Chapter 2462: Chapter 2460: Since Ancient Times, Love Leaves Only Regret
The woman turned her head and fixed her gaze on a man.
He was handsome and dignified, his bearing extraordinary, his whole person uncommon. The woman was briefly stunned, stared at him in amazement and said, "Who are you? How are you in our Yama’s Palace?"
The Ten Kings of Hell hurried to introduce, "Little Sister, this is the Emperor from the Yang Realm, Long Fei."
The black‑faced Bao Yama walked out, stood by Long Fei’s side, and immediately introduced him to the woman.
"No wonder even Emperor Fengdu keeps mentioning you."
The woman sized him up with a smile, then beckoned him in, "Alright then, since you’re going to help these guys settle their bill, come in and sit!"
Bao Yama and the other Yama Lords dragged Long Fei inside, grinning from ear to ear, all looking like they were about to fleece a customer.
Long Fei muttered in his heart, feeling like he had walked into a fake Yama’s Palace.
Weren’t these people in the rumors all supposed to be cold‑faced and iron‑hearted, never showing mercy?
This bunch of goofballs, one by one, really was a bit... unexpected.
After he and the Yama Lords sat down, the woman took out an account book and handed it to Long Fei. It was full of the Ten Kings’ tabs for wine.
The black‑faced Bao Yama smiled and ordered, "Little Sister, would our Emperor ever short you a bit of money? Hurry and bring some more Meng Po Soup, let’s treat our guest properly."
"You’re just trying to rip him off!"
The woman turned away unwillingly, complaining on Long Fei’s behalf.
Long Fei looked at her and asked the Yama Lords curiously, "Would this be Meng Po herself?"
"Yes, yes!"
The Yama Lords all nodded.
The black‑faced Bao Yama grinned. "What, not how you imagined?"
"Yeah."
Long Fei nodded with a smile. The Meng Po in the stories was always an old granny; this Meng Po was way too young, and even a bit feisty.
King Qin Guang lifted the teapot and first poured Long Fei a cup of Peach Blossom Mountain Tea unique to the Underworld, then introduced, "Speaking of which, before this Sister Meng Po attained the Dao, she was a famous figure in the Human Realm. You must’ve heard of her."
Long Fei asked curiously, "Who?"
King Qin Guang said, "Have you heard of ’Lady Meng Jiang Weeping at the Great Wall’?"
"Her?"
Long Fei had just taken a sip of tea; when he heard that name, he almost sprayed it out.
King Qin Guang said, "One look and I know you’ve heard of her. This Sister Meng of the Meng Family is pitiful as well. She was originally a spiritual fetus nurtured by a Wood Affinity Spiritual Root in the Human Realm, born from a gourd, and happened to be born right between the Meng Family and the Jiang Family. So she took both families’ surnames as her own. Later, for the sake of a romance, she came to this Underworld, and to this day she still hasn’t been able to meet her beloved."
Long Fei was stunned for a moment. No wonder the rumors said Lady Jiang could weep the Great Wall down—turns out she wasn’t of the Human Race to begin with.
Between Heaven and Earth, Wood Element demons mostly regard the gourd form as supreme.
It seems that the five Saintly gourds from the dawn of creation were all peerless Magical Treasures unmatched in the world.
Long Fei flipped through the bill and did a rough calculation.
The Ten Kings were basically gluttons. The bill recorded here actually totaled over a hundred thousand bowls of Meng Po Soup.
His head throbbed; he thought to himself that he was definitely getting slaughtered today.
He really shouldn’t have shown off in front of the beauty just now.
Meng Po brought out the freshly prepared tea‑soup. Bowl after bowl was crystal clear and translucent.
Compared to the Meng Po Soup sold in the restaurants outside, the quality of this broth was much richer and purer.
"Emperor, please!"
The Ten Kings all beckoned him over. Before Long Fei could even raise his bowl, they had already picked theirs up and started drinking.
Long Fei chuckled, then turned back to ask Meng Po, "Miss Meng, how much is the wine bill? What do I need to pay with?"
Since even the Yama Lords were running a tab on this stuff, Long Fei of course didn’t think it could be paid with ordinary Spirit Stones.
