Chapter 340: The Divine Tomb of the Underground Palace (27)
The moment Yan Shixun said that the trial must be restarted, Heaven and Earth immediately responded. The mountains and forests trembled gently, and an invisible barrier rippled outward, quickly enveloping the entire woodland.
Fog rose abruptly, covering the sky and blotting out the sun.
Just a second ago, the sky had been clear and bright. Now, all light vanished in an instant, plunging everything into dimness and gloom.
A cold wind stirred from nowhere, rustling the dried branches and fallen leaves with a loud rustle, making the atmosphere seem even more lifeless and empty.
The moment before, Jing Xiaobao had still been crying in Yan Shixun’s grasp, hiccuping between sobs. But now, he gradually stopped, tears still clinging to the corners of his eyes as he looked up in confusion.
“Yan Yan…”
He murmured softly, his expression slowly becoming more solemn.
As both the King of Hell and someone with the Evil Spirit Bone Transformation, Jing Xiaobao could sense the subtle shift in the air. The world enclosed by the barrier had flipped completely, as if time itself was rushing backward, returning everything to how it had been that morning—before the trial had ever begun.
But Jing Xiaobao, who had already become a ghost deity, knew well that time could never truly reverse. Not even the Great Dao could achieve such a feat—unless it sought to destroy the heavens and the earth entirely.
That could only mean one thing…
Jing Xiaobao looked like a flipped-over turtle, desperately craning his neck up toward Yan Shixun with wide, anxious eyes. He didn’t resemble a dignified King of Hell at all, more like a kitten picked up by the scruff, pitifully mewling for a can of cat food.
He wanted an answer.
But Yan Shixun wasn’t paying attention to him at all. His gaze was fixed on his own hand, tightly interlocked with Ye Li’s.
Yan Shixun and Ye Li were bound by the Great Dao. Ye Li had given Yan Shixun his divine name as a token of a lifelong vow. So, to restart the trial and return to the place where the former King of Hell had perished, both of them had to act together.
The two wolves standing by Yan Shixun’s side sensed the disturbance almost immediately. Their sleek bodies stepped forward in unison, heads raised in a vigilant posture as they looked toward the sky, forming a tight protective circle around him.
Dark clouds rolled across the sky, thunder cracked and lightning danced. The once clear sky now turned terrifying. Claps of thunder echoed from the distance, and thick bolts of lightning split through the clouds as if slicing the world open.
And then—
“Boom!”
With a deafening crash, a bolt of lightning struck the earth. The entire invisible barrier was instantly charged with power, flickering with electric sparks that blanketed everyone within.
In that moment, ghost deities and wild wolves alike were blinded by the sudden burst of light. Nothing could be seen.
On the other side of the mountain, members of the rescue team looked up in confusion: “Strange… did any of you hear something?”
“Kinda sounded like thunder… but the sky’s completely clear….”
He looked up, squinting against the sunlight. For a brief second, he thought he saw the sky dim and a massive shadow looming above. But when he looked again, there was nothing there.
The two exchanged puzzled glances, failing to notice anything amiss.
“Come on, let’s get back to work.”
In the forest, dry branches swayed and a gentle breeze blew by. Whatever strange occurrence had just happened now seemed like nothing more than a passing illusion.
But Yan Shixun and the others were already gone.
—
When Yan Shixun’s eyelashes fluttered and he slowly regained his vision, the first thing he did was frown.
During Ye Li’s initial trial, Yan Shixun hadn’t been there.
Aside from the unforeseen interference of the former King of Hell, that trial had been Ye Li’s alone—a solitary journey of cultivation, manifesting all his pain and obsessions into reality. Unless he accepted himself, he would never pass.
But now, Ye Li had recreated that trial in front of Yan Shixun.
For the first time, Yan Shixun was seeing the bloody past that Ye Li had never wanted to speak about.
His eyes widened slowly.
Above, crimson clouds churned in the sky, dark and oppressive. Below, soldiers’ corpses lay sprawled in every direction. Rivers of blood flowed beneath his feet.
But what shook Yan Shixun the most was the city still burning fiercely in the distance.
