The Big-Headed Ghost and Small-Headed Ghost were two utterly ordinary clerks in the underworld.

In any world, it was the same – strength and status determined everything.

The Extreme Domain was no different, and so was where one lived.

This was a remote village a full sixty li away from the Ghost Gate, inhabited by some unconnected wandering ghost cultivators in the Extreme Domain, some small ghost soldiers and ghost messengers who hadn’t made it big yet, or extremely down-and-out ghost clerks like the Big-Headed Ghost and Small-Headed Ghost.

The low houses were all built of mud bricks.

The two rooms at the front had already collapsed halfway and were clearly uninhabitable. Only the room on the right, which originally belonged to the kitchen, seemed to barely hold up, standing on the ground.

The black evil earth was cracked with fissures, and clumps of weeds had all turned a withered yellow color.

Though he hadn’t been in the underworld for long, Zhang Tang also knew that what best reflected the seasonal changes in the Extreme Domain was this patch of grass beneath his feet.

This grass with long, thin leaves and whitish tips was called “Heavenly Season Grass” in the Extreme Domain.

In spring, the tips would show tender green; in summer, they would turn deep black; in autumn, they would be whitish; and in winter, they would be a beautiful deep blue.

Now, it was autumn in the Extreme Domain.

The sky behind him was already overcast, gradually darkening.

There was no sun here, but there were changes between day and night.

Stepping on that cracked earth, and also on this gradually deepening gloom, Zhang Tang slowly approached this dilapidated small courtyard.

His footsteps were slow, carrying an unhurried quality.

His tall, slender figure cast a long shadow that moved with his advance.

The ghost clerk’s uniform was dark black, which would look mediocre on others, but on him, it also carried a heavy air of death, while simultaneously radiating a heavy aura of killing intent.

The red-browed Judge Chu said this was from killing too many people in life, gradually staining his soul.

For ghost cultivators, this seemed to have all benefits and no harm.

The vertical blue mark between his brows made his already austere face look even more inhuman, carrying the sharpness and coldness of a blade’s edge.

Walking with both hands clasped behind his back was his habit.

A habit from when he was an official on the isolated island in the human world.

Even though he was now just a small ghost clerk, it seemed difficult to change.

“Pat, pat, pat…”

The footsteps gradually approached, but there was no movement from inside the house – perhaps no one was home.

Zhang Tang had just had this thought when he suddenly heard a “creak” sound.

He looked up.

The door of the only relatively intact kitchen actually opened, and the Small-Headed Ghost stood in the doorway. Seeing him, his face showed complete surprise, then he stepped out and very naturally turned back to pull the door shut.

“Oh my, who do I think it is? Old Zhang, how did you get here?”

The door opened quickly, but closed just as fast.

Inside the pitch-black room, there seemed to be some shadowy things, but he couldn’t see them clearly.

As the door closed, nothing could be seen.

Zhang Tang keenly sensed something wasn’t right.

Walking through the village, that White-Haired Ghost had mentioned that when he heard Zhang Tang was coming to find the Big-Headed Ghost and Small-Headed Ghost, he casually said these two had borrowed a pile of firewood from him, though he didn’t know what they were doing with it.

The ghosts in the Extreme Domain were always in a state of hunger.

Borrowing firewood presumably meant they were going to cook something to eat.

Locust wood, due to its yin nature, had become the most common wood used for cooking food in the Extreme Domain, and what the White-Haired Ghost lent out was also this type.

Now seeing how quickly the Small-Headed Ghost closed the door, Zhang Tang inwardly sneered: he had no interest whatsoever in what these Extreme Domain dwellers ate.

He simply assumed the person didn’t want him to know what was inside, and he didn’t care.

Seeing the Small-Headed Ghost come down, Zhang Tang took out two thick gray-covered ledgers from his sleeves and got straight to the point: “Judge Chu has ordered that these two volumes of ‘Heavenly Mandate Records’ be delivered to you two for processing.”

The gray-covered ledgers were each a full two fingers thick.

The surface had no eye-catching patterns, only “Heavenly Mandate Records” written vertically on the left side, with three smaller characters below: “Hell Administration Department,” indicating these two volumes of “Heavenly Mandate Records” were related to the Hell Administration Department.

