“The Judge has to decide cases. It just happens to have a few more eyes. The more eyes it has, the more clearly it can see every tiny detail and avoid wrongful or false cases. Cui Fujun has a full eight eyes! If you’re afraid, just move back a little. I’ll talk to him.”
Yan He felt that this was completely normal. He thought Xu Muchan had probably never seen a Judge before and had been frightened by its appearance the first time he saw one.
As expected, Xu Muchan silently stepped back two paces.
At this time, the Judge’s figure had completely solidified and walked over to the altar table. Its six murky yellow eyes swept over the offerings on the table.
It did not appear to open its mouth, but a voice filled with authority sounded directly in their minds.
“Who are you?”
Yan He respectfully cupped his hands and bowed in salute. He briefly recounted how they had encountered the He family and had accidentally been dragged into the ghost domain. Only then did he ask, “May I ask, Lord Judge, can you tell us what happened to the He family? Why are Hungry Ghosts also appearing here?”
After saying this, to show his sincerity, he put the remaining hell banknotes and yellow paper into the brazier, inviting the Judge to enjoy them.
The Judge did not answer.
Its tall body bent down, and that strange face moved close to the altar table and sniffed. Then it shook its head.
“Not enough.”
What was with this Judge? Was it actually bargaining over the price now…?
Yan He was stunned for a moment, then hurriedly explained, “The conditions here are crude, and the offerings are indeed somewhat shabby. I ask Lord Judge to lend me a hand. Once I get out, I will certainly hold a grand ritual ceremony and make up for the offerings that are lacking.”
The Judge still said, “Not enough.”
At this moment, its eyes, whether intentionally or unintentionally, swept over Xu Muchan, who was standing slightly behind and to the side.
The six yellow eyes paused.
Then all six slanted toward him at the same time, and that authoritative voice carried a trace of impatience and eagerness.
“Offer this person up.”
Yan He looked at Xu Muchan, then at the red-robed Judge, whose neck was stretched out as far as it could go, staring at him without blinking, its expression clearly salivating with desire.
“…”
He quietly said to Xu Muchan, “It seems there really is something wrong.”
Then, as though trying to save face for himself, he gave an awkward laugh.
“I never expected that there would actually be corrupt elements among the Judges. When we get back, I’ll definitely make a serious complaint about this to Cui Fujun!”
But Xu Muchan heard that sound of crashing waves again.
The sound was coming from inside the red-robed Judge’s body.
His expression became somewhat strange. He grabbed the Mountain God Tablet at his chest and said to Yan He, “I’ll count one, two, three. Everyone run in different directions.”
“One.”
“Two.”
Xu Muchan did not count “three.”
He immediately dashed toward the door.
His movement was so fast that Yan He did not have time to react. He only saw him charge toward the main door like an agile leopard, then pull the door open without the slightest hesitation and rush outside.
“Xu Muchan!”
Yan He shouted.
He watched helplessly as the red-robed Judge’s outstretched hand missed. After pausing for a moment, it turned around and chased after him.
Fortunately, its body was simply far too enormous. The small house obstructed its movements. When passing through the doorway, it directly reached out and tore with a “rip.”
The reinforced-concrete building, in its hands, was like a sheet of paper and was easily torn apart.
It lowered its head and crawled out.
Yan He stared at the battered doorframe and suddenly felt that something was wrong.
The exposed part of this house really did seem to be made of paper.
Xu Muchan had actually guessed correctly.
He came back to his senses and looked at Wei Yao and Wen Dajiang, who had already been frightened silly and were standing completely motionless. He rushed over and slapped each of them once.
“Stop spacing out. Hurry and get out while we have this chance. Where’s He JiaqI?”
After saying that, he kicked open the bedroom door and saw He JiaqI lying unconscious on the floor.
He reached out and felt her carotid artery. There was still a heartbeat, and she was breathing. Her skin was also warm. He took out another Qi-Concealing Talisman and slapped it onto He JiaqI’s face.
“You two carry her. I’ll clear the way in front.”
Wen Dajiang and Wei Yao finally started moving, although they still looked dazed, their eyes staring blankly. Fortunately, although they were dumbstruck, they could still understand human speech. Following Yan He’s instructions, Wen Dajiang carried He JiaqI on his back while Wei Yao supported her from the side.
