Statistics show that retired Cloud Knights are the most likely to be stricken with mara. I'm a lucky one. Having survived the Third Denizens of Abundance War unscathed, I've made it this far through life. I've even got a pension to go with my extremely low-ranking job in the Realm-Keeping Commission, whiling away time before I die. As long as I don't make a major mistake, there's no reason why this leisurely job can't keep me fed till the next Amber Era... probably.
Those schmucks in the Chancery always think I'm so careless, and that I make tough work look easy. They mockingly call me Dahao the Immortal. They even have a bet running about when I'm going to get picked up by the Ten-Lords Commission.
It matters not if they're long-life or short-life species. Youngsters all have no concept of things such as "the end of life." I'd do anything to see the looks on these schmucks' faces when the Ten-Lords Commission's spiritfarers show up to pick them up. It's a real shame that I will definitely depart before they do.
The Ten-Lords Commission... I know every Xianzhou person gets picked up by them in the end, but I've never fully understood how they do it.
There's an urban legend on the Luofu about how the Ten-Lords Commission will pore over the list of the dead, take people into the netherworld, then tally up your sins and merits. Unlike normal humans, those judges belong to the other side. You shouldn't even look at them if you run into them...
That's all pretty convincing, but when I think about it more carefully, there are a lot of questions:
Where exactly is this netherworld on the Xianzhou?
How do they know when mara is approaching you?
How can they know every minor thing that had happened in your life, and then rate you like a lyceum abecedary giving good or bad grades?
Ha, in the end, legends are just legends. All they're good for is tricking kids!
But I've actually seen the Ten-Lords Commission's spiritfarers before. More than once, actually.
The first time was back when I started as an orderly at the Realm-Keeping Commission. I saw a group of kids walking the streets of Drifters Sanctum with lanterns in hand. It was nighttime, and even the moon and starlight were removed from the delve's artificial sky. Everyone was locked safely away in their homes with not another soul about. Only those children walked in silence with lamps floating beside them, as though they were spawned straight out of the darkness itself. I knew the man walking behind them. He was my father.
When Dad turned
I realized he was displaying signs of the five decays and was on the verge of being stricken with mara. According to the rules, I invited an Alchemy Commission healer to do an outpatient run, still wanting to see if he had any possibility of recovery. The healer prescribed a few different medications, then looked me straight in the eye and warned me to be prepared.
"Prepared for what?" I asked the healer. The healer replied with a practiced expression, "prepare for your father to be taken away."
It was then I knew that Dad's time had come. I knew that everyone in Xianzhou has to face such a day sooner or later, but now that it was happening to Dad... everything just seemed so sudden.
I picked up the prescription from the table and read it again and again, like a master poring over a disciple's homework. The healer suddenly reached over and grabbed a corner of the prescription, as if to take it back. I understood her tacit intent: There is no medicinal cure for being mara-struck. But I remembered gripping that prescription tightly, muttering again and again: "Just try this medicine one more time. One more time. Just one more time." She pulled back her hand in the face of my stubbornness, and busied herself with preparing the remedy.
As expected, Dad never said another word to me after that, until he walked up to me with those children. Perhaps it was an illusion, but he seemed younger. It is ridiculous to suggest that a Xianzhou native could grow younger. Our appearance doesn't change once we reach adulthood — but our demeanor certainly can. Dad was walking briskly with a look of liberation and freedom about him. That dusty, lifeless look on his face was gone.
I opened my mouth to call for Dad, but the words got stuck in my throat. Before I could speak, he spoke softly and clearly. "Take care of yourself." It felt like he had recovered, that he returned from the brink of being mara-struck... But I knew it was just my wishful thinking. Those two children blew out their lamps, and in the blink of an eye, all I could see was darkness — as though Dad and those children had never existed.
I even forgot about my night shift, and just stood there alone in the darkness. A moment later, I suddenly remembered that prescription the healer had left me. I'd been keeping it in my breast pocket, but fishing around in there, I realized that it wasn't there anymore.