Zhongli Chun

In the battered van, apart from Du Yu occasionally striking up a conversation, both girls chose to remain silent. Du Yu had no idea what had caused this, and he found himself missing Xie Jin's quirky personality.

"Passengers, our vehicle is experiencing some turbulence. Please stow your tray tables, open your window shades, and fasten your seat belts. The lavatory is temporarily unavailable," Du Yu told them, imitating Xie Jin.

But neither of them reacted.

Fan Xiaoguo looked utterly awkward, furiously berating herself inside: Fan Xiaoguo, Fan Xiaoguo, what on earth are you doing?! Assistant Dong asked Du Yu out... You don't even like Du Yu, so why did you have to butt in...?

This was Dong Qianqiu's first outing in nearly a thousand years, and her feelings were complicated too. On one hand, she was uneasy, constantly feeling as though she had done something wrong. On the other, she was torn, because she knew perfectly well that the Fan family wanted to use Fan Xiaoguo to win Du Yu over. Now she wondered whether she should take the initiative to give up this opportunity and let Fan Xiaoguo spend some time alone with him.

Before long, the three reached the Ghost Gate. They searched quite a while for a parking space before finally parking.

"Ah!" After getting out, Fan Xiaoguo gave a deliberately startled cry. "We're here already! I... I still have things to do, so I won't be joining you two." With that, she turned to leave.

"Wait!" Du Yu caught hold of Fan Xiaoguo.

"Huh? What is it?"

"Miss Underworld Enforcer, didn't you... say you had something to give me?" Du Yu looked at Fan Xiaoguo in confusion. "You're just leaving?"

"Oh! Right!" Only then did Fan Xiaoguo suddenly remember that her Old Ancestor had sent her here to deliver something. She rummaged through her little shoulder bag and took out a pitch-black scroll.

"Here, take it."

"What's this?" Du Yu took it and examined it. It looked like the bamboo slips that often appeared in television dramas, except that it was black all over.

"It's a cultivation method. The Old Ancestor told me to give it to you."

"A cultivation method?" Du Yu exclaimed in surprise. "The kind of peerless cultivation method cultivators get in cultivation novels?"

"More or less..." Fan Xiaoguo scratched her head. "But this method generally isn't for ordinary cultivators. It's for evil cultivators or demons."

"What the hell?" Du Yu was baffled. "If you're trying to get me killed, shouldn't you at least hide it a little? It's pretty hard to harm me when you spell it out like that."

"Du Yu, you've misunderstood," Dong Qianqiu said. "Apart from the major figures, most of the Underworld's Yin Immortals were once evil cultivators in the mortal world. Because they spent year after year in the company of yin energy and ghosts, they became Yin Immortals after ascending."

"Huh? Is that how it works?" Du Yu looked at the scroll in his hands. "But I'm a mortal. Who knows how many years it'll take me to master this? Aren't there any better cultivation methods?"

Fan Xiaoguo sighed helplessly. "I'm not trying to discourage you, but after the last global survey of the immortal realm in 1945, it was confirmed that the spiritual energy of all three realms—heaven, earth, and humanity—had been completely exhausted. From that moment on, no one could ever master immortal arts again, and the immortals' cultivation stopped advancing too. Fortunately, the method the Old Ancestor gave you is one of utmost yin and utmost evil. You can master it quickly without spiritual energy."

"Good grief..." Du Yu was genuinely a little frightened. "Being meant for evil cultivators was bad enough, but it's even a method of utmost yin and utmost evil."

As he spoke, Du Yu unrolled the scroll, revealing four gleaming golden characters:

"Eight Directions Ghost Record!"

Dong Qianqiu's eyes widened at the sight. "Eight Directions Ghost Record?!"

She repeated the name several times, then suddenly remembered something. "Could this be Lady Houtu's Eight Directions Ghost Record?"

Du Yu looked closely. The contents recorded on the scroll were extremely strange. Rather than writing, they looked more like a diagram.

The diagram had east, south, west, and north, as well as up, down, left, and right, with eight arrows pointing in eight directions.

"Sister Qianqiu, you know what this is?"

"Know it? Legend says the Eight Directions Ghost Record was the cultivation method Lady Houtu used when she founded the Underworld. But everyone thought it was fictional, so no one believed it. After all, its abilities in the legends were far too uncanny. Du Yu, you've landed an incredible windfall this time. You must properly thank the Fan family!"

"Oh..." Du Yu still couldn't quite make sense of it. "Xiaoguo, thank your Old Ancestor for me when you get back, okay?"

"Oh... That's it?" Fan Xiaoguo looked a little stunned. "Then I'll... take my leave."

Only after Fan Xiaoguo had gone far away did Du Yu turn back and ask, "Sister Qianqiu, is this thing really that powerful?"