Yan He took a look. The two of them taking turns carrying a girl who weighed less than fifty kilograms should not be a problem, so he stopped worrying about what was behind them. He told them to keep up and took the copper-coin sword to lead the way.
When passing the room where He’s father and He’s mother were, Yan He also saw the door that had been opened a narrow crack. He raised his hand to signal the two to stop first, then carefully used the copper-coin sword to push the door open.
Inside the room, He’s father and He’s mother stood stiffly upright, their gazes vacant.
Yan He did not rashly approach. After thinking for a moment, he threw two Ghost-Repelling Talismans over. The moment the Ghost-Repelling Talismans touched their bodies, they spontaneously caught fire without any flame being lit, burning fiercely.
The two let out miserable screams, but the heavy Yin energy on their bodies was also burned completely away. Their stiffly upright bodies collapsed to the ground, and expressions of human-like pain gradually appeared on their faces.
Clearly, they were still alive.
The situation was urgent, and Yan He had no time to worry about whether the two could accept reality. He hauled He’s father up from the floor.
“What exactly did you do? If you don’t want to die here, hurry up and tell me clearly.”
Xu Muchan groped his way into the stairwell in the darkness.
Behind him, the red-robed Judge’s body had become even larger than before, reaching a full four or five meters tall. Its upper body directly pierced through the ceiling, while its two hands tore apart the walls and floors, finding it even easier than tearing paper.
Every time it tore open a hole, it would lower its head and bring its face close to the opening. Its six murky eyes rolled around as it searched for the little prey that had escaped.
“Come out…”
The red-robed Judge’s voice directly sounded inside Xu Muchan’s mind. Its originally imposing voice had become sinister and strange, just like the sound of the waves of the Black River, bewitching the heartstrings.
Xu Muchan held his breath and hid in the narrow gap of the stairwell.
In the blink of an eye, half of the building had already been demolished by the red-robed Judge. Collapsed walls and broken ruins were everywhere. He was hiding between two collapsed walls in the stairwell, less than three meters away from the red-robed Judge.
The other party could discover him at any moment.
Xu Muchan once again held the Mountain God Tablet in his mouth and summoned the Mountain God again. But the person who had always immediately responded to him no matter when or where he was, this time did not appear for a long while.
Xu Muchan did not know whether this ghost domain was too special, causing his brother to be unable to hear his plea for help, or whether something had happened to his brother.
Xu Muchan forcibly suppressed his somewhat chaotic thoughts and forced himself not to think too much and to remain calm.
His brother was not here. He could only rely on himself for now.
Back when he was still in 101, he had already felt that the Judge’s six eyes were intentionally or unintentionally staring at him. Xu Muchan was extremely familiar with that kind of gaze.
It was the greed and drooling desire of a ghost for food.
He did not know whether it was because he had been able to see these things since childhood, but these ghosts seemed to be especially fond of him.
Before the red-robed Judge’s huge hand reached him, Xu Muchan darted beneath it as lightly as a cat and slipped into another corner to hide.
His heart rate rose while running, making his breathing even harder to conceal. Although Xu Muchan desperately tried to steady his breathing, the red-robed Judge seemed to have discovered him anyway. It turned around and searched in the direction where he was hiding.
Xu Muchan covered his mouth with his hand and tried to hold his breath. But after intense running and being in such a tense environment, his heart rate and breathing could never be brought under control immediately like they normally could.
After holding his breath for only a moment, his chest felt as if it were about to explode. He suddenly removed his hand and gasped heavily.
And at that very moment, the red-robed Judge discovered his exact location.
Its six eyes blinked in sequence, and its two huge hands once again reached toward the place where Xu Muchan was hiding.
The surrounding walls collapsed like rotten tofu.
Xu Muchan widened his eyes and tightly gripped the Mountain God Tablet at his chest. Before the red-robed Judge’s hand swept over, he gritted his teeth, took off the Mountain God Tablet, hastily wrapped it in his school uniform jacket, stuffed it into a corner, and then turned around and ran outside Building Nine.
His brother had told him before that he could not take off the Mountain God Tablet.
But when Xu Muchan looked at the red-robed Judge, which had suddenly stopped and was bending over in confusion, looking around in all directions as if it had lost its sense of direction, then touched his rapidly slowing heartbeat and increasingly pale skin, he thought that even if his brother found out, he could not blame him.
Who told him to keep not coming?
