Chapter 39: Ghost Captures the World's Family

  "Why does every generation of the Choi family have an Iron Clan Shadow Guard watching over them?" I wondered.

  "My father looked at me and said, 'As a Yin official's family, we have been dealing with yin ghosts for many years. We will inevitably offend some evil spirits intentionally or unintentionally. Although most of these ordinary yin ghosts are caught by the yin messengers and brought back to the underworld for punishment, there will always be some fish that slip through the net and remain in the human world. These will come to our Cui family to cause trouble."

  At that time, the descendants of Sui Yang's imperial family, the evil Taoist Si Jianren, mobilized the wild ghosts of Yan Shan to escape from the Blood River and provoke the Cui family. Si Jianren used his evil magic to trap the ghost and capture the Fengdu branch team. If it weren't for Tie Yi's father, Tie Chong, using the Shadow Piercing Heart technique to break the spell, the Cui family might have been exterminated long ago." The father's body began to tremble visibly due to excitement.

  Tieyi didn't say a word, bent down, and gently patted his father's back.

  "Sixty-four places of smoke and dust, seventy-two households of bandits, countless wronged spirits who died miserably still linger in the world, their descendants are not few either. This Shadow Guard is one of them."

  At the sound of his father's words, he immediately saluted Tie Yi with a military salute.

  "Tie Zhong died back then because of me, and entered the Yama's office, becoming the leader of the secret assassination group. He left behind Tie Yi who was still just a child... Tie Yi is the youngest Shadow Guard in the history of the Tie family. Our Cui family owes the Tie family far too much." Father's gaze focused on Tie Yi's face, his eyes filled with tears.

  "Fengdui Cui Tie's two families are actually one clan, relying on each other like teeth and lips. Although Iron Clothes is nominally my Shadow Guard, I have long regarded him as a member of my own family."

  Looking at the iron lump in front of me, I have great respect in my eyes. If we say that the Cui family is an unknown hero, then this iron family is the hero behind the unknown hero!

  But this guy had been following me for over twenty years and I didn't even notice, my inner thunder raged with anger, questioning whether my sensory organs were all dead? The cells were speechless and choked.

  After a long silence, Father finally said:

  Sixty-four places of smoke and dust, seventy-two households of bandits among the tens of thousands of vengeful spirits who died miserably, are all fierce ghosts and violent thugs. It can be said that this Fugui must be the Supreme of Maoshan, and this pursuit of ghosts and capture of ghosts, this Fengdu Iron Family is certainly the number one in the world!

  The Iron Family's 64-style Demon-Expelling Steps, one sword to chase the soul of Qingtong Chengying, Seven Star Lock Soul Needle...... Even if it is a fierce ghost with legs all over its body, it cannot escape. Every generation of the Iron Family will enter the underworld after death and become a ghost catcher, this title of the Iron Family Army in the underworld is not inferior to our ancestors by a single bit."

  It's a good thing I didn't lay a hand on Tie Yi, otherwise the consequences would be unthinkable.

  "Oni-tori?" The name sounds cool.

  "The original catcher was divided into catcher and quick hand, the catcher is an official role that catches thieves, and the quick hand is an official role that captures thieves by hand. Later, with the improvement of the quality of the evil forces, this strong side could not meet the needs, so the selected material needed to have both. The catcher is a combination of catcher and quick hand, and the ghost catcher belongs to the court."

  Listening to my father's words made me feel that the catcher was indeed very cool, but it's strange why in various Chinese martial arts dramas, the catcher's mysterious leg technique is generally used when seeing a thug turn around and run away? That mysterious and subtle skill, why does it often not even work before the fight starts?

  It seems that this literary work is indeed derived from life but despises life!

  If there's a chance, I'd definitely give this cop some positive publicity. Don't know if Tie Yi watches the show, but seeing his fellow officers get beaten up should be pretty frustrating for him too.

  Looking at the dirty bed, I asked shyly: "Iron family ghost catcher isn't born to catch ghosts? This first time seeing a ghost won't..." I looked at my own bed and regretted asking such a stupid question.

  The father smiled and shook his head, then said to me: "This ghost catcher is not as simple as you think. The test that the Iron Clothes have undergone is something that ordinary people can't imagine at all. To put it simply, the reason why the Iron Clothes are not afraid of ghosts is because every generation of the Iron family must complete one thing before becoming a Shadow Guard!"

  Seeing Father being somewhat mysterious, I couldn't wait to know the answer, "What thing?"

  "The journey through hell is endless, eighteen hells of refining the gall and fusing emotions!" My father's seemingly calm words left me utterly shocked.

  How could this lump of iron in front of me be more awesome than I am, and have actually been to the 18th level of hell that I'd rather die than go to? How is this possible? This isn't even humanly possible.

  "Dad, you mean Tie Yi has been to the Eighteen Levels of Hell before?"

  "The iron clothes have been taken off." Father nodded.

  "Why go to such a godforsaken place?" I find this move utterly incomprehensible.

  Don't even mention going there, just hearing about it makes me feel a chill down my spine. The mere mention of the Blood River Pool's Four Poisons is enough to make me vomit my guts out. According to our ancestors' sayings, this thing is merely an appetizer before meals. Just thinking about the Eighteen Hells is enough to make one's hair stand on end.

  No wonder this iron lump in front of me seems to have severe autism and depression, it must be the aftereffect of going to that ghost place.

