Soul Selection?

While the Mountain God and the City God were discussing the master, the very master they spoke of was lying on the bed in his quarters, toying with the piece of ebony.

Yi Shuyuan weighed the wood in his hand, held out his left palm, and lightly tapped it with the wood in his right hand.

Smack!

The crisp sound perked Yi Shuyuan up.

Although Yi Shuyuan was playing with the ebony, his thoughts were on what had happened at the City God Temple. If Little Stone was to pass the final trial, a ghost would have to take him onto Nether Crossing, but that process would be extremely dangerous.

A ghost...

He Xin's face naturally surfaced in Yi Shuyuan's mind, but he quickly shook his head and dismissed the thought. The girl had suffered enough already. He did not want her taking this risk.

Then...

Yi Shuyuan thought of Jia Yuntong. The fellow was so bulky that surely he would not fall off Nether Crossing easily?

Still, Yi Shuyuan felt that letting Jia Yuntong reincarnate would be letting him off too lightly. He wondered how the Underworld Office's laws dealt with people like Jia Yuntong after death.

Punish him in the Underworld Office for a while, then make him reincarnate as an animal? There seems to be room to work with that.

Smack!

The ebony struck Yi Shuyuan's palm again with a crisp sound.

Yi Shuyuan's thoughts turned back to cultivation. Although he had no spell formulas, no divine magical power, and had certainly not cultivated the so-called magical power of immortals, the spiritual energy within him was highly active and distinct from that of the outside world. Could he cast spells?

Following the descriptions of illusion arts in the Mountain God's books, Yi Shuyuan circulated spiritual power while visualizing. He could feel a slight expenditure of spiritual energy within his body, which seemed to suggest it was working.

Illusion arts were not purely illusions, either. This "Depart with the Wind," for instance, actually contained some tricks for controlling the wind. That made Yi Shuyuan all the more enthusiastic, and he studied it even more earnestly. He was still smarting over how dusty and grubby the earlier cleaning had left him.

After experimenting for a while, Yi Shuyuan placed the ebony beside his pillow, rolled onto his side, and closed his eyes, gradually falling asleep. Even in his dreams, he experimented with illusion arts, then tried manipulating earth as well-he was dreaming, after all. Meanwhile, even without deliberately directing his thoughts, his mind naturally followed his intent, drawing in the primordial energy of heaven and earth.

Thus, even after Yi Shuyuan fell asleep, the spiritual energy around him continued to shift.

A night patrol spirit passing the Yuanjiang County Office could clearly sense that this place differed from elsewhere, though he could not say exactly how. Perhaps it simply felt more comfortable here, and the moonlight seemed a little brighter.

Deep into the night, Xiang Changqing, who had returned to the City God Temple, appeared atop its roof. As he gazed toward the County Office, his eyes involuntarily widened.

Yi Shuyuan had taken the words of the Ghosts and Gods earlier to heart. Although they had no intention of interfering with his cultivation, he still tried to minimize the disturbance caused by gathering spiritual energy and moonlight while cultivating.

There was not even any discernible gathering or movement of spiritual energy or moonlight, yet the longer Xiang Changqing watched, the more he realized something was amiss.

At the Yuanjiang County Office, the spiritual energy had an entirely different degree of activity, while the lunar radiance shimmered with a brilliance that came and went. Never mind seeing cultivation like this-he had never even heard of it!

Is the spiritual essence of heaven and earth's primordial energy gathering there, or does that primordial energy itself become animated in Mr. Yi's presence?

Once that thought arose, either possibility filled Xiang Changqing, the City God of a county, with spontaneous awe!

As for Yi Shuyuan, he felt that he was gradually finding a cultivation method better suited to him: more relaxing, less demanding, more comfortable, and one that did not "disturb the neighbors"!

While Yi Shuyuan cultivated in his sleep, everyone throughout the Yuanjiang County Office merely felt that they were sleeping more comfortably. With their minds at peace, nightmares no longer plagued them.

