Xiao Hua pinched his chin and pretended to inspect it closely. After quite a while, he shook his head slightly. "The judge in the portrait looks exceedingly fierce, nowhere near as... kindly as you, sir! This student cannot tell!"
"Gaga..." The Ghostly Judge burst into laughter upon hearing this. "Immortal Friend Duanmu truly is amusing!"
"Hehe, I wouldn't dare, I wouldn't dare!" By now, how could Xiao Hua not know that the Ghostly Judge had an ulterior motive? He concealed the pain on his face, put on a smiling expression, and cupped his hands. "How would a mere mortal like this student dare to presume friendship with an official lord of the underworld? To be addressed as Duanmu Liangsheng is already more than this student could be grateful for."
"Good, good, good!" The Ghostly Judge laughed. "Rare indeed that you can bend and stretch as circumstances demand. You are truly someone of worth. In my estimation, sooner or later you will become a Literary Star! Your achievements will surely surpass those three old undead Literary Saints a hundredfold! If those three old undead had been able to coexist peacefully with me back then as you do now, how could they possibly have ended up without descendants, their lines utterly extinguished?"
Hearing this, Xiao Hua's heart stirred. He asked curiously, "Official Lord, there is something this student does not understand. The decline of the Zhu family, Zeng family, and Xun family is plain for all the Confucian cultivator families of Cangxian Continent to see. They may once have been incomparably imposing, perhaps wielding power that towered above all others, but now they are not even in the same league as my Duanmu Family! When this student came here to visit Zhu Cheng, I had considered this matter, yet gained nothing from