  "Fear is human nature, and the only way to conquer fear is to be more fearful than fear itself. Once you get used to fear, you won't have any physical sensation anymore. After going through eighteen hells of baptism, even if you encounter the most terrifying ghost, you can still treat it as usual."

  Sounds like it makes some sense.

  According to my imagination, hell is simply a slaughterhouse and dissecting room for yin ghosts!!!!

  At this point, Father interjected, "Speaking of which, it's really embarrassing to say that when our ancestors invited me to take a day trip to the Eighteenth Hell, I fainted on the spot. Compared to Tie Yi, I'm far inferior."

  "After that, my ancestors often said they would take me in, but I dragged it on once and used all the excuses I could use, but still didn't have the courage to go in." Looks like Dad is really quite bold, even revealing such private matters.

  If I hadn't been to the underworld, I would have said it's no big deal with a couple of haha's, but after experiencing this trip to the underworld, everything is still vivid and fresh in my mind.

  Naturally, I can fully empathize with Father's feelings now. This sympathetic situation is beyond description.

  Looking at Tie Yi's expressionless face, I feel that reacting slowly has its advantages.

  But who would have thought that Father suddenly changed his tone in front of Xu Bo and Tie Yi:

  However, Cui Ming, you are different. Your ancestors said that your courage is fierce and bold, and no one in the Cui family has been able to match you for a thousand years. They say that in the future, they will definitely take you on a tour of the 18 layers of hell, and even have plans to find you a better job in hell, so as not to waste your bravery.

  "My father is really not as good as his son!" As I listened to my father's praise, my legs went weak and I sat down on my bed with a plop, the wet feeling suddenly overflowing from my secret place.

  At this moment, seeing that my father didn't use mind-reading skills, I silently cursed our ancestors. This is too ridiculous, those people were so scared they almost peed their pants and died.

  At this moment, I finally felt that being a hero is not easy. Although I'm scared and want to cry loudly, I still have to laugh and pretend to be strong. It's really not easy.

  "I hastily said: 'Although I have a brave heart, my courage is bigger than my stomach, but this eighteen-layer hell tour can be forgotten, not interesting, wasting ancestors' time, completely unnecessary.'"

  "Being too modest is not good, this is the privilege of the Cui family. Our ancestors said that you are a shy child and it's embarrassing to say, next time, no matter what you say, we will take you in and cultivate your outgoing personality!"

  His father's words were full of pride, and his bright red face seemed as if the eighteen layers of hell were a sacred treasure land.

  When I heard my father's words, I was in tears. The sound of his heart breaking was clearly audible, piece by piece, block by block, slowly falling into desolation.

  What a shy and timid guy! Who wants to go? I'll immediately offer this one-of-a-kind super invincible welfare. A completely free trip to the 18th level of hell.

  I was completely moved by my father's actions of doing unto others what he would not have them do unto him, and I burst into tears, losing control of my emotions.

  Just as I was wailing in grief, I caught a glimpse of Xu Bo showing no signs of waking up, while Tie Yi had an air of being a mere spectator, as if the more intense my crying, the more artistic the scene would be. How could I let this guy feel at ease? Suddenly, I suppressed my sobs, stopped my tears, and chose to silently endure this sorrowful emotion in my heart.

  I know that men who are tough on the outside are lonely and full of stories inside, and I am undoubtedly one of them, and very likely the toughest one.

  Look at me, not crying anymore. My father said in a gentle tone: "Although this trip to the underworld, eighteen hells tour, is a rare opportunity for ordinary people, but for our Cui family, it's nothing big, no need to be so excited. If you want to go, just get a card and go often, it's not a big deal." My father's gentle expression paired with such ruthless words made me instantly soft.

  Is my body language really stiff to the point where the meaning I want to express is distorted to this extent? Is my acting really so exaggerated? It seems that life experience is the best teacher for performance.

  Forget it, I'll just say it straight out. "It's not that serious, it's just that I have no interest in these eighteen layers of hell, I suppose it's all about torturing ghosts, same old same old."

  "Although I've never been inside, Tieyi has told me that the decorations in these eighteen layers of hell are quite good, much better than those in the haunted houses at amusement parks. Since you don't want to go now, let's talk about it later."

  I won't go again in the future, I muttered to myself, but didn't say it out loud. Anyway, as long as Father knows my intention now, that's all that matters.

  I was too lazy to explain and threw out another curiosity: "Where did Tie Yi learn his kung fu? It looks pretty fierce!"

  This is a relatively euphemistic way of putting it. Tie Yi's moves are obviously much more impressive than my clumsy, rough, and unrefined "Twelve Character True Words". It's not just a contrast between high-end and low-end, if this guy were next to me and I had the chance to show off, I'd be too embarrassed to make a move, my stuff is too embarrassing.

  "My father looked at me and said: 'Tie Yi's martial arts skills were learned in the underworld, and the one who taught him was Tie Jia's first person, Ghost Captor Tie Ning, the head of the underworld's ghost-catching department. This matter of catching ghosts and demons is under the jurisdiction of the Iron Armor Army.'"

  Listen to father's words and take another look at the iron clothes in front of you, and indeed the family is also very prominent.

  "The ghost officials in the underworld are very fond of Iron Clothes, and they often pass on their skills to him, so his martial arts skills are also the best among the Shadow Guards of all generations." Father said resolutely.