Netherworld Court Ghost Gods and the Life-and-Death Register

The faces of the two ghost gods suddenly went blank. Their once-majestic, savage gazes instantly lost their light, becoming hollow and bewildered.

Their movements stiffened as well. The weapons crossed before Yellow Wind Little Sage remained in place, but the sword blade and spear shaft trembled faintly, as though resisting some invisible force.

Only now did Yellow Wind Little Sage have the leisure to study the two ghost gods before him.

His gaze swept across them as Mythic Factor circulated within him, helping him sense the essence of these two beings. A moment later, a flash of realization appeared in Yellow Wind Little Sage's tiny eyes.

These two ghost gods were not true mythological creatures, but manifestations of some special rule.

They possessed no true life and no independent consciousness. Like guardians operating according to a fixed program, they followed predetermined rules and carried out the same duties day after day.

Yet Yellow Wind Little Sage's arrival seemed to have created a flaw in this rule system that had operated for countless ages.

Because he was an avatar, the embodiment of Mythic Material and Mythic Factor, not a living being in the true sense.

He had never experienced the birth, aging, sickness, and death of mortals. He did not even need to eat. This unusual form of existence clearly lay beyond the rules preset by Northern Yin Mountain Temple.

It was like a calculator that could only process integers suddenly receiving an irrational number. Unable to determine how to handle this abnormal value, the system fell into an infinite loop.

Yellow Wind Little Sage tilted his round little head, and a bold thought surfaced in his mind.

Since the two ghost gods had fallen into a deadlock, could he simply bypass them and enter deeper into the temple?

Yellow Wind Little Sage craned his little head forward, looking past the weapons crossed by the two ghost gods and into the temple.

The two ghost gods still maintained their rigid poses without the slightest reaction.

The urge stirring in Yellow Wind Little Sage's heart grew stronger. He took another step forward, leaving only half a meter between himself and the crossed weapons. With just one more step, he could slip beneath the ghost gods' arms and enter the temple directly.

But at that moment, an abrupt change occurred.

The bodies of the two previously blank-faced ghost gods suddenly shuddered. A glimmer of light flashed through their hollow eyes, instantly illuminating their pupils.

Their scarlet eyes regained their brilliance, but their gazes no longer held that programmed majesty. Instead, they carried confusion, vigilance, and deep wariness.

The ghost god on the right, holding a treasured sword in his right hand and a brush in his left, suddenly bent down. His ferocious face drew close to Yellow Wind Little Sage, and a foul stench washed over him.

Those scarlet eyes stared fixedly at Yellow Wind Little Sage, filled with scrutiny and suspicion.

He opened his great mouth. His voice was no longer the authoritative interrogation from before, but carried anger and incomprehension.

"What exactly are you?"

His voice echoed through the temple, shaking dust down in soft showers.

This was no longer a programmed question, but one filled with humanlike confusion, as though a segment of code had transformed into a living being.

The moment his words fell, the ghost god on the left, holding a long spear in his right hand and gripping a book in his left, spoke as well. His voice was even more sinister, steeped in deep doubt.

"Beyond the Three Realms and Six Paths, absent from the Life-and-Death Register—who exactly are you?"

At the words "Life-and-Death Register," Yellow Wind Little Sage's small body jolted.

His round body stiffened slightly, and his little claws clenched unconsciously.

Far away, in his home in the present world, Zhou Yao's expression also changed.

"Netherworld Court ghost gods? The Life-and-Death Register?" Zhou Yao murmured, his voice full of shock.

"What does the Life-and-Death Register he mentioned have to do with the legendary Book of Life and Death? And what exactly is the origin of this Northern Yin Mountain Temple?"

Zhou Yao's mind raced.

Yellow Wind Little Sage had been a Mythic Walker for some time now, and Zhou Yao was no longer the novice who knew nothing about Lost Mythology.

The more he came into contact with Lost Mythology, the more clearly he understood just how exalted the things that had left their names behind in ancient legends had become now that Lost Mythology was returning.