The acrid stench of charred flesh mingled with the crackling sound of burning timber. It echoed across the empty battlefield, each crackle striking like a hammer against his heart.
This was… the battlefield of Ye more than a thousand years ago.
Ye Li’s most painful, most unbearable memory.
“I never wanted to talk to you about this part of my past, not because I wished to hide it from you, but because I still believe—this was a tragedy caused by my own mistake. It’s not a part of myself that I can be proud of.”
Yan Shixun hadn’t yet fully taken in the sight around him, still stunned by the gruesome battlefield. But Ye Li’s eyes remained downcast as he continued in a low voice, “I failed to protect the people. I didn’t lead the soldiers off the battlefield. Every one of them remained here forever. Even though I’ve come to terms with my past, I still can’t forgive myself for this.”
Ye Li didn’t need to look at the battlefield. It had always existed inside him.
For a thousand years, every single day and night had played on repeat in his mind, replaying the blood-soaked tragedy of corpses strewn across the land and rivers dyed red. It showed him the horrors again and again, pounding on his soul, demanding an answer.
—Were you really a qualified general? You let your own people die in a city massacre. You failed to fulfill the promise you once made to protect them. You let your soldiers fall on the battlefield, never to leave this land again.
Did you hear the cries of the women and infants during the massacre? Did you see the raging fires as Ye City collapsed? You caused all of this!
If—if only you had held out for a few more days, thought of another strategy—could all of this have been avoided?
—But are you truly the Lord of Fengdu? Have those ghosts ever spared you, even for a second?
Ye Li could even remember where each soldier had fallen on the battlefield. He could name every one of them and recount how they had died. He remembered their faces—faces stained in blood, eyes open in death, unable to rest in peace.
He was willing to give his heart to Yan Shixun, but this part—this past—was something he had always wanted to hide forever.
Yan Shixun sensed Ye Li’s strange mood beside him. He turned to look at his beloved, and slowly tightened his grip on Ye Li’s hand.
“You’ve already done more than enough. You faced an army of a million with only a hundred thousand men. Supplies ran out, yet you held the city for months.”
He raised his head to look at the distant city and said softly, “You didn’t let a single citizen die before your soldiers. You fought until your last drop of blood was shed. And after the people died, you still ran around, asking the heavens and the earth for justice on their behalf, helping them let go of hatred so they could reincarnate. That’s something no one before or after you has ever done. Even the Great Dao recognized your path.”
“Ye Li, you were never the killer. You gave everything to protect them.”
Yan Shixun looked at Ye Li earnestly and with full attention and said, “You think this is your weakness—that it would make me think less of you. But have you ever considered another possibility?”
“The very fact that you feel pain and regret proves that you have always held life close to your heart—that you’ve never abandoned them. What’s more, you already sent them into reincarnation. You fought against heaven and earth for them, fought against death. What you did, no one else ever could—you stood against the Great Dao as a human, rose to become a ghost deity… and even now, for the sake of letting those souls pass on peacefully, you carry the responsibility on your shoulders and became the Great Dao.”
Yan Shixun smiled slightly and said, “That just makes me love you even more.”
The light shining in the darkness—that was the true sun.
To still be willing to protect life after going through so much pain and injury—that was true goodness.
Yan Shixun truly believed this.
As his words fell, Ye Li couldn’t tear his gaze away from him.
Ye Li’s Adam’s apple bobbed as emotion surged in his chest, love filling him so much it nearly overflowed.
This was his beloved… How could he not love him?
Ye Li let out a low laugh, his eyes gentle like the winding, flowing waters of spring.
But meanwhile, being held up in Yan Shixun’s hand, Jing Xiaobao: QAQ What kind of new punishment is this?? Wuwuwu please put me down, I don’t want to be here sob sob sob!
Jing Xiaobao flailed wildly, swinging back and forth in the air.
As he accidentally lowered his head, he made eye contact with two nearby wolves.
But the two wolves—who had just been one-sidedly named “woof-woof doggies”—wore utterly lifeless expressions, clearly stuffed full by this massive serving of dog food.
