Just as Jiang Lin realized something was wrong and prepared to help, the Meng Po in front of the Naihe Bridge moved.
"What are you crying for? If you don't want to drink, go stay below!"
Meng Po glared, and the ladle in her hand clanged back into the pot. The young wandering soul felt a gust of wind. When she opened her eyes again, Meng Po was holding her, suspended above the River of Forgetfulness. She looked down and saw in the yellowish-red river water countless souls writhing and wailing, their cries grating on the ears. Worms and snakes filled the gaps between the souls, crawling over them, burrowing in and out. A gust of foul wind brushed against her face like a brush, stinging her skin. Her cries immediately stopped.
Meng Po: "Do you want to go down? Do you still want to drink the soup?"
The young wandering soul hiccuped, "Drink! Hic~ I'll drink the soup! Please let me drink the soup!"
Meng Po flashed away, taking the wandering soul back to the soup pot. After watching the young wandering soul finish the soup and obediently leave, Meng Po's gaze fell upon the stunned wandering souls on the Naihe Bridge. She extended her hand, gathering ghostly energy, her clothes billowing without wind. A giant hammer materialized out of thin air. Holding the hammer, she slammed it onto the ground!
With a loud bang! The hammer had a shaft about three meters long and a head about two meters long and half a meter wide. When it struck the ground, the earth itself trembled. Meng Po floated onto the hammer, crossing her arms. She looked at the wandering souls on the Naihe Bridge with fierce eyes, her face ashen. "Anyone who wants to test the power of this hammer is welcome to come forward."
In an instant, the Naihe Bridge fell silent. The wandering souls who had been preparing to cry along trembled involuntarily at the sight of the giant hammer. They all shook their heads. "No more crying, no more fussing. Drinking the soup and reincarnating is the right thing to do!"
Meng Po: "Come up one by one, one bowl of soup per person. If anyone secretly doesn't drink or drinks more than two bowls..." Her eyes narrowed, "I'll kill them!"
!!!
The wandering souls on the Naihe Bridge gasped, leaning back in unison. "Holy crap! This Meng Po is too brutal! They say Meng Po is an old woman, and some say she's a beauty. But no one ever told them that Meng Po could be so violent and fierce! Shouldn't they be comforting and gently guiding them to drink the Meng Po soup?! This, this is too terrifying!"
"Hahaha, this Meng Po is so fierce, she fights if she disagrees, I love it!"
"They're all scared stiff, why is she so fierce? Can't I be a bit dramatic?"
"You don't drink the soup when I offer it, you want me to be harsh, right?"
Meanwhile, the viewers who were chatting and reminiscing about the past spat out their melon seeds when they saw this scene. "Isn't this new Meng Po a bit too fierce?! Won't she really scare the wandering souls to death?! Is this friendly?! That hammer really has presence! The hammer acted well, I'm not saying I'm scared, I'm just admiring the hammer!"
Hammer: "Are you being polite?"
In mid-air, Jiang Lin also silently withdrew his hand. It seemed that this generation's Meng Po, while not as strong as the previous one, was certainly fierce. With this ferocity alone, she could deter these wandering souls, and no one needed to help.
"Hahaha, the streamer says I don't need to act, so I'll just watch~"
Streamer: "These hands have nowhere to go."
"I just smashed melons with the Imperial Seal yesterday, which show-off will pass me a melon for the streamer's outstretched hand? (doge)"
"I just smashed six walnuts with the Imperial Seal yesterday, upstairs, when did you steal it!"
"If you ask me, the streamer should be given Xuxuan, can't stop laughing."
In the live stream room, a group of witty viewers started cracking jokes, gradually going off-topic. They became more and more enthusiastic, truly showing off their wit. They revealed their true selves in the bullet comments.
As for Jiang Lin, seeing that the situation below was under control, he moved closer. He explained his purpose to Meng Po.
"Someone from hundreds of years ago?" Meng Po crossed her arms and looked at him, then thought. A red-covered book appeared before her. This book was slightly larger and thicker than Jiang Lin's Soul Ushering Register. All wandering souls who had received Meng Po soup here would leave a record in it. This red-covered book was the most important item for Meng Po when handing over her duties. The pages rustled as they turned.
"What's the name?"
"Zhu Ying."
"The old man always said he was a sinner, unworthy of a name. He never mentioned his past. Jiang Lin didn't know his name. He only learned this name when the old man accidentally wrote it on the ground once."
Meng Po placed a hand above the book, and ghostly energy surged from her palm. A vast amount of information flashed before her eyes. In just a moment, she stopped. "In that era, there were twenty-three people with that name. Who are you looking for?"
While they were talking, the live stream camera automatically turned, focusing on the Naihe Bridge below, the River of Forgetfulness, and the wandering souls, each looking nervous, blank, or sad. Occasionally, one or two wandering souls could be seen changing outfits on the spot, dressed in burial clothes, looking beautiful. Most viewers' attention was drawn away.
"Changing outfits in a second isn't just talk!"
"It's over, it's over, I have a bold idea, I actually want to design makeup for them."
"Upstairs, I suggest you get a profession related to corpses (doge)."
Unbeknownst to the viewers, Jiang Lin condensed a mirror with his ghostly energy. After a ripple, the image of the beggar old man slowly appeared. "Meng Po, please help me see if any of them had any interactions with this person in their past lives."
Separated by yin and yang, never forgetting. Meng Po soup by the Naihe Bridge. Wandering souls, drink a bowl of Meng Po soup. All worldly affairs are but a fleeting dream. All wandering souls who drank Meng Po soup, while leaving their names, also left behind everything from their past lives. A lifetime of memories, all contained within Meng Po's book. Here, all the beauty of the human world is gathered. And all the sorrow and helplessness of the human world are gathered. The seven emotions and six desires, in a human's short life, pass by in a hurry.
Therefore, the previous Meng Po would always comfort: "Wandering souls, drink a bowl of Meng Po soup." But from some time ago, each generation of Meng Po became fiercer than the last. Not only in strength but also in personality and temper.
"You want to look through all of them?" Meng Po glanced at Jiang Lin, "That will cost extra."
"Okay, one hundred each."
"Deal!"
The next moment, ghostly energy emanated from Meng Po, her hair dancing in the wind. The pages of the book rustled. Countless scenes flashed through her eyes. Twenty-three people. That's twenty-three lives. Suddenly, the turning of the pages stopped. Meng Po retracted her ghostly energy. "Found them!"