Ghost Realm River View Room 9

The two looked at each other, both puzzled.

A clear, cold female voice came from outside the hall: "The Lord of the Northern Dipper Palace, the Fourth Palace of the Ghost Realm, requests an audience with Your Majesty."

“He is my superior.” Xie Guijin whispered from the side.

The Empress nodded and called out, "Great Sage Lord of the Big Dipper, please come in."

Beidou Jun entered the palace and bowed to the Empress, saying, "I have come here without permission, and I hope Your Majesty will forgive me."

The Empress was taken aback when she saw Beidou Jun's face, and then said, "I wonder what important matter brings the Holy Lord here?"

"I suddenly realized that the deed to the house was damaged, so I have come to apologize. I suppose it was my oversight that led me to sell the ghost realm residence to Your Majesty."

The Empress waved her hand and said, "Your Majesty is too kind. I wonder what you mean by that?"

"Among the six realms, the relationship between the human realm and the ghost realm is the most special. Your Majesty is protected by the aura of the Heavenly Dao, and ordinary ghosts and monsters cannot get close to you. So how could Your Majesty buy a house in the ghost realm? Therefore, the house deed was destroyed as soon as it entered Your Majesty's hands."

"I see." The Empress, having understood the reason, said, "Ignorance is no excuse. It must have been an unintentional act by the interdimensional messenger. I hope Your Majesty will not blame her."

"Of course, Your Majesty, please rest assured." Beidou Jun readily agreed, and seeing that the matter was settled, he took his leave.

Before leaving, he gave Xie Guijin a new house deed.

The property deed is in place, but who should we sell it to?

If humans rashly come into contact with ghostly energy, they may fall ill or even die.

Even without these, humans are still afraid of bad luck.

Even the Empress could not force others to buy.

For a moment, both the Empress and Xie Guijin were at a loss.

Just as the two were deep in thought, midnight arrived.

Two ghost messengers arrived outside the palace, requesting an audience with the Empress. They said they were ordered by King Biancheng to take Xie Guijin back to be punished.

The Empress sneered, "King Biancheng, you have quite the airs, daring to come here to arrest people. Go back and tell him that the Crossing-the-World Ghost Messenger is my honored guest, and there is absolutely no reason for him to go back with you."

"Does Your Majesty intend to interfere in the internal affairs of my Ghost Realm?" one of the ghost guards, with a narrow and straight nose, asked in a sinister tone.

The Empress, upon hearing this, had not yet reacted.

Xie Guijin gracefully descended, slapped the ghost messenger across the face, and shouted sharply, "Insolence! Who do you think you are? How dare you question His Majesty?"

The ghost messenger was knocked to the ground, covering his face in astonishment, and said, "You actually hit me! I was ordered by King Biancheng to take you away."

"When King Biancheng ordered you to take me back, did he also order you to question the Supreme Being of the Human Realm, intending to provoke conflict between the two realms?" Xie Guijin looked down at him, chin raised arrogantly, and said, "Although I need to be punished, I am still a ghost official. You are just a lowly ghost messenger. Do you think I can't even hit you?"

The ghost messenger was unconvinced and opened his mouth to say something more.

Xie Guijin bent down and slapped him twice more cleanly, knocking the ghost messenger unconscious and even making his nose crooked.

"Your Majesty, please forgive me. I have some business to attend to back in the Ghost Realm. I will take my leave now and will come to bother Your Majesty again another day." Xie Guijin bowed to the Empress.

The Empress hurried from the imperial platform to Xie Guijin's side, took her right hand, and said urgently, "No."

"Your Majesty, there is no need for me to clash with the King of Biancheng." Xie Guijin gently patted their hands, which were folded together, with her left hand.

The Empress lowered her gaze slightly and shook her head, saying, "You mustn't think that way. I'm not doing this solely for you. King Biancheng provoked me first. If I can't even protect you, how can I be worthy of being the ruler of the human realm?"

