Chapter 54: Coercion

With the first chime of the bell, thunderous drumbeats shook the sky. Inside the City God Temple, a massive horde of nether soldiers sprang into action at the sound of the drums, rapidly assembling.

Judging by the formation, it looked as though they were preparing to lay siege to a city.

Dazed as I watched the multitude of ghosts form into a military array, my face turned pale. There had to be several hundred ghosts out there!

Outside the gates, General Silver Lock had been nearly consumed by Xijun. His soul had faded until it was as transparent as water, and it seemed he would be devoured completely in just a moment. I hurriedly called Xijun off.

"Take General Silver Lock and Ling Tong with us. We might need them in a moment! Let's get inside the city—they're trying to close the gates!"

Just as I finished speaking, Xijun took a bite and tore off one of General Silver Lock's legs. Turning her head, she grabbed Ling Tong by the hair and dragged him along like a dead dog, casting a glance back at me with an expression that suggested this was sheer muscle memory.

I could only remain speechless. Fine, even if he isn't dead, you've at least fulfilled my task. Losing a leg or two isn't a big deal, and there's no sense in getting angry with a child, is there?

The heavy gates creaked as they began to close. Since the City God was locking us out, and I couldn't afford to waste any more time outside, I immediately dashed into the city.

Dragging General Silver Lock and Ling Tong by their hair, Xijun sprinted all the way inside. The two dragged men grimaced in pain, tears welling up in their eyes.

Thud!

Following a deafening crash, the city gates slammed completely shut. I truly didn't know whether I was the dog trapped inside by someone closing the door, or if I was the one who had come in to beat the dogs. Either way, nether soldiers were fluttering about like a blanket over the mountains and plains ahead.

Among them stood a figure clad in identical blue armor, holding a golden cangue as tall as a person. He stood imposingly at the front of the nether soldiers, radiating an air of majestic authority.

Three ghosts facing a vast legion of nether soldiers and ghost generals.

"Song Wanyi! So many nether soldiers! What do we do?" Frowning, I turned my head and hurriedly asked Song Wanyi. After all, having never served as a ghost lord, she had far more experience than I did in pre-battle formations.

"Master, kill them," Song Wanyi whispered, creeping closer to me and speaking in a very quiet voice.

"If you're going to sound so majestic, could you stand to the side and say it out loud?" I figured Song Wanyi definitely had ulterior motives. Usually, in ancient warfare, if a lord asked what to do in such a situation, shouldn't a vanguard general step out of the formation, roar out a line like 'Who dares face me?!' to boost morale, or something similar? What kind of behavior was it to sneak over and whisper in my ear?

"Master, you know Wanyi's voice isn't loud," Song Wanyi said with a shy, timid expression.

Her look and voice gave me goosebumps. You should use that soul-stealing charm of yours on the enemies instead.

"Big Brother! Big Brother! Save me! Save Daheng!" Chen Daheng let out a miserable wail instead, clawing at the ground with both hands as he tried to crawl toward General Golden Lock, leaving even his cangue forgotten off to the side.

Having already had most of his soul body devoured by Xijun earlier, Chen Daheng had now lost both legs in a single bite. Before they could reform, he looked both wretched and pathetic.

"Who is this fellow?" I asked the dirt-covered Ling Tong rolling around on the ground.

"Gen... General Golden Cague, Chen Zili... he's Chen Daheng's own brother, ranking fifth among the six major generals under the City God... Master Xia, you must be careful," Ling Tong hastily replied. He no longer dared to put on airs this time; able to secure an official post, he wasn't entirely lacking in worldly wisdom. Of course, he still believed that justice was invincible, and his current surrender was merely a case of being in Cao Cao's camp while his heart remained with Han.

General Golden Cague stepped forward and shouted loudly, "What manner of ghost dare come to the County City God Temple to cause trouble! Let me tell you, you are already surrounded. State your names at once, and immediately release my brother, Chen Daheng!"

