The word "guarding" in Chapter 6, referring to the Yama's Palace, is quite intriguing...
Lu Bing tried to open the east side door, but a yamen runner carrying a lantern stepped forward and said, "Boss, the ceremonial gate and the door to the people's quarters have been poured with molten iron and completely welded shut. The interlocking holes are all blocked tightly. They can't be opened unless you take the doors apart."
Another constable strongly objected: "This door must not be demolished under any circumstances. Can't you see the talisman sealed on it? If it is demolished, the formation will be broken along with the talisman, and what if all the demons and monsters come out?"
"That's not right," Lu Bing wondered, since they couldn't open it and couldn't use the "ghost gate," "then how did you manage to search during the day? Did you not even go inside?"
"We're in, we're in." The thin, dark-skinned constable held up a lantern and shone it into the corner. There stood a wooden ladder against the wall. He said, "We climbed the ladder and climbed over from the top."
Lu Bing asked, "Where did the ladder come from?"
"Heizi moved here from home."
The constable nicknamed Blackie chimed in, "We forgot to take it back. This is perfect for us." As he spoke, he moved the wooden ladder from the corner and placed it firmly against the wall where it could be climbed. "Boss, why don't you go first?"
Lu Bing turned his head: "A refined person."
Zhou Yaren stood in the middle of the passageway, and what came into view was a wall made of talismans. However, there was a gap in the left corner of the talisman wall, which looked like a black hole to him. This was the so-called Ghost Gate that Lu Bing and the others had mentioned.
Zhou Yaren pointed to the left front and asked again as if to confirm, "Are there no runes here?" Or were there originally runes, but they were destroyed, which is why he can't see them?
Lu Bing instructed the yamen runners to carry lanterns and shine them over. He then stepped forward and examined the door in the dim light: "No, this door doesn't look like it's ever been sealed."
Kuroko seemed to suddenly remember something and muttered to himself, "No wonder..."
Everyone looked up at him, and Lu Bing asked, "No wonder what?"
"Boss, wasn't there a lot of talk in town before? This place was supposed to be abandoned long ago, but people passing by at night said they heard sounds of people crying out for justice from inside the ghostly government office. They could vaguely make the sound of shackles dragging on the ground, clanging and jingling, like prisoners were coming out of the county office. And look at this wide-open ghost gate, isn't that the path used to escort death row inmates to the execution ground?!"
However, there were simply too many rumors like this, and Lu Bing couldn't really distinguish which were true and which were false, or which were just made up by the public to capitalize on the atmosphere of terror. Wasn't there a storyteller in Beiqu County who would go to teahouses to tell passersby stories of ghostly tales about the government office, embellishing them with a mix of truth and fiction, all to attract customers?
"And then?" Lu Bing asked, "Did you see them come out?"
"My goodness, if you hear that noise outside the Ghost Palace in the middle of the night, you'd be scared to death. You'd be too busy running away to stand still and see if anything comes out."
Do you want to die?
“What’s even more frightening,” the yamen runner carrying the lantern couldn’t help but add, “we had just finished searching during the day when we heard an old farmer selling melons say that he had heard screams coming from the ghost yamen not long ago.”
After hearing their story, I felt a chill run down my spine—a real chill, as if I were enveloped in a cold, eerie atmosphere from the moment I entered the haunted house. I felt completely chilled from head to toe, like an ice cube, and I couldn't warm myself up no matter how hard I tried. Later, I ran to get a bowl of hot soup to ward off the chill, and my body gradually warmed up.
Lu Bing was stunned when he heard this, and the hairs on his arms suddenly stood up. He worked in the yamen and for some reason, he suddenly thought of the screams of prisoners being tortured in prison.
Zhou Yaren pressed further: "When was 'not long ago'?"
The constable pondered for a moment: "It's been less than half a month, I suppose. The old farmer selling melons didn't specify which day it was."
Lu Bing hurriedly asked, "Is there a problem?"
Zhou Yaren shook his head; he couldn't quite explain the strange feeling that was welling up inside him.
After the constable finished his preparations, he looked at Lu Bing with trepidation and asked, "Boss, should we go in?" This place was practically a den of dragons and tigers, and his inner turmoil was growing stronger. Lu Bing glared at him and scolded, "What are you doing here?!"
The yamen runners were silenced by the blockade.
Actually, Lu Bing was also scared, so he wanted to bring two brothers in to bolster his courage, since more people meant more positive energy.
Hei Zi interrupted at the right moment: "Why did those Taoist priests seal the other two doors back then, leaving only the Ghost Door open?"
Then restricting people from getting close is ultimately not something that can be left for people.
So it's reserved for those "death row inmates"?
If you're going to seal it off, why not weld all three doors shut at once?
As for this chilling question—Lu Bing subconsciously looked at Zhou Yaren, who couldn't figure it out for a moment either. Ever since he stepped into the Ghost Bureau, he could sense the dense Yin energy around him, as if he were in an ice cave, surrounded by scattered and fluctuating cold currents, which were accumulated in some unknown depth within the talisman array.
