"I just want to be an ordinary person, not a candidate for some Yin-Yang Officer! Why did you hit my head? Because I don't want to do it? I'm not crying. Not only did you hit me, you scolded me too. I've been wronged," she lamented softly while sobbing.
Ji Younai protected her head, curled up into a ball, and looked like a bun, appearing extremely small and humble in the huge First Palace.
The ethereal and cold voice permeated through the hideous fiendish ghost mask, filled with incomparable rage and pointing both fingers at Ji Younai.
"Great! You don't want to be the Yin-Yang Officer? You want to be a normal person? Fine, I will take back your King Yama death exemption and turn you into a normal person!
"However, without the death exemption warrant, you won't be able to become a human again! You have killed yourself!
"According to the strict laws of the underworld, you have to be banished to the eighteenth floor of hell and suffer all kinds of punishment!
"You won't even have a chance to be reincarnated! Your parents, who had died in a car accident, will also suffer because of you. You'll have to toil for a hundred years in the Death City before you can reincarnate as a beast in your next life! If that's what you want, I'll grant you your wish!"
After he finished speaking, King Qin'guang picked Ji Younai up from the ground.
Bang!
The red doors of the hall opened automatically.
Carrying Ji Younai in a domineering fashion, he walked outside the palace.
Under the blood-red setting sun, the mountains were vast and undulating. On the mountain peaks, there were countless towering pavilions and ancient buildings. Sporadic sparks were flying in the air and it seemed like they would disappear with a single touch.
Jiang Ziwen clasped the back of Ji Younai's neck and forced her to the edge of the cliff outside the palace, forcing her to look at the horrifying and terrifying images beneath the thousand-feet cliff.
In front of the pool of burning lava, tens of thousands of shackled and chained vengeful ghosts and evil spirits were lined up, one by one. They leaped into the pool that would make ghosts perish, some even banished to the eighteenth layer of hell…
All she could hear were shrieks of pain, which tormented her ears, and all she could see was purgatory.
"You want to be a normal person? That scene before you is what will happen to you!"
He chuckled sinisterly under the mask.
Staring at the horrifying scene before her…
Ji Younai closed her eyes bitterly, no longer able to shed a single tear.
Her lips were trembling, and her heart filled with fear.
"Don't hurt my parents' souls, alright?"
"Hah! A lowly peasant such as you is not qualified to negotiate with me, the king."
"So, if I be obedient and become a candidate for the Yin-Yang Officer, you'll let my parents reincarnate into a good family?"
Jiang Ziwen let go of Ji Younai and snorted coldly, standing on the edge of the top cliff with his hands behind his back.
"If you become my Yin-Yang Officer, I'll grant you special authority and allow your parents to reincarnate into a good family.
"However, if you can't… Your parents will still go to the Dead City to do hard labor and reincarnate into beasts! And you… You will not even qualify to enter the cycle of reincarnation, turned into ashes instead!"
With a mournful expression on her face, Ji Younai became hopeless.
Both options were deadly.
One would let her die immediately.
The other would give her some time to breathe, but the price to pay would be higher.
"I don't know anything at all. How am I supposed to fight others?"
Remaining arrogant and cool, Jiang Ziwen replied, "That's your problem. It has nothing to do with me. On the day the Gates of Hell open, during the Hungry Ghost Festival in the middle of the seventh month, the selection of the Yin-Yang Officer will take place.
"During this period, I will let the Black and White Impermanence supreme commanders guide you. Your success will depend only on yourself."
With red eyes and a shaky body, Ji Younai clenched her fists and bit her lip.
There were only two short months to go before the Hungry Ghost Festival, which would occur in the middle of the seventh month.
What could she accomplish in only a little over two months?
Just as Ji Younai was beginning to fall into an endless despair, unable to see even a glimmer of hope, Jiang Ziwen's cold and chilling words sounded in her ears.
His deep and low voice was like a giant rock that slammed against Ji Younai's chest.
"Ji Younai, are you feeling sorry for yourself? Or do you feel sad about what's happening to you? What are you complaining about? What are you grieving?
"If you bow to fate, then death will be the only end for you. But there's another way out.
"That is to arm yourself well and make sure nothing can harm you. Even if the mountains collapse and your family members die, you will still be able to stay composed and be strong. Don't you want to be like that?"
Jiang Ziwen's words were heavy and solemn.
It struck Ji Younai's heart forcefully.
A beam of light appeared in her dim and lackluster almond-shaped eyes, as if she had been enlightened by the scolding.
'Yeah, why should I believe that I'm dead? Why should I feel sorry for myself and fall into this sorrowful ambiance that I've created for myself?'
'There are so many people who are in a more miserable state and are being put through more suffering than I am. I've been given a chance at a rebirth that others can only dream of.'
'Yet, I'm not appreciating it, wanting to give up just because the journey is going to be difficult?'
She suddenly had a clear idea.
The mole at the corner of her eye reflected the bright and vibrant red flowers that were inexplicably alluring.
At that moment, a wisp of green smoke began slowly winding towards Ji Younai like a ribbon. It emitted a peculiar fragrance that even Jiang Ziwen and the people behind him detected.
The White Impermanence Xie Bi'an said with raised brows, "Wow, I haven't seen such a superb soul-summoning incense in a hundred years! I didn't expect it to actually be able to float to the First Great Hall!"
Jiang Ziwen's voice was cold.
He sneered and smacked Ji Younai on the head again.
"Go ahead and pretend! Someone is finding you using the soul-summoning incense. I didn't expect you to have such an expert! Yet you said that you don't know anything?"
A confused Ji Younai covered her head, wondering, 'What soul-summoning incense? Is someone looking for me? Why don't I know?
"I really don't know anything!"
"Xie Bi'an, send her back! Make sure she's safe and sound before you report back!"
"Yes, King Jiang!"
After Jiang Ziwen finished giving his orders, he returned to the First Great Hall, together with the Ghost Judge and Fan Wujiu, disappearing from Ji Younai's sight.
As soon as she heard that she could go back, Ji Younai was filled with joy. She obediently followed Xie Bi'an and left.
Without Ji Younai, it was dead silent in the First Great Hall.
However, there were soon sounds of movement in the great hall as a bright red figure gradually appeared.
"Brother, are you crazy? That one? Out of the ten candidates, she's the only one who will never be your Yin-Yang Officer! If she wants to die, let her. Why stop her? If she doesn't die now, the others will surely get her by the Hungry Ghost Festival.
"She won't survive!"
The person who had arrived looked majestic in a red robe.
It was the owner of the Fifth Great Hall, the Master of Death City, Bian Wushang.
Sitting on the cold black and gold staircase, Jiang Ziwen slowly removed the mask from his face, revealing a divine face that was intimidating and seemed to be able to make the world change.
It was a perfect, ghost-like face and his eyes were as deep as the abyss of hell, filled with extreme hostility, giving off a deadly and dreadful vibe. He looked cold, ruthless, vicious, and bloodthirsty.
No one dared to look him in the eye, only submitting to him in fear.
There was a phantom violet flame tattoo in the middle of his eyebrows. It was bizarre but also eye- and soul-catching.
He no longer looked as harsh and brutal as he did when he was speaking to Ji Younai.
He sat on the stairs, a little disoriented. In the depths of his cold eyes, there was immense pain, along with remorse, agony, and misery.
He spoke in a deep and slightly hoarse voice, "But she really is so similar to that person... isn't she? That mole at the corner of her eyes, and those eyes..."