“These are the new ghost registries returned from the Palace of King Qin Guang in the past seven days. They’re all people who have committed evil deeds, and we need to determine their level of guilt and what punishment they should receive. Officers Gu and Xing have already taken on a portion, and Judge Chu has instructed that these two volumes be given to you two.”

Speaking thus, Zhang Tang extended the two thick ledgers in his hands.

The Small-Headed Ghost, who had just come before Zhang Tang, immediately felt a toothache coming on.

He wished he could stab this fellow that Judge Chu had been favoring lately to death with two quick strikes.

Zhang Tang was the most unwelcome ghost clerk in the underworld recently, always wearing a dead man’s face, earning the nickname “Death-Summoning Ghost,” and basically never brought anyone good news.

It was the same now.

His gaze fell straight onto those two thick ledgers, and the Small-Headed Ghost, who had been extremely nervous before, worried that their capture of a living person to cook would be discovered, now felt only the grief of being presented with an insurmountable task.

“This…”

He stammered, not reaching out his hand, wanting to find an excuse to decline.

Zhang Tang merely lifted his eyelids slightly, and his emotionless eyes, with their clear, cold gaze, fell upon the Small-Headed Ghost’s face.

In that instant, all the hair on the Small-Headed Ghost’s body stood on end!

That look was simply…!

He felt as if he’d been pricked by a needle, and without further hesitation, quickly reached out to grab the two volumes of “Heavenly Mandate Records” and hold them to his chest.

“Haha, hahaha, got distracted, got distracted…”

“Thanks for making the trip, Old Zhang. Well, you know we two brothers don’t really know how to read, so later when we come across characters we don’t recognize, we’ll probably have to ask you.”

“By the way, Judge Chu doesn’t have anything else, right? How’s that axe matter going?”

A string of words poured out of the Small-Headed Ghost’s mouth.

This was how he got when nervous.

Zhang Tang was just a ghost who had come from the City of Wrongful Deaths – why did he always carry such a frightening aura? Just being looked at by him like that made the Small-Headed Ghost feel terrible.

He was secretly breaking out in cold sweat, hoping to change the subject so he could catch his breath.

With the “Heavenly Mandate Records” no longer in his hands, Zhang Tang withdrew his hands.

He glanced at the Small-Headed Ghost, recalling the word “axe” mentioned in his last sentence, and suddenly felt dazed.

Outside the Ghost Gate, that axe that had fallen from the sky.

Completely black, yet with blood-red, menacing patterns flickering on it, like flowing bloodstains.

He remembered that when he’d seen it in the Crimson Slaughter Realm, it hadn’t looked so terrifying.

Or perhaps, the axe itself was terrifying.

It was just because there was a female cultivator who didn’t look fierce holding it, which neutralized the murderous aura on the axe.

Now, almost all the upper echelons of the Extreme Domain were stirred by this heaven-sent axe.

When he left Judge Chu’s office today, he already knew that all Eight Yama Palaces had sent people, but he didn’t know how things would develop afterward.

It seemed no one knew where this axe had actually come from.

Zhang Tang also didn’t know how this axe had ended up here.

His most mysterious experience in the human world was probably that time in the Crimson Slaughter Realm. Now that something he’d seen there had appeared here, he was also completely puzzled.

He hadn’t been in the Extreme Domain long and had no connections.

No one would know that he actually knew some things related to this axe, and no one came to ask him. Zhang Tang had no interest in volunteering information, so he simply pretended not to know about this matter.

Lowering his gaze and raising his hand, his slightly cool fingertip traced across the vertical mark between his brows.

This was left behind by his trip to the Crimson Slaughter Realm.

“Old Zhang?”

A somewhat strange voice suddenly sounded.

Zhang Tang looked up and saw the Small-Headed Ghost looking at him rather strangely.

He showed no embarrassment, just said casually: “Just got distracted for a moment. Judge Chu has nothing else, and there’s no news. I’ve never been one to inquire about such things.”

So he was saying that the Small-Headed Ghost liked to inquire about news?

Fine, he wouldn’t ask anymore.

