In the depths of night, an ox cart slowly departed from Chang’an.

In the Great Zhou, merchants were not allowed to ride horses or travel in horse-drawn carriages, so Yu Fuwei could only use an ox cart. But as a wealthy merchant, he had furnished the interior of the cart quite comfortably. Li Ying remained unconscious, lying on a silk-covered soft couch. Her complexion was much better than when she had first suffered the Buddhist backlash. Yu Fuwei sat beside her, his brows tightly knit, silent.

By now, Cui Xun would have been imprisoned. Stealing the Buddha’s cranial relic was a capital offense. Who knew if the Empress Dowager’s favor would be enough to save his life?

But even if Cui Xun could save his life, he still intended to avenge the Heavenly Guard. He would still be beyond redemption.

Yu Fuwei’s fingers gradually tightened. He had always despised Cui Xun and never understood why Li Ying could fall for him. But now, he realized that Li Ying’s judgment had not been wrong.

This kind of courage that did not fear death, this kind of resilience that endured hardship—not everyone possessed such qualities.

Cui Xun truly deserved Li Ying’s deep love.

Out of consideration for Li Ying’s condition, the ox cart moved slowly. Seven days later, they finally reached Mount Minyue.

Yu Fuwei carried Li Ying from the soft couch and walked toward the entrance to the Netherworld. A soul-catching emissary was already waiting by the massive stone gate. He said, “Young Master Yu, please give the young lady to me. I will safely deliver her to the City of Wrongful Deaths.”

Yu Fuwei held Li Ying, whose eyes were tightly closed, tears still visible on her face. Her body was so light, as if a gust of wind could scatter her. Yu Fuwei hesitated: “I’m not entirely at ease. Let me escort her to the City of Wrongful Deaths.”

The soul-catching emissary was startled: “Young Master Yu, the path of life and death allows entry but no return. I am a soul-catching emissary, so I can travel between the realms of the living and the dead, but you have a mortal body. Once you enter the Netherworld, you cannot leave.”

“Don’t we have the Buddha’s cranial relic?” Yu Fuwei stroked the Buddha’s relic placed in Li Ying’s sleeve. The relic emitted a luminous sacred light that made the soul-catching emissary retreat two steps in fear. Yu Fuwei said, “The Buddha’s cranial relic is the world’s greatest treasure, its efficacy beyond comparison with other relics. I’ve been with the Buddha’s relic for seven days and have absorbed some of its sacred light—enough for me to leave the path of life and death.”

The soul-catching emissary still felt it was too risky: “Young Master Yu, leaving aside whether the small amount of sacred light you’ve absorbed is enough for you to exit the path of life and death, you’ve studied hard for years and could finally take the imperial examinations. Why would you risk your life in the Netherworld for this young lady?”

Yu Fuwei looked at Li Ying in his arms and murmured, “My greatest dream was indeed to take the imperial examinations. But someone was willing to steal the Buddha’s cranial relic for her. If I don’t even dare to enter the Netherworld, then I would truly be inferior to him…”

The soul-catching emissary didn’t know who this person was that Yu Fuwei spoke of. He didn’t even know who the young lady in Yu Fuwei’s arms was. He only helped Yu Fuwei because they had done business together across the realms of the living and the dead, and their familiarity made him willing to take this risk. The soul-catching emissary let out a long sigh: “Very well, since Young Master Yu insists, I won’t force the issue.”

Unable to dissuade Yu Fuwei, he could only lead him and Li Ying through the stone gate and slowly into the path of life and death.

This was Yu Fuwei’s first time on the path of life and death. Carrying Li Ying, he followed the green ghost lamp in the soul-catching emissary’s hand, stumbling through endless darkness and emptiness.

After traversing the path of life and death, they finally emerged into an open space. The soul-catching emissary led Yu Fuwei toward the direction of the City of Wrongful Deaths.

The City of Wrongful Deaths bordered the Nai River and the Blood Basin Realm of Suffering. The Blood Basin Realm of Suffering was where those who were unfilial, evil, or destroyed Buddhism would be cast after death to receive punishment. Yu Fuwei followed the soul-catching emissary onto a swaying wooden bridge. He first glanced toward the nearby Nai River, where he saw a ferryman in the middle of the river, poling a small boat and looking in their direction. Afraid of being discovered, Yu Fuwei lowered his head and looked down at the bottom of the bridge.

