Chapter 52: Transformation

Ling Tong didn't mind my curses at all and gave me several more heavy lashes before stopping, leaving me wincing in pain and feeling thoroughly miserable.

Struggling to my feet, I found my clothes reduced to mere strips of cloth, leaving me almost entirely exposed. Ling Tong had no intention of providing me with new attire, so I had no choice but to wander about looking like a beggar.

"If you ever attempt to bribe me with money again, I will beat you until your soul scatters into nothingness!" Ling Tong glared at me with an icy expression, pulling out a white decree of judgment and tossing it right in front of me. With a wave of his hand, four or five ghost guards waiting behind him rushed forward to carry out their instruments of torture.

Those ghost guards lifted the white cloth covering a large black cauldron, inside of which boiling oil was bubbling away. They then produced a set of exquisite tongue-pulling tools, looking entirely prepared to rip my tongue out on the spot. The sight of it nearly made me collapse to the ground in terror.

I picked up the decree from the ground and took a look. It was filled with archaic terms like 'thou' and 'I' that he had chanted earlier, sealed with numerous strange stamps.

Ling Tong let out a triumphant laugh, his face beaming with the malicious delight of someone watching a good show. "See that? This is the decree of judgment, personally written by the City God himself and stamped with the official seal. It can freely traverse the mortal realm. No matter if you are an emperor, a general, a deity, or a living Buddha, when your mortal lifespan ends, I can summon your soul here just the same!"

"Oh, so this is the decree. It's written in quite a fine hand, but can it really reach the mortal realm?" I nodded, glancing at the decree and then at the wisps of smoke rising from my ghostly form, my brow furrowed deeply.

"Need you ask? With a single reading of this decree, I can summon anyone's soul directly down to the netherworld, no matter what you are. Humpph!" Seeing the anxious look on my face, Ling Tong sneered.

He then looked toward a very tall, endless stretch of city wall in the distance and the large gate right in the middle of it. He said to me, "The City God is right over there. Take a look at those wearing large blue armor and holding heavy cangues outside! Those are the Generals of Cangue and Lock! You tried to bribe me? You truly have a death wish!"

"Ling Tong, you gave me twenty-nine lashes and kicked me seven times. I suppose I'll take my losses. A dog bit me, and biting it back would still leave me at a loss. But today, I am not going to let this rest with your City God either. If your City God doesn't send me back to the mortal realm, I'll call for backup and tear down your City God Temple piece by piece!" I glared viciously at Ling Tong.

Ling Tong took my words as a joke and laughed with malicious intent. "Very well, you certainly have a spine. Backup, you say? Let's see how long you can last!"

"Last? I'll show you how to last!" I cursed angrily, holding the decree in my hand while tracing a few incantations with my fingers to summon Xijun and Song Wanyi. I shouted at the top of my lungs, "Xijun! Song Wanyi! This soul-snatching ghost has dragged my spirit all the way to the Netherworld Road, why are you two still guarding that empty shell of mine?! Hurry up and come save your master!"

"Ha, ha! Ha, ha, ha! Are you a complete fool? This decree is for summoning souls; what good does it do to shout for someone whose mortal lifespan isn't up yet?! Stop making a fuss, or I, Ling Tong, will truly make you roll around in this oil cauldron!" Ling Tong laughed heartily, snatched the decree back from my hand, and kicked me sprawling to the ground. "If you don't know what's good for you, I'll beat some sense into you, and then I'll have the ghost guards drag you off to see the City God! I'm sure his elder self won't hold it against me. I've seen plenty of evil ghosts like you—what you need is a good thrashing!"

"Ling Tong, you wretched dog, you'd better hope your own bones are just as tough! Don't come crying for your life after being tortured for a bit!" I refused to back down. The worst that could happen was taking a few more beatings from him.

Just as I was enduring his assault, two reinforcements—one white and one red—came flying in from the direction I had just arrived from. Seeing me beaten by Ling Tong to the point where I had more breath going out than coming in, Xijun flew into a furious rage. Her mouth split back to her ears, baring her sharp, blood-stained teeth as she lunged forward!

