Chapter Nineteen: The Alarm-Calling Method of Deliverance He turned around, dusted himself off, then looked at the two hundred boys and girls beneath the platform, the civil and military officials, and the Grand Princess, Tang Ruowei, who was still standing where she was. Xue Ling swept his gaze across the souls over there and frowned slightly.
"Mm!"
The Underworld Emissary began his work in an orderly fashion. He took out a chain that had looked only a forearm's length, but could stretch without limit. Xue Ling bound all the ghosts' wrists and lined them up. Bai Qiuran watched from the side throughout the process.
"Father Emperor!" Bai Qiuran nodded.
The cold clacking of a wooden fish echoed through the darkness again. Accompanied by faint singing that seemed to come from nowhere, the green-faced Underworld Emissary led a long line of ghosts slowly into the void, where they vanished without a trace.
"Take your time. I'm leaving."
"So many people died unjustly, before their allotted time in the Book of Life and Death. What have the Demonic Cultivators in your world been up to?"
Bai Qiuran stood and looked at them, speechless. Tang Ruowei coughed and quietly reminded him, "Father Emperor, your bearing, your bearing!"
Xue Ling withdrew his gaze, tugged on the chain in his hand, and then pulled a lantern made of paper from who-knew-where. Its faint light illuminated the path through the void.
"Here."
"Why, why does My head hurt so much?"
"Mm-hmm, I understand."
After casting out a few runes, Bai Qiuran stopped. Two minutes later, the clear clacking of a wooden fish—something only a person as good as dead as he could hear—approached from afar, slowly emerging from the void.
But it was another story for the several thousand soldiers. To boost their combat strength, Tang Zhouxie had used a different method, transforming them into something like corpse soldiers. Bai Qiuran had no qualms about killing them.
"He's out! He's out!"
Bai Qiuran let go. Tang Zhouxie's bloodied corpse fell onto the altar, and blood spread across the ground.
"Same old routine: kill people, take their blood, seize their souls, then prepare to cultivate."
"What am I?"
At last, he asked, "Hey, this time, I've earned another merit on your ledger, haven't I?"
The Shangxuan Emperor shook his head. "I remember offering sacrifices to Heaven. What happened after that?"
"Heh, why do you always leave half your sentences unfinished?"
"Root out evil to the last weed, root out evil to the last weed."
Bai Qiuran flatly refused. Then he beckoned to the Imperial Advisor, Fu Qianqiu. "You over there, Imperial Advisor, I have some questions for you. Take care of things here first. I'll come find you afterward."
"Ah? Immortal, at least let me thank you for your great kindness!"
Smack.
Bai Qiuran lifted his chin toward the ghosts gathered in the hollow nearby. With the Underworld Emissary's arrival, the ghosts instinctively felt afraid.
Seeing the Shangxuan Emperor clutching his head as if he had come to his senses, Tang Ruowei hurried onto the altar and supported him.
"Immortal, thank you for coming to our aid this time. On behalf of the countless people of the Shangxuan Kingdom, I thank you for your kindness."
"Hmph."
Xue Ling gave a cold snort, but said nothing. Demonic Cultivators like Tang Zhouxie, who had committed countless acts against the natural order, would be sent to Abyssal Hell to suffer until their souls were ground away once captured. By scattering his soul, Bai Qiuran had, in a way, spared the Ghost Realm the trouble.
Bai Qiuran stepped forward, unleashing an overwhelming torrent of True Qi that destroyed the formation binding them. Then he formed a hand seal and began to deliver the wronged souls.
"It's like this..."
"Ahem."
"Let's go. All of you, follow me."
Bai Qiuran replied, "But I killed that fellow. You don't need to search for his soul."
Tang Zhouxie's transformation of the soldiers into neither-humans-nor-ghosts couldn't be reversed. It was better to kill them and let them be reborn as soon as possible.
Bai Qiuran rubbed his head, puzzled.
"These souls—your work's cut out for you."
He could only clap his hands and mutter, "What a lunatic."
He emerged from the soil, his body rising through the solid ground of the Imperial Mausoleum. But before he could steady himself, he heard someone shouting nearby.
Xue Ling tightened his grip on the chain. "But you've repeatedly evaded punishment for exceeding your lifespan. Don't think you can so easily make up for your crimes with good deeds."
"No, it's nothing."
Tang Ruowei nodded blankly.
He was already so deeply in debt that adding more barely mattered. He'd never expected delivering souls to offset the entries against him in the Ghost Realm's records.
The Shangxuan Emperor gave a soft cough to cover his embarrassment. After a moment's thought, he hesitantly cupped his hands toward Bai Qiuran.
The moment Bai Qiuran entered the hollow beneath the ground, the stench of blood assaulted his nose. Through Spiritual Vision, he saw the massacred commoners converging on him. Their features looked like melting wax, their eyes and mouths black, empty pits. They seemed unbearably anguished and terrifying.
In the vast, empty void, a dark road wound into the distance. Then Bai Qiuran saw the figure of his old "acquaintance," Xue Ling, slowly solidifying out of the void as he approached.
"Mm, it's fine."
However, his method of deliverance differed from that of the Heavenly Saint Buddhist Sect. The bald monks wove a bridge from their scriptures, cleansing the wronged souls of their resentment and connecting them to the other shore. But after their souls entered the Ghost Realm this way, they had to wait a very long time for their paperwork to be completed, since they hadn't entered through the proper channels via an Underworld Emissary.
Bai Qiuran's method was much simpler. In a way, it was like calling the police and letting them handle it themselves.
The Shangxuan Emperor called out to him.
"I don't want any."
The Underworld Emissary still wore his expressionless corpse-like face. His iron-blue face stern, he put away the wooden fish and asked, "Bai Qiuran, why did you summon me?"
"It's like this."
This actually made things easier for Bai Qiuran. He could have forced his way through the protective barrier and killed Tang Zhouxie, but that would have led to a lot of trouble.
Just then, the Imperial Advisor, Fu Qianqiu, who stood beside Bai Qiuran at the edge of the altar, suddenly clutched his head and groaned. A moment later, the Shangxuan Emperor of the Shangxuan Kingdom also clutched his head and began to moan.
Bai Qiuran was still wondering about Xue Ling's earlier hesitation, but couldn't figure out what he might have to say to him.
Tang Ruowei began explaining what had happened to her Father Emperor. Meanwhile, Bai Qiuran sank into the earth on his own. He still had something to do: the innocent commoners Sima Yingbo and the others had captured for Tang Zhouxie to use in building the formation. Their souls were still trapped in the formation beneath the altar, unable to escape.
He pointed at the corpse beside him. "He was the one who had his people attack first."
Xue Ling lined the ghosts up into a long queue and took his place on the narrow path stretching out of the void. Then, as if suddenly remembering something, he looked at Bai Qiuran and said, "By the way, Bai Qiuran, you..."
"No need. You can't give me what I want anyway."
Bai Qiuran turned his head and saw the Shangxuan Emperor and the Imperial Advisor excitedly pointing at him. Beside them, Tang Ruowei was red-faced, tugging at her Father Emperor's sleeve.
The civil and military officials seemed to have all come to their senses. They had formed a circle around Bai Qiuran, making him the center of attention as he emerged from the ground.
It seemed Tang Zhouxie's death had caused the mind-controlling spells cast on them to dissipate on their own. The Imperial Advisor and the Shangxuan Emperor had been the most powerful people present, so they had been the first to wake up.
"Then at least let me hold a feast to entertain you, Immortal."
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