A deafening bark immediately filled the entire grand palace.
"Why are you crying!? Don't cry! You're timid and useless, you piece of garbage!"
Ji Younai's eardrums began to hurt, feeling dumbfounded! She was horrified and helpless.
Her feet were dangling and trembling continuously. Her ears were ringing, and she was filled with fear towards the terrifying man who had lifted her up with one hand.
Crying with tears in her eyes, she shrugged her shoulders with every sob, continuing to wipe her tears away.
"You're still crying?"
The fearsome man in the hideous and horrifying ghost mask was domineering and mighty, even if he was not angry. He seemed to be gritting his teeth and giving her a merciless warning.
Weeping incessantly, Ji Younai's tear-stained lashes trembled a little.
Shaking her head in panic, she bit her tiny fist to prevent herself from crying again, swearing feebly, "I won't cry, I really won't cry anymore..."
At that moment, the Black and White Impermanence commanders and the Ghost saw Ji Younai's spirit, which looked like an unwanted waste item. It formed an arc in the air, flung several meters away by King Qin'guang.
They covered their eyes and thought, 'He really doesn't show sympathy to women...'
"Do you know why I brought you here?"
King Qin'guang's voice was ethereal, extremely ruthless, and somewhat cold, like metal. It once again echoed in the palace, sounding like a low voice of death.
Biting her tiny fist, Ji Younai shook her head, the tears in her eyes blurring her vision.
With tears flowing down her eyes, she saw the two men in black and white, the Black and White Impermanence. She then glanced at the man who called himself a judge. Ji Younai understood that no matter how much she tried to escape reality, she could not deny that everything that was happening before her eyes was true.
"Are you mute? Say something!" he hollered sternly in an unfeeling and merciless tone.
"I... don't know."
Ji Younai couldn't help but shudder uncontrollably, while her beautiful eyes, which were filled with grievances, shook a little.
"Because you're already dead," King Qin'guang pronounced in a ruthless voice of death, after which he waved his palm and a ray of light appeared. With that, green-gold words hovered in midair and formed a sentence.
"Ji Younai, born at the yin minute of the yin hour on the day of the Chinese New Year in the year 1999. She has lived for eighteen years and died of suicide."
"..."
It turned out that both Feng Jinxuan and Zhuge Xian were right. She was really dead.
The souls of those who died would descend to the underworld.
That was why the Black and White Impermanence had captured her.
'Can I really not go back?'
Her heart sank.
Thinking that she would never see Gong Siyu again, Ji Younai's nose crinkled, but she did not dare to let her tears fall.
'Yeah, I'm already dead and Gong Siyu will have a wife of his own.
'The woman he marries, she should be Ms. Wen Yu, right?
'They... are truly a compatible pair and a match made in heaven.'
While Ji Younai was shaking her head, she heard the cruel and icy cold voice again.
"The Book of Life and Death records the birth and death hours of all the beings within the three realms. Once your lifespan is up, you will surely die. Don't you want to ask me why you were revived?"
Ji Younai was extremely weary. Slightly startled, she raised her head timidly before quickly lowering her head once again.
She was like a little white rabbit that had to accept all the adversaries that came its way.
However, when she spoke, she was no longer as cowardly as she was previously.
"If King Yama wants me dead, I can't defy his orders and survive. I'm not dead, so there must be a reason for that. You brought me to this hellhole without making things clear. You must want to tell me something. I understand how things work. I'm timid, not stupid."
Ji Younai's words earned her the applause of the White Impermanence, Commander Xie Bi'an.
"Impressive, impressive. The little crybaby retorted. She talked back to King Jiang!"
"Little White! Cut the crap!" Fan Wujiu hit the person beside him and coldly warned him.
Hearing that, Jiang Ziwen, whose eyes were full of death and as deep as the abyss of hell, looked deeply into Ji Younai's body.
The glow in her eyes was complex, with a serenity that seemed to penetrate everything in the world.
A few moments later, Ji Younai was shocked to see the book of golden light that was floating in midair, which recorded her life and death, begin to change shape. It was illusory, and a list of ten names began to appear on it.
Her name was clearly among them.
"Ghost Judge, tell her what this is on my behalf."
King Qin'guang coldly ordered.
Wearing a reddish-purple cloud robe and a ferocious ghost mask, Ling Shiyin walked towards Ji Younai to do as he was told.
In a chilly and sinister voice, he explained, "This is a list of ten qualified candidates for the position of Yin-Yang officers, who have been selected from the millions of ghosts in the underworld after various rounds of screening.
"You were born at the yin minute of the yin hour during the Hungry Ghost Festival. Hence, you are a yin being that is rare and special. You are also one of them."
With tears welling up in her beautiful eyes, Ji Younai frowned, lowered her head, and fell deep into thought.
'It turns out I was able to come back to life after dying because I'm exempt from death on King Yama's behalf?
'But... I don't get it.'
"What is a Yin-Yang Officer?" Ji Younai asked softly in a feeble voice.
Ling Shiyin seemed to have a good temper.
He began to speak again in a cold and ethereal voice, "The Yin-Yang Officer is a special existence. He's in charge of the Life and Death Hall. Other than being a Judge who is in charge of the Book of Life and Death, he is a loyal confidant who swears his allegiance to King Yama.
"Those in the underworld rely on Yin energy to survive, while ordinary people will die without Yang energy. The Yin-Yang Officer is special because he is the only person in the entire underworld who can touch Yang energy. The Yin-Yang Officer can live in the mortal world for a long time and has an immortal body. He is alive but he works for King Yama, is at the disposal of King Yama, and belongs to the underworld. He has an obligation to deal with all hidden and dangerous events that endanger the underworld for King Yama and the entire underworld."
Ji Younai looked like she had been enlightened.
'The Yin-Yang Officer is such a powerful existence?
"Well then… May I ask how one is appointed as a Yin-Yang Officer? Do candidates have to sit for an exam? Answer questions?"
Ling Shiyin looked speechless.
Behind him, the Black Impermanence Commander Fan Wujiu answered her question coldly, with no expression on his face.
"They fight and kill each other. There are ten of you. The last one standing will be the next Yin-Yang Officer."
Upon hearing those words, Ji Younai gasped and covered her mouth.
'Kill each other! How terrifying! I don't want to be a candidate for the next Yin-Yang Officer! How can I kill the other nine and rise to position while stepping on their corpses?'
Her face became sullen and tears filled her eyes once again.
She asked timidly, "Can I give up? Can I... Not be a candidate for this? I definitely can't take part in a battle where we kill each other. I've never killed anyone, I can't even step on an ant, I..."
Before Ji Younai finished, she heard the sound of a pillar collapsing in the main hall.
Immediately after, she saw a figure flying towards her, landing right in front of her.
The figure was overwhelmed with anger!
She was slapped on the back of her head!
The figure rebuked her!
"Garbage!"
She held her head in her hands and squatted down on the ground. Sobbing and wincing, she murmured, "Don't hit me, don't hit me! I'm not crying!"