Chapter 16.1

Little Black unknowingly arrived at an uninhabited plateau within glaciers. He fluttered with the wind and tread on the snow without a trace in his magic shoes that helped him travel thousands of miles per day. He was the kind of person with no sense of direction. Only in a few blinks, he had already forgot which road he came from. The vast pure white in front of him seemed to show a dead end, but for some reason, an instinct guided him to continue walking into the mountains.

“Little Black—! Little Black—!” From a distance, an ethereal calling echoed, and the voice seemed to be Little White’s.

Little Black turned around and saw a luxurious ghost carriage rushing toward him in midair. Ceasing in a dignified manner, it halted firmly in front of him.

Sure enough, Little White jumped down first. As soon as he saw Little Black, he pouted and said, “Little Black, are you running here to escape the heat? Come back with me.”

“I’m not going back since I am already here…” Little Black lowered his head and seemed to carelessly digging the snow under his feet.

“Here? Where is this place?”

“I don’t know……”

“Then do you know where you’re going?”

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“R esd’v jdso. R fwpv oydv vs oyzj kdvs vbkp xswdvykd.”

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“Slyzzu?” Rv oyp vbl qkapv vkxl Nkvvzl Ebkvl pyke bl oydvle vs ts okvb bkx! Bpwyzzu, kv oyp Nkvvzl Jzynj obs ayd yqvla Nkvvzl Ebkvl.

“Xq nswapl, cwv R byhl vs xldvksd kd yehydnl vbyv usw byhl vs ts bsxl okvb xl obld vbl pwd tslp esod vseyu.”

“Xjyu!” Malxldeswp lmnkvlxldv qzypble kd Nkvvzl Jzynj’p lulp, y pkzzu pxkzl rzypvlale sd bkp qynl.

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G taswr sq rlsrzl oyzjle pzsozu kd vbl xswdvykdp, yrralnkyvkdt vbl pdsou pnldl. Nkvvzl Jzynj yde Nkvvzl Ebkvl oyzjle kd qasdv, yde vbl alpv sq vbl qyxkzu sq vball oyzjle wdbwaaklezu clbkde.

“Tlu! Twaau wr!” Nkvvzl Ebkvl qaliwldvzu zssjle cynj yde watle.

“I know!”

In fact, Pan Pan and the others did it on purpose. They just wanted to give more space to this pair of black and white.

Little Black still minded about what had occurred. He glanced at the people behind him from a little distance, then lowered his voice and asked Little White, “I– I broke your elder brother’s remains, you aren’t angry anymore?”

“What an improper remark! Who said it was remains? My brother isn’t dead yet! Maybe he has become some sort of celestial god in the sky!” Little White’s attitude was still fierce. 

“Oh, the treasure your brother left to you. I broke it, are you still angry?”

“I am still angry, but it’s useless to be angry. You didn’t do it on purpose. I’m not the inhumane King Yama. It may just take a while for me to be sad.”

“Little White, don’t be sad. You tell me the clues about your elder brother, and I’ll help you find him!”

“You?! It’s good enough that you don’t get lost. And you still want to find him?! Save it!” ‘Do you know how ridiculous you sound just now?’

“Little White, what kind of person is your brother? It’s alright to talk about it, right?… I’m not sure about finding someone, but I may get lucky, just like a blind cat that ran into a dead mouse.”

“Hey, even though you’re a blind cat, my brother is not a dead rat!” Little White made Little Black become spiritless again with only one sentence.

Seeing Little Black’s dejected look, Little White really wanted to laugh. If there was an idiot in the Underworld whose EQ was as low as King Yama, this person must be Little Black. However, Little Black’s temper was much more docile than King Yama’s.

As Little White walked, he looked up at the sky. In fact, he kept secretly not mentioning the past because his brother once stole a tomb sealed in the Underworld, which happened to be the tomb of Senior Chang Mu. Because of the involvement, Little White had the habit of not mentioning it. But many years have passed, all the past incidents have settled, and only clear memories were left. Looking at Little Black, who was always beside him, a sudden feeling in his heart urged him to share the past with others. Maybe sharing would be a happy thing…

“Well… my elder brother, he is about the same height as you. He is handsome and gentle. He likes little children, has strong mana, is very good at making money, and has long white hair just like me. He accommodates me in everything and wants to protect me in any situation just a little bit like an old hen protecting her chicks. I like to lean on him when falling asleep because his arms always make me feel very safe and at peace…”

Little White never talked about his brother to others, but today he kept talking about him along the way. Even Pan Pan and the others stretched their necks and walked up. Cang Qiong said with a sincere blessing, “Little White, I wish you would find your brother as soon as possible.”

