Four bluish-gray figures emerged from the ground, their wide-sleeved robes embroidered with faded cloud and thunder patterns.
The leading underworld official had a soul-hooking chain around his waist, a face like withered tree bark, but when he spoke, he uttered a clear, girlish voice.
"The blood-infused fetus and its soul-devouring mother ghost, whose lifespan has not yet ended, yet forcibly remains in the mortal realm, do they know their sins?"
The female ghost trembled violently.
She suddenly knelt down, her rotting knees slamming into the ground, splattering black fluid: "Please, officers, allow me... allow me to find the murderer..."
The four underworld officials exchanged glances and then began to mutter amongst themselves.
A piercing noise rang out.
I frowned and instinctively covered my ears.
This voice was not only grating, but also carried a chilling penetrating power, as if it could pierce directly into a person's soul.
Liu Sandao suddenly nudged me with his elbow and whispered.
"Don't stand there in a daze. The underworld officials are speaking 'the language of the netherworld,' which mortals can't understand."
His suit trousers were corroded with several holes by the slurry, but he still stared intently at the female ghost, veins throbbing on his forehead.
"She's begging the underworld officials for time to take revenge; this is troublesome."
What were they saying?
I was so frustrated I kept stamping my feet: "Can't you just speak like a human being?"
Liu Sandao shook his head with a wry smile, took out a talisman paper, lit it, and formed a circle of light gold.
"The underworld official asked her, 'Why are you still living in the mortal world when your lifespan has not ended?' She replied, 'The murderer has not been brought to justice, and my resentment is hard to quell.'"
His voice carried a hint of pity: "This female ghost was strangled to death in the delivery room before she died, and the fetus was also lost. Her resentment had long since rotted away her three souls and seven spirits."
The female ghost suddenly looked up, the black blood in her eye sockets already frozen into ice crystals, staring intently at the shop behind me:
"He...is nearby..."
Her voice suddenly became clear, carrying a chilling edge: "I can smell his scent..."
Is that man nearby?
Before I could even react, they started chattering again.
The underworld messengers formed a semicircle, their wide robes fluttering even without wind.
The conversation sounded muffled, as if it were coming from a clay jar, indistinct yet carrying a metallic hum.
Then a cold wind blew in.
The four underworld messengers, like ink seeping into rice paper, gradually blurred from their feet down and began to burrow into the ground.
When we reached their waists, the four underworld messengers suddenly turned around at the same time, their empty eye sockets facing us.
Liu Sandao let out a low curse, but then he saw the underworld officials raise their hands in a gesture of respect, and from the black mist rising from their wide sleeves, a few faint voices drifted out.
"What happens in the mortal realm should be left to the mortal realm..."
The underworld messenger, still glistening with moisture, burrowed back underground and disappeared.
Only the female ghost was still standing, and my heart skipped a beat.
I'm no longer a newbie.
I have seen this situation in the Book of the Underworld.
The underworld messengers temporarily avoided the yang energy and returned to the underworld, but did not take the evil spirit with them. There are only two possibilities.
Either the evil spirit's lifespan hasn't ended, and it needs to resolve its obsession on its own.
Or... she has been identified as an unclaimed evil spirit and handed over to cultivators in the mortal realm for handling.
There is another possibility: these four underworld officials are not of a high enough level to be caught.
"Brother Dao, could it be that this female ghost is so fierce that even the underworld officials dare not arrest her?"
My voice trembled: "Will we have to trouble Ox-Head and Horse-Face to take action personally?"
Liu Sandao wiped his face; the back of his suit jacket was already stiff with cold sweat.
"What are you thinking about? The underworld officials said that she should have lived to the age of fifty-five, but she was strangled by someone using witchcraft. It is a case of 'being wrongly killed in the mortal world and not accepted by the underworld'."
He pulled the crumpled cigarette case out of his pocket, only to find that the tobacco had already become damp and clumped together.
"The woman begged the underworld officials for seven days to find the murderer and resolve her obsession, otherwise..."
"Otherwise what?"
