Chapter Sixty-Seven: The Land Accuses

“How could this happen?”

Clearly, my words took Niu Dahuang by complete surprise.

His question made me suddenly recall what the Ferryman had told me beside the River of Forgetfulness in the Shadow Realm: anyone who sets foot on the river must inevitably leave something behind—something of utmost importance. Sometimes, it is not simply a matter of loss; the final cost may be even harder to bear than merely being deprived of something precious.

So, was this not precisely what the Ferryman had warned me of?

Niu Dahuang noticed my silence and asked what was wrong. I waved my hand and said it was nothing. Since bribing the executioner was out of the question, we would have to find another way.

Niu Dahuang mused that since it was the living who were to execute the dead, the act would surely take place in a dream. If we could somehow prevent Er Pang from falling asleep, there might still be hope.

But then, Er Pang had already gone. How could we possibly keep him from sleeping, when we didn't even know where he was?

“Er Pang once had your grandfather read his fortune—I remember his birth date and time. With that, Granny Wang will surely have a way to keep him from sleeping.”

He turned to Granny Wang for confirmation, and she nodded, saying such a method did exist.

Niu Dahuang asked where Er Pang had been standing earlier. I pointed to his footprints near the entrance, and Niu Dahuang collected a few poplar leaves from them. With that, we hurried back to Granny Wang's home.

Once inside, Granny Wang began to prepare her altar, with Niu Dahuang assisting.

I asked if this method would truly work. She replied that it should, but warned that under no circumstances could the incense be allowed to go out during the ritual; otherwise, Er Pang might fall asleep and the execution would proceed in that brief instant.

I nodded, and together with Niu Dahuang, stood watch as Granny Wang began the ceremony. She laid out yellow talismanic paper on the table, wrote down Er Pang’s birth data, then drew a charm and placed the poplar leaves atop it.

Next, she sat cross-legged upon her mat, formed a mystical gesture with her fingers, and began to chant. A chilling wind rose; the yellow paper and the charm were swept into the air and, with a whoosh, flew out of the courtyard.

Seeing this, Granny Wang immediately lit a stick of incense, its smoke curling gently upward.

She explained that as long as the incense remained lit, Er Pang would be unable to fall asleep—insomnia would trouble him, even if he lay down. This was originally a harmful spell from the Maoshan tradition; prolonged use would severely erode a person’s sleep and, over time, devastate their health. Granny Wang only knew of this method because she had encountered and broken it before in her healing days—for how can one break a spell without understanding it?

The incense she used was a special slow-burning kind—one stick would last past the third division of midnight. Once that time passed, the critical moment would be gone, and Er Pang would no longer be able to execute my grandfather or Daoist Li.

Half an hour went by, the incense still burning steadily.

Just then, a commotion erupted beyond the courtyard wall—voices, the clatter of hooves.

“Sir, they’re all inside. That Lin Yi you wanted to catch is there as well. I had my little ghost follow him—I saw it with my own eyes!”

It was the voice of Wang Cheng, the earth deity of Dongwa Village. That scoundrel had betrayed us to the underworld soldiers.

Seeing the situation, Granny Wang immediately stood up, pulled the stick of incense from the censer, handed it to me, and said, “Child, take this incense and leave through the back door—quickly!”

“But what about the two of you?” I asked. The hoofbeats outside meant the underworld soldiers had arrived. I had no way of knowing if Granny Wang and Niu Dahuang could hold their own against them.

“Don’t worry about us, child—it’s only a few underworld soldiers, nothing to fear. Go now! Protect that incense; above all, do not let it go out!”

No sooner had she finished speaking than the front door was pounded with heavy fists.

“Granny Wang, this is Wang Cheng, earth deity of Dongwa Village. That fellow you met just now asked me to bring you a message!”

“What message?” Granny Wang replied.

“Well... Granny Wang, you’ll have to open the door so I can come in and tell you!” Wang Cheng said, clearly trying to trick us into opening the door.

“Sorry, I’m already in bed and can’t open the door,” Granny Wang answered.

“Out of the way! Break the door down!” another voice bellowed.

At this, Granny Wang drew her peachwood ritual sword and turned to me, whispering, “If you don’t leave now, you truly won’t get another chance. Don’t you want to save your grandfather? Go!”

I hated to leave them behind, but there was no other choice. I handed my thunderstruck wood ruler to Niu Dahuang, then grasped the incense tightly and fled toward the back of the house.

