Chapter Forty-Four: Chaos

Su Yuanbai slowly opened his eyes, gazing at Deputy Warden Lin, who stood before the desk looking at him with confusion, and then lowering his eyes to the two pairs of hopeful eyes fixed upon him from below the hall.

His mind wandered for a long time, though the act of closing and opening his eyes took but a moment.

At first, he had merely intended to seek out the Ghost Judge and acquire the document granting passage to the Palace of Yama, then quietly observe the situation unfolding in the ghost prison among Xi Chunxue and the other two.

But the scroll produced by the Ghost Registrar changed Su Yuanbai’s plans.

Though this scroll still failed to help Su Yuanbai recall his true identity, it made him realize that his enemies were far more numerous—and terrifying—than he had imagined.

The withering of the red spider lilies on the Plain of Oblivion had granted Su Yuanbai some supernatural powers, and he vaguely remembered that he had once come to the underworld for the same purpose.

To kill Yama.

Thus, he followed the old path as best as memory allowed, including reaching out to tap Qu Hancheng’s brow with his finger—he recalled having done the same to others in the past.

Following this recollection, he traveled northward through the shadowed mountains of the underworld, arriving at North Yin City, and, as memory dictated, allowed the Ghost Judge to arrest them and confine them in the ghost prison.

If all went as expected, Qu Hancheng would awaken the power once lost from Su Yuanbai’s body inside the prison, and Su Yuanbai would watch as Qu Hancheng devoured all the ghosts and ghost wardens within.

He would also resolve any matters that proved beyond Qu Hancheng’s abilities.

Such had been Su Yuanbai’s actions in the hazy memories of the past.

But things rarely unfold as planned.

The former Su Yuanbai did not possess the same vague recollections as the present one; now, everything he did was in pursuit of his lost self.

So, for the first time, he deviated from his memory’s path, leaving the ghost prison alone. He met the Rakshasa and Yasha, and his blurred memories gained further clarity.

Likewise, Qu Hancheng was merely Qu Hancheng; he was not the person from Su Yuanbai’s faint memories, nor was he alone. Qu Hancheng did not consume the prison, and everything changed.

“Let’s return,” Su Yuanbai said, still cloaked in the Ghost Judge’s skin, his eyes lowered as he spoke to Xi Chunxue and Qu Hancheng below.

“Are you still Brother Yu?” Lin Lan asked in astonishment, his gaze sweeping over the Ghost Judge. No matter how he looked, he could not discern what had become this Ghost Judge. This was the underworld, where all were spirits; supernatural transformations changed appearances, but who had ever heard of souls themselves being altered?

The green-robed ghost clerk beside him also glanced repeatedly at the “Ghost Judge” at the desk; the aura was unmistakably that of Judge Yu.

“The Brother Yu you speak of is now in the back hall,” Su Yuanbai replied calmly.

“Inside, the sword-and-axe ghost wardens; outside, the Rakshasa and Yasha—seize this brazen scoundrel at once!” The green-robed clerk, hearing Su Yuanbai’s admission, reacted quickly and shouted to the wardens within and the Rakshasa and Yasha peering in from outside.

“No need to panic,” came another voice. It was Chunqing, clad in pale blue ghost robes, who glanced at the Rakshasa and Yasha guarding the hall before entering.

“Registrar, sir,” the Rakshasa and Yasha, usually unruly, greeted Chunqing with unusual courtesy.

“I thought after Judge Li left, you’d no longer acknowledge me as Registrar,” Chunqing smiled at them, gesturing for them to ignore the matter within, then stepped into the hall, his green eyes sweeping the restless sword-and-axe wardens on either side, shaking his head.

The Registrar’s rank far surpassed that of the green-robed clerk.

“Registrar Chun! You may not know—this Ghost Judge is an impostor, and he admitted it himself!” The green-robed clerk, seeing Chunqing enter, as if seeing a savior, called loudly. The Registrar was always close with the Ghost Judge, surely able to distinguish true from false.

“The Gate of Ghosts must be opened by the Judge himself at the county vault; otherwise, the ghost attendants guarding the vault will not allow entry. An envoy must carry the order and open the gate, so the souls may return to the world of the living,” Chunqing ignored the clerk’s cries and instead bowed respectfully to Su Yuanbai atop the dais.

“Registrar Chun, is this man an impostor, or has Judge Yu simply drunk too much today and lost his senses?” Lin Lan, still perplexed, asked the Registrar, who had spent much time with Judge Yu. From Chunqing’s respectful bow, it seemed this was still the same Brother Yu who often drank with him in the underworld.

But why had Brother Yu denied himself?

“Of course it’s Judge Yu. What do you say?” Registrar Chun turned to Lin Lan before addressing the Ghost Judge seated behind the desk.

“Take me to the county vault, and send a ghost envoy for me. The rest of you, wait here,” Su Yuanbai nodded calmly, understanding Chunqing’s meaning.

“Understood.” Chunqing nodded.

Thus, the two departed, one following the other, leaving behind a hall full of stunned and bewildered ghost wardens, clerks, and Lin Lan.

“Should we continue questioning these three?” One of the sword-and-axe wardens glanced at the now empty desk and asked the green-robed clerk.

“I’m just a clerk! You ask me? Who am I supposed to ask?” The green-robed clerk, already confused by the situation, responded irritably to the warden’s prompt.

“So should the demon soul still be dealt with by sword and axe?” The warden pressed.

“The Judge didn’t call a halt, so continue,” the clerk replied, unwilling to make any extra decisions. Since Registrar Chun had affirmed the Judge’s identity, it must be true. Now he had to think of how to explain his earlier accusations of brazen insolence.

Judge Yu was not known for his forgiving nature.

“Wait, what does this have to do with me?!” Duan Lingqi, equally baffled by the happenings atop the dais, was aware only that the sword-and-axe wardens had paused their work, but now seemed ready to resume their “service” upon him.

How had things come back to this?

“You have all three souls and seven spirits intact, meaning you can also practice necromancy. When did you become acquainted with the Ghost Judge of North Yin City? And you, I thought you were just an ordinary person, but clearly I was mistaken,” Lin Lan leaned against the desk, lowering his gaze to Xi Chunxue and Qu Hancheng, who were shrouded in a dark net.

As for the evil water dragon’s soul, Lin Lan had no intention of questioning it further. He knew better than anyone that interrogating that beast was like asking a mountain monkey for answers—the monkey would likely respond faster.

“Bi’an is dead, as you should know.” Seeing that Xi Chunxue and Qu Hancheng were unwilling to speak, Lin Lan shifted the topic.