Song Wanyi's anger also flared. She had only just entered my household and become a female retainer, yet before she could even show off the slightest bit of martial prowess, her master had been beaten nearly half to death by a petty ghost. If she went back, the Lady of the manor would surely skin her alive with a stick. Thinking of the Lady's domineering presence, she wished she had grown a few extra legs to fly here faster.

"Wretched dog Ling Tong! You'd better hope you don't get scared to death!" Watching Xijun pounce toward us, I knew the decree had worked its magic. I had found it strange earlier when this fellow used ancient prose to chant my soul away, causing my spirit to fly straight into the netherworld without even needing to borrow a mortal pathway.

Once we entered the Netherworld Road, this wretched dog had started treating me with utter disrespect. He must have been reciting an incantation beforehand; otherwise, with Xijun and Song Wanyi protecting me, how could the underworld have dragged me down here without a bloody battle?

When I told him I was calling for backup, he hadn't believed me. He had no idea that I kept ghosts as retainers, and the ones I summoned were hardly ordinary mortals!

"Xijun, slaughter every single ghost guard here except for this wretched dog!" I lay on the ground, gritting my teeth and pointing at the pack of ghost guards.

Netherworld spirits were like sheep facing wolves when they encountered ferocious ghosts. These ghost guards had all looked triumphant when they thought I was easy to bully, but in reality, they were just pathetic cowards who preyed on the weak and feared the strong.

Xijun even fed on fierce ghosts, let alone these mere ghost guards. With a single roar, she shook the surrounding ghost guards so hard that they collapsed onto the ground, unable to move. She grabbed them one by one like picking out pieces of candy, hoisted one up, opened her bloodthirsty maw, and swallowed the ghost guard's head whole.

Having tasted one back at the Zhao family estate, Xijun had acquired a taste for them. Ghost guards were freezing cold all over and tasted the absolute best when consumed. While she was trapped in Yinluan Town, there were only ordinary spirits and fierce ghosts there, and ghost guards had never dared to enter. Suddenly having twenty or thirty of them pop up made them fresh delicacies to her. Furthermore, I was the one giving the order to eat them—following orders to become a bottomless pit of appetite was Xijun's absolute favorite thing.

Seeing two terrifyingly powerful ghostly entities suddenly appear, Ling Tong's face turned green with fright. Trembling, he immediately drew his soul-crying staff to prepare for battle. However, Song Wanyi let out a soft cry and flicked her wrist, stirring up a violent gale that destabilized Ling Tong's ghostly form and sent him rolling across the ground.

I picked up the soul-crying staff, struggled to my feet, and brought the rod down hard across Ling Tong's face.

Slap!

"Ah!" Ling Tong howled in agony, rolling around on the ground.

"Wretched dog! That'll teach you to beat the life out of me!" I cursed angrily while raining blows with the soul-crying staff upon every part of his body, beating him until smoke billowed from him like a madman dancing.

"Master, stop hitting him. If you hit him any more, his soul will scatter completely. That's a soul-crying staff, it captures souls; every single blow knocks away a strand of a ghost's soul, it's not a common beating stick. If you hit him too much, he'll vanish entirely," Song Wanyi said, looking at Ling Tong with some concern.

"What? How can you..." Hearing this, I wondered how Song Wanyi was able to speak. Her voice was so sweet, too. Then, looking at the surrounding environment, I remembered we were in the netherworld.

"This is the netherworld, Master. And... shouldn't you perhaps... change your posture?" Song Wanyi said to me, casting a glance down at my entire body, which was clad in mere strips of cloth, while one of my legs rested triumphantly atop Ling Tong, revealing rather indecent sights.

With even the slightest movement, a man's natural charm was simply impossible to conceal. Her face naturally flushed red, and she was too shy to keep looking.

"Good grief, I've only given him sixty-four lashes! That's not even double yet!" I feigned a fierce glare at Ling Tong to mask my embarrassment, then gave him a few more kicks. "Strip off that outfit of yours and give it to me! Hurry up!"

