After saying this, Duan Xu suddenly turned his head and smiled at Jiang Ai: “I’m sorry, I didn’t hear clearly. What did you call me, upright?”

Jiang Ai nodded.

Because of what the young man had just said, she was reassessing him. She asked, “Isn’t that right?”

The young man before her shook his head, the black gauze on his veiled hat swaying with the movement. His voice carried a smile, with a hint of mockery beneath, as if he had heard something amusing.

“I’m not a good person. I bear countless blood debts. I’ve killed many who were strangers to me, unarmed, begging me to spare them, some who couldn’t even make a sound. I didn’t do these things for any noble reason; I did it to survive. If these laws were applied to me, I might not escape unscathed.”

“But I’ve also sworn an oath that in the future, I will save more people, protect more people, and help them gain freedom. I will risk my life and give it my all.”

Jiang Ai was momentarily stunned. She knew that children of this age all had some grand ambitions, passionate and eager, wishing they could climb to the heavens and capture the moon. In gambling houses, many such wealthy young masters squandered fortunes, always lost and restless.

But this child was different; his passion seemed excessively clear-headed.

Before she could comment on his description, she saw the youth step back a few paces, smiling as he changed the subject: “Earlier you said this is the second most hated place for evil ghosts. Where is the first most hated place? Is it the legendary Nine Palaces Labyrinth Prison?”

Jiang Ai felt her eyelid twitch. She smiled without mirth: “You don’t want to go to the Nine Palaces Labyrinth Prison, do you?”

No evil ghost liked the Nine Palaces Labyrinth Prison, or rather, all evil ghosts avoided it at all costs. Not only did they not want to enter, they didn’t even want to pass by the main gate.

“Would the Left Minister kindly show me the way?”

Duan Xu made an innocent gesture of invitation.

Lately, Jiang Ai felt that this child’s innocence was always full of traps and trouble.

The Nine Palaces Labyrinth Prison was underneath Xusheng Mountain, with its entrance midway up the mountainside – a pitch-black locust wood gate that looked like an ordinary warehouse door. It had no decorations, standing there plain and unremarkable, showing no hint of the terror it contained. No evil ghosts were guarding it, completely mismatched with its notorious reputation.

Jiang Ai and Duan Xu stood before this infamous labyrinth prison. She confirmed once more: “Are you sure you want to go in?”

Duan Xu countered: “Does Simu not allow me to enter?”

“She hasn’t said that, but if the guardian won’t let you in, there’s nothing I can do.”

Jiang Ai knocked on the gate, three long knocks followed by one short. The black, unadorned gate lit up with a charm, and then white vein-like patterns began to appear on the door, resembling blood vessels bulging on a person’s forehead from exertion.

Following the direction of the converging white veins, two enormous pure white eyes, each with a radius of about three feet, suddenly opened on the two doors. The eyeballs moved flexibly in all directions, looking at who knows where and examining who knows what.

“State your name, visitor.”

The eyes produced a sound from somewhere unknown, surprisingly resonant and powerful.

“Fei Ghost Hall Master, Jiang Ai.”

The eyeballs moved closer to examine Jiang Ai, then laughed: “Jiang Ai, what a rare guest! What crime have you committed? How come I haven’t received any orders from the King?”

Jiang Ai waved her hand, laughing heartily: “Xusheng, what are you saying? A well-mannered and law-abiding ghost like me, how could I be imprisoned?”

Xusheng was the mountain spirit of Xusheng Mountain. The entire mountain was formed from his body, his eyes were on the gate of the Nine Palaces Labyrinth Prison, and the prison itself was inside his head.

“I just want to take a look inside, with my friend here.”

Jiang Ai pointed to Duan Xu behind her.

Those enormous eyes suddenly stood upright and rushed toward Duan Xu. Instinctively, Duan Xu wanted to dodge but immediately stopped and stood still, allowing the ghastly white vertical eyes to examine him from left to right.

Xusheng said: “He carries the King’s aura, a very strong aura.”

“His veiled hat bears the King’s charm,” Jiang Ai replied.

“Not just that.”

Xusheng suddenly withdrew his eyes, casually spinning them on the door: “He’s a living person. I don’t let living people enter.”