“Thank you! In fact, my brother is your ancestor. If I find him early, you can also have a look at your ancestor as his younger generation and fulfill your filial piety by serving a cup of tea to him.”

“No. I mean, if you could find your brother, he can take you, the little human monster, away from my home and stop you from eating free food at my house.”

‘How dare you! You actually scolded your ancestor!’ “Dead Cang Qiong! Who are you calling a human monster?!”

“You are. Aren’t you a hybrid of a human and a fox monster? You can’t be counted as a human or a monster, so you can only be called a human monster.” 

Little White was furious that his hair almost stood up! “Pan Pan! Look at your godson, how did you teach him?”

“Oh, don’t you usually say that he is your descendant? Now you are blaming me? It’s unreasonable.”

“You…” There are some situations that even Little White couldn’t hold. He grabbed a handful of snow and squeezed it into a ball, aimed, and smashed it at the mischievous Cang Qiong. Pan Pan stood up as a shield to protect his son. It became chaotic when the three played with snow.

Little Black asked Kong Kong, “Why is the tongue of your Cang Qiong so sharp?”

“Yes, but he’s just a sharp-tongued person who is also soft-hearted and willing to protect the people he loves. In fact, people who have sharp tongues know how to flirt. And it won’t be lonely when falling in love with them.” ‘I really love him!’ Kong Kong smiled and looked very happy.

Little Black thought about it and admitted that Little White also has a sharp tongue, but he still liked him very much!

As everyone in this uninhabited mountain talked and laughed, they walked through numerous snow-covered roads.

When walking to a certain mountain valley, a particularly odd thing happened – Little Black, who was diligently looking for the way, disappeared all of a sudden! He indeed disappeared out of thin air. Even his laughter abruptly stopped.

“Huh? Where is Little Black?!” Little White exclaimed.

“I don’t know!” Pan Pan also felt awfully strange! Didn’t they go together?!

Little Black was laughing. But when he turned around, he found that the people around him disappeared! What was going on?!

“Little White! Pan Pan! Cang Qiong! Kong Kong!” He shouted out loud and turned around several times. He had no choice but to run back. But he only ran a few steps when he saw the four people who had just disappeared suddenly appear again and within reach.

Little White, who was looking for him, suddenly saw Little Black’s figure again. He thought Little Black was making fun of them, so he got a bit angry, “Little Black! What kind of invisibility act are you playing?!”

“I didn’t conceal myself! Wasn’t I walking beside you?! Suddenly, I couldn’t see all four of you. It scared me to death!”

Little Black’s expression seemed like he was lying, but in fact, he never lied. This puzzled Little White very much. Pan Pan looked at the mountains and fell into contemplation.

Kong Kong asked, “Is it a trick made by some ghost?”

Cang Qiong asked back: “What kind of ghost dares to play a trick on us?”

Pan Pan straight away figured it out, ecstatically clapping his hands. “Yes, that’s it!  I got it!”

“What’s going on?” Everyone gathered around.

“Come on, let’s stand together.” Pan Pan patted everyone on the shoulders and told them to stand up, and then ordered the pair of black and white, “Little White, Little Black, you should walk in the same direction as just now and walk ten steps side by side, and then come back.”

“Okay.” Although Little White and Little Black didn’t understand what was happening, they were still obedient and walked forward to the front together.

At a certain point, Little Black suddenly disappeared again! Little White widened his eyes in disbelief. ‘Why did Little Black, who was walking beside me, suddenly disappear?’

After ten steps, the two retreated again. Little Black reappeared at the spot where he had disappeared just now.

“Pan Pan, what’s going on? What’s going on?” Little Black couldn’t understand, and was a little anxious.

“Don’t worry,” Pan Pan confidently said as if he had already understood at least half of it. “Come on, Kong Kong, Qiong Qiong, follow the direction of Little White and Little Black, walk forward on that spot ten steps side by side, and then come back.”

“Oh.” Cang Qiong and Kong Kong looked at each other and proceeded in a very curious mood. But they did not disappear. After walking ten steps, they looked at each other, and the other was still there. Then they walked back, nothing out of the ordinary.

