Xue Yang stumbled back in shock. His head pounding at the goddess' declaration.

"The underworld, the underworld" he muttered uncertainly, the word bringing warmth to his chest.

"Do not stress yourself," Ai said placing her hand against his forehead, ceasing the pain. "Your memories will come back once you're in a place that is important to you".

"That makes no sense!" He yelped.

"Can't control that unfortunately" Ai shrugged.

That caused the company to burst into laughter. The goddess was very friendly and she made them feel comfortable in her presence.

She walked over Wangji and made him hold his arm out.

"You're both wounded, I should be able to heal these," she said, her hand hovering over the wound in Wangji's arm.

Wangji hissed softly as the wound sealed itself back together, leaving no trace of the damage.

Ai did the same to the cut on Yingyue's face, prompting the same reaction from her.

"I will lead you to the underworld, since my friends are the ones who have control over the dead, and I'll convince them to help us since they owe me" Ai said calmly.

"But first I suggest you all rest until the afternoon, you need to recuperate for the journey to the entrance to the underworld is long, and I cannot teleport more than two people at a time, and we are not leaving anyone." Ai commanded.

She pointed towards a hallway on their right and said, "there are multiple rooms down the hall where you can all rest, and I will wake you when it is time to leave."

Xue Yang quickly guided Wangji to a room, since it was clear he was very tired, seeing that Yingyue wanted to speak to Ai for a little more.

"Lady Ai?"

"Yes darling? And please just call me Ai, no need for the lady." She replied looking at Yingyue lovingly.

"Why did you give me these powers? I never did anything to prove myself worthy of receiving them?" Yingyue asked, puzzled.

"Yingyue, you had already proven yourself worthy in my eyes after you decided to help a creature who you could have just left there, but you brought it back home and healed it." She said, rubbing Yingyue's arms.

Yingyue just hummed softly in acknowledgment, and went to follow her a-niang to the guest rooms to get some rest.

Ai just watched her go with a lovesick smile on her face.

〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️

After a week of walking, they reached the entrance of the underworld in the evening. The entrance was a small opening in the rocks beside a large lake.

There was lot of people finishing their work for the night, so Wangji hid himself as much as he could.

There was a strong stench of fish wafting in the air from fishermen coming in with their last catches of the day.

The faint buzz of conversation was heard from where they sat.

Wangji however, was very grumpy.

The stench of fish made him want to throw up, and his stomach was hurting!! He did not like the fact that his stomach was slowly swelling up.

"Yingyue what do we have to eat?" He asked hopefully.

"Ehh.... Let's see.... Rice, rice and.. guess what? Even more rice!"

"We don't have anything else?" He questioned, tears pricking at the side of his eyes. "A-niang please don't cry!!" Yingyue said, looking extremely scared.

She quickly scooched herself over beside Wangji and draped herself over him like a koala.

"Sorry" he sniffed. "I'm just feeling really emotional".

Ai snickered. "You're pregnant my friend, of course your going to be a bit emotional"

Wangji just huffed, rolled his eyes at her and leaned into Yingyue, who was silently shaking with laughter at her moody parent.

Xue Yang meanwhile was napping throughout this.

Time flew by in a blur of lanterns leaving the lakeside.

A loud crackling sound was heard as the entrance to Underworld expanded in the dark. Rocks were heard moving as the company quickly go to their feet.

Ai rubbed her hands together and grinned deviously. "Guess it's time to pay my best friends a visit".

❤️🧡💛💚💙💜