Judge of Souls - Chapter 39

The instructor was leading the assembled students out of the school gate. When the girl wanted to follow them, Chu Xuanliang held her back.

“Come with us. There aren’t many people now, and it’s quiet. Let’s find your friends.”

The girl nodded.

For finding people, Taoists have a hundred and eighty methods: soul searching, circular light technique, divination, dispatching paper figurines for help, or asking ghosts and gods. But perhaps because they were in the little Mountain God’s illusion realm, they couldn’t summon their spirit servants, and talismans couldn’t be used either. They could only rely on searching manually.

With Chu Xuanliang and his companion present, the girl’s emotions visibly stabilized, and her thought process became clearer when answering questions.

Chu Xuanliang said, “Tell us how you all ran away that day, and how did those instructors actually die?”

“It had nothing to do with us!” The girl’s face suddenly turned deathly pale again. “We really didn’t kill them! No, wait, they deserved to die!”

This was an unofficial walking school with extremely lax management, where the administration never intervened in cases of instructors beating students.

Some of the instructors not only lacked teaching qualifications but were also poorly educated, morally deficient, and had a fondness for violence and inflicting pain—their worldview was fundamentally warped. Hiring such people to discipline so-called “troubled youths” and attempting to “correct” and “guide” students back to the right path was absolute nonsense.

Some instructors even brought prison torture methods into the school to torment students. Beyond the daily training, they forced students to swallow tobacco, toothpaste, drink dirty water, monitor each other, and beat each other, among other abuses.

There were no human rights here. A guardian’s signature of consent was tantamount to “selling” the children to the school. They couldn’t communicate with the outside world, couldn’t freely enter or leave the campus, had no freedom of speech, and no privacy or dignity.

“You don’t know what kind of people are in here. The instructors are terrifying, and so are the students. There are eight people in one dormitory, and they have countless ways to make your life worse than death. Everyone has wounds, and anything can happen.”

Some of those sent to walking schools were violent students who had committed offenses, been in juvenile detention, showed no remorse, lacked a sense of right and wrong, and were arrogant and domineering. But because they were minors and protected by law, their parents had no choice but to throw them into this place.

Others were labeled as having “mental illness” by their parents—internet addicts, teenagers in early relationships, homosexuals, autistic children, those who hated school, and so on.

With these people mixed together under the instructors’ unified management, a new hierarchy was bound to form in the school.

Instructors oppressed students, and students oppressed other students.

For weak children with no fighting ability, in an era when even prisons were beginning to respect human rights, they lived more miserably than the most vicious murderers.

But what had they done wrong? At least they hadn’t hurt anyone! Why did they have to bear all the blame just because they hadn’t lived up to their parents’ ideal image? Weren’t the parents at fault too? Hadn’t they also failed in their duties? Even when playing a game or raising a virtual pet, besides money, one needs to invest time, energy, and patience.

When Sun Wukong sprang from a spirit stone long ago, he once caused havoc in the heavenly palace. Did parents think that just by carrying a child for ten months, the state would assign them an ideal child? They weren’t magically born from gourds, ready to run and jump.

The three of them first went to the boys’ dormitory building to look for people.

The girl kept condemning the school, trying to make them believe her account while analyzing their emotions. Chu Xuanliang and his companion showed no expression, making her particularly anxious. She seemed very afraid of being questioned.

“Look,” the girl pointed at a door and said, “Those two, because they annoyed an instructor yesterday, had their buttocks beaten until they bled. They can’t move today and are excused from training.”

Inside, one boy was beating another who crouched in the corner with his head covered, not making a sound.

Although it was an illusion, Huang Yu momentarily wanted to rush in and thrash the aggressor.

The girl sneered lightly. “Of the girls in my dormitory, one was lucky and was taken home by her parents early. Another got injured from jumping off the building and temporarily left this place. A third one committed suicide directly.”

“Do you know how many people in this school want to commit suicide? If I weren’t such a coward, I would have killed myself too.”

