Chapter 97

"Plant gu in them? What for?" The underworld emissary and Ting He spoke almost in unison.

"If we don't, how else do you expect to make them obey?" Lin Yu looked at them as if they were being dense. "You think you can talk them into turning traitor?"

"You think these people are saints? That we can persuade them, have them weep bitter tears for the so-called salvation of the world, and then renounce their Xianzun and join our side?"

Lin Yu kept walking. "Don't be naive. Since we're sparing their lives, we might as well put them to use. Otherwise, what's the point of keeping them? Might as well kill them all and save ourselves the trouble later."

"No, wait." Ting He caught up to her. "Where did you even get gu?"

Ever since the Demon Tribe had been sealed away, gu had vanished from the world along with them. Few people knew how to make it anymore—even Ting He, a bodyguard who had roamed far and wide, had never heard of gu appearing anywhere.

Lin Yu produced a square box from who knew where and gave it a shake. "You mean this?"

She smiled. "I got it from their most revered Xianzun, of course."

Ting He was puzzled. "Why would he give you something like that?"

"He didn't give it to me." Lin Yu tucked the box away neatly. "I took it myself while he was out."

Yesterday at noon, the Xianzun had received Di Ting's threat and led his men out of Bushou Hall, leaving Lin Yu alone inside. That was when she'd discovered a hidden compartment in the hall, stocked with many identical boxes.

The emissary: "...You steal things too??"

Lin Yu shot him a glance. "It's called taking. What do you know? I was nice enough not to just snatch it outright."

"Oh... fair enough."

The emissary continued leading the way. The three of them walked up to the stairs before the underground passage and descended into the earth. The moment they reached the bottom, their view opened up.

Not far ahead, a barrier like a curtain of mist hung over their heads, sealing the underground from the level above. Many underworld emissaries hurried in and out of the barrier carrying documents, and people were being sent through it in a steady stream.

Lin Yu studied the watery screen of the barrier, but unfortunately she couldn't make out what was inside. It shut her out completely—she couldn't even hear the sounds within.

"The Yellow Spring Road we were just on is the first underground level—the path for ordinary souls to be reborn," the emissary explained. "This hidden chamber is the second level, where private torture is mostly carried out. Since you asked to interrogate them, there's no better place to bring them. If they refuse to cooperate, you can have someone put them to the rack."

"Further ahead is the barrier—that's the third level, the Judges' territory. Living people can't enter the third level. Getting too close will taint you with unclean things, so you mustn't approach the barrier up ahead. Best not to even look at it."

The thing about Lin Yu was, the more she was told not to do something, the more she wanted to do it. She stared hard at the barrier for a long while, treating the emissary's words like a passing breeze. The emissary was so alarmed he nearly reached out to cover her eyes and tell her to stop looking.

Of course, Lin Yu didn't glean anything from it. It was like staring at an impenetrable wall, watching people pass in and out of it.

The emissary broke out in a cold sweat. "Lord Di Ting hasn't returned yet—nothing is settled. If you keep staring at the barrier, the Judge will notice. We can't let the Judge find out there are living people on the second level."

Judges acted strictly by the law, sentencing the sins of the dead. They were the kind of people who valued rules above all. A living person trespassing in the Ghost Realm was clearly against regulations. If the Judge didn't know, fine—but if they found out, it would be trouble.

Seeing that Lin Yu showed no reaction, the emissary studied her expression and continued, "Besides, this barrier is soaked in the resentment of the most vicious criminals. It might drag you into karmic entanglements and bring you misfortune."

Being discovered by the Judge was a concern Lin Yu didn't much care about. But if it meant incurring karmic debt and becoming even unluckier...

Lin Yu's expression shifted, and she turned to leave. "Forget it then. I'm already unlucky enough; I don't want to make it worse..."

"Me neither—wait for me!" Ting He cast one look back at the barrier and turned to leave as well, calling to the emissary, "Hurry up! Do you want to become unlucky?"