Wolves: Urgh…
The lead wolf even quietly took two steps to the side, turning its head away in denial that it ever knew Yan Shixun.
The only one who seemed genuinely happy… was Jing Xiaobao himself, once he spotted the “woof-woofs.”
He immediately forgot the trauma of being forced to watch that overwhelming display of affection, laughing “gegege” all over again. With his pudgy paws still smeared with meat, he reached out eagerly toward the wolves on the ground, itching to rub the lead wolf’s twitching, fluffy ears.
They looked so soft and springy—super touchable\~
Jing Xiaobao’s wild squirming finally pulled Yan Shixun out of his deep emotional moment with Ye Li. He frowned and looked down at the little ball in his hand.
“Jing Xiaobao.”
Yan Shixun called the child’s full name in a calm voice.
Jing Xiaobao immediately shivered, overcome by the primal fear of being scolded by a parent, and went still in Yan Shixun’s grip.
Ye Li’s gaze turned cold as he looked at Jing Xiaobao. If this weren’t the current King of Hell and also the child raised by Yan Shixun, he might’ve been tempted to toss him out of the room right then and there.
Just when the atmosphere was finally perfect for something meaningful, this little brat had to barge in and ruin it.
Ye Li ground his teeth, eyes flashing dangerously.
Jing Xiaobao felt a chill down his spine. He slowly twisted around in midair to peek behind him—and when he saw Ye Li’s expression, not only did he not feel scared, he even had the mood to make a silly face at him, grinning cheekily to provoke him.
What now? I’m in your wife’s hands. Scared yet? Bleh bleh bleh\~
Ye Li: …………
But when he glanced to the side, he forcibly restrained his urge to beat up Jing Xiaobao, stood there like a statue with perfectly straight posture, and wore an oddly well-behaved yet menacing look as he pretended to meditate peacefully.
Jing Xiaobao: Huh??? Is this still the Fengdu I know? Something feels off…
Before he could figure it out, he suddenly realized he was being lifted higher—Yan Shixun had raised him all the way up to eye level.
Yan Shixun frowned as he watched Jing Xiaobao wobble back and forth like a little turtle paddling in water. He asked, “Have you been playing like crazy lately? Making faces too? Didn’t I tell you already that when you smile, you should smile normally?”
Just as Jing Xiaobao was about to argue—no, explain himself—Yan Shixun already noticed something unusual.
“The book I told you to memorize before I left—have you finished it?”
Yan Shixun gave Jing Xiaobao a little shake and asked suspiciously, “Have you been going wild again in the underworld?”
Well, it made sense. The ghost officer Jing Xiaobao had summoned earlier was one who managed the evil spirits in hell. Yan Shixun had been to the underworld before and knew how it was structured. Normally, although the King of Hell resided at the top and oversaw hell, he wouldn’t usually descend into it and shouldn’t be that familiar with the officials there.
But judging from that ghost officer’s attitude toward Jing Xiaobao, it was clear they knew him well. Even if the ghost officer wasn’t familiar with Jing Xiaobao’s personality, they must have interacted often. Otherwise, how could an official remain so calm and casual in the presence of the King of Hell?
In other words…
Yan Shixun’s suspicious gaze landed squarely on Jing Xiaobao.
Jing Xiaobao sensed the heavy and strange tension in the air. A wave of guilt washed over him, like a child who had just done something wrong. His big eyes darted nervously, and his little pudgy hands clenched tightly onto his suspender straps, looking very anxious.
—In front of a parent, a child who had made a mistake was practically an open book.
Just by looking at that guilty expression, it was obvious.
A fake smile curled at the corner of Yan Shixun’s lips.
It seemed that while he was away, Jing Xiaobao hadn’t studied a single page and had been messing around in the underworld all day long.
“I’m going to test your memorization now. If you can recite it, fine. If not…”
Yan Shixun let out a cold laugh. “Get ready to copy the entire book when we get home.”
At that, Jing Xiaobao instantly burst into tears with a loud “Waaah!” and threw himself at Yan Shixun, desperately trying to cling to him, clearly refusing to copy anything.
