Chapter 51: Downfall

"How do you plead!"

Things had gone beyond my imagination. I opened my eyes to pitch-black surroundings. Dozens of vague, flickering figures in white robes drifted before my sight.

A bone-chilling cold permeated my entire body, yet I still felt the burning flush of a fever. Looking around, neither Xijun nor Song Wanyi was by my side. How had I ended up here, all alone?

I remembered falling asleep in my bed. If the ghost messengers had come to claim my life, shouldn't they have crossed over from the mortal realm? How had they managed to drag me away from within my own dream?

"I am Ling Tong, the Extradition Officer of the Office of Crime and Punishment. I am under orders to escort you across the Yellow Springs Road. How do you plead!" The leading ghost messenger wore a fierce expression, resembling a military drill instructor, and pointed a stern finger right at me.

He asked me repeatedly, but I remained silent. When walking lonely paths at night, mortals must never answer when called, or else wandering spirits will possess them and take their lives. This place didn't look like night, yet the sky was so dark that neither sun nor moon could be seen. Naturally, I was not going to answer him.

"Take him!" Ling Tong said coldly, and a dozen ghost messengers immediately moved to grab me.

"Xijun! Song Wanyi!" I reached into my pocket, but my heart instantly plummeted. I discovered that I was completely naked, wearing nothing at all!

"Ten thousand liang of gold cannot be brought along; the sins of a lifetime remain upon the body! Give him the attire of the Underworld prison!" Ling Tong chuckled with a shake of his head and waved his hand. A ghost messenger brought over a garment that was neither robe nor tunic—as crude and rudimentary as the one Xijun wore, looking precisely like a white cement sack with four holes cut into it for limbs.

Feeling that I could not stand naked in front of so many ghosts, I quickly put it on. With this, I truly had become a ghost. Why hadn't it crossed my mind while I was still alive to burn myself a bulletproof vest or a machine gun?

The moment the dozen officers saw that I had put on the prison garb, they seized me as if they had achieved their goal. Both of my arms were wrenched backward at painful angles. A sharp, piercing agony made me grimace and bare my teeth. It seemed that the terror Xijun and Song Wanyi felt when abused by the ghostly matriarch was truly no act.

These ghost messengers were of various ages, middle-aged and young alike. Their faces were deathly pale, some with short hair and others with long, but every single one of them looked down on me with haughty arrogance.

"Whether you plead guilty or not matters little. Once you fall into my Office of Crime and Punishment, you will lose a layer of skin even if you survive. Don't think that just because you were formidable in the mortal realm, the Underworld cannot claim your life. Let me tell you, when my office comes to make an arrest, even emperors, generals, deities, and Buddhas must obediently submit! What kind of a thing are you? Did you think that keeping quiet meant I had no way to deal with you?" Ling Tong kicked me right in the back, and I stumbled heavily, sprawling flat onto the ground!

A searing pain flared across my back. The ghost messengers pulled me back up, gazing at me with cold indifference.

My sense of pain had not been stripped away. This was not a dream; it must have been some other realm. The kick I had just taken made me see my own spiritual body sway—that was an injury to the soul, what living people called phantom pain, rather than physical trauma.

"Aren't you quite something? Looking so young, yet you've committed two unforgivable capital crimes. I can somewhat understand the matter of arbitrarily slaying a ghost messenger—you must truly be a notable figure in the mortal realm—but defying the heavens to alter fate is beyond me. The Five Yin gathered, your destiny lacked its span! When I received the above dispatch, I thought I must have read it wrong, heh!" Ling Tong said from behind me.

I still said nothing. I had never suffered such abuse. Ever since I was a child, the ghostly matriarch had never let me encounter genuine danger.

Where had she gone?

"Matriarch!" I roared. At a time like this, she ought to be right by my side!

"Matriarch and elder sister? Heh, the first thing out of your mouth is calling for your woman. I think your lust has addled your brains! Don't worry, the punishment of the bronze pillar won't pass you by!" Ling Tong kicked me again, sending me rolling across the floor.

