Ah? This Is the Peak Ranked Match!

"Please return your seat table to its upright position. The aircraft will shortly be landing at Songshan International Airport. Thank you for flying Cathay Dragon..."

Amid the Cantonese announcement, the plane slowly retracted its flaps and descended toward the runway.

Wan Island. They had arrived.

In fact, the flight from Xiangjiang to Formosa didn't take long—about an hour and a half, and sometimes they even arrived early.

After using Sharingan Genjutsu to deceive the entire crew and quietly reach his destination, Fang Xiu stretched a little, then left first through a special exit.

--Warning! Reincarnator Fang Xiu has left the main-storyline restricted area. Trial difficulty has greatly increased!--Side story triggered: Double Pupils.

--Reward: Unknown.

--Temporary identity arranged.

The Main God's announcements arrived one after another.

This was a surprising discovery indeed.

After all, once they left a trial world, returning to explore it further was no easy feat. They had to win the team battle and serve as the team captain before they qualified to anchor themselves to it.

But before returning... they could actually roam areas outside the main storyline! Of course, the warning made it clear that the danger would increase greatly. It was like a novice adventurer thinking he was strong enough to leave the beginner village and strike out into the world.

It was the same old saying:

High risk, high reward.

The Main God Space had never been a good place to cultivate someone who spent all day grinding monsters on Ten-Mile Slope. Since Fang Xiu wanted more resources, he was willing—and had to be willing—to take the risks.

What's more, the Great Light Sphere had thoughtfully arranged a temporary identity for him! It went without saying that it would be legitimate and allow him to seamlessly get involved in the story.

So he stopped maintaining the genjutsu and strode forward openly...

Outside the airport.

The Wan Island personnel assigned to meet him held up a sign bearing Fang Xiu's name, waiting for him to come into view.

At a glance, Huang Huotu picked Fang Xiu out of the crowd. He hurried over to greet him and introduced himself in English:

"I'm Huang Huotu, head of the Foreign Affairs Division. Welcome to our colleague from Hong Kong Island, who's here to serve as a consultant."

Then he switched to Cantonese.

Colleague?

Consultant?

In an instant, Fang Xiu understood what role he was supposed to play.

"We're all Chinese. Mandarin is fine."

After all, he had the Main God's translation device—

Unless it was an ancient god's whispers, Cthulhu's call, or some other terrifying language, Reincarnators could probably understand any normal conversation.

His thoughts briefly wandered before Fang Xiu took another look at the man in front of him, who looked exactly like the movie star Tony Leung Ka-fai, and shook his hand.

After completing the necessary social formalities, he got into the car waiting for him—a battered Mazda—and left the airport.

On the road, the rather taciturn Huang Huotu cut straight to the point. "I found that all three victims had made the front page because of various scandals before they were killed."

As he spoke, he took some old newspapers and a confidential file folder from the center console and handed them to Fang Xiu.

"The first victim, the chairman of a chemical company, had illegally discharged pollutants several times."

"Miao was a legislator's mistress."

"The priest had unclear ties to the underworld."

"Unfortunately, that's the only connection between the three victims. We investigated them carefully beforehand and found no connection between the two men and one woman—not in their social standing, nor in their circles."

"It's a problem that can't be explained through scientific reasoning..."

"Oh, and that mold. Given our technical limitations, the higher-ups have called in a favor and sent it to the Americans for testing. We should have an authoritative report soon."

"..." Fang Xiu nodded slightly.

Scientific reasoning?

This world was clearly about the supernatural! The confidential files contained crime-scene photographs taken from various angles, and everything matched the scenes he remembered: the chairman had frozen to death in the middle of summer.

The woman had been burned alive.

The priest's stomach had been brutally cut open, and a mysterious line of stitches—likely a talisman—was visible.

Unfortunately, Hermit Caolu had left in a hurry. Otherwise... he might have been able to analyze a lot of useful information.

In fact, a proper Daoist talisman had to include elements such as the talisman head, the deity being invoked, the talisman body, the talisman foot, and the talisman core. A well-informed Daoist could analyze the talisman's maker: their background, their lineage, even the extent of their cultivation.

--As for the talisman head, it varied according to the founder of each sect and the relationships between the Three Realms.

Of course, while traveling around Hong Kong Island and exorcising ghosts, Fang Xiu had also found that the talismans drawn by many local Daoists had three hooks, representing the Three Pure Ones.

--The talisman core symbolized the Daoist's cultivation and attainment, and usually consisted of a secret character passed down by their sect.

As for the talisman foot, there didn't seem to be much to it. It served to suppress, and was often finished with a cross.

That was it.

Those were the basics Fang Xiu had learned about Daoism in the Hong Kong Ghost World.

Unfortunately, his skills were still lacking.

At this stage, he could only identify what the talisman body represented. It wasn't meant to slay demons or ward off evil, nor to protect a home and ensure peace. It was meant to connect with the underworld.

