Chapter 26

The palace was close to them than it was when they first set foot in the city, it was brightly lit, evident even from this distance that there was a grand celebration being held.

It seemed coming to Dongfu made Ming Yongnian prone to lost himself in his own thoughts. "Is he truly ready?"

Kaijun looked at Ming Yongnian from the corners of his eyes, he was truly deserving of the title "Golden Crowned Lord". The way Ming Yongnian held himself, like the man was standing a great distance from the mortals around him.

Kaijun couldn't help but chuckle at his own thoughts. "He never will. Frankly I don't know if… letting my son go on his own is the right way. But eventually, as a parent, we have the obligation to let them go. I'd rather avoid having to send my son off in my dying breath, you and I both know what that felt like. Torn and shoved into a world we know nothing of by our parent, yet we claim to know. Because admitting we know nothing was terrifying."

A whistling sound that grew pitchier as it went up high, with a loud bomb, bright colors bloomed lighting the night sky with wonderous colors. Countless fireworks soon followed.

His chest felt warm, when he looked down he saw that his child was rubbing her head against him. So that was where the warmth came from. Ming Yongnian couldn't help it and poke the child's soft cheeks. "Go to sleep."

The child only blinked slowly at him. He could spell the child to sleep, the idea was appealing, yet he did nothing and watched the bright flowers blooming in the sky.

Only for the serene moment to shatter like a ball of glass. "How the great Golden Crowned Lord had fallen, stealing and hiding someone's child isn't very righteous of you."

***

"I'll have a bag of roasted peanuts with honey please!"

"Coming right up."

A woman wearing plain white robes, skin as white as paper, stood in front of the stall by the crowded street.

Though there was something amiss with the crowds, like the woman, all of them were strikingly white from head to toe. With the exception of their black hair and eyes, some of them were see-through, floating through the streets. The owner of the roast peanuts stall was also as white as the crowds and the woman.

Of course there were a few outliers among the white crowds. Some passerby every now and then would have colored robes, or a healthier skin, their appearance was no less terrifying than the crowd's.

This place was known as Yiwu the capital city of ghosts, home to many ghosts across the realm. Yiwu was located within the Devil realm, close to the gates of hell. It was a hub for those who had yet or refused to cross over to hell to preside in.

"Here you go, one bag of roasted peanuts with honey."

The woman paid the stall owner and met up with two other women, who were all white in appearance.

"Eldest sister, let me have some of your nuts." One of the women who was none other than Lai Meihui, sporting a white face, swiped some peanuts.

Much to Luo Huifang's displeasure. "This is mine, if you wanted some you should've bought it on your own."

"But it tastes different when I buy it compared to when someone else buys it." Lai Meihui whined.

"Was there such a difference?" Wu Jinjing asked.

The three women had disguised themselves as ghosts to blend in with the rest of the crowds.

Lai Meihui nodded her head. "Absolutely! It's like when you cook for yourself and it tastes really bad, but when someone else cooks it for you in the same exact way, you actually like it!"

"Oh my," Wu Jinjing gasped, her hand timidly placed over her mouth. "Elder sister Meihui, I was not aware that you could cook."

Luo Huifang coughed and cleared her throat, she almost choked on her peanuts. Everyone knows that Lai Meihui's cooking was rather questionable, and Wu Jinjing clearly knew this. But the woman had deliberately rubbed salt onto Lai Meihui's sore spot.

Lai Meihui's right eye was twitching excessively. She wanted to offer Wu Jinjing her glorious cooking, unfortunately if she were to do so it would be equal to digging her own grave. No one could beat Wu Jinjing in petty revenge. So Lai Meihui only smiled, visibly biting her lips in frustration.

There were rows of incense sticks lit in Luo Huifang's heart for Lai Meihui, she knew how painful it was to hold back the desire to hit Wu Jinjing. Because no matter what one must be wise enough not to provoke Wu Jinjing, she could provoke you, but you could not provoke her.

Deep breaths, in and out, phew… Lai Meihui felt sane, and no less murderous unfortunately. She then asked, "Eldest sister, are you sure that it's alright for the three of us to go together to sell the loot?"

"Don't worry after we sell a quarter of our loots in Yiwu we will split up. In this city our most important task is not to sell our loot, but to gather information." Luo Huifang told them.

Wu Jinjing raised a brow. "Gather information, in the ghost city? Wouldn't it be best if we head over to the Devil Venerable's domain if we are interested in collecting information?"

Luo Huifang chuckled. "It's not surprising that's what littlest sister would think, you primarily reside in the human realm and have little experience when it comes to the true unscrupulous ways of collecting information."

A sneaky hand was about to swipe some more peanuts, but Luo Huifang was not willing to have her precious peanuts taken even by her little sister. She pinched Lai Meihui's sneaky paws.

"Ouch!" Lai Meihui pouted and shook her hand, blowing her reddened skin. "Eldest sister let me have some."

Luo Huifang shields the bag of peanuts. "Go and get some on your own, this is mine."

She cleared her throat, ignoring Lai Meihui's glare, and continued, "To those outside looking into the Devil realm, they would naturally have the conception that the Devil Venerable's domain has a vast collection of information, and they are not wrong. But the people living in this realm should know, the dead tell stories. Countless people die everyday. They would be judged by the ten courts of hell, and the gate leading to the courts are nearby. I'm sure you've heard what one must do while in court?"

"They confess." Lai Meihui and Wu Jinjing said in unison.

Wu Jinjing was a little slow at processing the information, while Lai Meihui had already figured it out. "They confessed and told the court of the things they had done from the time they were a baby to the time of their death!"

Wu Jinjing who had caught on frowned. "But the dead confess to the ten kings of hell, how could the people here in Yiwu know?"

Luo Huifang could not blame them for not being creative enough to make up the correct reasoning. When she herself heard the reason why the people of Yiwu seemingly knew of anything and everything, she felt it was far too absurd, simply impossible!

"It's because the ten kings of hell employed ghosts to listen to the dead's, or their fellow ghosts' stories. These employed ghosts then would write a summary of the dead's life, pass it on to the ten kings of hell for their final verdict."

The two women felt that their intelligence had dropped significantly.

Seeing their dumbfounded faces Luo Huifang laughed out loud. "Ridiculous wasn't it? I thought it was a lie at first, but as it turns out it wasn't. These employed ghosts by the ten courts would sell the stories they've heard to an information shop."

"They're allowed to do that?" Lai Meihui asked.

"There are no rules stating they could not."

Rubbing her arms, teeth biting her lips, Lai Meihui couldn't help but shiver. "I can already imagine it! One of my deceased frequent bed exercise partners retells the court of our good times together." There was a faint blush and a slight raise to the corner of Lai Meihui's lips that told a different story than her body reaction.

Luo Huifang led them into a narrow alleyway, there was only enough room for a person to walk at a time. So the three women lined up as they walked through the narrow road. At the end of the alleyway was a door, Luo Huifang slid it open.

It was a tiny tea shop, looking after the shop was a transparent ghost with squinty eyes, deep wrinkles, and long beard that went past his hips.

The ghost seemed very excited. "Ho, ho, ho, what do we have here? A guest? No, no, not any ordinary guest, it's one of the infamous five nascent soul stage cultivators who had cut their ties with their sect, Wu Jinjing. With a very questionable company."