This was exactly what Jiang Ai wanted to hear. She was about to tell Duan Xu it wasn’t that she wouldn’t help, but that Xusheng wouldn’t let him in. But then she heard Xusheng continue: “However, is the King going to marry you? Are you the King’s fiancé?”

While Jiang Ai hesitated in slight astonishment, the young man responded with a speed uncommon among ordinary people: “That’s right, we’ve pledged ourselves to each other for life.”

Being bound as a charm caster for life was also a lifetime commitment.

Xusheng spat once. If his eyes weren’t completely white, he would certainly have rolled them.

“It seems so. The last living person deeply steeped in the Ghost King’s aura was the former Ghost Queen. Very well, come in then.”

The young man turned his head. Jiang Ai couldn’t see his expression, but she could imagine he was smiling smugly. She pressed her temples, thinking that the hundred boxes of gold bricks in the palace treasury were truly hard to earn. Next time Simu gave her this kind of task, she’d have to ask for more. However, taking a turn around the Nine Palaces Labyrinth Prison, apart from being somewhat uncomfortable, wasn’t a big deal.

She knocked on the gate and said: “Xusheng, give me two heart candles.”

“Coming right up.”

Red mist surged in those pure white eyes, like the red glow of a distant horizon, converging into two red tears that flowed down the eye sockets and turned into two red candles when they fell into Jiang Ai’s hands.

Jiang Ai waved in the air, and a golden candlestick appeared in her hand. She placed one of the candles in the candlestick and handed it to Duan Xu. The moment Duan Xu accepted the candlestick, the candle flame lit automatically.

“Take good care of it. This is your heart candle.”

Jiang Ai did the same with the other heart candle, which also burned with flame. However, the flame of the candle in Duan Xu’s hand was red, while the flame of the candle in Jiang Ai’s hand was blue.

Duan Xu asked: “Is this your heart candle?”

“Yes. Only by holding a heart candle can you avoid getting lost in the Nine Palaces Labyrinth Prison.”

The gate slowly opened, revealing endless darkness beyond. Jiang Ai held her heart candle and said: “Stay close after entering. There’s nothing much to see inside, and it takes only half an hour to go around once.”

Duan Xu agreed and followed.

As the name suggests, the Nine Palaces Labyrinth Prison was arranged according to the Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams diagram, with one Kan, two Kun, three Zhen, four Xun, five centered on Taiji, six Qian, seven Dui, eight Gen, nine Li, weaving all kinds of worldly desire traps.

Jiang Ai walked in front holding the candle. When Duan Xu entered the prison, he saw a faint light from the ground revealing the character “Kan” before returning to darkness. From distant places came cries of pain and alarm, echoing into countless overlapping sounds. Wandering souls occasionally crashed into the range of the weak candlelight.

They seemed to be sailing on the sea at night, with turbulent waves around them, but all they could see was blackness.

Duan Xu asked: “Why is it so dark in this Nine Palaces Labyrinth Prison?”

Jiang Ai answered languidly: “This is the darkness of human hearts.”

She had said before that there wasn’t much to see in the Nine Palaces Labyrinth Prison, and this wasn’t an excuse. Entering the prison with a heart candle, one could only see endless darkness and hear the screams of evil ghosts exiled here. One would rarely encounter any evil ghosts directly, making it quite boring.

Only when the heart candle went out could one see the true Nine Palaces Labyrinth Prison.

Without the heart candle, evil ghosts would immediately fall into the illusions woven by the Nine Palaces Labyrinth Prison, forgetting the boundary between reality and fantasy, trapped in countless cycles of birth, aging, sickness, death, meeting with hatred, parting with love, and the suffering of unfulfilled desires.

“Evil ghosts don’t feel pain, but you saw Fang Chang howl for a long time when he was burned to death. That’s because the ghost fire of the Ghost King’s Lantern can make evil ghosts recall all the memories of pain they experienced as humans, and return it tenfold. Evil ghosts are tormented by these vivid memories, hence their unbearable suffering.”

“In the Nine Palaces Labyrinth Prison, the punishment is hunger.”

