Only then did Yu Suhan release her grip, satisfied.
Since she was going below, Wu Yinyu certainly couldn’t go to bed early that night. Handily, she couldn’t sleep anyway. She leaned against the headboard, staring unblinkingly at the wall, which was now pristine once more.
There was still some time to wait. She simply watched the news for a while, learning that disasters were occurring one after another at Ivory Mast Beach, with the number of missing and dead continuing to rise.
Just as her brow was furrowing deeply, she suddenly heard a shout. Could it be from the Prayer Wheel?
That Prayer Wheel was sitting under the dim glow of the desk lamp. The lacquer and gems on it were all dark and hazy, looking almost exactly like ink stains at first glance.
Wu Yinyu immediately scrambled up, wanting to knock on Yu Zezhi’s door. But just as she put on her shoes, the shouting abruptly stopped again.
Listlessly, she sat back down, picking up her phone to read the comments under the news article. She saw someone saying that Ivory Mast Beach was inherently unlucky, that people often ran into ghosts there.
This sounded somewhat similar to the ancestors’ warnings—that Yin Energy was strong there, and Yin souls were numerous.
After a moment’s thought, Wu Yinyu engaged that person in a private chat for a while.
—It’s absolutely true. My ancestors used to live there. Although I’ve never been back, I heard there’s an Overgrown Mountain right next to Ivory Mast Beach. People who enter that mountain, without exception, all go mad.
Wu Yinyu felt this sounded more like a fabricated urban legend. She let out a short laugh, her tense shoulders and neck loosening.
After a moment, the person spoke again.
—I heard even stranger things happened in the past. A group of villagers went into the mountain, and all who came back died of illness. The village elders said there’s something unclean in the mountain.
—I bet this disaster has everything to do with Overgrown Mountain. What foul luck!
Wu Yinyu was half-believing, half-doubtful, but she still expressed her thanks. Checking the time, it was almost midnight.
With the Ghost Charter, she no longer needed the arduous effort of casting spells. She could effortlessly reach the Two-World Sea.
She crossed the Lone Log and saw the Nether Pagoda. The Spirit Lamps atop the pagoda were eternally lit, and the Spirit Bells tinkled and chimed, as if possessing the intent to soothe souls.
Upon seeing Wu Yinyu’s Ghost Charter, the Nether Guards guarding the pagoda opened the grand doors, granting her entry.
After ascending, Wu Yinyu didn’t see the Judge. She waited quietly for a while but still didn’t see him, so she went back down to the base of the pagoda.
The two Nether Guards below were both staring intently at the distant Lone Log, neither of them taking their eyes off any soul crossing the bridge.
Wu Yinyu deliberately positioned herself right in front of the guard on the left. When she blocked his view, the guard simply tilted his body. Even in that awkward pose, he insisted on staring fixedly at the Lone Log over the sea.
This Nether Guard was wooden and dull, only tilting his body, incapable of reprimand. He was even more like a dummy than all the paper effigies filling the Yu household.
Wu Yinyu immediately laughed. “Know where the Judge went?” she asked.
The Nether Guard said stupidly, “Move.”
The other Nether Guard’s eyes swiveled, seeming slightly more quick-witted than his partner on the left. He glared fiercely, looking as if he wanted to spit venom, but his mouth remained stubbornly shut, unable to hum a single word.
So it turned out these two Nether Guards were one fool and one mute.
Wu Yinyu then looked toward the one on the right. She noticed that although his mouth was tightly shut, he seemed to be chewing something, his lips wriggling left and right without stopping. Staring intently to discern the situation, she realized this guard had a Speech-Sealing Spell cast upon him.
Since it was the Two-World Sea, the Speech-Sealing Spell on the guard’s mouth was naturally cast by the Judge.
The Nether Guard vigorously worked his mouth, his eyes glaring wide as bronze bells. Coupled with his ashen-pale face, the sight was rather eerie.
Wu Yinyu was anything but a stickler for rules. She immediately took a Talisman from her Sachet, wrapped a Copper Coin with it, and slipped it under this guard’s tongue.
Such a little trick couldn’t fully dispel the Judge’s Speech-Sealing Spell; it could only temporarily allow the guard to speak.
The Nether Guard must have not spoken aloud for a long time. When he opened his mouth, he couldn’t articulate a single syllable clearly, leaving her utterly bewildered.
Wu Yinyu listened carefully, finally piecing together the garbled sounds into a complete sentence.
The Nether Guard said, “The Sir went to look at the millstone.”
Wu Yinyu doubted she had heard correctly, but the Nether Guard repeated himself. It was the same line.
“What millstone?” Wu Yinyu asked.
The Nether Guard shook his head. Sensing that the Spell power infused in the Talisman was weakening, his eyes widened in panic once more. He hurriedly said, “This small one accidentally witnessed someone throwing something into the Two-World Sea. The Sir feared I would speak of it, and so cast the Speech-Sealing Spell. Now, this small one can finally speak!”
Wu Yinyu was dazed and baffled hearing this. Pressing further, she asked, “Threw something? What? Who? When?”
The Talisman was indeed about to lose efficacy. The Nether Guard was frantic, his enunciation completely slurred. “A Twelve-Faced Die! A woman! As beautiful as the Head of the Yu Family of the Five Gates! Twenty-three years ago!”