Because when Yan Shixun talked about copying books, he didn’t mean just a line or two—he meant the entire book, the whole bookshelf, even the entire study.
The small study in the old courtyard in Binhai City stored the handwritten notes and books that Li Chengyun and Yan Shixun had collected over the years. In addition to commercially available texts, there were many rare and fragmented volumes, along with the personal notes of reclusive cultivators, filled with insights and reflections from their lifelong Daoist cultivation.
If you added it all up, it would easily amount to tens of millions of characters—no exaggeration.
—Even if Jing Xiaobao, being the King of Hell, didn’t need sleep and never got tired, he still couldn’t copy tens of millions of characters!
He’d rather go fight evil spirits than copy books—absolutely not!
But just as he tried to throw himself into Yan Shixun’s arms and act cute, Yan Shixun calmly pressed a single finger to his forehead and stopped him cold.
“You knew I’d test your memorization when I came back, and you still didn’t study.”
Yan Shixun raised an eyebrow and said slowly, “Doesn’t that mean you wanted to copy the book? You’re rarely this motivated—I should absolutely support your enthusiasm. Oh right, this is actually your birthday gift. Don’t forget to thank me.”
Jing Xiaobao wailed in frustration, “I didn’t! I’m not! Yan, you’re slandering me! I’m a ghost—why do I need to copy books? I’m already the King of Hell! Isn’t the King of Hell supposed to be the most powerful of all ghosts? Why does the King of Hell need to copy books?!”
“Who told you he didn’t?”
Yan Shixun raised an eyebrow, as if Jing Xiaobao’s words were simply baffling. He gave an example: “Did you know there was a King of Hell before you? When he was in school, he got scolded so badly by his old professors that he cried while rolling on the floor. When he couldn’t solve complex functions in class, he was hung in front of the blackboard for the entire lecture in front of over two hundred people. Being left behind to write essays was an everyday thing for him.”
“The books he copied could stack higher than you.”
Yan Shixun spoke with an air of nonchalance, as if what he was describing was the most ordinary thing in the world.
Jing Xiaobao was stunned into silence, his mind blank.
He did know there had been a King of Hell before him—someone who had died during the fall of the gods a century ago. But he never imagined that even the King of Hell had to go to school… and do things he couldn’t even understand…
Jing Xiaobao shivered, and tears welled up in his large eyes, filled with terror.
He even wanted to say he didn’t want to be King of Hell anymore—it wasn’t fun at all. But the moment he met Yan Shixun’s gaze, the fleeting courage he had just mustered instantly evaporated like dew in the sun.
He hung his head, pouted, and said with a sob in his voice, “But… but copying books is too much… You can’t even finish copying them yourself, so why make me do it? I’m still a child, QAQ…”
Yan Shixun crushed him with brutal honesty: “A child who’s eighty years old and strong enough to beat down all the ghosts in hell without any resistance?”
“I wasn’t eighty when I died! That’s my underworld age! It doesn’t count!”
Yan Shixun gave him a light smack, and the little one immediately fell silent, with none of the boldness he’d shown earlier when he was arguing even without reason.
It was clear Jing Xiaobao was still unhappy. Yan Shixun sneered, “Who told you I haven’t copied books? Where do you think those two different sets of annotations in the books came from? Where do you think the rare scriptures in the hands of other sects came from?”
Jing Xiaobao blinked slowly. “Don’t tell me… you copied them, Yan Yan?”
Yan Shixun nodded casually, as if it were the most normal thing in the world.
Li Chengyun might have had a gentle personality, but beneath his easygoing, cloud-watching appearance was a spine of unbending steel. In his eyes, there was no such thing as pointless “kindness.”
As for indulgence—such a thing never happened under Li Chengyun’s roof.
Li Chengyun had been born in a time of chaos and had weathered every storm along the way like a towering tree. His understanding of the heavens and the future’s urgency meant that even with his unmatched natural talent, he never wasted a single moment.
He was a man who held his disciples to a strict standard—and himself to an even stricter one.
From the moment young Yan Shixun was brought home by Li Chengyun, he had been subjected to that same heavy and rigorous education.
