Judge of Souls - Chapter 92

The group of ghosts felt his imposing aura. Although their faces showed unwillingness, they still voluntarily retreated somewhat. Several fierce ghosts were unwilling to give up just like that and still clung tightly to the villagers. Jiang Feng reached out his hand in the void and grasped, pushing them aside.

Huang Yu released her hands that had been covering her ears and could finally catch her breath. She called over a few of the braver ones to help drag the people into the house.

These villagers were all quite elderly. Although their bodies were relatively sturdy and solid from farming in their youth, they had just been severely frightened – some had fainted, some were injured, and only a few who remained conscious dared not move around recklessly. It was truly a scene of mass casualties.

“This isn’t a solution,” Huang Yu said quietly as she passed by Jiang Feng’s side. “How are we going to get out now?”

Jiang Feng replied, “Solve it according to your Qimen Dunjia and Bagua methods. Later, go look at that path down the mountain and see exactly where the life gate of this illusion is, then break this place.”

Huang Yu said, “Damn, that’s Chu Xuanliang’s specialty, not mine! I’m combat personnel, not responsible for decoding.”

Jiang Feng glanced at her sideways. “Then wait.”

Thinking about how he had been out of contact with the human world for so long, and with the live broadcast causing such a commotion, Yama’s side should have already become aware of the situation.

It would be best to have the little Mountain God come and dispel the illusion here.

Just as he thought this, a thin crack split open in the dim yellow sky, and black marks appeared at the horizon.

This illusion that was like living in an old, faded photograph began to collapse, with points of light scattering down like snow. Everyone was sucked into a black vortex, their bodies experiencing a sensation of weightlessness, heads heavy and feet light, as if their souls were leaving their bodies.

When they opened their eyes again, what met their gaze was already an azure sky.

The illusion had been broken?

“Daddy!”

The little Mountain God spread his arms and ran toward Jiang Feng, hugging his legs and then struggling to climb up with effort. Jiang Feng scooped him up and brought him into his embrace.

The little Mountain God excitedly hung on him, swaying his two legs. “Yama sent me to rescue you. I’m amazing, right?”

Huang Yu’s phone screen lit up, the device vibrated, and the ringtone immediately started ringing.

“Finally got through! What were you all doing! I told you to turn off the live stream, not turn off your phones!” the person on the other end said with both urgency and anger. “I thought you’d all become appetizers! Are you alive now?”

They had created the image of a human ghost village in the live stream and then disappeared without a trace – it was simply the most terrifying real-life horror film.

Superiors, talent agencies, and enthusiastic netizens kept calling non-stop, seeking connections to understand the situation. Customer service said the lines were busy and were almost overwhelmed with calls.

What did they know about the situation? They were still circling endlessly below like ghosts hitting walls, their spirits nearly collapsing.

Huang Yu shouted with full vigor. “Alive!”

“We just found several people on the road who appeared out of nowhere. Are they related to you? Really, you Taoist priests—” the other party said. “We’re coming up now. Do you need medical personnel?”

Huang Yu looked at the villagers lying in a heap, moaning weakly, and said, “Yes. A whole bunch have collapsed, and the situation looks quite serious. To avoid insurance fraud, I think you need to hurry.”

The police were alarmed. “What?! Don’t move, just lie there. Do you know first aid? We’re already on our way up!”

The mountain path up and down was finally cleared, and behind Jiang Feng was a chorus of wailing and crying.

Before the police arrived, nearby underworld messengers had already taken their positions. Holding Yama’s golden decree, they escorted away all the wandering souls. Several fierce ghosts were handed over to Huang Yu for preliminary salvation.

Previously, thinking it would be a long time before seeing the little Mountain God again, the clothes prepared for him were sized for a seven or eight-year-old child. Now his clothes hung loosely on him, barely held up with a few thin branches as a makeshift belt, with even his hands and feet invisible.

Huang Yu reached out, making a motion to pull at his pants. The little Mountain God immediately grabbed his waistband and pulled it up around his waist, crying out, “Waah—”

Huang Yu chuckled sinisterly, “You’re not wearing underwear.”

The little Mountain God crossed his legs like scissors to clamp down on his pants, defending his innocence. “Daddy!!”

Meng Po emerged from underground carrying a bowl of water, appearing calmly before everyone and nodding to Jiang Feng. She pinched some water between two fingers and sprinkled it on everyone’s faces.

