Chapter 5: The Grand Hall of the Underworld

  "Brother Niu, we've already arrived at the 19th level of hell where Ye Cha is, but why is it so quiet here?" Ma Mian's voice was clearly choking. The only explanation for this silence is that Ye Cha's matter has been settled.

  "It's all over!" A chill ran down Niu Tou's spine. His legs, which were already trembling uncontrollably, could no longer support his robust body, and he collapsed to the ground with a soft thud.

  "It's all over, it's really all over. What a pity that I've never even held a woman's hand until now. I'm not resigned to it, I really can't accept it!" At this moment, Ma Mian could no longer hold back his emotions. Endless tears flowed down that handsome face of his.

  "Brother, stop yelling!" But just then, the cow head on the ground suddenly jumped up.

  "Brother, don't you think it's strange? We've been here for a while now, why hasn't that little demon Niutou shown up yet?" Niu Tou said with gritted teeth.

  "Brother Niu, I get it. It's probably that little demon Ye Xiao's guts are getting bigger and bigger, and he doesn't take us brothers seriously anymore." Ma Mian also suddenly realized.

  The ox nods its head towards the horse, blinking its eyes, while the latter responds with a nod of understanding. These two have been together for so many years, their hearts are already connected, and they can understand each other's thoughts with just a simple gesture.

  "Find that little demon, and beat the crap out of him. Let this kid know that not just anyone can mess with the Ox-Headed and Horse-Faced in Hell." The two Ox-Heads exchanged a glance, and strode forward with big steps. Damn it, I've had my eye on that little demon for a long time now, but because of King Yanluo's face, I couldn't beat him up. But now, we're about to lose our souls, what's there to be cautious about?

  But no matter how hard the ox-headed and horse-faced deities searched, they couldn't find any trace of Yecha. Where did this kid go? Wait a minute, it seems like there's someone lying on the ground up ahead, and from the back, he looks quite familiar. The little hearts of Niu Tou and Ma Mian started racing excitedly. They didn't hesitate anymore and flew over to him.

  As the two people who were in a hurry and anxious turned over the person's face, they suddenly became wildly joyful. That's right, this is that guy called Xiao Chen. Great, this guy is fine.

  "Finally no need to be soul flying and scattered!" The two people who were overjoyed and crying tightly hugged each other.

  The huge commotion caused by the Niu Tou Ma Mian also slowly woke up Xiao Chen. "You two bastards!" When Xiao Chen clearly saw the faces of the two in front of him, he suddenly became furious. It was these two damned guys who almost made his soul fly away.

  "I'm done with you!" Xiao Chen, still fuming, sprang up from the ground and clenched his fist. But just as it was about to hit his opponent, he abruptly pulled back, unable to conceal the disgust in his eyes. What were these two grown men doing, clinging to each other like that? Was it... Xiao Chen dared not think further, feeling a chill run down his spine.

  "Wait, Xiao Chen, it's not what you think, our relationship is very pure!" Niu Tou Ma Mian hastily separated. The two of them tried their best to explain, and finally managed to make Xiao Chen understand that he had indeed misunderstood.

  "Wait a minute, where's Ya Cha?" Niu Tou finally realized that something was off.

  "Ah! Where's Yasha?" Ma Mian also came to his senses. The two of them looked around, and finally their eyes fell on Xiao Chen's body.

  At this time, Xiao Chen finally remembered the scene that had happened not long ago. As soon as he thought of it, Xiao Chen felt a lingering fear, and he had never thought that he would have such a crazy moment.

  "What? The Yaksha was actually killed by that little kid?" Compared to Xiao Chen's shock, Niu Tou Ma Mian had even more astonishment. They couldn't believe that the ferocious and cruel Yaksha would be killed by this weak-looking youth in front of them. Although they didn't like what Yaksha did, it was undeniable that as the prison guard of the 19th layer of hell, Yaksha wasn't an ordinary person. So how could such a powerful Yaksha be killed by this frail youth?

  Although Niu Tou and Ma Mian didn't believe it in their hearts, after searching everywhere, they still couldn't find any signs of the existence of the Night Goblin. It's possible... it's possible that what this kid said is true!