"What ghost, what person—where is your County City God? I've no intention of holding you accountable for dragging me into the netherworld, but now I require passage to return to the land of the living immediately. If any dare to block my path, or if you drag this out too long, your end will be just like his!" I pointed at General Silver Lock crawling miserably across the ground step by step, not caring that Xijun would surely drag him right back.

Seeing his younger brother's miserable state, General Golden Cague's face twitched. Just as he wanted to order his subordinate ghost generals to provide backup, he caught sight of a little female ghost bouncing over, grabbing his brother by the hair, and dragging him back like a dog once more.

He knew his brother's strength well; the two of them were evenly matched.

"Do not harm my brother's life!" General Golden Cague reached out anxiously to stop her. After death, when people became ghosts, not all of them went to be reincarnated; those who had the opportunity to become nether soldiers and generals retained their emotions, and their brotherly bonds from life were cherished all the more. To prevent his brother from suffering further, General Golden Cague immediately shouted, "Hurry, a few of you, go notify the City God! Inform the Twenty-Four Offices to come and deal with this matter swiftly!"

As a major ghost, he and his younger brother had taken on this mission together, initially expecting it to be a simple task. Yet it had escalated to this point—not only had they suffered casualties and lost troops, but even Chen Daheng had been taken hostage by the opposing side.

Could this fellow named Xia Yitian really be that formidable?

"I'll whip him every few seconds, and he'll probably be whipped to death in a moment. You'd better hurry!" With that, I picked up the ghost-mourning staff and lashed out!

The miserable screams immediately caused the nether soldiers and generals opposite to grow restless, but lacking an order from their commander, none dared to charge forward.

"Ah! Master Xia! Why are you hitting me?! Master Xia! It's me! I'm Ling Tong!" Ling Tong cried out with a mournful face, pointing at Chen Daheng, who had previously occupied his spot but had now crawled forward. He had originally crawled to my side to try and curry favor, never expecting to take a whip meant for Chen Daheng. It was simply too damn unjust!

"Oh, I wasn't paying attention for a moment," I said, feeling rather embarrassed upon realizing I had hit the wrong person.

Seeing that I wanted to hit Chen Daheng, Xijun dragged him right back again. With all this dragging back and forth, he might actually be dragged to death before long. Black lines crisscrossed my forehead; this little girl really lacked common sense.

Before long, the dozen civil-official-styled ghosts in charge of the Twenty-Four Offices fluttered over one after another from various intersections. Though not all of them had arrived, essentially all those with a stake in the matter were present.

Seeing Chen Daheng's miserable state, the group of ghosts felt a sympathetic pang in their hearts, casting inquiring glances toward General Golden Cague.

"Did you not see my younger brother in their hands? He's about to be tortured to death! Hurry up and think of something for me!" Big ghosts and little ghosts guarding the city gates were the core trusted generals commanding troops under the City God. Moreover, Chen Zili was accustomed to dispatching subordinates and still held a certain amount of prestige throughout the City God Temple. A single sentence frightened the ghosts of the Twenty-Four Offices.

On their way over, they had already learned the ins and outs of the matter, as well as my name. Pressured by General Golden Cague, several officials hastily convened an impromptu tribunal.

"Didn't you say there were six major generals? How come only Golden Cague and Silver Lock are here? What about the legendary Ox-Head and Horse-Face, Black and White Impermanence?" Not seeing the other four legendary ghost generals, I began questioning Ling Tong.

Ling Tong didn't dare to dawdle and replied, "General Ox-Head is on official duty, leading a group of ghost generals to capture escaped ghosts, I suppose. General Horse-Face has taken souls to the Six Paths of Reincarnation and is very busy. The Seventh Master and Eighth Master are both by the City God's side and will surely arrive shortly."

A sudden realization dawned on me. It seemed every county's City God really did maintain these traditional posts, even if their images differed slightly from those commonly seen in mortal City God temples.

With countless nether souls arriving in the underworld every day, it was no difficult task for a local City God to select a few capable individuals to fill these roles. Larger districts could pick exceptional talents, while smaller county City Gods, naturally, couldn't boast much strength.