The Small-Headed Ghost smiled on the surface: “Big-Head isn’t here today. I’ll tell him about the ‘Heavenly Mandate Records’ when he gets back, and we’ll definitely have it ready for Judge Chu first thing the day after tomorrow.”

Zhang Tang didn’t actually care about this – other people’s business had nothing to do with him. Today’s trip was just because Judge Chu had given orders.

Hearing this, he nodded casually and said: “Then I’ll take my leave.”

The Small-Headed Ghost stood in place and nodded: “Alright, Old Zhang, take care on your way!”

Zhang Tang didn’t respond and turned to walk toward the courtyard exit.

As soon as he left the courtyard, the Small-Headed Ghost spat on the ground: “Bah! What kind of thing is that! Just because you came from the City of Wrongful Deaths, you think you’re so great!”

The Small-Headed Ghost had never liked this new ghost clerk.

First, this person never knew what it meant to give others face, doing things with complete impartiality, giving no one any consideration, fortunate that he had Judge Chu protecting him from above.

Second, this person had recently become quite influential, and it was rumored that he would participate in the “Tripod Competition” of the Eight Yama Palaces, and might well be the next judge to rise to power.

For ordinary people, or ordinary ghosts, being jealous of the worthy and capable was normal.

The Small-Headed Ghost’s dislike of Zhang Tang was also normal.

He rolled his eyes several times in the direction Zhang Tang had left, still feeling indignant, and only after a while remembered that there were people waiting inside.

Turning his head and looking left and right, the entire village was quite deserted with no one paying attention to this side, so he tucked away the two volumes of “Heavenly Mandate Records” and slipped back inside.

Inside the room.

Jian Chou was still obediently tied up in the water tank, the water surface still boiling, but she appeared completely unaffected.

Her gaze swept over the black-silver stones in several indentations on the ground, and Jian Chou knew this was probably the “Primordial Chaos Array” that could isolate all sounds.

The Small-Headed Ghost was quite cautious in his actions, especially when his life was at stake.

The conversation outside had ended, but she still couldn’t remember where she’d heard that familiar voice before.

It seemed she should have heard this voice before, but definitely not many times, so the impression wasn’t deep enough – not familiar enough to immediately recognize whose voice it was upon hearing it.

“Creak.”

The door opened.

The Small-Headed Ghost squeezed in and quickly closed the door behind him.

“Click.”

The room returned to dim lighting.

The Big-Headed Ghost immediately rushed over, his face full of tension: “What did he come for?”

“What else could it be? Didn’t you hear? The ‘Heavenly Mandate Records’!”

The Small-Headed Ghost looked unlucky and directly threw the two ledgers heavily onto the stove, immediately raising thick dust that filled the entire room.

The Big-Headed Ghost was choked and coughed several times, unable to speak for a moment.

Even so, his gaze fell on those two volumes of “Heavenly Mandate Records,” with an expression as if his life was about to end.

Are you kidding? More work with the “Heavenly Mandate Records”?

For these two illiterate rascals, this was simply deadly.

When new ghosts came to the underworld, they first passed through the Ghost Gate and were escorted to the Palace of King Qin Guang in the First Court, where judges and ghost clerks under King Qin Guang would briefly determine their good and evil deeds. Those with more good than evil or an equal balance were directly sent to the Palace of King Zhuanlun in the Eighth Court to enter reincarnation.

Those with more evil than good were taken to the Karmic Mirror Platform to see all the rights and wrongs, good and evil of their lives, which were recorded in ledgers – these “Heavenly Mandate Records.”

The “Heavenly Mandate Records” were then sent down for people to check against the registry, verify these new ghosts’ merits and demerits in life, then compare them with the punishments administered by the hells under the Eight Yama Palaces to decide what punishments they should receive and for how long…

The task Judge Chu had assigned them now was to check against the registry and send it to the Hell Administration Department.

In one sentence: difficult, too difficult!

The Small-Headed Ghost was dejected, and the Big-Headed Ghost also looked grief-stricken.

Not understanding the situation, Jian Chou could only look down curiously and saw the text on it, which was exactly the same as the current written language of the isolated island in the human world.

She carelessly took a couple more glances.