The number “twenty-three” seemed branded right onto Wu Yinyu’s Soul. Her entire body jolted violently. As she was about to press further, the Nether Guard was once again unable to speak, his eyes glaring and mouth wriggling desperately.
Performing the same spell again would definitely leave obvious traces. Wu Yinyu couldn’t afford that risk.
In a daze of distraction, she thought: So Yu Zezhi had indeed come to the Two-World Sea, and then went to the Wu family to entrust the orphan. No wonder the Judge and Song Youzhi had such strikingly identical reactions upon seeing Yu Zezhi.
However, Wu Yinyu had no idea if her own birth had anything to do with that Die.
The Judge was indeed looking at a millstone, not in the Nether Pagoda, but in a hidden place beneath the pagoda.
The millstone was unimaginably huge, as if it could be used to lever up the entire Mortal Realm.
Countless Souls surrounded it. They all looked like members of the Five Gates—some still living, many deceased for years—all hunched over, tirelessly pushing the millstone, like a herd of donkeys toiling day and night without rest.
A crimson thread ran between all the Soul Spirits, pulling them together—the unbreakable bond of the Five Gates.
As expected, neither Wu Yinyu’s Soul nor Yu Zezhi’s was among them.
The Judge suddenly understood why he found Yu Zezhi both familiar and strange. Familiar because he had seen this person twenty-three years ago; strange because she was no member of the Five Gates at all!
He fiercely flung his sleeve. Tens of thousands of Underworld Registers floated in mid-air, their pages all rustling and fluttering with a sound like a torrential downpour.
There did exist an entry for “Yu Zezhi,” but the records written in the Underworld Register had absolutely nothing to do with her actual life. The Soul that was originally supposed to inhabit the shell named “Yu Zezhi” should have perished long, long ago, having no chance whatsoever of rising to the position of Family Head.
It was that woman twenty-three years ago who had Body Possession of that shell, and even managed to fool the Living-Dead Wardens.
Thoroughly vexed, the Judge waved his hand again, and all the suspended Underworld Registers vanished.
The past and present lives of those two people were completely untraceable. Resigned, he raised his hand again and summoned a blank Life Ledger. Lifting his brush, he wrote Wu Yinyu’s name down.
Just as the characters were completed, the ink began to fade, disappearing entirely. He couldn’t even write her name!
A splitting headache struck the Judge. He felt with increasing certainty that certain matters, not just in the Mortal Realm but down here as well, were spiraling beyond his control.
He simply left. Emerging from beneath the earth, he spotted Wu Yinyu’s figure at a glance.
Perfect timing. The Judge stepped outside the door, feigning composure. “Wu family member, if you have a matter to report, enter the Nether Pagoda.”
Before going below, Wu Yinyu had made thorough preparations, leaving herself an escape route. She knew the Judge already suspected her identity and absolutely dared not let her guard down.
After a moment’s consideration, she followed him into the pagoda, though her steps were extremely slow, deliberately, casually unhurried.
The drifting paper ash on the ground transformed into white butterflies, crashing against the doors and windows with a loud whoosh.
Once back up in the Nether Pagoda, Wu Yinyu was just about to ask about the Ivory Mast Beach matter when the Judge spoke first.
The Judge asked bluntly, “What exactly are you and Yu Zezhi?”
“What are you talking about, Sir? Could the Yu Family Head’s Underworld Register also be missing?” Wu Yinyu pretended to be confused.
The Judge stared fixedly at her, then abruptly changed the subject. “Wait here for a short while. I will go retrieve something.”
“Go ahead, Sir,” Wu Yinyu replied, standing obediently.
Moments later, the Judge returned carrying a bowl of broth. He set it down on the desk. “Drink this. The inability to find an Underworld Register might be due to a muddied Soul Spirit, severing the connection. This is Spirit Cleansing Water. Drink up, and let me try again.”
Wu Yinyu had never heard such a claim before. Still, she didn’t show a trace of hesitation. She only paused briefly as she lifted the bowl, carefully discerning the scent of the liquid.
It wasn’t Spirit Cleansing Water. It carried a faint, elusive sourness. It smelled more like the bitter antidote to Oblivion Brew—Bitter Water.
She seemed to grasp the Judge’s intention now. The Judge believed she had forgotten things after passing on, so he brought this item, wanting to neutralize the effects of Oblivion Brew and thereby find out who she had been in her past life.
This substance absolutely could not be used lightly. When humans pass on and enter the Two-World Sea, it’s a one-way path to darkness. There’s no such thing as a return trip. If one drank the Bitter Water and recalled everything from past lives, it would inevitably disrupt the cycle of cause and effect.
Wu Yinyu drank it anyway. Surely, in her current state as a spirit body, nothing could truly harm her. If this Bitter Water really could take effect, it might be a good thing.
The Judge stood there, probably not even blinking his eyes behind his mask. He wouldn’t rest easy until he saw her swallow every last drop.
She drank until not a single drop remained, then set the bowl onto the table. Strangely, the Bitter Water entering her stomach produced absolutely no sensation whatsoever.
“How do you feel?” the Judge asked. He added, “Some people experience unbearable pain after drinking Spirit Cleansing Water.”
Even if this wasn’t Spirit Cleansing Water, drinking it should have caused some effect, right? Yet Wu Yinyu felt light in her whole body, empty in her head, completely unable to perceive any medicinal effect at all.
She let out a sardonic laugh. “It seems I am the exception.”
