Chapter 990: The Four Scribes Display Their Marvelous Skills

In the small hall of the church, the Four Scribes of Zhigucheng sat in their respective places.

Liu Daoyuan wore a green small shirt and a black-brimmed hat, with a small pen stuck inside—the origin of the scribe’s “ear-pen” name. Fang Tangjing donned a long robe, holding a folding fan in his right hand, which he casually opened to reveal the words “A Page of Absurdity.”

Cao Zhitian was an elderly man half-Chinese, half-foreign, his hair parted neatly and gleaming with oil; he smiled as he spoke to Drummond.

Drummond dressed as a traditional Camelot gentleman, wearing a silver wig with a small braid hanging down his back.

Fang Tangjing chuckled first: “I’m only skilled at courtroom debate; my penwork falls short of yours by a margin. This time, I’ll speak but not write.”

He turned to Liu Daoyuan, bowing with his fan raised: “Of all the scribes in Zhigucheng—no, in all the North—no one surpasses Brother Liu in writing petitions. When the county magistrate here hears a petition is yours, he often renders judgment after merely glancing at half a page. Since we Four Scribes of Zhigucheng are joining forces, the petition must be written by you.”

Cao Zhitian chuckled: “I wonder what great fortune Li Er has to be served by all four of us.”

Drummond rose solemnly: “He is the Lord of Xuanzhen Sect, the one who received the *Xuanjun Seven Chapters Secret Scripture*. In our terms, he is a ‘Chosen One’; in yours, he is a god descended to earth.”

“You are all geniuses of litigation, but this time we sue before nine ghost deities, accusing a god descended to earth, and pinning him to the judgment seat.”

“Therefore, the core charge of this case shall be drafted by me.”

Drummond spoke with solemnity and sanctity: “By the sacred law of the Three Holy Creators, the supreme law that forged this world, I shall proclaim his crimes through the Law of the Spirit Realm.”

Upon hearing this, the other three scribes fell silent.

After a long pause, Liu Daoyuan rolled up his sleeves and said calmly: “The rule of the scribe’s trade is: once you accept a case, you never retreat. Since we’ve taken this job, our only goal is—victory!”

He rubbed his inkstick and said to the young attendant beside him: “Change the ink.”

The attendant blinked in surprise: “Is this ink not good?”

“This ink is not good,” Liu Daoyuan said calmly. “You’ve heard some rumors—knowing that fox blood ink is most favored by ghost deities. But this first petition is addressed to the Yin Body of the Empress of Heaven—the Heavenly Ghost Mother! She favors umbilical cord blood: take the umbilical cord of a woman born in yin hour, yin month, yin day; grind the ink from the roots of an ancient plum tree, and refine it with seven pure incenses a thousand times.”

“The Heavenly Ghost Mother is the mother of all ghosts. When a person passes from life to death, it is like being reborn within her body. Her law inverts life and death, utterly defying common sense.”

I must write this petition in reverse script, because we stand upright in the yang world, but everything in her netherworld is inverted…

“For the White Bone Pagoda, the ink must be mixed with human blood, using high-quality Huangshan old pine wood, ideally blended with seven kinds of grievous blood—grief against heaven, grief against earth, grief against father, grief against mother… The petition to the White Bone Lady must be written in bone script—the ancient script carved on tortoise shells and animal bones. Find a thousand-year-old spirit tortoise shell; I shall personally burn the inscriptions and fill them with blood ink.”

“Do you really know all this?”

The young attendant holding the inkstone, though cultured among his peers, could not help but be awestruck by Liu Daoyuan’s calm exposition.

Liu Daoyuan continued methodically: “First rule of petitioning: handwriting must be neat and legible. Second: logic must be clear, facts precise. The worst sin is distorting facts—or worse, lying. Ghost deities see all. If they detect a lie, the entire petition is void. Even a corrupt mortal magistrate prefers a petition that is clearly written—he may be blind in the eyes, but clear in the heart.”

“Thus, writing a petition requires first clarity of facts, second, deliberate emphasis.”

“This emphasis has three aspects: first, select evidence favorable to us; second, narrate facts favorable to us with clarity and emphasis; third, interpret evidence according to the deity’s own logic. Thus, Confucius edited the *Spring and Autumn Annals*—his great righteousness lies within.”

“Confucius is our ancestral master. The *Spring and Autumn Annals* is the finest petition ever written.”

“For the Black Sky Moth Mother, use insect script, ink made from ghost-faced moths…”

“For petitions to the Lord of the Yin Mirror, use mirror-writing in reverse script, with ink from Taishan pine…”

Liu Daoyuan wrote furiously, clearly setting out the opening formalities and background of the case, then looked up at Drummond: “You understand the Spirit Realm’s law and the Three Holy Laws. What is the first charge against this Lord of Xuanzhen?”

Though the four scribes had roles and hierarchy, all knew Drummond was the lead scribe in this case.

For all litigators and scribes, how to fabricate charges, how to exonerate—this skill of defining guilt is paramount.

Human law is written in black and white, leaving room for manipulation; ghost law is vague and obscure, demanding even deeper mastery.