The emissary pointed at himself. "...I'm already a ghost. Looking is fine—I could even walk right in, you know?"

He didn't understand why Ting He was running. With her current form, it was impossible to tell whether she was alive or dead. She wasn't even a person anymore—what was she afraid of?

But Lin Yu and Ting He were already too far away to hear him. The emissary let out a sigh and immediately hurried after them. "Don't wander off!"

The three of them didn't notice the figure who emerged from beneath the distant barrier. She held a scroll in her hand as the barrier fell shut behind her. Frowning, she gazed at the direction Lin Yu had gone.

Then she called over an emissary who was delivering documents and asked, "Who was that?"

The emissary glanced at the retreating figures and furrowed his brow. "Reporting to you, honored one—she's simply a distinguished guest. I don't know the rest. She carries no death aura, so she must be... a living person?"

"Living?" The Judge, scroll in hand, curled her lips into a smile. "She isn't."

She said coldly, "Order to the Judge's Hall: we've been negligent. Effective today, revise the Book of Life and Death and hunt down all those who were missed."

"There have been too many omissions over the years. I'll drag every one of these stolen survivors down to the depths myself and pass judgment on their crimes."

The emissary broke into a sweat. "This... shouldn't we wait for Lord Ghost King to return? If he doesn't approve, the Judge's Hall can't issue orders."

The Judge tucked away her scroll and examined her bright red nails. "Waiting for him? Who knows how long that'll take? Maybe he's so enamored with his life playing at being an immortal that he'd rather grovel as a lowly Earth Immortal and never come back to the underworld."

"Go." She tossed the scroll to the emissary. "This is the list of stolen survivors that our Judge's Hall has sorted out—people whose deaths are recorded in the Book of Life and Death but who are still alive. You have one month. Go and bring them back."

The emissary hesitated for a moment, but beneath the Judge's razor-sharp gaze, he ultimately yielded. "I'll relay the order at once."

"But... what if Lord Ghost King comes back? If he finds out you gave orders over his head, he'll punish you."

The Judge's eyes shifted, unconcerned. "Then we'll deal with it when he returns. Maybe he won't."

She stepped back into the barrier, speaking lazily: "Oh, right—that person from just now, you don't need to handle her. You wouldn't be able to take her soul anyway."

The Judge left one last remark before vanishing into the barrier. "She's a bit troublesome. I'll come collect her myself when the time comes."

...

"Blindfold them."

In the darkened chamber, Lin Yu stood by the door, giving orders to a few emissaries. "Don't let them see a single ray of light."

With their vision covered, the last sliver of light was stripped away. They couldn't see anything anymore—their world plunged into darkness. They didn't know who stood before them, nor what was about to be done to them. The few bound to the torture racks fell into an unprecedented fear.

They weren't afraid of death, but they were afraid of uncertainty. Everything was unknown, and they were in someone else's hands—meat on the chopping block.

"What are you trying to do?! Kill us or maim us, do your worst! We won't bow to your despicable tricks!"

"If you've got the guts, let us go and fight you one-on-one! A fair match! Winner takes all!"

Lin Yu took the knife handed to her by an emissary and couldn't help but laugh at that. A woman's pleasant laughter drifted into their ears from the darkness—a voice that sounded faintly familiar.

She gave a light cough, using a spell to mask her original tone. "After all those years serving Heaven's Mandate Tower, you'd think you'd have learned something. How are you still so dense?"

She spoke with amusement, sounding to be in good spirits. "A fight? You'd all be wiped out before an incense stick burns out. What's the point of that?"

"If you want to die, you don't need an excuse. I can grant that wish right now." Lin Yu pressed the blade against the neck of the first man who had spoken.

It was a fine blade. The moment it touched his skin, before Lin Yu even applied any pressure, bright red blood seeped out and slid down the edge. She gave the knife a second glance.

