Chapter 212.2: Underworld Officers
Pei Shouji felt as though his entire worldview had been shattered.
“How could this happen…? Is there no one to deal with this?”
“How are we supposed to deal with it? There are hundreds of millions, perhaps even over a billion souls wandering around in various places. Just how many evil ghosts could emerge from among them?”
The City God of Tianjiang Prefecture couldn’t stop giving bitter laughs.
“Now that the Reincarnation Bureau is gone, killing evil ghosts consumes far too much divine power. Even if the City Gods in various regions manage to capture them, there’s nowhere to imprison them. On top of that, people are dying everywhere, and new souls keep appearing. We don’t even have anywhere to put them all!”
Pei Shouji could now understand the City God’s predicament. This really was an intractable problem.
“Then what about the various Daoist temples?”
“The Daoist temples have all sent people to help, but as I said, evil ghosts can grow stronger by devouring souls. Unless we’re willing to steel our hearts and kill every single soul in this world, evil ghosts will continue to emerge without end.”
“But even if we were willing to do that, there are over a billion souls already wandering around. More souls continue to appear as people die in the living world. How long would it take our fellow cultivators to kill them all?”
Just listening to the City God describe the situation plunged Pei Shouji into utter despair.
No wonder the City God had said the world was in chaos. If things continued this way, it probably wouldn’t be long before the chaos spread beyond the world of the dead and into the living world as well.
“What about the Heavenly Dao…? Surely the Heavenly Dao isn’t just ignoring all this?”
Even though Pei Shouji had been nothing more than an ordinary mortal, he knew that time, fate, and all things in existence were governed by the Heavenly Dao.
What child hadn’t grown up hearing stories about wicked demons wreaking havoc, accumulating too much evil karma, and ultimately being struck dead by heavenly lightning?
This time, the City God fell silent for a while before finally speaking in a quiet voice.
“Some of my fellow officials suspect… that the Heavenly Dao has already perished. The inexplicable collapse of the Reincarnation Bureau may have been a warning.”
Pei Shouji fell silent as well.
That was the Heavenly Dao!
It wasn’t merely the Heavenly Dao of ordinary people. It was also the Heavenly Dao of the divine world. And yet… the Heavenly Dao had actually perished??
He wanted to say something, but for a moment, he genuinely couldn’t find any words. All he could manage was a bewildered, “Thank you for saving me, Lord City God…”
The City God of Tianjiang Prefecture must have already had more than enough troubles of his own, yet he had still expended divine power to save Pei Shouji. This was a life-saving act of immense kindness.
“There’s no need to thank me. You were a good person throughout your life, Master Pei, and your soul carries faith power. If that evil ghost devoured you, its cultivation would undoubtedly increase tremendously. I’m afraid its next move would be to raze my City God Temple to the ground. By saving you, I’m also saving myself.”
At this, Pei Shouji no longer had the heart to exchange polite words. He, too, gave a couple of bitter laughs.
“I thought you had saved me because I had always shown you reverence while I was alive, Lord City God.”
The City God’s voice grew despondent.
“How many thousands or tens of thousands of people like you have shown me reverence while they were alive? I’ve failed in my duty as the City God of Tianjiang Prefecture. Their souls are devoured after death, yet I, their City God, am powerless to do anything about it.”
“Let me be honest with you. The Day and Night Patrol Gods in the City God Temple are both severely injured, and I’ve been suppressed within Tianjiang Prefecture myself. I can’t leave the prefecture at all. Today, I took the risk of saving you not only because I feared that the evil ghost would become much stronger after devouring you, but also because you had a good reputation during your lifetime. There’s a good chance the people will worship you after your death. If you can become a Yin Deity then, you’ll be another source of support for Tianjiang Prefecture.”
Pei Shouji felt his heart grow unbearably heavy as he listened. An overwhelming sense of terror coiled around him.
He had considered the possibility that he might never open his eyes again after death. He had even considered that perhaps he wouldn’t be reborn as a human in his next life.