Those consumed by lust and desire when descending to the Underworld were bound to suffer the punishment of the bronze pillar. I climbed back up, furrowing my brow tightly as I glared viciously at Ling Tong.

"Angered? It's useless. No one can save you here. The Underworld is the Underworld, and the mortal realm is the mortal realm. Now that you've reached this place, don't you realize it's too late for regrets? Your mortal lifespan has ended! Even the Jade Emperor himself couldn't save you!" Ling Tong looked at me with pity, as if my refusal to plead guilty amused him greatly.

My mortal lifespan had ended? How could my mortal lifespan possibly have ended?

No... every time the ghostly matriarch appeared, it was whenever my vital blood and energy were severely depleted. The first time, I hadn't thought much of it, assuming she was just joking.

But the second time, which was today, I had begun to feel extremely unwell. That was the moment I should have stopped, yet foolishly and recklessly, I had continued to feed Xijun and Song Wanyi with my own blood...

Until finally, a fever set in, and I collapsed onto my bed, utterly oblivious to the gravity of the situation.

Now that I thought about it, ever since the ghostly matriarch had left today, she truly hadn't tugged at the hem of my clothes even once. She hadn't even warned me when my vital energy was depleted and I was feeding ghosts with my own blood...

Could it be that the ghostly matriarch... Ah, how could I have forgotten the principle of mutual prosperity and shared destruction? The ghostly matriarch's existence was inextricably linked to mine. Since I was on the verge of death, how well could she possibly being doing? At most, her anger would allow her to whip up a chilly phantom wind.

I missed the ghostly matriarch so much. What on earth had happened to her...

In my generation, the Raising Ghost Path was on the verge of losing even its most formidable heritage. It was all too unfair. I reckoned I must be the most pathetic successor of them all. Not only did I lack proper personal instruction, but I also had to rely entirely on groping in the dark. And groping in the dark wasn't even the worst of it—every step I took had been wrong, leading to more mistakes. Now I had stumbled right into the Underworld. Even if my sins weren't overflowing, I certainly wouldn't be meeting a good end.

"Cat got your tongue? Hmph, you certainly have a high tolerance for pain. But no matter, once you reach General Shackles, you'll get a real taste of what suffering is. Let me tell you, you won't overturn this case. Our Office of Crime and Punishment is ruthless, but we don't act arbitrarily. Your case has actually been jointly reviewed and deliberated through the City God's Office of Affairs, the Office of Alertness, the Office of Inspection, the Office of Rewarding Law, the Office of Penal Law, the Office of Examining Faults, the Office of Recording Sights, the Office of Recording Comers, the Office of Rewarding Good, the Office of Prisons, and the Office of Rotation! See that? Usually, a single ghost messenger is enough to haul someone in, but look at the grand reception you've got. Be content!" Ling Tong said with a gloomy face.

The surroundings remained pitch-black. Occasionally, other ghost messengers escorted the wandering souls of the dead, walking in the same direction as me. Those others were each escorted by a single ghost messenger, whereas I had a whole crowd of them. Escaping was completely out of the question.

"So you're saying I'm quite the big shot then." I offered a wry smile, never expecting a mere City God to pay such heavy attention to my case.

I was not some hot-blooded youth who felt the compulsive need for immediate eye-for-an-eye vengeance whenever I was struck, itching to bite off half someone's ear. Given this many guards, if I resisted and they beat me to death, perhaps I could attain transcendence; if they didn't beat me to death, I'd just endure a brutal thrashing. Rather than despairing, I might as well find some amusement amidst the bitterness.

"A big shot? Right, once the tortures are applied, I hope you can still maintain that sentiment. By then, even wishing for your soul to scatter into nothingness might be beyond your reach! And let me tell you, someone really did put in a good word for you back in the mortal realm. The previous trouble with that ghost messenger was mostly smoothed over. But your defiance of the heavens to alter fate—concealing the fact that your mortal life was meant to end prematurely—was uncovered as a result. That is a heaven-defying matter no matter where you go, and no one can speak on your behalf!" Ling Tong finally laid the bottom line bare for me.

