Judge of Souls - Chapter 10

Chu Xuanliang asked, “Why did you come here?”

Jiang Feng said, “I received a piece of paper with this address written on it, so I came to take a look.”

“Our people told you?” Chu Xuanliang disapproved, “Who was it? How could they let you come? This is too dangerous.”

Jiang Feng had no magic spells or life-saving treasures – facing a great ghost like Luo Xiaomei, wasn’t this just seeking death?

Jiang Feng didn’t answer. He casually pulled up a chair and sat down with a sigh.

The road here was too difficult to traverse. Without Luo Xiaomei’s guidance, he had unfortunately chosen a mountain road still under development to enter the village. Under the blazing sun, his skin had turned red from the heat.

After sitting down, he looked at Luo Xiaomei and said, “Weren’t you going to cut vegetables? Then cut them. What vegetables are you cutting?”

Hearing this, Luo Xiaomei really went to the kitchen and brought out a large Chinese cabbage, placed it on the table, and cut it into slices in a few motions.

Jiang Feng just glanced at it and said, “Not fine enough.”

Luo Xiaomei raised her knife again and went back to process it more finely.

The scene was quite bizarre.

A few minutes later, Luo Xiaomei brought the Chinese cabbage, now almost minced to paste, to Jiang Feng.

Jiang Feng said again, “Too fine.”

Luo Xiaomei’s exposed teeth clenched together tightly, and blood seeped out of her face again from the effort.

Chu Xuanliang thought they were finally going to see a modern version of Lu Tixia fighting Zhen Guanxi, or perhaps Zhen Guanxi killing Lu Tixia, but instead, Luo Xiaomei held back, resigned herself, went to the kitchen and brought out a piece of meat, raised the cleaver high, and started chopping forcefully as if venting her frustrations.

Chu Xuanliang and Huang Yu looked at Jiang Feng in shock.

What kind of person was this!

Jiang Feng waved his hat, fanning himself to cool down. In the rhythmic sound of the cleaver, he asked, “Want to chop them up?”

Luo Xiaomei replied sullenly, “Not anymore.”

Jiang Feng: “Then go report to the underworld.”

The sound of Luo Xiaomei chopping vegetables again could be heard.

“Tsk.” Jiang Feng clicked his tongue.

Chu Xuanliang: “!!”

What a master!

Mother Luo could tell at a glance that Jiang Feng was extraordinary. She crawled over fearfully, wanting to get closer to him. “Great master–”

Halfway through her call, Jiang Feng frowned and stopped her. “Stay away from me.”

Mother Luo froze, then turned to see Luo Xiaomei glaring at her sinisterly. Judging by that expression, if it weren’t for Jiang Feng’s presence, she would have already attacked.

“You can’t help her,” Luo Xiaomei said, “She’s a bad person.”

Jiang Feng: “Whether she’s bad or not is separate from whether you can stay here.”

Luo Xiaomei shouted, “I won’t leave until I’ve had my revenge!”

Jiang Feng: “Even if after taking your revenge, you’ll receive punishment a thousand times more cruel than theirs, you still want to do this?”

Luo Xiaomei emphasized firmly. “Yes!”

“Then kill them. Kill if you can.” Jiang Feng scanned the three people on the ground, finally pointing at Luo Haozhi, “Kill him first.”

Both Luo Haozhi and Chu Xuanliang’s expressions changed.

Chu Xuanliang said, “Jiang Feng! Have you really gone mad?”

Luo Haozhi turned pale with fear. “No, no! Sister!”

Jiang Feng seemed to be watching a show, still sitting calmly. “Go ahead and kill him.”

After a moment’s hesitation, Luo Xiaomei flew over and grabbed Luo Haozhi’s neck.

Chu Xuanliang: “Jiang Feng!”

Luo Haozhi didn’t struggle. He grabbed Luo Xiaomei’s hands and cried.

“Sister, are you really my sister? Do you really want to kill me? Have you forgotten everything about me? Sister, I’m Xiao Zhi, I’m your brother! Don’t you remember I said I’d buy you a big house in the future? I said if you ever had a hard time you could come find me, I’d take care of you! I’m your brother!”

Luo Xiaomei’s expression became dazed, her throat moving, showing a moment’s hesitation.

Luo Haozhi sobbed. “You raised me, sister, you took me to and from school, you washed my clothes, you grilled little dried fish for me. You were the person who was best to me, and also my most favorite person. Sister.”

Luo Xiaomei’s arms loosened slightly. Then tightened again. But her hands kept trembling.

She had always been like this, telling herself again and again to forgive them, and in the end, it led to her own tragic death.

She hated her ill-timed cowardice and concessions. Her life, ah, from the time she left her hometown with Mother Luo, there wasn’t a single happy day. She was driven and used like livestock.

Luo Haozhi was the same, and also the one who hurt her heart the most.

Hadn’t she been good to him? She had given her heart and soul! But what was the result? He had peacefully enjoyed her sacrifices.

Seeing her eyes become clear, Luo Haozhi urgently said, “I even pleaded for you, I really didn’t know you were living such a life! And wasn’t marrying brother-in-law your own decision? I never exploited or hurt you!”

“You didn’t? You say you didn’t?” Hearing his words, Luo Xiaomei burst into loud laughter, laughing hysterically, unable to stop.

In the end, that shrill sound was indistinguishable between crying and laughing.

Luo Xiaomei looked at the doll beside her and said, “He says he didn’t? Is he deceiving himself or is he truly so heartless?”

“Your wedding house was bought with my dowry money!”

“Your wedding dowry was provided by me!”

“Your first job was secured through my pleading!”

“The house you’re living in now is where I died!”

