Judge of Souls-Chapter 31 - Fourth Night

Jiang Feng and Zhang Yangyang rushed to the nearby road and took a bus home.

Jiang Feng was truly uncomfortable in his wet clothes. With the wind blowing, even with the sun out, it felt too cold. After getting home, he immediately took a shower, while Zhang Yangyang went out to buy cold medicine, just in case.

He dried himself with a towel, put on clothes, walked to the mirror, and took a cloth to wipe it.

Halfway through wiping, not only did his face appear in the mirror, but also the shadow of a ghost with a long tongue.

Jiang Feng turned around and looked at it coldly.

The ghost was very surprised. “Why can you see me? Why can you hurt me? Are you a Taoist priest?”

Jiang Feng dried his hands. “What do you want, following me here?”

The evil ghost laughed sinisterly. “Today you ruined my plans, showed off in public, and interfered with the Netherworld’s business. I came specifically to take one of your hands as a warning to others!”

However, Jiang Feng didn’t show any of the reactions he expected, but just calmly asked, “What about that woman today?”

The ghost vaguely sensed something was wrong. “Her? She was promiscuous, got involved in someone else’s marriage, she deserved to be drowned alive!”

Jiang Feng snapped his fingers with one hand. “Then do you know what mistake you made?”

The ghost frowned. “I am an underworld official, I—AHHH!!”

Jiang Feng grabbed his tongue directly, wrapped it around his neck once, and then dragged him toward the door.

“It hurts, it hurts, it hurts!” The ghost was dragged along, in so much pain that his eyes rolled back, and he kept asking, “Why can you hurt me? Why? I have a Judge’s order!”

Once grabbed by Jiang Feng, he couldn’t use any strength at all, and the places touched felt like they were burning with fire.

Even though he was now a ghost, ordinary people, no, even ordinary Taoist priests, couldn’t harm him.

Jiang Feng efficiently dragged him to the door, wrapped the tongue around his body a few more times, and finally tied the end part into a knot on the doorknob.

The ghost regretted it terribly, constantly howling. “Ah—it hurts, hurts, hurts!”

Jiang Feng went back to the room, opened a box of instant noodles, moved a chair over, and watched him.

The ghost didn’t dare move, just hissed in pain, with saliva dripping all over his clothes.

Chu Xuanliang stopped as soon as he came up the stairs. “What is this…?”

“Fulfilling his wish, as a warning to others,” Jiang Feng said. “Take him away quickly.”

Chu Xuanliang said seriously, “This isn’t a recycling center, don’t do this again.”

“I’ve been very busy lately. For some reason, strange things keep happening in the city, several incidents already, with serious consequences. Old Ye can’t even get away.” Chu Xuanliang asked, “Have you encountered anything strange recently?”

Jiang Feng pointed at the long-tongued ghost.

Isn’t it obvious?

Chu Xuanliang: “…Good point.”

He looked carefully at the ghost hanging on the door and exclaimed. “You dare impersonate White Impermanence?”

The evil ghost shook his head, mumbling. “I have a Judge’s order.”

Chu Xuanliang: “Tell that to the Netherworld.”

He pulled out a talisman, and without setting up a ritual table, he directly made hand signs and cast a spell.

The person summoned surprised him greatly; it wasn’t an ordinary underworld official but White Impermanence himself.

Chu Xuanliang hurriedly bowed. “Lord Impermanence!”

White Impermanence nodded. “I heard someone was causing trouble using my name, so I came personally to see.”

The evil ghost suddenly shrank back, hitting the door, trying to escape, but since his tongue was tied up, he only hurt himself more.

White Impermanence lowered his head to examine him closely, smiled as if appraising him, and asked, “Say it again, who are you?”

The ghost wished he could disappear into the ground.

“Such a long tongue…” White Impermanence asked, “Were you hanged?”

The ghost frantically shook his head.

White Impermanence reached out to untie his long tongue.

“Don’t tear him apart here!” Chu Xuanliang quickly stopped him. “I mean… civilized law enforcement?”

White Impermanence: “I know. Hell has its own punishments, why would I need to take action?”

He weighed the tongue in his hand, starting to roll it up from the base, carefully rolling upward. The ghost looked at him with tears in his eyes, not daring to say a single word. He looked quite pitiful and innocent.

He was probably the stupidest ghost in the world, bar none.

White Impermanence rolled it into a big roll and smiled coldly. “Open your mouth.”

The ghost tremblingly opened his jaw.

White Impermanence slapped the tongue back into his mouth. “Close it.”

The ghost anxiously bit down.

He couldn’t… close it! His entire face was swollen.

White Impermanence chained him up and nodded. “I’ll take this ghost away for questioning. Thank you both for your trouble.”

Chu Xuanliang was troubled by the events in A City. This time he had summoned White Impermanence, but he might not be so lucky next time. He quickly took the opportunity to inquire: “May I ask, Lord Impermanence, where did this Judge’s order come from? Could it be…?”

“The Judge’s order is signed by the Judge’s Brush, it’s part of the Judge’s Brush’s magic power,” White Impermanence looked at Jiang Feng and said, “Therefore, the Netherworld’s Judge’s orders cannot be lost. Rather, there are fake Judge’s Brushes in your mortal world, passing counterfeit for genuine, making it eighty percent similar.”

Chu Xuanliang was shocked. “What?! Fake Judge’s Brushes?”

White Impermanence said, “And more than one. Cough, someone in your mortal world must have found some spiritual treasure and sought some secret method to make it into a Judge’s Brush. That person is extremely cautious and doesn’t use it often. If not for this time… there was a slight disturbance in the Netherworld, and people were sent up to investigate; otherwise, we might not have discovered it. We are also quite shocked.”

