Judge of Souls-Chapter 6 - Deserved Death

Having returned to normal, Liu Junlu tremblingly pleaded, “Let’s… let’s go back, don’t go up there. My corpse is still down below.”

Jiang Feng didn’t respond.

At that moment, they heard hurried footsteps behind them, as if something was chasing them up from downstairs.

“Ah—!” Liu Junlu felt the overwhelming pressure from afar and let out a piercing scream, running frantically upstairs.

Jiang Feng: “……”

He really should have dampened his fear emotions too.

Liu Junlu ran all the way to the eleventh floor before stopping. Because he discovered there was something even more terrifying upstairs – the vengeful ghost that had forced him to jump off the building. For some reason, it had floated down from the top floor.

As they say, good people fear bad people, bad people fear minor ghosts, and minor ghosts fear vengeful spirits. Only Taoist priests and Judges can control vengeful spirits. They’re at least at the top of the food chain.

So comparatively, he felt staying close to Jiang Feng was a bit safer.

He could fly, while Jiang Feng had to rely on his two legs. At this point, Jiang Feng had just climbed to the eighth floor, so Liu Junlu turned back to find him, feeling a bit smug inside.

So what if he’s a great immortal? Even a great immortal couldn’t match the speed of a ghost like him, could they?

However, though he ran fast, the vengeful spirit behind him ran even faster.

As the distance between them shortened, Liu Junlu’s hair stood on end, feeling a chill from inside out, heavily suppressed by that ghost’s presence. Thinking the other was chasing him and finding himself unable to outrun it no matter how hard he tried, he cried out in anguish, “I’m already dead, why won’t you leave me alone?!”

As soon as he finished speaking, a female ghost floated out from the stairwell landing, her long hair floating, fingers slender and long, face deathly pale, with eyes of pure black. She was flying towards him at full speed.

Liu Junlu hugged his head in terror, panicking and running blindly until he crashed into the wall ahead. His body, already pieced together from parts, scattered once again.

His mouth was still moving, repeatedly crying out. “Don’t kill me, don’t kill me, I know I was wrong! I’m already dead and won’t do it again! Please spare me!”

However, the female ghost didn’t even look at him, passing straight through his scattered body parts and continuing to run downstairs frantically.

Liu Junlu made a curious sound.

It seemed she wasn’t chasing him at all, but rather fleeing from something.

Before she could get far, Liu Junlu watched as a pair of hands appeared in mid-air and pressed her to the ground.

The hands were transparent, emanating a faint golden light. They were three times the size of normal hands and could completely envelop the female ghost’s head.

After being touched by those hands, the female ghost screamed as if in extreme pain, constantly slapping at them but unable to break free. Her screams were shrill and piercing, filled with deep hatred and sorrow. Even though Liu Junlu was now a ghost himself, he couldn’t help but be affected by it.

At this moment, Jiang Feng had just walked up from below, standing in the stairwell one floor down.

Simultaneously, someone walked out from upstairs. He wore an ordinary white short-sleeved shirt, black casual pants, and a pair of sneakers. If not for the gloomy expression on his face, he would have looked like just an ordinary young man.

These two people were separated by two ghosts and one floor.

Liu Junlu instinctively felt this person wasn’t good news – perhaps it was a spiritual connection between similar kinds, but such intuitions were usually quite accurate.

So he painfully turned his head and gestured for Jiang Feng to stay put, quietly signaling, “Shh—! Shh!!”

He didn’t realize how terrifying he looked right now, especially with his greasy old face pursing his lips to shush, it was too destructive.

This 𝓬ontent is taken from freeweɓnovel.cѳm.

Jiang Feng had to strongly resist the urge to throw his head out the window.

The female ghost on the ground struggled for a moment, probably running out of strength, her voice becoming weak. “Zong Ce, you’ll die a horrible death!”

“No matter how horrible my death might be, it’ll still be later than yours, so don’t worry about it.” The young man called Zong Ce unhurriedly came down from upstairs, smiling as he said, “Where do you think you can run to? There’s no place for you in the mortal realm anymore.”

Even when smiling, his expression still carried a hint of gloom.

The female ghost began twisting around like a madwoman again. “There is no justice in this world! Scum like you can do whatever you want, why should I end up in such a state! Beast! Die! You go die!”

Liu Junlu nodded in strong agreement while trying to attract his scattered body parts to slowly come together, struggling to reassemble into human form.

Jiang Feng still walked up, and in the light of the golden hands, he took a closer look – oh, isn’t this the young man who paid him earlier?

“You didn’t leave?” The man saw him and seemed surprised too. “Are you with her? Want to save her? Then why don’t you stay and keep her company? By the way, what’s your name?”

Jiang Feng looked straight at him and asked, “Who are you?”

Zong Ce arrogantly declared, “I’m not just anyone, I’m the one who rules over life and death.”

Jiang Feng heard something amusing. “No one can rule over life and death.”

Zong Ce laughed loudly, “I can! I do whatever I want, whoever I want dead must die, no one can stop me – if that’s not ruling, what is?”

Liu Junlu, now fully reassembled, floated behind Jiang Feng and shouted, “You’ll face divine punishment, you’ll face retribution!”

Zong Ce smiled and said, “No, how could the actions of a divine lord face heavenly punishment? It won’t happen. What difference is there between what I do and what they do? You’re simply not skilled enough, you deserve to die!”

As he spoke, he pulled out a brush from his sleeve.

It was a brush seven sections long, about over a meter in length. The material was indiscernible, with a green light flowing over its surface – definitely not an ordinary item.

Jiang Feng felt the brush looked familiar. The moment it appeared, his heart violently trembled, and his mind buzzed.