“Okay, very good.” Pan Pan touched his chin and then ordered, “Little Black and Little White, now hold each other’s hands, walk ten steps forward, and then come back.”

‘What are we walking around for? Pan Pan always likes to keep people guessing.’

Little White and Little Black held hands and walked ten steps. However, this time, the other party didn’t disappear, which was very unusual. When they looked back to see Pan Pan, they discovered that Pan Pan and the others were gone! It seemed that there was something strange on this mountain.

Holding hands and walking back, at a certain point, they saw Pan Pan and the others suddenly reappear in front of them again.

Little White walked up to him and asked, “Pan Pan, why did you suddenly disappear just now?”

“It’s obvious that you suddenly disappeared!” Kong Kong exclaimed in surprise.

“No one disappeared, but there is ‘another world’ here; it can be explained as another distorted space. Only certain people can enter this place.” Pan Pan finally began to clear their confusion. He pointed to a large rock in front of him and said, “Just now, Little Black disappeared at that point, which means that there is a door to enter this ‘other world’. It seems that only Little Black can enter it. But just now, when Little Black held Little White’s hand, the two entered this ‘other world’ together. It looks like Little Black’s intuition is correct, that his dream is really hidden in an unknown world. I remember that Little Black has no past life. His past life is likely there. Come on, let’s all walk forward, hand in hand. “

After listening to what Pan Pan said, Little Black was in a turbulent mood. He cautiously held Little White’s hand, feeling uneasy. ‘Will it be like my dream? Will there be a “Little White” like in my dreams…?’

Everyone walked forward step by step. After passing that point, no one disappeared. Pan Pan said that they should have already entered the other world, but the scenery around them hadn’t changed. There was no sign of peculiarity, except… there were a lot of birds chirping near their ears…

“Don’t tell me none of us have entered the other world, how can it be the same as the real world just now?” Cang Qiong kept looking around, hoping to see something new and interesting.

Kong Kong looked at his watch. It was almost twelve o’clock. It should be lunchtime. He ate all the sweets in his pocket along the way. “Qiong Qiong, I’m hungry…”

“Be patient.” As soon as he said that, they turned a corner and got into a thick fog, unable to see anything.

Little Black bravely pulled his comrades forward. After the clouds dissipated, the world in front of him became brighter. There definitely was something unexpected. 

After the fog, it was a world connected by ice and water. According to its geological features, it could probably be a forested wetland.

A thin layer of transparent ice was on the water. The refracted sunlight made the whole space glisten. Groups of white cranes and herons danced between heaven and earth, flapping their wings and singing cheerfully. The clumps of white reeds were covered with snow and frost as if carved out of white sugar, with a fragrant and attractive taste. Kong Kong saw Cang Qiong wasn’t paying attention to him, so he quickly picked a leaf and took a bite out of it. But it immediately turned into ice, melted, and flowed down his wrist; he couldn’t get a single bite.

“It’s amazing…” Kong Kong pinched his face, wondering if he was dreaming.

Pan Pan looked at everything in front of him with interest and hesitantly said: “This may be the ice reed… It is said that a piece of ice reed can form ‘another world’, that only animals can enter, and among animals, birds are the majority. Ice reed has the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, which can easily make the animals living in it become a spirit. Most of the singers and dancers in heaven are from the lark, oriole, crane, and heron living in the ice reed area.”

Kong Kong gazed at Pan Pan in admiration, “Godfather, you know a lot.”

“Of course, I’m the ‘Know-It-All’ of the Underworld’. Haha!” A few silver lights flashed quickly under the water. Pan Pan, with a sharp eye, found the treasure! “Ice fish! Ice fish! There are ice fish here!”

“What is ice fish?” Although Kong Kong didn’t understand, he was very excited. By hearing the name, he thought it must be edible.

“A super delicious fish! The meat is delicious and nutritious. It’s a rarity in the mortal world!”

‘I knew it!’ Kong Kong felt greedy and hungry, “It’s great! Can we catch it?”

“Catch it! Of course! I have never eaten it yet!” Mu-er once spent lots of money to buy a piece of it and made a soup out of it for Xu Dian. Pan Pan still remembered that kind of jealousy!

Pan Pan stepped on the thin ice and chased it, Kong Kong dragged Cang Qiong to follow him.

“Kong Kong, slow down, slow down!” After Cang Qiong had been dragged out, he was still a little worried about Little Black and Little White. But Kong Kong’s interest in fishing was so strong that he couldn’t bear to disappoint him. While catching fish, Cang Qiong occasionally paid attention to the pair of black and white.

