Chapter 1

The elders often say that when a person dies, they don't just disappear! There is a world similar to the human world where the dead live. After death, beings wait in that place to be reborn, cycling through reincarnation. Therefore, the oldest elder in the village often mutters, "Life is the beginning of death; death is not the end of life! The cycle continues!" From my observations, it seems that the more fearless a being is, the longer they can live. Many who were younger than this elder have already passed away in several waves! Yet, he still frequently appears in the village, greeting his neighbors or telling nearly forgotten stories to the children gathered around his knees.

The place where people live is called the human world, also known as the Yang World. After death, the so-called souls, referred to as 'ghosts,' live in the Underworld, also known as the Yin World.

Before the Three Lives Stone, one's three lives are verified,

On the Bridge of Sighs, one laments the Bridge of Sighs,

In the Yellow Springs, one's sins are cleansed,

On the Rebirth Platform, one undergoes reincarnation.

When a person comes into this world, they go through ten months of pregnancy, forming a physical body, and then undergo a long period of learning, developing intelligence, from infancy to adulthood. After a hundred years, they weaken and age, then return to the Underworld, and the cycle continues.

After death, one must recall all their past experiences before the Three Lives Stone, then drink the soup prepared by Meng Po on the Bridge of Sighs, forgetting their past, and cross the Bridge of Sighs over the Yellow Springs, thus cleansing their intelligence and becoming a pure soul, like a blank sheet of paper. Then, the ghosts are cleansed of their past sins by the Yellow Springs water, and finally, they step onto the Rebirth Platform to be reincarnated.

Some say that Meng Po's soup is made from the water of the Yellow Springs and the leaves and flowers of the Red Spider Lily. However, it's important to know that just collecting the leaves and flowers of the Red Spider Lily, which never meet, takes a thousand years. The soup not only has the power to make one forget but also brings the joy of the leaves and flowers finally meeting.

As for the Yellow Springs, it is the most unique existence in the Yin World, and it's not an exaggeration to say that it is the foundation of the Yin World. It separates the Yin and Yang worlds, nurtures the Yin World, provides a place for the souls of the dead to rest, and prevents the Yang World from being disrupted by malevolent entities. Meng Po's soup can make one forget, and the Yellow Springs water can cleanse sins, but where do the forgotten and cleansed experiences, good and evil, wisdom, knowledge, and perceptions go? This is a question that many have sought to answer for millions of years.

Everyone knows that water can clean the body and wash away dirt, which is visible and can be cleaned off the body. But what about the soul's perceptions, experiences, knowledge, emotions, good and evil? They are forgotten and cleansed, but where do they go? As long as something exists, it must leave a trace. In this world, there is no such thing as 'absolute.'

Want to know?

They are all in the deepest part of the Yellow Springs, gathering there for hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, and even millions of years!

Time is a wondrous existence. Its wonder lies in its ability to make even the hardest stone nod, to give life to inanimate objects, to make the stars in the sky revolve, and to make the earth's dragons and snakes rise and fall, transforming the sea and the land.

And time has also nurtured a lotus with three blossoms in the deepest part of the Yellow Springs!

The three lotuses, each of a different color: black, white, and a small, crystal-clear lotus.

The black lotus gathers all the evil, sins, malevolence, sorrow, evil thoughts, and hatred from the Yellow Springs. The white lotus, in contrast, embodies all that is good. The crystal lotus, which is only half the size of the black and white lotuses, is formed from the forgotten knowledge and fragmented information in the Yellow Springs. It has no memory, no good or evil, no perception, and is a pure condensation of knowledge, like a vast, unorganized library.

Time has witnessed countless cycles of reincarnation, the alternation of the sun, moon, and stars, and the transformation of the world from sea to land and back again. Everything is changing. One day, the white lotus developed intelligence and observed the other two lotuses. After an unknown period, as a parting gift, it gave the crystal lotus 'hope' and the black lotus 'love.' Then, it broke free from the lotus stem, transformed into a white mist, and disappeared into the Yellow Springs.

After an unknown period, the black lotus and the crystal lotus also developed intelligence. The black lotus was about to leave and gave the crystal lotus 'desire' and 'emotion' as parting gifts. This made the crystal lotus, which had already developed consciousness, very happy. It thought the black lotus was better to it than the white lotus, who had only given it one gift, while the black lotus had given it two. Because they were on the same stem, the black lotus easily knew the crystal lotus's thoughts and, with a speechless glance, transformed into a black smoke and disappeared into the Yellow Springs.

The departure of the black and white lotuses did not affect the crystal lotus much. Slowly, it began to experience the 'seven emotions and six desires' and felt lonely. To make itself feel better, it opened the gift from the white lotus.

The crystal lotus eventually had the same thought as the white lotus and the black lotus, wanting to leave the Yellow Springs. It moved its still small body, dragging the heavy lotus stem, aimlessly wandering in the Yellow Springs, hoping to find a way out.