Jin Huang's jaw practically hit the floor.
King Yama. A being spoken of in many ancient legends, mystical texts and stories. Even someone like Jin Huang, raised in the sticks, knew about him. This was a legendary figure, on par with an ancient god!
And he was kowtowing to Jin Huang!
Panic overcame Jin Huang, and he suddenly found his teeth chattering. His fingernails suddenly seemed to taste quite good as he nervously chewed them.
"Uh... Uh... You..." Jin Huang muttered.
King Yama eventually raised his head, and smiled brightly, as though hope itself had chose to reside inside of him. "Tell me, what is your life like in the future?"
Jin Huang somehow managed to form intelligible words, and answered the question with as little stuttering as possible.
King Yama's smile gleamed, tears of joy already pooling in his eyes, "How lovely. How peaceful and beautiful. So you were able to get away from it all for seventeen years. Seventeen years. Do you know, you once were unable to get even a single hour away from your chaotic life? I'm so happy."
The awe-inspiring figure crying happily before him looked nothing like he did when he had been fighting Erlang Shen. Now, he looked more like a proud father or grandparent, doting and gentle.
Jin Huang found himself breathing a lot easier.
King Yama studied him closely, eyes tracing Jin Huang's face as if comparing it to a memory that refused to line up perfectly. There was warmth there. And regret. And something dangerously close to longing.
"I know you," King Yama said slowly. "But not as you are now."
Jin Huang's heart skipped.
"I've never been to Hell before," he said carefully. "I would remember."
"Oh, I am certain this you would," King Yama replied. "But the one I knew? He looked nothing like this. Sounded nothing like this. And yet…"
He reached out and placed a single finger over Jin Huang's chest.
"It is the same soul."
The words hit Jin Huang harder than any immortal's attack.
"S-Soul?" he echoed. "Wait, are you saying I--?"
"You have not lived just one life," King Yama said gently.
Jin Huang laughed once, sharp and disbelieving. "I think I would remember that."
King Yama smiled faintly. "No. You would not. Trust me on that."
The King of Hell gestured, and the space around them seemed to dim slightly, as though the world itself leaned closer to listen.
"You have stood in this realm before," King Yama continued. "Many times. Not as a trembling mortal boy, but as someone… burdened. Someone who carried time on his back like a mountain."
Jin Huang shook his head. "That doesn't make any sense. I'm seventeen. I grew up in a small village. I—"
"You died," King Yama said calmly. "And you were born again. And again. And again. Maybe more times than even I know."
Jin Huang's mouth opened. No sound came out.
"Reincarnation is not a neat wheel," King Yama went on. "It is not a line, nor a circle. For most souls, it is a river. Slow, forgetful and merciful. But for you…"
He paused, searching for the right words. "For you, it has always been a storm."
Jin Huang felt lightheaded. "How long have I been alive?" he whispered.
King Yama hesitated.
"I do not know for sure," he admitted. "But I know this: you once told me- long ago- that there was a rebirth which took you nearly twenty thousand years to complete."
Jin Huang stared at him. "That's... possible?"
King Yama's gaze sharpened in certainty. "You said it with frustration," he recalled. "You complained that time had become… sticky. That the world almost refused to let you go."
Jin Huang's chest felt tight. His golden energy stirred uneasily, as if reacting to the weight of the conversation rather than its content.
"Then how am I here now?" he asked. "If I've lived before- if I was someone important- why am I just… this?"
King Yama regarded him for a long moment.
"You escaped," he said at last.
Jin Huang frowned. "Escaped what?"
"Everything," King Yama replied simply. "Heaven. Hell. Fate. Responsibility. You once begged for a life where no one knew your name. Where you could breathe without the world watching."
The King of Hell smiled again, that same quiet, joyful smile from before. "It seems you succeeded. Seventeen years is no small gift."
Jin Huang felt something twist painfully in his chest.
"…You're saying," he began slowly, "that you knew me before I was born this time."
"Yes."
"And that I'll… what? Become that person again?"
King Yama did not answer immediately.
Instead, Jin Huang gathered his courage and asked the question that had been gnawing at him since he'd heard it shouted across a battlefield.
"They were talking about something," he said. "The Supreme Immortal Body. Erlang Shen was demanding answers. Is that… is that related to me?"
King Yama's expression sobered. "Yes."
Jin Huang tensed. "What is it?"
"A name," King Yama said. "A crude one, if I'm being honest. Heaven has never been very good at poetry."
He took a step closer, lowering his voice. "The Supreme Immortal Body is the designation Heaven gave to the only mortal shell capable of containing your soul."
Jin Huang felt cold.
"My… soul?"
"Your soul is not ordinary," King Yama said carefully. "It never has been. It is vast. Enduring. Excessive. No standard mortal vessel can withstand it for long. They fracture. Burn out. Collapse under the strain."
Jin Huang thought of his body adapting to demonic air. Of golden energy flowing effortlessly through him and how natural it all felt.
"So this body," he said slowly, "was built for me."
"In a sense."
"And without it?"
King Yama did not answer that.
Jin Huang bowed deeply, instinctively, the respect he felt overriding his fear.
"Thank you for telling me," he said earnestly. "Even if I don't understand it yet."
King Yama's eyes softened. "You never did," he said fondly. "Understanding was never your strength. Endurance was. I tried my best to understand the enigmatic nature of your body and soul, but could not find much."
Hopeful, Jin Huang looked up at him. "What did you find out?"
King Yama shifted, his expression somber, "Somehow, through a method that I'm afraid no one understands, a soul was turned out into the Three Realms. Upon its arrival, the Heavenly Daos could not determine how to exist alongside it."
"They gave it a denomination, but it gave itself shape, form... and power."
Jin Huang gasped, "The Supreme Immortal Body."
King Yama nodded. "In one of your lives- perhaps the first- you were thought to be the ruler of all things- Heaven, Earth and Hell. In others, you were thought to be a destroyer and tyrant. A dreaded conqueror. The records are inconsistent, likely due to the eras of their recording having long passed."
The world around them pulsed again, and some color silently crept back in.
King Yama straightened, the weight of his office settling back onto his shoulders.
"Our time grows short," he said. "Heaven is impatient, and it seems I underestimated Erlang Shen."
King Yama smiled down at Jin Huang, soaking up his visage before he reached into his clothes and took out a small black box lined silver.
"This is the only item of yours that still exists in my time. In a desperate attempt to end your cycle of reincarnation, Heaven eradicated even the items belonging to you."
Jin Huang raised his hands, the 'small' box easily filling them both. "Thank you, King Yama."
The towering being nodded deeply, "I do not know how many years have already passed between now and your time. Enjoy the peace you have found, but be mindful of this."
Behind Jin Huang, the rift pulsed faintly. He stepped closer, listening intently.
"You are more than you think. More than even Heaven thinks. The Grand Daos themselves have been out to get you since your first incarnation, and they will not stop now. I am sorry, old friend."
Gently, King Yama patted Jin Huang's head with a massive hand. "The peaceful life you wanted... seems to be even harder to find than we thought."
With that same hand, King Yama pushed Jin Huang back into the rift.
Jin Huang himself had frozen up. King Yama words struck some kind of chord with him, as though a part of him had always wanted to hear those words. Melancholy filled him even though he had no memory of his past, and as he passed through the rift he felt sorrowful regret fill him.
In no time at all, he was back in the abyss. Faint wisps of energy seeped out from the rift, but soon the energy sustaining it vanished and it closed entirely. The abyss was dead now. Devoid of life.
Tears fell from Jin Huang's eyes. He was sure King Yama's fate was much the same.