Xu Muchan pursed his lips and stood outside Building Nine, watching the red-robed Judge still searching around where it was.
After removing the Mountain God Tablet, his breathing and heartbeat both became extremely faint. His thoughts also seemed to enter an exceptionally calm state. The surrounding miscellaneous noises disappeared, but another kind of sound became extraordinarily clear—
He heard a sound of water surging inside the red-robed Judge’s body, like the Black River flowing through its body.
That sound was filled with temptation, causing his slowly flowing blood to surge violently, and even making his teeth begin to itch.
Pure blackness had somehow occupied Xu Muchan’s eyes. Those eyes, which were always slightly narrowed because of his blurred vision, could no longer see even the slightest bit of color or light.
He licked his long canine teeth, then bit down and gently ground them together.
So itchy.
And so hungry.
Xu Muchan, who had originally intended to leave, tilted his head, turned around, and walked back toward Building Nine.
But the step he had just taken was blocked by something in front of him.
Xu Muchan lowered his head and saw that, at some point, the area around him had become densely surrounded by countless ghost children.
Their bodies were thin and small, but their heads were enormous. Their raised heads were completely smooth, without a single strand of hair. Their mouths occupied half their faces. No tongues could be seen inside—only densely packed teeth.
They cautiously surrounded Xu Muchan from a distance of one meter, opening their mouths wide as they looked at him with both fear and drooling desire.
What were these?
He seemed to have seen them before.
His memories seemed to have turned into a swamp, and recalling them was extremely difficult. Xu Muchan thought expressionlessly for a while before finally remembering.
These were He JiaqI’s younger brother.
They were Hungry Ghosts.
Who was He JiaqI again?
Forget it. It didn’t matter.
Thinking had become extremely difficult. Xu Muchan discarded these useless thoughts and continued walking forward.
When he took one step forward, those ghost children took one step backward. Strange “click-click, clack-clack” noises came from their mouths. They wanted to eat him, yet seemed afraid of something and did not dare approach.
Finally, just as Xu Muchan was about to enter Building Nine, one of the ghost children suddenly leaped up from the ground, opened its mouth wide, and pounced toward Xu Muchan’s back—
The person facing forward seemed to have eyes on the back of his head. He turned around and accurately grabbed the ghost child by the neck.
The ghost child struggled in his hand, letting out an unpleasant shriek.
Xu Muchan felt that it was a little noisy. He tilted his head and moved slightly closer to sniff the ghost child’s scent.
It smelled very bad.
He did not want to eat it.
It was useless.
He directly crushed the ghost child’s head.
After throwing the remaining body to the side, he shook the black liquid staining his hand and continued walking into Building Nine.
The instant Xu Muchan stepped into Building Nine, the red-robed Judge turned around.
Its enormous body bent into the shape of a bow, while its neck stretched extraordinarily long. Its six eyes rolled around, staring at the prey that had suddenly appeared.
But this time, instead of impatiently pouncing on its prey, it looked over Xu Muchan again with a cautious, assessing gaze, as though evaluating how dangerous the prey was.
At the same time, Xu Muchan was also sizing it up.
He tilted his face slightly and listened carefully to the location of the sound of the waves. He discovered that the sound seemed to be coming from the red-robed Judge’s heart.
He raised his head.
His purely black eyes widened slightly, and his throat involuntarily swallowed.
At this moment, the desire for food on both sides reached an agreement.
Xu Muchan and the red-robed Judge almost simultaneously attacked—
The red-robed Judge’s huge hand reached toward Xu Muchan, while Xu Muchan leaped up with a kind of agility that humans could absolutely never achieve, dodging the attack. Then, using the other party’s arm to gain leverage, he stepped on it, and after several leaps, jumped onto the Judge’s shoulder.
The red-robed Judge let out an angry roar.
Its enormous body gave it tremendous strength, but at the same time, greatly reduced its agility.
Xu Muchan was as agile as a cat, leaping and dodging recklessly all over its body. His fingernails, which had somehow become long and sharp, left one tiny hole after another in its hard body.
Perhaps only now did he belatedly realize how sharp his fingernails were.
Xu Muchan lowered his head and looked at his long, slightly curved, hard fingernails, which were like the hooked claws of a beast.
The next moment, without the slightest hesitation, he plunged his sharp claws into the Judge’s neck.
