Afterlife Department

Chapter 103 - Clouds

Seeing Huo Ling's relaxed expression, Yi Bing asked. "How did you meet them?" he wanted to know how can Huo Ling meet his worst friends. Maybe it's the people Huo Ling is attached in this life? He thought. He still hasn't forgotten his task – to liberate Huo Ling's soul from this world and send Huo Ling to his next life.

"Hmm…" Huo Ling hummed before he spoke. "I met Xu Ke first when my family moved to the city. I started my high school life there, and I met Xu Ke during junior high. He knows more about the city and he grew up in the orphanage. I felt pity with him, so I befriended him and gave him what I have in exchange of him teaching me about city life." He explained.

"So he started leeching off of you since then." Yi Bing said.

Huo Ling laughed. "Not really…" he said before he covered his mouth to prevent his laughter. "The next I met is Rong Zhe. I saw him wooing Zhu Min. Zhu Min rejected him so I comforted him. I gave him some advice and we became friends starting that." He said.

"And he leeched off of you." Yi Bing said and paused. "In a different area." He said.

Huo Ling just smiled before he continued. "The next I met is Su Lin." He said. "He's a top student and we're similar, so I made friends with him." He explained and felt nostalgic.

Yi Bing didn't say anything.

"Next is Ye Ting." Huo Ling continued. "I met him in our class and Rong Zhe introduced him to me." He said. "The last is Lu Ming. We met the second day and I only noticed we're actually classmates." He explained.

"Oh…" Yi Bing muttered.

"You've got nothing to say?" Huo Ling asked as he teasingly smiled.

"They took you for granted." Yi Bing answered. "Your kindness and intelligence." He said.

Huo Ling suddenly felt warm and he chuckled. Then, he looked at the necklace Yi Bing gifted him. I swear, I'll definitely find you in my next death! He thought.

Afterlife Department, Pathway of the Clouds.

Gu Shi took a deep breath before he took a step in the cloud. The clouds are sometimes warm and sometimes cool in your feet and legs. He took another step until he took his seventh step and the sea of clouds around him disappeared before it was replaced by a front of a magnificent palace made of gold it looked like the sun.

He climbed up the seven thousand seven hundred seventy-seven steps, but actually didn't feel the change in time and place. The time and space are irregular, even in heaven, thus Gu Shi knows it'd just be a few minutes that'd passed in the Afterlife Department when he finally reached the front door. He didn't dare use his soul attribute in Shen Taizi's domain. Their power came from him, anyway, so it is useless.

He saw two angels with four wings guarding both sides of the door. They're actually not wings, but the manifestation of their aura thus it looked like their wings. "State your name and business." One of the angels spoke.

"Gu Shi, the director of the Afterlife Department." He answered. "I am here to give a report to Shen Taizi." He explained.

The door opened and Ling Shiyi came out. His six wings behind him is blinding. "A grim reaper." Ling Shiyi said as he stared at Gu Shi with a scrutinizing gaze.

Gu Shi amiably smiled. "Is His Highness asleep?" he asked.

"No." Ling Shiyi answered. "He's been expecting you." He told Gu Shi before he cleared the way for Gu Shi to pass.

Gu Shi walked inside and the giant doors behind him closed. When he turned, he saw there are no roof nor a floor. There aren't walls, either, and the doors behind them has disappeared. There's only a straight and looked endless path before them where they are walking now. The roof was replaced by the blue sky, and the floor was replaced by the clouds. With the walls gone, you can see the sea of clouds.

Shen Taizi's palace is modeled from the Pathway of the Clouds. Breathtaking and beautiful, yet it also looked desolate and cold.

He didn't notice when but Ling Shiyi stopped and knelt. He raised his head and saw Shen Sheng was standing in the middle of the path and was staring at the drifting clouds. "Your Highness." He immediately greeted and also respectfully knelt. With what he did, he can only see the silky golden hair sticking to Shen Sheng's robes at his feet.

"Your Highness." Ling Shiyi called. "When did you arrive?" he asked.

