Chapter Sixteen: The Return of Overbearingness

  Before the words had fallen, the ancestor in front of him suddenly disappeared! He left quietly, just as he came quietly, waving his hand lightly, without taking a single hair away.

  Just as I was wondering what had happened and what would happen next, a rolling thunderclap exploded in my ears like firecrackers, and I quickly opened my mouth wide to prevent deafness.

  Then there were the sounds of gongs and drums, as well as the usual opening performances of the two-person show. It seemed like they were going to perform some kind of program. I looked around and didn't see any snacks, so I felt a bit disappointed. I squatted down on the ground and waited for the show to start!

  At this moment, golden light suddenly flashed before my eyes, and various rays of light intersected, like spotlights on a stage. Finally, the colorful lights gathered in front of me, forming a circle. It felt like a superstar was about to take the stage, even the background music changed from erhu to violin, and the atmosphere instantly became elevated. I directly rose from being a folk artist to entering the golden hall of fame.

  A line of dialogue directly entered my mind, no kidding, it was voiced by my ancestors themselves.

  "In the mysterious and profound universe, all things have their roots. I punish the treacherous and execute the wicked, demonstrating my divine powers. In the world of yin and yang, evil spirits have nowhere to hide. I examine all ghosts, demons, and monsters in the mortal realm. The great demons see me and wail with a loud cry, the small demons see me and shed tears in madness. The evil demons see me and their hearts are shattered, the wicked spirits see me and they turn to dust. The most majestic judge of the underworld appears in his true form."

  The drawn-out tone is quite similar to the introduction of a superstar in competitive sports, it makes me want to pee.

  Although I only understood the last sentence!

  As soon as the voice fell, I saw my ancestor elegantly walking out of the golden light with his right hand waving, holding a notebook in his left hand and a pen under his left arm. He stood on the circle in front of me, with the lamp gathering at the top of his head. If I wasn't worried about being bitten by the blood python in the Nahuo water, I really had an urge to pick some flowers from the other side and offer them to him. His demeanor, his posture, directly made me feel like I was struck by lightning, and suddenly I felt eight-tenths familiar with him.

  Is this guy really the infamous "Judge of Death"? My ancestors! Although I had a vague idea, but after getting confirmation, I'm still shocked. The gap between rumor and reality is simply unbelievable.

  Just now I remembered that the ancestor just said that the official language of this underworld is soul-reading technique, it seems very obvious that it can easily read my thoughts in my mind, and this inner monologue must be due to this soul-reading technique! I started to regret my previous wild thoughts.

  But then I thought of the Soul Reading Technique, and I remembered that my father said I already possessed this skill. Xu Bo also said that my ancestors would personally teach me how to use it. Could this be the Soul Reading Technique that my father said I already had?

  I'm getting a little excited! This soul-reading technique is obviously much more powerful and cost-effective than mind-reading! It's so natural, smooth, and silent, not even needing to rub my eyes or make any noise, it's time-saving, labor-saving, and environmentally friendly, this is indeed a great thing! Just by looking at the top of my head, without even looking into my eyes, I can tell what I'm thinking! I looked at my ancestor in front of me with trepidation, using all my might to put all the positive words and phrases of praise that I had learned into my mind.

  At this time, my ancestors transmitted an idea in my mind and issued a voice like a text message. According to the instructions of my ancestors, I quickly received it. The general meaning is that with my current ability, using the Soul Reading Technique requires strict adherence to standards:

  "First, guard the elixir in the lower abdomen, and let the hundred meetings absorb and descend. The elixir gathers to form the Taiji, leading the Governor Vessel through the coccyx, up the spine to the Niwan Palace, down to the Renzhong junction, stirring the original vitality, leading the Conception Vessel to descend to the Zhonglou, and then return to the Sea of Qi..."

  As I listened, I burst into tears, and all I could think about was: "What the heck is 'dan tian'?! I'm a student, not good at farming!"