"That's not the case. It's just that this ghost messenger is being irresponsible. I can guarantee that King Biancheng had no intention of offending Your Majesty." Xie Guijin pointed at the unconscious ghost messenger and said with pursed lips, "I have a prior agreement with King Biancheng, and I cannot break my promise to him. I hope Your Majesty will grant my request."

Seeing Xie Guijin's insistence, the Empress had no choice but to let her leave for now.

Xie Guijin and another ghost messenger took the fallen ghost messenger back to the Sixth Hall of the Ghost Realm to pay their respects to King Biancheng.

Upon seeing this, King Biancheng raised an eyebrow and asked, "What's going on?"

“If I were to speak, I fear Your Highness would find it biased,” Xie Guijin said with a smile, pointing to the silent ghost messenger, “Why not let it speak?”

King Biancheng stared at the ghost messenger and said, "Speak."

The ghost messenger then recounted everything in detail, not even omitting a single word of the Empress's farewell to Xie Guijin.

Upon hearing this, King Biancheng shifted his gaze to Xie Guijin's face, his expression frosty.

Xie Guijin raised her eyes, smiled brightly, revealing her white teeth, and said, "No need to be polite, it's all for the peace between the human and ghost realms."

"Should I thank you more?" King Biancheng said with a forced smile.

Xie Guijin waved his hand and said casually, "It's nothing, Your Highness, you don't need to be so polite."

King Biancheng waved his hand, and the unconscious ghost messenger was dragged away. The other ghosts retreated one by one, leaving only King Biancheng, the ghost official who had read out the crimes last time, and Xie Guijin in the hall.

"The three-day deadline has passed. I will punish you according to the law. Do you have any objections?" King Biancheng said, snorting.

Xie Guijin lowered her head slightly and muttered softly, "Is this the next step? They really take politeness for courtesy. Wow, why don't I have such a thick skin?"

"Insolence!" King Biancheng slammed his hand on the table and stood up.

Xie Guijin looked startled: "Your Highness, what's wrong?"

King Biancheng pointed at Xie Guijin and shouted, "How dare you disrespect me?"

"Is it really King Biancheng?" Xie Guijin whispered in the ghost official's ear, "Could it be an imposter? So impatient, where is the majesty of the Sixth King of Hell?"

The ghost official kept his eyes closed and his nose focused on his heart, pretending not to see or hear anything.

Before King Biancheng could completely lose his temper, Xie Guijin stopped in time, cupped his hands towards the high platform and said, "Your Highness's punishment of me is something I naturally accept."

"However, I postponed my punishment for some reason before. I wonder if all those involved have been punished?"

Upon hearing this, King Biancheng felt somewhat relieved and slowly sat down.

Knowing King Biancheng's intentions, the ghost official said, "All the little ghosts involved in the case that day have been punished, except for Xie Guijin, the mortal from another world who is inside the body of the Crossing Ghost Envoy, who has not yet been dealt with."

"Am I the only one?" Xie Guijin's eyes widened slightly, her expression genuinely surprised.

King Biancheng gave a forced smile and said in a sinister tone, "Could it be that you have accomplices? Tell me about it."

"Your Highness misunderstands. I had no accomplices," Xie Guijin said respectfully. "A few toys were enough to easily breach the guards of the City of the Dead. Shouldn't only I and the little devils be punished?"

"I only went in to find someone, I had no ulterior motives. But what if a malevolent being infiltrates the City of the Wrongfully Dead and releases vengeful ghosts, wreaking havoc on the Six Realms? Shouldn't those ghost guards who guard the city be punished? Aren't their superiors guilty of negligence? Even Your Highness, as the Yama King in charge of the City of the Wrongfully Dead, have you ever apologized to the Emperor of Fengdu for this?"

"Have these things not been implemented even after three days?" Xie Guijin's series of questions echoed throughout the palace.

Biancheng King's gaze was like a knife scraping across Xie Guijin's face. He said, "You think you can get away with this? Where did your righteous indignation of taking full responsibility go?"

"Now there's no need to take the blame for those little devils, and besides, the so-called crime I committed is largely fabricated," Xie Guijin thought to himself, but said aloud, "I will naturally take responsibility for what I deserve, but it is also true that the guards of the City of the Dead were negligent. We can't be biased towards one side, Your Highness, don't you think?"

