[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-dao-dust-pearl":3,"chapter-the-dao-dust-pearl-the-dao-dust-pearl-chapter-993":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","The Dao Dust Pearl",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2360494,4614,"Chapter 993: The Six-Layered Tower of the Seven Hells","the-dao-dust-pearl-chapter-993",993,"\u003Cp>‘Baa!’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before the Bone Tower lay many desolate graves; under the moonlight, piles of white things writhed—only when approached did one see they were lambs, nibbling the occasional blades of grass sprouting from the mounds.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A shepherd sat far off on the threshold of the Bone Tower, smoking.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the darkness, the ember glowed dimly, then faded.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The shepherd rose as they approached, leaning on his whip and asking: “Could you gentlemen spare a moment? Have you seen my lost lamb?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The group, startled, halted warily; Daoist Siyan fumbled for his broken spectacles, picked up the one with a missing leg, balanced it on his nose, squinted at the shepherd for a long moment, then slowly said: “Old fellow, out herding this late?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The shepherd replied listlessly: “I sleep inside this tower—lost my lamb, can’t sleep!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He kept his hands tucked in his sleeves, gesturing vaguely toward the Bone Tower behind him, standing crookedly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Second Master of the Ginseng Hunters was folding his white-deer fur coat and returning it to his pack; inside, one could see a pair of bronze boxes, each as long as a forearm and as thick as a fist, carefully placed at the very bottom of the pack.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A large lamb seemed to catch a scent, walking toward Second Master, its lips constantly flipping, its head stretching toward the pack.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Second Master shoved the lamb’s head away; the goat’s rectangular pupils, paired with lips that kept flipping to reveal its teeth, gave the impression of a grin.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only then did Second Master notice: the goat was emaciated, every rib visible along its flanks, yet its belly was enormously swollen—under the moonlight, its white stripes resembled a naked corpse.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Daoist Siyan stared at the shepherd for a long while before slowly speaking: “What does your lost lamb look like?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The shepherd sighed: “It’s a ram! I nearly lost half my flock chasing it—I searched for ages before finding it again. I watched its ear tag—it kept circling the Bone Tower! That lamb was huge, bigger than all the others by a full size—but thin… oh! Its head came to a sharp point, like it was wearing a hat!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Daoist Siyan broke into cold sweat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The shepherd cheerfully offered: “Are you entering the tower? I’ll clear the way.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He swung his whip, herding the flock to either side.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Bone Tower stood before them—low, six stories, roughly three zhang tall; the first level enshrined the White Bone Bodhisattva they had come to worship.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Under the moonlight, the Bodhisattva was entirely white, like the finest Dehua porcelain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The statue stood about half a person’s height, clad in white robes, right hand in a mudra of stillness, left hand holding a white lotus—it was the White Robe Guanyin among the Thirty-Three Forms. But Daoist Siyan felt a subtle wrongness—he lingered at the entrance, hesitant.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Second Master, seasoned as a ginseng hunter, entered every temple, bowed to every deity, never overthinking.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He pinched a handful of soil, piled it before the White Robe Guanyin, pulled out three incense sticks, lit them, and moved to insert them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that moment, Daoist Siyan suddenly understood why he felt that subtle wrongness…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The incense burner!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before the statue, the ground was empty, spotless—not a single incense burner, not even a trace of ash.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before he could shout a warning, the shepherd behind them laughed: “What offerings did you make to the Lady? She doesn’t take incense!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He held a half-grown lamb.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The lamb’s wool was soft, lying peacefully in his arms.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The shepherd took giant strides, stepping into the Bone Tower in two steps, placing the lamb before the White Robe Guanyin, then turned to Second Master and smiled, revealing crooked yellow teeth; he pulled a dagger from his sleeve and slashed the lamb’s belly backward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The Bodhisattva eats offerings!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not a drop of blood spilled—the lamb opened like a pierced leather sack, revealing pure white bones.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Quickly, the shepherd dismantled a small, half-destroyed skull and placed it before the White Robe Guanyin.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was the skeleton of a child, about four or five years old.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Moonlight fell on the white bones, as if frosting them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That frost melted silently before the White Robe Statue.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A faint glow bathed the statue; now its porcelain glaze grew colder, more jade-like.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only then did they see clearly: this White Robe Guanyin was not made of porcelain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was built of white bones.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was a White Bone Lady…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Daoist Siyan pulled out his bronze mirror, directing moonlight into the Bone Tower.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The reflected moonlight climbed the tower’s walls from behind the White Bone Lady; the dark, gloomy Bone Tower now glowed with a faint, yellowed ivory-white.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Countless skulls formed the ceiling above them; limbs arranged into walls; curved ribs assembled into bracket sets; spines became pillars!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The entire six-story tower was assembled into an unspeakable statue.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As if gazing downward, as if compassionate, as if cold death itself!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Daoist Siyan’s pupils split again—four black eyes, from four directions, captured the White Bone Lady’s image and stitched it into a single three-dimensional whole.