This yin energy leaked out from the talisman array, surging and seeping outwards from the talisman wall, overflowing from the cracks in the talisman patterns, forming scattered cold air in all directions. It was impossible to detect where the energy came from, and it was different from the ordinary winds from the east, west, south, and north, as if it had no source.
But he didn't intend to voice what he had sensed, lest he exacerbate the three men's panic.
The two constables, already quite frightened, had no choice but to climb the wooden ladder and resignedly scale the wall to get inside.
The four landed one after another. Lu Bing wanted to lend a hand to Zhou Yaren, but she didn't need it at all. Her movements as she climbed over the wall were even more agile and nimble than his, showing no signs of being a blind person.
Lu Bing paused in his outstretched hand, then gestured to his subordinates: "Find someone quickly."
The two constables immediately followed him, only to be scolded again: "What are you two doing hanging around me like this? Can't you see how many rooms there are? Split up and search!"
"Separate..." The two constables were dumbfounded, standing frozen in the courtyard, struggling to say, "Boss, this is the Hall of Yama, the King of Hell!"
The so-called Yama's Palace they spoke of was the main hall where the county magistrate held court to adjudicate cases. The cases adjudicated here were all major and important ones, matters of life and death, while trivial matters were generally handled and mediated in the second hall.
In the past, too many wrongful convictions and miscarriages of justice occurred in the front hall, and countless people died. Therefore, the common people privately called it the Hall of Yama, where three county magistrates and several yamen runners had even died. How could people not be afraid of it?
Lu Bing just wanted to find someone to leave this troublesome place as soon as possible, so he said impatiently, "Stop dawdling, hurry up."
The two constables had no choice but to steel themselves and muster their courage to head to the east and west wings respectively.
The imperial court had six ministries, while local county governments had six offices, following the etiquette of civil affairs on the left and military affairs on the right. The offices on the east were the offices of personnel, household registration, and rites, while the offices on the west were the offices of military affairs, justice, and public works.
They pushed open the doors and went in to search room by room.
Lu Bing strode toward the courtroom, saw nothing amiss, and then strolled into the armory on one side.
Because Zhou Yaren was blind and could not see living things, she stood quietly alone in the courtyard for a while, staring at the runes that stretched forward on the stone slab under her feet. Her previously unfocused gaze finally became focused.
He lowered his eyes, lifted his leg, and slowly walked through the Jieshi Archway. He deliberately avoided the faintly visible runes in his black boots, carefully examining them, but they were all intricate patterns he had never seen before.
As he walked around the courtyard, his toe suddenly kicked something hard. Zhou Yaren paused, bent down slightly to feel it, and felt as if he had touched a large block of ice, which chilled him to the bone.
He didn't pull his hand back; like the blind men touching an elephant, he began to carefully discern the details.
This is not a piece of ice, but a polished stone statue, with a hair bun, facial features, shoulders and neck and a complete body, holding a long stick that is planted on the ground, standing upright.
Taking two more steps forward, he touched the second, the third, the fourth...
The stone statues are arranged in a row, each with its head held high and chest out. Their posture and ceremonial guards remind one of the bailiffs standing on both sides of the court when the magistrate holds court, and the long sticks they hold look just like the disciplinary rods.
Zhou Yaren frowned slightly. Just then, he heard footsteps nearby. It was the three men who had finished checking the rooms in the courtyard. He asked, "Are these all statues of the yamen runners?"
It was a dark and windy night, and the three of them felt uneasy when they saw the two rows of things. Lu Bing replied, "Yes, they are sculptures of yamen runners standing guard, placed here specifically to stand guard."
Zhou Yaren was somewhat puzzled: "Why sculpt this?"
Lu Bingdao said, "The county government is being relocated, but those Taoist priests say that even though everyone has left, the government office still needs to be guarded by officials."
The word "guard" is quite intriguing. Since the place is empty, what is there to guard?
Hei Zi stood not too close to the stone statue: "Those old folks who know a bit about this place say that too many people died unjustly here. Their resentment was so strong that their spirits wouldn't leave and would come out to haunt us. The underworld is needed to guard them, so they built two rows of guards to keep them here."
The constable, carrying a lantern, stepped forward a few paces: "What did that storyteller in the teahouse say again? In our Beiqu County, there are two yamens, one for the yin and one for the yang, collectively known as the Yin-Yang Yamen. Our current yamen has soldiers and officers, so what should be in the ghost yamen?"
Hei Zi hurriedly said, "Ghost Judge!"
"Yes! The Ghost Judge!"
No sooner had the words left his mouth than a loud "smack" was heard, startling the two constables who were talking about the ghost judge so much that they jumped up on the spot, screaming "Dad! Mom!"