Even if there were powerful figures, the higher-level city City God would simply transfer them away once discovered. What formidable characters could possibly be left in a small place?

Besides, even if there were powerful ones, I no longer cared. Pushed to this point, if I didn't harden my resolve, I truly might never make it back.

"Hey! Have you discussed it yet? If you don't grant me, Xia Yitian, passage to return to the living, I'll execute this General Silver Lock right now, slaughter a thousand or eight hundred of your nether soldiers, and drag half of your Twenty-Four Offices down to fill the graves with us!" I issued a harsh threat, my brows furrowing tightly. We were running out of time, yet they were still holding a tribunal. If the City God hadn't been on his way, I would have already charged through.

"Master Xia, please wait! The City God is arriving immediately! Only the City God possesses the authority to grant passage back to the land of the living." The head of one of the offices hurriedly bowed and saluted me, performing the courtesy meticulously.

"So you're saying you can't make a decision either? Is granting passage back to the living really that difficult? Or are your lives completely worthless?" I demanded fiercely, pointing straight at Ling Tong. "There happen to be two officials here, and I'm not sure what to do with them. Since Chen Daheng is half-crippled, I suppose I can keep him around, but as for this Ling Tong... shall we butcher him for a side dish first?"

As soon as I finished speaking, Xijun split her mouth wide open, eager to devour Ling Tong. She had eaten plenty of minor ghost runners, but she had never tasted a ghost official before and was keen to sample the flavor.

"Oh! Master Xia! No, please! I, Ling Tong, don't want to die! I beg you, don't eat me! Officials, save this humble one! Don't let me die! Uncle, save your nephew, this nephew truly doesn't want to die!" Hearing that I intended to eat him, Ling Tong immediately prostrated himself on the ground, kowtowing wildly—bowing to me first, then toward the opposite side. At this point, his earlier peerless arrogance had long since been cast aside at the King of Hell's doorstep.

The expressions of the various officials turned extremely ugly. Ling Tong held only a modest official rank within the City God Temple, and his death wouldn't exactly trigger a massive upheaval. Yet for him to die right before their eyes was disheartening, especially with many nether souls of the City God watching closely from nearby.

Furthermore, the Judge of Punishments ranked firmly within the top three of the Twenty-Four Offices, and that official happened to be Ling Tong's paternal uncle. Letting his nephew die would be tantamount to breaking the official's own bones, so they all found the situation terribly difficult to handle.

Ling Zhiying, the Judge of Punishments, bore the same fierce, menacing expression Ling Tong had worn earlier, radiating an air of supreme authority. However, I didn't believe for a second that he was any better than Ling Tong; how far apart could an uncle and nephew be? They were birds of a feather.

"Ling Zhiying! Your Judge of Punishments made the loudest noise about this, and your nephew is on this side. Now that trouble has broken out, you surely don't intend to stay silent and wait for the City God, do you? I won't care if your nephew dies!"

"Indeed! Hurry up and give the other party an explanation, lest he gets impatient and starts biting ghosts!"

"This..." Ling Zhiying gritted his teeth, glared at Ling Tong, and then turned to General Golden Cague. "General, Ling knows nothing of battlefield matters. What do you think we should do..."

"I'll fuck your grandmother! If I knew what to do, what the hell would I have called you over for?! My brother has been captured by that fellow, and if you can't save him, I'll finish you off first!" General Golden Cague flew into a rage and kicked Ling Zhiying sprawling to the ground.

Knocked flat on his back, Ling Zhiying pointed right at General Golden Cague and cursed, "You dare hit me! The moment the City God arrives, he'll strip you of your rank!"

"Strip my ass! I'll butcher you first!"

Watching the spectacle, I found it quite amusing. Truly, when scholars meet soldiers, reasoning goes out the window. At a critical moment, the Judge of Punishments couldn't even handle the temple garrison.

Just as we were watching this grand drama, the City God arrived amidst the sound of gongs and drums! Upon seeing the multitude of ghost soldiers and generals he brought along, I was dumbfounded. Even a small county's City God actually possessed such a formidable reserve force deployed for battle.