  At this time, I heard the tone of my ancestors passing through my mind with a hint of apology: "I know you're a university student, a cultured person, and you like to show off your knowledge. Isn't it true that you intellectuals like to take a simple sentence that even a vegetable-purchasing aunt can understand and turn it into something that even ghosts can't comprehend?" My ancestors' words made me sweat profusely, as if there was indeed some truth to them!

  "A principal who was sent to the underworld because of some unwritten rules came to me recently, with a red face, and told me that when people eat food, something about mouth chewing, enzymes, and decomposition happens. Then, due to the normal flora in the digestive tract, more gas is produced. This gas moves downward along with intestinal peristalsis and is discharged from the anus. When it's discharged, sometimes a sound is produced due to the anal sphincter muscle. Wow, wow, wow! The whole thing sounds like some groundbreaking research achievement, but what is it really? It's just farting! Why can't you just say you let out a fart and be done with it? I even looked up a lot of information to make this sound professional, but I didn't expect you young man not to understand. Sorry, sorry! Let me put it simply: Fart!"

  What's all this about? Alright! I admit I'm confused again. I have a brand new interpretation of "iron-faced, impartial, just and unyielding"!

  My ancestral instincts are telling me again, it's clear that this is the rhythm of not charging extra service fees internally, but I don't know if this traffic package is monthly or daily! Will there be any punishment measures if exceeded?

  "What I meant to say is that after you ignited the Xuanwu blood, you acquired some of the abilities of a Yin messenger. You can easily receive the messages transmitted by the Soul Reading Technique, but since you are not yet registered and do not have an official position, if you want to send a message, you need to focus your eyes on the tip of your nose and stare fixedly at the recipient's eyes..." Listening to my ancestor's unprofessional explanation, I understood what he meant.

  This soul-reading technique is a method of interpreting the thoughts and tracing the source of resentment of various yin ghosts, it's the official language of the underworld, and it's a basic means of interrogation for the yin messengers to question the ghosts, just like belching or farting, it's a natural reaction. Because I'm not an official employee, it's quite troublesome to use, following the instructions of my ancestors, as a result, I undoubtedly made a standard "chicken eye" pose, while other poses had no effect and the signal was very poor.

  That is to say: If you want to read souls, first get chicken eyes!!!!!

  Ugh, I was just thinking that this Soul Reading Technique is so convenient and useful for showing off! It doesn't harm the body like repeatedly rubbing one's eyes with Mind Reading Technique, and it looks so sly. But who knew that this Soul Reading Technique would be even more ridiculous, requiring me to make a "chicken eye" expression while staring at the opponent? Is it supposed to make them laugh? Is this what they call "smile service" in the underworld? Do I really have to look like such a loser? Can't they see that I'm a handsome and wealthy guy?!

  Listening to the message passed down from ancestors is completely problem-free, from any angle, fully covered without blind spots, and the conversation effect is very good!

  But if I'm the one actively speaking, asking questions and communicating, I need to keep staring at my ancestors' eyes with a fierce gaze! If it were a beautiful young woman or something, that would be a great way to relax and enjoy myself!

  But staring at the ancestor's face, which is domineering and leaking air everywhere, I still feel a little frightened. This thing really requires courage. It's very obvious that my current resistance can't withstand the ancestor's domineering aura! Prolonged viewing can cause serious damage to vision!

  Looking at the ancestor's raised corners of his mouth and trembling beard, I could feel the ancestor's anger when he read my thoughts. A big package on my forehead responded, and I quickly put all the words of praise in my mind and forced them onto the ancestor's body until the ancestor turned from anger to laughter. Only then did I let out a sigh of relief. A kind of naked exposure feeling arose!

  Then, my ancestor explained a few more sentences about the "Reading Soul Technique", and I quickly began to receive the messages transmitted by my ancestors into my brain: "The 'Reading Soul Technique' is the most basic means of interrogating souls and asking ghosts. Every day, facing so many dead ghosts and yin objects, if we were to interrogate one by one, investigate cases, collect evidence, catch criminals, and go through legal procedures... even if I used up all my vacation days, it wouldn't be enough! With the 'Reading Soul Technique', you can completely grasp the ghost's identity, know their thoughts and grievances in detail, and directly read out the verdict on the documents. So, you'd better not have any more wild ideas." The vengeful look on his face made me break out in a cold sweat.

