He was suspended above what seemed to be a road that forked into two at the end. He wondered what it was when grey shadows began to appear all around him one after another.

Liu Xuefeng had never seen anything like those, and so, he stared at them curiously and watched as they soon took on human-like shapes. He noticed then that they were also drifting in the direction where he was heading. It was as if all of them were being pulled by an invisible force.

"Are these…souls?"

He was wondering if he truly had died, when one of those "souls" turned to him and he flinched, startled, upon seeing its hollow face.

"What's going on?" he asked out loud as soon as he recovered from his fright.

The "soul" that turned to him resumed its original position, falling in line silently with the rest of its kind, drifting without moving.

Dead.

Everywhere he looked were expressionless souls that behaved uniformly without any personality. Regardless of how many times he tried to search around, he couldn't find anyone else who was like him – the only one who seemed to act as if he was still alive.

Liu Xuefeng tried to stop and go against the flow for a moment, but the power pulling him was too strong to resist.

It did not take long for him to finally see his destination. He had reached the end where the road was divided into two paths. At the end of each course was a huge gate, one the color of ebony, the other ivory.

Black and white.

The gates to either heaven or hell couldn't have been more clichéd.

Xuefeng craned his neck to see that almost all the souls were flying towards the black gate and only some flew towards the white one.

Soon, it was almost his turn to step onto one of the paths. He was wondering where he'd end up when suddenly, a golden light flashed in front of him. Stunned, he was temporarily blinded by its radiance. But when he was able to focus again, he was surprised to see a golden ball in front of his face.

Xuefeng couldn't help but think that the thing was studying him – monitoring his expressions. He tried to turn from it, but as soon as he moved his face away, the sphere would also shift and follow him.

A little bit annoyed, he extended his hand to touch it or fend it off – he didn't care but was stunned again when his hand just went past through it.

He gasped.

He stared wide-eyed at the ball, as he felt its warmth in his hand.

"What are you?"

As soon as the question escaped his lips, he heard an emotionless voice inside his head.

"Come here boy," it commanded, and before he could even act, he was suddenly pulled by a strong force towards the white gates, passing through it in an instant.

Huh?

The scenery had changed again. Since he passed through the white gate, he thought that his must be heaven.

Well, probably…

At a distance, he could see a small queue of souls in front of two white-robed men. One was old and the other middle-aged.

Xuefeng noted that the souls at this place were much brighter than the grey ones flying towards the black gate earlier but none of them had a golden light hovering next to them like him. However, since he had no idea what he was supposed to do or where he was supposed to go, he decided to fall in line.

Soon, it was his turn. The two men in white robes were surprised upon seeing him.

"Interesting," the old man muttered almost to himself. "It's been a while since I have seen a fate law choosing someone."

"He must have accumulated a lot of karma in his past life," the middle-aged man nodded in agreement as he looked at Xuefeng in approval.

"Fate law?" It was all he could ask. He had no idea what these men were talking about.

"Boy, as you were chosen by the fate law, we can agree to one of your wishes," the old man informed him but it didn't clear his confusion.

"Er…" Xuefeng's eyes shifted from one man to another, hoping they would elaborate which they thankfully did.

"You are currently in a place called Middle Heaven. This is a place where all the souls gather after their physical selves die. After they come here, we split them into two groups: People with positive and the other, people with negative karma."

The old man raised two fingers indicating the number as he explained.

"The people with positive karma will have a chance to reincarnate directly. Those with negative ones will have to be judged before we decide if they should reincarnate or perish."

"Am I… Am I qualified to be reborn?" Xuefeng asked them. If they told him he was somewhat a "chosen one", then it meant his karma was positive, right?

"Of course," they answered, and he was relieved but not for long.

There was another question that had been bothering him. "Am I going to forget my memories after my rebirth?"

This made the men exchange looks before answering him. One even cleared his throat before he spoke. "Normally, before everyone reincarnates, they have to drink a special soup that will make them forget all their memories. But you can make use of your wish and keep them."

Oh.

"I wish to keep them," he instantly replied.

"So fast? Don't you want to think more? You can wish for anything you ever want – anything your heart desires," the old man prompted, urging Xuefeng to consider longer, but there was interest shining within his old pair of eyes.

But his wish was final, and he shook his head.

"I don't want to forget her…" he told them just as Xiao Tianshi's face flashed in his mind.

The old man nodded in understanding.

"Okay," he agreed. "Your wish shall be granted. But because the amount of memories is too huge, we must reincarnate you as a teenager. Are you alright with that?"

A teenager? He had already lived for 16 years, so he didn't mind.

"Sure," he agreed as he remembered another important matter. "I have one more question. Will I be reborn as a human?" he asked to confirm.

"Of course, or there would be differences in your body otherwise. Unfortunately, we can't get you back to Earth. Because you died, your life link to that world was severed. You can only reincarnate into a different realm. But don't worry, as a fate law holder, we will not mistreat you."

This time, it was the middle-aged man who answered before he lifted his hand and pointed at something behind him with his thumb. "If you don't have any more questions, you can go through the portal behind us."

"A-alright…"

As he didn't have any other inquiry, Liu Xuefeng did as he was told. He took one last good look at his surroundings as he thought of her once more. He had just been told that he no longer had any connections with his previous life. This meant he would never see her again.

His lids fell half-closed as his eyes glistened with sadness. He took a deep breath and flew towards the portal where he was told to go. As he neared it, the golden light that had been hovering near him all this time, moved quickly and sank into his skull without him noticing, becoming a part of the new him.