  "What's wrong, brother?" Niu Tou asked Ma Mian with a dry voice.

  "This..." Ma Mian also hesitated. Let's not discuss whether Xiao Chen killing the Night Yaksha was justified or not. But the Night Yaksha was after all a prison guard of the 19th layer of hell in the underworld, even if it had committed a crime, only the underworld could mete out punishment. An ordinary person, without permission from the underworld, dared to kill the Night Yaksha on their own, this is an unforgivable sin, according to the laws of the underworld, one's soul would be scattered and destroyed.

  Alas! The two brothers had just been rejoicing that they didn't have to face the punishment of having their souls scattered, but in the blink of an eye, this person named Xiao Chen is going to suffer the same fate. The fact that the Night Yaksha was defeated is such a big deal, even if the brothers wanted to hide it, they definitely couldn't keep it under wraps. However, the reason why this young man Xiao Chen ended up in the underworld was because of the brothers' own mistake. If they can't save him, the brothers will be filled with remorse.

  "Brother, this matter has grown bigger and is no longer something we can handle. In my opinion, it's best to report this to Lord Yanluo Wang and let him make the decision!" After a moment of thought, Ox Head gritted his teeth and said.

  "It's all we can do, in the presence of Yan Luo Wang, we'll try our best to get this kid off the hook, but ultimately it's up to his fate." Ma Mian also nodded and reached out to grab Xiao Chen.

  The Mengdu City, the dark and eerie grand hall, was still as gloomy and terrifying as ever. Just like Niu Tou Ma Mian, Yan Luo Wang and Cui Pan Guan were initially overjoyed, but later became terrified. Getting rid of the nineteen layers of hell's prison guards, this is a grave sin that would normally result in one's soul being scattered. However, this young man named Xiao Chen was only brought to the underworld due to Niu Tou Ma Mian's mistake, and letting his soul be scattered like this would be too cruel.

  But the severity of the problem goes far beyond that. According to Yan Luo Wang and Cui's plan, if Xiao Chen's soul did not disperse, they would secretly let him return to the world of the living. In this way, the crime committed by Niu Tou Ma Mian would not be a sin, but a mistake. Then this matter can also be made big into small, small into nothing.

  But now, the yaksha is finished, and this matter has gotten out of hand to the point where it's hard to clean up. Xiao Chen will definitely be destroyed, and Niu Tou Ma Mian will also not be able to escape, many people in the underworld will also be implicated in this matter.

  "Sir, if this matter is not handled carefully, it will attract the intervention of the heavenly people, and things will become much more troublesome." Even Cui Pan-guan, who was normally calm and composed, couldn't hide the panic in his voice.

  "Yes! Those people in the heavenly realm are high and mighty, always looking down on everything, and can't tolerate anything that doesn't meet their expectations. If this matter isn't handled properly, with their nitpicky personalities, who knows what kind of bloody storm will be stirred up?! And by then...” King Yanluo's face turned pale, he didn't dare to continue thinking about it.

  Since Pangu opened the sky and Nuwa created humans with clay, the originally chaotic world finally had life. After going through tens of thousands of years of vicissitudes, the chaotic world finally evolved into the three realms of heaven, earth, and human. However, although it is said that the three realms coexist, in reality, the heavenly realm far surpasses the underworld and the mortal world. Whether it's the underworld or the mortal world, when facing the immortal realm, they are all fearful and afraid to provoke the anger of the heavenly people by accident.

  Why is it that the other two realms are so afraid of the Heavenly Realm, when the three realms stand on an equal footing? The reason is actually very simple. In this world, no matter what time or place, dignity must be backed by strong power.

  And because of the concessions and withdrawals of other two realms, it makes the people of the Heavenly Realm even more arrogant, flying high and mighty, and unstoppable. But whatever you do, don't let the people of the Heavenly Realm get a handle on anything!!!

  What to do? What on earth to do? Everyone was sweating bullets.

  "Sir, you can step aside for now and leave this matter to me. Don't worry, I will definitely handle it properly." After a moment of contemplation, Judge Cui slowly spoke up.