Meanwhile.

Huang Huotu glanced at the rearview mirror. He saw the consultant from Hong Kong Island frowning at the third victim's case file.

Clearly, the strange talisman on the victim's stomach had caught his attention.

"Brother Fang."

At the call, Fang Xiu came to his senses. "What is it? Just say what's on your mind."

"Do... do you believe in ghosts and gods?"

Huang Huotu, who was driving, seemed to have worked up quite a bit of courage before asking.

"Of course."

His answer was exceptionally brief.

Although many details of the movie's plot had long since grown hazy in his mind—for example, the exact location of the Daoist temple hidden inside a building—Fang Xiu was certain that the case truly involved ghosts and gods.

"In that case..." Huang Huotu let out a long breath as he held the steering wheel, seeming to finally stop suppressing his thoughts. "I know a folk expert who studies Daoism."

Before he could finish, Fang Xiu cut in bluntly:

"Take me to him!"

Beihai City.

In front of a residence.

"This is Professor Sheng's home. I'd planned to bring the investigator from America here for a visit, but he wasn't interested in any of this..."

Traffic had been bad all the way there.

After finally managing to park the Mazda, Huang Huotu spoke with a wistful air.

"Understood." Fang Xiu's answer was just as brief.

"Hello, you two."

At that moment, an ordinary-looking elderly scholar came out after hearing the commotion.

His mental strength was slightly above average, but not by much. The fluctuations in his brain were far weaker than Leon's.

Looking past the meridians to the essence beneath, Fang Xiu silently made his assessment. He also remembered that this man had indeed appeared in the movie, establishing the premise—

"This guy wants to become an immortal! In Daoism, there's a branch that believes there are five kinds of hell: Ice Prison, Fire Pit Prison, Intestine-Pulling Prison, Heart-Gouging Prison, and the Tongue-Pulling Prison. After undergoing the trials of these five hells, one can cultivate into an immortal through the sixth path."

Taking the confidential files Fang Xiu had handed him without asking, Professor Sheng pushed up his reading glasses and earnestly explained what he knew.

As he spoke, the scholar walked over to the bookshelf behind him, searched for a moment, and pulled out a thin booklet.

It had only a few pages, and the contents were equally concise, describing the five hells and the final scene of ascending to immortality.

"But how to survive those tribulations is something an ordinary person could never imagine."

In the old study,

an aged voice spoke softly.

Huang Huotu asked in disbelief, "So the killer wants to become an immortal?"

"That's right. There was a man named Huang Shang in the Song dynasty, the Huang Daxian highly revered over in Hong Kong. He had Double Pupils and could see a thousand miles by day and peer into the ghosts and gods by night, so he could find Renxiao with ease."

Knowing they were investigating a case, Professor Sheng didn't waste time. He immediately picked up a brush and wrote on a sheet of paper, adding:

"Renxiao are neither human nor ghost. The term refers to people who are deeply indebted in morality."

"Double Pupils, as the name suggests, means that each eyeball has two pupils, shaped like the Arabic numeral eight..."

Fortunately, they weren't Double Pupils of the more extraordinary kind.

Double Vision was indeed a rare inborn trait, but not as remarkable as Double Pupils. Those who possessed the latter included Yu Shun, one of the Five Emperors; Cangjie, who invented writing; Duke Wen of Jin; and Xiang Yu, the Overlord of Western Chu.

They were all remarkable figures who had influenced Chinese history.

Double Pupils versus Sharingan? A clash of eyes. That sounded interesting.

"As things stand, the person you're investigating must be seriously ill and close to death, in a state of enlightenment."

Meeting Huang Huotu's searching gaze, the professor brought out another stack of documents. "And have you heard of Jiaozhi? To judge whether the Central Plains dynasties were prosperous, you look first at their control over the Western Regions, then at their development of the south. It once belonged to us, so our cultures have the same roots."

"These days, it's called the Red River Delta in northern Vietnam. A few years ago, an ancient Daoist temple was unearthed there, remarkably well preserved."

As he spoke, he passed over another stack of documents.

Fang Xiu wasn't particularly interested in any of this. Now that he was personally involved in the plot, a few details had resurfaced and taken on new meaning—

The investigator from across the ocean had been killed.

He was the final Renxiao.

He had committed the sin of disrespecting the spirits.

As for Huang Huotu, seated on the sofa beside him, he corresponded to the "Lesser Yang, Greater Yin"! The final step of the Five Hells Ascension Method was to abandon the physical body and ascend in spirit or mind—a method also known as Corpse-Dissection.

But the physical body wasn't something one could simply discard. Generally speaking, one had to cultivate to perfection, until the soul exceeded the limits of what the body could contain and broke free of its own accord.

Like a fruit that had ripened to perfection and dropped from its branch on its own.

If one couldn't meet those conditions but was desperate to leave the body, then one had to choose a predestined person in advance and have them kill the cultivator at the right moment.

