Seeing that Meng Yongfu had been stammering for a long time and hadn't gotten to the point, the female ghost quickly grabbed her dead husband and bowed gracefully to the King of Hell.

The voice was hoarse as she said, "My daughter, Zhong Wu, and my husband, Zheng He, pay our respects to King Yama."

Three years ago, my daughter and her husband went to Qingshui County to make a living, but they never expected to be tricked by the villain Meng Yongfu. He used arsenic to steal her property, and she died a violent death in the mountains, her eyes wide open in disbelief.

Today is the day my daughter and husband are to be reincarnated. I have brought Meng Yongfu here to sign a confession, so that we may not be reborn as animals and never be reborn as humans again. I beseech the King of Hell to grant our request.”

"So that's how it is." The Black-Faced Yama nodded, his lion-like eyes looking at the man who was still trembling beside him. "Meng Yongfu, do you agree with what the Zheng couple just said?"

As Meng Yongfu listened to the resounding voices that pounded against his eardrums, his tongue seemed to be tied in knots as he stammered, "Reporting to King Yama... I... I, a very little person... acknowledge, acknowledge!"

"In that case, you may sign this confession!"

The black-faced Yama flicked his sleeve.

A piece of paper with white background and black text rolled up and fell to the ground.

Immediately, the lion raised its eyes, and a ghost soldier immediately understood, delivering the writing brush and seal to Meng Yongfu.

Meng Yongfu shakily picked up the pen and paper and brought the confession to his eyes to read.

His family was extremely poor when he was young, and he never received a proper education. He only learned a few words after he opened a noodle shop and worked as a cashier.

He couldn't recognize many of the words on the paper, only barely recognizing 'book', 'murder', 'Zheng', and his own name.

Of course, Yama, who controls the life and death of everyone in the world, is not literate and is not worried about the confession.

All he wants now is to go home as soon as possible, and then hire a good Taoist priest to properly exorcise the ghosts from his house.

However, even the vengeful ghosts who died violently can only be reincarnated into the animal realm. If he signs the confession, what if the King of Hell settles accounts with him in the future and makes him be reborn as an animal for all eternity?

The hesitant and uneasy man was completely unaware that all the ghost soldiers were staring at the pen in his hand.

Outside the wall, the loach was climbing up the wall as it heard the sound. Once it reached the top, it was instantly wide awake.

His eyes were wide open, staring blankly at the things on the ground, some bleeding from all seven orifices and pale-faced, others strangely shaped and glaring like fierce warriors.

After a long while, he finally came to his senses, and immediately scurried down the wall like a big rat, rushing home.

Then he slammed the door shut.

Mudfish Mother was startled awake by the noise. She looked at the small figure standing in the doorway and yawned widely. "Mudfish, what are you doing? Why aren't you sleeping in the middle of the night?"

"Hmm...?" Mudfish's father was fast asleep. When he heard Mudfish arrive, he immediately glared at the door with a look of displeasure. "You brat, you're already seven years old."

Didn't I tell you this early spring that at your age, you should be sleeping alone and stop trying to bother your mother every night?

Hearing those familiar words, Mudskipper's pounding heart finally calmed down a lot, but he was still a little out of breath when he spoke, "Dad! Today... today I'm not... trying to take Mom away from you!"

It's the Meng family next door!

The Meng family home is haunted!!!

"Haunted?" Mudfish Dad's lips twitched. "If you hadn't said that, I might have believed you a little!"

Our Shanghe Village is clean and tidy, and has never produced any monsters or demons. If you're going to lie, you should at least prepare a draft first.

"Go back to your room right now, don't make a racket here in the middle of the night."

Mudfish Girl also felt like laughing when she heard this.

Her child is known for being bold and inquisitive; even if he saw a ghost, it would probably avoid him.

Seeing that the two didn't believe him at all, Mudfish became a little anxious. "Father, Mother, what I said is true. I got up in the middle of the night and heard voices coming from the direction of the Meng family, so I climbed up their wall to look."

What I found was a courtyard full of ghosts.

They all had huge heads, fierce eyes, red hair, and clothes covered with layers of ghostly skulls; each one looked more menacing than the last.

Especially the big ghost who's the leader, he's even darker and uglier than our big black dog.

The Meng family courtyard is still shrouded in a white mist, just like the hellish palace described in the poem!

The couple listened with great conviction, but they also felt a little uneasy. The man frowned and asked, "Mudfish, are you sure you really saw a whole courtyard of ghosts in the Meng family just now? Or were you just seeing things in the night?"

Mudfish broke out in a cold sweat. "My dear father, I am eighteen years younger than you. Even if you are seeing things, I am not."

Let's think of a solution quickly.

Otherwise, after those ghosts have had their fill of staying at the Meng family's house, they might come to ours instead.

"You little brat, are you indirectly calling me old?" Mudfish Dad glared at him fiercely, temporarily disregarding the question of whether he was old or not.

He rolled out of bed, put on his straw sandals, and went outside. "Women and children have weak yang energy, so you two stay at home and don't move around. I'll go out and check on the situation first."

Halfway there, he turned back and instructed, "If the Meng family is truly haunted now, you should quickly prepare some glutinous rice and black dog blood at home."

The big black dog, who was wagging its tail as it walked outside with half a roast chicken in its mouth, heard the last three words and its big tail drooped down to its rear end.

He turned and left, leaving not a piece of roasted chicken in his mouth.

Bad silver! They're all bad silver!

It decided that it would eat the whole roast chicken given to it by its master—no, the whole dog would eat it all, without sharing.

Shanghe Village is a large village, and the villagers' houses are mostly not built close together, with a large distance between each household. However, as the commotion from the Meng family grew louder, the four or five households next door gradually heard the noise as well.

In the Meng family courtyard.

Meng Yongfu paused, his hand holding the pen still.

He raised his head in fear, looking at the leader of the Yama King, "This humble one... this humble one would like to ask Yama King a question, if I sign this confession, will I be unable to be reincarnated after death?"

"After death?" Yama sneered, his crimson beard bristling. "It's not something you should ask about now. You'll know when you die."

However, seeing your good attitude, I can remind you that the principle of leniency for those who confess also applies in the underworld.

Meng Yongfu was not a stupid person.

Upon hearing this, he immediately understood and kowtowed deeply to King Yama, saying, "I thank you for the reminder, King Yama. I will sign the confession now!"

After saying that, he quickly placed the confession on his lap.

Pick up the pen and sign your name in the lower right corner of the ink.

Once the signature is complete, all that's left is to leave a fingerprint.

Wanting to make a good impression on the King of Hell, Meng Yongfu, without waiting for the ghost soldiers to urge him, directly stuck his thumb into the ink seal.

But as he raised his hand, intending to press his fingerprint, he smelled a faint fragrance and couldn't help but murmur, "This fragrance... it smells like cinnabar?"

Cinnabar is considered to have strong yang energy and has always been used to ward off evil spirits.

The ghost soldiers of the underworld should avoid this at all costs, so why would they use cinnabar as ink?

A hint of doubt crossed the man's mind. Moreover, he wondered if it was just his imagination, but the seal box in front of him looked somewhat familiar, as if he had seen it somewhere before.