  "Alright." Yanluo Wang, who had been deep in thought but still had no clue, could only nod slightly and walk towards the inner part of the grand hall. Although he didn't know what the other person wanted to do, Yanluo Wang still cast a grateful and trusting glance at his trusted subordinate. After all, the other person's wisdom was something that made him extremely admire, perhaps he would be able to come up with a perfect solution to this matter too.

  "Ox Head, Horse Face, bring in that person called Xiao Chen! Remember to be polite." Magistrate Cui switched back to a gentle tone, "Hei Bai Wu Chang, you two aren't idle either. Come out and lend a hand!"

  "Yes, sir!" Two strange voices floated out again in the cold and gloomy grand hall of the underworld.

  Poor Xiao Chen looked around nervously. It turned out that this was the Great Hall of Yinyuan, where ghosts were judged. The vast Great Hall of Yinyuan was desolate and empty, except for a black eight-immortal table in the center that caught Xiao Chen's attention. A thick stack of files seemed to block someone's face. Who was that person?

  "Who is under the stage?" The man who could never see her true face asked in a very gentle voice.

  "Who are you again?"

  "Xiao Chen, you must not be rude in front of adults! Kneel down for me!" One of the ox-headed and horse-faced men held Xiao Chen's arm and kicked his calf.

  "You two bastards!" Xiao Chen, who was forcibly pinned to the ground, glared at the two men holding his arms tightly. They were the culprits who had brought him down to this state.

  Xiao Chen's left and right were Ox Head and Horse Face. But a short distance away from these two, there were also two people standing by their side, two even stranger-looking individuals. One of them was always smiling with an open face, not only was his whole body pure white, but his face was also pale to the point of being scary. The other one was completely opposite, with a ferocious expression, not only was his whole body jet black, but his face was also dark to the point of being frightening. The only commonality between the two people was that they were both wearing an extremely large tall hat, on which several big words were printed in bold font. One read "You've Arrived Too". The other one read "Currently Capturing You".

  "Hei Bai Wu Chang?" Xiao Chen took a deep breath, and just by looking at the attire of these two big shots, one could guess their names. Indeed, they were Hei Bai Wu Chang, another pair of soul-stealing envoys in the underworld, next to Ox-Head and Horse-Face, and also trusted subordinates of Judge Cui.

  "Hey, hey, Xiao Chen. I'm afraid there are some things you don't understand yet, so let me explain first! First of all, this is the Naihe Bridge in the underworld, and I am the person in charge here. To put it in a more fashionable way, I am also the CEO here, but in the underworld, many people still call me Cui Panguan." The voice continued from behind the stack of files.

  "And the few people around you are the four most powerful generals in my underworld. They are, Ox Head, Horse Face, White Impermanence and Black Impermanence. This time I invited you..."

  "Since you treat me as a guest, why are you hiding behind and refusing to show your face? Is this the way to treat a guest?" Xiao Chen coldly interrupted the other party's words. Although he had experienced a series of dangers, strangely, the sense of fear in his heart was slowly disappearing.

  "Little brat, now that you're in the grand hall of the underworld, in front of adults, you still dare to be so arrogant?" Xiao Chen's attitude made Hei Bai Wu Chang furious. It seems that if he doesn't teach this little brat a lesson, he'll think this is just an amusement park in the mortal world.

  "Stop! You're going too far!" Judge Cui shouted loudly.

  "Xiao Chen, before you, I have met many ghosts in the Grand Hall of Darkness, and they all trembled with fear when they saw me. But you are the first one who dares to speak to me like this. It seems that I underestimated you, you have guts, admirable! You're right, always hiding and not seeing guests is not a good host's behavior!" A person finally walked out from behind the pile of files.

  But facing Cui's gentle smile, Xiao Chen couldn't smile at all now. He was waiting to see what the other party wanted to do. Xiao Chen inadvertently glanced at Cui's hand, and the thick package in his left hand probably hid the legendary Book of Life and Death. The pen-like object in his right hand was probably the legendary Soul-Calling Brush.