Things were even more unusual where Lin Xiu slept. The surge of spirit stirred up during his nighttime trial some time ago had not yet faded, though it had been weakening gradually with time.

Now, the spiritual energy and moonlight seemed to possess an essence of their own. A small portion "wandered" or "refracted" toward the bed where Lin Xiu had been tossing and turning, slowly smoothing the brow that remained furrowed even in his sleep.

Of course, that spiritually resonant aura surrounded Yi Shuyuan, and a considerable portion gradually seeped into the ebony beside him, following the focus of his mind.

Early the next morning, after getting up, Yi Shuyuan did not go to the Library first. Instead, he went to a peculiar, partially sunken building.

The building stood apart from the rest of the County Office complex, but security was noticeably tighter, with bailiffs standing guard and patrolling outside. This was the Yuanjiang County Office's dungeon.

Yi Shuyuan wanted to take a look at Jia Yuntong and, if circumstances allowed, lay some groundwork. Someone so afraid of death and so steeped in sin would not fare well in the Underworld Office after dying. When the time came, Yi Shuyuan could appear himself, or have the City God mention today's encounter, giving Jia Yuntong a deeply rooted thought to cling to so that the Soul-Beating Whip would not lash away his sanity.

Indeed, the harshest punishment in the Underworld Office was the Soul-Beating Whip. An evil soul could very well be whipped senseless, or even have its soul scattered entirely.

The bailiffs on guard spotted Yi Shuyuan as soon as he reached the dungeon.

"Who goes there?"

Yi Shuyuan cupped his hands and introduced himself.

"My name is Yi Shuyuan. I am the Clerk compiling the County Gazetteer. The case from that night is to be recorded in it, but I would like to see that wicked merchant Jia Yuntong and the others to fill any gaps in my notes. Might you accommodate me?"

That was not a lie. After all, the county magistrate wanted to read that section, and there really were gaps to fill. It was simply Yi Shuyuan's secondary purpose.

"Mr. Yi?"

The bailiff guarding the dungeon looked closely. Sure enough, this was the extraordinary man from their office. Everyone there regarded Yi Shuyuan with some measure of awe.

"Mr. Yi, it is not that we are unwilling to accommodate you. But Jia Yuntong is a major prisoner. Without the magistrate's permission, even his relatives cannot visit him."

Yi Shuyuan frowned. Would he have to make a trip to the magistrate as well?

"Could you make an exception?"

The other bailiff at the entrance considered it, then spoke.

"How about this? Mr. Yi is one of our own, after all. I will go down and ask Master Six. If he agrees, there will be no harm in letting you take a look! Please wait a moment, sir!"

So he was going to consult the jailer? Yi Shuyuan naturally had no objection and cupped his hands in thanks.

"Sorry for the trouble, young man!"

The bailiff entered the descending stairway and quickly reached the dungeon below.

Near the entrance stood a table bearing a wine bowl and several dishes to accompany the drink. A rather burly man in a bailiff's uniform sat there drinking alone.

The bailiff approached and explained the situation outside, and the jailer looked surprised.

"The Mr. Yi who can see Ghosts and Gods?"

"That is him. I have run into him in the dining hall several times before. There is no mistaking him!"

The jailer frowned in thought, then nodded after a moment's hesitation and put on the hat beside the table.

"Invite him in."

"Yes."

As the saying went, rules were dead, but people were alive. Since Yi Shuyuan was one of their own, possessed extraordinary abilities, and was even less likely to have any improper connection with Jia Yuntong, there was no harm in granting him an easy favor.

Yi Shuyuan followed a bailiff down the steps into the dungeon, and the light abruptly grew much dimmer.

The jailer waited below. Seeing Yi Shuyuan descend, he cupped his hands in greeting.

"Mr. Yi!"

"You must be Master Six. I have long heard of you!"

Yi Shuyuan naturally returned the greeting politely.