Meng Po waved her fan a couple of times, smiled at Long Fei and said, "Nothing complicated. One bowl of wine costs one Black Tortoise Spirit Turtle. There’s a main ingredient in my Meng Po Soup that’s extracted from the Black Tortoise Spirit Turtle."
The Ten Yama Lords grinned at Long Fei. "That’s not hard, not hard at all. For the Emperor, that’s a piece of cake."
"It’s just a trip through the Netherworld Sea. We simply don’t have the time, otherwise we’d definitely catch a hundred, two hundred thousand ourselves!"
"Brother Long, if you run into any trouble just say the word, we’ll give you our full support. It’s just that we’re a bit tied up lately, so we can only support you in spirit."
"..."
This lot was completely unreliable, every last one of them.
Long Fei was rather speechless. A hundred thousand Mystic Turtles—could the Netherworld Sea even have that many?
He asked Meng Po, "A hundred thousand Mystic Turtles isn’t that hard, but if I help you catch them, where are you going to keep them? You can’t really wipe out the entire Mystic Turtle Clan, right?"
Meng Po smiled. "Don’t worry about that. There are countless Mystic Turtles in the Netherworld Sea—one hundred thousand is just a small number. But you have a point: it’s not about quantity, but quality. Mystic Turtles also have their ranks. What’s recorded on this bill are all hundred‑year‑old little turtles. If you can fish up thousand‑year or ten‑thousand‑year old turtles, you won’t need a hundred thousand. One thousand‑year‑old turtle, I’ll count as a thousand little ones. One ten‑thousand‑year‑old turtle, I’ll count as ten thousand little ones."
"That’s not a bad deal."
Long Fei tasted the Meng Po Soup again, softly praising, "I was just thinking there’s an ingredient in this broth that resonates with my bloodline—so it’s Black Tortoise Blood added in. But this faint herbal fragrance—what’s that made from?"
He looked over at Meng Po.
Meng Po’s smile vanished; her face immediately fell. "Drink your soup if you’re going to drink, you sure talk a lot of nonsense!"
With a hint of anger on her face, she turned and walked away.
Long Fei raised an eyebrow and called after her, "It’s just a bit of cooking talk, why get mad?"
The Ten Kings smothered their snickers and quietly explained, "The Emperor poked at Sister Meng’s sore spot. That fresh fragrance is nothing else but Sister Meng’s tears."
Bao Yama drank his soup and started to sing in a nasal tune, "As the saying goes: one drop of birth‑tear, two mace of old tears, three parts bitter tears, four cups regretful tears, five inches longing tears, six bowls sickbed tears, seven feet parting tears, eight‑directions heartbroken tears. With these Eight Tears as the guide, the bitterness is removed and only sweetness left. Boiled thus, it finally becomes a fine pot of Meng Po’s good soup."
"Since ancient times, deep feelings leave only empty regret; the finest flavor in the Human Realm is a clear, quiet joy."
King of Chu raised his bowl with a sigh, shaking his head in sorrow. "Yu Ji, Yu Ji, what can I do!"
The other Yama Lords each followed up with a verse of their own.
They all put on the air of sentimental scholars lamenting autumn and mourning spring.
Long Fei was really drunk on this scene. Anyone who didn’t know better would think he was sitting with a bunch of poet‑lovers.
These were Yama Lords!
Could they at least act a little more like Yama Lords?
He downed the soup in one go, and his soul suddenly felt clear and bright.
Meng Po was of Wood Element by nature; her tears were essentially the Essence Blood of her body. No wonder this Meng Po Soup was famed across the world.
Once the Ten Kings finished drinking, they patted their butts and slipped away, completely leaving the bill to Long Fei.
Long Fei shook his head with a smile, stood up to help Meng Po tidy the table, and stacked the soup bowls together.
Meng Po watched from behind, frowning in surprise. She fanned herself as she walked in, full of astonishment. "The mighty Emperor of the Human Realm actually does housework?"
Long Fei chuckled lightly. "I used to do it often at home. I’m used to it."
"Then your wife must be very happy!"
Meng Po sat down, her face filled with envy.
Long Fei said, "When she was with me, she was a rich young lady and I was a poor kid. She never looked down on me back then. No matter how capable I am now, of course I let her have her way."
He wiped the table clean, then raised his hand and moved the bowls through the air onto the counter. Smiling at Meng Po, he gestured, "Let’s go, time to fish turtles for you!"
Comments