What he saw nearly scattered his soul. Below the bridge was the Blood Basin Realm of Suffering. In the hell of the blood pool, countless souls struggled in the scalding, bloody water. But the blood pool was vast and boundless, and no matter how they struggled, they could not escape the foul-smelling bloody water. The soul-catching emissary said, “Don’t look anymore. Hurry up.”

So Yu Fuwei, carrying Li Ying, quickened his pace. But he didn’t notice a ghost beast, a Boer elephant, quietly climbing onto the bridge behind him. The Boer elephant lurked behind Yu Fuwei, opening its bloody maw to bite at Yu Fuwei’s neck.

Just as its sharp teeth were about to sink into Yu Fuwei, suddenly the Buddha’s cranial relic in Li Ying’s sleeve burst forth with a white light that shone upon the Boer elephant.

The Boer elephant let out a miserable cry, its tail thrashing wildly as it fell straight into the blood pool hell. But before it fell, its tail swept across Yu Fuwei’s lower leg, causing him to stumble. He and Li Ying fell onto the bridge. Fortunately, he protected Li Ying in time, preventing her from falling into the bloody water.

Yu Fuwei was still in shock when the soul-catching emissary turned back in surprise and urged, “You are alive, which especially attracts ghost beasts. Hurry!”

Yu Fuwei nodded quickly, picked up Li Ying, and was about to flee the wooden bridge in haste when he found he couldn’t move. He looked down at his arms and saw that Li Ying had awakened at some point. Her fingers were tightly gripping the rope of the wooden bridge, refusing to let go. Tears flowed from her eyes as she murmured, “Seventeenth Young Master… Seventeenth Young Master…”

Li Ying felt as if she had been in a very long dream. In the dream, she had transformed into a vengeful ghost and killed Ashina Wuduo. Then, mental energy rapidly drained from her body, causing pain like being sliced into a thousand pieces. After that, she fell into boundless darkness, where the intense pain still followed her like a shadow, giving her nowhere to escape.

A solemn Sanskrit voice seemed to ask if she regretted her actions. Pale-faced and trembling, she replied, “No regrets.”

If given the choice again, she would still become a vengeful ghost to kill Ashina Wuduo.

The Sanskrit voice sighed, and pain once again cut through her like a sharp blade, scraping through every inch of her marrow. She groaned in pain but continued to say, “I don’t regret it…”

How could she possibly regret it?

She only regretted not killing Ashina Wuduo earlier, which had allowed him to harm Cui Xun once more.

Given her persistent obstinacy, the backlash of Buddhist law naturally would not spare her. The pain of being sliced into a thousand pieces tormented her for an unknown length of time. Her forehead was covered in fine beads of sweat. Half-conscious, suddenly a gentle white light enveloped her entire body. The pain gradually lessened until it disappeared, and the mental energy that had drained from her slowly returned to her body. Breathing heavily, she finally had the strength to open her eyes.

She was bewildered. Who had saved her?

The Sanskrit voice, now less stern and more compassionate, asked, “Do you want to know?”

She nodded.

Then she saw scenes she did not want to see.

She saw Cui Xun kowtowing at each of the two hundred and one steps, prostrating himself two hundred and one times, all to reach the thirteenth floor of the pagoda and obtain the Buddha’s cranial relic for her.

She saw Cui Xun before the Buddha, vowing not to enter the cycle of rebirth after death, to be reduced to ashes, to pay the price for all his sins, just so he could touch the Buddha’s cranial relic.

She saw him finally able to take the Buddha’s cranial relic. This young man, who rarely cried, was now covered in blood, his hair disheveled, holding the Buddha’s cranial relic and weeping like rain.

She also saw him, for her safety, heartlessly asking Yu Fuwei to send her to the City of Wrongful Deaths, while he remained in Chang’an, calmly facing death.

Li Ying’s face was now also covered in tears. She wanted to leave this place, but her body was extremely weak, unable to move even a finger. She could only murmur, “Let me go… Let me go… I don’t want to stay here…”

She wanted to go back. She wanted to go back to save Cui Xun.