"Yes. Although I don't know how Fan Wujiao obtained the Eight Directions Ghost Record, since he's given it to you..." Dong Qianqiu took out a gold pen. "Write your name and the eight characters of your birth date and time in the center of the Eight Directions Ghost Record, and it will belong to you alone. Unless you willingly relinquish it, no one can take it from you."

"But what exactly does the Eight Directions Ghost Record do?" Du Yu asked worriedly. "If it's really so powerful that even Lady Houtu had to draw on its strength, how could it be a method of utmost yin and utmost evil?"

Looking at the faintly glowing Eight Directions Ghost Record, Dong Qianqiu told Du Yu, "It's a long story. The eight directions refer to east, south, west, north, heaven above, earth below, the Gate of Life, and the Death Gate. The owner of the Eight Directions Ghost Record can invite eight ghosts to guard those eight directions. In other words, you gain their powers forever and make them your own. The Legend Management Bureau's technical department once tried to reconstruct the principles behind this method, but no matter what they did, they could only make a soul's possession last five minutes. Compared to the Eight Directions Ghost Record, that little bit of time made their work look like a child's toy."

"So that's how it works..." Du Yu paused. "The Underworld has an enormous number of ghosts. If I take ten powerful figures with me, wouldn't I be invincible?"

"In theory, yes," Dong Qianqiu said. "But ghosts all have minds of their own. Having a group of people you can't trust by your side would still be unsettling, wouldn't it?"

After speaking, Dong Qianqiu turned to look, only to discover that Du Yu had already finished writing his name and birth details.

"You..."

"You said it yourself, Sister Qianqiu. Once I sign this thing, it's mine unless I willingly give it up. So I'm staking my claim first. As for whose ghosts I'll invite to guard it, I'll figure that out later."

"But I must warn you, you have to choose your ghosts carefully. Once you choose a ghost to become one of your eight directions, unless its soul is scattered into oblivion, it will remain with you for all eternity."

Du Yu looked at the black Ghost Record in his hands and silently nodded.

The two took a short break, then headed toward Fengdu City.

"Sister Qianqiu, I thought I could count on you to show me around the Underworld, but you look like you know even less about it than I do."

"Yes... I haven't gone out in almost a thousand years," Dong Qianqiu said a little sheepishly. "But I still roughly remember where some interesting places are. There's a Stone of Three Lives pedestrian street over on River of Forgetfulness Street. We can go take a look."

Once they had settled on a direction, they set off. Just as Du Yu expected, none of the Underworld Enforcers or ghost soldiers recognized Dong Qianqiu, nor did they recognize him, the newly appointed Operator. The two wandered along the streets like a pair of ordinary ghosts.

"By the way, Sister Qianqiu, there's something I've been meaning to ask you."

"What is it?"

"The place where we work... It's called the Legend Management Bureau Netherworld Office, right?"

"Yes."

"From the sound of it, it's just a local office. So why does the director work there? Shouldn't he be at headquarters?"

"Yes, I can see why you'd wonder about that. We didn't originally work in the Underworld, and the Legend Management Bureau's headquarters wasn't here either. It was in the Heavenly Court."

"The Heavenly Court?!" Du Yu hadn't expected the organization to be so big. "Then why isn't the director there?"

"It's a long story. Ever since Zhan Qisheng betrayed the Legend Management Bureau nine hundred years ago, the bureau had no Operator. Not only was its ability to intervene in legends greatly diminished, but its standing plummeted too. It had been a vast organization with offices in the Heavenly Court, the Dragon Palace, the mortal world, and the Underworld, but it was gradually pushed aside. We had no choice but to keep relocating, and in the end, all we managed to obtain was this little patch of land on Mount Unreturning in the Underworld."

"Damn." Du Yu seethed with indignation. "Those people are such snobs. When you had an Operator, they bent over backward to flatter you. When you didn't, they did everything they could to push you out."

Dong Qianqiu gave a bitter smile. "It's all right. We have an Operator now."

Du Yu paused, then said, "Right! I'm the Operator now! Just wait, Sister Qianqiu. Soon I'll make the Heavenly Court give us a piece of territory."

Dong Qianqiu's smiling eyes curved slightly. "All right. I'll be waiting."

"Wow... Sister Qianqiu... So you do know how to smile..."

"Du Yu, are you asking for trouble?"

After walking for about twenty minutes, they finally reached the Stone of Three Lives pedestrian street Dong Qianqiu had mentioned. It was far livelier than Du Yu had imagined. The quaint, old-fashioned street was covered in neon signs, and overhead, alongside ancient-style colorful pennants, hung strings of modern lights. The whole street had a distinctive beauty that blended the ancient and the modern. Its pedestrians were equally varied: some women wore qipaos, others short skirts; some men wore armor, others shirts.