“Luo Haozhi!” Luo Xiaomei cried out with blood-stained tears, “Why did I endure domestic violence for so long? For that tiny bit of kindness you showed me, to let you live a good life, for those unrealistic promises you made to me! Luo Haozhi, I treated you as my only family!”

“You refuse to acknowledge it, in your eyes I was nothing! Luo Haozhi! Luo Haozhi, I was just someone who occasionally satisfied your sense of pity when you remembered me. My misfortune was all taken for granted in your eyes! Isn’t that right?” Luo Xiaomei questioned loudly, “Isn’t it!”

Her aura surged violently, emotions out of control. Under her hands, Luo Haozhi’s eyes slowly rolled back, clearly about to pass out.

In their desperate situation, Mother Luo and Father Luo let out a howl. Their previously immobile legs suddenly burst with strength as they rushed forward to fight Luo Xiaomei to the death.

Jiang Feng quickly stepped forward to grab Luo Xiaomei’s shoulder, but before he could exert force, a talisman was first slapped onto Luo Xiaomei’s body.

Jiang Feng thought it was Chu Xuanliang, but then saw the person was wearing a white shirt, with a string of red light symbols flashing on the back of his hand. He pressed two fingers to the back of Luo Xiaomei’s neck with a stern face, pressing her down to the ground like a rock.

Luo Haozhi finally escaped from her hands.

Chu Xuanliang and Huang Yu recognized the newcomer and exclaimed joyfully. “Senior Brother? Senior Brother, why are you here?”

Two people had arrived.

One was Eldest Senior Brother Jiu Tian, and the other was his fellow disciple junior sister, called Jun Heng. No one knew when they had appeared.

A camera flash went off, and Chu Xuanliang turned his head to see Jun Heng putting away her phone, saying with satisfaction. “Evidence.”

Chu Xuanliang remembered what he was wearing and helplessly tried to grab her phone. “Stop fooling around!”

Jun Heng jumped back a step. “Just returned to A City, and heard about the abandoned building incident. I found time to divine your fortune and discovered you had disappeared, so I came to check.”

“Why are you stopping me…” Luo Xiaomei sobbed with her head down, “Don’t they deserve to die?”

“After I was born, she never took care of me, it was my grandmother who raised me. But one day, she took me away, and since then, no one has loved me like my grandmother did. The person who loved me most in the world died long ago, and I don’t even know how she died.”

“It was my grandmother who told me to listen to them well, she said my mother actually loved me but not everyone knows how to express it. I believed it, I believed it for over twenty years! She deceived me so cruelly! It wasn’t true at all, really wasn’t…”

That’s why she liked wearing the floral-padded jacket from when she was five years old. Her life had ended from that moment on.

Senior Brother withdrew his hand and said, “Good and evil have their own destiny.”

“Destiny? Their destiny is to enjoy family happiness and filial love. Only I am the redundant one!” Luo Xiaomei raised her head and said, “Don’t try to deceive me! I saw it in the Register of Merits and Demerits!”

Jiang Feng asked, “Why could you see the Register of Merits and Demerits?”

Luo Xiaomei: “I just saw it!”

Jiang Feng was displeased.

Mother Luo, with her blood-stained head, crawled over and kowtowed to Senior Brother Jiu Tian. “Greatmaster, greatmaster, please deal with her quickly! She’s now just a monster, a pervert! Monks are supposed to be compassionate, please, I beg you!”

Luo Xiaomei laughed sarcastically hearing her words.

See? See? Such people will never acknowledge their wrongs.

Senior Brother glanced down at her sideways.

“Sorry,” Jun Heng rubbed her thick hair, “We’re not monks, we’re Taoist priests.”

Senior Brother formed a hand seal with two fingers and directed it at Luo Xiaomei.

Chu Xuanliang anxiously said, “Eldest Senior Brother!”

Golden light flashed from his fingertips, and Luo Xiaomei closed her eyes, neither dodging nor avoiding.

She was truly tired.

Thinking about the same things every day, tormented by doubt and hatred repeatedly. Even when given the chance for revenge, she still couldn’t bring herself to deal the fatal blow.

But she really was just that incompetent, really couldn’t be a bad person.

She waited for a long time, but instead of her soul being scattered, her whole body felt comfortable, warm as if wrapped in something.

Luo Xiaomei opened her eyes, carefully raised her hand to touch her face, and found that the scars on her face were gone, and the huge wound that had penetrated her neck was also gone.

Everyone finally saw her original appearance.

She was just a rather pretty young woman.

Jun Heng: “Little sister?”

Luo Xiaomei’s lips moved, asking, “Am I not a monster?”

“No,” Senior Brother coldly looked at Mother Luo and the others, “It’s human hearts that are monstrous.”

Luo Xiaomei smiled. “Even if you’re lying, I’m still very happy.”

“Luo Xiaomei.”

Jiang Feng spoke seriously, “Since you’re already dead, why force yourself to perish with them over matters from your life? You can have a chance to start anew, to have a happy life. As for them, they will slowly repay their sins. The mistakes they’ve committed can’t be escaped from. Go report to the underworld, and naturally someone will punish them on your behalf.”

Luo Xiaomei asked, “Really?”

Jiang Feng’s lips parted slightly.

He felt what he said was true, but this thought was a bit absurd, so he just nodded.

However Luo Xiaomei bowed deeply to him.

Author’s Note:

Although it hasn’t been written yet, but in this story’s setting, you can’t just take revenge whenever you have a grudge. The normal procedure should be: first go to the underworld – apply – receive judgment – then take revenge. Private revenge is not allowed. Moreover, if you don’t clear your sins from life, you’ll keep cycling through hell, with no next life at all.

TN:

Lu Tixia and Zhen Guanxi are characters from the “Water Margin” (水滸傳), one of China’s Four Great Classical Novels.