Chapter 961: Magistrate Cui Jue

Where is Zhou Qingmei?

He Pingsheng spoke directly.

“No!” Hearing He Pingsheng’s words, the Ox-Head jumped back, saying: “No no no… brother, everyone else is fine, but Zhou Qingmei is not!”

“This is personally overseen by the Magistrate!”

“And the Magistrate may summon her for interrogation at any moment—if anything goes wrong, we’re all finished!”

“No problem!” He Pingsheng said: “When the time comes, you can shift all blame onto me!”

“I take full responsibility!”

It wasn’t that He Pingsheng was generous or fearless.

He simply knew a few rules of the Underworld.

The Underworld’s rule: posthumous reckoning.

Even if he caused chaos here today, once he returned to the Spirit Realm, he could not be dragged back.

Only after his death could the Underworld continue to settle his karmic debts.

That would be many years from now.

If I become an Immortal, I might not even enter the Underworld.

Why care so much?

“My time is urgent!” He Pingsheng said: “If you delay any longer, one of you will die!”

His voice was cold and sharp.

Yet sparks of lightning crackled across his body.

“Fine!” the Ox-Head said: “It’s your doing—we’re just coerced, not involved!”

“Come over here!”

“Whether you can take her depends on your ability!”

Then the Ox-Head led the way, and the others followed behind.

Countless spirits in the cages on both sides reached out, screaming, trying to grab He Pingsheng.

He Pingsheng was puzzled: “What’s going on? Why are they all trying to grab me?”

Though none caught him, the sight was still terrifying.

The Horse-Face said: “Ignore them—they’re all phoenixes slaughtered in some True Spirit World; no one knows why, but overnight, trillions of phoenixes died!”

He Pingsheng: …………

No wonder, no wonder!

Walking straight to the end, He Pingsheng finally saw Zhou Qingmei.

Now, Zhou Qingmei was merely a soul, curled inside her cage—but when she saw He Pingsheng, she leapt up in excitement, pressing against the bars, stretching out her hands desperately to grasp him.

She babble incoherently, uttering unintelligible sounds!

“Clang!”

The Ox-Head unlocked the cage.

“Catch…” Jin Ku had no hesitation—he immediately pulled out the Buddha Flame Pearl and sucked Zhou Qingmei’s soul into it.

“Come with us!”

He Pingsheng said: “Once we leave this realm, I’ll release you back!”

Thus, He Pingsheng and Jin Ku secretly dragged along the Ox-Head, Horse-Face, and Zhao Xiangdu, walking out of the hall, leaving the Underworld city, and arriving at the Huangquan.

The Huangquan’s black waters churned with monstrous waves!

A tiny boat drifted through the flood, as waves of yin-evil energy periodically struck it.

He Pingsheng’s spiritual sense constantly scanned the surroundings.

The boat passed from the great river into a smaller one, then into an even narrower stream.

“Almost there!” Jin Ku’s voice trembled: “In half a stick of incense, we’ll escape this Underworld realm!”

Once they left the Underworld and entered the void, it would not pursue them.

Yet just as He Pingsheng exhaled in relief, the speeding boat on the Huangquan suddenly stopped.

A white-robed cultivator descended from the void, one foot stomping firmly on the prow.

Then he placed his other foot down.

The boat bobbed up and down in the black Huangquan.

He Pingsheng’s heart lurched.

Around him, the Ox-Head, Horse-Face, and four ghost officers all knelt on the ground, bowing to the white-robed man.

“We pay homage to the Magistrate!”

“May the Magistrate enjoy eternal peace!”

The white-robed Magistrate appeared as a middle-aged man of about forty in the mortal world, square-faced with thick beard, eyes blazing.

He Pingsheng’s spiritual sense swept over him—like a mud ox sinking into the sea, vanishing without trace.

“You all return first—this matter is mine to handle!” The white-robed Magistrate waved his hand; divine power descended, shattering every one of He Pingsheng’s black chains.

The freed ghost officers and messengers turned and fled back into the Underworld without looking back.

“Elder!” He Pingsheng bowed to the white-robed man, his heart instantly uneasy.

The man did not attack him; instead, he clasped his hands behind his back and said: “You are He Pingsheng, correct?”

He Pingsheng fell silent: Damn, my name is even bigger than Wang Dun’s—it’s reached the Underworld?

“Heh…” The white-robed man gave a cold laugh: “In your True Spirit World, billions of phoenixes have perished; countless phoenixes have come before me to accuse you!”

“I recognize you—no surprise.”

He Pingsheng wiped sweat from his brow with his sleeve and said: “Yes… I am He Pingsheng of the Spirit Realm.”

The white-robed man said: “Within the Zhou Tian, there are billions upon billions of True Spirit Worlds like yours—these are merely spaces created by Immortals!”

“You call it the Spirit Realm; to those in the Immortal Realm, it is merely what is called a ‘True Spirit World.’”

“Within each True Spirit World, sooner or later, a Nine-Nine Destiny prodigy like you will emerge.”

“Yet this Nine-Nine Destiny is merely your fate within the True Spirit World.”

“When you ascend to the Immortal Realm, your destiny will be reset.”

“Thus, a prodigy from a True Spirit World is not necessarily a prodigy in the Immortal Realm.”

He Pingsheng took a deep breath and said: “Yes… I am humbled by your teaching.”

The white-robed man said: “I am Cui Jue, the Third-Sixth Magistrate under Magistrate Chujiang.”

“I am somewhat familiar with the matter of Zhou Qingmei.”

“She carries no deep karmic debt.”

“But you—your karmic debt is substantial.”

He Pingsheng did not know how to respond, so he merely bowed and said: “I beg the Magistrate to show mercy—let me take her back to the Spirit Realm!”

“Fine!” To his surprise, Cui Jue agreed immediately.

“But…” Cui Jue added: “I have one condition.”

He Pingsheng rejoiced: “May I ask, Elder, what is your condition?”

Cui Jue said: “My office lacks sufficient yang energy. If you wish to take Zhou Qingmei, you must provide me with some yang energy.”

“Of course, I do not seek your lifespan.”

“My tens of thousands of ghost officers could drain your lifespan dry and still gather barely any yang energy.”

Hummm…

The next instant, Cui Jue waved his hand, and a four-sided golden bucket appeared, floating beside He Pingsheng.

“This is called the Qianyuan Golden Bucket—it automatically gathers the cosmic destiny energy of heaven and earth.”

“Take this back to the Spirit Realm and collect three thousand years of cosmic destiny energy—gather one full bucket, and I will let you and Zhou Qingmei go.”

“What do you say?”

Cui Jue looked at He Pingsheng, a faint smile on his face.

He Pingsheng’s pupils contracted slightly.

Cosmic destiny energy?