Child: "You don't understand... If he dares to bring out a large number of soul bodies, do you think he would come out alone?"
Lin Shuyou: "Are you saying that he brought his subordinates?"
Child: "A Judge with the title 'Judge', without anyone to command, what kind of official is that!"
At this moment, White Crane True Monarch voluntarily withdrew from battle, came to the edge of the stage, and Shuping began to survey the surroundings, trying to find the hidden presence.
Child: "Guess how many Ghost Generals and Ghost Marshals he brought out!"
Lin Shuyou: "Are Ghost Generals and Ghost Marshals very powerful?"
Child: "Their rank is lower than the Judge, but their power might not be weaker than the Judge. The Judge is regarded as a civilian official within the Underworld hierarchy."
The action of White Crane True Monarch left Zhao Yi feeling slightly helpless; he realized the child must have detected something.
Meanwhile, the sculpture's gaze swept towards White Crane True Monarch: "Hehe, it seems..."
Li Zhiyuan flicked his fingers forward: "Liang Yan, Liang Li, go!"
Liang Yan and Liang Li rushed forward to the stage at extreme speed, their hands joined, smashing the sculpture down, and with it, also silenced the words the sculpture was about to utter.
With the join of the Liang Sisters, even if White Crane True Monarch was distracted, they could still fiercely crush the sculpture.
The harder they crushed, the happier the sculpture became, for it could then reveal the truth and relish in the despair of its adversaries.
Zhao Yi hoped it would continue to revel in this.
Logically, from meeting till coming here and then communicating by battle, quite a lot of time had passed, Li should have already explored these outer areas extensively, what more do you need, Li?
Under the intense pressure, the sculpture nearly had no power to retaliate and was battered increasingly into fragments.
Yet faintly, from the depths of the sculpture, waves of suppressive laughter could be heard.
Child: "It shouldn't be, how could such a meticulous person not notice the problem here and continue sending people to smash it?"
Lin Shuyou: "Child, is your brain as good as Brother Xiao Yuan's?"
Child: "I have lived much longer than he has."
Lin Shuyou: "If you don't think your brain is better than Brother Xiao Yuan's, then don't overthink things."
"Hehehe... Only those who have been ghosts themselves know the true face of the Underworld, much stronger than these clueless folks."
The sculpture seemed to refer to White Crane True Monarch.
The distraction of White Crane True Monarch not only added authenticity, but also brought it greater pleasure, after all, here was someone who "understood it."
Bang!
Eventually, the sculpture was crushed.
A mass of pure, liquid-like black mist surged out, finally flowing like a mini waterfall into the ground beneath the stage.
"Hehehe, do you think you've won, hahaha!"
It was evident it was truly pleased, and utterly delighted, gaining immense emotional satisfaction.
Bang bang bang! Bang bang bang! Bang bang bang!
Deep drum sounds resonated, in the surrounding ground, indentations appeared one after another.
White Crane True Monarch jumped off the stage at the first moment, returning to stand guard before Li Zhiyuan, even the Liang Sisters quickly regrouped to their positions.
Only Run Sheng still stood on the stage wielding the Yellow River Shovel, unlike his usual stance at the forefront to protect Xiao Yuan.
Everyone was gazing around, accompanied by the drum sounds and indentations appeared shapes of swiftly passing ghostly shadows up above.
As more ghostly shadows appeared, their speed actually slowed down, eventually becoming clear to see a series of flags borne by little ghosts floating up in the air.
These flags resembled those borne in front and rear rows during folk mourning and funeral processions, but far surpassed them in somber majesty.
Buzz!
All flagpoles overhead quickly lined up in rows, each row's tip pointed towards someone among Li Zhiyuan and the others below.
In an instant, everyone felt their bodies grow much heavier, even their thoughts slowed.
This was not an array, it was a highly advanced miasma, moving the configuration of the Underworld Court here, not only preventing escape of those under the court, but also thoroughly suppressing them, ensuring the Judge above held supreme authority in this configuration.
"Mighty... Majestic..."
In the indentations earlier, chairs slowly emerged, and behind every chair a weapon hung, on each chair sat a skeletal corpse.
The color, gender, age of the skeletons varied, evidently not their true form, but deliberately chosen vessels for descending from the secular world.
