Judge of Souls - Chapter 7

Life and death, to a Judge, is but the blink of an eye. Among countless mortals, time flows like an arrow, yet who knows the Heavenly Way bends like a bow? He cannot attend to everything; most people must rely on their own fate.

It is said that heaven has mercy for life, for living beings are fragile and precious. As a divine official, one should have compassion, cherishing life and despising killing. However, heaven and earth are not benevolent, treating all things as straw dogs. That is, all things between heaven and earth are like discarded grass dogs to the Heavenly Way – showing no favoritism, nor being harsh to anyone.

As a Judge, living souls and departed spirits are all creatures of heaven and earth in his eyes. The living should not be held above the dead; one’s actions in life must ultimately face consequences. Otherwise, how could there be order between heaven and earth?

In other words:

Who hasn’t lived before? Do you really think ghosts have no rights? Is the netherworld here just for show?

“Feng Nansheng,” said the Judge, “you’ve slaughtered over a hundred wronged spirits, disregarding right and wrong without distinguishing black from white. How can you speak of merit?”

Feng Nansheng raised her head and said, “I did it to save people! Why won’t the Divine Lord see how many people I’ve saved?”

The Judge said, “This lord won’t argue with you. As a Taoist cultivator, you should understand that when the living do evil and ghosts seek revenge, it is the natural cycle of heaven and earth. You interfered with life and death in the mortal realm, showing bias and embarking on a killing spree. Whether this was for heavenly justice or selfish desire, the netherworld’s mirror of sins will reveal all. You may deceive others and the world, but can you deceive yourself?”

Feng Nansheng’s voice trembled, showing extreme fear, but still countered, “Then who should be killed, and who shouldn’t? Those evil spirits had already committed sins, and keeping them in the mortal realm would only cause harm. If I didn’t kill them, they would kill others – isn’t that also part of the natural cycle?”

The Judge’s voice turned icy. “You practice Taoist arts, but have you learned nothing except killing?”

At the word “kill,” bone-chilling cold spread through Feng Nansheng’s core. Though she was a powerful ghost in the mortal realm, what was she before the Judge? Complete destruction of both body and soul would take merely a snap of his fingers, a single breath. But had the Judge ever destroyed a human soul? Even the most heinous sinners were still slowly suffering in the eighteen levels of hell.

This wasn’t something Liu Junlu could interfere with. No matter how brave he was, he wouldn’t dare pester the Judge like he had pestered Jiang Feng. Having just been scolded by this person, he hugged his head and tried hard to make himself invisible.

The Judge asked, “Who altered the Book of Life and Death for you?”

Feng Nansheng immediately replied, “It was Zong Ce!”

“Lies!” the Judge thundered, “You dare speak falsehoods before me!”

Feng Nansheng instantly felt her entire body shatter, her soul near destruction. She begged for mercy. “No… I was wrong, Divine Lord, I don’t know, I really don’t know!”

The Judge’s pen that Zong Ce held, though fake, possessed power similar to the real one. Its existence must be related to the real Judge’s pen that the netherworld had lost. The Judge’s pen, also called the Reincarnation Pen, could summon the Register of Merits and Demerits and modify it without a judge’s approval. However, when mortals alter the Register, it’s like mortals wielding a Judge’s pen – an act that defies the Heavenly Way with terrible consequences. Even if successful, one must pay a considerable price.

Feng Nansheng’s fate had been altered twice. The latter change was likely by Zong Ce, writing that she would die violently at thirty, her body mutilated. But the first change’s author was unknown, writing that she would die at one hundred and ten, her virtue spreading in all directions.

If Zong Ce had no grudge against her, why go to such lengths to take revenge? Yet when he had previously searched for Zong Ce’s name in the Book of Life and Death, he couldn’t find this person, so he didn’t know his life story.

And Feng Nansheng’s actions after death were enough for the Judge to punish her.

She had not exhausted her natural lifespan, and being a Taoist priest before death, her power remained considerable even after death. After being captured by Zong Ce and refined daily in the demon-refining pot, when she finally escaped, she was no ordinary spirit.

The abandoned building could have been completed on schedule, but because she escaped here and occupied it, using her powers to summon fierce ghosts and wandering spirits from far and wide to gather here, the investors had no choice but to abandon it. This place was scattered with yin energy, even keeping away the netherworld envoys. Ordinary Taoist priests didn’t dare approach, only able to suppress it slightly with six divine statues.

She did this to avoid pursuit by both Zong Ce and the netherworld. But this caused many deaths.

Disturbing the netherworld’s order and harming mortal lives – her crimes were severe.

This person was formidable… formidable enough to lie before him.

The Judge had no time now for detailed questioning. He placed a mark on her soul and assigned her to the Hall of Yama for interrogation.