The Book of Life and Death was a supreme treasure that recorded the birth dates, lifespans, merits, sins, good, and evil of every living being under heaven. No mortal creature of the Three Realms and Six Paths could escape its records.

Though he did not know whether the Life-and-Death Register mentioned by these two ghost gods was the same treasure as the legendary Book of Life and Death, the fact that it could record the information of living beings clearly meant it had some connection to the Book of Life and Death.

If these two ghost gods truly had ties to a Netherworld Court treasure like the Book of Life and Death, even if they had merely borrowed a trace of its power, it meant that Northern Yin Mountain Temple's standing was anything but ordinary.

Thoughts spun rapidly through Zhou Yao's mind.

"According to what Xu Yu said before, anyone who meets the rules for entering Northern Yin Mountain Temple can enter this temple. That means these two ghost gods must also operate according to rules and cannot casually attack those who meet the conditions."

He swiftly sorted through his thoughts.

"The rule for entering this Northern Yin Mountain Temple is whether one has wasted food.

"As long as Yellow Wind Little Sage uses the special nature of his avatar and insists that he has never wasted any food, he may be able to pass the rule's judgment and enter the temple."

With that thought, Zhou Yao immediately made his decision.

His consciousness fully sank back into Yellow Wind Little Sage's body. Through Yellow Wind Little Sage's eyes, he stared directly at the two ghost gods glaring furiously at him.

Yellow Wind Little Sage took a deep breath and spoke solemnly.

"Honored ghost gods, since my birth, I have never wasted even the slightest scrap of food. I should be qualified to enter the temple. I ask that you grant me passage."

As his words fell, the temple sank into a brief silence.

The ghost god on the right, holding the brush, froze slightly. A struggling expression flashed across his face, as though some inexplicable force were driving him to clear the way.

It was the power of the rules, telling him that the being before him had indeed not violated the conditions for entering the temple.

The ghost god's body shifted slightly aside, and the treasured sword in his hand slowly began to lower.

But the very next moment, his movement abruptly stopped. His body straightened again, and his treasured sword rose once more, crossing with his companion's long spear to block the temple entrance again.

The ghost god's gaze grew fiercer, dangerous light flashing in his scarlet eyes. He bent down, bringing his enormous face close to Yellow Wind Little Sage, his voice filled with unmistakable hostility.

"Your name is not recorded in the Life-and-Death Register. We cannot examine the events of your present life," the ghost god said word by word, every syllable laden with doubt.

"Since we cannot verify your past, how can you prove that you have never wasted food?"

The other ghost god, holding the register, spoke as well. His voice was eerie and venomous, as though it had drifted from the depths of the netherworld.

"Perhaps you are merely some petty thief who used an evil art to obscure the records in the Life-and-Death Register." His eyes brimmed with suspicion and malice.

"Creatures of demonic evil like you are best at disguise and deception. Who knows what sort of dealings you have engaged in before?"

Hearing this, Yellow Wind Little Sage's heart instantly tightened.

He immediately realized that the words of these two ghost gods were nothing but pure sophistry. They were not judging by the rules at all, but deliberately looking for excuses to stop anyone from entering the temple.

The rule for entering Northern Yin Mountain Temple had clearly only been "do not waste food." It had never required one to be recorded in the Life-and-Death Register.

Yet the two ghost gods had forcibly added an extra condition, making "having a record that could be found in the Life-and-Death Register" a prerequisite for judgment.

This was no longer carrying out the rules. This was deliberately twisting them.

Yellow Wind Little Sage suddenly recalled the failures he had seen before. Some of those Mythic Walkers had indeed hardly wasted any food, yet they had still been judged unqualified and subjected to cruel punishment.

From the very beginning, these two ghost gods had never intended to let anyone pass. They would twist the rules in every possible way and bar anyone attempting to enter the temple at the door.

"They are not mere programs at all—they are thieves trying to usurp Northern Yin Mountain Temple!"