Lu Bing wasn't much better off; he didn't jump and shout like the two rockets, but his scalp was already tingling with fear until he heard Zhou Yaren's calm and composed voice point out: "Behind."
Lu Bing immediately reacted, broke free from the fear of supernatural phenomena, and rushed towards the second hall at the rear.
Zhou Yaren and two constables followed closely behind and saw a wooden door opening and closing, making a soft creaking sound.
Broken tiles lay scattered on the ground in front of the door, and several gray tiles on the eaves were missing.
Zhou Yaren could clearly feel the dampness seeping into the cold air. The stone slabs underfoot were covered with a layer of green moss, so much so that Lu Bing, who was rushing ahead, almost slipped and fell. He barely managed to steady himself and avoid making a fool of himself.
In fact, most places in this government office were covered in moss, from the eaves and walls to the surface of the soil. After all, it hadn't been maintained for more than a decade, so it wasn't surprising that it was in such a state of disrepair.
Zhou Yaren spoke up, "Be careful."
Lu Bing snatched the lantern from the constable's hand and hurriedly pushed open the door to enter the house, but he was still a beat too slow, only vaguely seeing a dark shadow dart out of the window. He lunged forward, leaning half his body out of the window, when the dark shadow darted like an arrow into the branches of an evergreen tree, letting out a "meow" in the darkness.
Lu Bing breathed a sigh of relief: "It's just a stray cat..."
"That was probably the sound of it slipping and falling on a tile while it was pacing on the roof," Lu Bingzheng said, when he suddenly met a pair of bright green eyes hidden in the canopy of an evergreen tree, like two clusters of tiny will-o'-the-wisps.
Lu Bing's heart suddenly tightened.
A pair of bright green eyes in the tree canopy shone through the wide-open doors and windows, directly imprinted on Zhou Yaren's eyes, gazing at him from afar, illuminating his paler pupils.
The black cat, hidden in the darkness, arched its back as if its fur had bristled, its sharp claws gripping the branches tightly, and its mouth wide open, revealing its fangs, giving it a ferocious, wild appearance.
Meow--
The cat's meow was sharp and shrill, inexplicably sending chills down Lu Bing's spine.
The leaves rustled, and the crows roosting among them flapped their wings a few times before taking flight and swooping over the back wall. One of their claws inadvertently seized a tuft of hair outside the wall, and the person immediately let out a terrified scream, then swung their knife to strike…
Zhou Yaren had just heard the panicked screams outside the city, so she immediately recognized them as Qin San's.
At the same time, Lu Bing leaped out of the window and rushed toward the narrow door in the southwest corner, but he was caught off guard and attacked by the wild cat as soon as he passed under the evergreen tree.
The wildcat lurked among them, as if it regarded the group of people who had suddenly arrived as formidable enemies. It kept its fur bristling and its back arched, waiting for an opportunity to strike. When it saw Lu Bing coming through the window, it shot out like an arrow with lightning speed, scratching Lu Bing hard in mid-air.
"Boss." The two constables said in unison.
"Be careful!" Zhou Yaren called out in an instant, but it was too late.
Lu Bing was in a hurry to catch the person and was completely unprepared for the cat's sudden attack. Its sharp claws scraped the flesh on the side of his neck like several flying swords, giving him no chance to defend or dodge. He felt a burning pain on the side of his neck.
The cat struck decisively, landed with a whoosh, and without lingering, disappeared in a few leaps and bounds.
Lu Bing touched his neck and found his hand covered in blood.
He paused only for a moment, ignoring the little wildcat that had scratched him, and disregarding the wound on his neck—the scratches were somewhat deep, but fortunately, he had slightly turned his head, so his major artery hadn't been ruptured, and it wouldn't kill him. It was just a little blood, which he didn't care about. He turned and ran towards the narrow door.
Zhou Yaren chased after Lu Bing, passing through the corridor of the second hall. He subconsciously turned around and happened to see the fierce wild cat with green eyes shining through a hole in the broken wall. It was looking down at them.
A strange feeling welled up in Zhou Yaren's heart. Suddenly, he turned one foot and stepped towards the crack in the wall where the stray cat was. He heard the stray cat meow at him.
At the same time, Lu Bing, who had rushed to the back wall, shouted, "Girl!"
Lu Bing ran forward and saw Qin San, her hair disheveled, holding a bloodstained kitchen knife. With one slash, blood spurted out, and the crow whose wing she had already cut off was split in two.
Hearing Lu Bing's rebuke, Qin San turned around abruptly, her long hair covering most of her face, revealing only one bloodshot eye.
Lu Bing was startled by her seemingly crazy appearance, and almost dropped the lantern in his hand.
She had bumped her forehead and blood was dripping from it. The scarlet blood seeped into her eye, making the eye that was peeking out from her long hair blood red.
Lu Bing was stunned and lowered his voice. He thought the girl seemed a bit crazy: "What are you doing?"
A note from the author:
----------------------
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