While other children were playing games and watching TV, little Yan Shixun was already holding ancient texts and drawing talismans on his own. By the time Yan Shixun grew up, the speed at which Li Chengyun gathered books and brought them home had already caught up with the speed at which he read them.
Many precious scriptures in the various Taoist sects and temples were actually copied by Yan Shixun in his own study during his youth, then sent over by him.
If Jing Xiaobao thought that Yan Shixun only asked him to do things he couldn’t do himself, then he was gravely mistaken.
In fact, the education Jing Xiaobao received was already a toned-down version—one that Yan Shixun had personally adjusted after comparing it to the teachings he had undergone himself.
Even now, Yan Shixun still remembered something Li Chengyun had once told him:
—“You’re not studying and getting stronger for your own sake, but for the lives you are meant to protect, and the responsibilities you must shoulder.”
Yan Shixun didn’t know how to be a good “father,” “mother,” or “teacher” to fill in those roles that were missing in Jing Xiaobao’s life.
But fortunately, he had the best master, who had taught him how to guide Jing Xiaobao—so that this Evil Spirit Bone Transformation, born from premature death, could grow into a true King of Hell.
—Not just possessing the power and majesty that a King of Hell should have, but also the responsibility and commitment to protect all living beings.
Mr. Lin Ting had entrusted Jing Xiaobao to Yan Shixun, and he, too, didn’t want to fail Mr. Lin Ting’s expectations. A person who had protected her country and family in both life and death—she hoped to see her child also fight for the people of the world.
However, Yan Shixun didn’t explain any of this to Jing Xiaobao.
He merely rattled off, at a rapid pace, the names of the books he had copied—a long, seemingly endless list that quickly left Jing Xiaobao dazed and dizzy, like a mosquito coil swirling in his eyes, unable to return to his senses for quite a while.
Especially when Yan Shixun added, “Isn’t this kind of memory only natural for someone with the Evil Spirit Bone Transformation? What, you don’t have it?”
That remark hit Jing Xiaobao so hard that he almost burst into tears on the spot.
In the end, Yan Shixun casually raised a hand and pointed at Ye Li: “Also, you seem to be under some kind of misunderstanding. Who told you that the King of Hell is the ruler of all ghosts? Was it that powerful ghost in the underworld who taught you that? Tell me its name—I’ll go personally have a word with it about child education. Even if there is a King of Ten Thousand Ghosts, it should be Ye Li, not you.”
Ye Li gave a perfectly timed dangerous smile. Black mist swirled around him, ten thousand ghosts shrieked menacingly behind him, and the corpses of fallen soldiers on the battlefield began to twitch slightly, as if they might suddenly open their eyes and rise at any moment.
Startled by the overwhelming danger, Jing Xiaobao let out a hiccupped sob and collapsed limply in Yan Shixun’s hand, completely unable to resist the crushing pressure.
Jing Xiaobao: Why does it feel like the two of them went out for a bit and came back a lot stronger? I couldn’t beat them before, and now it’s totally hopeless. QAQ So unfair! I hate the Great Dao, boohoo…
Only then did Yan Shixun nod in satisfaction, shaking the child dangling in his hand slightly: “But, you still have another chance to prove yourself.”
Jing Xiaobao lifted his head weakly, looking like a droopy-eared chubby bunny—adorable and pitiful—as he gazed at Yan Shixun with wide, hopeful eyes.
“Zhang Wubing is missing.”
Yan Shixun lowered his gaze slightly and said, “I want you to find his traces in this trial field and bring him back.”
Jing Xiaobao: “?”
“Wow, is Brother Dabing really that useless? Even managed to get himself lost.”
Jing Xiaobao puffed up his tiny chest proudly: “Not like me—I never get lost.”
Besides, wasn’t it better that Brother Dabing was missing? Now he could have Yan Yan all to himself. Hee hee\~
Yan Shixun smiled and casually dropped a bomb: “Zhang Wubing was the previous King of Hell.”
“…………”
“???”
