Chapter 958: Old Acquaintance, River Patrol Ghost Officer

The two continued forward through the void.

This stretch was not long.

After flying for about twenty breaths, they passed through the void.

Then, He Pingsheng felt the surrounding rules of reality suddenly shift, as if the heavens and earth had turned.

This sensation was strange.

“The rules here in the Netherworld seem different from those in the Spirit Realm!” He Pingsheng communicated with Jin Ku via spiritual sense.

Jin Ku said: “Most are the same, only subtle differences exist—and here, the rules are of a higher tier.”

“The Netherworld can be seen as part of the Immortal Realm!”

He Pingsheng nodded.

The river ahead seemed wider.

Amid the turbulent waves, a simple black boat suddenly appeared in the distance, glowing faintly.

The boat rocked gently upon the black waters.

It seemed to move, yet also appeared motionless.

He Pingsheng swept his spiritual sense over it but saw no one aboard.

Yet the next moment, Jin Ku turned pale with alarm: “Run… this is a River Patrol Ghost Officer!”

“We can’t let them spot us!”

But He Pingsheng had nowhere to run.

Around him was only river—no place to hide.

The Huangquan beneath his feet could offer concealment, but who dared enter it?

Before he could think further, the black boat had somehow drifted right before him.

Where the boat had been empty, now stood a figure clad in white robes, staring at He Pingsheng with sharp, piercing eyes.

He Pingsheng recognized the figure and frowned: “Zhao Xiangdu?”

Yes, the man he saw was Zhao Xiangdu.

The former sole Domain Lord of the human race on the Tianhuo Continent: the Indestructible Divine Emperor.

This man was a dog of the Phoenix Clan.

At the Stone Platform Gathering, he had tormented He Pingsheng endlessly, even personally attacked him and nearly killed him—later slain by Qiao Huiyu’s sword.

Who would have thought that after so many years dead, this bastard still lingered in the Netherworld?

“He Pingsheng?” Zhao Xiangdu was equally startled to see him.

But the next instant, he swiftly steered the boat away.

“Don’t let him escape!” Jin Ku said. “He’s almost certainly a Netherworld official now—if he reports seeing you, we’re in trouble!”

“Of course,” He Pingsheng understood this, and as Zhao Xiangdu began to flee, he immediately crushed him with a massive spiritual sense.

Yet perhaps due to the different laws here, or because Zhao Xiangdu was unusually strong, He Pingsheng found his spiritual sense could not suppress him.

What to do?

Zwooo…

In desperation, He Pingsheng did the only thing he could—his body shot out a black hook that snatched Zhao Xiangdu from afar.

Technique: Huangquan Soul-Grabbing Chain.

Who would have thought this thing worked so well?

So Zhao Xiangdu was truly a soul-body.

“He Pingsheng… let me go… I’m a River Patrol Ghost Officer now!”

“If you harm me, endless trouble will come knocking!”

He Pingsheng stepped onto Zhao Xiangdu’s boat and smiled, then activated his spiritual sense—a flicker of flame shot forth.

Nine Heavens Mystic Fire.

The flames scorched Zhao Xiangdu’s soul, and he screamed in agony.

His cries were piercing.

But it didn’t matter—Jin Ku had already formed a vast barrier around them; Zhao Xiangdu’s screams could not escape.

Of course, He Pingsheng and Jin Ku did not know that even without the barrier, no sound here could be perceived.

It was too far away.

Zhao Xiangdu patrolled alone, and only along a tributary of this river.

“Ahh… ah…”

“Spare me!”

“He Pingsheng… stop… stop right now…”

“It hurts… it’s killing me…”

Crackling…

He Pingsheng didn’t just burn him—he summoned heavenly lightning to torment Zhao Xiangdu’s soul.

“Zhao Xiangdu, don’t blame me for cruelty—you nearly killed me back then!”

“I’ve waited years for a chance to repay this grudge. Now that I’ve found you, you’re unlucky…”

But He Pingsheng’s torment did not last long.

After all, their main purpose here was to rescue Zhou Qingmei.

“Speak,” He Pingsheng said after half an incense stick’s time, staring at Zhao Xiangdu: “Why didn’t you enter reincarnation? Why did you become a ghost officer here?”

He took the chance to scan Zhao Xiangdu’s cultivation base.

Back in the Spirit Realm, this bastard had been a Mahayana Emperor at the early stage.

Now as a ghost, he was roughly the same level.

“I… I accumulated too much karmic debt in life,” Zhao Xiangdu lowered his head. “After leaving the Netherworld Court, I was to be sent to the Hell Court and suffer ten thousand cuts!”

“I feared I couldn’t endure the torment of the Eighteen Layers of Hell, so I signed a pact with the Netherworld: I will never enter reincarnation, and will patrol the dark Huangquan for eternity!”

“That’s how it will be from now on.”

He Pingsheng sighed—this price was immense.

He was bound here for life.

Enduring endless loneliness and pain, guarding the Huangquan.

If possible, most would choose reincarnation rather than eternal existence in this dark underworld.

But Zhao Xiangdu’s karmic debt was too heavy.

“What does ‘patrolling the river’ mean?” He Pingsheng asked again.

Zhao Xiangdu said: “Literally—it means two things. First, some lost souls accidentally enter the Huangquan; we separate them and escort them to the Netherworld Court, which then sends them to the Judge’s Office. The judges verify their records and return these souls to their bodies, allowing rebirth!”

“Second, some highly cultivated individuals like… like you… inexplicably intrude into the Huangquan!”

“In such cases, we must drive you out. If we cannot, we report to the [Ox-Head] and [Horse-Face] Envoys, who intervene and kill you.”

He Pingsheng’s heart tightened.

Good thing he had stopped this bastard in time.

Otherwise, it would have been a disaster.

“Then…” He Pingsheng asked: “What cultivation level are the Ox-Head and Horse-Face Envoys?”

Zhao Xiangdu said: “There aren’t just two Ox-Head and Horse-Face—they’re countless. Their cultivation is only slightly higher than ours, the lowest ghost officers—beyond Mahayana Emperor, equivalent to a Transcendent Immortal or the lowest rank of [Human Immortal] in the Immortal Realm!”

“Usually, they travel between the Yin and Yang realms, hunting and guiding lost souls into the Netherworld.”

“Sometimes, when someone forcibly interferes with Heaven’s Dao to keep a dying person’s soul in the Spirit Realm or other cultivation worlds, they are the ones who retrieve those souls.”

Now He Pingsheng understood.