All evil ghosts became wandering souls after death because they had obsessions, things they desired but couldn’t obtain. Even after becoming wandering souls, they had to devour each other for a hundred years to become evil ghosts. Only those with extremely heavy desires could achieve this. But could what was unattainable in life be obtained after death?

The wishes of evil ghosts could never be fulfilled. All evil ghosts existed in a state of eternal hunger. Eating humans could alleviate hunger but couldn’t cure it. This was the punishment evil ghosts received for their obsessions.

The Nine Palaces Labyrinth Prison magnified the various desires and cravings in the hearts of evil ghosts, creating the most painful and unbearable, endlessly cycling illusions.

“Evil ghosts banished to the Nine Palaces Labyrinth Prison without heart candles are like donkeys with carrots dangling above their heads, endlessly pursuing the illusion but never obtaining anything. If they are sentenced to just a few years in prison, their heart candles will be preserved by Xusheng, lit outside the exit door. When the time comes, they can be awakened and led out. But if they are in the Nine Palaces Labyrinth Prison and their heart candle is completely extinguished, they will be forever lost within, wearing away until they vanish completely.”

Jiang Ai described this labyrinth prison designed specifically for the desires of evil ghosts. Duan Xu listened quietly to her explanation without interrupting or asking questions.

As the introduction concluded, Jiang Ai watched the young man’s thoughtful expression, and her mischievous heart stirred again. She smiled: “Little friend, you see how different things are in our ghost realm compared to the human world. Earlier you wanted to ask about the King’s past. Did you know she’s already four hundred years old? Although still very young in the ghost realm, it’s an unimaginable period for mortals.”

“Four hundred years, that’s more than 146,000 days and nights. Even a book with 146,000 pages would take you a lifetime to read. How could you possibly understand such an evil ghost?”

The young man behind her paused his steps. Under the darkness and black gauze, his expression was indistinct. He didn’t seem to be smiling as usual, and his voice was calm.

He said: “This is indeed not an easy thing. She said she doesn’t need me to understand, probably because she thinks I can’t.”

Jiang Ai thought perhaps this young man was giving up.

After a pause, the young man said: “Left Minister, I think I hear something?”

Jiang Ai was startled. She was about to ask what sound, as she hadn’t heard anything. Then with a thought, she sensed a rapidly approaching sound. Within the range of the heart candle’s light, a figure suddenly intruded, heading straight for Jiang Ai. She immediately drew a charm to counter it. At the moment of engagement, by the faint light, she saw the appearance of this evil ghost.

His hair and eyelashes were snow-white, and his skin was excessively pale. He looked like a man in his thirties from the human world, with multiple wounds that were particularly shocking against his pale skin.

The only thing on him with deep color was a pair of pitch-black eyes.

Jiang Ai was stunned and said: “Bai San Xing… you haven’t vanished yet?”

This evil ghost seemed immersed in an illusion. With a confused expression, in the brief moment of Jiang Ai’s shock, he broke through her charm, grabbed her wrist, and tried to seize the heart candle in her hand.

“I want to get out… I want… to get out…” he muttered.

Just as Jiang Ai’s heart candle was about to be taken, the young man quickly stepped forward, biting his candlestick in his mouth, drawing his Illusion-Breaking Twin Swords, and slashing at the evil ghost’s wrist. The evil ghost immediately withdrew his hand to dodge, then having his attention drawn, turned to fight with the young man.

Jiang Ai finally recovered from her shock. Knowing that no matter how skilled the young man was, he would be no match for Bai San Xing, she immediately began to create a charm, calling out: “Little friend, don’t—”

Before she could finish, there was the sound of metal falling to the ground. Amid their struggle, Bai San Xing’s sleeve flew upward. Along with his fluttering sleeve, a glimmering candle flame also ascended.

It was Duan Xu’s heart candle, severed at the waist.

Jiang Ai’s eyes widened, and her hand stopped in mid-air forming the charm. If she had a heartbeat, it would have stopped at this critical moment. The young man suddenly spoke: “I heard the Left Minister loves to gamble, with gambling houses spread throughout the world.”

He turned his head, and through the floating black gauze, Jiang Ai saw a pair of bright eyes: “Would the Left Minister like to make a bet with me? If I can get out of the Nine Palaces Labyrinth Prison alive, will you tell me about Simu’s childhood?”