Chapter 1: The Haunted Forest of Demons (Part 1)

  A sudden flurry of footsteps came from behind the screen, and as the sound drew closer, seven or eight ghostly soldiers with missing arms and broken legs appeared one after another from behind the great hall.

  Chui Fu Jun pointed at them and sternly asked Ding Ling Xiu:

  "These are the ghost soldiers you wounded when you broke into the Black Rope Hell and released two demons, dare you still try to deny it?"

  Ding Lingxiu just took a glance and calmly replied:

  "I don't know them."

  Chui Fu Jun looked at these ghostly soldiers and asked:

  "You few, weren't those two the ones who broke into the Black Rope Hell and released the demons that day?"

  These ghostly soldiers gazed at Ding Lingyu, looking somewhat fearful, and replied in a trembling manner:

  "Judge Choi, it's these two demons, Judge Choi, you must take charge for us younger ones."

  "Yes, Lord Choi, these two demons forcibly broke into the Black Rope Hell and beat us up. It's really lawless."

  These several ghostly soldiers were crying and wailing, as if they had suffered a great injustice, and with hearts full of sorrow, they complained to Lord Cui.

  Chui Fu Jun looked at Ding Ling Xiu, but Ding Ling Xiu didn't make a sound or refute him. He just carefully observed the projection on the big screen, his brain racing with thoughts. At this moment, what he most wanted to do was smoke a cigarette; if only he could have one now.

  Yan Wang lazily rubbed his ring and gave these ghost soldiers a cold glance, saying in a chilly tone:

  "Don't judge a person by appearance, at such a young age, he's already been through the depths of hell, it's not simple."

  Yan Wang's words left Cui Fu Jun somewhat perplexed, thinking that Yan Wang would not sympathize with his subordinates being beaten was understandable, but he actually praised the person who beat them. Was there some hidden meaning behind these words? She adjusted her glasses and looked at Yan Wang, but Yan Wang just kept staring at Ding Ling Xiu without saying another word. She was momentarily speechless. Her original idea was that since Ding Ling Xiu dared to do something so shocking, it was also in line with the psychological characteristics of this criminal for him to be so brazenly lying now. Without extremely strong psychological quality, one could not commit such a daring and reckless act. So she decided to continue intimidating Ding Ling Xiu into confessing, but just as she was about to speak, Yan Wang's inexplicable words left her unsure of how to proceed.

  Choi Gongjun thought for a moment, while Ding Lingxiu's expression didn't change, and he became even more confident. Because he had just integrated and analyzed this information, and finally understood what was going on. He cupped his hands and said:

  "I report to Judge Cui and Yan Wang, this matter is absolutely not done by me. Because from the current situation, there are three suspicious points."

  Choi's face fell, and she said to herself that after all these years as the chief judge, this was the first time she had encountered a guilty defendant who came to analyze the case. Although she was furious in her heart, she suppressed her anger and gritted her teeth to ask:

  "Alright, let's hear it then, what are the three suspicious points about this case?"

  Ding Lingxiu smiled and said:

  "First of all, I'd like to ask Lord Cui to take a look at the filing time of this case himself. Tell me, were these two demons immediately wanted after they escaped from the Black Rope Hell?"

  Chui Fu Jun listened, her face scrunched up in confusion. What did this mean? Those two demons escaped from the Black Rope Hell would definitely be wanted immediately, how could they just let them go? She replied with a stern expression:

  "Of course, such a big thing will definitely be publicized."

  She said, checking the records on her computer, but after a while, the anger on her face quietly turned into an expression of astonishment. She never expected that in the indictment against Ding Lingxiu, the time when this demon escaped was February 5th, and the time when these two demons were wanted... was actually yesterday?

  She carefully flipped through it again and found that Ding Lingxiu's wanted notice was also issued just yesterday. He was wanted the day before, caught the next day, and still voluntarily surrendered himself. Is this possible?

  Ding Lingxiu saw Cui Fugun's expression change greatly, and secretly thought that it was indeed as he had expected. This person only realized through his conversation with Gua Ge that the matter of letting two monsters escape had been exposed, and temporarily decided to shift the blame onto Ding Lingxiu.

  Ding Lingxu continued:

  "Director Choi, don't be surprised at first. The second point is where things get even stranger. The indictment says I used the two demons to commit some blatant and covert thefts, which also doesn't make sense. Think about it carefully, all the other charges are just trivial matters, and the only truly important things are two: one is the five-colored stone pillar, and the other is the soul-gathering orb. But you can check for yourself the times when the two demons committed robbery in the indictment. I think they must have been quite frequent around the time of the robbery of the five-colored stone pillar, while the robbery of the soul-gathering orb was extremely sudden."

  Cui Fu Jun listened to Ding Ling Xiu's words and quickly flipped through the case files, only to find that it was indeed as Ding Ling Xiu had said. This pair of thieves, Zan Ti and Huang Niu Jing, had been quite active in robbery and theft before and after snatching the Five-Colored Stone Pillar, but after obtaining the pillar, they had remained quiet for a period of time before striking again to snatch the Aggregating Spirit Orb.

  She gazed at Ding Lingxiu and murmured:

  "But what does this say about anything?"

  Before Ding Lingxiu could respond, Yan Wang sneered and stretched out his index finger, letting Feicui spin around it, saying disdainfully:

  "Lord Choi, after serving as a judge for hundreds of years, your logical thinking is still not as good as that of a child. Don't you understand what's going on? This criminal used the two monsters to commit robbery and theft in order to cover up its true intention of stealing the Five-Colored Stone Pillar. It deliberately made these crimes happen frequently, making it seem like just a coincidence when outsiders look at it."