Huang Yu felt the place was suffocatingly depressing. She sighed and said, “Good, I feel conflicted. When I used to see news about juvenile crimes, I thought the Minor Protection Law was practically a criminal protection law. I thought if the students’ parents still had any conscience, they should punish them severely to let them feel the consequences. But what kind of student can be called a ‘problem student’? Who can guarantee it’s not actually a case of ‘problem parents’? But because the parents are adults, they have absolute authority, so the blame inevitably falls on the children. Yet some children are so innocent.”

“There are legitimate walking schools where the management is at least more attentive and not as terrible as this place. I don’t know if it’s right or wrong, but at least it’s legal. If parents can’t control their children and want to throw them into such places, there’s nothing you can do about it,” Chu Xuanliang said. “But in these illegal schools, the management is chaotic, and some behaviors have already reached the point of violating criminal law. No matter what mistakes students have made, they shouldn’t be sent to such places. If parents knowingly do this and still make excuses for the school, they are failures as parents.”

This situation was so unbearable that even some teachers in the school had helped students contact their parents, passing them notes with information. Unfortunately, parents still chose to believe the school administration, ignored the matter, and kept their children in the school.

Here, apart from escaping, death seemed to be the only way out.

That day, the twelve of them finally couldn’t bear it anymore and decided to escape together. If they stayed any longer, they would surely go insane.

They were surrounded by electric fences and high walls, with mountains at the back. A girl went into the security room that controlled the electric fence and came out two hours later.

Taking advantage of the one-hour window when the electric fence was turned off, they climbed over the wall and fled up the mountain. There, they discovered a Mountain God Temple and hid inside.

At this point, they began to feel afraid again. Outside, it was pitch black, and every sound seemed ominous. The group huddled under the deity statue, trembling.

Where could they go? They would certainly be caught and brought back. And after that? More cruel treatment, stricter supervision.

Affected by the crying and emotions, two girls thought they might as well commit suicide here.

They began to calmly plan. They would leave a suicide note, accusing their parents and the school of their misdeeds. They also agreed that someone must survive to prevent the school from destroying the evidence.

At that moment, the Mountain God statue emitted a childish voice.

…

Everyone prayed to the Mountain God for protection and justice.

…

The next day, instructors led people up the mountain to search for the students, when a landslide occurred.

All the students were rescued by the little Mountain God, while thirteen instructors perished together.

They watched as the dead instructors transformed into vengeful ghosts and continued searching for the twelve of them on the mountain. So they hid in the Mountain God Temple again for shelter.

Chu Xuanliang listened quietly.

They searched from the first floor to the third floor but found nothing unusual, though they discovered traces of people having stayed in several empty rooms, but they had already left.

When they reached the third floor, the girl’s eyes caught sight of someone rushing out from the end of the corridor, and she jumped up and shouted, “Xiao Jie! Xiao Jie, it’s me!”

Three boys ran out from the stairwell. They were fleeing, intending to hide in a dormitory, but were surprised to see their friend.

Their eyes lit up, but seeing Chu Xuanliang and Huang Yu behind her, they became fearful and dared not approach.

“Who are they?”

“They’re Taoist priests!”

“Taoist priests…” The three boys rushed over, grabbed Chu Xuanliang’s arm, and cried, “Save us, he’s coming!”

As they spoke, they already heard the sound.

The “tap tap” of footsteps in the night was particularly clear, like a death warrant. Following this, a tall, muscular man whose features were no longer recognizable emerged from behind the stairs.

His face was a bloody mess, part of his head had been flattened by a rock, his clothes were soaked with blood, and he held a stick in his hand, moving stiffly toward them.

The group quickly moved behind Chu Xuanliang, seeking his protection. Chu Xuanliang then shifted behind Huang Yu.

The four students: “…???”

Chu Xuanliang maintained a straight face.

He was not a combat personnel; he needed to retreat.

Huang Yu untied the exorcism staff from her back, held it horizontally across her chest, and raised an eyebrow. “You all go first, Auntie here will handle this.”