Then, using his palm like a blade, he struck heavily downward—
A large amount of black liquid gushed from the Judge’s neck. Some of it splashed onto Xu Muchan’s cheek, but he had no time to care.
Taking advantage of the Judge crying out in pain, he hurriedly thrust his entire arm into the wound and rummaged around inside.
There was nothing.
Unable to find the thing he wanted, intense disappointment appeared in Xu Muchan’s pitch-black eyes.
The next moment, he violently pulled his hand out and performed an eagle-flipping maneuver, landing on the ground while dodging the Judge’s reaching hand.
—Behind the Judge, at the shoulder blade area, two soft arms resembling tentacles had somehow emerged.
Those two arms were slender and agile, greatly making up for the Judge’s disadvantage of having difficulty moving.
Xu Muchan leaped up from the ground and jumped onto the Judge’s lower leg. He quickly climbed upward along its leg, dodging the Judge’s tentacle attacks while finding opportunities to use his sharp claws to inflict one minor wound after another.
Very soon, the red-robed Judge’s body was covered with holes of various sizes, and even the ground had been stained black by the liquid flowing from its body.
Under the intense pain, the two constantly waving tentacle-like limbs became even more frenzied. They lashed against its own body like whips, looking very much like they were willing to injure the enemy by eight hundred while causing themselves a thousand points of damage.
Once he realized this, Xu Muchan deliberately jumped toward its chest.
His body was flexible and light enough that most of the time he could dodge the attacks of the tentacle-like limbs. In no time, the red-robed Judge’s chest had been whipped until its flesh was mangled and bloody by its own attacks.
Xu Muchan’s condition was much better than its. Only his back and arms had been struck twice because he failed to dodge in time. On his deathly pale skin, wounds where the flesh had split open could be seen.
But these injuries did not affect his movements. His brain’s perception of pain had become extremely dull. Xu Muchan licked his canine teeth, his pitch-black eyes filled with excitement and longing for food.
The red-robed Judge did not realize that under the whipping of the tentacle-like limbs, the hard part of its chest had already become extremely fragile.
So fragile that Xu Muchan’s sharp claws could easily tear it open.
Xu Muchan waited for the right moment. Bracing himself to take another blow on the back, he thrust both hands into the red-robed Judge’s chest and forcefully tore in both directions—
Black liquid poured out like river water, engulfing Xu Muchan.
The red-robed Judge let out a hoarse, ear-splitting roar, its enormous body collapsing to its knees. Xu Muchan went against the current, half of his body probing into the other party’s chest cavity. Finally, he found what he wanted inside.
It was a black mass, pulsing like a heart, resembling a soft-bodied animal.
After the black water inside the red-robed Judge had drained away, it was completely exposed. It could clearly be seen that it had already completely fused with the red-robed Judge’s body.
His canine teeth became even itchier. Xu Muchan eagerly pounced forward, opening his mouth and biting down—
“It looks like they’ve started fighting over there. Let’s go the other way. This ghost domain should be about to collapse. When that happens, we’ll be able to get out.”
Yan He and the others hid behind the collapsed wall, watching from a distance as the red-robed Judge seemed to be fighting with something.
After coming out of 101, they had escaped Building Nine through the opening torn apart by the red-robed Judge. But the inside of this ghost domain was like a series of nesting dolls; the entire residential complex was filled with Building Nines. They had wandered around for a long time without finding an exit, so they could only find a place to hide for the time being.
They had just rested when they heard a roar that shook heaven and earth. Then they saw the red-robed Judge fighting with something.
Wei Yao put He JiaqI down and glanced into the distance, somewhat worried about Xu Muchan. “We’ve gone around such a huge area without seeing Xu Muchan. His eyesight isn’t very good. Could he still be inside?”
Yan He shook his head. “He’s much more clever than you guys. Just now, he ran faster than a rabbit. The red-robed Judge is being held up now, so he has a chance to leave. He won’t stay in Building Nine.”
Wen Dajiang said, “But after we came out, we haven’t run into him at all. What if something really happened to him, and he really got trapped inside?”
Yan He thought about it and felt that what they said did make some sense. After all, they were people he had brought along. He glanced at He’s father and mother following behind them and said, “You two take He JiaqI and hide here. We’ll go look for our separated companion. After we find him, we’ll come back and meet up with you.”
