Chapter 68: Zombies Part 2

The remaining four yin marshals were the Day Patrol God and Night Patrol God, tied for first in strength. These two could also traverse the Yang Realm, but one could only appear by day, the other at night. They did not reap souls; their duty was to oversee yin messengers and yin servants lingering in the Yang Realm, as well as special ghost kings, and to eliminate evil when necessary. They answered only to the Nether King.

Next were the Hell Twin Fiends, Yu Ruo and Shan Ling, who managed the top nine and bottom nine layers of the Eighteen Levels of Hell respectively—Yu Ruo the top nine, Shan Ling the bottom nine. In Hell, there was no shortage of souls guilty of every evil; those who guarded it were no ordinary beings.

It was only natural for Jiang Liluo to feel a moment of fear upon hearing he was Shan Ling.

Facing Jiang Liluo’s mockery, Shan Ling snorted coldly: “I got bored in Hell and came up to see—what’s it to you?”

“The Nether King will be angry!” Even now, she still thought of the Nether King.

Shan Ling found Jiang Liluo laughable: “If Lord Nether King came up and saw you controlling my Underworld’s yin messenger, she would question you first!”

Jiang Liluo tried to speak again, but Shan Ling ignored her. He subdued Du Ruoyi with one hand and Cheng Lanyi with the other, coldly intimidating Cheng Lanyi: “As a yin messenger, you let yourself be commanded by a shaman—what a great shame.”

Shan Ling was so strong!

Last time, the three ghost pattern yin general body had restrained too much of his strength. Now, with just one ghost pattern yin marshal body, it was probably less than a tenth of his true power, yet he effortlessly stopped Cheng Lanyi and Du Ruoyi.

This was the power of an Underworld chief yin official position—it reminded her of Leng Siqing.

If she had strength like Leng Siqing’s, perhaps… but what? She still could not save Yu Li. Her tragedy was over a hundred years old; she could only be a bystander to the tragedy, waiting for a chance at revenge, unable to avert it.

The hand in her palm felt slightly cool.

Jin Banwei did not even have the courage to glance sideways at Ren Qiao in that instant; she was still immersed in sorrow.

Jiang Liluo paled briefly at the mention of the Nether King but quickly regained composure: “No matter how strong the Nether King is, she cannot leave the Underworld. I know your Underworld has rules.”

Shan Ling’s expression soured. He was not close to Cheng Lanyi; as a chief official yin official, he naturally paid little attention to subordinates. But Cheng Lanyi was still part of the Underworld—how could he let a shaman control her?

His gaze cooled: “The Underworld’s rules are to keep the Yang Realm peaceful. If you people in the Yang Realm don’t want peace yourselves, then rules be damned. I wouldn’t mind breaking them to drag you to Hell and let you feel the hellfire.”

Jiang Liluo laughed: “You don’t dare! You don’t even dare kill me! Because I’m alive—yin officials aren’t qualified to kill the living, right?”

She was utterly confident, knowing the Underworld had strict rules.

Shan Ling glared irritably at her and suddenly said: “Then why do you think the Day and Night Patrol Gods exist?”

Hearing the fearsome name of the Day and Night Patrol Gods, Jiang Liluo finally changed color. She gritted her teeth: “Then all of you die here now! Even if you do, I don’t believe the Underworld can trace it back to me!”

She grew two degrees more ruthless. She took the bell from her waist, and the witch patterns on her face turned deep brown. Her skin gradually became like withered tree bark, though her eyes remained bright. Her fingertip brushed the bell, and blood surged out. Strangely, her blood was deep brown. As the deep brown blood flowed into the bell, a pained moan emanated from it— a voice that sounded very familiar. She instinctively looked toward Ren Qiao beside her. Ren Qiao blinked in confusion, her eyelashes trembling lightly as tears fell. She had just fused with the sorrow po and was still influenced by it in every way. “No, it’s not me.”

“No, Ghost Sister, it should be yours.”

She was almost certain that Ren Qiao’s soul was inside that bell.

Ren Qiao froze for a moment and glanced at the bell, suddenly feeling a severe headache. She shrank back, clutching her aching forehead.

Jiang Liluo heard the voice and cursed angrily, “My seal is still too weak.”

With the secret exposed, Jiang Liluo simply broke the jar since it was already broken and admitted it openly. “That’s right, you guessed correctly. Your ghost wife’s soul is indeed in the bell. If you have the ability, come and take it.”