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Far more three-dimensional, vivid, and precise than ordinary human vision, every detail was laid bare before the Daoist Siyan’s eyes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Snap!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His spectacles fell to the ground, shattered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One by one, the white sheep slipped into the Bone Tower, shedding their skins to reveal clean white bones, entering one after another.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Daoist Siyan suddenly felt an itch in his eyes—he dared not scratch, only his eyelids twitched; as the itch burrowed deeper into his marrow, his entire face convulsed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>From Second Master’s pack, two lambs suddenly burst free from the bronze boxes and tumbled out.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They bleated, crawling toward the White Bone Lady…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing those two strange lambs—whose knees bent forward like a human’s, not backward like a goat’s—crawling toward the White Bone Lady like infants, Second Master turned deathly pale.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He turned to Daoist Siyan—and froze in horror: Siyan’s face was now completely black-blue, the face of a corpse; his twitching eyelids pulled his eyeballs askew.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Accompanied by a soft, almost inaudible thud.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One of Daoist Siyan’s eyeballs slipped from its socket and fell to the ground…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>An icy, deathly silence enveloped them all; Old Qi watched his breath turn to mist, then freeze into frost the moment it touched the ground; in this moment, the Bone Tower was colder than the frozen forests beyond the pass—visible white frost coated their faces.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Second Master strained to lift his finger—his flesh instantly sloughed off, exposing white, jagged bone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He stared at his clean finger bones; countless calls to the “Immortal” received no reply.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>From Second Master’s bosom, a small white mouse with a red tail darted out, fleeing backward—but a figure in white robes, wearing a tall hat, suddenly appeared at the tower’s entrance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A black and white figure dropped from above; a long, soft red strip unfurled to the ground, gently coiling around the white mouse and swallowing it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>About half the height of the Bone Tower, thin and tall, the Black and White Reapers stood before the tower’s entrance, their faces hidden by the eaves.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The White Reaper, using his tongue to drag the white mouse, bent low, locking eyes with the terrified ginseng hunters from beyond the pass.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The White Reaper, smiling broadly, his tall hat inscribed with “First Glimpse, Fortune,” opened his mouth again—the white mouse had vanished; instead, he spat out a jade pendant tied with a red cord.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Beside him, the gloomy Black Reaper raised his mourning staff; two green-faced demons dashed out, carrying black-and-white banners.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Black and White Reapers walked in stiff-legged circles around the Bone Tower.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Four yaksha demons, carrying waist drums, beat them with red hammers; behind them emerged a full funeral band, dressed in mourning, green-faced hungry ghosts blowing instruments with weak, lifeless breaths; then came the Great Demons—Kindness, Five Blessings, Five Excellences—emerging from distant white mist, some swaying in dance, others herding the musicians with mock authority.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The lesser demons were even livelier: some climbed tall poles, some spat green ghost-fire, some jumped and made grotesque faces.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Daoist Siyan’s single remaining eye had its pupil pressed against the corner.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing this, his stiff neck cracked like frozen ice colliding—he slowly, painfully turned his head.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Black and White Reapers had completed their circle.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The White Reaper’s tongue stretched long, snatching a white scroll from Second Master’s bosom; frost crawled up the tongue, yet it carried the scroll to the tower’s entrance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Second Master watched, motionless, until he noticed the tongue.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Paper?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Daoist Siyan was smiling—he had seen the stilts beneath the Reapers’ robes!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Daoist Siyan turned toward the entrance; Second Master stared, dumbfounded—how could he move? But a glimpse from the corner of his eye filled him with greater horror.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Old Qi couldn’t move; he felt someone pass by, looked up—and saw Daoist Siyan, face black-blue, pupils rolled white.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He blinked, looked ahead—and saw Daoist Siyan’s body still standing nearby, no mist exhaling from nose or mouth, no breath left.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Daoist Siyan drifted to the tower’s entrance, yet did not step out; he sighed: “Once inside, no path to life remains!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I still clung to the hope of escape—that’s why I’m trapped in this labyrinth… You’ve reminded me: the White Bone Lady cannot be seen by the living! The only path to face her is death!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Cultivators inevitably desire immortality—that’s why that Earth Immortal lingers outside the tower.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Daoist Siyan sighed softly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Six layers of Bone Tower—each layer a hell!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“This is not the first level of the Bone Tower—it is the Frozen Hell. The lonely, the friendless, the cold-dead—those who freeze to death without kin or comfort—fall into this Frozen Hell, icy, bone-deep, with no release!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Daoist Siyan opened his right hand: “Gentlemen, please return my petition!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Black and White Reapers exchanged glances, then bowed respectfully and presented the white scroll.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Daoist Siyan tightened his robe, picked up a wooden stick, and slowly walked past the ginseng hunters, past his own corpse, to stand before the White Bone Lady’s statue; with a flick of the stick, the skins of two kneeling lambs beside him flew upward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Two exquisitely carved child figures, dressed in festive red robes, crouched there, eyes rolling.