He extended his hand in a grasping gesture. Simultaneously, a pair of invisible giant hands appeared, grabbing Feng Nansheng from top to bottom.

Her expression changed, but before she could speak, she found she couldn’t.

“Feng Nansheng, go face the mirror of sins!”

With these words, the giant hands threw her out of the building. The previously weightless ghost now fell like a thousand-pound stone, rapidly crashing onto the road ahead. Two ghost officers were already waiting there, bowing deeply toward the building’s direction.

Seeing her properly chained, the Judge withdrew his gaze and looked down at Liu Junlu at his feet.

Liu Junlu tensed.

The Judge said, “And you.”

Speaking thus, he casually tossed Liu Junlu out of the building as well.

Having dealt with these two, the Judge’s ethereal form flickered. As his divine power waned, he closed his eyes and returned to Jiang Feng’s body.

Several seconds later, Jiang Feng’s fingers twitched, and he sat up from the ground.

His mind was still foggy, not remembering what had happened before. He just sat there blankly, emptying his thoughts. When a gust of cold wind blew in from outside the window, making him shiver, he frowned and finally stood up.

Liu Junlu was gone, the stairway landing empty, completely silent.

Jiang Feng dusted off his pants, cleaning off all the dirt, and without concerning himself with other mysterious matters, slowly walked downstairs, preparing to return home.

Huang Yu and Fu Yuan’s group had originally intended to look for the legendary delivery boy and another missing person. However, after turning the compass for half a day without finding any information, when they later searched with divine conciousness, they discovered a corpse on the ground behind the building.

It was Liu Junlu.

The four split into two teams: the man in the suit went with Fu Yuan to check the situation, while the crew-cut man stayed with Huang Yu to watch over the eleven survivors and escort them in batches to the first-floor hall.

Jiang Feng happened to leave from another staircase on the other side, not even crossing paths with them before they missed each other.

Jiang Feng got on his electric scooter, pinched his face to wake himself up a bit. The driver behind him opened the car door and came out asking, “Sir, where is our boss?”

Jiang Feng said, “Don’t know. There are still people inside, I’ve already called the police, wait for them to come before going in together.”

Liu Junlu was already dead, killed by a ghost. He would be foolish to want to get involved with this matter.

Driver: “Didn’t you see him?”

Jiang Feng said with an unchanged expression, “No. Did he go in with me?”

“Uh…” the driver couldn’t be sure either.

Actually, he had watched Jiang Feng go in, and when he blinked, he could still see Jiang Feng’s back, but Liu Junlu had disappeared.

This place was very mysterious, he didn’t dare think too deeply about it, just comforted himself that Liu Junlu must have gone in with them. Now being told this, he suddenly felt his skin crawl. He couldn’t stay any longer.

After Jiang Feng left, he also moved his car back another hundred meters.

Jiang Feng first returned the electric scooter to the shop, while also asking for the night off, then walked home on foot.

He was especially mentally exhausted and wanted to go back for a good sleep.

The restaurant was about two kilometers from his home, and a ghost shadow had been following him sometimes near, sometimes far. Halfway there, Jiang Feng finally noticed it – this ghost had probably followed him from the abandoned building.

Passing under a streetlight, he stopped and looked back.

It was a girl who appeared only four or five years old, with a crooked cut wound on her neck that had nearly severed her bone. She wore a red cotton padded jacket, black cotton pants, and a pair of faded tiger-head shoes. Her hair was tied in upright pigtails. This outfit looked very much like that of a child raised by her grandmother.

Jiang Feng saw a shadowy figure on her and was immediately exasperated.

This was an adult ghost who liked to pretend to be young.

The female ghost actually followed him all the way to his home. After Jiang Feng opened the door, she curiously slipped in through the gap.

How presumptuous!

Jiang Feng left the door half-open and sternly told the female ghost, “Get out.”

The female ghost seemed somewhat afraid of him and obediently went out. She stood at the doorway, respectfully seeing him in.

Jiang Feng closed the door and intimidated her with a look, indicating she should leave quickly.

The places where the female ghost had stepped left faint bloody prints on the ground, making Jiang Feng very unhappy. He would have to clean the room again.

He first went to the fridge to open a bottle of water, sitting in the cramped living room with the electric fan on.

Not allowed inside, the female ghost persisted, poking her face through the door panel.

Jiang Feng turned his head to look and almost laughed in anger. The situation was like having a moving face growing on the door – if it were midnight with no lights on, ordinary people would probably be scared to death by her.

Jiang Feng asked, “Why are you following me?”

Female ghost: “I want to go home.”

Jiang Feng: “Then go.”

Female ghost: “But I don’t know where my home is.”

Jiang Feng: “What does that have to do with me?”

Female ghost, twisting her body: “I want to go home.”

Jiang Feng: “…”

No point in talking.

Jiang Feng took a broom and held it across the front door, saying, “No coming in, understand?”