  Ding Lingxiu nodded and cupped his hands together, saying:

  "Yan Wang is clear, it's indeed the case. However, this sinner didn't expect that these two monsters were too greedy and encountered an unexpected opportunity to snatch the Ling Ball. As a result, they disobeyed the sinner's instructions and took the Ling Ball by themselves. But unexpectedly, it was this Ling Ball that brought about their downfall. The Ling Ball absorbed my friend's internal elixir, so I went to retrieve his internal elixir, which led to what happened in the photo."

  Cui Fugun suddenly realized that if what Ding Lingshu said was true, then this matter was indeed very suspicious. However, at the moment, she had been completely overshadowed by Ding Lingshu, and her heart still felt uncomfortable. The innate jealousy of women surged up again, and although she had maintained a neutral attitude, she now felt some resentment towards Ding Lingshu. She glared at Ding Lingshu and asked:

  "What does that have to do with anything? This only proves the motive of the criminal was to steal the Five-Colored Stone Pillar, but it doesn't prove it wasn't you who did it!"

  "No, his motive, I don't need." Ding Lingxiu replied.

  "Why?" asked Cui Fugui.

  "Because the preparations it made are enough to prove that it must be a ghostly messenger from the underworld. It's afraid of being exposed for its thieving ways, so it needs to cover itself up. But I don't need to do this at all, because as an ordinary person, if I really knew that the ghostly messengers would pass through Chessboard Mountain, why would I make such unnecessary excuses? Even if I let you know my purpose is to steal the Five-Colored Stone Pillars, what's wrong with that? So, this criminal is afraid because hardly anyone knows the route of the Five-Colored Stone Pillars. If it didn't disguise itself as two demons who are prone to robbery and theft, and coincidentally stole the Five-Colored Stone Pillars, then this criminal would immediately be suspected!"

  Ding Lingxiu's bright blue eyes sparkled, and Cui Fu Jun furrowed her brow. Although she was not convinced, in her heart, she knew that Ding Lingxiu's analysis was flawless. From the current situation, it had become very clear that this matter of the underworld's internal ghost had let the two demons go, then used them to snatch the Five Light Pillar, and just as he was about to succeed, he encountered Ding Lingxiu by mistake, which led to this series of events.

  But despite this, Cui Fugui still had some doubts. After all, if things were really as Ding Lingxiu said, then the mastermind behind the scenes would be a high-ranking official in the underworld, which would be difficult to deal with.

  Chui Fu Jun thought for a moment, his hands crossed and leaning on the stone pedestal in front of him. Suddenly, he spoke sternly again:

  "You're quite the silver-tongued devil, I almost fell for your deception. All you've said is mere speculation. Now, we have enough evidence to convict you, but what proof do you have to prove your innocence?"

  Ding Lingshu smiled and said in a loud voice:

  "This third point is just what I need to prove my innocence..."

  Ding Lingxiu was about to continue speaking, but as he spoke halfway through, his lips stiffened and his entire body seemed to petrify, unable to move. He suddenly felt a numbness all over his body, like an electric shock, followed by dizziness in front of his eyes. A thick and intense demonic aura descended from the sky, enveloping his entire body, making Ding Lingxiu feel as if he was trapped in a dream.

  Right after that, Ding Lingxiu felt his body involuntarily shrink back, his whole body feeling like cotton, and he lost consciousness.

  Endless darkness looms before one's eyes.

  Ding Ling's divine consciousness seemed to be suddenly withdrawn from the space just now.

  Even he himself can't find where his own yuan Shen is located

  Everything around him became vague and elusive, the scene of confrontation with Cui Fugui just now was still vivid in his mind, but it became not so clear, memories also seemed to become extremely blurred, the only thing he could identify was this endless darkness in front of him, deep and terrifyingly oppressive.

  When he woke up again, he found himself hanging upside down, just like a pig that had been cut open at the market.

  Ding Lingxiu felt dizzy and nauseous, the backflow of blood made him feel like vomiting. He struggled to curl up his body, trying to hold onto his legs, but failed after several attempts.

  Looking around, he found that Zhang Shanyi was also hanging beside him in the same way, with his eyes slightly closed and his expression as usual. It seemed that he had already passed the stage of struggling like him, but unlike Ding Lingxiu, his body was suspended at a right angle, and his head did not have blood rushing to it. This snake-like physique made Ding Lingxiu somewhat envious.

  "Hey......hey......A Yi, wake up......" Ding Ling Xiu called out softly.

  Zhang Shanyi slowly came to after a good half day, shook his big ears and mumbled:

  "Brother Ding, you've come around?"

  Ding Lingxiu strained his waist and replied with difficulty:

  "What's going on? Why are we being hanged? Where is this?"

  Ding Lingxiu asked a string of questions, and Zhang Shanyi was momentarily at a loss for how to respond. Moreover, Ding Lingxiu saw that his expression seemed to indicate he had even more things to ask than she did.

  As expected, Zhang Shanyi scratched his head and said to Ding Lingxiu with a strange expression:

  "Brother Ding, we are now in prison, it won't be long before we will be escorted to the volcanic hell."

  Ding Lingxiu's eyes widened and his tongue was tied, it took him a good half day to confirm that he hadn't misheard, he asked in surprise:

  "What? Why is it like this?"

  Zhang Shanyi shook his head and looked at Ding Lingxiu with an incredulous expression:

  "Brother Ding? But you just confessed yourself a moment ago!"