Unexpectedly, the Small-Headed Ghost looked up and saw her, immediately becoming angry. He grabbed the ledger back and snapped: “Look, look, look! What are you looking at?”

“…”

But you’re the one who put it there.

Jian Chou looked at him with an innocent expression.

The Big-Headed Ghost was also quite speechless and tugged at the Small-Headed Ghost, wanting to say something.

The Small-Headed Ghost felt no embarrassment at all – no choice, he’d been a rascal in life and couldn’t change after death. He was just thick-skinned – what could anyone do about it?

He glanced at the Big-Headed Ghost and snorted: “Big-Head, we can’t lose heart. This female cultivator came from outside, but she probably can’t use any abilities now. Let’s keep cooking her – probably the heat hasn’t reached the right level to cook her soft. Let’s add some more firewood and set up a continuation array to burn all night. We’ll definitely have a pot of good meat soup by tomorrow morning.”

“Gurgle.”

The Big-Headed Ghost swallowed, obviously thinking about food.

He looked at Jian Chou hesitantly, struggling briefly between eating and morality, but it was only a brief struggle.

The next moment, the Big-Headed Ghost cheerfully walked to the door, picked up a piece of locust wood, and threw it directly into the fire, looking completely confident: “Small-Head, you make sense. Let me burn a couple more pieces to try…”

“Whoosh…”

This locust wood burned extremely fast, igniting almost as soon as it was thrown in.

In the blink of an eye, the flames shot up another level.

The water reached Jian Chou’s neck, and the boiling water surface was already very close to her ears. For a moment, the “gurgle, gurgle” sound of boiling was continuous.

Heat rose up, making her vision even more blurred.

But…

Jian Chou’s face showed only one expression: indifference.

She had a mind to advise them not to busy themselves in vain, but then thought: let them burn what they wanted – what did it have to do with her?

While these two hadn’t thought of chopping with knives and axes, and were single-mindedly hanging themselves on the crooked tree of “cooking and eating,” she’d better hurry up and think about how to escape.

So Jian Chou strangely remained silent and closed her eyelids.

Darkness aided thinking.

First, she had arrived in the Extreme Domain, a place that existed only in legends for cultivators from Shijiu Zhou.

Second, this place was very strange – she couldn’t access any spiritual power at all. As for spiritual consciousness, she seemed to be able to use a little, but it couldn’t leave her body beyond one foot.

Third, the Human Emperor Sword, Qiankun Bag, and Spirit Beast Bag were all still here, but because they were more than one foot away from her, she couldn’t use them either.

If the inability to use spiritual power wasn’t temporary, then what would be most useful to her now should be the Qiankun Bag and Spirit Beast Bag.

The Spirit Beast Bag contained Little Marten and Guyu, which at least had some fighting power. The Qiankun Bag contained various emergency talismans and other pills that might come in handy.

The only problem was that both items required spiritual consciousness to open, and she was tied up in the water tank, temporarily unable to approach them.

After calculating everything, it all returned to the starting point: she needed to escape first.

Should she use the contents of the Qiankun Bag as bargaining chips?

She sighed inwardly, feeling somewhat hesitant.

The two little ghosts below were full of excitement.

It seemed that after the Small-Headed Ghost’s speech just now, they had suddenly found the crux of why Jian Chou couldn’t be cooked: not enough time!

Even stewing pork took an hour or two – how could stewing a cultivator not take time?

Comparing Jian Chou to pork made perfect sense.

The Big-Headed Ghost kept adding firewood, occasionally wiping the sweat that emerged, while the Small-Headed Ghost watched the increasingly vigorous flames in the stove with glowing eyes, muttering threats about making Jian Chou pay.

Seeing that a fire-sustaining array had been set up, the firewood placed in appropriate positions, the two finally stopped.

The Small-Headed Ghost patted his dust-covered hands, looked up, and oh my, Jian Chou had actually closed her eyes!

Good heavens, she must have been cooked unconscious!

“Hahaha…”

The Small-Headed Ghost immediately laughed triumphantly and snorted: “Try to fight me!”

Jian Chou’s mouth twitched. She heard him but wisely said nothing.