Jing Xiaobao’s face twisted in shock: “Yan Yan, do you like Brother Dabing that much? You even want to make him the King of Hell!”
Just moments ago, Jing Xiaobao had looked down on the position of King of Hell. Now, he was instantly on high alert, clinging tightly to Yan Shixun’s arm like a sloth, refusing to let go—as if he had suddenly sworn a sacred oath to defend the title of King of Hell to the death.
He could give it up, but no one else was allowed to steal it from him!
Especially not Zhang Wubing!
When someone didn’t care about something, but then suddenly saw others competing for it, they would often start treasuring it as if it were a precious gem, unwilling to let go no matter what.
Yan Shixun: “…………”
He realized that Jing Xiaobao had misunderstood, thinking that he was offering the position to Zhang Wubing out of spite.
In truth, the fragmented soul of the previous King of Hell had been hiding in Zhang Wubing’s shadow all along—so thoroughly concealed that even the Great Dao had been fooled. How could someone like Jing Xiaobao have discovered it?
When the King of Hell’s true form was projected from the shadow during the ghost play in the southwest, Jing Xiaobao hadn’t been there and knew nothing about it.
In Jing Xiaobao’s mind, Zhang Wubing was still just that ordinary human who competed with him for attention, clinging to Yan Shixun’s thigh with snot and tears, howling pitifully.
But seeing Jing Xiaobao’s reaction, Yan Shixun, with a touch of mischief, had no intention of correcting him. He simply let him continue to misunderstand.
—*Hitting the mark by mistake.* A Jing Xiaobao who was “competing for affection” with Zhang Wubing looked more motivated than ever.
“That will depend on your performance.”
Yan Shixun drawled lazily, “If you find Xiao Bing, it’ll prove you’re stronger than him, and the position of King of Hell is still yours. But if you can’t find him…”
He shrugged and didn’t finish the sentence, leaving Jing Xiaobao to fill in the blanks on his own.
Jing Xiaobao: “!!!”
He stared at Yan Shixun in horror—he hadn’t expected Yan Shixun to be serious about this.
A sudden sense of crisis filled him with energy. He immediately dropped his usual laziness and scanned his surroundings like he was facing a great enemy, determined to uncover Zhang Wubing’s whereabouts.
“What’s an ordinary human like him doing in a place like this anyway? Got tired of living and came to the underworld to keep me company?”
Jing Xiaobao mumbled to himself, puzzled and thinking his older brother was a bit of a clueless fool—this place was so much fun, yet he didn’t even think to bring him along to play. “Protect,” he said—what kind of excuse was that?
So, Jing Xiaobao began carefully discerning the directions around him. An invisible force radiated outward from his body, and delicate black markings began to appear on his snow-white, adorable face. They looked like mysterious runes—flickering across his skin before fading away.
His large, beautiful eyes slowly turned pitch black. The transformation cast a strange and eerie shadow over his cuteness, leaving anyone who saw it chilled to the bone.
Only now did this adorable child finally reveal his true nature as someone bearing the Evil Spirit Bone Transformation.
Inside the trial grounds, cold winds howled and the cries of countless ghosts echoed—but not one dared approach Jing Xiaobao. In fact, countless dark shadows quickly retreated into the distance, desperately trying to escape.
—This was the strength and oppressive aura of a top-tier vengeful ghost.
In Hell, power reigned supreme. Even if the King of Hell fell from grace, he would be torn to shreds by countless fierce ghosts the moment he landed in the underworld. But Jing Xiaobao, with the power of a single ghost, had once suppressed the out-of-control Eighteen Levels of Hell, slamming all the fierce ghosts to the ground until they yielded with utter submission.
Now that this power had returned, few ghosts could stand against it.
Ghostly energy surged toward Jing Xiaobao from all directions. His force rippled outward like sonar waves, meticulously scanning every corner of the trial grounds—leaving no place for Zhang Wubing to hide.
Then he pointed in the direction he had sensed and told Yan Shixun, “Southeast.”
Yan Shixun lifted his chin with a smile and began walking toward the spot Jing Xiaobao had indicated.
