Prison Guardian Bi'an

Mo Chuan glanced at the remaining incense sticks and fresh ashes in the earthen bowl of the Land God Temple, then cupped his hands in salute.

"This Mo greets Earth Lord. Earth Lord's eyes are bright as torches. I truly am not from these parts; I merely happened to pass by today and have disturbed you."

"No disturbance, no disturbance. I see incense offerings curling around Mister Mo, and you have traveled through the night. You must have urgent business, so I shall not keep you."

Old Earth God returned the salute, quietly breathing a sigh of relief.

He partook of the mountain stronghold's incense offerings, so he naturally bore the duty of protecting it.

Tonight, every dog in the stronghold had barked without cease. Unless he got to the bottom of it, he could not settle his heart.

"Earth Lord is too polite! By the way, when I passed through your stronghold just now, I heard a woman offering incense and praying. She said her husband would be beheaded before long. What happened?"

A thought stirred in Mo Chuan's heart, and he began making inquiries.

"Alas, a pitiful affair. If Mister Mo is interested, there is no harm in discussing it."

Seeing the incense aura around Mo Chuan, Old Earth God guessed that he was also a ghost immortal with "two qing of fields," not some vicious fiend. Thus, he simply laid out the whole story.

That woman was Madam Liu. Her husband, Li Guanqi, was the only scholar to leave the stronghold in the past hundred years.

Though he had not earned scholarly honors, his literacy had won him a position in Qingshui County as a County Treasury Official.

They had thought it was a blessing, smoke rising from their ancestral graves!

Who would have thought that he was merely an unlucky scapegoat chosen by the county magistrate?

Less than two months after taking office, the county treasury came up short. Under brutal torture, he had already confessed and now awaited execution!

Qingshui County had handled the matter so thoroughly that it deceived heaven and crossed the sea, without a drop leaking through.

Unfortunately, the more it was this kind of shady business, the less it could be hidden from the gods three feet above one's head—or, more precisely, from the ghost immortals and immortal masters of every path.

"So that was how it was!"

Mo Chuan sighed. There truly was nothing new under the sun. Then he asked tentatively, "Earth Lord is the righteous god of virtue and fortune for this mountain stronghold. One of the people under your protection has been falsely accused. Do you have any means of saving him?"

Old Earth God was startled by his words and hurriedly waved his hands.

"Mister Mo, you jest. It is true that I receive the village's incense offerings, but I am ultimately only the small Earth God of one place. It is already no easy task to protect this land from evil spirits! How could I possibly have the ability to enter a city of the human race, where yang energy blazes like a flowing inferno?"

"Besides, the underworld has its rules, and the mortal realm has its laws. How would an old fellow like me, fortunate enough to enjoy incense offerings, dare do something that crossed such boundaries?"

Mo Chuan had not expected Old Earth God's reaction to be so great.

Yet this also happened to prove many of the views expounded by the old Daoist in his scriptures.

This world was ultimately still ruled by the human path.

"Rules of the underworld? Has Earth Lord ever met the legendary Ghost Emperor Yan Jun?" Mo Chuan asked.

"Mister Mo, your words flatter me beyond measure. How could I ever meet such a legendary figure? I hear that those venerable ones dwell in the deepest reaches of the Nine Netherworlds. How could people like us, who drift in the shadows of the mortal world, dare entertain such hopes?"

Mo Chuan nodded. He made a few more inquiries, but seeing Old Earth God grow increasingly wary and speak of this and that instead, he finally asked his last question.

"May I ask, Earth Lord, how does one get to Qingshui County?"

"Twenty li west from here, and you will arrive."

Old Earth God breathed a sigh of relief and pointed out a direction.

"Many thanks for Earth Lord's guidance. Until we meet again."

Mo Chuan cupped his hands in salute, then vanished westward.

This ghost immortal cannot be thinking of meddling in the Li family's affair, can he? Judging by his cultivation, he has not even reached sixty years. He should be a newly ascended ghost immortal. Wouldn't that be a moth flying into the flame?

Old Earth God watched the direction in which Mo Chuan had disappeared, muttering inwardly. He secretly broke out in a cold sweat he did not possess, then retreated into the Land God Temple.

Old Earth God's twenty li truly meant twenty li in a straight line.

The moment Mo Chuan emerged from the mountain hollow, he saw a gray and hazy city nestled at the foot of the mountains. Looking down from above, it lay piled upon itself like tomb mounds.

A faint glow of yang energy spread from within the city, enough to make ghosts timid at the sight.

Mo Chuan glanced at the sky. Seeing that dawn was still far away, he decided to enter the city and take a look.

Only when he drew close did he realize—what kind of city was this?

It looked more like a town enclosed by earthen embankments.

It crouched like an old turtle, with scarcely a light to be seen.

Worth mentioning was that the city which had seemed to overflow with yang energy from afar appeared pale as misty clouds up close, carrying the peculiar feeling that "the grass looks green from afar, yet vanishes when near."

Mo Chuan dispersed himself into vapor and slipped through a crack in the city gate.

The streets were quiet, and every household had long since gone to sleep.