  I hurriedly continued to blow myself up, and the face in front of me was not a fierce and evil face, but a handsome idol-like face. To be honest, this temporary move seemed to be effective, and looking at my ancestor's satisfied expression, I nodded obediently.

  Indeed, one must deceive oneself before deceiving others!

  Just as I was concentrating, "Ah-choo!" A meaningful sneeze from my ancestor, with sparks flying out of his nose and landing on my head, making a sizzling sound. Suddenly, my nostrils were filled with the smell of burnt offerings. I touched my hair and found that a patch was gone, showing signs of local baldness. Luckily, I had short hair; if it were long, my head would have caught fire. As I was lost in thought, I unconsciously took two steps back, lest I be injured by my ancestor's coughing, sneezing, or yawning and end up as a roasted whole sheep.

  Looks like our ancestors have a bit of internal heat!

  At this time, Zuzong continued to read the soul technique and introduced himself:

  "In this underworld, the four of us are the actual authorities. We are the Judges of Merit, Punishment, Investigation, and I, your ancestor, the most handsome and wisest, Zhū Míng, the Judge of Summoning Souls. Don't say anything, just listen to my name. The other three are named after their duties, but only I am named after myself. You can see how high my status is, how handsome I look, and how powerful I am! I am undoubtedly the first among the judges!"

  Seeing the ancestors' paused expression, I quickly thought of a few words of praise and nodded repeatedly to show affirmation.

  To be honest, I'm still quite curious about these four great judges. Before, I had only heard of them, but now that my own ancestors are among them, I naturally want to know more details. Such a high-ranking official is not someone you can just casually get acquainted with, let alone it being my own ancestor!

  "Ancestors, you Four Great Heavenly Kings, no, Four Great Judges, how did you divide your work?"

  "This question is great!" The ancestor's tone was just like a press conference!

  Ancestors nodded in agreement while passing on the message: "This Shangshan Si mainly holds thin goodness, and the official attire is green robe. I won't say anything about that set of official clothes. Even the desire to talk to him is gone. The main division manages the small ghosts who do good deeds before they are born, and they are assessed and managed according to their degree of goodness. That guy smiles all day long, and those who don't know think he's in the service industry. His professional ethics are clearly not up to par. Our work should be serious when it's time to be serious!

  "This is the Punishment Department, a violent and short-tempered one. He's too serious and explosive, wearing a purple robe, with round eyes wide open, like a thug. It's like the Reward Virtue Department's opposite! All ghosts who report to the underworld are sentenced according to King Yan's 'Four Not Four Without' principle. The four nots: disloyalty, unfilial piety, disrespect, and dishonesty. The four withouts: discourtesy, unrighteousness, shamelessness, and immodesty. Light crimes receive light punishment, heavy crimes receive heavy punishment. Then they are sent to the 18th level of hell." As soon as I heard the two words "hell", I was drenched in sweat!

  Also, there is Cha Cha Shi. This kid likes to show off, seemingly even more so than me. He's in charge of making sure good people get their due rewards and bad people receive the punishment they deserve, as well as helping those who have been wronged clear their names. He often goes deep into the front lines, but isn't often seen.

  And I, your ancestor, was the first of the Four Great Judges, with a clean and honest record as an official in life. After death, I became Yanluo Wang's most trusted case judge, in charge of the Case Department, rewarding good and punishing evil, governing life and death, with authority unmatched in ancient and modern times. In my hand, I hold the "Book of Life and Death" and the Soul-Calling Brush, with just one stroke or dot, who should live and who should die is decided in an instant.

  Looking at the Book of Life and Death in the ancestor's hand and the Judge's Pen, I sincerely said a sentence "Awesome!"