"Xia... Sir! Sixty-four is way more than double... Please don't... hit me anymore... I'll strip it off, I'll strip it off right now!" Ling Tong hesitated for a moment, but seeing me raise the club again, he immediately shed his official robe and handed it to me with both hands.

"Wow, wow! Big brother is all bare, Xijun wants a hug!" Having finished off the pack of ghost guards, Xijun saw that I was about to get new clothes and completely ignored the fact that I had just been stark naked, running over like a curious toddler demanding an embrace. I hurriedly used the official robe to cover my vital parts.

Seeing me toss him the prison uniform I had been wearing earlier, Ling Tong also retained a shred of shame and immediately put it on. After all, as a psychopomp, his status was quite important; he couldn't very well walk around stark naked.

The official robe must have been specially crafted by the underworld; despite being beaten so fiercely, it hadn't suffered a single tear. No wonder Ling Tong had seemed remarkably durable, though I had nearly beaten his soul right out of him.

However, wearing this dog of an official robe actually made me look quite dashing. Both Song Wanyi and Xijun lit up when they looked at me—it was vastly superior to the ragged beggar outfit from moments before.

Ling Tong, on the other hand, was now hunched over, wisps of blue smoke rising from his entire body, not even daring to straighten his back. If he truly stood up straight, his lack of proper attire would be completely exposed.

"Weren't you standing as straight as a ramrod just a moment ago? Now that our roles are reversed, you've turned into this?" The role reversal lifted my spirits slightly. I touched the faint wisp of smoke still rising from my body and felt a strong urge to beat Ling Tong to death. He had laid it on far too heavily earlier, nearly knocking my soul clean out of my body.

"Master Xia, what are you saying... I had no choice in the matter either... There are clear orders from above regarding your case, and besides, General Cangue and General Lock are still waiting up ahead. How could I possibly abuse my power for personal gain... I truly wasn't trying to go against you on purpose!" Ling Tong was terrified of me by now. It was hard enough finally landing a promotion as a newcomer and scoring a high-profile assignment to hook the soul of an important criminal—an achievement that would have guaranteed praise and advancement upon his return. Instead of showing off, he had ended up on the receiving end of a beating. He was fuming with frustration and grievance, yet he still had to force a smile.

"Quickly tell me! How can I return to the mortal realm? Since my soul was hooked, there has to be a way back!" I thought to myself, didn't television reports often feature people who died for a few hours and then came back to life? They must have negotiated with the wardens down in the netherworld after death to find a way back. The key was the conditions, and besides, how long had I even been dead?

"Returning to the mortal realm is a major affair, unless your soul was hooked by mistake. It requires the City God and the Twenty-Four Divisions to jointly review the case and sign a decree of approval before you can cross the mortal return path... Under the current circumstances, that's probably going to be difficult... Why don't you just make do and take up an official post in the underworld? Since you can command two powerful ghost generals, once you go before the City God, you'll surely be granted an official position!" Ling Tong carefully coaxed me.

Upon hearing that, I immediately landed a kick on him. "Get lost, you wretched dog! Why would I want to abandon a perfectly good life as a mortal to become a ghost guard in your underworld?! If I can't return to the mortal realm, I'd rather risk my life and tear down your little County City God Temple!"

Ling Tong's face turned shades of blue and green, scared out of his wits and thoroughly exasperated: *How can this fellow be so willful? Isn't serving in the underworld a good thing? You get to boss around a bunch of ghost guards and be served fine food and drink; others would kill for this position and can't even get it. They always say the mortal path is full of hardships, but these days, isn't being a ghost much better than being a human?*

*You don't want to return to the mortal realm, and you're even willing to risk your life?*

"Master Xia! I'm merely a lowly psychopomp! In any case, you'll definitely have to pay a visit to the City God. Why don't you come with me first?" Ling Tong had run out of options. Rolling his eyes, he hoped to escort this formidable deity to the City God so he could wash his hands of the matter. He certainly had no desire to wait on me any longer. Once we reached the City God, General Cangue and General Lock could unleash their mighty prowess, charging forward together with all the brave ghost guards to hog-tie me. At that point, the underworld would make all the rules, and he could finally teach this fellow a lesson about keeping a low profile in the netherworld!