His rented room wasn’t that big – two more steps forward and you could see straight into his bedroom. Having a ghost in the house made him uncomfortable.

The female ghost hesitated for a moment, then continued nodding obediently.

Seeing this, Jiang Feng stopped paying attention to her, planning to go to the temple tomorrow to ask someone to take a look.

****

The haunted building exploration incident had resulted in heavy casualties.

Two people suffered mental breakdowns and were under treatment, one fell into a deep coma with doctors still searching for the cause, one was disabled in the arm with unexplained separation of bone and flesh and was still under observation after emergency treatment. And one person died directly – this person was Liu Junlu.

Liu Junlu’s appearance at the abandoned building was beyond everyone’s expectations, and his death caused an even bigger stir that couldn’t be suppressed.

After all, he was a local entrepreneur with substantial assets. Even the government was concerned about his estate distribution, company management, and employee arrangements.

He had three sons and two daughters, plus a wife, and dying so suddenly would likely lead to a bloody storm.

However, before the five children could switch to the drama of fighting over the inheritance, the lawyer suddenly told them–sorry, Liu Junlu’s estate isn’t yours – he donated everything to someone called Jiang Feng, leaving you only the rights to manage the enterprise. Moreover, Jiang Feng had the right to half of the enterprise’s year-end bonus.

Jiang Feng?

With the inheritance gone, everyone panicked. Jiang Feng’s name immediately reached the ears of insiders.

After Liu Junlu’s sons gathered related information from the driver and lawyer, they went straight to the police.

This is fraud! This is a very malicious case of fraud and murder!

But the police quickly ruled out Jiang Feng as a suspect.

Jiang Feng had a clean background and had no suspicious previous contact with Liu Junlu. On the contrary, according to witness statements, it was Liu Junlu who had pestered Jiang Feng, wanting to give him the inheritance, which the latter had even refused.

As for claims about seeing the Judge during soul projection at night and such, the police officer just wanted to give them a hammer to the head.

So the promotion of feudal superstition didn’t stand, and neither did the fraud allegation. As for murder, there was no direct evidence linking Jiang Feng to the incident. Or rather, Liu Junlu had jumped from the top floor, but only his footprints were found on the stairs and roof – it couldn’t possibly be related to Jiang Feng. Based on these conditions, the police couldn’t file a case, so they sent them away.

Liu Junlu’s family members were nearly driven mad with anger.

Meanwhile, several people from the Taoist Association learned about the delivery boy’s background from the survivors, and after verifying with the shop owner, found out his name was Jiang Feng.

When they put the two incidents together, they realized something was wrong.

The Judge? They didn’t believe in that.

There couldn’t possibly be a real divine official in this world. Even their own ancestral master could only invite spirits to possess him, and that caused great damage to the body.

Who could possibly summon a Judge?

Impossible.

The person behind the destruction of the stone statue still hadn’t been found, and Jiang Feng’s existence was just too suspicious.

Being able to disappear silently from the abandoned building, having intricate connections to Liu Junlu’s death – even without malicious speculation, everything pointed to him.

So the next day, when Jiang Feng got up at noon, before he could go find a Taoist priest, someone came to his door first.

Upon seeing him, they seemed somewhat surprised.

He was absolutely certain this was indeed an ordinary person without any magic power.

Jiang Feng wasn’t exactly ordinary. He saw a white energy flowing around the man in the suit, confirming the other person was a Taoist priest with some real skill.

“Come in.”

The man in the suit was momentarily confused. He had come with hostile intentions, but if the other party was an ordinary person, the suppression measures he had prepared would have to be put aside. He nodded in thanks and entered.

Only after entering did he see a small ghost standing at the doorway, carefully placing her feet on the broom at the entrance. Not daring to cross the boundary yet wanting to get closer, her movements became very strange.

The man in the suit’s finger twitched, and he reached for the talismans on his body, asking dangerously, “You’re raising a ghost?”

Jiang Feng: “Please take her away, I’ve abandoned her.”

Man in the suit: “…”

He investigated a bit and found there truly was no contract binding between the two.

Jiang Feng still explained, “This thing followed me out from the abandoned building yesterday.”

The man in the suit looked at her and asked, “How did you die? Who killed you?”

The female ghost recalled and said with a grin, “I was killed by my husband with an ax.”

“…” the man in the suit, “??”

The female ghost shrugged her shoulders, smiling innocently. “But after I died, I scared him to death too.”

Cold sweat ran down the man in the suit’s forehead.

This ghost looked young but seemed quite extraordinary, able to change form and even deceive him. Moreover, up close, he could sense a strong yin energy around her, showing she was quite a powerful ghost.

Jiang Feng held his cup, staring intently at him. “Take her away!”

The man in the suit’s Adam’s apple bobbed as his feet stopped.

He regretted this.