Chapter 2717

At midnight, all sounds ceased.

The moat's surface was pitch black, reflecting starlight and moonlight, when suddenly the water rippled strangely without wind.

In the depths of the fissure, looming ancient palaces could be faintly seen, emanating endless gloomy majesty.

The passage between the two worlds overlapped briefly at this moment.

"Open!"

"There's also Ghost City!"

In the distance, cultivators drawn by this earth‑shaking yin energy exclaimed in surprise, their expressions varied.

That was the Underworld Court that governs reincarnation and judges good and evil!

It is a forbidden place that even mortal cultivators spend a lifetime hoping to glimpse.

As everyone's hearts surged, Jin Chen flipped his wrist, a long sword appearing in his hand, and stepped into the Ghost Gate.

Hardly inside for a few breaths, a crimson figure appeared on the riverbank.

Yin Chaosheng's face was pallor, his black hair slightly disheveled, wearing only a thin red robe, clearly having rushed over.

His scarlet pupils swept over the contracting Underworld entrance, then glanced at the silent crowd around him, his brow furrowed with anxiety.

"City Lord?" Chu Jiu Shan was the first to react, stepping forward in surprise, "How did you come?"

"It's late," Yin Chaosheng interrupted him, his voice hoarse, "Jin Chen hasn't returned yet—where is he?"

Black Wing pointed at the flickering Ghost Gate, "Jin‑brother… just went in, saying he'd go to the Underworld for you."

Zang Huai'an also just came back from shock, swallowed saliva, and with difficulty said, "Brother Jin said, he went to negotiate with the Underworld..."

Saying that, even he himself found it hard to believe.

Can that even be negotiated!

Yin Chaosheng's gorgeous pupils contracted slightly; after a moment of silence, he slowly walked to the riverbank, lifted his robe, and obediently sat on the cold riverside stone, staring unblinkingly at the deep entrance.

The night was deep, the river wind piercingly cold and yin.

Yin Chaosheng sat quietly, his red robe fluttering gently in the wind.

He recalled long ago, when he served as an official in the Underworld, recalling his first meeting with Jin Chen in Ghost City, and those days and nights there with Jin Chen—either entwined or confronting.

Bit by bit, they flashed through his mind like a revolving lantern.

"Jin Chen..."

Yin Chaosheng whispered softly, his fingertips lightly touching his own chest.

There, originally dead and icy cold, now, because he is in the Yang realm and because of his bond with Jin Chen, he can feel a faint throb belonging to a living being.

Yin Chaosheng greatly liked this feeling, and even more liked pressing his ear to Jin Chen's chest to hear his heartbeat, feeling as if he himself were truly alive.

He sat there by the river all night without a word.

Chu Jiu Shan urged him to go rest, but he seemed not to hear.

Until the eastern horizon showed a fish-belly white, dawn faintly breaking, yet Jin Chen still had not returned.

Chu Jiu Shan stepped forward again, worried, "City Lord, dawn has broken, yang energy is growing; perhaps you should first return to the barrier your senior brother set up and wait there?"

Yin Chaosheng slowly lifted his head, gazing at the ever-brightening dawn on the horizon, rose to his feet, his scarlet figure standing out in the morning light.

"I will enter Ghost City."

Everyone was startled!

Someone blurted out, "City Lord! You… what are you going to do again?"

Yin Chaosheng lifted his gaze to the crowd; in his bewitching pupils lay a serenity as if all worldly adornments had been washed away.

From today onward, there will be no more Red Yin Ghost King, nor Red Yin Princess, in the world.

Whether the road ahead leads to rebirth as a human or to soul and spirit scattering, he lives solely for Jin Chen.

"The Underworld's ghost gate has opened, the cycle of rebirth has restarted; this is the sole chance to ferry the lingering souls within Ghost City, sending them on to their next life."

Upon these words, all the cultivators present were moved.

They besieged Ghost City, fearing the Ghost King, merely because they worried that ghostly beings would bring calamity to the mortal realm.

Now the Ghost King actually wishes to actively ferry the myriad ghosts, offering himself to the cycle of rebirth.

Led by Zang Huai'an, everyone bowed deeply and solemnly clasped their hands in salute.

Yin Chaosheng's lips twitched faintly; using the last trace of ghostly qi within his body, he formed a seal, and his scarlet figure merged into the illusory.

【Detected Villain Blackening Value -6, cumulative 20!】

Three days later, the Underworld's Judiciary.

In the depths of the Underworld, the River of Forgetfulness flows silently, and the blossoms of the far shore bloom.

Inside the main hall, however, the atmosphere was somewhat… delicate.

Jin Chen stepped out from an inconspicuous side-door of the side hall, his moon-white long robe unstained by dust, playing with a reincarnation token in his hand.

His posture was relaxed, and he even politely turned back, casually clasping his hands toward that side door, his tone carrying just the right amount of courtesy.

"Thank you, Great King, for your accommodation."

The ox-headed and horse-faced guards standing outside the hall, as well as the peeking little ghost officials, all exchanged bewildered glances.

They had personally witnessed three days ago how this living mortal slaughter god split the Underworld's barrier with a single sword and fought his way in!

That momentum was enough to practically tear down the Samsara Hall!

How… how does it now look as if he's getting along quite well with their Great King…

A bold little ghost sneakily peered through the half-open side door, but all he heard from inside was an extremely stern tone.

"Cough! Hmm!"

The King of Hell's voice boomed, echoing in the vast empty hall: "Red Yin Ghost King Yin Chaosheng, though his merits have previously been exhausted, he has governed Ghost City for hundreds of years on my behalf, restraining the myriad ghosts without major fault; this may be… considered merit offsetting demerit!"

"I now specially grant him…… a… rebirth as a human! You… go on then!"

Jin Chen's lips curled slightly, he nodded again, and walked toward Meng Po of the Reincarnation Bureau and the Chief of the Human Affairs Bureau waiting outside the hall.

The Chief of the Human Affairs Bureau stared blankly at Jin Chen, then at the empty side door, and hesitantly said: "Um, Lord Jin Chen? If you give me this token, I can, according to the merit and demerit register, select a suitable reincarnation family for him."

Jin Chen: "I'll choose."

Chief of the Human Affairs Bureau: "???"

His eyes widened until they were almost round, and he almost thought he had misheard!

Who's going to choose?

You choose!

Do you think the Underworld is your family's business?

He instinctively turned his head toward the tightly closed side door, inwardly shouting: Great King! Can you even tolerate this? This living person is going to ride over our netherworld officials...

The side door remained tightly shut, inside utterly silent.