As Jiang Liluo’s deep brown blood surged into the bell, its color grew increasingly translucent, and white mist billowed out. Empowered by the white mist, numerous figures suddenly appeared behind her— all puppet ghosts, numbering around a hundred.

Jiang Liluo herself could not control so many puppet ghosts, but she had the bell.

Moreover, the puppet zombie locked in stalemate with the yin general gained the bell’s boost, its strength surging several times over. What had been at a disadvantage now gained the upper hand and began pressing the yin generals.

A great deal of blood flowed into the bell, yet Jiang Liluo’s body showed no signs of blood loss. Jin Banwei guessed that the deep brown blood was not Jiang Liluo’s own. Since Zhuo Ning could imprison souls in her body, it was not surprising that she could also store the blood of powerful demonic creatures.

With the bell’s empowerment, Cheng Lanyi and Du Ruoyi’s strength also multiplied. One was a great demon over two thousand years old, the other an Soul Reaper bestowed with a curse seal by the Nether King. They were not puppet ghosts but temporarily controlled. Shan Ling could not strike to disperse them directly due to restrictions everywhere, and he struggled alone to suppress them for the moment.

Shan Ling grew irritated. A tenth of his power was far too little compared to his original strength. He could not help shouting at Jin Banwei, “Jin Banwei, can’t you give me a better body? Like your wife’s, for instance!”

Ren Qiao’s body was a full-level gift from the System at the start, something Jin Banwei could not yet replicate with her current abilities.

Jin Banwei did not respond to Shan Ling. She watched the puppet ghosts, her brows furrowed tightly.

These puppet ghosts were clearly not the ones from the sacrificial altar back then. Empowered by the bell, their auras reached only the level of red fierce ghosts, but the ghosts from the sacrificial altar— those attacking Yang Street and Yin Street— should at least be ghost kings. These were obviously Jiang Liluo’s handiwork.

Every one of these puppet ghosts had once been a living being with families and loved ones, complete souls. Yet Jiang Liluo had stripped away their consciousness, turning them into utter puppets without even the ability to think independently— thorough tools.

Jin Banwei could not understand if all these people had such vicious hearts and their own twisted logic for evil deeds. They felt no guilt for ending lives, no pity for the tormented.

As if compelled by a ghost, Jin Banwei asked Jiang Liluo, “Jiang Liluo, after doing so much evil, don’t you ever have nightmares?”

“Nightmares? I’m not a good person to begin with. Isn’t it perfectly normal for villains to kill?” Jiang Liluo laughed as if she had heard the greatest joke. She shook the bell, emitting a dull, hoarse chuckle. “Speaking of which, it’s all because of you and Guan Jiyue. If you hadn’t targeted me in Ghost City, if you hadn’t displayed your strength there and made me uneasy, if you hadn’t exposed Yu Li’s existence, the old monk and the others wouldn’t have grown suspicious. My master wouldn’t have rushed to boost my strength. I didn’t even want to move against Bai Cheng and the others yet— they hadn’t accumulated enough good karma for me. If you’re going to blame someone, blame yourself.”

“If anyone’s having nightmares, it should be you. After all, you’re not as vicious as me, nor as ruthless as Guan Jiyue.”

As expected, she was preaching to the deaf.

People like Jiang Liluo were essentially as selfish as Bai Xiaozhu and her ilk— selfish and ruthless, thinking only of themselves.

She did feel a twinge of guilt toward Cheng Ying’s parents. They had been so close to rescue, but… they had been trapped in Ghost City too long. After leaving, Jin Banwei had fallen unconscious. By the time Guan Jiyue brought Cheng Ying looking, her parents and Bai Cheng were long gone.

So close.

This pained Jin Banwei.

She could not save Yu Li, nor Bai Cheng and the others. Perhaps she was just a bystander, powerless against it all.

No, she was no longer a bystander. She was deep in the game, destined to be swallowed by this dead end. She was not strong enough to free them.

Ren Qiao could barely move now. Having just fused with the sorrow po, her body felt as if it could scatter at any moment. Any movement threatened to pull the sorrow po away. Though she had taken the soul fusion pill, she still needed time.

In this situation, she could not let Ren Qiao take risks.

But as she watched some puppet ghosts surge toward the silkworm cocoons, Ren Qiao’s body instinctively rushed out. She had always been like this, still worrying about Guan Jiyue and the others’ safety.

Jin Banwei grew anxious inwardly. Her talisman paper might harm the silkworm cocoons; the only option left was yin soldiers.