But I had another doubt. Fengdu City didn't seem far from the Bridge of Helplessness. We took seven stops, and sensorially, it was only twenty-odd minutes, similar to the frequency of subway stations.
Why did Wu Zhao's subordinate, Wan'er, say that going to Fengdu City to report to King Yama would take such a long time for a round trip?
Either Wu Zhao was deliberately stalling for time to show the difficulty of the matter.
Or, my perception of "time" had gone awry. Seven stops didn't take twenty minutes, but a long, long time. If this corresponded to the geography of the mortal realm, these seven stops would have been over a thousand kilometers!
I felt the latter possibility was more likely.
The closer we got to Fengdu City, the weaker the mist in the air became. By the time we reached the towering city gates, the mist had completely vanished. Not only that, but when I looked back, the area we had come from was no longer shrouded in mist. What we had traversed had become incredibly vast, not about a kilometer at all. If we had to calculate a kilometer, a kilometer away would not be a station, nor railroad tracks, but a vast expanse of grassland.
On the grassland, occasionally, a lone, giant tree stood, its species unknown. Each tree felt over a hundred meters tall.
I felt those were not trees in the conventional sense, but scouting posts, much like the signal tower outside the Mohe headquarters villa.
"Brother, why did you look back!" Bingbing tugged at my sleeve. "I heard the elders at home say that one shouldn't look back on the paths of the underworld!"
"Indeed, you shouldn't," I chuckled. "Because if you look back, you won't find the way you came. Don't believe me, look."
"What do you mean?" Bingbing asked.
I seemed to have understood. That mist was a kind of "carrier" between the underworld and the mortal realm. Within this carrier, there was no concept of time or space, or rather, the concepts of time and space were different from those in the two realms.
My understanding of physics wasn't very profound, but I felt Einstein's theory of relativity could explain this phenomenon.
Bingbing was still hesitant to look back and whispered, "Those two guards at the gate are watching us."
I turned my head back and looked up at the city gate tower, which soared like the Arc de Triomphe. Three large characters were inscribed on it: "Fengdu City." On the gate tower stood many armored underworld soldiers. They truly used cold weapons, all with white-tasseled spears. However, their helmets differed from those of various dynasties in ancient Yanxia, bearing a resemblance to the helmets of a certain country in World War II, creating a somewhat mismatched appearance.
Although the gate tower was large, with many floors containing windows and battlements, the gate itself wasn't very high, only about three meters. The two soldiers guarding the gate were dressed identically to the underworld soldiers above. Seeing Bingbing and me, they didn't question us like they had the old man and the child earlier. Instead, they directly opened the city gate and bowed to let us pass.
I didn't say anything and led Bingbing through the city gate. Inside was a long passageway, consistent with the height of the gate. This meant the gate tower wasn't just a decorative facade but a true building, about thirty meters high and about thirty meters thick.
As Bingbing and I were about to pass through the passageway, we suddenly heard a soldier shout from behind, "Sir! Sirs! Please stop for a moment!"
Thinking my identity had been exposed, I instinctively tightened my grip on the mourning stick in my hand and turned to face the guarding underworld soldier.
"Lord Wu, there's an order from above. We request you two to ascend the city tower swiftly!" the underworld soldier said, cupping his fist.
It seemed they recognized me, or rather, someone had instructed them that two White Impermanences would be arriving, one of whom was named Wu.
I hummed in acknowledgment. The Underworld Sheriff's Office and their underworld soldiers were, in a sense, on the same side. Just like the Yanxia army and the Shabia, they were official organizations.
After traversing the passageway, I saw a man dressed as a Jiang army soldier on the steps of the adjacent city wall, lifting the hem of his robe and descending with small steps. He ran up to us and cupped his fist, asking, "May I ask, which one is Lord Wu!"
"I am," I said. Wasn't it obvious? A man and a woman, even wearing matching couple's outfits.
"Lord Wu, please follow me upstairs!" the Jiang army soldier said, raising a hand. I noticed that the inner part of his forearm was not covered by armor, revealing the cloth garment underneath. The clothing was incredibly loose, as if there was only a single arm bone inside, devoid of flesh. Was he a skeleton?
Never mind, this was the underworld. There were too many ghosts in various states of death, and the ghosts of the underworld generally maintained the final form of their corpses.
"What about me, brother?" Bingbing asked anxiously.
"This is my sister," I explained.
The Jiang army ghost nodded. "You two, please."