to stark white bones.

“I’m in so much pain.”

The ghostly howl, torn from the throat, was piercing and mournful. Qin Changsheng turned her head and stared fixedly at the ghost of Yu Yin.

A ghost is a ghost. Humans may be pitiable, but once they become ghosts, there is no longer any question of pity.

Because a ghost can only be a ghost.

Unnoticed, the moon had risen. Its silvery light draped the surroundings in a veil of gauze, lending even the ghostly figure before her a faint, hazy quality.

The moon had emerged, marking the hour of the dark night, the time when ghosts grow restless.

As if teasing, the moon suddenly hid behind a dark cloud. The sky instantly darkened, plunging everything into near-total blackness. Faint green will-o’-the-wisps flickered around, eerie and terrifying, as ghostly shadows loomed.

Facing this bizarre and horrifying scene, Qin Changsheng frowned slightly. The old scar on her fingertip had not yet healed. With a sigh of resignation, she said, “I’m in pain too!”

As the ghost wailed mournfully, Qin Changsheng, her teeth white and even, bit down slightly harder, breaking the skin of her finger.

A drop of crimson blood welled up on her fingertip.

Confronted with the terrifying face of the ghost, its features flickering in the green glow of the will-o’-the-wisps, Qin Changsheng helplessly extended her finger, lifted her chin slightly, and commanded sharply, “Follow Jiang Zhongxue!”

All around, ghosts shrieked and wailed, their mournful cries echoing everywhere.

Qin Changsheng suddenly felt a pang of regret. She should have known better than to ask Jiang Zhongxue if she had eaten. Instead, she should have told her the information she had gathered today from Qingzhu.

“Have you ever heard a certain nursery rhyme?”

In the overpriced little eatery, Qingzhu was quickly calculating the value of this piece of information while also assessing how much the intelligence of Qin Changsheng and Jiang Zhongxue appearing together today was worth in cold, hard cash.

Qin Changsheng shook her head. “Just say it. I can afford the price of this information.”

“Strange and ancient, ancient and strange,
A grandson marries his grandmother.
Pigs and sheep sit on the kang,
Relatives boil in the pot.
A daughter eats her mother’s flesh,
A son beats his father’s drum.
The crowd comes to congratulate,
But I see only suffering!”

Watching Qin Changsheng’s furrowed brow, Qingzhu breathed a soft sigh of relief. Qin Changsheng’s reaction clearly indicated she had never heard the rhyme. Information unknown to her was valuable intelligence, and Qingzhu could now make a hefty profit.

“Legend has it that during Emperor Wu’s reign, Buddhism flourished in China. For weddings or funerals, common folk would invite monks to chant scriptures. Times have changed now, only funerals warrant inviting monks to chant. For joyous occasions like weddings or childbirth, no one invites monks to chant scriptures. In truth, this is a mistake. Whether for red or white events, one should invite monastics to chant sutras, transfer merits, and cultivate blessings. On one hand, it helps liberate the deceased; on the other, it increases blessings for the living.”

During the reign of Emperor Wu of Liang, there was a monk named Zhi Gong, a highly accomplished master possessing the five eyes and six supernatural powers, who could clearly perceive the causes and effects of past and future lives. Once, a wealthy family invited him to recite scriptures for a wedding ceremony. As soon as he stepped through the door, he sighed and said:

“Strange, strange, oh so strange,
A grandson weds his own grandmother.
Pigs and sheep sit upon the kang,
While six relatives boil in the pot.
A daughter eats her mother’s flesh,
A son beats a drum made of his father’s skin.
The crowd comes to offer congratulations,
But I see only suffering!”

What did this mean? “A grandson marrying his grandmother”, isn’t that bizarre? It turned out that on her deathbed, the grandmother had held her grandson’s hand, unable to bear parting with him. She lamented, “All of you have started families and careers, but this little grandson of mine has no one to care for him. Ah, what shall I do?” With these words, she passed away.

When she arrived in the underworld, the King of Yama judged her: “Since you dote on your grandson so deeply, you shall return as his wife to look after him.” Thus, the grandmother was reborn as the grandson’s bride. This illustrates how the karmic connections of cause and effect in this world can sometimes be terrifying.

Monk Zhi Gong glanced at the kang and said, “Pigs and sheep sit upon the kang.” Then, looking into the cooking pot, he remarked, “Six relatives boil in the pot.” It was revealed that the pigs and sheep once slaughtered by humans had now returned to devour people, repaying their karmic debts! Meanwhile, the relatives who had feasted on these animals in the past were now being cooked in the pot to settle their own dues.

“A daughter eats her mother’s flesh.” Outside, a young girl was happily gnawing on a pig’s trotter, the very pig had been her mother in a previous life. “A son beats a drum made of his father’s skin.” Monk Zhi Gong then observed the musicians playing gongs, drums, trumpets, and flutes, creating a lively atmosphere. One man was vigorously beating a drum made of donkey hide, and that donkey had been his father in a former existence! Thus, while “the crowd comes to offer congratulations,” believing it to be a joyous occasion, Monk Zhi Gong could only sigh, “I see only suffering!” In truth, people often mistake suffering for pleasure.

After hearing this parable, everyone should recognize the dreadfulness of killing and consuming flesh. Let us further examine the character for “meat” (ròu):

“Inside the character for ‘meat’ are two people,
One within connected to one without.
Beings devour the flesh of other beings,
Upon reflection, it is humans eating humans.”

If you look closely, those who slaughter pigs often have pig-like eyes. Why? Because they themselves have been killed numerous times in past lives, and now they return for revenge, yet their eyes retain the likeness of a pig’s. Those who slaughter oxen have eyes resembling those of cattle. Indeed, the law of cause and effect is precise and unerring. As the verse goes:

“For thousands of years, the broth in the bowl,
Resentments deep as the sea, hatreds hard to calm.
To understand the wars and conflicts in the world,
Listen carefully to the slaughterhouse’s midnight cries.”

Do you grasp the value of this story?

“This tale originates from Jishan.
Since you have come to the treasure mountain,
Do not return empty-handed.”