Kong Su felt some moisture on her cheeks, but couldn’t see Meng Po standing in front. She vaguely felt that something in her mind had been forgotten. She turned her head and saw that these villagers hadn’t moved even a finger since returning. Gathering courage, she went over to check their breathing, then sat down and screamed, “Ah— they’re all dead!”

Hearing this, Huang Yu stopped teasing the little Mountain God and hurried over to check.

“How did they all pass out?” Huang Yu said. “They’re all breathless. No way? They died just from leaving the illusion?”

“Yama accidentally called their names just now,” Meng Po said with a detached expression. “He’s having them take a tour of the Gates of Hell. They’ll be back shortly.”

Huang Yu looked at her and held back her words. “…What great treatment.”

Meng Po nodded. “Mm.”

Going for a stroll in the Gates of Hell meant their three souls and seven spirits went. If they got scared by the evil ghosts outside the gate, there was no guarantee how many souls and spirits would return. As for the remaining souls and spirits, they were sent to hell in advance to warm up and adapt.

The underworld had always been very considerate of the masses.

The police arrived quickly. When they came, this group of people hadn’t regained consciousness yet. The captain counted the death toll, but halfway through counting, he didn’t dare continue. He stiffly turned his head to look at Huang Yu.

Huang Yu said, “They’ll wake up soon. They’re currently receiving ideological education down below.”

The police officer replied, “…I’m not a religious person. Don’t try to fool me.”

Meng Po pinched more water and splashed some on their faces too. Then, holding her bowl, she said, “I’ll go back first.”

Jiang Feng nodded.

Subsequently, based on Huang Yu’s testimony, the police dug up several sets of remains at various points on the mountain. From the clothing, one appeared to be a Taoist priest, while several others had unknown identities and awaited verification.

Mr. Yu was helped down the mountain by police and saw Yu Huan at the foot of the mountain, wrapped in a blanket and drinking hot water.

The other person had mud stains on their face and showed great wariness toward strangers. When they saw Mr. Yu coming down, their eyes finally showed some spark. The two embraced each other, comforting one another.

“Daddy will take you home now. It’s okay. It’s all over.”

Yu Huan nodded vigorously.

Online, everyone had been waiting for results for a long time. Several days later, after communicating with the police, several related entertainers finally spoke out to explain.

Kong Su and others all said the same thing: they had not known the true purpose of the program before participating. But later, after meeting with the investor and communicating and negotiating, they decided to help him expose the dark dealings behind Shanyuan Village. They wanted to use the haunted gimmick and celebrity traffic to attract public attention and get higher authorities to agree to search Shanyuan Village.

The case had now been finalized – human trafficking was confirmed, and murder charges were confirmed. Based on assistance from villagers’ confessions, a large-scale human trafficking gang had been captured elsewhere, with police to provide further notifications.

Online, public sentiment was stirred up for several reasons: first, for consuming netizens’ sense of justice and deceiving everyone; second, for the horror behind the true circumstances of this case; third, for the previous negligence and inaction of local police.

Some people also speculated that the words and actions of Kong Su and others might have been deliberately concealing the true haunted situation of Shanyuan Village just to maintain social stability.

In any case, Kong Su and others, especially Tian Guang, caused negative social impact due to their nighttime behavior of pretending to be possessed and entering graveyards. However, because the nature wasn’t too severe, local authorities symbolically criticized them and fined them several thousand yuan as punishment. Then, because the several people had merit in reporting the criminal gang, officials gave them a small banner of recognition and returned the fine as a reward.

Although Tian Guang no longer remembered, his subconscious had been hypnotized into believing it was his own deliberate act, and he felt extremely proud of his courage. But Jiang Feng still went to ask the little ghost about the real reason.

The little ghost said that after being summoned by Tian Guang’s spirit invocation, she originally wanted to lead him out of the village. But because Tian Guang’s yang energy was too strong, halfway through he really couldn’t continue walking. Since the graveyard had heavy yin energy, he was directly pulled back into the illusion.

Tian Guang and Ji Ruxi, two people who had wanted to kick each other to death in the illusion, had actually started dating.

Meng Po had only made minor modifications to their memories, removing the events in the illusion, yet such a big change had occurred. Jiang Feng was greatly surprised.

“What dating? That’s called shipping CP!” Kong Su said. “Those two are so annoying! They argue every time they meet! Their personas were all shattered in the live stream, but for some reason netizens wanted to ship their CP, so they simply took advantage of the buzz to trend for a few days.”