Watching Yan Shixun’s behavior, Ye Li raised an eyebrow, a look of realization flickering in his eyes.
He smiled and looked toward Yan Shixun, silently asking: Shixun, are you using Jing Xiaobao as your GPS now?
Yan Shixun spread his hands: What, is that not allowed? Didn’t Zhang Wubing serve as an extremely competent navigator?
Zhang Wubing was the most accurate guide Yan Shixun had ever used in his life—wherever he pointed, the target was there. It was shockingly precise—and there was no need to worry about satellite signal issues. The margin of error was less than a meter.
However, after following Jing Xiaobao for quite a distance, Yan Shixun didn’t sense even the faintest trace of Zhang Wubing’s aura.
In fact, his instincts told him that Zhang Wubing wasn’t in that direction at all.
—It would’ve made more sense if he was behind him.
Yan Shixun stopped walking and looked at Jing Xiaobao, puzzled. “Are you even navigating properly?”
Having his ability questioned, Jing Xiaobao cried out, “Yan Yan, you don’t trust me!!”
The child’s face was full of indignation, his cheeks flushed red from shouting.
Yan Shixun replied, “…I think my instincts are more accurate than yours.”
Jing Xiaobao: Q皿Q
Yan Shixun only thought for two seconds before decisively turning around, cutting his losses in time. He gave up on letting Jing Xiaobao serve as his navigator and instead lowered his gaze, choosing to follow his own intuition.
He didn’t like forming karmic ties with others lightly.
But the bond between him and Zhang Wubing had already become so entangled that it was impossible to unravel.
Because of that karmic connection—and with the Great Dao now resting on his shoulders—Yan Shixun, even within the trial grounds, could vaguely sense Zhang Wubing’s whereabouts.
—It just wasn’t very precise.
Yan Shixun admitted he was still far from being as reliable as a morally-bankrupt GPS, but Jing Xiaobao had gone from his initial confusion and curiosity to ending up with a deadpan expression. In a childish voice, he asked, “Yan Yan, are you trying to learn the meaning of the idiom ‘heading south while driving the chariot north’?”
“How about we forget it—you should just follow the direction I pointed out.”
As he spoke, Jing Xiaobao perked up again, full of enthusiasm and determination to find Zhang Wubing’s location.
But Yan Shixun rejected him coldly and mercilessly. “No, I think Xiao Bing is in this direction. The karmic link is growing stronger.”
Jing Xiaobao pouted, his red lips tightening stubbornly as he pointed behind Yan Shixun. “I think it’s that way!”
“This way.”
“That way! It really is that way!”
…
The two wolves: “…………”
Suddenly, they felt like the world wasn’t very trustworthy after all. The King of Hell was this kind of person… and the bearer of the Great Dao, Yan Shixun, was also this kind of person…
But soon, in the middle of their argument, Yan Shixun noticed something odd.
The directions he could sense were, in fact, very inaccurate—he could barely distinguish between north, south, east, and west.
However, the directions Jing Xiaobao pointed out were far more precise. He could even report the distance and angle.
The only problem was… Zhang Wubing wasn’t in that direction at all.
At times like this, Yan Shixun suddenly started to miss having Zhang Wubing around to navigate.
When Zhang Wubing was there, his accuracy was flawless—down to the last detail. There was no need to waste time figuring things out himself like this.
It seemed that every kind of talent truly had its rightful place—nothing was ever wasted.
Yan Shixun: I didn’t expect that Xiao Bing’s existence would end up being so motivational.
“Are you really the King of Hell?”
Yan Shixun paused in his steps, looking at Jing Xiaobao in doubt. “Could something have gone wrong? Maybe you never actually inherited the divine title and position of the King of Hell?”
“!!! Who said that! I am the King of Hell—the real deal!”
Jing Xiaobao looked as if someone was trying to snatch away his favorite toy, completely on guard. “It’s just a dumb Zhang Dabing! Yan Yan, just wait—I’ll definitely find him for you!”
Yan Shixun replied flatly, “I have my doubts about that…”
He looked toward Ye Li, puzzled. “Wait a minute—don’t tell me… navigation isn’t one of the basic skills required for the ghost deity known as the King of Hell?”