"Bang! Bang!"

"Second watch of the hour of the boar. Shut your doors and windows; guard against thieves and burglars."

The dull call of the night watchman drifted over, lending a little human warmth to the night.

Mo Chuan drew a breath, recalled Old Earth God's directions, and headed south.

That was where the county jail stood.

—Li Guanqi was imprisoned there.

After walking for the time it took to drink a cup of tea, a walled compound of blue bricks and dark tiles, utterly unlike the surrounding homes, came into view.

Looking up, he saw the two words "Jailhouse" boldly inscribed from right to left on the gate's lintel.

Between the two characters was carved an enormous stone cat's head.

Mo Chuan cast it a glance without slowing.

Just as he was about to slip through the crack in the gate, the instant he drew near, the cat-head statue suddenly let out a roar that shook the soul.

"Roar—"

Before Mo Chuan's wide eyes, a massive tiger head passed through the wall from the cat-head statue. Its mountain-sized body was wreathed in crimson flames, radiating the utmost yang and strength.

The moment it appeared, it scorched Mo Chuan until his entire body ached, as though he were bathing beneath the blazing sun.

"Not good!"

Mo Chuan blanched and instinctively prepared to return to his physical body.

"Fellow Daoist, this way!"

A call suddenly came from behind him. It stirred Mo Chuan's heart, halting his impulse to leave.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a middle-aged Daoist at the mouth of a dark alley, wearing a black crown and coarse hemp robes, waving to him.

Mo Chuan hurried over.

At the same time, he looked back and saw that the crimson tiger, blazing all over, had not pursued him.

It landed before the jailhouse gate, shaking its head and swaying its tail, baring fangs and brandishing claws with tremendous majesty.

"Why did Fellow Daoist startle that Prison Guardian Bi'an?"

The middle-aged Daoist cupped his hands and asked.

Bi'an?

Mo Chuan froze. That cat-head statue had actually been Bi'an?

Legend had it that Bi'an was the seventh son of the dragon, born of scaled creatures. It resembled a fierce tiger, delighted in litigation by nature, and possessed great might.

Thus, people carved its likeness at prisons to suppress evil and protect the living.

"I merely happened to pass by and did not expect to disturb the auspicious beast." Mo Chuan returned the salute.

"So that was it!"

The middle-aged Daoist cupped his hands. "This poor Daoist is Chong Shizi, a disciple of Chisong Palace. I see incense offerings winding about Fellow Daoist's body. May I ask which Daoist temple you come from?"

"You flatter me. This poor Daoist is You Xuzi of Fu Luan Temple." Mo Chuan intended to probe him a little.

"So you are a fellow Daoist of Fu Luan Temple. I have long admired you, long admired you!"

Chong Shizi cupped his hands again. Without waiting for Mo Chuan to respond, he added,

"From what Fellow Daoist says, it seems that the opportunity revealed through this poor Daoist's Spirit Medium Divination yesterday should lie with you."

Mo Chuan looked completely bewildered.

Chong Shizi said, "Does Fellow Daoist know that the great bandit Qian San was once executed here?"

"I do not."

"..." Chong Shizi smiled. "That man was beheaded ten years ago, so it is only natural that Fellow Daoist does not know."

"It sounds as though there is something unusual about this matter?"

"That is right! Ten years ago, Qian San drifted here from some unknown place. He murdered people like cutting hemp, and his crimes filled the brim. After the authorities captured him, he was beheaded before the public at the Qingshui County Execution Ground!"

Chong Shizi paused, his expression grave. "Now he has come out again to wreak havoc."

"Oh? What do you mean by that?"

Mo Chuan asked.

The man had been beheaded. How could he still wreak havoc?

Could he have become a ghost?

"Fellow Daoist has surely already guessed it! As the saying goes: alive, one is a hero among men; dead, one is still a champion among ghosts. Though the head falls and the body dies, an evil soul remains."

"After Qian San died, he became a ghost. Since he died by beheading, he naturally became a Headless Ghost."

"Yet because his sins in life had been so monstrous, after his execution his head was sent around the nine border regions while his body was cast into the wilderness. His head could no longer be found. After ten years of accumulating resentment, he has become a vicious ghost."

Hearing this, Mo Chuan was horrified.

He had heard the old Daoist of Fu Luan Temple say that Daoism spoke of four great evil ghosts in this mortal world, and the Headless Ghost was one of them.

A Headless Ghost was not simply any ghost that had died from decapitation.

Such evil ghosts were often born among soldiers and bandits.

Only those with immense obsession, immense fate, and immense killing intent could give birth to one!

"This poor Daoist wished to deliver it from suffering, but my cultivation is lacking. Thus I used Spirit Medium Divination to seek an opportunity for resolving the matter. Now, it seems that opportunity lies with Fellow Daoist."

As he spoke, Chong Shizi grew ever more solemn. He performed a deep salute and said,

"This poor Daoist earnestly asks Fellow Daoist to lend a hand. Once this is done, I am willing to erect a monument and make offerings to Fellow Daoist, so that you may forever enjoy the incense of Chisong Palace."

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