The Jade Emperor and the Four Guardians sat around the round table quietly talking among themselves.
"The human world is in chaos." The Emperor sighed. His dark eyebrows were furrowed as he looked at the letter King Enma sent him stating about the overpopulation of souls in hell.
"The war has caused the death of many innocent souls who were not even meant to die for the time being."
"Gen and Bu, what is the best alternative to solve this crisis?" The emperor asked as he neatly rolled the letter and placed it on the table.
Gen the black tortoise looked at his other half Bu the white snake and nodded at her. Gen had a calm aura around him. He wore black sokutai. His waist long dark hair was tied lowly and placed over his shoulder. He closed his eyes and held his hand out for Bu to take.
Bu his counterpart wore all white. She had pale skin and grey eyes. Her white hair was adorned with golden ornaments. She closed her eyes and held Gen's hand.
The rest of the gods waited for the pair with baited breath.
Gen and Bu opened their eyes at the same time and shared a look with each other.
"The spirits are also getting corrupted," Bu frowned.
Byakku—the white tiger banged his hand on the table. His hair was white like Bu's but he kept them short. His golden eyes with dark slits burned with rage.
"I knew it!" He exclaimed.
The Jade Emperor blinked at Byakku's loud action.
"Byakku?"
Byakku's golden eyes with slit pupils flashed angrily. He gritted his teeth flashing his canines.
"Izanami is planning something!" Byakku explained, "She has been luring the smaller and weaker spirit with promises of great power. The greed alone corrupted the spirits. She even got hold of—"
Byakku sucked in a deep breath. He leaned against his chair. He covered his mouth and looked away from the group.
The rest of the gods nervously looked at each other. Seriyu—the blue dragon, leaned against his chair and looked back at Bu. His movement felt like the element he was in charge of. He was graceful like water. His blue green eyes lingered at Byakku sympathetically and looked back at Bu.
"I am assuming Bu also has a solution for this."
Bu cleared her throat and nodded.
"The earth doesn't lack any human souls. So, we can transform the souls who have died, into spirits we have lost."
The Jade Emperor hummed in satisfaction.
"The cycle will be restored this way."
The Jade Emperor turned to Sazuka—the red Phoenix and spoke.
"Sazuka please pass my message to King Enma and tell him to judge the souls in the underworld. He can keep the souls who have accumulated more bad karma. And you can guide the souls with more good karma back to heaven for transformation."
"Yes, your majesty," Sazuka said and stood up.
With a flash of fire, Sazuka was gone.
The Jade Emperor looked at Byakku and gave Seriyu a look.
"As for Byakku, you and Seriyu can go and investigate the case of all the corrupted spirits." The Jade Emperor instructed.
Byakku stood up with a curt nod and looked at Seriyu who slowly stood up much to Byakku's irritation. Both of them disappeared leaving nothing but a smoke of white and blue swirling in the air.
"Gen, please make a list of all the missing guardian spirits."
Gen turned his dark eyes at Bu. He gave her hand a squeeze and softly said, "I'll be back."
Since Gen and Bu were born they have been worshipped together. And are called Genbu, they were highly dependent on each other.
Bu gave him a small smile and Gen disappeared, leaving behind a black smoke.
"Bu?" The Jade Emperor called.
Bu looked at the Jade Emperor.
"Your majesty?"
"You saw something more in Gen's mind, didn't you?" The Jade Emperor asked.
Bu smiled, her grey eyes flashing with a hint of excitement.
"Gen, unintentionally sees a random human's future by mistake." Bu explained. She rested her right hand arm on the table and twirled her snow white hair with her index finger and smiled.
"I saw a human and a spirit's love story."
The Jade Emperor sighed, he rubbed the side of his forehead, his golden ornaments clicked together at the movement.
"And here I thought you saw something threatening." He said.
Bu giggled.
"But it's sad," Bu said.
Jade Emperor smiled.
"Well, it is forbidden for a spirit to be together with a human."
Bu looked at the Jade Emperor and raised her eyebrows.
"Why did you make such a ridiculous law?" She asked.
The Jade Emperor laughed, his loud and rich laughter echoed through the garden.
"It is for their own good," he said, "Humans live short lives and spirits live on forever. It would be painful knowing the person you love will die and wait and look for them and their new incarnation only to realise they no longer remember you."
Bu hummed at the emperor's explanation.
"Can you make an expectation for this?" She asked.
The Jade Emperor just gave her a mysterious smile.
"Depends."