Shen Sheng's eyes slightly narrowed and he turned to Ling Shiyi. "Disrespect." He said and frowned. Then, he flung his sleeve and Ling Shiyi flew back to where he and Gu Shi came from.

Gu Shi's eyes widened in horror and he didn't dare breathe. He felt the suffocating aura of Shen Sheng. He didn't dare move his lips, either. He had heard Ling Shiyi was favored by Shen Sheng among the angels, and they were intimate. Ling Shiyi can also be called as Shen Sheng's confidant, but now… did Ling Shiyi step out of the line? He thought and lowered his head further in fear.

"Report." Shen Sheng told Gu Shi.

Gu Shi calmed himself for a few minutes before he finally found his voice. "About the matter before, Your Highness…" he said. "I have Di San lead the team. Feng Er, Si Shui and Liu Lin will be going with him." He told him. When he didn't hear Shen Sheng speak, he closed his eyes and thought he had made a mistake.

"Rise." Shen Sheng spoke.

Gu Shi immediately rose.

"The Afterlife Department is my people." Shen Sheng said as his eyelids lowered and he stared at the cloud that touched his feet. "And they're my only allies." He said.

Gu Shi's eyes widened but he didn't dare look at Shen Sheng.

"I have hated the heaven." Shen Sheng continued. "Everyone." He said and turned to where Ling Shiyi had flown and never came back. He knew Shen Sheng must have locked Ling Shiyi somewhere for him to not hear them speaking. "Do you understand?" he asked and turned to Gu Shi.

Gu Shi felt Shen Sheng was urging him, thus he raised his head and saw the most beautiful face he had seen. Those long, golden eyelashes fanning his golden pupils like the sun's rays. "Yes, Your Highness. I understand." He answered and felt sad for Shen Sheng. He knew the heaven rejects him beneath the surface.

"Good." Shen Sheng said and then resumed watching the clouds. "Do you know why the Afterlife Department is up in the clouds?" He asked him.

"Because Hell was destroyed, there was nothing left of it. The gods were the one who created the Afterlife Department, and so they placed it in their residence." Gu Shi answered. The 'residence' he meant is that the gods live beyond the clouds, but the clouds are still part of their residence.

Shen Sheng nodded. "That's a fact." He said. "But, there's more meaning to it." He told him.

"If His Highness is willing to speak, this subordinate will listen." Gu Shi said.

"The clouds are the first thing to light up when the dawn arrives." Shen Sheng said. "But, even if it becomes dusk, it never darkens since there's still the moon to light them up." He said and looked at Gu Shi.

What Shen Sheng meant, Gu Shi understood. Clouds are the souls. No matter how will they be influenced, their core still remains.

"Clouds are like souls, but souls will never be like the clouds." Shen Sheng said, breaking Gu Shi's thought.

"His Highness means..." Gu Shi said.

"After the wind blew, the clouds disappear and dissipate. They will be replaced by new ones." Shen Sheng answered. "But, the souls remains, since their existence will never be erased." He told Gu Shi. "Clouds are like the souls. They can be shaped and become beautiful. However, souls can never be clouds. Souls will remain beautiful but the clouds' beauty can disappear." He said. "The most common between them is they are solitary. The clouds are drifting in a place called the sky while souls drift in the thing called life." He looked at Gu Shi. "Unless they found a home, the soul will forever be wanderers." He told him. "But, the clouds... they'll forever be drifters." he said.

The Afterlife Department serves as the resting place of the souls before they'll continue to their next life. No matter how far they'll go and how long they'll be gone, they will always come back. However, the clouds will continue to move, never finding its home.

Gu Shi nodded and lowered his head to hide the tears in his eyes. Shen Sheng saying the Afterlife Department is his people meant that he finds the Afterlife Department his real home. Shen Sheng is an anomaly, thus the heaven rejects him. He's above the Afterlife Department but below the House of Gods. He can never step in the House of Gods – albeit his father is the heaven's emperor.

"You may leave." Shen Sheng told Gu Shi.

For the first time, Gu Shi didn't find Shen Sheng fearsome. He's just another being that needed love.

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