The sound grew increasingly intense, affecting his consciousness, making him waver between clarity and unconsciousness.

Zong Ce skillfully twirled the brush in his hand, the object seeming weightless in his grip. But where his hand touched the brush, flesh and blood burst open, melting away to reveal stark white bone. In the end, the part gripping the brush shaft was nothing but skeletal remains.

This brush wasn’t something ordinary people could touch, not even Taoist priests.

He raised his hand and waved, bringing down several screens of light in all directions. Jiang Feng felt the space around them become isolated, with sounds and air flow from the outside no longer entering this small squared space.

It felt particularly oppressive.

Liu Junlu didn’t dare make a sound, also trembling in fear at this sight.

Who would be so cruel to themselves? Indeed, how could ordinary ghosts be as frightening as humans?

Seeing that object, the female ghost shrieked again. “I’ll kill you! I must kill you! Next time I’ll personally eat all your flesh, drink all your blood, and make sure you never achieve rebirth!”

Zong Ce smiled, showing his white teeth. “If you want revenge, come if you have the ability. I’ll always be waiting. If you can only beg for others’ mercy and kindness, what right do you have to blame them when they take it back?”

“Isn’t there…isn’t there the Black and White Impermanence, or the underworld officials?” Liu Junlu grabbed Jiang Feng’s pant leg, “Quick, let them come take me away. I’m willing to go to hell, quickly let them take me away!”

“Those so-called divine officials don’t care about mortal affairs. They can’t see anything. How many people are there in the mortal world? A single life is as insignificant as grass in their eyes – who would pay attention to a blade of grass under their feet? Besides, no one will know about lives taken under the Judge’s brush,” Zong Ce said. “Since she came here, many wandering ghosts have gathered, and she used her soul power to nurture this place into something like a ghost city. It’s long become a lawless zone – no underworld envoys will come here.”

Zong Ce said disdainfully, “Besides, I have… no interest in you.”

Liu Junlu: “……”

As he spoke, his ear twitched. “Oh, troublesome people are coming soon. Looks like I need to hurry.”

The female ghost was still pinned by the golden hands, unable to do anything special. Zong Ce turned toward Jiang Feng, licking his lips. “I’ll start with you first. I wonder what your soul looks like, if it’s as powerful as hers. Don’t disappoint me.”

As he spoke, Zong Ce used the end of the brush to strike Jiang Feng’s chest, attempting to pull his soul out of his body to carefully question him about his background and life story. However, when the Judge’s brush struck Jiang Feng’s chest, it didn’t penetrate through as usual.

It seemed to meet resistance, and the flowing light on the brush shaft grew increasingly bright, emitting violent tremors.

Zong Ce sensed something was wrong. He had never seen anything like this before, and his expression changed as he tried to pull the brush back. But the other person grabbed the brush with his bare hands, fixing him with an intense gaze.

Zong Ce felt chilled to his core by that look, yet those hands seemed to weigh thousands of pounds, making it impossible for him to retrieve the brush.

He’s clearly just an ordinary person! Clearly has no magic power at all! This is impossible!

“You said earlier that no one would know?”

That voice rang out, but it wasn’t Jiang Feng’s voice.

Zong Ce looked more carefully and vaguely saw a tall figure wearing a purple robe emanating from Jiang Feng’s body. The figure became increasingly clear, and the golden light from its eyes pierced into him, burning his soul.

Finally, Jiang Feng collapsed to the ground, and the purple-robed man’s form became distinct – he was the one who had grabbed the brush with his bare hands.

Surely he hadn’t…robbed a Judge?

Zong Ce’s soul fragment attached to this man only had half of his original power, and now, under the Judge’s gaze, it was on the verge of collapse.

He couldn’t hold on anymore. He decisively released the Judge’s brush and turned to flee.

“Evil spirit!” The Judge quickly reached out a hand, grabbing his escaping soul and squeezing hard. “How dare you steal my Judge’s brush!”

Zong Ce endured the pain of his soul being torn apart, turned back to strike out with a golden seal mark, and taking advantage of the Judge’s momentary distraction, finally slipped away through the window.

With Jiang Feng’s physical body still here, the Judge couldn’t pursue far, and ultimately had to watch as Zong Ce escaped.

He looked down at the long brush in his hand, then closed his fingers to crush it.

A fake.

Absolutely audacious.

“Divine Lord!”

The golden hands had disappeared from the female ghost’s body, but she dared not rise, instead prostrating herself tightly on the ground and calling out, “I beg the Divine Lord to right this wrong!”

The Judge couldn’t stay long, as his presence would disturb the order of the mortal realm. “Speak.”

“I originally had eighty years of mortal life left! My ancestors were charitable and kind, not doing evil for generations, accumulating deep merit. But it was all stolen by that Zong Ce!” The female ghost accused, “He stole my merit and attempted to refine my soul! He tampered with the Register of Merits and Demerits, blocked heavenly mechanisms, cursed me to die horribly – he’s absolutely unforgivable!”

The Judge interrupted her, “Name.”

“This humble one is called Feng Nansheng.”

The Judge summoned the Register of Merits and Demerits. He silently recited her name in his mind. The middle pages automatically displayed her life record.

Indeed, like Liu Junlu’s, it had been modified with red characters. However, her pages had been altered more dramatically. The original text hadn’t been completely concealed, and the judgment could still faintly be seen.

Feng Nansheng carefully raised her head, trying to glimpse the Judge’s expression.

After a moment, the Judge closed the book and withdrew his divine consciousness. Looking at her coldly, he said, “You—”

Feng Nansheng held her breath and listened intently.

The Judge clearly pronounced two words, “Deserved death.”