But he’d never imagined that even after dying, he’d still have to fight evil ghosts.
And on top of that, he would have to face this endless despair.
His despair wasn’t just for his own sake. It was also for his family.
His family was still alive, but sooner or later, they would die, too. Wouldn’t they then have to face the same fate? Their souls would be devoured by evil ghosts after death, and despite never having committed any evil deeds, they would still be reduced to nothingness.
Tianjiang Prefecture was already a major prefectural city, yet even its City God was struggling to hold on. What about the counties? The villages?
From the sound of it, this was a battle they simply couldn’t win.
Pei Shouji’s thoughts were in complete disarray when the City God of Tianjiang Prefecture, who had been speaking normally just moments earlier, suddenly shushed him again.
“Shh! Don’t speak!”
Pei Shouji immediately held himself perfectly still and focused his mind, even though, technically speaking, he no longer needed to breathe.
Earlier, when they had been chased by the black mist, he had been nervous but hadn’t really understood what was happening. Now that he knew the truth, his entire soul was taut with tension.
A cloud of black mist slowly descended to the ground. Once it landed, it took the shape of a partially formed humanoid creature with roughly a hundred heads, dozens of arms, and dozens of legs.
Black qi radiated from its entire body. Its feet resembled those of a black dog, while its claws looked like those of tigers and leopards. Each of its heads was pointed, with a protruding muzzle. It hunched forward slightly as it walked, seemingly sniffing around for something.
Hidden inside the little clay doll, Pei Shouji desperately wished he could burrow straight into the earth. Unfortunately, he couldn’t move a single inch. All he could do was try his hardest not to make a sound.
The multi-headed evil ghost drew closer and closer.
Only when it approached did Pei Shouji realize that its eyes contained multiple pupils. Some were black, others blood-red, and some were even rotting away.
If he had encountered such a monster while he was still alive, he would undoubtedly have screamed at the top of his lungs.
Of course, he wanted to scream now, too. He was simply forcing himself to hold it in.
The multi-headed evil ghost continued sniffing around. This household raised chickens, and when the creature passed by their coop, the chickens inside began clucking in terror, scrambling to huddle as far back inside as possible.
The evil ghost cautiously circled the chicken coop, sniffing around several times. Only after finding nothing did it stride away. It even sniffed each and every one of the beans drying in the courtyard.
Pei Shouji grew increasingly nervous. Given how meticulously the evil ghost was searching, it would certainly sniff the two clay dolls if it spotted them.
Sure enough, it slowly approached the spot where the clay dolls were hiding.
First, it sniffed the large tree beside them. As though it had caught the faintest trace of a scent, it circled the tree several times. Then, without warning, its thick neck, crowned with a hundred heads, suddenly detached from its body and rose into the air.
Pus and blood dripped from it, and several fingers could even be seen wriggling slowly within the mess.
Pei Shouji nearly threw up. He hurriedly shut his “eyes,” forcing himself not to look any further.
The evil ghost’s heads floated above the tree, searching through the branches and leaves one section at a time.
After a while, the heads dropped back onto its body with a sharp crack. The evil ghost rolled its neck, then turned its gaze toward the two clay dolls on the ground.
It seemed to have caught a much stronger scent. Suddenly, all one hundred heads began sucking in great gulps of air, drool spilling from their mouths.
Having locked onto its targets, the evil ghost strode toward the two clay dolls.
Pei Shouji had only just opened his eyes when he witnessed this scene. Before he could react, he heard the City God shout urgently beside him.
“Damn it! It found us!”
A flash of white light streaked across his vision. The City God grabbed his arm again, attempting to carry him into the air.
But halfway through their ascent, countless heads from the evil ghost shot forward and clamped their jaws tightly onto various parts of the City God’s body.
The City God let out a scream. White mist poured from him in all directions, yet it still couldn’t hold back the ever-growing number of heads with their blue-green faces and protruding fangs.
His body grew heavier and heavier as the heads dragged him downward. Even his arms, which had still been struggling to fight back with a few attacks, gradually lost their strength.
