Chapter 53: Si Ming: The Defied Judge of Life (1)

Si Ming had never thought of becoming one of the closest crown prince's aides.

As far back as he could remember, it was during the wedding ceremony of a certain god in the Eastern Sea Palace. Their first meeting, the moment the infamous crown prince of the Heavenly Kingdom caught his eyes as he passed by.

The crown prince had just reached the age of eight hundred, grasping the edge of the manhood of a god. His dark robe stood out against the blue ocean kingdom. A long, flowing cape swirled around his built, muscular body. His facial features were hidden under his black mask with a faint, sparkling sheen. A symbol shimmered in crimson in the middle of his chest, it was the vermillion ruby, the gift from Celestial Empress herself. His emotions were clearly evident in his royalty blood. Proper, righteous, glorious, and mysterious at the same time.

Sadly, it wasn't the strangest or bizarre news about the crown prince's mask. Even though he had reached the position of a deity at such a young age, no one around the Three Worlds knew what the prince looked like behind that mask. Truth to be told, Si Ming was quite curious about him.

All great deities were strange, sometimes they had frightening powers, like the ability to control five elements out of their fingertips or resurrect souls back to life from the dead. Some bigger deities engaged in the boredom of their immortality even battling it out for supremacy. And particularly gods who wore masks to hide their true powers and thus avoiding the public.

Since Si Ming was a small god who illustrated manuscripts the Ninth Heaven had for the Human World, he tended to be a bit of chatter and gossipy. A nosey-parker in disguise.

How else could the Defied Judge of Life write magnificent stories then? Si Ming, for the god in charge of that responsibility, was just an observer with a brush on his hand.

Naturally, all thousands, even millions of written strings of fate couldn't have come out of anywhere. Every story held a muse of its own. All the joy, tragedy in a mortal's life were just alternate remakes based on real god and goddess' true events. The only thing more flamboyant than rambling about other gods behind their back was adding spices to the story. And that was a mortal life all about. Short, simple, and full of dramas.

His life was good; observing, writing, while serving the great honor to the Heavenly Kingdom.

All until Little Si Ming made her grave mistake in provoking the Goddess of Souls, which eventually led her into tragically becoming the prisoner to the Six Cycles Palace. Oh, how he wished to be not entangled in the mess his silly partner had done.

No one would be deceived as he had been. His partner in crime had just left him double loads of work. The reason for that was because Little Si Ming messed up with the fate of human life. No gods in these Three Worlds could bear the grave punishment if it reached the Celestial Emperor. Not if he couldn't help it.

Si Ming sighed. Sometimes, he wondered if he just let his partner reap what she saw. Fairies from the Hall of Northern Sphere would think he was a saint, going to save her partner just because of their long time working with each other, or because Big Si Ming actually developed feelings for the Little—

Ugh! He'd rather not think about that scandalous rumor. He was a devoted god who was immersed in his job in writing. There was barely his own time to think about his love life as he was busy writing on mortal's life and death.

The reason he had wanted to help Little Si Ming was her remarkable writings. Simple as that. She was a talented goddess to handle matters which were considered by the Heavenly Kingdom as trivial. She was his true source of inspiration to look up to, wondering how she could manage to write such a beautiful story for humans.

Basically, just a goddess he looked up to. It would be a waste to throw away such talents. But seeking for the crown prince's help was a move that Si Ming immediately regretted, for three good reasons. Or to say, he even regretted having the thought of saving his partner.

First, taken to be his burden to deal with Jie Moshu, Si Ming wouldn't have disobeyed the Heavenly Kingdom's rules on interfering in a mortal's life. If he was caught, the punishment would be severe. As a low-scale god, protecting his own life was important to him.

Second, he wouldn't have a double soul living inside his body. Sometimes, he had a hard time determining what time he would switch to a male or female.

Third, the idea of beholding with the crown prince's imposing presence was already fearsome as it was. Especially personally witnessing his determination to revive his dead wife back to life was something Si Ming couldn't resist in binge-watching. Although… he had to pay a high price for that. Going back and forth to the Human World was really wasting his cultivation Qi.

Oh, how he wished he wasn't a busybody.

There was something more than being observant. Empathy. Raw, savage empathy telling Si Ming's heart to be overloaded with a sense of justice.