Suing a ghost deity is perilous beyond measure, for their laws differ utterly from the human world, testing the scribe’s true skill. Liu Daoyuan’s question was both deference and examination.

He was testing Drummond’s true ability.

“First charge: he is a man!”

Fang Tangjing slapped his fan against his palm and sneered: “Absurd!”

Liu Daoyuan frowned tightly.

This charge was truly absurd…

Had Qian Chen been here, he would have been stunned into silence: “You understand the version!”

“Even if she is ninety-nine percent wrong, are you zero percent wrong?”

“I took it—does not mean I agreed.”

“I agreed this second—does not mean I agree the next.”

At this moment, Drummond stood before the petition delivered to the Empress’s Palace, as if standing atop the pinnacle of Version T0.

Fang Tangjing laughed bitterly, pointing at Drummond’s nose: “My nickname is ‘Absurd Mirror,’ yet I never imagined someone could litigate more absurdly than I. Reason tells me your judgment is ridiculous—but experience tells me the more absurd the reason, the more likely it cuts through laws too vague to judge, giving us room to turn the world upside down!”

“So why?”

Fang Tangjing asked: “Why is being a man a crime?”

“Male dominance, female submission; male yang, female yin; male extension, female contraction—you and I are lawyers. I ask you: why, in Daqian, in Camelot, in Gaul, are women born guilty?” Drummond countered. “Why do our laws uniformly mandate the protection of male authority?”

“Because we protect the family.”

Fang Tangjing said calmly: “Within the family—the smallest social unit—we must establish a natural, unquestioned, heaven-aligned power structure. All social order rests upon the family. If we cannot determine the natural leader within the family, chaos will erupt from the bottom.”

“That is patriarchy!”

“To maintain the family, within a dynamic balance, one side’s power must overflow, the other’s must be invaded. This is yin and yang. Only thus can what we protect remain stable.”

“Therefore, unless our basic order extends to the individual, one side’s power must be amplified!”

Drummond praised: “Sir, your traditional philosophy grants you a natural height of perspective. Believe me, most lawyers do not know what they defend.”

“Thus, consider the Three Holy Ones of the Spirit Realm: the Three Summoned Ones, the Lords of the Twelve Celestial Hours—they are born leaders. In the hierarchy of deities, they sit atop.”

“Then what natural power structure emerges from their trio?”

At this moment, all understood.

“The family!”

Drummond drew a sacred triangle on his left shoulder, right shoulder, and forehead: “Thus, nominally we worship the Holy Father, Holy Mother, and Mirror Lord. But in the West, the Holy Father’s patriarchal authority has overflowed; the Holy Mother is passive, her status absorbed; the Mirror Lord has been supplanted by the Son, the Savior.”

“Why does this not happen in the East?”

Liu Daoyuan frowned deeply: “Because… the Three Creators do not emphasize gender. No—wait, even so…”

“The Empress is the emphasis on the feminine. She is the Empress—then who is the Emperor?”

Drummond waved his arms: “In Spirit Realm law, there is unquestionably such a rule: the Cup Mother is the natural consort deity! If the Three Holy Ones possess gender, then the sacred triangle must have only one at the apex!”

“In the Spirit Realm’s manifestations, both Mirror Lord and Cup Mother are yin. Thus, the Three Holy Ones are inherently unbalanced.”

“Because the Heavenly Father can hold power over both Mirror Lord and Cup Mother!”

“Therefore, the Heavenly Father’s manifestation as yang is, by nature, evil to the Cup Mother and Mirror Lord.”

“This is not preference—it is power.”

Liu Daoyuan could no longer hide his revulsion. Drummond’s argument concealed a key element: the Three Holy Ones, as a basic ‘family’ unit, were fundamentally unsuitable.

In a stable family, the third member should be a child—not a daughter.

For the mother, patriarchy defends her; for the daughter, there is no one to turn to for help against the mother.

This logic filled Easterners with rational revulsion…

“Thus, this natural conflict drives the Cup Mother to desire to re-conceive the Lamp Father—this is the origin of the Church’s theology: the Cup Mother’s innate temptation to lead mortals astray. The Mirror Lord tempts the Lamp Father—pure, yet unaware; the Lamp Father is majestic and great, but the temptation, corruption, and sin are borne by the Cup Mother. Hence, the original sin sects that revere the Cup Mother have a famous painting: the Cup Mother cuts off the Lamp Father’s male organ, symbolizing the return of the Three Holy Ones to pure reason and nobility.”

“Original sin—this is original sin!”

At this moment, the three scribes fell into deep thought. They could not deny they were convinced.

“The Lord of Light has changed places, yin-yang is disrupted—this is indeed a grave sin!”

Cao Zhitian nodded unconsciously.

Only when two points lie at the lowest base is the triangle most stable.

Thus, the Western Church is nearly the Church of the Lamp Father alone; the Eastern Three Creators appear as impersonal cosmic principles.

But once they manifest with personality and gender, conflict arises naturally.

The Empress is the personified form of the Cauldron Mother.

Thus, when the Lord of Light manifests as a person, their conflict is inevitable.