The seats on both sides surrounded Li Zhiyuan and the others, four reds eight blacks.
The bones rose in unison, first donning armor and command flags, then gradually filling out.
Four Ghost Marshals, eight Ghost Generals, all assembled, each exuding a unique terrifying aura.
Meanwhile, in the area flooded with black mist, not only a Taishi Chair rose, but also a Judge's Desk.
On it laid various judgement items well-equipped, a child-like skeleton quickly manifested into an entity with crow-white hair imbued with a rich aura of authority.
Clap!
With the beat of the wooden clapper, the four Ghost Marshals and eight Ghost Generals all stood up.
The flags overhead descended further, everyone below felt almost tangible pressure, compelling them to kneel in submission.
In this state, wanting to fight brazenly was a luxury, their power hardly able to be used.
"Those under the court, are you aware of your sins!"
Li Zhiyuan: "What crime did I commit?"
The Judge looked at Li Zhiyuan without responding, only flipping open a booklet on the desk, picking up a pen, crossed off seven of eight names, and said:
"Since the crime is known, execute immediately!"
The four Ghost Marshals and eight Ghost Generals collectively pressured forward, ready to strike.
Li Zhiyuan: "Defend!"
Doe Zhao knew, regardless of how dire the situation was, they still needed to stall for time for Li.
Yet the next moment, Doe Zhao realized his worry was needless.
Buzz!
All flagpoles initially aimed at Li Zhiyuan and the others now shifted away, pointing instead at the four Marshals and eight Generals below.
Connected clicks could be heard, the Marshals and Generals who had just taken a step forward were all suppressed, retreating collectively before sitting back on their chairs.
The Judge astonishingly looked up, continuously extracting command signs from the container, sending them upwards, yet all the ghostly shadows and flags above completely disregarded his summons, continuing to suppress their own Marshals and Generals.
Lin Shuyou and others instantly sensed the pressure dissipate, their minds clearing.
Doe Zhao cursed with a smile: "Li, why were you so slow!"
Run Sheng, who had never returned to stand alone in the corner, witnessed a distortion behind him, Li Zhiyuan emerged from it, holding the array flag.
Li Zhiyuan was somewhat surprised, he knew Brother Runsheng might differentiate the fake from him, but he didn't expect that Brother Runsheng could even sense his position outside the miasma.
Li Zhiyuan looked at the standing Doe Zhao opposite, answered:
"Actually, it was ready long ago, just waiting for him to initiate first."
After the lengthy preparation beforehand, when Li Zhiyuan stealthily explored the ambush perimeter, he felt a stark contrast akin to casting amorous looks at a blind person.
This Ghost Miasma virtually was the Fengdu Twelve Commandments - Judgement of the Yin Soul sequence, unaltered in its placement here, not even changing the central lifeline of the miasma and the flaws Li Zhiyuan noticed when he initially reverse-engineered them, were flawlessly retained.
If people were trapped inside from the start, that would be a problem, yet as long as Li Zhiyuan was outside, it equated to holding the key to the security room, just opening a door and walking directly in.
This indicates that the Great Emperor's subordinates only knew they were heading to Fengdu, yet lacked clarity about the intimate relationship between themselves and the Great Emperor's legacy.
Otherwise, they would never dare to boldly present such textbook-standard things right in front of him.
The Judge stared at Li Zhiyuan, glanced at Doe Zhao beside the "Li Zhiyuan," then looked upwards at the totally defected flags and ghostly shadows.
After hesitating for some time, the Judge uttered:
"If anyone under the court has grievances, speak swiftly!"
Li Zhiyuan pulled out his wordless book, first opening the first page; recently, Li Zhiyuan deliberately refrained from extracting from the evil book, thus the evil book was now full of energy.
Moreover, there's only an incorrect name and not an incorrect nickname, indeed this entity was quite sinister, not only did it hang red lanterns and light red candles in its own cell on the first page, posing with an open-door hospitality stance, but when Li Zhiyuan flipped to the second and third pages, he saw the evil book had already drawn a cage for him in advance.
Seeing no response, the Judge spoke once more:
"This Judge is here, every misunderstanding reason can be laid out, all can be mediated!"
Li Zhiyuan glanced at that Judge, shook the book in his hand,
said:
"Since the crime is known, execute immediately!"