"Otherwise, the resentment will turn into demonic possession, and even the underworld officials will have to use the Soul-Binding Banner."
Liu Sandao suddenly laughed, his laughter carrying a ruthless, "what's the use of trying" attitude.
"Now look what's happened, this hot potato has been dumped on us. The underworld officials said, 'Things of the living world should be left to the living world,' and told us to handle it ourselves."
We'll handle it ourselves?
"So what do we do now?" I was speechless.
What can we do?
Liu Sandao sighed: "Let's take it one step at a time."
Just as the female ghost's fingertips were about to touch the shop door's protective barrier, Liu Sandao suddenly took a half-step forward.
He spoke first, saying, "Let's put revenge aside for now! Do you think we're underworld messengers who can summon and capture souls?"
He deliberately softened his tone, but secretly crushed a calming talisman in his sleeve.
“But the fetus in your womb still has a trace of intelligence. If it stays trapped in resentment with you, it may never be able to be reborn.”
The female ghost's frozen figure suddenly trembled.
Taking advantage of the momentum, Liu Sandao pulled out half of a wooden plaque carved with lotus flowers.
It is a soul-guiding plaque from the Hall of Rebirth.
“I recognize the Left Envoy of the Underworld’s Rebirth Department. This token can send your child to the Wheel of Rebirth, but you must agree to two things: First, from this day forward, you must not harm any more mortals in the mortal realm;”
"Secondly, a way to resolve the resentment must be found within seven days, otherwise..."
He paused, his fingertips tracing the talisman on the edge of the wooden plaque: "Otherwise, I can only ask the Rebirth Department to lock this child's soul in advance, so that it won't be scattered along with you."
The black liquid gathered at the woman's feet, forming the outline of an infant.
Her empty eye sockets turned toward the wooden sign, and a cracking sound came from her throat.
Liu Sandao gritted his teeth and tossed the wooden plaque into the air: "If you agree, then use your resentment to hold up this plaque! I swear on my five deficiencies and three lacks that I will never break my promise!"
The wooden plaque, carried by resentment, slowly floated toward the female ghost. Suddenly, the talisman on the plaque emitted a faint light, revealing the blurry face of the fetus.
The female ghost trembled as she stretched out her rotting hand.
The moment his fingertips touched the wooden sign, his entire body suddenly became violently blurred.
Liu Sandao reacted quickly, throwing out the Binding Immortal Rope to entangle her wrist.
"Think it through! Even if you are reduced to ashes, your child can still go through the proper cycle of reincarnation!"
These words struck the female ghost like a heavy hammer blow.
She suddenly gripped the wooden plaque tightly, and the vengeful spirit of the baby in her womb transformed into specks of light that surged into the plaque's surface, while her figure rapidly became transparent.
"Remember your promise..."
The female ghost's voice grew softer and softer, until the last wisp of resentment dissipated.
Only half a bloodstained fingernail and the faintly glowing soul-guiding tablet remained on the ground.
Liu Sandao slumped onto the steps, wiping the cold sweat from his forehead. His tie was already askew. "Damn it," he muttered, "negotiating with ghosts is more tiring than doing business with people!"
I picked up the Soul Guiding Tablet; its touch was as cold as frost.
"What do we do now? Do we really have to help her find the murderer?"
Liu Sandao glared at me and struggled to get up: "First, prepare the 'Soul Gathering Guide' and the 'Purification Talisman'. This child's soul is too weak. We need to use 30-year-old mugwort and cinnabar to prepare the soul elixir."
He patted the dust off his suit and suddenly added as if he remembered something: "Go buy another black pottery jar, one with lotus patterns. It's a rule of the Department of Rebirth. You have to use a 'Peaceful Jar' to hold the souls of infants, otherwise they won't be able to cross the Bridge of Helplessness."
"One of her hatreds!"
Liu Sandao sighed: "This has nothing to do with us anymore. She can take revenge for her own hatred. We are just helping her to pray for the souls of her children."
I asked, "And then what?"
"after?"
Liu Sandao chuckled: "After that, I'll take you on blind dates. You think I'm really joking?"
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