An Unexpected Turn
The wooden arch bridge shattered inch by inch beneath Chen Ye's palm. As the last bridge pillar carved with runes came crashing down, the Green-Faced Evil Ghost suddenly let out an eardrum-piercing shriek. Hundreds upon thousands of twisted human faces surfaced across its knotted muscles, then swiftly dissipated like smoke.
If he wanted to condense the Green-Faced Evil Ghost again, he would have to find another place steeped in wine, lust, wealth, and vice. Otherwise, it would be difficult to recreate its current power.
Chen Ye was not particularly distressed. At the very least, he had figured out the truth behind the Four Secret Arts: they were really the abilities of underworld ghost officials, who hooked out those burdened with grave sins, dragged them over, and punished them savagely.
They would not kill you, but the pain could kill you.
They acted directly upon the soul and could not be resisted head-on. What they tested was entirely one's moral character.
Someone with character as solid as Chen Ye's would suffer no more than a punch to the chest. But if one's character was lacking, a single hook would leave them writhing on the ground in agony, a truly unsightly spectacle.
Yet even the phantom of a single ghost official possessed such power. How terrifying would a true underworld ghost official be?
There was the Book of Changes, and there was the Ksitigarbha Vow Sutra. This world surely had countless hidden threads connecting it to the myths he had heard of in his previous life.
Could it be that ascended cultivators in this world really could enter the Heavenly Court and become one of its hundred thousand celestial soldiers?
"Heh, I really have read too many novels. All I think about are good things."
Chen Ye gave a