He JiaqI had never woken up. Along the way, Wei Yao and Wen Dajiang had taken turns carrying her on their backs.
As for He’s father and mother, under the effects of the Ghost-Repelling Talismans, they had regained consciousness and escaped together with them.
But when He’s father heard that Yan He intended to leave them behind, he immediately became nervous. “Master, we don’t know how to do anything. What if we see ghosts again? What should we do?”
Earlier, Yan He had already forced the truth out of him. He knew that in order to bring their dead son back to life, these two had actually joined forces with He’s grandmother, intending to trick He JiaqI into lending her lifespan to her younger brother so that he could continue living.
As a result, He JiaqI discovered that her younger brother had already been dead for a long time and naturally refused to cooperate with such an evil ritual. During her struggle and resistance, she accidentally disrupted the arranged ritual formation. Her younger brother was directly possessed by a Hungry Ghost and turned into an evil spirit. At that moment, the Judge who had been invited to serve as a witness possessed He JiaqI because it had not received satisfactory offerings.
As for why 101 later turned into a ghost domain, the couple could not explain it clearly either. At first, they had been scared senseless. They wanted to run but failed. Later, they should have been possessed and controlled by a little ghost, after which they knew nothing.
The general course of events was basically eight or nine parts out of ten as they had previously guessed, except that some details had changed.
Therefore, Yan He naturally had not the slightest bit of a good attitude toward these two culprits. He sneered, “You’re afraid of ghosts too? I thought you weren’t afraid.”
He’s father shrank his neck, while He’s mother, hiding behind him, lowered her head as well.
But seeing that Yan He and the other two really intended to leave them behind, He’s father did not speak again, yet he and his wife silently followed along, clearly unwilling to stay behind alone no matter what.
Yan He was so angry that he actually laughed. Looking at He JiaqI, who was unconscious against a tree, he pointed at the couple. “We’re going back to Building Nine. That Judge is still there. If you’re not afraid of dying, then come along.”
Wei Yao was even so angry that his face twisted. When the two had followed them, they had not even cared about He JiaqI. Unable to hold back, he pointed at the couple’s noses and cursed, “Are you two even parents?”
Wen Dajiang stepped forward and carried He JiaqI onto his back. He almost wanted to spit at the couple, but his good upbringing stopped him. He angrily said to Yan He and Wei Yao, “Let’s go!”
Yan He nodded, and the three of them took He JiaqI and returned the way they had come.
He’s father and mother followed behind them meekly yet shamelessly.
However, after following for a while, perhaps because they saw that the fighting over at Building Nine was becoming increasingly intense, to the point that even the ground was trembling, the couple hesitated for a long time and did not continue following.
Wei Yao took He JiaqI from Wen Dajiang. Wen Dajiang shook his sore arm, looked back, and gritted his teeth. “These two people look honest and kind just by their faces. They don’t even dare speak loudly when talking to others. How could the things they did be so bad and so disgusting?”
Wei Yao also felt disgusted. He said, “This is probably what people online call a ‘colorless, odorless, highly toxic honest person.’”
Even when they mentioned having their daughter lend her lifespan to her younger brother so that he could continue living, they did not feel that they had done anything wrong at all.
“We’re all family. Her younger brother is still so young. We and his grandmother are already old and don’t have much lifespan to lend, but she’s still young. If she gives some to her younger brother, then when we’re all gone in the future, at least there’ll still be someone to support her.”
Even now, they still believed that the reason things had gone wrong in their family and turned into such a mess was because He JiaqI had refused to cooperate, disrupted the lifespan-borrowing ritual, and angered the gods, causing them to be punished.
Not because they should never have performed such evil sorcery in the first place, much less made their daughter lend her lifespan to her dead son so that he could continue living.
Wei Yao thought that he could be considered someone who had seen quite a lot. The Wei family’s business was large, and the people they dealt with ranged from the highest levels to depths so low that one could hardly imagine them. Since childhood, he had heard countless wealthy-family scandals involving broken marriages and separated families.
But when facing the He couple, he still had the frustrated feeling of a scholar meeting a soldier.
There was an ignorant stupidity about this couple, as though they had never developed intelligence, like primitive people who ate raw meat and drank blood, stubbornly clinging to outdated ideas completely incompatible with the modern age.
While making people feel disgusted, they also left others helpless. There was nothing they could do except choose to stay away and pray that this world truly had a system of retribution.