“You’re right,” King Biancheng tapped his index finger on the bronze table, making a crisp sound. “They’ve done wrong, and I will deal with them myself.”

"And what about you, Your Highness?" Xie Guijin asked, bowing slightly.

King Biancheng stood up, walked over to Xie Guijin, bent down, grinned, and whispered, "You want me to take you to see the Emperor of Fengdu? You think he will pardon your sins?"

Before Xie Guijin could answer, King Biancheng straightened up and said calmly, "Let's go. I cannot separate you from the Crossing Ghost Envoy without harming him, but the Emperor of Fengdu can. After separating you, he can punish you without harming the Crossing Ghost Envoy. Moreover, the Emperor of Fengdu can handle the matter, which will also prevent Beidou Jun from coming to me for justice in the future."

"Your Highness is overthinking it. His Majesty would never do such a thing," Xie Guijin replied meekly.

King Biancheng snorted coldly and used magic to teleport Xie Guijin to the palace at the highest point of Mount Luofeng, where they requested an audience with the Emperor of Fengdu.

After hearing the whole story, the Emperor of Fengdu asked the King of Biancheng, "What should be done according to the law?"

"Xie Guijin, a mortal from another world, lured little ghosts to create chaos outside the City of the Wrongfully Dead, and trespassed into the City of the Wrongfully Dead, causing the deaths of 30% of the vengeful ghosts in the city. According to the law, he should be sent to the Avici Hell until he suffers all kinds of punishments," King Biancheng said, bowing.

"And what about you?" The Emperor of Fengdu asked, his face expressionless.

Without hesitation, King Biancheng immediately said, "My subordinate has been negligent in governing, so I shall reduce the incense offerings and merits for one hundred years as a warning to others."

"Yes, that's fine." The Emperor of Fengdu first succinctly determined the punishment for King Biancheng with just two words.

He added, “Miss Xie is not from my Ghost Realm. She will leave the Ghost Realm in two days, so the law cannot be enforced. Moreover, she has made great contributions by facilitating the purchase of houses and establishment of business relations by the other five realms in my Ghost Realm. She can atone for her sins with her merits.”

The Emperor of Fengdu paused, about to announce on the spot how to deal with Xie Guijin, when he saw Xie Guijin raise one hand with an expectant look on her face, and asked, "Does Miss Xie have something to say?"

"Uh, I'd like to add something. I created the chaos and entered the City of the Dead without permission, but killing 30% of the vengeful spirits was not my intention. It was the spirit of the 'Mingjia' that was passively activated, so it can't all be blamed on me. Besides, the vengeful spirits wanted to kill us, so I could be considered to be acting in self-defense."

Xie Guijin spoke clearly, one sentence at a time, then suddenly paused and said, "Self-defense, you know what that means, right? Oh, how would you say that in ancient times?"

“We understand,” King Biancheng said to Xie Guijin with a livid face, then said respectfully to the Emperor of Fengdu, “We have not yet purchased a house in the human realm, nor have we engaged in any other business transactions, so this cannot be considered a business transaction.”

“How can it not count?” Xie Guijin retorted.

Seeing that the two below the stage were about to start a fight, the Emperor of Fengdu had not yet reacted.

Outside the palace, a ghost messenger reported that a ghost cultivator from the human realm had come to buy a house, two guests from the demon realm had arrived to discuss the rental of a cultivation site for the demon realm, and the sixth princess of the demon realm had personally arrived to discuss the trade of herbs between the demon and demon realms. All of them were waiting to see Xie Guijin, the ghost messenger who had crossed the realms.

"Why did they all come together like this? It's like they planned it." The Emperor of Fengdu glanced at Xie Guijin.

Xie Guijin smiled but remained silent.

King Biancheng said sarcastically, "That's right, everyone is specifically asking for the Transcendent Ghost Envoy Xie Guijin, but the original Transcendent Ghost Envoy wasn't called Xie Guijin."