Unless the Lord of Light ascends as the Heavenly Emperor—but for some reason, his manifestation has not overpowered the authority of the Cauldron Mother and Mirror Lord.

Therefore, the petition to the Heavenly Ghost Mother has only one charge: the rebellious son!

The Empress’s yin manifestation is the Heavenly Ghost Mother—the mother of all ghosts.

The Lord of Xuanzhen, as the descent of the Heavenly Father’s spirit, is the innate Holy Son. His very existence is the greatest sin, for his presence alone makes him a fitting consort to the Heavenly Ghost Mother—yet his status is Holy Son, a reversal of human ethics!

Only death—only death—can make him a ghost, reborn as the Heavenly Ghost Mother’s ghost son, thus conforming to heavenly law…

Once this petition is submitted, the Lord of Xuanzhen—will surely die!

Liu Daoyuan wrote furiously, filled with awe for Drummond…

“This is merely the simplest petition!” Drummond’s expression was grim. “The Three Holy Creators reveal their essence plainly—they are the most luminous and glorious beings. Lotus and Tree are simple too: postnatal karma, sinking in the sea of suffering. To them, the descent of the Lamp Father’s Holy Son is meant for suffering.”

“The Lord of Yin-Yang shows no concealment of his hostility toward the Lamp Father: defiance of yin-yang, betrayal of the cycle—this alone is enough!”

Drummond sighed inwardly: “Understanding the essence of the Six Great Ones of the Spirit Realm is simple. The Six Great Ones of the True Realm are all hidden in secrecy.”

“Petitions against them—those are the hardest.”

“With Brother Liu writing the petitions and Brother Drummond defining the charges and principles, everything is perfectly arranged. As for delivering these petitions to the ghost deities…” Cao Zhitian smiled: “That is my specialty!”

Cao Zhitian, the “Inverter of Black and White,” from Jiang-Zhe, mastered the laws of the underworld. Among the twenty-odd ghost deities of Zhigucheng, he knew many secrets—even some of their true names—and could forcibly compel ghosts to pervert justice.

“The path to the Dragon Abyss, where the Heavenly Ghost Mother dwells, is perilous beyond measure. But I, Cao, know all the secrets of Zhigucheng’s ghost deities. What is deadly to you is my ally. In ancient times, the Lord of Yin-Yang saw ‘a thousand ghosts fly daily, impossible to forbid,’ and ‘only let the common folk be slain, a billion dead.’ He then transmitted the *Nüqing Ghost Law*, recording ghost deities’ secrets. Later, the Ghost Laws of Yin Mountain, Beimang, and Guixu emerged.”

“Ghost Law is a legal text recording ghost deities’ secrets, true names, sacrificial rites, methods of communication, even rules of killing.”

“I have no other wish in life but to write a *Nine Rivers Ghost Law*, recording the patterns of nearly all ghost deities of Zhigucheng and Hebei. That is my life’s dream.”

Cao Zhitian opened his bound notebook, flipped past the South Canal, North Canal, Haihe River, until the section on the Three Forks River mouth, then stopped.

Fang Tangjing leaned over to look: hundreds of ghost names filled the page—seventy-six water ghosts, all over a hundred years old; twenty-three malevolent ghosts; nineteen Dragon Kings; eight divine generals; seven immortal maidens; two hundred and eighty minor ghosts, all listed…

Section: Floating Bridge at the Customs House:

Pillar Spirits under the Floating Bridge: Eighteen iron pillars beneath the bridge—nine male, nine female—each a living stake, summoned by the Canal Guild as minor ghosts. One is Tang Dewang, male, age seven, father Tang XX… Methods to exorcise minor ghosts, summon pillar spirits…

Four Iron Ship Dragon Kings: Giant serpents from the Xishan coal mines, who devoured coal essence and became spirits; after death, they were enshrined as Dragon Kings… Methods to install dragon-stakes, hang swords to slay dragons beneath the bridge…

Under the bridge, seventeen water ghosts: Wei Shen, titled Marquis of Dividing Waters; Wang Chen, titled Marquis of Water Tiger…

Fang Tangjing saw Cao Zhitian carefully closing the Nine Rivers Yin Law and could not help but admire: “Brother Zhitian, just this book of yours is worth a hundred times more than the Shaoxing clerks’ protection charms! If you could master even one percent of it, you could walk straight through Zhigucheng with impunity! I’m truly impressed, younger brother is deeply impressed!”

Cao Zhitian laughed: “With this Nine Rivers Yin Law in hand, every ghost and spirit in Zhigucheng is fair game—no taboos left!”

“But there’s one thing: this Nine Rivers Yin Law of mine was pieced together over the years in Zhigucheng, after countless souls died breaking taboos against spirits. I questioned each dead ghost, built relationships, and slowly uncovered the rules.”

“But where no one has died, the taboos may never have been recorded. At the Sanchahe Crossing, there are corpse-picking teams and the old river-sinking contest—so there’s some record—but go deeper, and you must still proceed with caution.”

If something emerges that isn’t listed in the Ghost Law… hehe… then you’re on your own!