May nothing happen to Granny Wang and Niu Dahuang.

Behind Granny Wang’s house, beside the kitchen, was a small door leading to a vegetable plot. All I had to do was climb over the fence, and I’d be out.

I scrambled over easily, then ran along the path through the field. But just as I reached the main road, two tall horses blocked my way.

On the horses sat underworld soldiers clad in armor. Their faces were ashen green, lips black as pitch, with bronze chains draped around their shoulders. The hooks at the end of those chains gleamed coldly in the night.

Without a word, one of the soldiers jerked his hand, and the hooked chain whipped toward me with a metallic clang.

A gust of underworld wind nearly snuffed out the incense in my hand.

I quickly shielded the tiny spark, ducked behind a roadside boulder just as the bronze chain struck, sending sparks flying.

Dodging the chain, I scrambled down another path. But before I could get far, two more underworld soldiers appeared to cut off my escape.

Now I was trapped, surrounded front and back.

The soldiers closed in swiftly on their steeds. One sneered, “Lin Yi, you slipped away last time. But now your grandfather and that Daoist Li are gone—I’d like to see who’ll save you this time!”

Looking closer, I recognized him—he was the underworld captain whom Li Nanhua had gravely wounded before. Fate truly played cruel tricks; I never expected to run into him again.

He wasted no more words, swinging his hooked chain straight at my chest.

He was so fast I almost couldn’t dodge in time.

But just as the chain was about to pierce me, a white horsetail whisk flashed through the air, wrapping tightly around the bronze hook.

With a sudden jerk, the whisk yanked the captain from his horse, sending him crashing to the ground in a most undignified heap.

All of this happened in a split second.

Only then did I see who had come to my rescue—it was the Mistress of the Azure Robes.

She stepped protectively in front of me. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine! I’m fine! Thank goodness you arrived in time!” I gasped.

“You’re lucky, too. I was just passing through to visit my elder sister, when I saw you surrounded by underworld soldiers. What happened?” she asked.

“It’s a long story! You can handle these few, can’t you?” I replied. After all, she was Li Nanhua’s disciple and wouldn’t be lacking in skill.

“A few underworld soldiers are hardly a warm-up.” With a sweep of her whisk, a sudden gale arose, tossing the soldiers from their horses. Even as they tried to attack with their hooked chains, she declared, “Since you overestimate yourselves, I’ll see you off myself!”

With another flick of her whisk, I saw a few white strands fly out. In the next instant, the soldiers clutched their heads and rolled about on the ground. In less than half a minute, their heads were separated from their bodies, wisps of blue smoke rising as they dissolved into the night breeze.

Their tall black horses turned into paper effigies, collapsing on the ground.

Remembering that Granny Wang and Niu Dahuang were still besieged, I quickly explained to the Mistress of the Azure Robes, and we hurried back together.

When we reached Granny Wang’s home, paper horses and the remains of underworld soldiers littered the courtyard.

Only Wang Cheng remained, kneeling and begging for mercy. The Mistress strode over, flicked her whisk around his neck, and slammed him to the ground.

“Immortal Lady, spare me!” Wang Cheng wailed.

“Today, there will be no mercy!” With a final flick, a white strand coiled around him, and in the blink of an eye, his head was severed from his body, his form dissipating into green smoke.

“Azure Robe, killing him so wantonly may invite disaster,” Granny Wang said with a frown.

“Sister, this earth deity is guilty beyond forgiveness—he deserves death. Many villagers have come to Baiqing Temple to accuse him. I’ve confirmed his crimes: abusing his position to cause the deaths of three young women and one man from Dongwa Village. Such a crime must be punished! In fact, I came looking for you today partly to deal with him; I never expected him to be here.”

Last time I saw the Mistress of the Azure Robes, she struck me as a gentle, scholarly Daoist nun. Now, her decisive and thunderous methods left me in awe. In truth, she possessed the same fierce spirit as Li Nanhua, worthy to be his disciple.

Then she asked Granny Wang why she had sent her a message saying her master was in trouble. Granny Wang described the midnight execution.

“How could this be? How could my master possibly fall into the hands of the underworld?” the Mistress exclaimed in shock.

After Granny Wang explained everything in detail, the Mistress declared, “In that case, I’ll go kill the executioner right now—then he won’t be able to execute anyone!”

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