Chapter 152: with translation of chapter title

In the span of a night, Xiao Zhuo roamed several hundred miles, capturing not a few of the Black Inn gang who had scattered and fled from North Wall Town, then escorted them one by one back to Lanruo Temple, forcing them to kneel before Zhou Shuo.

"You bastards, still can run!" Zhou Shuo looked at the Black Inn gang trembling like sieves, unable even to beg for mercy, and the corner of his mouth twitched slightly.

"Elder Brother True Man, I think we should do this: kill them all, leave their corpses here, then their souls can't escape." Xiao Zhuo looked at the trembling gang, her eyes shifted slightly, and she offered a plan—she herself was controlled in this way by the Tree Granny, because her ashes were held under the old banyan tree, preventing her soul from fleeing or reincarnating.

"Why be so vicious? They did help me out, after all." Zhou Shuo glanced at Xiao Zhuo; this sister was really ruthless!

"Please spare our lives, True Man." But hearing Zhou Shuo's words, the Black Inn lackeys instantly came to their senses, all kneeling on the ground and kowtowing.

"That said, this makes them even more hateful; I despise disobedient people. This time you can escape the death penalty, but not the living punishment: I want you to clear the ruins of Lanruo Temple, then rebuild a courtyard, beautiful in appearance and solidly safe; if it's not up to standard, I'll see to it that you all die without a burial place."

"Furthermore, I also forbid you from doing those lowly deeds; of course, I don't mind if you run off again or do something else—even suicide I don't care about—because then I'll seal your souls in your corpses, turning you into corpse servants, and the work will continue just the same."

Faced with Zhou Shuo's string of words, the Black Inn gang breathed a sigh of relief, yet simultaneously felt their bodies go limp, cold sweat pouring from their foreheads, not knowing what to do—encountering him was practically meeting a demon king; in his hands, death isn't even the end.

"Starting today, Xiao Zhuo, you will supervise their construction. Now, you all return to North Wall Town, get a good rest, prepare to begin work tomorrow, and don't bother me here." Zhou Shuo finally appointed a supervisor, then gave a soft shout, and the Black Inn gang, who had been weak-bodied, suddenly found strength and left with their heads down.

"Elder Brother True Man, uh, do I not need to serve you?" Xiao Zhuo watched the departing Black Inn gang, her big eyes shifting slightly.

"I have hands and feet; why would I need you to serve me? Or do you think I want you to help me find blood food?" Zhou Shuo looked at the female ghost with her eyes darting, and he slightly curled his lips.

"But I'm alone, and I can't just show up in the daytime—how am I supposed to subdue those men?" Xiao Zhuo looked at Zhou Shuo, who showed little unusual color, and cautiously voiced the difficulty.

"Don't worry, you help me with things, I'll naturally not shortchange you; I'll give you a cultivation method whereby you can cultivate a ghostly body." Zhou Shuo looked at the clever, lively female ghost and smirked as he spoke.

"But I'm already a ghost, aren't I?" Xiao Zhuo heard Zhou Shuo's words and was somewhat unconvinced.

"Ghosts come in ranks: the newly dead's vital soul counts as a ghost, an unconscious soul that has exited its orifice also counts as a ghost; some ghosts can only hide in dark corners, while others can traverse the six realms, calling themselves kings and overlords— which do you think you are?"

Zhou Shuo rolled his eyes; Xiao Zhuo's level—previously relying on the old demon's demonic energy to barely shapeshift, plus she hadn't been dead short, she inherently had the ability to drive objects, but having lost her yang body, she didn't even have the ability to wander during the day.

"Oh, Elder Brother, can the cultivation method you give me allow me to cultivate into a ghost king?" Xiao Zhuo's eyes held a hint of expectation.

"No, the method I give you can at most cultivate to ghost immortal, with no name in the divine form, no surname in the ghost pass, not entering reincarnation, but also hardly able to return to Penglai; at best you can just be reborn and then give up." Zhou Shuo gave a slight eye roll.

"Ah, then you don't have a higher cultivation method?" Xiao Zhuo felt somewhat unsatisfied.

"You're being picky?" Zhou Shuo looked at the somewhat dissatisfied female ghost and threw out three words.

"No, not picky—whatever you say, Elder Brother, sorry." Xiao Zhuo looked at Zhou Shuo's unchanging face, suddenly feeling she had been too greedy, and apologized with some shame.

"One should know contentment when being human, the so-called know contentment…" Zhou Shuo looked at the female ghost who still knew shame, his expression relaxed, but before he could finish his sentence, Xiao Zhuo interrupted with a sentence.

"I am a ghost." Xiao Zhuo spoke quickly without thinking; knowing contentment is for humans, but she is a ghost, and ghosts need no contentment!

"Get lost!" Zhou Shuo's face darkened slightly.

"Where can I go?" Xiao Zhuo looked at Zhou Shuo's darkened face, instantly collected her demeanor, and timidly indicated she had nowhere to go.

"I have something I want to ask you—do you know where the Black Mountain Old Demon is?" Zhou Shuo looked at the timid female ghost, didn't pursue the matter further, since probing into these small things was pointless; better to ask the important thing.

"Oh, I heard that from Granny—the Black Mountain Old Demon's lair is hidden in the Two Worlds Mountain a thousand li from here." Seeing Zhou Shuo not pursue, Xiao Zhuo felt a great relief in her heart; this young man was quite approachable.

"What else do you know about the Black Mountain Old Demon?" Zhou Shuo frowned slightly; Two Worlds Mountain, as the Black and White Impermanence say, is the place where the netherworld and the human realm meet, and that old demon actually hides there.