This was called "liberation through death" or "Corpse-Dissection."

Especially at the end, the female cultivator who used the alias Xie Yali had mastered genjutsu to perfection. She controlled Huang Huotu, her predestined person and Sword-Wielding Executor, at will.

She made him lose all distinction between reality and illusion!

In his emotional frenzy, he shot her dead, perfectly completing the method of liberation through death!

"The Five Hells sound simple, but they must be extremely difficult to carry out. Otherwise, she wouldn't have promised, 'If I become an immortal, you'll come with me...'"

"In other words, Huang Huotu is very important!"

"If I were in her shoes, would I let something so important fail at the last moment? I'd take precautions. That's basic procedure!"

He thought to himself.

Though he lacked details, Fang Xiu had grasped the key point!

Beside him,

Huang Huotu had heard so many strange things from Professor Sheng that he'd fallen into a daze. Suddenly, he saw a pair of strange eyes staring at him.

They spun rapidly.

Xie Yali had been born as one of a pair of twins.

Her older sister had ascended, and her body had died! But she didn't seem to have left. Instead, she had possessed Huang Huotu's daughter.

To ensure her younger sister, Xie Yali, could successfully undergo liberation through death, the woman who was said to have ascended had been protecting Huang Huotu all along!—Old Huang was an upright police officer. He had reported a fellow officer for taking bribes, and the person exposed had been his brother-in-law, A-Yuan.

After A-Yuan was arrested and learned he'd be sentenced to fifteen years in prison, he found an opportunity to escape. He fled to a hospital, where he held Huang Huotu's daughter at gunpoint. Then, wanting to make Huang Huotu regret it, he pulled the trigger.

Unexpectedly... the bullet curved around and, in defiance of all reason, blew A-Yuan's own head apart! After that, the little girl seemed to have been traumatized and lost her ability to speak. Although all her tests came back normal, she never spoke again.

"Her older sister must have foreseen a glimpse of the future. If Huang Huotu's daughter died, his brother-in-law would be sentenced to death instead of fifteen years in prison, and his wife would take her own life after losing the two people most important to her.

"If his wife and daughter both died because of Huang Huotu's report, then he'd most likely lose his faith and give up on living. That's why the bullet curved ninety degrees and killed his brother-in-law... to nip the chain of cause and effect in the bud."

Feeling that he'd pieced together the truth, Fang Xiu decisively used his ocular power to control Huang Huotu. He stimulated and guided him back to that day, making the original scene play out before his eyes.

Admittedly, it was unethical.

But some things couldn't be judged with a simple, black-and-white verdict.

In an instant, Huang Huotu sank into the Mangekyō Sharingan. His mind recreated what had happened that day in tremendous detail, helping Fang Xiu prove that his flash of inspiration had been right.

The hospital had stored infant specimens!

At the crucial moment, she had opened her eyes and manipulated the bullet's trajectory. Old Huang had caught a glimpse of what happened, but he refused to acknowledge or face it.

An ancient female cultivator's reincarnation, not yet through liberation but at a critical stage.

A Corpse-Dissection Immortal whose cultivation was so profound that she could break free from the prison of her own flesh without outside help.

Honestly, Fang Xiu felt the Main God's warning had been right. He'd come to Wan Island of his own accord to play in the peak ranked match.

But... as the situation grew worse, his fear didn't become much stronger. Instead, he felt an intense urge to visit that hospital.

In the movie, the Corpse-Dissection Immortal hadn't displayed any particularly obvious destructive power. Her younger sister had simply toyed with genjutsu and played the various factions against one another, then successfully followed in her elder sister's footsteps.

"Right, when she uses genjutsu, she needs the unknown mold. It seems to be a kind of Miaojiang fungus that can make the human body's dopamine levels shoot up to more than five thousand times normal in an instant."

"Looking at it that way, she's not that impressive."

His thoughts came to an abrupt halt. Fang Xiu had always been decisive, and besides, he had Huang Huotu in his hands—the man who meant so much to the two sisters.

"Professor Sheng, sorry for the trouble. The investigation has made some progress. Old Huang and I need to leave right away..."

"Haha, I'm glad I could help. Be careful, young man. The person behind this really isn't simple."

The old expert habitually pushed up his glasses and said gravely:

"If I told you there were Daoist immortals in the world, you might think this old man had gone mad. But put it another way: if you asked whether I believed in immortals or aliens, I'd never pick aliens."

"Maybe both exist," Fang Xiu said as he stood, speaking with a double meaning.

The Uchiha descended from the Ōtsutsuki Clan.

In the Naruto World, the latter were the quintessential aliens.

The door clicked shut.

Huang Huotu followed close behind.

Alone at his desk, Professor Sheng silently looked at the tabletop. On the sheet of paper, the ink was still wet, and a strange pair of Double Pupils glowed.

I added another two hundred words, so it's a little late. Sorry.