Judge of Souls - Chapter 109

Liu Shan saw him clench his fists and prepare to strike again, so he quickly raised his hands and said, “Don’t do that, I was wrong!”

He licked his lips and asked, “How did you know? I thought I acted quite convincingly.”

“That time you fell into the water, you said you saw someone, then later said something dragged you underwater, but I didn’t see anything or discover anything,” Jiang Feng said. “You deliberately guided me to think it was a vengeful spirit’s doing, trying to clear yourself of suspicion, but it was unnecessary. You obviously didn’t know who I was, which instead made it seem suspicious. After Guo Li died, I checked the Register of Merits and Demerits and didn’t find your name. I even searched through the entire register and couldn’t find your name anywhere. Only then did I find your identity among the chimei. Since you’re a chimei, you must be able to see my identity, so your previous behavior was completely influenced by Zhang Yao.”

Liu Shan pouted and said, “She died, apparently from domestic violence. But she died as she died – she was afraid of her husband, and her soul didn’t dare return home. She wandered around the neighbors’ houses, wanting to cause trouble. At first, she just made noise upstairs, but later she stood by my bedside every day staring at me. How could I tolerate such a person? Of course I swallowed her!”

Officer Ye found himself unable to refute his words.

Jiang Feng asked, “You said you came out looking for the Mountain God?”

“Looking for the Mountain God,” Liu Shan said. “The Mountain God on our mountain disappeared over a hundred years ago and has never returned. Now the spiritual energy on the mountain is gradually dissipating. Life has become difficult. Ordinary spirits and chimei are dying, but fortunately we’re tough. But this can’t continue.”

Jiang Feng asked, “Which mountain?”

“Some nameless mountain – how would I know which mountain it is?” Liu Shan said. “I didn’t know when he left. Later it suddenly cut off. Our Mountain God was the best Mountain God. Whoever killed him, I’ll kill them.”

The scene suddenly fell quiet, making Zhang Yao’s screams particularly prominent.

Chu Xuanliang frowned and generously drew another talisman, pasting it over her mouth.

Zhang Yao’s eyes were full of malice as she stared at them intently.

“Zhang Yao,” Jiang Feng said, “Do you think you did nothing wrong?”

Zhang Yao struggled forcefully, clearly thinking exactly that.

“It’s not that you’re pitiful, so you did nothing wrong,” Jiang Feng said coldly. “Even if you have grievances, you killed eight people through various direct and indirect means. Even if you committed evil through Liu Shan’s body, it cannot offset your wrongdoing. Your husband needs to be punished, the cold and indifferent bystanders need to be penalized, but you are equally sinful and unforgivable.”

Zhang Yao was unconvinced. She couldn’t accept it and didn’t care about his evaluation.

Her soul had already transformed into a malevolent ghost due to resentment at the moment of death. Her rationality and emotions were vastly different from when she was alive, becoming extreme and vicious. That’s why, as Liu Shan said, she wandered around the neighborhood trying to harm people. Given more time, once she accumulated enough power, she would probably be able to kill people personally.

However, after being swallowed by Liu Shan, her malevolent energy was somewhat dissolved, and her mind had developed in a controllable direction. But her extreme emotions remained unchanged. So she influenced and controlled Liu Shan to kill people for her revenge.

Jiang Feng said, “Let her appeal.”

Chu Xuanliang temporarily removed the talisman from her mouth.

Given the opportunity, Zhang Yao immediately shouted, “I was just taking revenge! They drove me to my death – shouldn’t they die too?”

Everyone had originally felt endless sympathy for her, but hearing her show no remorse, they had nothing more to say.

Jiang Feng said, “Who are ‘they’? The neighbors you killed were indifferent, but indifference has never been a capital offense. Indifference isn’t necessarily human nature – what about the society that creates such indifference? If you want to trace it to its roots, who will you take revenge on? How many people will you kill? You still haven’t dispelled your malevolent energy – are you planning to continue killing?”

Seeing her expression, Jiang Feng estimated she indeed thought this way, and his tone became even colder. “You didn’t dare resist your husband so you could only endure. You didn’t have sufficient economic resources to maintain your own life, so you couldn’t refute your parents’ advice and concerns. You couldn’t even convince others to believe your situation. Everything that happened to you today was more the result of your own step-by-step mistakes. All your helplessness and pain – first, because of others’ indifference, but second, wasn’t it also because you weren’t brave enough?”

“If you really wanted revenge, you should have killed your husband first – he was the beast who violently abused you. Then your parents, who didn’t give you proper education and couldn’t truly consider your situation, coldly supporting your marriage. And then your past self, who failed to become a decisive and capable person. After one failed divorce lawsuit, you chose to fearfully maintain the status quo. After calling the police, you hid in the shadows afraid to speak up. In terms of responsibility, it’s nowhere near their turn,” Jiang Feng said. “You think your parents have shown you kindness by raising you, so you can’t bear to kill them. But why should neighbors who have no connection to you and never received your kindness have to uphold justice for you?”

Zhang Yao was stunned for a moment, then screamed frantically, “They watched me go to my death! They were accomplices! They deserved to die! Since they deserved to die, who I kill is my freedom! Mine!”

Everyone present didn’t care about her reaction.

How many perpetrators started as victims?

The difference between people probably begins here. Some people think, “Don’t do to others what you don’t want done to yourself,” while others think, “Return the pain you’ve suffered to others with double the intensity, until you destroy yourself.”

Zhang Yao’s murders had their source and reason.