“Lord City God!!”
Pei Shouji hurriedly tried to pull him away, only to be dragged down with him.
When a soul hit the ground, even if it had been knocked out of the air, the impact was still light and weightless.
It didn’t hurt, but his entire body seemed to grow weak in an instant.
Pei Shouji could still stand, but the City God, who had borne the brunt of the attack, was already lying on the ground, unable to get back up.
Without thinking, Pei Shouji stepped in front of the City God, staring at the evil ghost with fear and fury.
The evil ghost let out a piercing shriek. It sounded as though the voices of men and women, young and old, were all crying out at once. The voices were indistinct, yet listening to them made his head ache.
“What powerful virtuous energy… A man of great virtue in life…”
“Hahahahahaha! Once I’ve eaten you, even that divine capital won’t be beyond my reach!”
The black mist surrounding them was almost like a towering wall, trapping the man and the god within. A fierce wind began to howl around them, so strong that Pei Shouji couldn’t keep his eyes open. As the evil ghost opened its enormous mouth, his soul began drifting uncontrollably toward it.
But he had barely floated half a meter when the sinister wind abruptly stopped.
Pei Shouji opened his eyes and saw streaks of golden light bursting from the walls of black mist around them, as though shining through cracks between bricks.
More and more golden light appeared, and the “cracks” grew wider and wider. Then, in the next instant, the black mist shattered violently, and brilliant golden light blazed forth, dazzling him so badly that he could barely keep his eyes open.
All he could hear was someone shouting in a loud, commanding voice:
“Underworld officers are here! By order of Youdu, we have come to escort Pei Shouji of Tianjiang Prefecture. Throughout his life, he conducted his business with integrity, aided the poor and rescued those in distress, and performed countless good deeds. His merits are recorded in the Jade Register of Luofeng. We have been ordered to guide him to the afterlife!”
Pei Shouji struggled to open his eyes. Amid the golden radiance, he saw two divine beings, one on his left and one on his right.
One wore white, the other black. Both wore tall hats and carried enormous chains with iron hooks attached to their ends. Bronze plaques hung at their waists as they slowly emerged from the golden light.
The evil ghost was equally blinded by the radiance. All one hundred heads squeezed their eyes shut, and a garbled voice rang out, as though they had been blinded:
“What is this…?”
In the next instant, thick iron chains wreathed in golden light coiled around its body.
The white-clad figure rebuked it sharply.
“Brazen evil ghost! You have wreaked havoc among the living, devoured souls, and set your sights on a soul of great virtue. Your sins are multiplied a thousandfold! Even if you bow your head and confess your crimes today, Youdu will show you no mercy!”
Pei Shouji had never heard of Youdu before, but he had no time to dwell on what it was. Squinting against the dazzling golden light, he watched the scene unfold, assuming the two sides were about to engage in a fierce battle.
But who could have expected the two figures in black and white to work together with such perfect coordination? One pulled the chains taut while the other raised an enormous iron staff.
“AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!”
The piercing shriek rang out once more. This time, however, it was the evil ghost screaming in agony.
With a single swing, the staff burst with golden light, and the evil ghost shattered into countless pieces on the spot, until its soul was completely obliterated.
Pei Shouji stared in utter astonishment.
The evil ghost’s heads, which had been clamped onto the City God’s body behind him, vanished in an instant as well. Freed from their restraint, the City God lay sprawled on the ground, his face filled with shock. Even though he was no longer among the living, he actually rubbed his eyes to make sure what he was seeing wasn’t an illusion.
The two figures in black and white robes put away their chains and staff. The intense golden radiance surrounding them gradually softened, though it remained brilliant. They turned and calmly looked at Pei Shouji.
“Virtuous soul Pei Shouji of Tianjiang Prefecture, come with us.”
“Pass through the Ghost Gate and proceed to the Luofeng Netherworld Palace, Office of Youdu, where your merits and transgressions throughout your life will be assessed, and your destination in the cycle of reincarnation determined.”