Her face was hidden in the steam, and this slight expression was too subtle for the Small-Headed Ghost to see clearly.

Anyway, discovering that Jian Chou had “fainted,” both the Big-Headed Ghost and Small-Headed Ghost became happy.

The two chattered for a while, discussing how they must get up early tomorrow to eat meat and drink soup, then prepared to go to sleep.

Unexpectedly, before going to sleep, the Big-Headed Ghost pointed with trembling fingers at the two volumes of “Heavenly Mandate Records” the Small-Headed Ghost was holding, somewhat afraid to speak.

“Then… what do we do about this…”

“…”

The Small-Headed Ghost, who had just been happy about successfully cooking a person, suddenly felt as if he’d been slapped on the head, and all his joy vanished.

The two volumes of “Heavenly Mandate Records” in his arms immediately became heavy. He didn’t feel like he was holding two ledgers, but rather two mountains that could crush him at any moment.

Looking up, the Small-Headed Ghost glanced at the Big-Headed Ghost, then at the two volumes in his arms.

After a long while, he finally said: “Judge Chu wants them the day after tomorrow… how about we take a look tonight?”

Take a look…

Haha.

Half an hour later, Jian Chou heard the following conversation:

“Great Xia, Huai’an Salt City, Zhao Family Ditch, Li San.”

“Age thirty-six, in youth… in youth… what’s this character?”

“Don’t recognize it. Seems to mean stealing something. Oh right, theft! Theft!”

“Mm. In youth theft, let me see, should be sent to the Seventh Palace, King Taishan presides over the Mortar and Pestle Meat Sauce Hell, how long was it?”

…

“East City Xu Pingsheng, was a mountain… what’s this again? Small-Head, look, what does this mean?”

“Looks like the character for thief… thief…”

“Really?”

“Probably…”

“If it’s mountain bandit, that counts as murder for money, but if it’s not mountain bandit, then no punishment…”

“Forget it, don’t ask anymore. Circle it and we’ll ask at the office tomorrow morning.”

“Right, right, right… circle this one too…”

Outside, the sky was beginning to darken.

The room was getting somewhat dim.

The fragmentary discussion continued endlessly, seeming to reach the extremes of suffering, just short of begging their grandfathers and grandmothers.

Listening to this, Jian Chou couldn’t help but feel alarmed.

These two people, or rather two ghosts, were actually using the “Heavenly Mandate Records” to determine what punishments the dead should receive in hell?

Those legends from the isolated island in the human world about the underworld, about the Yama Kings, about the Book of Life and Death…

They were actually real.

Her thoughts stirred.

She remembered her earlier casual remark about “long nights leading to many dreams.”

Her long-closed eyes quietly opened.

The room had somehow been lit with an oil lamp, placed on the broken table diagonally in front of Jian Chou, its light flickering.

The two brothers, Big-Headed Ghost and Small-Headed Ghost, were both bent over the table with a large “Heavenly Mandate Records” spread before them, densely packed with names.

The Small-Headed Ghost pointed at a name with one finger, and a large area of even denser text appeared before him, making one’s eyes dizzy.

The Big-Headed Ghost was biting the handle of a green brush, making “click, click” sounds, scratching his head and ears, his entire shoulders slumped down as if he wanted to collapse under the table.

“How do you read this one…”

…

Confirmed – the ghost clerks handling official business in the Extreme Domain’s underworld really couldn’t read.

How did they get to these positions?

Incredible.

Watching these two little ghosts looking as if they were about to kneel before the “Heavenly Mandate Records” in their misery, Jian Chou felt a ridiculous mixture of admiration and pity.

However, undeniably, this was an excellent opportunity.

Seeing the Big-Headed Ghost’s head about to poke into the sharp brush tip bit by bit, Jian Chou finally spoke: “Um, do you two need help?”

“…”

The Small-Headed Ghost’s miserable expression suddenly froze.

“…”

The Big-Headed Ghost was so startled that he jerked his hand up, directly poking the brush tip into his eye socket.

The two little ghosts turned around in unison and saw the female cultivator who had “come back from the dead,” sitting perfectly fine on the stove…

Are you made of copper peas or something?!