Killing her husband violated the punishment rules of both the mortal and spirit worlds, but wasn’t a major crime. Killing her parents would be judged as the crime of killing close relatives with reduced punishment. But killing seven neighbors was truly inexcusable. Even if Liu Shan bore part of the punishment for her, years of hell’s retribution couldn’t be escaped.

Zhang Yao was about to speak again when Chu Xuanliang pasted the talisman back over her mouth.

Deng Bian sat to one side, pressing her temples with her hands, not knowing whether she had heard or not. In any case, she was completely out of place with their style and looked like she was about to go mad.

Chu Xuanliang said with a headache, “So who can handle this chimei?”

With Qiongqi dead, these few chimei were especially precious in the mortal world, even rarer than giant pandas. Their formation age was impossible to determine – they were spiritual beings that wouldn’t exist again for thousands of years, even thousands of years in the future.

Their nature was such that they had no concept of right and wrong, didn’t know what was correct or incorrect. All their magic power, fundamentally speaking, had no good or evil – they were more like weapons, depending on their wielder to make judgments.

Dissolving malevolent energy was something many mortal cultivators couldn’t do. Even some evil spirits with deep cultivation could only stand by helplessly, unable to send them back into reincarnation, but chimei like Liu Shan could do it.

It was difficult to condemn such an excellent supreme weapon.

Jiang Feng said, “I’ll take him back.”

Chu Xuanliang breathed a sigh of relief. “That’s good then.”

Deng Bian had been unable to recover on the side. Hearing this conversation was her limit. She had Officer Ye quickly help her outside – she needed to get some fresh air and then go take a socialist political course to cultivate her scientific development outlook.

****

Jiang Feng marked Liu Shan and then let him escape.

He then switched to his Judge soul form, found the person, and escorted him back to the mountain forest where he used to live.

This stretch of mountains was still beautiful, but the tree growth seemed somewhat chaotic. Some century-old trees were gradually beginning to wither and collapse, with huge trunks lying across the roads. What should have been a vibrant scene now had a hint of cold air.

The Judge summoned the local chimei. The one who came to receive them was an elderly man with graying temples, who should be the chimei recorded in the Register of Merits and Demerits, responsible for guiding Liu Shan.

That chimei looked at the Judge, then at Liu Shan, seeming somewhat confused.

Jiang Feng recounted what he had done in the city, essentially tattling to the elder.

“Yes, yes,” the chimei casually responded. “Since he did wrong, let him apologize.”

Liu Shan was about to kneel down out of habit, but the Judge helped him up.

The Judge said, “Don’t let him leave the mountain for activities in the near future.”

The chimei continued nodding, “Oh, alright.”

Liu Shan muttered, “It’s nothing serious anyway.”

The chimei said blankly, “What? What did he just say? Don’t go to the mall? I haven’t been to a mall yet.”

The Judge frowned.

Affected by his emotions, the chimei suddenly returned to normal, gave Liu Shan a hard smack on the back of his head, and scolded, “Look what you’ve done! There must never be such situations again! Although you weren’t directly responsible, if you hadn’t been interfering, so many people wouldn’t have died!”

Liu Shan: “Oh.”

Chimei: “I’ll take him back for education. Divine Lord, please rest assured.”

With that, he took Liu Shan’s hand and walked inside.

The Judge remained in place, listening to their conversation.

Chimei: “What did you go out to do again? I don’t even remember.”

“…You just remember to hit me,” Liu Shan said aggrievedly. “I went out to look for the Mountain God.”

“Hitting you definitely wasn’t wrong – hitting you first isn’t a loss,” the chimei said. “What did the Divine Lord just say? What did he say you did wrong?”

Liu Shan happily denied, “Nothing. He was just afraid I’d get lost so he specially brought me back, and he wanted to see you too.”

“Oh,” the chimei nodded. “But just now I received his emotions, it seemed to be about people. I’ve forgotten now.”

Liu Shan: “I am a person.”

Chimei: “Right.”

Judge: “……”

The Judge felt these two were unreliable, so he summoned a nearby underworld messenger and instructed him, “Pay more attention to these chimei in the coming days. If they leave the mountain, remind them that the Judge doesn’t allow it.”

The underworld messenger nodded in agreement, “Yes.”

When Yama learned of this, he laughed mockingly. “You want a chimei to reflect on their mistakes? Why not ask a fool to go study?”

The Judge said, “I had Zong Ce study.”

Yama: “……”

“However,” Yama looked at the drawing in the book and frowned, “Does this mountain seem familiar to you?”

The Judge had the same feeling, but couldn’t articulate it. He could guarantee he hadn’t been to this place in nearly a hundred years.

He said, “It is somewhat familiar.”

Yama said with frustration, “This is where your mortal remains were buried!”

“Is it?” The Judge wasn’t particularly moved. He had been dead for a long time and was no longer troubled by mortal affairs. The Judge said, “This Mountain God actually achieved such accomplishments. It seems his luck was good.”

“Of course,” Yama’s eyebrows shot up, and his already fierce face became even more terrifyingly ferocious. Ordinary ghosts would probably think he was angry, but he was just somewhat proud.

“This lord can be Yama naturally because I have more outstanding qualities than you. Look, you can’t even remember this!”

The Judge remained silent.

If you say so…

Yama made the decision, “Why did this Mountain God mysteriously disappear? I’m afraid the situation is grave. Since this mountain has chimei transformed from ancient spiritual beasts’ turbid qi, it proves this mountain is not ordinary. We can go investigate. To prevent you from handling things inadequately, this lord will accompany you to examine this mountain forest.”

“You want to go with me to see that mountain?” the Judge said. “There’s nothing special about that place.”

Yama said, “We’re going to dig up your corpse.”