Chapter 118 Test

Li Yulan said, "My swimming skills were passed down through the corpse捞尸人 (lāo shī rén – corpse retrievers), and my fate also belongs to the yin fate, so I can retrieve some relatively special entities. Therefore, I can go to the Dragon Palace."

Li Yulan changed the subject and said, "I'm not telling you this. I'm saying that they forced me to death, and I have the right to seek revenge on them. Can't I even take revenge?"

Li Yulan was also a術士 (shù shì – Daoist occultist).

People in the術道 (shù dào – Daoist arts) feared the law, but ignored it. Jianghu (martial world) grudges were more accustomed to being settled within the jianghu. Li Yulan was able to say revenge with confidence, precisely because she also believed in the ways of the jianghu.

I said nonchalantly, "The grievances between you and Yulou Village have nothing to do with me. I am not a judge in the Daoist world, nor a judge in the mortal world. I am not interested in deciding who is right and wrong. I am only responsible for catching you."

I paused and said, "Actually, you should thank me. I'll send you to the underworld, where the souls of your enemies are also there. You can go to King Yama to complain. Don't worry, the underworld is very fair in its judgments, and King Yama is also humane. He will sympathize with you."

"You bastard!" Seeing that I was impervious to reason, Li Yulan finally burst into abuse, "Are you heartless and soulless? Don't you have any sympathy?"

I turned my head and said, "Curse a little longer, and I will definitely tell the ghost messengers to slap your mouth when you enter the underworld."

"You, Li! I curse you to never..." Before Li Yulan could finish her curse, I slapped her. Li Yulan was slapped several meters away by me. Half of her face was almost smashed. She couldn't speak anymore.

I said coldly, "Don't think I can only catch ghosts but not beat them. I didn't hit you because I thought you were a bit pitiful. Don't push your luck, or I will make you unable to speak."

斬鬼 (zhǎn guǐ – ghost slaying), 抓鬼 (zhuā guǐ – ghost catching), and 打鬼 (dǎ guǐ – ghost beating) are three different concepts.術士 (shù shì – Daoist occultists) beating ghosts is actually similar to beating people. It can make them hurt, it can injure them, but it won't kill them.

I dragged Li Yulan to the woods, drew a cross between two trees, artificially creating a crossroads, and lit three incense sticks next to the crossroads.

Before long, Black and White Impermanence appeared in front of me.

White Impermanence said with a smile, "Not bad, you caught the earth soul so quickly. It's better than I expected. What are your thoughts on this mission?"

I lowered my head and said, "This disciple did not do well, please give me some guidance, ancestral master!"

Black Impermanence's face darkened: "Slick! Showy."

White Impermanence smiled even more: "You are not asking us for guidance, but you know some things and don't know how to say them? You want us to speak first so you can confirm some guesses. Speak! We are listening!"

I organized my language a bit and said, "This mission is a test for me by the ancestral master, or rather, an assessment. The two ancestral masters are the chief examiners, and you were present throughout my entire mission."

White Impermanence's smile was even more intense: "What makes you think so?"

I replied, "Because of that team of Yin soldiers, Yin soldiers are easily persuaded. However, after our ship sank, they did not rush in to ask for benefits, which means someone organized them."

"Li Yulan can't do this, and Wang Laogui doesn't have the ability. Only the two ancestral masters can!"

"Also, the two ancestral masters deliberately increased the difficulty of the mission. The underworld may not be able to grasp Li Yulan's whereabouts, but it must grasp the merits and demerits of the術士 (shù shì – Daoist occultists) of Yulou Village throughout their lives. If the two of you gave me more comprehensive information, I wouldn't have gone in such a big circle."

White Impermanence nodded and said, "Not bad! In order to test whether you have real talent, I deliberately suppressed those Yin soldiers and compressed the information that should have been given to you."

"Although your performance is a bit naive, and even relied on luck in some places, it is generally commendable. Not bad!"

Black Impermanence said again: "Slick!"

White Impermanence smiled: "What else did you discover?"

I replied again: "The two ancestral masters gave me a mission, but didn't tell me the root of the mission."

"There are more than tens of millions of ghosts in the world who have not entered the underworld. Why must we find Li Yulan's soul back?"

"If it's really like you said, we must gather all three souls, I have killed so many human souls, why didn't anyone stop me, even the Yin soldiers turned a blind eye to my actions."

"The underworld wants to find Li Yulan, definitely because her earth soul has something special about it, or rather, she is the Heavenly Dao..."

"Shut up!" Black Impermanence interrupted me before I could finish my words. He didn't want me to say the rest.

White Impermanence nodded and said, "You're right, Li Yulan does have something special about her. Let's put it this way! Except for the target of the mission, all other souls can be killed. If someone stops you, you can enforce the law. Whether you kill people or kill ghosts, as long as you don't kill innocent people indiscriminately, you will not be subject to the underworld's punishment."

White Impermanence continued: "Since you have already guessed the key, I might as well tell you something."

Black Impermanence said, "Is this appropriate?"

White Impermanence sneered: "What's appropriate or inappropriate? Others are doing it, why should we stick to the rules? Letting him know what he should know will be good for him."

White Impermanence looked at me and said, "I can tell you clearly, you are going to die soon!"