This determination, repeated thousands upon thousands of times, finally caused a glimmer of light to appear in the boundless darkness. Her fingers moved slightly, instinctively grasping the nearest object—the rope of the wooden bridge crossing the Blood Basin Realm of Suffering. She clutched the rope, refusing to let go, as her eyes slowly opened.

In the Dali Temple prison, Cui Xun remained silent.

Lu Huai was becoming exasperated: “It’s been seven days already. For seven days, you’ve refused to say anything. If this continues, I won’t be able to protect you!”

Cui Xun just closed his eyes and said nothing. Lu Huai paced angrily in the small prison cell: “What is the Buddha’s cranial relic? How dare you openly steal it? And not only did you steal it, you refuse to reveal its whereabouts? Cui Xun, I’ll ask you one last time: where did you take the Buddha’s cranial relic?”

He repeated the question several times. For seven days, he had been like this, staying in the prison cell, neither torturing Cui Xun nor putting him in chains. Instead, he provided Cui Xun with good food and drink. Upon discovering that Cui Xun had a cold, he specifically ordered extra braziers to be lit in the cell and had a physician regularly change Cui Xun’s bandages. It was truly as Emperor Longxing had mocked—as if Cui Xun had entered prison for recuperation.

If not for Lu Huai’s persistent questioning, Cui Xun would have seemed even more like someone there for rest and recovery.

But despite Lu Huai’s daily efforts to persuade him, appealing to both emotion and reason, asking about everything from the Buddha’s cranial relic to Wang Xuan’s whereabouts, Cui Xun still wouldn’t say a word to him, which infuriated Lu Huai.

Lu Huai said, “Do you know that in these past few days, during court sessions, memorials calling for your execution have been submitted one after another? They all say you disregard the law, are arrogant and domineering, and that nothing short of your death would satisfy public outrage. If not for the Empress Dowager’s refusal to approve and Minister Cui’s ambiguous attitude, you would already be dead!”

Lu Huai had expected the Empress Dowager’s refusal. It seemed she was still observing the situation. As for Cui Songqing, given his previous attitude toward Cui Xun, he would not have cared whether Cui Xun lived or died. However, Cui Xun’s willingness to risk his life to overturn the wrongful verdict against the Heavenly Guard had improved Cui Songqing’s opinion of him considerably. Additionally, a major incident had recently occurred in the Cui clan. Cui Songqing’s second brother—Cui Xun’s father—had four sons who were all mysteriously killed by intruders seven or eight days ago. Their heads had been taken, and all four sons died in one night. Cui Xun’s father, struck by shock and anger, had fallen ill and lay bedridden, facing the prospect of his lineage being cut off. At this point, he finally remembered that he still had one son.

Unfortunately, this remaining son had been thrown into the Dali Temple prison for a capital offense. Cui Xun’s father had swallowed his pride and desperately begged his elder brother, Cui Songqing, even threatening suicide. Cui Songqing had no choice but to help, yet he couldn’t directly ask the Empress Dowager to spare Cui Xun, so he could only maintain an ambiguous attitude.

With both the Empress Dowager and the Prime Minister inclined to shield him, even if Emperor Longxing wanted to punish Cui Xun, he could do nothing about it. This was why Cui Xun had been able to remain safely in the Dali Temple prison, recovering from his injuries, for these seven days.

Lu Huai paced in the prison cell: “Cui Xun, listen to me. There’s still a way out of this. If you hand over the Buddha’s cranial relic, you might still have a chance to live. If you delay, at best you’ll face severe torture, at worst you’ll lose your life.”

Cui Xun still ignored him. Lu Huai became furious with embarrassment: “I truly don’t understand. Although the Buddha’s cranial relic is precious, it can neither bring power nor influence. Why did you steal it?”

Cui Xun’s frail body leaned against the stone wall, his face as pale as snow. He lowered his eyes. Indeed, the Buddha’s cranial relic couldn’t bring power or influence, but it could save Li Ying’s life.

As long as Li Ying was saved, what did it matter if he was tortured or executed?

Lu Huai talked until his mouth was dry, but Cui Xun paid no attention. Just as Lu Huai was about to explode with anger, a prison guard suddenly reported that the Empress Dowager had summoned Cui Xun to personally question him about the Buddha’s cranial relic.