"I don't know much about the Black Mountain Old Demon either; only Granny said that fellow is a lecher, indulging both men and women, rumored to be very powerful, having once run rampant in the netherworld, but about a hundred years ago he was wounded by an expert and can now only hide in the Two Worlds Mountain." Xiao Zhuo lifted her eyes, thinking about the information on the Black Mountain Old Demon.

"Indulging both men and women? Have you ever come into contact with that fellow?" Zhou Shuo looked at the female ghost lost in recollection, his eyebrows jumping; indeed, birds of a feather flock together, and to mix with such a pervert as the Tree Demon—surely he's no good thing.

"No, Granny once said she wanted to marry me off to him; I heard she had married many people to him before, and a hundred years ago it was also because she was marrying off a female ghost that she provoked an expert and got beaten up." Xiao Zhuo stared wide-eyed and shook her head.

"Okay, I understand, thank you—here, take this; this thing you keep as an amulet, and I'll teach you the cultivation method…" Zhou Shuo took out an amulet jade talisman and tossed it to Xiao Zhuo, then transmitted the method for condensing a ghostly body, the Dao law for cultivating to ghost immortal, after repeated consideration also transmitted to her several techniques for bodily protection and escape.

"You yourself must cultivate honestly, not randomly provoke others, be harmonious with people; if you truly provoke someone you can't beat, then flee elsewhere and wait until I return from the Two Worlds Mountain to speak again." After transmitting the cultivation method, Zhou Shuo prepared to rise and set out for the Two Worlds Mountain, feeling he should devise a way to kill the Black Mountain Old Demon, or at least go see the situation.

"When will you be back then?" Having received the jade talisman and many Dao laws, hearing Zhou Shuo's words, Xiao Zhuo hurriedly asked.

"To have a look at the Black Mountain Old Demon and this world; I'll return when I have time. Anyway, you keep an eye on those folks and get them to turn over a new leaf." Zhou Shuo tossed out a sentence, transformed into immortal light, and flew out of Lanruo Temple toward the northwest.

Time was already near dawn; Xiao Zhuo watched the figure flying away in the morning light, tapped her foot lightly, then looked at the sunlight shining on the horizon and had to retreat to a dark place to begin practicing the ghost immortal method; she had been dead for quite a while, her body heavy with yin energy, so accumulating cultivation to reach the ability to wander during the day was merely a trifle, and soon she would be able to command those Black Inn lackeys.

Not mentioning Xiao Zhuo cultivating while supervising work, Zhou Shuo headed north all the way; when the sky grew bright, before his eyes a low mountain range suddenly appeared—its stature not remarkable, yet most of the range lay in shadow, dark and gloomy, with the southern and northern slopes like two different worlds; this must be the Two Worlds Mountain.

"Damn, this Two Worlds Mountain is so huge—where am I supposed to find the Black Mountain Old Demon?" Zhou Shuo looked at the mountain before him and couldn't help but open his mouth wide.

Riding his escape light, Zhou Shuo flew along the ridge of the Two Worlds Mountain for a while, unable to help but gasp—this mountain range stretches for at least several hundred li, seemingly extending beyond the borders of the Great Tang; searching such a vast area for the Black Mountain Old Demon is truly not easy, but that's no problem.

According to the Black and White Impermanence, the Black Mountain Old Demon is on the netherworld's blacklist; he resides at the Two Worlds Mountain, at the gateway where the netherworld opens to the yang realm; if he weren't hidden tightly, he'd likely have been torn apart alive by the ox-headed and horse-faced guards of the netherworld, and thus couldn't wreak havoc on humanity alongside the Tree Demon.

"Now I'm screwed; I don't even know if the Two Worlds Mountain has a mountain god—even if it does, not finding him is useless, and even if I find him, he wouldn't know where the Black Mountain Old Demon is, making it even more pointless." Zhou Shuo gazed at the endless Two Worlds Mountain and sighed.

"First let's go to Gold Mountain Temple to have a look." Zhou Shuo could only turn northward, intending to head to Gold Mountain Temple, but just as he was about to fly out of the Two Worlds Mountain's distance, he suddenly spotted a strange purple vapor flying out of the forest, accompanied by a wild roar, and that purple vapor swiftly shot toward the northwest.

"What is that?" Zhou Shuo saw the purple vapor flying off, quickly unfolded his escape light to give chase; that light darted straight into the darkness of the Two Worlds Mountain, following a concealed mountain path, like a purple snake in the grass, and then vanished into a mountain gorge.

"What the hell?" Zhou Shuo dropped his escape light, looked into the mountain gorge, and couldn't help but raise his eyebrows; the gorge housed a hidden ancient road, and at its end was actually a great gate, within which lurked a gloomy green fire, connecting to a place unlike the human world; the gate stood wide open, and the tail end of the strange purple vapor disappeared outside it.

Judging by its aura and situation, that gate ought to lead to the netherworld; however, as to what that earlier strange purple vapor was, Zhou Shuo was somewhat at a loss, so he lifted his escape light, followed up, passed through the moss-covered ancient road in the gorge, and then went through that gate.

"Sure enough!" Zhou Shuo passed through the gate, crossed an intangible space, and felt himself standing outside the gate of a great city; the lacquered red door studded with rivets stood wide open, within glowed green ghostly smoke, and the plaque above the gate bore the three large characters "Fengdu City"—indeed he had arrived at the domain of King Yama.

"Just treat it as a tour, though touring the netherworld, I'm afraid…" Zhou Shuo looked at the signboard of Fengdu City, twisted his neck, and stepped forward with his foot.