Little Black and Little White have been silent for a long time since they arrived here. It was normal that Little Black didn’t like to talk, but it was a little strange that Little White was so quiet. Before he entered the other realm, he was quite noisy.

Little White stared blankly at the birds, but he only looked at the heron. After a long time, he asked Little Black, “This is your dream?”

Little Black dully replied: “Yes, this is the place I come to in my dreams.”

“You found your dream, how do you feel?”

“Nothing yet.”

“Um?”

“I haven’t found my dream yet.” Little Black dropped this inexplicable sentence, and then he walked towards the center of the swamp. Little White followed closely.

Seeing that Little Black and Little White were making a move, Cang Qiong hurriedly motioned to the two who were busy fishing, “Godfather, Kong Kong, let’s keep up with them. This place is enormous. Let’s not get lost. “

“Okay.” Godfather put his hands on his hips, panting from exhaustion. ‘The way this fish escapes is as fast as a torpedo. When this is over, we should catch it together with Little Black and Little White! I don’t believe that we won’t catch 7 or 8 fishes and take them home to make fish soup!’

After walking for quite a while, everyone saw a large ice mound. When they got closer, they could see that it was a “big haystack” made of ice reeds.

‘Why is there a pile of ice reeds here, and what is it used for?’ Little White was very puzzled. He just wanted to ask Little Black if he had dreamed of this thing before. But when he turned his head, he found that Little Black’s chest was violently heaving… He appeared very excited?!

Little Black walked forward without saying anything. He walked faster step by step. Those ice reeds were also notably odd. As Little Black walked, the ice reeds retreated layer by layer and made a path, as if they had eyes and legs. Two herons lightly flew up and landed quietly on the pile of ice reeds. They looked at the five people who broke into the ice reed marsh with a strange look.

Everyone followed Little Black until they reached the very center of the ice hill—there was an ice platform on which a person motionlessly lay.

Little Black hurried over. But when he saw the face, he was completely dumbfounded.  Little White who followed Little Black stepped forward to see the appearance and also became stunned. When Pan Pan and the others came together, they couldn’t help but shout in unison, “Little White?!”

Yes, the person lying on the ice platform looked exactly like Little White no matter how they looked at him. It was just that this “Little White” was a lifeless corpse. He was neatly dressed, with a serene expression, his pale face was bloodless. Just by poking him, one would know his body was stiff… So, this reed pile should be an ice tomb.

“How…how can…” Little White choked. He couldn’t say anything as his tears started falling down… He understood it must be his elder brother. However, his brother probably thought he was dead, so he buried his “corpse” here. The small bronze mirrors and small combs placed around were all things that he once adored… ‘But, where is my elder brother? Where is my elder brother?! Also, why does Little Black know about this place?!’

Little Black knelt slowly, reaching out with his hand and cautiously stroking the quiet face of “Little White”, his eyes were already brimming with tears. This action has appeared in his dreams more than ten million times. He used to think that he had dreamt of touching Little White’s face at night because he was thinking about it too much during the day. Now, it seems… it wasn’t the case. Little Black really hoped someone could come out and explain to him what the hell was going on…

“You… Who is Cang Sheng?” An unfamiliar voice interrupted everyone’s silence.

Everyone raised their heads and saw two lively herons stationed on the ice reeds. After flapping their wings, they turned into two white-haired teenage boys. They glanced at each, pointed at Little White, and asked, “Are you Cang Sheng?”

“No,” Little White subconsciously shook his head, and then pointed to the corpse, “I am not the person you are asking for. My name is Cang Ling. I’m Cang Sheng’s younger brother.”

“Who is Cang Sheng?”

Everyone looked at each other: ‘How could there be a Cang Sheng here? There is a Cang Qiong, do you want him?’

When Pan Pan saw that no one answered, he stood up and replied, “We don’t have a Cang Sheng here.”

“Impossible,” the child tilted his head in disbelief, “This ice tomb was built by Cang Sheng, and he is the only person who can open it.”

Little White wiped his tears and stepped forward, “I’m sorry. I’ve been looking for Cang Sheng, do you know where he went?”

“I heard from the seniors that the last time he left Ice Reed Marsh, he said he was going to the Underworld.” The boy on the left said.

Underworld? Wasn’t that their place?! Pan Pan hurriedly asked, “When did he go?”