Chu Xuanliang was still in shock, with various theories flashing through his mind. He asked further, “Then why have people suddenly started causing trouble recently?”

White Impermanence frowned. “The Netherworld didn’t anticipate this. The Judge’s Brush is a divine object, not something ordinary people can use. Using it once will inevitably cause backlash. But after all, the Yin realm is the Yin realm, and the Yang realm is the Yang realm. The two worlds, Yin and Yang, we can usually only appear at night, and many things are inconvenient to investigate. King Yama must remain in the Netherworld, and the Judge and the Judge’s Brush are connected; one would sense the other. Therefore, we need more help from you Taoist priests. If you render service, the Netherworld will certainly take note of it.”

Chu Xuanliang quickly said, “It’s our duty.”

Chu Xuanliang asked again, “Then what is the real Judge’s Brush made of?”

White Impermanence said, “The Judge’s Brush was originally made from three celestial bones from the Judge’s chest. The Register of Merits and Demerits is a treasure of the Netherworld guarded by the Judge. As for the fake Judge’s Brush, we don’t know what it’s forged from.”

White Impermanence said this while taking out an iron tablet and handing it over.

It was square, slightly larger than a palm.

Chu Xuanliang took it with both hands. “What is this?”

“An Underworld Official’s Warrant,” White Impermanence said. “Recently, the mortal world has been unstable, with many strange occurrences. If needed, you can summon underworld officials, and they will come quickly to help.”

Chu Xuanliang: “Thank you.”

“We’ll take our leave now,” White Impermanence said, adding, “King Yama is very angry.”

Chu Xuanliang thought to himself that anger was normal given what had happened. But he realized that White Impermanence seemed to be speaking to Jiang Feng.

Jiang Feng softly replied “Oh.” White Impermanence, holding the chains, walked into the mist.

Zhang Yangyang rushed up from downstairs with medicine, saw the two of them silently staring at each other by the door, and asked curiously, “Why are you both sitting here?”

Jiang Feng picked up his stool and went back to the room.

The three of them walked in together.

Zhang Yangyang looked at Chu Xuanliang. “You seem familiar, buddy. You are…”

Chu Xuanliang took out a business card. “Taoist priest.”

“You’re not here to take me away, are you?” Zhang Yangyang felt a sense of crisis and immediately moved away from him. “I’m not going!”

Chu Xuanliang: “…I’m staying tonight. I want to see the ghost street Jiang Feng mentioned.”

Zhang Yangyang smiled brightly again and walked toward him saying, “Oh, that’s good then, make yourself at home.”

Chu Xuanliang touched Zhang Yangyang’s forehead and said, “You’re really brave. Your soul is unstable, yet you dare to stay with Jiang Feng.”

Zhang Yangyang was startled and touched his own forehead. “Why? He’s very powerful.”

“Yes, he is powerful, but he also especially attracts ghosts,” Chu Xuanliang said. “All kinds of ghosts always appear around him. If something happens, he’s definitely the first person to see ghosts.”

Zhang Yangyang nearly cried hearing this. “Damn, why didn’t you say so earlier! Is it too late for me to leave now?”

Chu Xuanliang sympathized. “You’ve already boarded the pirate ship; forget about getting off midway.”

Zhang Yangyang: “Then you shouldn’t have told me, damn it! You people have terribly bad hearts!”

Zhang Yangyang was badly hurt, and now he didn’t know whether Jiang Feng had tricked him first or saved him first. But brothers were still brothers, and there was no point in dwelling on it; mainly, he was just unlucky. Now he only cared about whether his floating soul could be anchored back.

Chu Xuanliang said that with good rest, it wouldn’t be a big problem. He also said that if evil ghosts wanted to do harm, there was no way to prevent it. Having Jiang Feng around was much safer than being alone and clueless.

Their friendship was restored.

Jiang Feng: “…”

Let the drama kings perform; he was just an extra.

After nightfall, Chu Xuanliang and Zhang Yangyang stayed awake waiting for the ghost street to appear, while Jiang Feng went to sleep early.

The two of them yawned, playing with their phones, until past three in the morning, still not noticing anything unusual.

Chu Xuanliang thought it wouldn’t appear and was feeling disappointed when Zhang Yangyang suddenly gripped his wrist tightly and said, “Look, look!”

An orange lantern floated past the window.

Then, the sound of whistling and flashing lights gradually moved away from them, and the street seemed to freeze, falling into a state of stillness.

The vehicles on the road disappeared one by one, and countless orange lights approached from the left.

The eerie scene quickly took over the entire street.

This was Chu Xuanliang’s first time seeing such a scene, and he couldn’t help but feel terrified. He pressed his face against the window, cautiously looking down.

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With a Taoist priest beside him, Zhang Yangyang’s courage increased, and he peered out as well.

Suddenly, a face flew up from the wall and pressed against the opposite side of Chu Xuanliang’s face.

Both of them jumped. Zhang Yangyang let out a scream.

Immediately after, hundreds of face-skins appeared from nowhere, all sticking to the windows of the room, layer upon layer on the outside of the glass, peering in.

Zhang Yangyang’s scalp tingled as he cursed loudly. “Holy sh*t!”

Those ghost faces opened their mouths, revealing rows of sharp teeth, and began to gnaw forcefully.

The sound of hard objects scraping against frosted glass made the two extremely irritable, creating a sense of discomfort from deep within their spinal cords.

Jiang Feng suddenly sat up, walked to the window with murderous intent, pushed Zhang Yangyang and Chu Xuanliang aside, and smashed his fist down.

With a “bang,” after the echo subsided, the world finally fell silent.