Chapter 932: Hellhound

Chapter 932: The Underworld Hounds

"Move! Lads, slaughter these ghosts! Seize the Book of Life and Death! This place belongs to us now!" With that, Yuan Er led the charge toward the city.

To Bai Lingmiao’s surprise, the supernatural abilities these Xinsu unleashed were not merely their own, but a bizarre collection of techniques from countless other sects.

Like Li Huowai, these Xinsu had scavenged their powers from various corners of the world.

Watching the endless stream of underworld soldiers pouring out, Bai Lingmiao’s earlier suspicions deepened. "Ox-Head, Horse-Face, Black and White Impermanence—they are all here, and this Fengdu City exists too. Could this truly be the underworld?"

"If this is indeed the afterlife, does that mean my family is here as well?"

But seeing the skirmish erupt at the city gates, she pulled herself together and drew a string of human-bone prayer beads from her robes.

She closed her eyes, chanting sutras from the Yin Temple with a face full of compassion, while slowly rotating the beads, each carved from the brow bones of the dead.

With every bead she turned, a ghost soldier nearby, already dealt a fatal blow, perished instantly.

In the brief pauses of her chanting, control of her lower body shifted to the Ershen.

Her half-beast face contorted into a snarl, and with blackened fingernails, she drew a drumstick to strike the human-bone drum. "Feet on the earth, head to the sky! Clad in robes, whip in hand! First the Red, then the Yellow, summon the Great Python and the Spirit Marten to lead the Sorrow King!"

As her flesh rapidly fused with various bestial forms and organs sprouted from her body, the Ershen moved on reversed joints, charging forward, leaving a trail of blood and carnage in her wake.

Ghost generals continued to emerge from Fengdu, but seeing the corpses pile up, Yuan Er and his men felt a surge of hope, their supernatural attacks growing ever more frantic.

Just as the bodies began to stack high, a judge with one face twisted and the other rotting drifted toward them on a ghostly wind.

The chanting stopped abruptly, and the Ershen stared in shock at the giant judge, who towered over them. "A real judge? This hellish place is becoming more like the true underworld by the second."

Hearing this, Bai Lingmiao’s chanting faltered, but she quickly resumed, spinning the beads with renewed fervor.

The judge landed on the roof of a spectral house, surveying the scene below. His lidless eyes widened, and he bellowed with the theatrical resonance of an opera singer: "Hmph! The sheer audacity!"

He raised his judge’s brush and began to trace lines rapidly across a dark purple tome.

As he wrote, the scattered corpses on the ground suddenly returned to life, rising to surround Bai Lingmiao and her companions.

Unconsciously, Bai Lingmiao stopped chanting. Her mouth trembled as she stared in shock at the Book of Life and Death in the judge’s hand.

"It’s real. Everything they said is true! That is the true Book of Life and Death! With that, I can bring my entire village back to life!"

"Seize it!" At the Ershen’s cry, both the Xinsu and the White Donkeys abandoned their foes and lunged toward the judge.

"Hmph!" The judge looked down with disdain. As he raised his brush and locked eyes with one of the men, he made a single stroke in the book, and the White Donkey stiffened, collapsing dead to the ground.

Just as he turned his gaze toward the bearded Xinsu to strike again, Bai Lingmiao appeared before him.

As the brush descended, Bai Lingmiao slapped the Xinsu on the head.

When the brush lifted, the bearded man stood perfectly fine, his soul untouched by the book.

When others tried to meddle with death, it would be a disgrace for Bai Lingmiao, the Heart-Pan of the Ministry of Death, to fail to intervene.

"Don't be afraid! With me here, he cannot dictate your fate! Seize the book!"

Hearing this, the crowd surged forward with reckless abandon.

Many abandoned all defense, letting the ghost soldiers strike them at will, for they knew they could not truly die in this place.

Seeing his strokes rendered useless, the judge on the roof panicked. He took flight, intending to retreat and regroup.

"Old Immortal, do not forget the three treasures! The three treasures! The Immortal-Binding Lock, the Immortal-Binding Rope, and the Soul-Detaining Bottle! Throw the three treasures, grab them tight, kick them down if they struggle!"

The drumming ceased. The Ershen raised her drumstick, slashed it through the air toward the judge, and yanked it downward.

The judge plummeted, as if dragged by an invisible force.

Before he could rise, the White Donkeys hoisted their Saintess high and hurled her toward him.

The deranged Ershen laughed wildly as she lunged, her black nails sinking into the judge’s cheeks. With a violent tug, she tore his jaw clean off.

While the Ershen fought, Bai Lingmiao seized the Book of Life and Death from the judge’s grasp.

Feeling the heavy weight of the tome, she wept with joy—her family would surely return!

Yet, the scene that followed left everyone stunned. As the ghost soldiers retreated like a receding tide, another judge appeared, drifting down with his own Book of Life and Death.

And it did not end there; on the other side, a third judge descended, also holding a book.

Judges appeared one after another until, when the dust settled, nine new judges stood before them.

Staring at the book in her arms and then at those held by the judges, Bai Lingmiao cried out: "What is happening?!"

"There are ten Yama Kings, so naturally there are ten judges! Did you not know this?" Yuan Er, his face pale, hurried over with the other Xinsu.

"Who told you there were ten judges?"

"My grandmother told me, and the village elders always said so. How could you not know something so common?"

At these words, a terrifying realization made Bai Lingmiao tremble.

"I misjudged you earlier; I didn't think you had such skills. If we could handle one judge, surely we can handle nine?" Yuan Er asked, gripping his artifact.

The Ershen immediately sensed Bai Lingmiao’s thoughts and warned Yuan Er: "We can handle nine judges, but I fear the Underworld Hounds of this place!"

"Underworld Hounds?"