It all happened after the crown prince helped Si Ming with the ordeal he suffered from that Goddess of Souls. Although he had given his word to write a good fate to the mortal in the Human World, Jie Moshu never asked him for who that favor was granted.

Until he was asked by the Celestial Emperor himself to be the judge of a grave punishment. Swallowing his guts, never in his wildest dream to find himself become the judge of his own savior.

The crown prince was caught red-handed trying to free his wife's soul that was imprisoned somewhere in the Eighteenth Layered of Hell's Dungeon, barging into the Underworld's territory without permission. It was told that he even let his wife escape to the Human World.

Out of fury, the Celestial Emperor stripped the crown prince's power off him and banished him to the Eighth Layer of Hell's Dungeon—the Ice Mountain Underworld. The very Underworld to punish those who disobey their parents' mandate. And for a god to have his powers taken away, meaning he was no less than the state of a mere mortal.

At first, Si Ming tried to ignore the images, shutting his emotions out. But with every passing moment, he grew to pity watching the crown prince's wretched condition.

Purple circles of exhaustions ringed his dark crimson eyes, a couple of rough scrapes marred his gallant features. He was chained, beaten, and cut. The bitter winter chill was like whiplash drawing a fresh pulse of pain, etching agony to his naked body. An inch of white frost gathered in his hair, large icicles hung off his chin and arms.

"Crown Prince, do you know your faults?" Celestial Emperor asked, clenching his teeth against the raging desire inside of him.

"What," he stopped, staring up at the great ruler of Ninth Heaven. There was no fear, just cold, hard determination on his face. "What fault have I done?"

Anyone else would probably have whimpered on the floor with his wounds, but Jie Moshu knelt very still, as though tidal waves of fatigue and gut wounds were no more of consequences.

The strength of such a young god fascinated Si Ming. He had never seen anything like him. A day in the Human World was the same as seven years in this Underworld. And he had been imprisoned there for two weeks without consuming any food or drink.

The Celestial Emperor frowned. "Very well then, I see that you have yet learned your lesson!" He made a half-hearted flick on his wrist, as he commanded, "Star Deity Si Ming! Extend his punishment as a mortal in this Ice Mountain Prison. I want to see how long he's going to keep that stubbornness."

"At your command," Si Ming managed to croak, still trying to suck as much oxygen as he could. An undercurrent of fear and stress colored his tone.

With that, the Celestial Emperor walked out from there. One swift, precise movement, and he disappeared into vapors that sifted through the thin air.

Whatever the real reason behind the Celestial Emperor against the prince's will, whoever that goddess' soul the prince desperately searched for. Si Ming knew one thing—damned with Sky Realm's rigid rules.

And to extend the prince's punishment? Screw that.

On an impulse, Si Ming waved his hand to undo the spell on that chain that bound both of Jie Moshu's arms. Oh, well, he was repaying his debt. His fingers twitched at the motion. Natural to feel shaky after releasing the Heavenly Kingdom's sinner, especially under the watch of the Celestial Emperor.

Despite his cowardness, he couldn't help the spurt of warm pride that filled him. Not that he dared to go against the Celestial Emperor, but because he had the chance to save a great deity. He was actually standing up for the descendant of a phoenix, helping him to find his wife, who was obviously in trouble because of that. Si Ming let out a breath, hitched up his robes, and crouched down in front of the crown prince, so they were on the same eye level to each other.

Jie Moshu's bruise tightened. "Wh-why are you helping me?"

"I've promised you to repay your kindness for helping me, to write a good fate for any mortal," he snapped. "Hear my advice, Your Highness. Reincarnate, experience the seven sufferings in the Human World. It would be better than having yourself chained in this prisoner doing nothing, right?"

Wariness shimmered in Jie Moshu's eyes. "Why should I when my memories will be wiped out?"

"You think the Celestial Emperor will let your wife safe and sound, hiding somewhere in the Human World?" Si Ming asked, bending down to examine his wounds. "True, with the laws of destiny, gods cannot intervene with human's fate. But it's only a matter of time that they'll hunt her down. As long as your wife is in the Human World, I can help you, Your Highness."

Ah, it was good to be the Defied Judge of Life.