"You—" The man's voice trembled uncontrollably the instant the blood appeared. He swallowed hard, not daring to move, and couldn't get out another word.

Lin Yu withdrew the blade. "If you don't want to die, behave and answer my questions."

Someone spoke up. "What do you want?"

"Nothing much. Just want to ask you a few things. Answer honestly, and I'll let you go." Lin Yu turned and sat down in a chair. "But if I find out you're lying to me..."

"Ripping out tongues, boiling oil, climbing mountains of knives, or being ground to dust by a millstone—take your pick of whichever you like."

Lin Yu examined the knife in her hand. "From here, further ahead is the third level of the underworld. You can go experience it for yourselves."

She rested her chin on her hand, watching the blindfolded men and studying their reactions. "Let me think... if we were to judge by the sins you committed in life, you might not get off with just one of those punishments. Most likely, you'd have to go through every single one."

Lin Yu frowned, feigning concern. "And if that's the case, would you even have a next life? Ground to bits, you couldn't be reborn. You'd be stuck down here forever, suffering through the same torments over and over until your very soul is destroyed. How tragic..."

Her words clearly had their intended effect. This was the underworld, after all—everyone knew how brutal hell could be. No one wanted to go down there.

Lin Yu gave them a moment to think. Barely a beat of silence passed before someone answered, "What do you want to ask? Go ahead."

Lin Yu's gaze swept across the faces bound to the torture racks. None of them were familiar—she'd never seen these people before. "What's your purpose in coming here?"

A man answered immediately: "By the Xianzun's order, to rescue the Divine Maiden."

Lin Yu asked again, "Where did your Xianzun go? Why didn't he come himself, instead of sending a pack of weak little disciples like you?"

Her words were clearly meant to insult them, but no one dared object. "We don't know where the Xianzun is."

"Elder Ming Jing received the Xianzun's command and dispatched us here."

Ming Jing? Lin Yu thought for a moment but couldn't place the name. "Who is Elder Ming Jing?"

"He is—" The speaker hesitated, seemingly unwilling to reveal who Ming Jing was.

"Speak." Lin Yu's low voice came from above, carrying an indescribable pressure. "Who is he?"

The man kept his mouth shut and didn't move. Lin Yu's gaze swept over him. "Someone, drag him out. Throw him into that cauldron of boiling oil outside and let him take a roll before coming back."

Two emissaries stepped forward to unbind him. The moment the iron chains were touched by an emissary's hand, the man's legs gave out—had he not been tied up, he'd have collapsed to his knees on the spot.

He spoke in a trembling voice: "I-I'll talk! Don't touch me! Don't move the chains! Just leave me tied up here, don't move!"

Lin Yu raised an eyebrow and waved the emissaries out. She turned her gaze to the man who had spoken. He was drenched in cold sweat, so much that it had nearly soaked through the cloth over his eyes.

The sweat dripped into his eyes, stinging them. But because the blindfold was soaked through, some light leaked in, and he could faintly make out a blurred figure.

It was a woman in red. The crimson robes stood out clearly in the dimness. She idly toyed with the long knife in her hands, its cold gleam catching the faint candlelight.

His chest heaved violently. It took him a long while before he could speak again. "Elder Ming Jing is—"

He stopped mid-sentence. In that moment, the breathing of everyone around him seemed to halt. Lin Yu caught it sharply—everyone's bodies were stiff, as if they were all tense.

Under the flickering candlelight, she studied the others' reactions with interest. It seemed Elder Ming Jing's identity was a closely guarded secret.

He had stopped mid-sentence, hesitating. His lips were pressed tightly together, his brow furrowed, sweat still beading at his temples. His heart was pounding faster than it ever had.

The others on the racks waited for his response, all their attention fixed on him—a silent threat.

Lin Yu's gaze also settled on him. He felt that unusual stare. Dead now or dead later, it made no difference—he steeled himself and blurted out: "He's the real Xianzun!"