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The boy suddenly burst into tears—his infantile whimper carried an unnatural strangeness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>From his open mouth, beneath teeth like rice grains, a thick “root” retracted into his throat; the tiny braid on his head trembled, and a cluster of red fruits burst from it; tendrils of ginseng sprouted from his seven orifices; then he vanished in a flash, sinking into the earth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The girl beside him slowly lifted her foot to run—but Daoist Siyan’s left hand shot out, snatching her red ribbon.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Catch him!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Daoist Siyan shouted sharply.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The hollow voice echoed through the empty Bone Tower—without origin, without end.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The crowd of disguised demons scattered; shadows darted toward the graves in pursuit…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A hundred ghosts spun like headless flies, yet the boy vanished underground at will, occasionally popping his head from a grave mound; the demons chased him, their costumes torn, makeup smeared, shouting and screaming—no longer resembling demons at all.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Daoist Siyan stood beneath the tower’s eaves, cold and detached, watching like a ghost.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The White Reaper removed his “tongue,” bowed to Daoist Siyan: “The Bone-Covering Society has come as requested!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Master, even with all the City God’s ghostly gear, we can only enter the first layer of hell!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“That’s why we humbly seek your aid!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The White Bone Lady is merciful; she resides in the White Bone Pagoda, gathering the spirits of the wronged and the vengeful ghosts. But yin spirits and vengeful ghosts cannot exist in the mortal world, so the seven levels of the White Bone Pagoda, where the ghosts gather, became seven layers of hell—only on the fourth day of the fourth month, during the City God’s Ghost Festival, do we of the Burial Society disguise ourselves as a hundred ghosts to guide them toward transcendence.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Over time, ghosts unwilling to be reborn became trapped in the seven layers of hell. To meet the White Bone Lady, one must break through each of the seven layers in sequence, freeing the ghosts, before she may descend to the mortal realm!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The Canal Gang and the Qingpi Guild wished to summon the Lady’s descent, so they informed us and brought in a high Daoist master to break the hell-layers and liberate the suffering souls.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"We thought this would be yet another fame-seeking 'master,' but this time we beheld a true immortal!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Four-Eyed Daoist sighed faintly, then turned suddenly—behind him, the White Bone Pagoda loomed cold and grim; even his manifested yin spirit could not escape the bone-chilling cold that pierced his soul.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Enough! After decades of cultivation, if not I, then who shall enter hell?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Was that shepherd also one of yours?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Four-Eyed Daoist turned and asked.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The White Constant blinked in surprise: \"What shepherd?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that moment, a whip descended from the second level of the White Bone Pagoda, lightly striking a nearby grave mound. The wild grass flattened instantly, and several ginseng fruits clustered together swayed within the foliage. The Black Constant leapt down from his stilts, seized the boy’s topknot, and yanked him out of the earth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Got him!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The surrounding ghosts beat drums and rang bells. The Black Constant dragged the boy to the entrance of the White Bone Pagoda, where the Four-Eyed Daoist extended his hand from beneath the eaves.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He held one hand on the boy, the other on the girl, no longer thinking of the mysterious shepherd, and arrived before the statue of the White Bone Lady.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As the two little ghosts knelt and bowed three times, the white lotus held in the White Bone Lady’s right hand seemed to thaw—ice melted, a single dewdrop formed, trembling upon the petal.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The dewdrop fell, and the crimson ginseng roots emerging from the children’s seven orifices writhed and retracted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The two children quickly resumed their porcelain-like, exquisitely carved appearance, then turned.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They knelt gracefully upon the ground, bowed once more to the Four-Eyed Daoist, and their forms slowly dissolved.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Two thick ginseng roots, entwined together, appeared in their place…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only then did the Ginseng Guild realize the bone-deep chill around them had vanished.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The entire White Bone Pagoda returned to normal.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Suddenly, the skin-sack of the lamb driven by the shepherd, now lying limp beside the White Bone Lady’s statue, swelled as if inflated—dozens of lambs bleated and bolted toward the exit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The scampering lambs, plump with milk, dashed into the chaotic graveyard beyond the pagoda, weaving between the mounds, and soon vanished entirely.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that moment, warmth drifted in from outside the door.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Let’s go.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Four-Eyed Daoist walked past his own corpse, gazing at the staircase upward, as if speaking to himself: \"It’s clearly a six-level pagoda—why call it seven layers of hell?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Ginseng Guild members exchanged glances, tightened their bundles, and carefully stepped around the Daoist’s body, whose flesh slowly melted and peeled away, ascending the stairs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only the two thick, entwined ginseng roots remained, offered before the White Bone Lady’s statue.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>………\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Bonu stepped slowly out of the city gate, staring at the churning river ahead—a massive vortex swallowed half the river’s surface and continued expanding, drawing everything upon the water into its depths.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Dark clouds blotted out the moonlight; with each step he took, the heavens and earth suddenly widened, the vortex stretching infinitely.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Encompassing all of heaven and earth…\u003C\u002Fp>",2579,"2026-06-21T05:40:02.617Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","0754625501d5d7a66f3283cbb6418bf7112287d72937805f7c5bbe87d2eab711","the-dao-dust-pearl-chapter-994","the-dao-dust-pearl-chapter-992",1000,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-dao-dust-pearl-cover.jpg"]