Chu Xuanliang grabbed the girl’s shoulder and led her forward, while asking, “Do you know where the others are?”

“No idea! We’ve been constantly changing dormitories to avoid being discovered by the instructors,” one boy said. “I haven’t eaten for a day and have been running all this time. I’m almost dead!”

Chu Xuanliang: “How many of you are there in total?”

“Eleven people stayed behind. Seven boys and four girls! The other three girls should be together, but we don’t know where they’re hiding,” the boy added. “There are six instructor ghosts nearby, and seven more followed the little Mountain God.”

Chu Xuanliang said, “I see. I’ll take you to the mountaintop first, then find someone to come get you.”

Chu Xuanliang chose a small path.

Fortunately, on the way to the mountaintop, they didn’t encounter any instructors pursuing them.

Halfway there, they witnessed a landslide. There was a large group of students on the mountain. The instructors were struck by rolling rocks, while the students abruptly disappeared from the spot.

Chu Xuanliang stood for a while, watching as the thirteen people were struck by rocks and deeply buried under the debris. He sighed.

The boys behind him couldn’t help but shudder, supporting each other as they continued forward.

The instructors had died right here, and they would instinctively fear this place, making them less likely to approach recklessly.

The rest of the way was even safer.

They successfully reached the Mountain God Temple and pushed open the door. The four of them let out a heavy sigh of relief.

Their presence was noticed, and the little Mountain God’s voice came from the deity statue above, exclaiming with delight, “You’re back? Tingting!”

The girl knelt before the Mountain God Temple and suddenly began to sob uncontrollably. She lay flat on the ground, crying without restraint.

The little Mountain God asked worriedly, “Tingting? Are you hungry?”

“Little Mountain God,” Chu Xuanliang asked, “is Jiang Feng with you?”

Little Mountain God: “Dad is here.”

Chu Xuanliang: “What did you place in all these people’s homes?”

Little Mountain God: “All are mountain imps that I raised. They’re very well-behaved.”

“Have Jiang Feng take you to retrieve the mountain imps and release these students. As for the vengeful ghosts of the instructors, my sect will handle it, so don’t worry,” Chu Xuanliang said. “We will ensure these students’ safety. But my signal isn’t very good here, so please have Jiang Feng help make a call to my master and explain the situation clearly.”

A boy nearby heard this and immediately shouted, “I’m not going back! If I go back, they’ll send me away again. I’d rather stay here!”

“Stay in the Mountain God Temple?” Chu Xuanliang said. “There’s nothing here.”

Boy: “There’s nothing at home either. I’m not going back, and I won’t forgive them. I won’t!”

Chu Xuanliang temporarily avoided arguing with him. “We’ll discuss this later. You all need rest. I’ll go find the other students first; you all stay here and don’t move.”

Chu Xuanliang patted them for reassurance and had the little Mountain God bring in some food. Not feeling secure about the place, he set up a formation at the temple gate and continued down the mountain.

Tingting cried for a long time, her eyes completely red. Sitting up straight, she asked, “Little Mountain God, I… I prayed to you to kill the instructors. Does that make me a murderer?”

“No! That was truly a coincidence, it was heaven’s will,” the little Mountain God said solemnly. “Don’t overthink it.”

A boy asked, “Really?”

Little Mountain God: “Really.”

The little Mountain God wouldn’t say that he didn’t have such great power; he was still a child. To the entire Shaoling Mountain range, he was just a little chirper.

However, he indeed hadn’t saved those instructors.

Those people had never worshipped him, so he had no obligation to bless them. That seemed fair enough.

In downtown A City, after Jiang Feng left the police station, he bought over a dozen takeout meals and had the little Mountain God bring them all over.

“Let me in too,” Jiang Feng said. “I know you can do it. When you were dreaming, you must have pulled me in before.”

The little Mountain God exclaimed in surprise, “Really? But it’s dangerous in there… Oh, it seems pretty dangerous out here too.”

Coincidentally, wherever there was danger….that’s exactly where he wanted to go.