Chapter Sixty-Four: The Unyielding Prison Wraith

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Wei Xiaoping had just kicked away a group of prison ghosts when another swarm pressed in, and with those behind shoving forward, the ones at the front stumbled and fell onto the water before they could even approach Wei Xiaoping and his companions. As he kept kicking at the encroaching ghosts, Wei Xiaoping thought to himself: these prison ghosts feel no pain, no matter how you strike them, they show no fear. Driven by their desperate desire to escape this Black River Prison, they seem willing to risk even death.

As more and more ghosts drifted toward them, Wei Xiaoping and the Netherhound found it increasingly difficult to hold their ground. Wei Xiaoping realized that at this rate, he would surely miss his window to return his soul to his body. He needed a better way to clear a path.

"Boss Ma, more and more prison ghosts are coming from behind, and they neither feel pain nor fear death. No matter how we attack them, it's hard to drive them back. We've been fighting for so long and have moved less than half a mile, yet this Black River Prison is nearly a hundred miles wide. If we continue at this pace, when will we ever reach the shore? We need another way to make them give way!" said Wei Xiaoping.

Boss Ma replied, "General Wei, you're right, but I can't think of any solution for now!"

Wei Xiaoping asked, "Most prisons have a department for supervision. In Black River Prison, did King Yama assign any other underworld departments to oversee it?"

Boss Ma shook his head. "I don't think so. All the ghosts here are serving life sentences, and King Yama has placed a curse along the banks to seal off the Black River. I heard only King Yama himself can break this sealing spell—no matter how evil a ghost, none can undo it. So, there's no need to assign other departments for supervision—it would just waste ghostly resources."

Wei Xiaoping considered this. "But can the secret of the sealing curse really be known only to King Yama? There are millions of prison ghosts here. Whenever a new ghost is brought in, does King Yama personally escort them and lift the seal every time?"

"That's a good point, General Wei! With so many prison ghosts, King Yama can't possibly bring in each one himself. Besides, he's surely very busy—how would he have time to personally escort every new arrival? There must be dedicated staff for that. I must have heard wrong before! Since there are officers responsible for bringing in new prisoners, those officers must also know how to break the sealing spell," said Boss Ma.

"And each time a new ghost is brought in, there must be a specific place for it. If that's the case, surely there are wardens on duty at that location," Wei Xiaoping continued.

While fending off another wave of ghosts, Niu Dahua added, "Exactly! Should we try to find a warden? If we find one, surely they’ll know how to lift the seal."

"But how do we search such a long riverbank?" Boss Ma asked.

"Isn't it simple? Let's grab a ghost and ask," Wei Xiaoping suggested.

"Right! Let's catch one and see what it says!"

With that, Wei Xiaoping leaped into the midst of the encircling ghosts, seized one at random, then, after kicking away those nearby, jumped onto Boss Ma’s back. Holding up the captive ghost, he asked, "Tell me, where does the warden of this Black River Prison stand watch?"

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The ghost he held stared at Wei Xiaoping with black-ringed eyes, motionless save for its dried white teeth chattering, uttering a mournful, desperate plea: "Take me out, take me out..."

"I'm talking to you! Where does the warden of Black River Prison stand watch?" Wei Xiaoping pressed.

Still, the ghost remained the same, its dead gaze unblinking, its mouth repeating, "Take me out, take me out!"

Wei Xiaoping asked several more times, but when the ghost continued in this mindless refrain, he hurled it far away.

He kicked through another encroaching group and seized a second ghost. While fending off the others, he demanded, "Tell me quickly, where is the warden on duty? Where were you put inside when you were punished?"

This ghost, too, was just like the first—dull-eyed and monotone, repeating endlessly, "I was wronged, I want to appeal!"

After several attempts, Wei Xiaoping could get nothing else, so he tossed this ghost away as well.

He continued to grab several more, but all were just as vacant, only their repeated phrases differed.

After questioning dozens of ghosts and getting nothing but the same mindless responses, Wei Xiaoping carefully observed the next group drifting toward them. He realized that, though these ghosts could float across the black waves, their expressions were all vacant, and each could only repeat a single phrase.

"Boss Ma, Niu Dahua, this isn't working! You two have stayed in the underworld for so long—haven't you learned anything about how to cross the Black River Prison?" Wei Xiaoping asked.

"Ever since we returned from Luo Wenguang's crossing agency in the living world, we haven't visited any other part of the underworld. What little we know of Black River Prison we've only heard from Luo Zhifu and Yang Zhijin in passing," Boss Ma replied.

Niu Dahua said, "General Wei, you were a general in the living world. Can't you use the skills you learned there to hold back these ghosts here in the underworld?"

"Yeah, General Wei, if you could earn a general's rank among the living, your battle skills must surpass tens of thousands in the army! Try using your worldly abilities here!" Boss Ma echoed.

Hearing this, Wei Xiaoping suddenly realized—how had he forgotten the magic and immortal arts he’d learned in the living world? He and his brother Wei Xiaofan had trained from childhood with Daoist Master Xuanzhe, learning martial arts, cultivating the Dao, and practicing immortal techniques for over a decade, mastering nearly all Xuanzhe's skills.

He still remembered, when he and his brother were three or four, one day they accompanied their parents Wei Tianhong and Wei Xiuzhu to work in the fields. While their parents worked, the brothers played at one end.

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A Daoist passed by. For reasons unknown, he stared at the brothers for a full quarter of an hour, before approaching their parents and striking up a conversation. After a while, Wei Xiaoping and Wei Xiaofan saw their parents bow low and kneel before the Daoist, who quickly helped them up and then turned toward the boys.

He approached them, his eyes kind, and gently patted each boy's head.

Then, turning around, he took a sword from his back and tossed it high into the air, three or four fathoms above the ground. The sword hovered there for a moment. The Daoist leaped up, landed atop the blade, and it bore him skyward, rising slowly into the clouds.

Wei Tianhong and Wei Xiuzhu rushed over, and, each taking a child, pressed the boys to kneel on the ground, saying, "Sons, quickly kneel and thank Master Xuanzhe!" The family of four knelt in the direction the Daoist had flown until his figure vanished behind a distant mountain, only then standing and pulling the boys to their feet.

The following year, on their birthday, after the celebratory meal, their parents led the brothers to the very field where they’d met the Daoist, and then farther, to the foot of a nearby hill.

There, they saw the Daoist waiting for them.

Amid wrenching, tearful farewells, Master Xuanzhe took the two boys to his side, leaped onto the sword hovering high above, and soared away.

After three or four hours, they landed atop a lofty peak known as Green Summit Mountain.

The mountain soared into the clouds, thick with flowers and trees, teeming with birds and beasts, shrouded in mist all year round. Halfway up its slope sprawled a complex of three or four hundred buildings, all blue bricks and green tiles, named Green Summit Monastery. Nestled in the mountain, it looked more ethereal than fairyland itself.

Master Xuanzhe assigned Wei Xiaoping and Wei Xiaofan a small room of a dozen square meters.

From then on, their days were filled with the arduous and extraordinary rigors of martial and Daoist cultivation...