"My God..." Du Yu asked in bewilderment at the sight. "Why are there so many people living in the Underworld?"

"It's simple," Dong Qianqiu said. "Not everyone wants to reincarnate. Plenty of ghosts who want to live here make their homes in the Underworld."

"Live here?" Du Yu thought for a moment. "That doesn't sound too bad."

After wandering around, they arrived outside a minimalist café. Two illuminated characters spelling "Bitter Wait" were mounted on its flat concrete frontage.

"Bitter Wait. That's an interesting name for a café." Du Yu looked up at it. "Shall we try this one?"

Dong Qianqiu nodded and reached out to open the door, but the instant she did, a scream came from inside.

"Watch out!" Dong Qianqiu pulled Du Yu aside, and a figure smashed through the café door and came flying out.

"Holy crap!" Du Yu jumped in fright at the sight. If Dong Qianqiu hadn't pulled him away, he would have been sent flying too.

"Who's causing trouble here?" Dong Qianqiu demanded angrily.

The café was deathly quiet, as though no one dared utter a word.

Dong Qianqiu snorted coldly and slowly walked inside. An exceptionally tall woman stood in the middle of the café, while the customers and staff around her were all too frightened to speak.

"W-why did you suddenly hit someone...?" a staff member asked the woman, trembling.

The woman slowly turned around. She wore a sleek suit of Warring States-era armor and was strikingly beautiful. At odds with that beauty were her nearly six-foot-three height and her bold, martial bearing.

"Why did I hit him?" The woman looked at her fist. "I'm in a bad mood."

Du Yu plucked up his courage and peered ahead from behind Dong Qianqiu. Good grief, were there people this arrogant even in the Underworld?

"Does being in a bad mood give you the right to hit someone...?" Like a newborn calf unafraid of a tiger, the female staff member spoke up. Though the woman before her had an immensely intimidating presence, as a representative of the café, she had to step forward and handle the matter.

"This is bad! He's seriously hurt!" someone suddenly shouted outside.

The staff member hurried outside and discovered that the man lying on the ground was unconscious.

"How can you be so savage?!" the staff member roared, then shouted to the people beside her, "Hurry, call the Underworld Enforcers!"

"My God, she casually beat someone unconscious. Sister Qianqiu, give her a beating!" Du Yu added fuel to the fire from behind her.

"N-no..." Dong Qianqiu suddenly hesitated. "This has gotten troublesome. We need to find a way to slip away..."

"Huh?" Du Yu froze. "Is she that powerful?"

As they were speaking, the woman turned around and happened to spot Dong Qianqiu.

"You?"

The woman murmured to herself, but soon turned away and ignored Dong Qianqiu. She righted the chair she had just overturned and sat down. After looking around, she told the customers, "If anyone dares look at me again, I'll send them flying too."

The customers hastily lowered their heads. No one dared spare the tall woman another glance.

"Du Yu, let's go..." Dong Qianqiu turned and tugged at Du Yu, preparing to head outside. The woman paid neither of them any attention and began eating the dessert on her table.

"Who dares run wild here?!" A furious roar rang out as a man slowly flew down from the sky. Dressed in official robes, with a face as black as coal, he appeared to be an Underworld Enforcer. "You dare cause trouble on the street under my jurisdiction? Today, I'll show you what I, Bu Zudao, can do!"

"Bu Zudao? Never heard that name before." Dong Qianqiu stepped forward and grabbed the Underworld Enforcer.

"What are you doing? Who are you? An accomplice?" the Underworld Enforcer named Bu Zudao asked Dong Qianqiu irritably.

"I'm Dong Qianqiu from the Legend Management Bureau. You can't handle this situation. Hurry and fetch your superior. Ox-Head, Horse-Face, Second Lord Shackles-any of them will do."

"What a joke! If you're Dong Qianqiu from the Legend Management Bureau, then I'm He Suoyi from the Legend Management Bureau!" The Underworld Enforcer shoved Dong Qianqiu aside and charged straight into the café, pointing at the tall woman as he shouted, "Demoness! I am Underworld Enforcer Bu Zudao. Who are you? State your na-"

Before the Underworld Enforcer could finish, the woman flickered and appeared directly in front of him. Her fist, a full size larger than an ordinary person's, was already inches from his nose.

"Holy crap, she's not following the script!" Du Yu cried. The woman had attacked without even waiting for the other person to finish introducing himself.

Bang!

A tremendous crash rang out, forcing every onlooker back a step.

Dong Qianqiu had reached out in front of the Underworld Enforcer and caught the woman's fist in a tight grip.

"Zhongli Chun, do me this favor," Dong Qianqiu said, a trace of tension in her voice.