Uncle Hai had pleaded on my behalf, but the Underworld had instead uncovered the truth about my fated destiny. This left me feeling as though I had been plunged into an ice cellar. It seemed that my maternal grandmother's intervention to alter my fate and the ghostly matriarch's concealment of my lifespan were simply things the Underworld could never tolerate.

Now that the ghostly matriarch was gone, the disaster had finally blown open.

"Are we heading to the City God's court?" I asked casually. For now, they were merely extraditing me, and they hadn't yet clapped me in actual shackles.

"You're sharp. I am merely an Extradition Officer, tasked with pulling you out of your physical vessel. In a moment, General Shackles will take over your custody from me, and that is when the repayment of your sins will truly begin." Ling Tong had no intention of concealing it from me; he was solely responsible for claiming lives.

This Ling Tong was the leader of the life-claiming ghosts, and his methods were indeed formidable. Unlike ordinary ghost messengers who had to wait around for people to die naturally, he had dragged me straight onto the Yellow Springs Road. Otherwise, Xijun and Song Wanyi would certainly have noticed.

Yet this also sparked a possibility in my mind. If I could figure out a way to alert Xijun and Song Wanyi, perhaps I could still return to the living realm. Otherwise, I would truly be dragged off to the City God's domain, and once there, escaping would be utterly impossible.

Furthermore, since claiming my life required the use of an Extradition Officer, didn't that mean the Underworld authorities below were also somewhat wary that ordinary ghost messengers wouldn't be able to subdue me? If I could seize this opportunity to bribe the Extradition Officer, and he agreed to report back that the extradition had failed, wouldn't I have a chance to return to the living? Once back, I could fortify my defenses, and perhaps he wouldn't be able to take me again.

"Tell me, Brother Ling, apart from you who can actually hold a conversation, the other ghost messengers seem utterly mindless. Are they all just acting on pure instinct?" Remembering that the ghost messenger sent by Old Man Zhao earlier had also lacked any independent will, merely seizing people and dragging them back to the Yellow Springs before heading toward the City God's direction, this thought naturally arose in my mind.

"You're quite perceptive. If you didn't know better, you'd think you were a frequent visitor here. I won't hide it from you: these ghost messengers carry decree talismans to extradite souls. Fearing that they might develop rebellious thoughts and turn into wild, wandering ghosts, the Underworld seals away the majority of their spiritual consciousness. Thus, they become mere walking echoes with only instinct and commands to guide them. Officers like myself don't have that restriction, which is why my original consciousness remains intact." Seeing that I had opened up and showed not a shred of fear, Ling Tong grew somewhat curious.

"So that's how it is. To be frank with you, Brother Ling, my family possesses a modest fortune, yet my wife is left widowed in an empty house, and my sister is also alone in the mortal realm. Do you suppose there might be any way we could bend the rules so I can bid them farewell? Once I return, I can ensure they sing your praises daily, burning high incense and offering you gold and silver? Or if you have any demands of your own, you can voice them to me, and I will fulfill them all. It would only take a brief moment; once I've settled my affairs, you can drag me back down just as before?" Reading his expression and seeing it soften slightly, I intended to bribe him. After all, Uncle Hai had said that if the Underworld came to claim a life, one should agree to any demand first and figure it out later.

Ling Tong looked at me with a completely blank expression. After a long moment, he drew out the white mourning staff he carried at his side and smashed it down upon me head and shoulders!

Every single lash made my spiritual body smoke, filling me with such excruciating pain that I rolled on the ground!

"Hey! You bastard, Ling Tong! That's quite enough! If you won't agree, fine! As an Extradition Officer, what kind of reasoning is there for beating me in private? Just wait until I get out of here, or I'll slowly torture you to death, you dog!" I cursed loudly, but Ling Tong merely glared fiercely, ignoring my roaring entirely as he beat me as if to kill.