"Haha, that is just a joking name those little rascals call me. This way, sir. Things are rather disorderly in here, so I will escort you myself, to keep these prisoners from acting up. Please!"

"Thank you!"

Yi Shuyuan smiled. Having a bit of a special reputation really did make things easier sometimes. Another minor clerk probably would not have received this treatment.

Not only was the lighting poor in the dungeon, but the farther they went, the stronger the foul odors in the air became. Still, it would not have been accurate to say there was no ventilation. Yi Shuyuan could see narrow air vents near the tops of many cells, each perhaps three fingers wide.

The jailer talked as they walked.

"Mr. Yi, Jia Yuntong has been somewhat mad lately. You will not really get anything out of him. He is just ahead."

The Yuanjiang County Office's dungeon was small and held few prisoners, but those few instinctively shrank back into their cells when they saw the jailer approach. Clearly, they feared him greatly.

This was Yi Shuyuan's first encounter with a dungeon in either of his two lives, and curiosity naturally prompted him to examine his surroundings.

They turned a corner and reached the area for serious offenders. Jia Yuntong was held at the very end. The cells past this corner differed from those outside.

These inner cells had scarcely any wooden bars, and their outward-facing walls were almost entirely built of thick brick and stone. Only the doorways offered a view inside, and the doors themselves were not wooden but made of iron bars, looking exceptionally sturdy.

However, the entire area held only two prisoners, the first in the outermost cell.

Through the iron door, Yi Shuyuan spotted someone who looked familiar and stopped walking. This man was treated differently from the other prisoners-not because his cell was better, but because of the restraints on his body. His shackles were unusual.

The jailer naturally noticed Yi Shuyuan's gaze and said with a smile.

"This is the expert who protected Jia Yuntong that night. Even torture has not made him talk. The iron restraints holding his hands behind his back not only secure his wrist bones but also lock his ring fingers in place. They are called Inch Locks, made specifically to restrain skilled martial artists. His leg irons have mechanisms too. If he exerts force, they can stab into his tendons and bones."

"I see!"

Yi Shuyuan nodded, looking enlightened, before another question occurred to him.

"Then how does he eat?"

"Ha! He gets one bowl of rice porridge a day, which he drinks with his mouth hooked over the edge. Keeping him alive is enough, and it drains a little more strength out of him!"

"Hmph!"

The man in the cell snorted coldly. The jailer looked at him with a silent sneer, while Yi Shuyuan's expression remained calm, his smile faint and ambiguous.

"You took money to protect something lower than a beast, yet now you are showing a few scraps of a martial artist's proud backbone?"

Yi Shuyuan's voice was mild, but his words cut deep. When it comes to barbed mockery, I, Yi Shuyuan, have fought my share of battles online!

Anger rose in the martial artist's heart, but he could find no retort. By the time he wanted to lash out again, Yi Shuyuan and the jailer had already moved on, leaving his chest tight with fury.

At last, they reached the final cell. Yi Shuyuan looked inside and involuntarily paused, his eyes widening slightly.

Seeing Yi Shuyuan's stunned expression, the jailer assumed he could not find Jia Yuntong. With a smile, he pointed to a mat covered in dry grass in the corner.

"Mr. Yi, Jia Yuntong is hiding underneath that. A coward timid as a mouse, and not quite right in the head anymore. He spends all day either hiding or screaming, insisting ghosts are trying to harm him!"

The figure beneath the pile of dry grass trembled, utterly unaware that Yi Shuyuan and the jailer had arrived, and muttered incessantly.

"Stay away, stay away. I have confessed already. I have confessed already."

But Yi Shuyuan was not actually looking at Jia Yuntong. He was looking at a spot nearby, where a figure in white stood upon the brick bed. At the sight of Yi Shuyuan, delight sprang onto her face, and she bowed to him.

"This humble woman, He Xin, pays her respects to Mr. Yi!"