Ye Li paused in thought and, for once, gave Jing Xiaobao the benefit of the doubt. “In theory, the King of Hell’s authority covers death and reincarnation. He handles where people go after they die—he doesn’t manage navigation.”
He added tactfully, “Jing Xiaobao probably… really doesn’t have that kind of skill.”
What Ye Li didn’t say to his beloved was—there didn’t seem to be any deity in charge of navigation.
Before the Great Dao collapsed, yes, there were many immortals, each responsible for their own domain. But even then, their duties only went as far as overseeing rainfall or matchmaking. Navigation… maybe even the Great Dao itself never thought it necessary to assign a divine role just for that.
What, were people supposed to check in with the Navigation God every time they opened an app?
Still, Ye Li quickly found another excuse for his lover.
Clearly, the old version of the Great Dao had been outdated—it never considered that there would be demand in this area. The oversight was on the Great Dao’s part—not Shixun’s.
Yan Shixun rubbed his chin and pondered aloud, “So this was really just Xiao Bing’s unique skill?”
He was a bit surprised by this discovery. But soon enough, he realized something else.
After combining his own instincts with Jing Xiaobao’s directions, he suddenly found out that if he completely reversed the direction Jing Xiaobao pointed to—that was actually the right one!
In other words, as long as he immediately went in the opposite direction of whatever Jing Xiaobao said, he could find Zhang Wubing.
“…Isn’t your margin of error a little too high?”
Yan Shixun looked at Jing Xiaobao with a complicated expression. “Do you hate Xiao Bing or something? Why are your directions always completely reversed?”
Jing Xiaobao protested, “A hundred percent wrong is a hundred percent right! Besides, who’s ever heard of ghosts being used for navigation?!”
Yan Shixun replied, “Mine.”
“…………”
Still, for Yan Shixun, this was undeniably good news.
If both he and Jing Xiaobao could still sense Zhang Wubing, that meant Zhang Wubing was still here—and for now, he was safe.
Even though the power of the Great Dao’s karmic backlash was immense, perhaps Zhang Wubing had really managed to scrape by and survive.
With that thought, Yan Shixun unconsciously quickened his pace.
Ye Li’s power silently spread in all directions, gradually taking over the entire Trial Grounds.
Unlike before, this time he was no longer just a ghost deity. Now, he was the Great Dao itself—the ultimate rule-maker and enforcer. Sensing things within the trial grounds was now a trivial matter.
The Great Dao could no longer block his perceptions or memories here.
Even though Zhang Wubing had died under the Great Dao’s thunderous wrath, making him harder to find, luckily Yan Shixun and Jing Xiaobao were here, filling in the gaps.
Once they discovered the pattern, the group worked seamlessly together, quickly narrowing down the vast territory of the trial grounds, step by step drawing closer to the place Zhang Wubing was most likely to be.
Even the two wolves proved useful. With noses low to the ground, they sniffed for signs of the living and signaled to Yan Shixun whether the direction was right, helping eliminate the wrong paths with certainty.
Following these signals, Yan Shixun and the others left the battlefield, passed through large expanses of reed marshes, climbed mountains and crossed valleys in this lifelike trial environment, covering vast ground in moments.
Yan Shixun’s spiritual sense grew stronger by the minute.
But suddenly, he froze in place. As he passed through a forested mountain, the sight before him made him hold his breath.
What appeared before him… was a village market that looked very familiar.
The hustle and bustle of street vendors calling out, the short and shabby houses, the variety of market stalls, and the old homes lining the street—
—This was unmistakably the very same market where young Yan Shixun had been abandoned, over a decade ago.
Ye Li also froze in surprise. He hadn’t expected this scene to appear within the trial.
Was it because their first encounter had left such a deep impression on him?
But Yan Shixun had already spotted a familiar figure in the crowd.
If you love what Ciacia is doing, then consider showing your support by supporting a cup of tea for her at Kofi. If you can’t wait for the next release chapter, subscribe to advanced chapters membership on her Kofi to get access to up to 10 chapters!
